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Home Press Release Press Release
MEANINGFUL REPARATIONS FOR VICTIMS OF KHMER ROUGE REGIME
Wide ranging support has been secured for the Civil Parties' requested reparation projects in Case 002/01, but there remains a funding gap and, consequently, various opportunities still exist for potential donors to engage in the realization of these projects, which will benefit the victims of the Democratic Kampuchea regime from 1975-1979.
The Victims Support Section (VSS) and the Civil Party Lead Co-Lawyers of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) – in close cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organizations – are currently leading a groundbreaking effort to bring redress to the survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime. The ECCC is the first court of its kind allowing victims to participate directly in the proceedings as parties. In accordance with the legal framework governing the ECCC proceedings, the Civil Parties can seek collective and moral reparations. In addition, the VSS is mandated to develop and implement non-judicial measures to serve the broader interests of victims.
The Trial Chamber has recently set the deadline of 31 March 2014 by which Civil Parties must submit any further documentation and information on the reparation projects they seek in Case 002/01, including updates on funding. Civil Parties seek the Court's recognition of thirteen reparation projects in Case 002/01 which aim to provide acknowledgement to the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in order to mitigate the harms and suffering they have experienced. Please see the attached table, for information about the thirteen proposed projects submitted to the Trial Chamber. In case of conviction of the accused, the Trial Chamber may grant moral and collective reparations to the Civil Parties in its judgment if certain conditions are fulfilled; among them the requirement for documentation of sufficient external funding for each proposed project. With the March deadline drawing near, the VSS takes this opportunity to inform the public about the achievements to date and to seek additional voluntary funding for the reparation projects sought by the Civil Parties.
Despite wide ranging moral, political and financial support from the international donor community, the Royal Government of Cambodia and Cambodian civil society organizations, there are still various opportunities for potential donors to engage in the realization of the requested reparation projects. By providing financial support to these projects, donors can be secure in the knowledge that their contributions are used for programming that creates and maximizes direct and lasting benefits for Civil Parties and victims throughout Cambodia.
A number of projects do not yet have secured funding and, consequently, are at risk of not being recognized by the Court, nor implemented. Funding is sought on a priority basis for these projects, namely the Public Memorials Initiative and the project to publish and distribute the Case 002/01 judgment to civil parties in full and illustrated summary form. Several proposed reparation projects have already secured funding, but would benefit from additional funds which would be used to further expand the reach and enhance the benefit of the projects. Among these are the Testimonial Therapy, Self-Help Groups for Rehabilitation, Mobile Exhibition and Permanent projects.
Potential donors are encouraged to contact the VSS for further information and a presentation meeting. The VSS is an official organ of the ECCC and is mandated to facilitate and coordinate victims' participation in the ECCC's proceedings, except legal representation. Furthermore, the Section is mandated to seek external funding and support and, in close cooperation with the Civil Party Lead Co-Lawyers, to identify, design and later implement reparation projects.
VSS Contact
Mr. Hang Vannak
Chief of VSS
Mr. Neth Pheaktra
Mobile phone: +855 (0)12 488 156
Land line: +855 (0)23 861 564
Mr. Lars Olsen
Mobile: +855 (0)12 488 023
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Consolidated Acts: C.C.S.M. | Municipal | Private
The Carleton Club Incorporation Act
If you need an official copy, use the bilingual (PDF) version.
This version is current as of July 15, 2019.
It has been in effect since November 14, 1990, when this Act came into force.
Search this Act
RSM 1990, c. 24
Table of Contents Bilingual (PDF)
WHEREAS the persons hereinafter named, by their petition, prayed that The Commercial Club of Winnipeg should be incorporated: John Arbuthnot, Elisha Frederick Hutchings, Charles Henry Cordingley, James Porter and Edward Nicholson, Merchants; Donald Ross Dingwall, Jeweller; Hodgson Wilberforce Hutchinson, Manager of Fairchild Company; Frank Graham Walsh, District Superintendent of the Bell Telephone Company, and Arthur Steward, Manager of the National Trust Company, Limited, all of the City of Winnipeg, in the Province of Manitoba;
AND WHEREAS their prayer was granted, and resulted in the enactment of An Act to incorporate the Commercial Club of Winnipeg, assented to March 29, 1901;
AND WHEREAS the Act was subsequently amended and the name changed to An Act to incorporate the Carleton Club;
AND WHEREAS the Minister of Justice has caused the Act to be prepared in English and French for re-enactment in accordance with a judgment dated June 13, 1985 and an order dated November 4, 1985 of the Supreme Court of Canada;
THEREFORE HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, enacts as follows:
1 Carleton Club (hereinafter referred to as "the corporation") is continued as a corporation consisting of those persons who are members on the coming into force of this Act and such other persons as shall hereafter become members.
Corporate powers
2 The corporation shall have a common seal, with power to make and alter the seal by by-law to that effect, and may purchase, acquire and hold real property within The City of Winnipeg for the actual use and occupation of the corporation and may sell, alienate, mortgage, lease, exchange and otherwise dispose of the real property of the corporation and apply the proceeds thereof for the purposes of the corporation.
Borrowing powers
3 The corporation may borrow money at such rate of interest and upon such terms as it things proper and may, for that purpose, make, execute or issue any mortgage, bonds, debentures or other instruments under the seal of the corporation which shall operate as a mortgage and charge against the lands and effects of the corporation as security for the loan.
Execution of mortgages, etc.
4 Any such mortgage, bond or debenture shall be sealed with the seal of the corporation and signed by the president, the honorary secretary and treasurer.
Liability of members
5 No member of the corporation shall be in any way liable for or chargeable with the payment of any debt or demand due by the corporation beyond the extent of the entrance fee and annual subscriptions remaining unpaid by the said member and for any unpaid accounts he may have incurred to the corporation for articles ordered by him upon its premises, and any member of the corporation not so indebted will be allowed to withdraw and will cease to be a member on giving notice to that effect according to the form that may be provided by the constitution, rules and regulations of the corporation, and from thenceforth be free from all debts and demands due by the corporation.
Cheques, bills and notes
6 The corporation shall have power to draw, make, accept and endorse all cheques, bills of exchange, promissory notes and any contract or instrument which the corporation may legally enter into and which may be necessary for the purposes of the corporation. Every such document shall be executed under the hands of such members of the board of directors as the board of directors may appoint. It shall not be necessary that the seal of the corporation be affixed to any cheque, bill or note of the corporation, nor shall any member of the corporation be personally liable in respect of any bill, note, cheque or obligation of the corporation; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorize the said corporation to issue notes or bills of exchange payable to bearer, or intended to be circulated as money or as notes or bills of a bank.
By-laws, rules and regulations
7 The corporation shall have power to make by-laws, rules and regulations, not being contrary to law or to the provisions of this Act, with power to amend or repeal the same, for all purposes relating to or bearing on the affairs, business, property, management, aims, objects and interests of the corporation, and for the admission, retirement and expulsion of members.
Purchases for cash or on credit
8 The corporation shall have power to purchase from time to time and at all times upon credit, or for cash, all such goods or supplies as may be considered necessary by the directors or committee of such corporation for the purposes of the corporation, and to pledge the credit of the corporation for any such purposes.
NOTE: This Act replaces S.M. 1901, c. 57.
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You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications & records > Business Papers > House of Lords Business Papers > Lords Business - Order Paper
Session 2010-12
Other Motions for Debate
Motion relating to Delegated Legislation
Questions for Short Debate
Questions for Written Answer
Questions for Written Answer unanswered after 10 working days
Bills in Progress
Affirmative Instruments
Special Procedure Order
Remedial Order
Public Bodies Orders in Progress
Minutes of Proceedings Thursday 1 March 2012
Items marked † are new or have been altered
[I] indicates that the member concerned has a
relevant registered interest.
Monday 5 March 2012 at 2.30pm
*Oral Questions, 30 minutes
*Lord Kennedy of Southwark to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure consumers are getting good value for money from companies that are marketing services helping people make Payment Protection Insurance mis-selling claims.
*Lord Rennard to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will bring forward proposals for revising the system for electing British Members of the European Parliament in 2014.
*Lord Campbell-Savours to ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements they are making to ensure that there are adequate numbers of police to deal with any consequences for social cohesion and criminality of the withdrawal of civil legal aid for social welfare law cases.
*Lord Knight of Weymouth to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the overall annual value of employers’ national insurance contributions; and what proportion of that total is accounted for by the employment of those under 20 years old.
†Business of the House Lord Strathclyde to move that Standing Order 46 (No two stages of a Bill to be taken on one day) be dispensed with on Tuesday 6 March to allow the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill to be taken through all its remaining stages.
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill Report [Lord McNally] 21st Report from the Constitution Committee, 22nd Report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Tuesday 6 March at 2.30pm
*Lord Berkeley to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the new Great Western rail franchise specification for trains between Bath, Bristol, Newport and Cardiff, and intermediate stations, will take into account recent increases in population and demand.
*Baroness Deech to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will clarify the laws applying to universities and student unions when an anti-Semitic incident has taken place on campus.
*Baroness Coussins to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the 2012 university applications figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) showing that applications for courses in European languages are down by 11.2 per cent and non-European languages by 21.5 per cent compared to the previous year.
Business of the House Lord Strathclyde to move that Standing Order 40(1) (Arrangement of the order paper) be dispensed with on Tuesday 13 March to enable proceedings on the Health and Social Care Bill to take place before oral questions.
†Lord Strathclyde intends to move the following seven motions en bloc: but if any Lord objects the motions must be moved separately to the extent desired.
†Schools (Specification and Disposal of Articles) Regulations 2012 Lord Strathclyde to move that the draft Regulations be referred to a Grand Committee.
†Alternative Provision Academies (Consequential Amendments to Acts) (England) Order 2012 Lord Strathclyde to move that the draft Order be referred to a Grand Committee.
†Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) (Revocation) Regulations 2012 Lord Strathclyde to move that the draft Regulations be referred to a Grand Committee.
†Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) (Payment of Claims) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 Lord Strathclyde to move that the draft Regulations be referred to a Grand Committee.
†Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 Lord Strathclyde to move that the draft Regulations be referred to a Grand Committee.
†Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 Lord Strathclyde to move that the draft Regulations be referred to a Grand Committee.
†Automatic Enrolment (Offshore Employment) Order 2012 Lord Strathclyde to move that the draft Order be referred to a Grand Committee.
†Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill Second Reading [Lord Sassoon] (Money Bill)
Health and Social Care Bill Report (day 5) [Earl Howe] 18th and 22nd Reports from the Constitution Committee
Wednesday 7 March at 3.00pm
*Lord Fowler to ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have for ensuring media plurality in the United Kingdom.
*Lord Sheldon to ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the relevant governments to secure the abolition of the death penalty in China and in other countries.
*Lord Storey to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that there is adequate diagnostic testing for children with dyslexia in primary schools.
It is expected that the Report stage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will continue.
Lord Glentoran to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to rebalance the legal responsibilities of motorists and cyclists on the roads. (Dinner break business, 1 hour)
Thursday 8 March at 11.00am
*Baroness Gale to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that every school is aware of forthcoming campaigns focusing on sexual consent and forced marriage, and that schools and colleges know where to refer young people for specialist support.
*Baroness Gould of Potternewton to ask Her Majesty’s Government what direct support they are giving to refuges providing protection for women fleeing from domestic violence.
*Baroness Prosser to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to reduce the gender pay and opportunities gap.
It is expected that the Report stage of the Health and Social Care Bill will continue.
Monday 12 March at 2.30pm
*Lord Dykes to ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will next hold high-level talks with their European Union partners on economic and financial issues.
*Baroness Henig to ask Her Majesty’s Government how much money they will make available to each Police and Crime panel to cover start-up and first-year running costs.
*Baroness Worthington to ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to promote lower electricity bills through the uptake of voltage optimisation, as installed in 10 Downing Street.
*Lord Dubs to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect the lack of a public inquiry into the death of Pat Finucane may have on British–Irish relations and on the Finucane family.
Protection of Freedoms Bill Third Reading [Lord Henley] 20th Report from the Constitution Committee
Tuesday 13 March at 11.00am
Subject to the House’s approval of the Business of the House motion on 6 March, it is expected that the Report stage of the Health and Social Care Bill will continue, and that oral questions will be taken at 2.30pm.
*Lord Lee of Trafford to ask Her Majesty’s Government what role the Royal Air Force regiment played in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident.
*Lord Naseby to ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of victims of the 2011 summer riots are still awaiting compensation, and what action they propose to take to deal with the situation.
*Lord Redesdale to ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve ancient woodland in the final version of the National Planning Policy Framework.
It is expected that the Report stage of the Health and Social Care Bill will conclude.
Grand Committee in the Moses Room at 3.30pm
Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope to move that the Grand Committee takes note of the Annual Report for 2010–11 of the Information Committee (First Report, HL Paper 190).
Wednesday 14 March at 3.00pm
*Lord Giddens to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the influence exercised by the credit rating agencies in the world economy.
*Lord Addington to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the key skills and functional skills requirements in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 are compatible with the Equality Act 2010 in relation to accessibility for dyslexic and other disabled conditions.
*Lord Hoyle to ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have had with police authorities about the cars they purchase.
†Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market to move that the Grand Committee takes note of the Report of the Economic Affairs Committee on Auditors: Market concentration and their role (2nd Report, HL Paper 119).
Thursday 15 March at 11.00am
Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee The Leader of the House (Lord Strathclyde) to move that a Humble Address be presented to Her Majesty to congratulate Her Majesty on the occasion of the Sixtieth Anniversary of Her Accession to the Throne.
*Lord Wills to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to amend the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
*Lord Faulkner of Worcester to ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are giving to Network Rail’s efforts to improve safety at railway level crossings.
*Lord Trefgarne to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will reconsider their decision to downgrade the Engineering Diploma to one GCSE equivalent.
†Friday 16 March at 10.00am
†Airports (Amendment) Bill [HL] Second Reading [Lord Empey]
*Lord Barnett to ask Her Majesty’s Government why the Chancellor of the Exchequer agreed the latest increase in quantitative easing.
*Lord Flight to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to review the application of International Financial Reporting Standards accounting standards to the banking sector.
*Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will promote the connection between sustainable development and family planning at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
*Lord Judd to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the significance of tribalism in securing a stable and secure future for the people of Libya.
Tuesday 20 March at 9.45am
The House will meet at 9.45am for Prayers, after which it will adjourn to Westminster Hall for the presentation of a Humble Address to Her Majesty. The House will then meet again at 3.00pm for public business.
*The Lord Bishop of Wakefield to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will allow trade associations to make complaints to the proposed Groceries Code Adjudicator on behalf of members who are both direct and indirect suppliers of supermarkets; and, if not, why not.
*The Earl of Selborne to ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they intend to take to prevent food waste being sent to landfill.
*Baroness O’Cathain to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will mark Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year by making a commitment to celebrate and increase the United Kingdom’s involvement with the Commonwealth.
*Baroness Morgan of Drefelin to ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes are planned to the Work Capability Assessment following their informal consultation on accounting for the effects of cancer treatments.
*Lord Vinson to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, to make transactions in commodities and shares more transparent, they will make it obligatory publicly to declare long or short positions over £1 million.
*Baroness Thornton to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the risks posed by implementation of the Health and Social Care Bill to HIV/Aids programmes.
*Baroness Massey of Darwen to ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will implement the commitment made in December 2010 that new legislation and policy will be assessed against the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
*Lord Risby to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the current political situation in the Maldives.
*Baroness Stern to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take to raise awareness of the work undertaken by the International Criminal Court, and to provide support for it, in this 10th anniversary year of the coming into force of the Rome Statute.
*Lord Hannay of Chiswick to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the assistance given by the Serious Organised Crime Agency to the Regional Anti-Piracy Prosecutions and Intelligence Co-ordination Centre in the Seychelles will include information gleaned from Suspicious Activity Reports.
*Viscount Goschen to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that disruption to businesses in London caused by the 2012 Olympic Games is minimised.
*Lord Walker of Aldringham to ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of servicemen and women being made redundant from the armed forces are expected to be between the ages of 18 and 24.
*Lord Foulkes of Cumnock to ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to publish their response to the consultation on Scotland’s constitutional future.
Tuesday 27 March at 2.30pm
*Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will introduce legislation to implement their alcohol strategy.
*Baroness Walmsley to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent the expansion of grammar schools onto satellite sites.
*Lord Roberts of Llandudno to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that every eligible United Kingdom citizen between the age of 18 and 25 registers to vote.
*Lord Gardiner of Kimble to ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to facilitate the establishment of a national water grid.
*Lord Hoyle to ask Her Majesty’s Government why the contract for Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers was placed with a South Korean company.
†*Baroness Sharples to ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in eliminating Japanese knotweed from the United Kingdom.
The date on which the report was published is in italics
Baroness Neuberger to move that the House takes note of the Report of the Science and Technology Committee on Behaviour Change (2nd Report, HL Paper 179). 17 July 2011
Baroness Young of Hornsey to move that this House takes note of the Report of the European Union Committee on Safety First: Mobility of Healthcare Professionals in the EU (22nd Report, HL Paper 201). 19 October 2011
Baroness O’Cathain to move that this House takes note of the Report of the European Union Committee on Tunnel Vision? Completing the European rail market (24th Report, HL Paper 229). 2 December 2011
Lord Lucas to move that this House takes note of the place of trust in society.
Lord Hylton to move to resolve that the European Union should use its powers to prevent access to the European Union without a visa by Israeli citizens and to remove duty-free access for Israeli goods if Israeli breaches of international law continue.
Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope to move that this House takes note of the ceremonial aspects of the House of Lords and their impact on public understanding of the work of the House.
Lord Norton of Louth to move that this House takes note of the case for reducing the size of the House of Lords.
Lord Dykes to move that this House takes note of the case for co-ordinated European Union defence policies.
Lord Selsdon to move that this House takes note of the future role of the Royal Navy.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to move that this House takes note of the security situation on the Korean peninsula and the response of the international community.
Lord Avebury to move that this House takes note of the human rights situation in Bahrain.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark to move that this House takes note of the decline in numbers of police officers and police community support officers.
Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope to move that this House takes note of the language and terminology used in the House of Lords and their impact on public understanding of the work of the House.
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer to move that this House takes note of the report of the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir John Beddington, The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability.
Lord Desai to move that this House takes note of the challenges posed by multiculturalism, in particular how to accommodate practices of diverse faiths.
Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank to move that this House takes note of the decision taken by the House Committee and the Administration and Works Committee to end without report to or discussion in the chamber the daily delivery of Hansard to members living in London.
Lord Selsdon to move that this House takes note of the legacy of President Gorbachev and the development of democratic government.
Lord Risby to move that this House takes note of the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark to move that this House takes note of proposals for the National Health Service.
Lord Morris of Aberavon to move to resolve that this House instructs the Clerk of the Parliaments to seek the advice of the Attorney General on whether a Bill which provided for a change in the composition of this House, and in respect of which the provisions of section 2 of the Parliament Act 1911 had been complied with, would, having received Royal Assent, be an Act of Parliament and be capable of having legal effect.
Lord Plant of Highfield to move that this House takes note of the role of rating agencies in the international financial system.
Lord Alderdice to move that this House takes note of the Humanitarian Emergency Response Review and the United Kingdom Government Response.
Lord Eden of Winton to move that this House takes note of the protection of rainforests.
Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank to move that this House takes note of the quality and extent of the equipment and facilities of the House of Lords to remedy the disability of hard-hearing.
Baroness Campbell of Surbiton to move that this House takes note of the Sayce Review’s recommendations about the support for disabled people in employment provided by Access to Work.
Lord Browne of Ladyton to move that this House takes note of the NATO Deterrence and Defence Posture Review, the United Kingdom’s role in this process, and the implications of changing NATO’s deterrence posture for European security and the relationship with Russia.
The Earl of Clancarty to move that this House takes note of the place of the arts and creativity in schools and higher education and their significance for the future development of the arts and creative industries in the United Kingdom.
Baroness Randerson to move that this House takes note of the Commission on Devolution in Wales, chaired by Paul Silk.
Lord Marlesford to move that this House takes note of the case for enhanced security and tighter operational command in the UK Border Agency.
Viscount Waverley to move that this House takes note of the role of Islamist political movements, following recent Arab uprisings.
The Lord Bishop of Wakefield to move that this House takes note of the conclusions of the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn and the prospects for peace in Afghanistan.
Lord Moynihan to move that this House takes note of the case for formulating and implementing a comprehensive cross-departmental Olympic sports legacy policy for the United Kingdom covering Olympic and non-Olympic sport, and recreational and sport facilities.
Lord Owen to move to resolve that the Health and Social Care Bill be not read a third time until the Information Tribunal has ruled, following its hearings on 5 and 6 March, on the disclosure of the Bill’s risk assessment and the House is satisfied, in the light of any further examination of risk, and taking account of the views of the health professions, that the risks of not proceeding with the Bill are greater than the risks inherent in the Bill itself.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine to move that this House takes note of the situation in Syria.
†Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2012 Baroness Hamwee to move to resolve that this House calls on Her Majesty’s Government not to bring into effect the provisions in the draft Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2012 concerning premium sponsor status fees, nor to implement the premium sponsor status to which they relate, before undertaking up-to-date consultations with all relevant stakeholders.
Time limit 1 hour or 1½ hours
Baroness Deech to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that fellow signatories to the Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets fulfil the obligations of the Declaration in relation to the restitution of wrongfully seized property.
Lord Grocott to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the operation of proportional representation for elections to the European Parliament.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking with international partners to bring to trial Joseph Kony and other leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army at the International Criminal Court.
Lord Dholakia to ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in securing funding for the Women’s Community Projects established under the Diverting Women from Custody Programme, when Government funding ends in March 2011.
Lord Dholakia to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the impact of the Spending Review 2010 on the National Probation Service.
Baroness Cox to ask Her Majesty’s Government what provisions they are making to support Sudan following the referendum in January 2011.
Baroness Cox to ask Her Majesty’s Government how the recent election in Burma will affect their policy towards the pro-democracy movement and the provision of humanitarian aid.
Viscount Younger of Leckie to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to secure the future of sports in maintained schools in the context of Spending Review 2010.
Viscount Tenby to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their strategy to reduce casualties and promote safety on the roads.
Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote paediatric continence.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester to ask Her Majesty’s Government how they view relations between the United Kingdom and Taiwan, and what plans they have to improve them.
Baroness Hussein-Ece to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the strategic importance of Turkey in Europe and the Middle East.
Lord Luce to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the stability of the region of Yemen, the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean.
Baroness Benjamin to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to reduce the number of mothers imprisoned with their infants; and what alternative plans they have to address this situation.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the violence against Egypt’s Coptic minority.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the security situation on the Korean peninsula and the response of the international community.
Lord Patel to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the report by the Academy of Medical Sciences A new pathway for the regulation and governance of health research.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the levels of interest charged by, and the practices of, certain loan and credit companies.
Lord Dubs to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the recent report by the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly on The Irish community in Britain: follow-up report.
Lord Patel to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the availability of radiotherapy treatment for patients with cancers and how that affects outcomes in cancer patients.
Lord Touhig to ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures in the Health and Social Care Bill will ensure early diagnosis of dementia.
Lord Harrison to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the United Kingdom’s relationship with Morocco.
Lord Chidgey to ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to assist the governments of South and North Sudan to consolidate the rule of law and to strengthen democratic and transparent governance and adherence to human rights following their separation into two countries on 9 July.
Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty’s Government how relations with Pakistan have been affected by the end of military rule.
Lord Davies of Stamford to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce any legal impediment or sanction on the payment of ransoms to pirates or terrorists in Somalia or elsewhere.
Baroness Young of Hornsey to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the role that the arts and cultural and creative industries can play in international development, particularly in the Commonwealth.
Lord St John of Fawsley to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the importance of the ecumenical movement to promote understanding and tolerance between different churches and different faiths.
Lord Wigley to ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have held with Ministers of the National Assembly for Wales relating to year-end financial flexibility.
Lord German to ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes they propose to the requirements for pension fund managers to disclose environmental, social and governance policies.
Lord Adonis to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the possibility of extending the proposed High Speed 2 railway from Birmingham to Manchester, the East Midlands, Sheffield and Leeds with appropriate connections beyond to the West and East Coast Mainlines.
The Earl of Glasgow to ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to establish a legal right for the terminally ill to choose how, when and where they will die, without legal ramifications for anyone assisting them.
The Earl of Listowel to ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are meeting the mental health needs of children in the care of local authorities.
Lord Dholakia to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the International Labour Organisation report Decent work for domestic workers.
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to support the victims of sex trafficking.
Lord German to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the issues arising from the common law nature of the concept of fiduciary duty.
Lord Burnett to ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for the future of the Fraud Investigation Service of the Department for Work and Pensions and other government anti-fraud agencies.
Baroness Cumberlege to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent fractures resulting from osteoporosis in the light of the Royal College of Physicians’ national audit of falls and bone health in older people.
The Countess of Mar to ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the statement on behalf of the co-authors of the Medical Research Council PACE Trial paper that it "does not purport to be studying Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)/myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)", (a) whether the trial has met the objectives set for it, (b) of what value the study will be to those suffering from CFS/ME, and (c) what impact the findings of the PACE trial will have on (1) the eligibility of patients suffering from CFS/ME to claim social security benefits, and (2) the dependence of medical practitioners and others upon the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines for CFS/ME.
Lord Burnett to ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the effects of paramedical intervention in the National Health Service.
Viscount Waverley to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the United Kingdom’s current relationship with Mongolia.
Lord Fowler to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to measure the extent of phone hacking by newspapers.
Lord Laird to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the United Kingdom’s relationship with Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus. [I]Category 2: Remunerated employment, office, profession etc.
Chairman, Advisory Board, European Azerbaijan Society
Lord Alderdice to ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in implementing the commitments made in their Response to the Humanitarian Emergency Response Review.
Baroness Randerson to ask Her Majesty’s Government what opportunities will be provided to promote awareness of hepatitis C within the new structures proposed for the National Health Service; and how commissioning of services to identify and treat patients suffering from hepatitis C will be improved.
Lord Dholakia to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the report Community or Custody published by Make Justice Work.
Lord Risby to ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Olympic authorities about the route of the Olympic torch next year, in order to ensure maximum exposure in market towns.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff to ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to implement the recommendations of the report Guiding patients through complexity: modern medical generalism.
Lord Carlile of Berriew to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are reviewing their guidelines in relation to the sentencing and imprisonment of former armed services personnel, in the light of the report published by the Howard League for Penal Reform on 23 June following an independent inquiry chaired by Sir John Nutting QC.
Lord Skidelsky to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their strategy for securing economic growth.
Lord Luke to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they continue to support High Speed Rail 2 and, if so, why.
Lord Wills to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact of recent reforms of the higher education system on university education and research in the arts, humanities and fundamental science.
The Lord Bishop of Wakefield to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn and the prospects for peace in Afghanistan.
Lord Boateng to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take to enable the voluntary sector to participate in the delivery of public services.
Baroness Browning to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implementation of the Autism Act 2009 and associated Autism Strategy.
Lord Mawson to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans for a co-ordinated approach towards regeneration, in particular in the new metropolitan districts emerging in north-west England and east London and, if so, what they are.
Baroness Andrews to ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they have in place to reduce youth unemployment.
Baroness Kingsmill to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to support the British fashion industry.
Lord Sharkey to ask Her Majesty’s Government, as a guarantor country, what they see as the chief barriers to progress towards the reunification of Cyprus; and what approaches they are considering to overcome these.
Baroness Boothroyd to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their strategy for tackling discrimination, harassment and outdated attitudes towards disabled people, following the publication of their discussion document Fulfilling Potential.
Lord Laird to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the importance of the fashion and related industries to the United Kingdom’s economy, and of how they can be supported.
The Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to enhance access to proper sanitation and safe water in developing countries.
Lord Ahmed to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have raised the issue of human rights in Indian-administered Kashmir with the government of India.
Baroness Gardner of Parkes to ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have with regard to residential service charges.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve awareness of the potential health hazards of Para-Phenylenediamine (PPD) in hair dyes and cosmetics, and to improve research in this area.
Tabled on 1 March and due for answer by 15 March.
Baroness Byford to ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of how many farmers will not be able to submit their single farm payment claims online, as required after April 2012; and what arrangements have been put in place to address this situation. HL16084
Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether limiting the number of incoming domestic workers from overseas would make it unnecessary to remove protections from those already in the United Kingdom or shortly due to arrive. HL16085
Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will invite the government of Israel to return the equipment confiscated by Israel from Al Watan and Al-Quds Educational television stations in the Palestinian West Bank; and whether they will encourage the resolution of any subsequent technical issues concerning transmission. HL16086
Lord Hoyle to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the expected date for the completion of the doctor’s surgery in Chorley East Ward, Lancashire. HL16087
Lord Hoyle to ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times the Chief Executive of NHS North Lancashire, Janet Soo-Chung, has held meetings with members of either House since she took up her post; and with whom those meetings were held. HL16088
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint on 29 November 2011 (WA 65), which countries they regard as "emerging powers". HL16089
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are considering, or are aware that their international partners are considering, military intervention in Syria. HL16090
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne to ask Her Majesty’s Government which United Kingdom companies have been working in Syria in the last five years; and when they ended their operations in that country, if they have done so. HL16091
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Howell of Guildford on 29 November 2011 (WA 38–9), whether in the light of India’s economic development they are considering reducing the amount of funding India receives from the British Council. HL16092
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Northover on 29 November 2011 (WA 40), how many countries are on their internal watch-list of fragile states. HL16093
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Howell of Guildford on 30 November 2011 (WA 70), whether they have set themselves a timeline for producing proposals for more effective parliamentary scrutiny of European Union affairs. HL16094
Baroness Masham of Ilton to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to find a cure for the Schmallenberg virus. HL16095
Baroness Lister of Burtersett to ask Her Majesty’s Government, with reference to their estimate that more than 350,000 children and around 550,000 adults will be lifted out of poverty as a result of the introduction of the Universal Credit, (1) how long they expect reaching those figures will take, and (2) how many children and adults they estimate will be in poverty at the date of the implementation of Universal Credit. HL16096
Baroness Lister of Burtersett to ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) adults, and (2) children, they estimate will be lifted out of poverty by the Universal Credit according to the after housing costs income threshold in (a) London, and (b) the United Kingdom. HL16097
Baroness Lister of Burtersett to ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the currently used weekly cash amounts for the relative income thresholds set out in paragraph 7 of the response by the Government to the Second Report of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee of Session 2003–04, Cm 6200, including the figures for before and after housing costs and relative and absolute low income. HL16098
The Lord Bishop of Hereford to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answers by Lord Marland on 7 July 2011 (HL Deb, cols 347–9) and the Written Answer by Lord Marland on 24 May 2011 (WA 406–7) in which he stated that the Secretary of State had asked the National Nuclear Laboratory to conduct analysis and "we are expecting the findings of this study to be available by the end of the summer", whether, if the report is now available, they will place a copy in the Library of the House; and, if it is not available, why it is not available and when they expect it to be available.
Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty’s Government what evaluation they have made of the importance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque as a holy site for Muslims; and what assessment they have made of the reported movements by the Israeli forces on Friday 24 February on the roof top of the mosque.
Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning the judgment of the Israeli High Court on 26 December 2011 to allow 11 Israeli companies to quarry stone in Area C of the West Bank, and its compliance with Article 55 of the 1907 Hague Convention. HL16101
Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will encourage the government of Israel to release Hana Shalabi. HL16102
Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the role of the Quartet, and of Tony Blair as its leader, in negotiating a Middle East peace process; and what is the cost of maintaining an office for this purpose. HL16103
Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning alleged human rights violations in the week ending 23 February.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 8 February (WA 65–6) and 27 February (WA 237), when the stem cell lines that correspond to those used in the clinical trial at Moorfields Eye Hospital were previously deposited in the UK Stem Cell Bank; and which researchers have access to the cells used in the trial. HL16105
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of A.W.N. Pugin on 1 March 1812. HL16106
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask the Chairman of Committees what action is being taken in the House of Lords to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of A.W.N. Pugin on 1 March 1812. HL16107
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding they are providing to educational initiatives in North Korea or for North Koreans in the United Kingdom; and whether they intend to increase this funding in order to strengthen educational and cultural exchange. HL16108
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are giving to the development of the English language in North Korea; and what Foreign and Commonwealth Office and British Council work is being undertaken in that country with respect to language development.
Lord Glentoran to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was given early warning of the Schmallenberg virus by the European Commission; and whether British farmers were provided with any assistance in preparing for the virus. HL16110
Lord Craig of Radley to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Astor of Hever on 9 December 2011 (WA 202) and on 24 January 2012 (WA 215), when the undertaking he gave to the House of Lords on 26 October 2011 (HL Deb, col 856) to carry out an independent review of the Honours and Decorations Committee is to be fulfilled; who will chair the review; and what the terms of reference will be. HL16111
Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty’s Government when they propose to introduce the enforcement of 20 miles per hour speed limits; and what actions they are taking to assist police with enforcement.
Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty’s Government what impact automatic number plate recognition systems will have on the enforcement of speed limits. HL16113
Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Attlee on 29 February (WA 359), who has led the procurement process for additional trains for the London Midland and TransPennine Express; and what has been the extent of the involvement of the Department for Transport. HL16114
Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their deadline for the removal of excessive credit and debit card surcharges. HL16115
Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they estimate that excessive surcharges for credit and debit card users cost (1) air passengers, and (2) other consumers, in the last year.
Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider it appropriate for airlines and travel companies to describe anything other than Air Passenger Duty as a tax. HL16117
Baroness Smith of Basildon to ask Her Majesty’s Government what role they foresee for local authorities in the roll-out of smart metering. HL16118
Baroness Smith of Basildon to ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the breakdown by age and gender of serving front-line firefighters in each county in England and Wales. HL16119
Baroness Smith of Basildon to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the age profile of firefighters in England and Wales. HL16120
Baroness Smith of Basildon to ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the second stage of the Renewable Heat Incentive to be implemented. HL16121
Baroness Smith of Basildon to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential contribution of bioliquids to reducing carbon dioxide emissions from domestic heating.
Baroness Smith of Basildon to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have assessed the potential contribution of the second phase of the Renewable Heat Incentive to reducing fuel poverty in rural households. HL16123
Lord Myners to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ask the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee to produce a joint report reviewing whether the policy of quantitative easing poses any risk to systemic financial stability. HL16124
Lord Myners to ask Her Majesty’s Government who are the members of the appointment committee to be charged with proposing the nomination of the next Governor of the Bank of England; what principles are used in appointing the membership of this committee; and whether the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee will be invited to conduct a pre-appointment hearing.
Lord Myners to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the steps necessary to address any investor uncertainty about client money rules as they apply to investment accounts operated through United Kingdom regulated institutions, and in particular how clients can establish the precise creditor standing of such accounts. HL16126
Lord Myners to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the impact on credit availability and pricing of the proposed National Loan Guarantee Scheme against the introduction by the Bank of England of an equivalent to the European Central Bank’s Long-Term Refinancing Operation. HL16127
Lord Marlesford to ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to publish the statutory instrument to implement the private rented sector compulsion provisions for energy efficiency under the Energy Act 2011. HL16128
Lord Marlesford to ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) old, and (2) new, £50 notes are currently in circulation; when they plan to withdraw the old notes; and what guidance and rules have been issued to high street banks on changing the old notes for new notes. HL16129
Lord Marlesford to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will require those being issued with a new United Kingdom passport, or whose United Kingdom passport is being renewed, to declare details of any other passport that they hold. HL16130
Lord Marlesford to ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements are in force to enable persons who have been put on a watch-list by the UK Border Agency to be detected leaving or arriving in the United Kingdom if they are using a non-United Kingdom passport of which the passport service and the UK Border Agency are unaware. HL16131
Lord Marlesford to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current cleanliness of the A13 trunk road between the M25 and Dagenham; and what steps they propose to take to improve the situation. HL16132
Lord Marlesford to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 13 December 2011 (WA 257–8), how many members of the staff of the UK Border Agency and its predecessor bodies have been convicted of criminal offences in connection with their official activities over the past seven years; and, in each case, what was the name of the offender, the date, and the nature of the offence and the sentence received. HL16133
Lord Laird to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of civil servants employed by the Northern Ireland Office who take time off work each year through smoking-related illnesses. HL16134
Lord Laird to ask Her Majesty’s Government how much revenue they estimate they receive from the tax of those whose income is over £150,000 per year. HL16135
Lord Laird to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 10 February (WA 117), how many habitual residents of the United Kingdom who have worked in another European Economic Area country are claiming jobseeker’s allowance; and for how many of those the United Kingdom is seeking reimbursement from another country. HL16136
Lord Laird to ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 10 February (WA 117), whether presentation of a Europe-wide entitlement document is necessary before citizens of other European Economic Area (EEA) countries can obtain healthcare in the United Kingdom; and how many individuals doing so have been identified from each relevant EEA country from which such healthcare costs can be reclaimed in each of the past five years. HL16137
Lord Laird to ask Her Majesty’s Government how much HM Revenue and Customs have paid in (1) parking tickets, and (2) vehicle clamping charges, incurred by staff in the course of their work on (a) privately owned, and (b) publicly owned, land in each of the last ten years. HL16138
Lord Laird to ask Her Majesty’s Government how much HM Revenue and Customs have paid in relation to speeding tickets incurred by staff in the course of their work in each of the last ten years.
Lord Dubs to ask Her Majesty’s Government how many arrests, prosecutions and convictions were made in each year since 2003 for soliciting of women for sexual purposes by men under section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1985. HL16140
Lord Dubs to ask Her Majesty’s Government how many arrests, prosecutions and convictions were made during 2008 and 2009 for loitering and soliciting for the purposes of prostitution under section 1 of the Street Offences Act 1959. HL16141
Lord Dubs to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will use the next United Nations Security Council debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict to raise concerns about the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, such as is occurring in Homs in Syria. HL16142
Questions unanswered after 10 working days
27 January (10 February)
HL15190 Lord Laird [DfE]
HL15291 Lord Condon [HO]
8 February (22 February)
HL15560 Lord Dubs [DCMS]
HL15566 The Earl of Courtown [DEFRA]
HL15602 Lord Campbell-Savours [MoD]
HL15605 Lord Bradshaw [DfT]
HL15625 Lord Ashcroft [DfE]
HL15626 Lord Berkeley [DfT]
10 February (24 February)
HL15641 Lord Laird [HO]
HL15694 Lord Lester of Herne Hill [MoJ]
HL15756 Lord Stoddart of Swindon [DEFRA]
HL15763 Lord Laird [DEFRA]
HL15769 Lord Maginnis of Drumglass [MoD]
16 February (1 March)
HL15847 Lord Tebbit [CO]
HL15852 Lord Donoughue [DECC]
HL15869 Lord Kennedy of Southwark [DECC]
Number of questions allocated to each department which are unanswered after 10 working days.
[CO] 1
[DCMS] 1
[DECC] 2
[DEFRA] 4
[DfE] 2
[DfT] 2
[HO] 2
[MoD] 2
[MoJ] 1
Type of Bill
Waiting for Second Reading
Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) (Money Bill-1 March)
Referendum (European Union) [HL]
Private Member’s
Torture (Damages) [HL]
Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) [HL]
Social Care Portability [HL]
Marine Navigation [HL]
Company Remuneration [HL]
Scrap Metal Dealers (Amendment) [HL]
Caravan Sites [HL]
Airports (Amendment) [HL]
Inheritance (Cohabitants) [HL]
Smoke-free Private Vehicles [HL]
Trusts (Capital and Income) [HL] (Law Commission Bill)
Waiting for Commitment
Defamation [HL]
Committed to an Unopposed Bill Committee
City of London (Various Powers) [HL]
Committed to a Select Committee
City of Westminster [HL]
Transport for London [HL]
Committed to a Committee of the Whole House
Marine Navigation Aids [HL]
Wind Turbines (Minimum Distance from Residential Premises) [HL]
Demonstrations in the Vicinity of Parliament (Removal of Authorisation Requirements) [HL]
Scotland (Scottish Parliament Legislative Consent Motion)
Human Trafficking (Further Provisions and Support for Victims) [HL]
Mental Health (Discrimination) [HL]
Subterranean Development [HL]
Waiting for Report
Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland Assembly Legislative Consent Motion, Scottish Parliament Legislative Consent Motion)
Parliament Square (Management) [HL]
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (Northern Ireland Assembly Legislative Consent Motion, Scottish Parliament Legislative Consent Motion)
Waiting for Third Reading
Remembrance Sunday (Closure of Shops) [HL]
Protection of Freedoms (Northern Ireland Assembly Legislative Consent Motion)
Canterbury City Council
Sent to the Commons
Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) [HL]
Re-Export Controls [HL]
Building Regulations (Review) [HL]
Dog Control [HL]
Rehabilitation of Offenders (Amendment) [HL]
Devolution (Time) [HL]
European Union Membership (Economic Implications) [HL]
Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) [HL] (Law Commission Bill)
House of Lords (Amendment) [HL] (formerly House of Lords Reform)
London Local Authorities [HL]
London Local Authorities and Transport for London (No. 2) [HL]
Transport for London (Supplemental Toll Provisions) [HL]
Waiting for Royal Assent
Live Music [HL]
Public Services (Social Value)
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims (Amendment)
Welfare Reform (Scottish Parliament Legislative Consent Motion)
Bank of Ireland (UK) plc
Affirmative Instruments in Progress
The Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee has drawn attention to certain instruments in the reports indicated
Merits Committee
Waiting for consideration by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
Draft Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances (Abolition) Order 2012
Draft Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (Disclosure of Social Security and Revenue Information) Regulations 2012
Draft Industrial Training Levy (Engineering Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2012
Draft Industrial Training Levy (Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2012
Draft Postal Services Act 2011 (Disclosure of Information) Order 2012
Draft Apprenticeships (Alternative English Completion Conditions) Regulations 2012
Draft Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2012
Draft Inland Waterways Advisory Council (Abolition) Order 2012
Draft British Waterways Board (Transfer of Functions) Order 2012
Draft Schedule 5 to the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (Modification) Order 2012
Considered in Grand Committee and Waiting for Affirmative Resolution
Draft Social Security (Contributions) (Re-rating) Order 2012
Draft Social Security (Contributions) (Limits and Thresholds) (Amendment) Regulations 2012
Draft Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 (Audit of Public Bodies) Order 2012
Draft Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Order 2012
Draft Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating (Northern Ireland) Order 2012
Draft Tax Credits Up-rating Regulations 2012
Waiting for Affirmative Resolution
Draft Insolvency Act 1986 (Disqualification from Parliament) Order 2012
Draft Schools (Specification and Disposal of Articles) Regulations 2012
Draft Alternative Provision Academies (Consequential Amendments to Acts) (England) Order 2012
Draft Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) (Revocation) Regulations 2012
Draft Employment Tribunals Act 1996 (Tribunal Composition) Order 2012
Draft Unfair Dismissal and Statement of Reasons for Dismissal (Variation of Qualifying Period) Order 2012
Draft Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2012
Draft Automatic Enrolment (Offshore Employment) Order 2012
Draft Companies Act 2006 (Amendment of Part 23) (Investment Companies) Regulations 2012
Draft Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2012
Draft Localism Act 2011 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2012
Draft Parish Councils (General Power of Competence) (Prescribed Conditions) Order 2012
Draft Postal Services Act 2011 (Penalties) (Rules for Calculation of Turnover) Order 2012
Draft Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) (Payment of Claims) (Amendment) Regulations 2012
Draft Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2012
Special Procedure Order in Progress
Date of Laying
Chairman’s Hearing, Thursday 8 March 2012 at 10.15am in the Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
Rookery South (Resource Recovery Facility) Order 2011
Remedial Order in Progress under Schedule 2 to the Human Rights Act 1998
The date in brackets is the date of expiry of the statutory period
Proposal for order reported from the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Proposal for the Draft Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012 [14 October]
19th Report
Scrutiny period expires
Draft Orders waiting for consideration by the Merits Committee
Draft Orders reported from the Merits Committee
Draft Public Bodies (Abolition of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) Order 2012 51st Report from the Merits Committee, 39th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
Draft Public Bodies (Abolition of Courts Boards) Order 2012 53rd Report from the Merits Committee, 41st Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
Unless otherwise indicated, Committees meet in the Lords’ rooms in the Committee Corridor. Only the next meeting of each Committee is listed below. Further details of these meetings, and of planned further meetings, may be found in the House of Lords Committee Bulletin.
Privacy and Injunctions
Joint Committee
in the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House
EU Sub-Committee B Internal Market, Energy and Transport
Draft House of Lords Reform Bill
Tuesday 6 March
EU Sub-Committee A Economic and Financial Affairs and International Trade
Sub Committee I STEM Higher Education
Merits of Statutory Instruments
Domestic Committee
Wednesday 7 March
EU Sub-Committee D Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment
Thursday 8 March
EU Sub-Committee G Social Policy and Consumer Affairs
in Committee Room G
Wednesday 14 March
EU Sub-Committee F Home Affairs
EU Sub-Committee E Justice and Institutions
Thursday 15 March
EU Sub-Committee C Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Policy
National Security Strategy
Administration and Works
Minutes of Proceedings of Thursday 1 March 2012
The House met at 11.00am.
Prayers were read by the Lord Bishop of Liverpool.
1 Scotland: independence A question was asked by Lord Touhig and answered by Lord Wallace of Tankerness.
2 Occupational health services A question was asked by Lord Harrison and answered by Lord Freud.
3 Crime: reoffending A question was asked by Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury and answered by Lord McNally.
4 Armed forces: accommodation A question was asked by Lord Palmer of Childs Hill and answered by Lord De Mauley.
5 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill A bill to authorise the use of resources for the years ending with 31 March 2012 and 31 March 2013; to authorise the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund for those years and for the year ending with 31 March 2011; and to appropriate the supply authorised by this Act for the years ending with 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2012, certified by the Speaker as a money bill, was brought from the Commons and read a first time.
6 International Women’s Day (5-hour debate) Baroness Verma moved that this House takes note of International Women’s Day on 8 March and the contribution of women to economic growth. After debate, the motion was agreed to.
7 BBC: governance and regulation (Communications Committee report) Lord Inglewood moved that this House takes note of the Report of the Communications Committee on The governance and regulation of the BBC (2nd Report, HL Paper 166). After debate, the motion was agreed to.
8 House of Lords (Amendment) Bill [HL] The bill was read a third time. Amendments were agreed to. Amendment 8 was moved. After debate, a division was called. Tellers were not appointed for either side, so the amendment was disagreed to in accordance with Standing Order 56. Then, after debate, the bill was passed and sent to the Commons.
The House adjourned at 7.17pm until Monday 5 March at 2.30pm.
David Beamish
Clerk of the Parliaments
All statutory instruments laid before the House are accompanied by an Explanatory Memorandum presented by command of Her Majesty, unless otherwise indicated.
Command Papers
The following papers were presented to the House by command of Her Majesty:
1 Trade Marks-Vienna Agreement establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks. (8308)
2 Crime-Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. (8309)
Affirmative Instrument
The following instrument was laid before the House for approval by resolution:
Draft Schedule 5 to the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (Modification) Order 2012, laid under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.
Negative Instruments
The following instruments were laid before the House:
1 Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Levies-Amendment) Regulations 2012, laid under the Pension Schemes Act 1993. (539)
2 Lincolnshire (Coroners’ Districts) Order 2012, laid under the Coroners (Orders as to Districts) Rules 1927. (574)
©Parliamentary copyright
Prepared 1st March 2012
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Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids - Nobby's Nightmare
6:55pm Wednesday, March 27 2013
Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids - Series 6, Episode 07 - Nobby's Nightmare
Humorous tales where naughty children get what they deserve. Rude tongues are trimmed, couch potatoes are baked, precious fashion victims are sent to school without clothes, and moaning minnies are minced into spaghetti!
Episode 07 - Nobby's Nightmare
It's a boy's worst nightmare - naked on the street with the girl of his dreams. It's worse for Nobby, because his parents are naturists, leading to confusion in Nobby's head as to what's real and what's a dream.
6:55pm Thursday, March 28 (R)
6:55pm Friday, March 29 (R)
6:15pm Sunday, March 31 (R)
6:55pm Monday, April 01 (R)
6:55pm Tuesday, April 02 (R)
6:55pm Wednesday, April 03 (R)
6:55pm Thursday, April 04 (R)
6:15pm Sunday, April 07 (R)
The Adventures Of Figaro Pho
Bushwhacked!
Dancing Down Under
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No. 4 Clemson Clinches ACC Championship Game Berth With 31-14 Win Over FSU
CLEMSON, S.C. - The No. 4 Clemson football team clinched a spot in the 2017 ACC Championship Game by defeating Florida State 31-14 on Saturday afternoon in Death Valley.
With the win, Clemson improved to 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the ACC, while Florida State dropped to 3-6 overall and 3-5 in conference play.
Offensively, the ground game powered the Tigers, as all four of Clemson’s touchdowns were via a run, one each from Kelly Bryant and Adam Choice and two by Travis Etienne. Bryant finished the game with 60 yards on 19 carries, and Etienne ended with 97 yards on 14 carries. On the defensive side of the ball, Van Smith led the way with an interception on what could have been the Seminoles’ go-ahead drive. Smith also had five tackles, and J.D. Davis and Christian Wilkins topped the Tigers with seven tackles apiece.
Clemson scored the only points of the first quarter with just under three minutes left in it when Bryant pushed two yards for his 10th rushing touchdown of the season.
Etienne found the endzone with six and a half minutes left in the second quarter, breaking through traffic and powering 28 yards to cap off a one-play drive, set up by a Ray-Ray McCloud 35-yard punt return. The Tigers finished the first half with a 26-yard Alex Spence field goal and took a 17-0 lead into halftime after limiting Florida State to just 46 yards in the first 30 minutes.
The Seminoles tallied their first points with just over a minute left in the third quarter when Jacques Patrick rushed three yards for a score that cut the Tigers’ lead to 17-7. Florida State then cut Clemson’s lead to just three points midway through the fourth quarter when James Blackman connected with Ryan Izzo for a 60-yard touchdown pass.
On the ensuing Clemson drive, the Seminoles forced and recovered a fumble, but Smith’s interception regained Clemson possession just one play later and paved the way for another Etienne rushing touchdown that put the Tigers up 24-14 with three minutes remaining in the game. Choice scored the Tigers’ final points of the matchup on a 10-yard touchdown run that ended a drive in which he amassed 28 of his 40 rushing yards on three carries.
Clemson will play its last home game of the season and Military Appreciation Day game next Saturday against The Citadel. Kickoff is slated for 12:20 p.m.
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(for the Kingston Methodist Church)
Name: Kingston Methodist Church
Address: Kingston
City/County: Natchez vic., Adams County
Construction Date: 1856
Architectural Styles(s): Greek Revival
NR Listing Date: 13 May 1982
View National Register Nomination Form
Context/Comments
A hip-roofed stuccoed building with a projecting distyle portico, the Kingston Methodist Church is a highly significant example of the Greek Revival style. This significance is based on the high degree of architectural finish, the excellent exterior and interior integrity, the integrity of setting, and the unique manner in which the grand temple form is employed on a small scale in a church building designed to serve the needs of a rural, plantation community. The church was constructed shortly after February 1856, when Alexander Farrar, "desirous of having a new church erected in the Jersey settlement at or near Kingston for purposes of religious and moral culture," deeded the present approximate 8-acre tract of land to the trustees of the church (Adams County Deed Book LL:382). Dedicated on May 3, 1857, the Kingston Methodist Church has continually served as a cultural and social center of identity for the residents of the Kingston community.
Listed on the National Register on 13 May 1982. Designated as United Methodist Church Historic Site No. 80. Included in Shrines to Tomorrow (1971), Historic Architecture in Mississippi (1973) (p. 46), and America’s Religious Architecture (1997) (p. 286). [HABS: MS-160 (1940)]
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“Mr. Creed has created a kind of anti-spectacle, a strange, discombobulated whole greater than the sum of its parts, in which the building is a co-star.”
— The New York Times
Winner of the 2001 Turner Prize, British artist Martin Creed has pursued an extraordinary path by confounding the traditional categories of art and employing a minimalistic approach that strips away the unnecessary while preserving an abundance of wit, humor, and surprise. Crossing all media including painting, drawing, music, dance, theater, film, sculpture, fashion, and more, Creed’s practice meditates on our everyday existence and the visible and invisible structures that shape our lives.
Creed continues his ongoing exploration into rhythm, scale, and order in his largest installation in the U.S. to date, a survey of his work from its most minimal moments to extravagant, larger-than-life installations. Utilizing both the Wade Thompson Drill Hall and the historic interiors of the building, Creed will reimagine the space with opening and closing doors, curtains, a slamming piano, and balloons, amongst other new works made for this exhibition. These materials and situations, when grouped together, create a playful spectacle within a framework that provides the viewer with a fascinating way to counter our visually overloaded, choice-saturated culture.
ARMORY AFTER HOURS
Join us on Thursday and Friday evenings, when the installation stays open until 10:00pm, for libations at a special bar in one of our historic period rooms.
CURATORIAL TALKS
Join the Armory’s curatorial assistant for insightful, hour-long conversations with artists, scholars, and cultural leaders, who offer new points of view on this inventive artist and his largest survey to date.
June 18 - July 30; Saturdays at 3:00pm. Learn more
“Understanding” from Martin Creed’s new album Thoughts Lined Up
Martin Creed’s Anti-Spectacle at the Park Avenue Armory - The New York Times
Obsessions and Compulsions at the Park Avenue Armory - The New York Times
A One Man British Invasion - WNYC
Life Lessons with the Inimitable Martin Creed - An Other
Martin Creed’s Odd Genius Comes To Park Avenue Armory - ARTINFO
Commissioned by Park Avenue Armory. Curated by Tom Eccles and Hans-Ulrich Obrist.
Image: Martin Creed Work No. 2947: “Half the air in a given space,” photo by James Ewing.
June 8–August 7, 2016
Tuesday–Wednesday: 2:00pm–7:00pm
Thursday–Friday: 2:00pm–10:00pm
Saturday–Sunday: 12:00pm–6:00pm
Wade Thompson Drill Hall
Free for children under five years of age and Armory Members
Phone M-F 10am - 6pm (212) 933-5812
Be the first to know about ticket sales and Armory Events by joining our Mailing List.
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Norm (philosophy)
This page Norm (philosophy) is part of the mores series.
Illustration: Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books") of the Catholic Church.
Norms are concepts (sentences) of practical import, oriented to effecting an action, rather than conceptual abstractions that describe, explain, and express. Normative sentences imply "ought-to" types of statements and assertions, in distinction to sentences that provide "is" types of statements and assertions. Common normative sentences include commands, permissions, and prohibitions; common normative abstract concepts include sincerity, justification, and honesty. A popular account of norms describes them as reasons to take action, to believe, and to feel.
1 Types of norms
2 Major characteristics
Types of norms
Orders and permissions express norms. Such norm sentences do not describe how the world is, they rather prescribe how the world should be. Imperative sentences are the most obvious way to express norms, but declarative sentences also may be norms, as is the case with laws or 'principles'. Generally, whether an expression is a norm depends on what the sentence intends to assert. For instance, a sentence of the form "All Ravens are Black" could on one account be taken as descriptive, in which case an instance of a white raven would contradict it, or alternatively "All Ravens are Black" could be interpreted as a norm, in which case it stands as a principle and definition, so 'a white raven' would then not be a raven.
Those norms purporting to create obligations (or duties) and permissions are called deontic norms (see also deontic logic). The concept of deontic norm is already an extension of a previous concept of norm, which would only include imperatives, that is, norms purporting to create duties. The understanding that permissions are norms in the same way was an important step in ethics and philosophy of law.
In addition to deontic norms, many other varieties have been identified. For instance, some constitutions establish the national anthem. These norms do not directly create any duty or permission. They create a "national symbol". Other norms create nations themselves or political and administrative regions within a nation. The action orientation of such norms is less obvious than in the case of a command or permission, but is essential for understanding the relevance of issuing such norms: When a folk song becomes a "national anthem" the meaning of singing one and the same song changes; likewise, when a piece of land becomes an administrative region, this has legal consequences for many activities taking place on that territory; and without these consequences concerning action, the norms would be irrelevant. A more obviously action-oriented variety of such constitutive norms (as opposed to deontic or regulatory norms) establishes social institutions which give rise to new, previously inexistent types of actions or activities (a standard example is the institution of marriage without which "getting married" would not be a feasible action; another is the rules constituting a game: without the norms of soccer, there would not exist such an action as executing an indirect free kick).
Any convention can create a norm, although the relation between both is not settled.
There is a significant discussion about (legal) norms that give someone the power to create other norms. They are called power-conferring norms or norms of competence. Some authors argue that they are still deontic norms, while others argue for a close connection between them and institutional facts (see Raz 1975, Ruiter 1993).
Linguistic conventions, for example, the convention in English that "cat" means cat or the convention in Portuguese that "gato" means cat, are among the most important norms.
Games completely depend on norms. The fundamental norm of many games is the norm establishing who wins and loses. In other games, it is the norm establishing how to score points.
Major characteristics
One major characteristic of norms is that, unlike propositions, they are not descriptively true or false, since norms do not purport to describe anything, but to prescribe, create or change something. Some people say they are "prescriptively true" or false. Whereas the truth of a descriptive statement is purportedly based on its correspondence to reality, some philosophers, beginning with Aristotle, assert that the (prescriptive) truth of a prescriptive statement is based on its correspondence to right desire. Other philosophers maintain that norms are ultimately neither true or false, but only successful or unsuccessful (valid or invalid), as their propositional content obtains or not (see also John Searle and speech act).
There is an important difference between norms and normative propositions, although they are often expressed by identical sentences. "You may go out." usually expresses a norm if it is uttered by the teacher to one of the students, but it usually expresses a normative proposition if it is uttered to one of the students by one of his or her classmates. Some ethical theories reject that there can be normative propositions, but these are accepted by cognitivism. One can also think of propositional norms; assertions and questions arguably express propositional norms (they set a proposition as asserted or questioned).
Another purported feature of norms, it is often argued, is that they never regard only natural properties or entities. Norms always bring something artificial, conventional, institutional or "unworldly". This might be related to Hume's assertion that it is not possible to derive ought from is and to G.E. Moore's claim that there is a naturalistic fallacy when one tries to analyse "good" and "bad" in terms of a natural concept. In aesthetics, it has also been argued that it is impossible to derive an aesthetical predicate from a non-aesthetical one. The acceptability of non-natural properties, however, is strongly debated in present-day philosophy. Some authors deny their existence, some others try to reduce them to natural ones, on which the former supervene.
Other thinkers (Adler, 1986) assert that norms can be natural in a different sense than that of "corresponding to something proceeding from the object of the prescription as a strictly internal source of action". Rather, those who assert the existence of natural prescriptions say norms can suit a natural need on the part of the prescribed entity. More to the point, however, is the putting forward of the notion that just as descriptive statements being considered true are conditioned upon certain self-evident descriptive truths suiting the nature of reality (such as: it is impossible for the same thing to be and not be at the same time and in the same manner), a prescriptive truth can suit the nature of the will through the authority of it being based upon self-evident prescriptive truths (such as: one ought to desire what is really good for one and nothing else).
Recent works maintain that normativity has an important role in several different philosophical subjects, not only in ethics and philosophy of law (see Dancy, 2000).
Deontic logic
Deontology
Law (principle)
Norm (sociology)
Normative statement
Rule according to higher law
Speech act
Adler, Mortimer (1985), Ten Philosophical Mistakes, MacMillan, New York.
Aglo, John (1998), Norme et symbole: les fondements philosophiques de l'obligation, L'Harmattan, Paris.
Aglo, John (2001), Les fondements philosophiques de la morale dans une société à tradition orale, L'Harmattan, Paris.
Alexy, Robert (1985), Theorie der Grundrechte, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M.. Translation: A Theory of Constitutional Rights, Oxford University Press, Oxford: 2002.
Bicchieri, Cristina (2006), The Grammar of Society: the Nature and Dynamics of Social Norms, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Dancy, Jonathan (ed) (2000), Normativity, Blackwell, Oxford.
Garzón Valdés, Ernesto et al. (eds) (1997), Normative Systems in Legal and Moral Theory: Festschrift for Carlos E. Alchourrón and Eugenio Bulygin, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin.
Korsgaard, Christine (2000), The Sources of Normativity, Cambridge University, Cambridge.
Raz, Joseph (1975, 1990), Practical Reason and Norms, Oxford University Press, Oxford; 2nd edn 1990.
Rosen, Bernard (1999), The Centrality of Normative Ethical Theory, Peter Lang, New York.
Ruiter, Dick (1993), Institutional Legal Facts: Legal Powers and their Effects, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Turri, John (2016), Knowledge and the Norm of Assertion: An Essay in Philosophical Science, Open Book Publishers, Cambridge.
von Wright, G. H. (1963), Norm and Action: a Logical Enquiry, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Norm (philosophy)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on original research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
Retrieved from "http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Norm_%28philosophy%29"
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Christian Petersen Art Museum (Morrill Hall) Brunnier Art Museum Farm House Museum
Exhibition: Timeless: Love and Romance in the Victorian Era
Left: Calling cards were used as a formal introduction. The cards would state the sender's name and were handed out to a new acquaintance, or left with house staff or a relative of the receiver if the intended were not available.
Middle: An example of Victorian dating culture that continues today can be seen through Valentine's Day traditions, especially gifts of flowers. Each flower had a specific meaning, not only in regards to the type but by color as well.
Right: The courting couch is an excellent example of furniture that was made for courting formalities.
Exhibition: DESIGNED FOR A MODERN LIFE: Decorative Arts & Fashion in the Mid-Century
Esther Seitmann Warner Dendel (American, 1910-2002)
Detail of Untitled, ca. 1959
Ceramic tile mosaic
Gift of the estate of Esther Dendel. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. U2010.52
James Galanos
Dress, ca. 1960
Gift of Kent T. Zimmerman. In the permanent collection, Textiles and Clothing Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
Exhibition: DESIGNED FOR A MODERN LIFE: Decorative Arts & Fashion in the Mid-Century:
Charles (American, b. 1907-1978) and Ray Eames (American, 1912-1988)
DCW Chair, 1950-1969
Natural ash plywood
Gift of Geitel Winakor. In the permanent collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. UM2007.80
290 Scheman Building,
www.museums.iastate.edu
Admission and Hours:
The Brunnier Art Museum is located on the second floor of the Scheman Building. Admission is free, however there is a suggested donation of $3 per visitor. The Brunnier Art Museum’s regular hours are as follows: Tuesday through Friday from 11:00am to 4:00pm, Saturday and Sunday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. The Brunnier Art Museum is closed on Mondays and University holidays. Parking available north and south of the Scheman Bldg. in the Iowa State Center lots. (The Brunnier Art Museum is temporarily closed for renovations.)
The Christian Petersen Art Museum is located on the ground and first floors of Morrill Hall on central campus. Admission is free, however there is a suggested donation of $3 per visitor. The Christian Petersen Art Museum regular hours are as follows: Monday through Friday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. The Christian Petersen Art Museum is closed weekends and during University breaks and holidays. Parking available at the Memorial Union Ramp (fees apply). Map
The Farm House Museum is located on Farm House Lane on central campus. Admission is free, however there is a suggested donation of $3 per visitor. The Farm House Museum regular hours are as follows: Monday through Friday from Noon to 4:00pm. The Farm House Museum is closed weekends and during University breaks and holidays. Parking available at the Memorial Union Ramp (fees apply). Map
The Anderson Sculpture Garden is located south of Morrill Hall on central campus. The Art on Campus Collection is located in buildings, courtyards, and common spaces across campus. Admission is free. Hours may vary by building, outdoor sculpture available 24/7. Parking available at the Memorial Union Ramp (fees apply).
University Museums Mission Statement and Goals
The University Museums exist to foster understanding and delight in the visual arts with a focus on the creative interactions in arts, sciences and technology. The University Museums nurture knowledge of and appreciation for the University's cultural heritage and its present cultural context. The University Museums serve the Iowa State University community and the public as an educational and cultural resource.
Goals of the University Museums
Collect, preserve and interpret objects of aesthetic and cultural value.
Exhibit and disseminate knowledge of Museums and borrowed collections through a variety of programs that stimulate and challenge diverse audiences.
Create vital partnerships within Iowa State University to enhance higher education by exploring creative interactions in arts, sciences and technology.
Create public partnerships to foster integration of the arts and cultural heritage as a central part of peoples' lives.
Timeless: Love and Romance in the Victorian Era
The Farm House Museum
DESIGNED FOR A MODERN LIFE:
Through April 13, 2019
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Thornton Elected to University of Iowa Hall of Fame
IOWA CITY – The National Iowa Varsity Club and the University of Iowa Athletic Department today announced the names of six individuals who make up the 2009 Hall of Fame Class. Five former University of Iowa student-athletes and one former coach will be officially inducted into the National Iowa Varsity Club Athletics Hall of Fame on September 5th (Iowa versus Northern Iowa football game day). This is Iowa’s 21st Hall of Fame Class.
Fred Becker (Football 1916), Cap Hermann (Fencing 1964-66), Deb Bilbao (Softball 1995-98), Duane Goldman (Wrestling 1983-86), Jay Thornton (Gymnastics 1993-96) and Glenn Patton (Swimming Coach 1975-98) represent Iowa’s newest group of Hall of Fame inductees.
Jay Thornton – Jay was a two-time NCAA champion and won all-America honors seven times over a three year period. He lettered four times (1993-96) and was a three-time all-Big Ten selection. He was named 1993 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1996. He was the 1996 Big Ten champion on the parallel bars and vault and was a three-time Big Ten floor-exercise champion. He earned All-America honors on the horizontal bar in1994 and on the parallel bars in 1995 and 1996. Jay won NCAA titles in the floor exercise in 1995 and the vault in 1996. He was twice named Iowa’s MVP (1995-96).
By amgym|2017-01-09T01:22:15-04:00June 20th, 2009|Categories: American Gymnast Company News, Blogs|Tags: American Gymnast, Jay Thornton|0 Comments
3D Design Software Includes New FIG Approved Discipline
Imagine, Believe, Achieve
May 2nd, 2016 | 0 Comments
New GymABstics Program Coming Soon!
American Gymnast – Fueling the Flame
August 8th, 2015 | 0 Comments
The First Quintuple Turn? Test Your Gymnastics Eyes
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THE MUSICAL PHENOMENON
LES MISÉRABLES IS ‘THE SHOW OF SHOWS’
ABOUT LES MISÉRABLES
With glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery, this breathtaking production of Les Misérables will open at The Civic, in November 2019 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Auckland Music Theatre.
Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption – a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit.
Featuring one of the greatest scores of all time, with thrilling and beloved songs including I Dreamed A Dream, On My Own, One Day More and Do You Hear the People Sing this epic and uplifting story has become one of the most celebrated musicals in theatrical history.
Auckland Season - Children's Auditions
Bookings for Children’s Auditions will open on 22 July 2019 via the link below.
http://www.go.oncehub.com/lesmiserablesauditions
Please ensure that you read all the information contained in the audition information document linked below as this contains all the details you will need to organise your audition.
Les Mis Children's Audition Info.pdf
Les Mis Children's Audition Form.pdf
Les Mis Audition Music.zip
French masterpiece announced for New Zealand shores amidst Bastille Day commemorations ... read more >>
'I Dreamed a Dream': Les Miserables audition at 39 weeks pregnant... read more >>
AUCKLAND MUSIC THEATRE & AMICI TRUST
A new production of BOUBLIL and SCHÖNBERG’S
A musical by ALAIN BOUBLIL and CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHÖNBERG
Based on a novel by VICTOR HUGO
Music by CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHÖNBERG
Lyrics by HERBERT KRETZMER
Original French Text by ALAIN BOUBLIL and JEAN-MARC NATEL
Additional material by JAMES FENTON
Adapted and originally directed by TREVOR NUNN and JOHN CAIRD
Orchestrations by JOHN CAMERON
Original London Production by CAMERON MACKINTOSH and THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
Licensed exclusively by Music Theatre International (Australasia) and CAMERON MACKINTOSH LTD.
All performance materials supplied by Hal Leonard Australia
© Amici Productions Limited
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Brad McLeod
Brad McLeod is a writer, journalist, editor, photographer and graphic designer from Vancouver, BC
Speed Skate: The story behind the Vancouver Canucks’ ‘flying skate’ logo
Project, Sports
I originally wrote this article on the history of the ‘flying skate logo’ in January 2016, but wasn’t able to find anywhere to publish it at the time. With the news of its design being essentially ‘stolen’ by high-end Italian clothing company Versace in September 2017, I thought it might be an interesting time to release it. I made a few changes but the heart of the article is the same. It includes quotes from an interview I did with the logo’s designer, Mike Bull.
“Hockey is such a fast moving sport [and] the logo they had before was so quiet and still, it didn’t seem to exemplify what hockey is all about.”
Mike Bull isn’t really a big hockey fan. He isn’t from Vancouver and he couldn’t name a single player on the Canucks. But without him, one of the most iconic looks in team history wouldn’t exist.
Back in February of 2016, the Canucks wore throwback uniforms to celebrate their 20th season at what is now called Rogers Arena. While most fans are probably swept back to the 1990s when they look at the black-red-and-yellow sweaters, the logo on the crest — designed by Bull — has an even deeper history.
The ‘flying skate’ logo in action on the Canucks’ throwback jerseys on February 13, 2016.
While now synonymous with names like Linden, Bure, and McLean, the skate logo, which has earned nicknames like ‘the plate of spaghetti’ and ‘the waffle iron’, was originally the tamest part of one of the wildest looks in sports history.
Following a disappointing 1977-78 season, in which the Canucks finished third in the Smythe division and missed the playoffs for a second straight year, team president Bill Hughes spent $100,000 to revamp the team’s look.
No, they didn’t sign a star player, the Canucks recruited Beyl & Boyd, a San Francisco based communications firm to give them a new logo and uniforms.
According to Vancouver Sun sports columnist Jim Taylor, Ernie Boyd, the man most responsible for the new design, had never seen a hockey game, but based on research involving “color psychologists” found that the Canuck’s blue and green scheme was too tranquil for such a fast-paced sport.
So they replaced it with black, red-orange and yellow and put massive diagonal lines, which formed a ‘V’ for Vancouver, on the front of their sweaters.
The feedback on the new look was immediately split. Some fans hated it and others despised it. But it was the new crest that was its saving grace.
Local media reports after the unveiling of the new logo. They weren’t sure which way to tilt it, at first.
Overshadowed by the loud colours and bold design of the uniforms, the new Canucks logo was first found on the arms of the infamous ‘Flying V’ jerseys. To come up with the mark, Beyl & Boyd solicited submissions from up to 20 illustrators who presented different approaches.
The winner came from a freelance San Franciscan graphic artist named Mike Bull who, after doing some work for Beyl & Boyd for the San Francisco Giants baseball team, a gig that got him season’s tickets behind first base at Candlestick Park, was given the opportunity to take a crack at the Canucks new logo.
While Bull does not recall much about the process, he said he remembers the idea was always to centre the design around skates.
“[A skate design] was always the orientation. I think I just decided it was more dramatic to have the skates on the diagonal,” Bull explained. “It gives more of a feeling of speed and that’s why there are multiple lines and things like that.”
The logo originally appeared on the arms of the infamous ‘flying V’ jerseys.
For Bull, who does not follow sports beyond his hometown Giants, the logo — which is a ‘pop art’ representation of a hockey skate with the word “Canucks” forming the blade — captures what he thinks hockey is about: speed.
“Hockey is a really fast sport and scary in a way. And so I wanted to, as much as possible, to show that without showing total chaos.”
While he has not followed the logo’s progression closely since he finished his winning design, the skate has taken on its own life in the Canucks brand.
Despite the ‘Vs’ trip to the finals in 1982, the outrageous look never captured the hearts of fans in the way the team hoped. In early 1985, as a result of never ending complaints from fans about the way the team dressed, modifications were announced for the ’85-86 season.
Designed by Canucks fan and commercial artist, Glen Green, a resident of North Vancouver (who just happened to be a friend of a friend of then-Canucks president Arthur Griffiths) the new uniforms were a “rehash” of the Flying Vs.
“Word was out that everybody hated those god damned uniforms,” Green recalled. “So as an artist, I just naturally came up with these drawings and got lucky enough to actually show them to the owner.”
Green met up with Griffiths over lunch and showed him some concepts which moved the V pattern to the shoulders and made Bull’s skate logo the new front crest. While Green came up with a white version of the new design as well, and suggested Griffiths use it as the home jersey, the yellow version was selected instead.
The jerseys designed by Glen Green were the first to utilize the skate as a primary crest.
But lo and behold, in 1989, the Canucks look started to undergo a number of additional changes, beginning with replacing that yellow home sweater with the more traditional white one and removing all ‘V’ imagery. In 1992, the “red-orange” became just “red” and in 1995, the team even introduced a red gradient ‘third jersey’. Throughout this entire time, the skate logo stayed on the chest.
The Canucks had enormous success in the mid-nineties wearing what are now known as the ‘skate jerseys’ and the logo has become synonymous with the epic 1994 Stanley Cup run and all the Canucks legends who wore them. For its designer however, it was just another project, although he does admit it looks pretty sharp.
Hall of fame forward Pavel Bure is synonymous with the skate logo.
“I’ve seen it on jerseys and stuff . . . it usually has a black background [and] I think it comes off pretty effectively in colour,” Bull said on the skate’s legacy. “I mean you really notice it.”
While the Canucks retired the ‘skate’ in 1997 with a total redesign that yielded their current Orca logo, there is still a lot of love from fans for the old logo and there was a lot of excitement when it returned two seasons ago. And, while it might make you immediately think of Bure, Linden and McLean, the skate logo is really all Bull.
Tagged Canucks, Design, Hockey Leave a comment
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Tags: private childcare
22 Apr 2006, Comments Off on Community childcare centres: a threatened species
Community childcare centres: a threatened species
When you’re arguing about child care (see post on Steve Biddulph below) it is worthwhile pointing out that there’s child care, and there’s child care, and it’s not all the same.
When I went looking for a childcare centre for my little’uns, I was looking, specifically, for a community based childcare centre.
I was doing so for two reasons.
One was that community childcare centres were often joined to a kindergarten- in the one building or complex, that is – and that meant my kid could attend kindergarten. Kinder kids, as most of you know, start in late morning and finish soon after lunch – an impossible schedule for even the most flexible working parent.
The other was that the private childcare centres didn’t have the heritage and depth of commitment of the community centres. If I’m going to have my child cared for, I want it to be in a building which looks relatively permanent, which has actual grass (some private centres increasingly use astroturf). I want to use the service which has grown from second-wave feminists whose concern was to provide care for children and their parents. They didn’t grow from a need to make a profit for private businesses.
I don’t want my children’s needs to be offset against a shareholder’s needs.
Now the ABC “Learning” Corporations seems set to swallow up most of the child care “industry” (which is what it is becoming),and is now the world’s biggest child care company. Eddy Groves is the CEO, and he’s one of these Young Turks who sometimes come across as a bit sociopathic.
The notion of profit – suggest critics from not-for-profit child-care centres to Victoria’s Minister for Children, Sherryl Garbutt – sits uneasily with the notion of caring for babies and toddlers. Groves, who lifted his usual “zero media” policy for this interview, strikes back.
“That same line comes out all the time,” he complains. “OK, let’s go through some other essential services. Hospitals: private? Yes. Profit? Yes. Prisons? Yes . . . why is child care such a big thing, why is Eddy Groves such a big thing?”
Eddy, just quietly, you might want to stop referring to yourself in the third person, for a start. It makes you sound like someone with a Napoleon complex.
The problem with his statement above is that it reveals his complete and ideologically blinkered adherence to the neoliberal conventional wisdom. Yes, there is plenty of evidence coming out both here and overseas that there are big problems with private, profit-driven corporations running essential services and social services. (Wackenhut, anyone?) As far as Eddie’s concerned, it seems, there’s no argument. But those of us who use community childcare centres think there is.
Googling for privatised hospital systems, I came across this quotation:
Making profit a central motive can distort traditional relationships. To quote a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine (August 5, 1999), “Our main objection to investor-owned care is … that it embodies a new value system that severs the communal roots and Samaritan traditions of hospitals, makes doctors and nurses the instruments of investors, and views patients as commodities.”
Why The Mater’s Afraid Of The Political Wolf by David Henry, Sydney Morning Herald 18 January 2000
Substitute “children” for “patients” and “carers” for “doctors and nurses” and you pretty much have it. You can read some stories herefrom parents who have/had children at ABC Learning Centres. But the really damning evidence is that when staff from ABC and from community run childcare centres were asked whether they would send their own kids to the centre they worked in, while most of the community childcare workers were happy to do so, twenty-one percent of the ABC workers said they would not.
I meant to blog about our experiences, but this is getting too long. I haven’t touched on Family Day Care here, which is where a mum at home qualifies to run a council-sponsored service at home, with relatively few kids. This suits some people better than community day care centres. But if the community centres are all taken over by corporate chains, the councils will follow, and these mums will be answering to a suit who answers to investors, instead of to the council and the parents. (Out-of-hours school care has already gone down this route.)
The National Association of Community based Childrens’ services has a lobby kit here. If you have kids, you might think about bookmarking it for the next election.
Gender, feminism,It's the economy, stupid!
child care centres, childcare centre, community childcare, private childcare, steve biddulph, wave feminists
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Catherine Bridget Phillips
Artist - Designer - Maker
Syncytium 2017
Brass 2018
Pick 'n' Mix
Etiquette Displaced
Sharing Induced
Past Exhibitions & Shows
Catherine Bridget Phillips completed her studies in Contemporary Crafts and Products at Buckinghamshire New University in 2016, specialising in Ceramics and Glass. Upon graduation, her colourful Pick n’ Mix Prosecco glasses and her interest in colour won her a nod from the Contemporary Glass Society’s Graduate Review. Her degree brought glassblowing into focus for her, after a glimpse during her A-Levels where she also started developing her interest in ceramics. Craft was a perfect marriage of her interests in art and design, bringing an arm's length understanding of the medium up close.
Phillips is driven by the need to channel her passion into creativity and craft, the discovery in the making process, and use of her hands. Her work is heavily influenced by her extensive travels across North and South America, particularly the colours and vibrancy of Peru and Chile. After almost a decade working in the restaurant industry prior to undertaking her degree, she has developed bodies of work that are focused on tableware and the need to bring people together.
Catherine moved into her studio at Commercial Square in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire in November 2016 and since then has been continuing to learn and develop her skills in both ceramics and glass, moving more to the ‘one-off’ with a growing interest in sculpture.
Her interests within the field not only stop at designing and making, but into promotion, selling and exhibiting as well as assisting other artists in their Studios. She has worked for the Crafts Council, London Craft Week, Just Got Made, glass artist Cathryn Shilling and at the prestigious gallery, London Glassblowing. Catherine is currently working as an Art Technician in a school, continuing her passion for creative education.
instagram - @catherine.bridget.phillips
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Cavicchioli has been making wine with the most respect and pleasure for over 80 years.
Dal 1928 la famiglia Cavicchioli riveste di tecnica raffinata un modo antico di fare buon vino. Sintesi di un'epopea del vino emiliano, da saga famigliare a grande realtà.
At the end of the 1920s, Italy became aware of its immense archaeological treasures, stunning landscapes and endless potential for a new business: tourism. This unique heritage in the world also includes native grape varieties that fill the vineyards of Italy with colour.
At the same time, in San Prospero, a village near Modena, a man with a passion for his land, steeped in beauty and history like most areas of Italy, transformed the workshop behind his house into a wine cellar. He was the first person in the area to press Lambrusco grapes, leave the grape must to ferment in barrels and then bottle it when the moon was “right”. This man, Umberto Cavicchioli, wanted to give his Lambrusco di Sorbara a symbolic name: Tradition.
It all officially started on 6 April 1928, and it was just the beginning. Over the years, the family grew, the workload increased and his sons Umberto, Franco, Romano and Piergiorgio also helped with what had by now become a company. Cavicchioli expanded, along with the rest of Italy. The 1950s were characterised by reconstruction. Italy, poor but always beautiful, gambled with its creativity and won. The 1960s arrived along with cars, even though a Lambretta scooter was more often used for getting about. It was used, for instance, for the six-kilometre journey from San Prospero, where Cavicchioli bottled its wine, to Bomporto, the hamlet of Sorbara, where grapes were processed in a new building in a central position on the estate. Bomporto and the family became even closer.
In 1964, while young Gigliola Cinquetti won the Sanremo Music Festival with the song “Non ho l’età” (I’m not old enough), Umberto decided that his sons were the right age to inherit the company. They expanded the distribution network throughout the country. On the threshold of the 1970s, when the desire for freedom and transgression arrived from abroad, the company was exporting Lambrusco Cavicchioli, which represented freedom and tradition.
Then years of strong expansion in distribution followed, until it was time to let the new generations, grandsons Umberto, Sandro and Claudio, run the business. The style and name of Cavicchioli became an increasingly important benchmark in the Lambrusco of Modena area. Today, Cantine Cavicchioli can rightly claim to represent a legendary wine from Emilia-Romagna, having expanded from a family business to a wine-producing company and achieved a position among leading Italian brands.
Cavicchioli is proudly Lambrusco. When wine becomes a pleasure.
Growing up near a river means growing up with the idea of “movement”. Water on the move, goods on the move, and people on the move. On the lower Modena plain, very close to the Secchia and Panaro rivers, wine known as Lambrusco is also on the move. Back in 1928, the Cavicchioli family began to make this wine “move”. This typical family from Modena, by nature and not only by name, promotes the modern value of this unique wine all on its own. It all began in San Prospero, in the province of Modena, in a rich and fertile land in the heart of the Po Valley plain. In the shadow of the symbols of Modena, the Duomo (cathedral), Saint Geminianus and the Ghirlandina bell tower, many beautiful and important things were created, including Lambrusco and Lambrusco Cavicchioli.
The history of Cantine Cavicchioli has been moulded on the local geographical area. When everything is on the move around here, everything progresses while following traditions, those that have made the style of the Cavicchioli family unmistakable over time.
The Cavicchioli vineyards extend for over 90 hectares, close to the wineries in the Sorbara and neighbouring area, as well as the DOC area between the Secchia and Panaro rivers. The wine cellar, where production and bottling take place, has always been located in San Prospero and has never moved, however, it has moved ahead in terms of its state-of-the-art technological tools. The company’s ongoing goal is always the same: to make high-quality Lambrusco while looking ahead and combining sophisticated techniques with ancient inherited traditions in order to make good wine. The family is very important. The Cavicchioli brothers, Claudio and Sandro, grandsons of the founder Umberto who led the company for many years, are creative businessmen and geniuses from Emilia-Romagna. They have produced a red Lambrusco that is on a par with the red Ferrari.
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middle east – general
india/pakistan
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Why Good Reporting Isn’t Dead
Stratfor | 20th June 2019
Sometimes old journalists like myself feel for the Roman captives who called out to Emperor Claudius, “Ave Imperator, morituri te salutamus — Hail, Emperor, we who are about to die salute you.” Sometimes, though, a great scoop comes along to give our profession a stay of execution. It has just happened in Brazil, where disclosures published by The Intercept Brasil have severely wounded the country’s new political establishment. In case you missed it, reporting by Intercept journalists Andrew Fishman, Rafael Moro Martins, Leandro Demori, Glenn Greenwald and Amanda Audi has exposed Brazil’s much-vaunted anti-corruption investigation, “Operation Car Wash,” to accusations that it was, in large measure, a political tool used to rig last year’s presidential elections. For Brazil, it is Watergate times 10.
Internal documents and Telegram text messages acquired by The Intercept appear to demonstrate collusion among prosecutors to prevent former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from running in the election against Jair Bolsonaro and then to damage the campaign of his successor as Workers’ Party candidate, Fernando Haddad. This scoop came courtesy of a whistleblower who has put himself at risk in a country whose National Federation of Journalists recorded 135 acts of violence against journalists, including the murder of four, in 2018. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented the murders of 42 Brazilian journalists since 1992 and reports that Brazil’s Intercept staff “have received threats on email and social media following their publication of politically sensitive stories this month.” It takes a brave soul to provide evidence of official criminality to journalists not only in Brazil but in most of the world. The risks are murder, torture and imprisonment for the leaker as well as the journalist…
The End of the Story for Many Journalists
Many journalists are giving up. Jane Perlez wrote recently in The New York Times about Chinese investigative reporter Liu Wanyong’s decision to retire from the trade to which he had devoted the last 21 years of his life. The 48-year-old Liu first exposed bureaucratic malfeasance in 2005 when a conscientious police officer provided him with documents showing how a politician had arrested an innocent businessman for crimes committed by the politician himself. Liu’s story led to the businessman’s release and the politician’s conviction. That was then. With the consolidation of power under President Xi Jinping since 2016 has come total control of the media. Liu told Perlez that his paper, China Youth Daily, had suppressed more than 100 “juicy” stories since 2017. It was too much. “The core of being a journalist is that you need to love your job,” he said. There wasn’t much left for Liu to love. The same is true for many journalists outside of China.
The CPJ’s webpage records the latest assaults on journalists, a list that grows daily:
Ugandan editor charged with criminal libel and “offensive communication.”
Hong Kong police attack journalists with batons, tear gas amid protests.
Radio journalist Libardo Montenegro killed in Narino, Colombia.
Turkey charges Bloomberg reporters with undermining the economy.
And then there were the following incidents recorded by the Press Freedom Tracker:
14 journalists have faced physical attacks in 2019.
Five journalists were killed in 2018.
46 journalists faced physical attacks in 2017.
Since 2017, 48 reporters have been attacked while covering protests.
Which country did they happen in? Russia? Saudi Arabia? Iran? Nope. The United States, whose First Amendment made it a model for emerging democracies everywhere. That honorable legacy has suffered under prosecutions of journalists by both the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump for violations of the Espionage Act of 1917, attacks by police and vigilantes alike, and publishers’ penchant for playing it safe to avoid litigation or offending advertisers.
The free press in America did not come cheap. Under the British, printers and editors were imprisoned on charges of sedition for exposing colonial governors’ chicanery. A jury in New York defied the orders of the judge in 1735 to convict the printer John Peter Zenger of defaming Gov. William Cosby with accusations, entirely true, of vote-rigging and other crimes. Whenever the press has uncovered the criminal behavior of the powerful, the powerful have pushed back hard. But the press had the First Amendment, and reporters — from Ida Tarbell exposing Standard Oil’s corrupt practices in 1902 to The New York Times and The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers in 1971 — relied on the courts to protect them. That didn’t stop an Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio, from arresting journalists who documented his violations of civil rights in 2007. Nor will it prevent further encroachments on what is most vital to the health of a democracy: the right of the governed to know what their governors are doing to them.
A Lost Past
Part of the problem is the demise of large and profitable newspapers in most American cities. They were like universities with departments for politics, international affairs, sports, theater, arts and everything else that the world had to offer. When I used to freelance for the Chicago Daily News in Beirut in the mid-1970s, I would make an annual pilgrimage to the head office, where I met a dazzling array of the finest journalists in what was America’s great newspaper town — Mike Royko, Rob Warden, Larry Greene, Bob Tamarkin and the cartoonist Herb Block. If I needed to know about anything — from Mayor Richard Daley’s eating habits to a scandal at the Lyric Opera to a tip on a horse running at Arlington Park — all I had to do was walk across the newsroom. Much of that is lost with staff reductions. Journalists who have lost their jobs in those collegial settings find themselves flung from the security of the university to the precarious existence of the mendicant scholar. They do good work as often as not, but they don’t have the resources to fight bogus criminal charges and spurious libel suits.
Let me indulge in a bit of slightly romanticized nostalgia and add one more lament: the disappearance of alcohol from journalism’s sanctums. When I worked at The Observer in London, drink as much as food defined lunch and helped build what any good coach would call “team spirit.” How many sources in Parliament would have kept silent if not for a few bottles of claret followed by cognac and cigars? That world nurtured legendary journalists — H.L. Mencken, Margaret Bourke-White, Martha Gellhorn, I.F. Stone and Seymour Hersh — and produced classic novels like Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop and Michael Frayn’s Towards the End of the Morning, not to mention great movies and plays like Ben Hecht and Charles McArthur’s “The Front Page,” Jack Webb’s “-30-,” the British “Front Page Story” and Billy Wilder’s “Ace in the Hole.”
One line in “The Front Page” gives a hint of what’s lost. Editor Walter Burns, trying to persuade reporter Hildy Johnson not to abandon the paper to marry his fiancée and work in public relations, confesses, “Hildy, I was in love once — with my third wife.”
When Rome’s gladiators told Claudius they would die, he replied, “Aut non – or not.” If the public is willing to pay for and defend the free press, there may be life in the old profession yet.
Read the full article on Stratfor – The World’s Leading Geopolitical Intelligence Platform
From the Somme to the Persian Gulf, Lessons on Shows of Force
Charles Glass at charlesglassbooks@gmail.com
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Population 1.3 million
GDP per capita 19,735 US$
Budget balance (% GDP) -0.3 -0.4 0.6 0.5
Current account balance (% GDP) 1.8 3.3 3.5 3.2
Public debt (% GDP) 9.2 8.7 8.1 7.4
Public accounts in surplus and low debt
Eurozone and OECD member
Close trading, financial, and cultural links with Scandinavia
Virtually energy self-sufficient thanks to oil shale
Development of high value-added sectors (electronics, IT services)
Very favourable business environment
Digitisation of administrative procedures
Flexible economic policy
Small open economy sensitive to external shocks
Declining labour force; shortage of skilled labour
Lack of land connections to the rest of the EU
Income inequalities and persistent poverty, especially in the predominantly Russian-speaking eastern regions
Growth driven by domestic demand
Lively investment (25% of GDP in 2017) will continue to contribute to growth in 2019. Private investment will be supported by sustained business confidence and the high capacity utilisation rate, which stood at 77% in the third quarter of 2018. In addition, companies enjoy a tax exemption on reinvested profits. Public investment, boosted by European funds, will benefit the development of infrastructure, particularly in transport and education. However, growth is expected to slow in 2019. Private consumption – the traditional driver of growth – should continue to expand, but its contribution will be limited by a smaller increase in the employment rate. Wage growth, fuelled by the shortage of skilled labour as a result of emigration and population decline, is also expected to be lower. Nevertheless, slower inflation will boost household demand.
The industrial sector will remain concentrated around telephony, furniture and the automotive sector. With nearly 70% of industrial production being exported, the sector will benefit from its good level of competitiveness. However, cooler European growth could impact external demand, which is largely driven by neighbouring countries. This would have a severe effect on the country's economy, with industry generating 24% of GDP. At the same time, rail and road transport are benefiting now that the transit of capital goods to Russia has resumed. In addition, a transport cooperation agreement was signed in December 2017 to improve the train line between the two countries.
Comfortable financial situation
In 2018, growth in consumption and employment enabled public finances to show a surplus. This financial situation is expected to continue, with a fiscal strategy plan for 2019/22 that forecasts a government surplus in 2019, as well as a balanced structural balance (excluding cyclical effects). However, the local government surplus is expected to decline as a result of higher investment, with public spending by local government set to increase, particularly in the area of health (5.7% of GDP in 2019), and in promoting digitisation and innovation (4.4% of GDP in 2019). Revenues are expected to go up, even though the increase in excise duty on alcohol initially planned for 2019 was scrapped and consumption is forecast to slow.
Although it will show a slight decline, the current account surplus will remain comfortable. The decrease is mainly due to the widening trade deficit (3.8% of GDP in 2017), driven by increased imports. However, it will remain largely offset by the surplus in services, particularly related to IT and tourism (8.3% of GDP in 2017). Dividend repatriations by Swedish, Finnish and Dutch investors – who are very active in finance, real estate, supermarkets and industry – exceed the income from Estonian investments abroad, leading to an income deficit (2% of GDP in 2017). Large foreign direct investments (net inflows of 3% of GDP in 2017) are matched by portfolio investments made abroad by Estonian pension funds and insurance companies. External debt (83.5% of GDP in 2017), which is mainly private, is more than offset by the assets of residents held abroad.
The coalition is expected to be renewed after the parliamentary elections
After a vote of no confidence in 2016, Taavi Rõivas and the Reform Party gave way to a coalition formed around the leader of the Centre Party, Jüri Ratas, and including the Social Democrats (SDE) and Pro Patria Conservatives. This unprecedented coalition was made possible by the change of leadership within the Centre Party and the political representation of the Russian-speaking minority, who make up one quarter of the population and whose previous leader was considered pro-Russian and anti-NATO. In October 2018, the defection of a Pro Patria MP caused the coalition to lose its majority, as it now holds only 50 of the 101 seats. However, power is not expected to change hands, and things should remain as they are until the March 2019 election. The Reform Party and its new leader, Kaja Kallas, and the Centre Party of Prime Minister Ratas are neck and neck in the polls. The Reform Party's programme includes simplifying the tax system, promoting innovation and reducing state intervention in the economy. The eurosceptic Conservative Party (EKRE) is third in the polls, reflecting the rightward shift in the political landscape. Despite the stable political system, divisions between the Estonian ethnic majority and the Russian ethnic minority in the country remain a major challenge.
The business environment is quite good, although insolvency settlement can be a laborious process. The country could be hurt by a money laundering scandal involving Danske Bank. At the heart of the case is the Danish bank’s Estonian subsidiary, which allegedly transferred money of dubious origin that came from its portfolio of non-resident customers. A large part of this portfolio, estimated at €200 billion, is believed to be involved.
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West Virginia Scholarship | West Virginia College Scholarships
West Virginia Scholarships
West Virginia Promise Scholarship Program PROMISE will pay tuition and mandatory fees at any West Virginia public college or the equivalent dollar amount at a West Virginia private college. For the 2012-13 academic year, the amount was $4,750. The PROMISE scholarship may be renewable for a total of eight semesters at a four year college or university and up to four semesters at a two year community college or institution. You will need to submit both the application and your FAFSA by March 1 to be eligible for the Promise Scholarship.
West Virginia Engineering, Science and Technology Scholarship Program As the title implies, this scholarship attempts to interest academically talented West Virginia students in careers in engineering, science and technology. Applicants must have at least a 3.0 GPA and agree to work full time or begin a community service program in West Virginia in a related field for one year for every year that the scholarship was received. Students not meeting the requirements will be requireed to pay back the scholarships with interest. Get applications through your school and submit by March 1. There may be other requirements.
Underwood-Smith Teacher Scholarship Program This scholarship is meant to encourage students to pursue a teaching career in West Virginia. The amount can be up to $5,000 per year. Students must be willing to teach at high school level or lower for two years for each year of scholarship received. However, if the student is willing to teach at schools with a teacher shortage, an exceptional children's program, a school having less than average academic results, or a school in an economically disadvantaged area as designated by the West Virginia Board of Education, then they may only have to teach one year for each year of scholarship received.
Child Development Scholarship Program This scholarship is available to child care workers in West Virginia. If you have completed U.S. Department of Labor's Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist (ACDS) program or are currently in the 4th semester of the program and you have been accepted to an undergraduate degreee program in West Virginia for early childhood education, you may be eligible. Visit the Child Development Scholarship Program page at https://secure.cfwv.com/Financial_Aid_Planning/Scholarships/Scholarships_and_Grants/Child_Development_Scholarship.aspx for more information.
For more information on West Virginia scholarships, please visit the College Foundation of West Virginia website.
West Virginia 529 Plan
West Virginia Grants and Loans
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I'm asexual, but can my sex-loving bestie really call herself one?
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 by Dan Savage in Arts & Leisure
I’m a 26-year-old cis queer woman. My best friend has identified publicly as asexual for the past two years. She constantly talks about how since she doesn’t “need” sex, this means she is asexual. She does have sex, however, and she enjoys it, which I know isn’t disqualifying. But she also actively seeks out sex partners and sex. But, again, she insists that because she doesn’t “need” sex the way she presumes the rest of us do, she is asexual. I have an issue with this.
I’ve never had partnered sex and never really felt the need or desire for it. I’m plenty happy with emotional intimacy from others and masturbation for my sexual needs, and I do not particularly desire a romantic or sexual partner. My friend gets offended if anyone questions her label, which occurs often in our friend group as people try to understand her situation. I usually defend her to others since she’s my friend, but as a person who is starting to identify more and more as asexual, I’ve grown annoyed at her use of “asexual” as her identifier, to the point that this may be starting to affect our friendship. I’ve kept silent because I don’t want to make her feel attacked—but in the privacy of my own head, I’m calling bullshit on her asexuality. I don’t particularly want to come out as asexual to her, given the circumstances.
Am I just being a shitty gatekeeping asexual? Do I need to just accept that labels are only as useful as we make them and let this go?
-- Actually Coitus Evading
Asexuality—it’s a real thing.
“Several population-level studies have now found that about 1 percent of individuals report not feeling sexual attraction to another person—ever,” Dr. Lori Brotto writes in the Globe and Mail. Dr. Brotto has extensively studied asexuality, and the data supports the conclusion that asexuality is a sexual orientation on par with heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality. “[Asexuality] is not celibacy, which is the conscious choice to not have sex even though sexual desires may endure,” Dr. Brotto writes. “Rather, for these individuals, there is no inherent wish for or desire for sex, and there never has been. They are asexuals, though many prefer to go by the endearing term ‘aces.’”
Asexuality—it’s a point on a spectrum and it’s a spectrum unto itself.
“There is a spectrum of sexuality, with sexual and asexual as the endpoints and a gray area in between,” says whoever wrote the General FAQ at the Asexual Visibility and Education Network website (asexuality.org). “Many people identify in this gray area under the identity of ‘gray-asexual’ or ‘gray-a.’ Examples of gray-asexuality include an individual who does not normally experience sexual attraction but does experience it sometimes; experiences sexual attraction but has a low sex drive; experiences sexual attraction and drive but not strongly enough to want to act on them; and/or can enjoy and desire sex but only under very limited and specific circumstances. Even more, many gray-asexuals still identify as asexual because they may find it easier to explain, especially if the few instances in which they felt sexual attraction were brief and fleeting. Furthermore, [some] asexual people in relationships might choose or even want to have sex with their partner as a way of showing affection, and they might even enjoy it. Others may want to have sex in order to have children, or to satisfy a curiosity, or for other reasons.”
As for your friend, ACE, well, according to the Protocols of the Elders of Tumblr, we’re no longer allowed to express doubt about someone’s professed sexual orientation or gender identity. So if Republican US senator Larry Craig of Idaho gets caught trawling for dick in an airport bathroom—which he did in 2007—and insists it was all a misunderstanding because, you know, he’s 200 percent straight, well, then he’s straight. (And if Jeffrey Dahmer says he’s a vegetarian…) So even if your friend pulls the cock from her mouth and/or the pussy off her face only long enough to shout, “I’M ACE,” before slapping her mouth back down into someone’s lap, then she’s ace, ACE. Maybe in the same way Larry Craig is straight, your friend is asexual—or, hey, maybe she’s asexual in the “gray-a” sense, i.e., under certain circumstances (awake, aware, conscious, alert, sentient), she experiences sexual attraction. Or maybe she’s not a gray-a who identifies as ace but an actual asexual who is having sex for “other reasons.” A person doesn’t have to be celibate to be asexual or to identify as asexual, ACE, and until there’s an asexual accreditation agency—which there never will be and never should be—we’ll just have to take your friend’s word for it.
But just as asexuality is a thing, ACE, so too is bullshit. Denial is a thing, and sex shame is an incredibly destructive thing. Like the guy who has a lot of gay sex but refuses to identify as gay or bi, it’s possible your friend is just a messy closet case—a closeted sexual, someone who wants sex but doesn’t want to be seen as the kind of person who wants sex since only bad people want sex. Some people twist themselves into the oddest knots so they can have what they want without having to admit they want it. But even if it sounds to you (and me) like your friend’s label is suspect, you should nevertheless hold your tongue and allow her to identify however she likes. Ask questions, sure, but challenging her label will only damage your relationship (or further damage it) and make you feel like a closeted, gatekeeping ace.
And if you find yourself getting annoyed when your ace-identified friend starts in on how she doesn’t really “need” all the sex she’s having, ACE, do what I used to do when I had to listen to guys I knew for a fact were having tons of gay sex (because they were having it with me) go on and on about how they didn’t really “need” cock: smile, nod, roll ’em over, and fuck ’em in the ass again. (Feel free to swap “change the subject” for “roll ’em over” and “leave the room” for “fuck ’em in the ass.”)
Settle a dispute between friends? I’m a straight man who gets hit on fairly often by women, mostly at the gym. I usually respond with a variation on “I would be interested but I’m married.” Some of my friends argue that by saying, “I’m interested but I’m married,” I’m telegraphing an interest in some sort of affair. That isn’t my intent. I mean it as a compliment. What I’m trying to communicate is “You’re an attractive person who put yourself out there and I don’t want to crush your spirit with a curt ‘No.’” What is your take, Dan?
-- Mutual Attraction Rarely Results In Erotic Dalliances
Which is it, MARRIED: “I would be interested but I’m married” or “I am interested but I’m married”? Because there’s a difference between “I would” and “I am” in this context. When you say, “I would be interested but I’m married,” you’re shutting it down: We could fuck if I wasn’t married, but I am so we can’t. But when you say, “I am interested but I’m married,” that can be read very differently: I’m down to fuck but—full disclosure—I’m married. If that’s okay with you, let’s find a stairwell and do this thing.
Would be politely shuts the door, MARRIED, am opens the door a crack and invites the sweaty woman at the gym to push against it to see if it’ll open all the way.
On the Lovecast, Alana Massey on the misguided Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act: savagelovecast.com.
@fakedansavage on Twitter
ITMFA.org
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To launch a nationwide media outreach campaign to promote the completion of the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge (officially known as the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge) and highlight T.Y. Lin International’s role as the lead bridge designer.(…)
The Fruitvale Village was designed to revitalize northern California’s Fruitvale District as a whole neighborhood, empowering and expanding the business sector while creating jobs for local residents. De Alba Communications launched The Unity Council’s and the Fruitvale (…)
Outreach & Diversity
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) Vision Zero’s Safe Speeds San Francisco Campaign was developed to combat speeding and save lives, calling for the elimination of all traffic deaths by 2024. To maximize campaign exposure in ethnic/diverse communities, De Alba Communications performed proactive media outreach and intensive phone follow-ups to local Chinese and Spanish media outlets.(…)
The Strategic Markets Program operates in conjunction with The First American Corporation’s broader Strategic Markets Program, a corporate-wide commitment launched in 2003 to increase homeownership opportunity for a larger portion of the population, including segments who have traditionally been under-served by the financial services and housing(…)
Yunwen Tu (Tutu) is a Food Designer in San Francisco whose passion is educating the public about experiential food design. In anticipation of the effects of climate change and explosive population growth, she envisions what new forms food might take and then creates interactive educational exhibits about food sustainability. Tutu regularly collaborates with museums, restaurants, food businesses, and academic researchers, with her exhibits shown in the Bay Area and across Europe.(…)
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2014: The year it sucked to be a right-wing economist
Still think inequality is a good thing in the post-Piketty world?
Comment ça se dit, “slap in the face”?
Are you believer in the free market fundamentalist school of economic theory? If you are, then 2014 must have been a crap year. The main reason was the publication in English on what has now turned to be one of the seminal works of economics of our generation: Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Let’s understand the magnitude of this. A French economist, yes French, wrote a 700-page monolith of a tome in one of the most mind-numbingly boring subjects known to humankind and turned it into a New York Times bestseller. Presumably many of the thousands of people who bought Piketty’s book probably have never bought, much less read, an economics book in their lifetime. Maybe they didn’t even read it from start to finish (this blogger must confess, he has neither bought it nor read it) but, hey, it’s the thought that counts.
L’enfant terrible of economics
I cannot emphasize enough the he’s French bit. If there’s any country whose economic intelligentsia has been vilified by the Ivy League-bred doges of the economics profession, it is France. Yes, there’s a handful of world-renowned French economists like former IMF chief economist Oliver Blanchard and this year’s Nobel Laureate Jean Tirole, but for the most part these have comfortably fit into the “system”, and only challenged it at the margins, if at all. Certainty none of them has launched the kind of broadside that Piketty did in Capital, a book which uncovers free market capitalism’s ugly face: that of a system which naturally gravitates towards the accumulation of wealth by the owners of capital. Rather than see the two most recent periods of massive rises in global inequality (the so-called “guilded ages” before the 1929 and 2008 crashes) as oddities, Piketty has painted them as the baseline: the social-democratic golden age in the post-WW2 decades is in fact, a one-off, in which the trauma of war forced Western governments to redistribute wealth to a degree that had never been done before or since.
The meteoric rise of Piketty’s magnum opus did not go unnoticed by policymakers. The result is that the subject of inequality is now taken with the seriousness it deserves. The IMF, for example, published an important paper in 2014 on the subject, and has put it at the forefront of its current agenda. Long have we come from those glory days in the 1990s and 2000s in which inequality was a subject exclusively reserved for left-wing radicals and, well, French economists. While the most hardcore right-wingers still ferociously hold to their old dogmas, the fetishistic quest for growth and profits at all costs is increasingly seen by both sides of the spectrum as counterproductive: inequality corrodes the social as well as the democratic order, compromises growth and destroys social mobility (neoliberals long believed the opposite).
The curious case of the Excel coding error
Of course, Piketty has not been the only recent ideological setback for the right. Two years ago in 2013 we witnessed the shaming a paper that served as a template for austerity policies in much of the Western world. This was Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart’s “Growth in a Time of Debt” in the American Economic Review in 2010. The fact that it was published in a non-peer reviewed edition of the journal (one of the most prestigious in economics) should have been a warning that the numbers may have been a bit fuzzy but nevertheless, the conclusions of the paper – that economic growth became compromised when the debt-to-GDP ratio rose beyond 90% – became something of a dogma of faith for every advocate of austerity in the West. The Republicans (in particularly their “fiscal guru” and quasi-libertarian Paul Ryan) used it in their budget proposals. So has George Osborne in the UK who has used it to justify his quest to trim back the British state to Victorian-era levels. As Paul Krugman noted in an op-ed, the study’s now infamous conclusion was often quoted as being one that “economists believed” as opposed to simply what R&R had erroneously concluded.
Except it was all bull, as one lowly University of Massachusetts PhD student painfully discovered. What he saw was in fact, “coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics”. The result was that whereas the paper suggested that economies contracted by an average of -0.1% when their debt levels reached the 90% of GDP threshold, they in fact grew by 2.2%. Of course, using the term “coding error” suggests some overly complex estimation method that it was only human to fudge. Actually it was as simple as not selecting the correct range of cells in Excel; no actual coding needed. Ultimately, R&R gave a half-hearted apology not before claiming that “this regrettable slip [does not] affect in any significant way the central message of the paper”. Yeah. Right.
Why I’m still a pessimist
You’d think after this one-two punch smack in the face of free market fundamentalism, the message would be learned. Sadly that is not the case. The US and UK are growing again, but behind the encouraging GDP numbers is a rise of poorly paid or temporary jobs, stagnation of real wages for those who are already employed, and yet inexplicably, record stock market highs and corporate profits. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the status quo hasn’t really changed much. Because for all the copies of Capital in the Twenty-First Century sold, money still makes the world go round. And for every Piketty gaining “rock star economist” status, there’s still a legion of right-wing economic hacks like Tyler Cowen, Greg Mankiw, and Robert Lucas, as well as an endless number of right-wing and libertarian think-tanks thinking we should continue to deregulate, cut taxes, trim government, and party like its 1999.
Guess who governments are going to continue to listen to?
This entry was posted in Economics and tagged capital, economics, IMF, inequality, Piketty by admin. Bookmark the permalink.
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Erin Dowling Design
When governments award funding to NGOs, the end of the project entails submission of many reports to answer questions such as: How did you spend our money? What did you spend it on? What did you accomplish? The reports I design are generally accompanied by a good many additional papers, but the color version serves an executive summary of the project. (Some reports are confidential in nature. Those obviously do not appear here.)
ENGINE series (2016)
This Ethiopian nutrition project lasted five years and wrapped up in September of 2016. The culminating materials included 5 posters, 10 briefs, each between 4 and 8 pages, a fact sheet, and this full project report, 56 pages, in full color with various figures, graphs, and type treatments.
Client: Save the Children, Feed the Future
A Corridor of Contrasts (2015)
This magazine-style was more of a story about urbanization along the Trans Africa Highway between Abidjian and Lagos, Nigeria. With lots of infographics and data, as well as a journalistic style, it presented the current issues of the urban poor in five nations.
Client: African Strategies for Health (ASH)
The Expansion of Holistic and Integrated HIV Services in Guyana (2013)
This USAID-branded piece was 64 pages in length and was an end-of-project report for the Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention Project (Phase II), summing up four years of USAID and PEPFAR work in Guyana.
Client: Management Sciences for Health (MSH)
Report for the African Union Commission (2015)
This 60-page document reports the prior year's status on maternal, newborn and child health for the 54 nations that make up the African Union. The challenge here was to communicate the mass of information in a clear manner without submitting pages and pages of data, given to me in spreadsheet form.
Client: African Union Commission (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) and ASH (Arlington, Virginia)
Copyright © 2015, Erin Dowling Design. All rights reserved.
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Home › magazine › latest news › EFCI publishes European contract cleaning sector report
EFCI publishes European contract cleaning sector report
6th of May 2015
The European Federation of Cleaning Industries (EFCI) has recently published its latest survey of the contract cleaning industry in Europe. All data relates to 2012 and shows a good recovery from the severe economic crisis between 2008 and 2010. Total turnover increased by 4.83 per cent over the two years 2010-2012.
For the 19th time, the European Federation of Cleaning Industries has published its annual survey on the contract cleaning industry in Europe. Data is gathered through the EFCI member associations across the EU and this year’s report features figures from the year 2012.
In that year cleaning contractors achieved a total turnover of 64,522 billion euros in the 20 European countries covered by the survey. This represents a healthy recovery from the financial and economic crisis of 2008-2010 – with net growth of 4.83 per cent between 2010-2012. This could be down to higher productivity gains and the continuous increase in market penetration. On average, annual turnover growth in the industry over the last 22 years is at 9.1 per cent.
Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK are the five largest national markets, representing around 70 per cent of total European turnover. Three of the five largest markets in Europe (UK, Italy and Spain) decreased while Germany and France registered a strong growth.
Market penetration by contract cleaning firms has been growing steadily in recent years and is now at a level of around 66 per cent, up by 1.3 per cent compared to 2010. This means 34 per cent of cleaning is still performed in-house, representing significant opportunity for further development of the sector.
Office cleaning remains by far the most important segment in terms of turnover for the contract cleaning sector (49.5 per cent), a decrease of one per cent compared to 2010. As the previous survey highlighted, the relative importance of office cleaning has continuously decreased since 2002 and dropped below 50 per cent in 2008.
The small increases in the other segments were registered in ‘shops and commercial sites’ (+1.01 per cent), as well as in ‘schools and leisure’ (+0.76 per cent) followed by ‘façade cleaning” (+0.19 per cent) and ‘hospitals’ (+0.17 per cent). The diversification of activities towards integrated services, facilities management etc, is happening in all EU member states.
The total number of cleaning contractors in the 20 countries covered by the survey exceeded 176,900. This represents an increase of 27 per cent over two years (2010-2012), an average rise of 13.5 per cent per year. The number of companies increased in the majority of countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
Companies employing more than 500 people (about 1.36 per cent) achieve almost half of the total turnover in the industry. However, in absolute figures the cleaning sector is still very largely dominated by small companies – around 76.4 per cent of them employ fewer than 10 people.
Turnover by company increased by 1.46 per cent on average across the EU, from 437,000 euros in 2010 to 444,000 euros in 2012. This small increase is attributed to organic growth and the increase in outsourcing.
In 2012 more than 3.32 million people were employed in the cleaning industry, up from 3.317 million in 2010 – an average growth of 0.05 per cent per year. After the crisis between 2008 and 2010 many companies were forced to reduce their employee numbers in all European countries but employment is now on the up again. In fact the average annual employment growth for the industry over the last 22 years is 4.35 per cent.
Germany remains the largest employer in absolute figures (17.5 per cent of the total workforce) with an employment growth of 9.2 per cent (+48,897 employees) between 2010 and 2012. It is followed by France, the UK, Italy and Spain (all between 14.13 per cent and 10.38 per cent of the workforce). In total around 68 per cent of the sector’s workforce is employed in those five countries.
Productivity in the industry showed a strong increase in 2012, with the average turnover per worker at 24,800 euros – a rise of 20.5 per cent compared to 2010 (20,640 euros). This figure should be regarded cautiously, however, says EFCI because it is caused mainly by data updates and new calculation methods in Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Norway. So in reality the national situations in most countries have only changed slightly, with only Slovenia, Belgium, Austria and Spain showing important actual increases.
In terms of work organisation, cleaning still remains an occupation predominantly performed outside the usual periods of occupation of the premises. This is particularly true for office cleaning, but also applies to commercial premises or buildings with public access. On an EU average, cleaning services are carried out either early in the morning (24 per cent) or in the late afternoon/early evening (38 per cent).
In Norway, Finland and Sweden however, daytime cleaning has become the norm and represents respectively 80 per cent, 75 per cent and 70 per cent of the total. Poland is at the fourth place with 50 per cent of cleaning services performed during the day followed by Denmark and Belgium, where it covers almost half of the total. In the rest of Europe, daytime cleaning remains limited - the average of 32 per cent is reduced to 12.7 per cent if those six countries are not taken into account in the calculation.
This illustrates the continuing reluctance of clients to accept daytime cleaning solutions. In their Joint Declaration for the Industry, the EFCI and UNI-Europa stress the benefits daytime cleaning is offering to clients, contractors and employees and show their support to all initiatives aiming to increase daytime cleaning.
Part-time work remains the most frequent form of employment in the industry and covers 67 per cent of the workforce. Finland, however, is one of the examples where full-time employment has taken over. In 2001, part-time work accounted for 60 per cent and this steadily decreased over the years to be stabilised at the level of just 31 per cent in 2012. Together with Poland (30 per cent), the two countries have the lowest levels of part-time work in Europe.
Traditionally women account for the majority of the workforce in cleaning, at 73 per cent of the employee total. Compared to 2010 the EU average of female employment actually decreased by one per cent. The only increases were registered in Sweden (+six per cent) and the UK (+two per cent).
It is interesting to note when looking at a longer timescale (2006-2012) that the average proportion of women in the sector has been steadily decreasing since 2006: from 77 per cent (in 2006) to 75 per cent (in 2008), to 74 per cent (in 2010) and finally to 73 per cent (in 2012).
Another characteristic of employment in the cleaning industry is a high proportion of workers from ethnic minorities or migrant workers. The EU average figure has remained stable since 2010 at 32 per cent.
•The Cleaning Industry in Europe report is available to purchase at 180 euros. Visit www.efci.eu
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The Fairholme Foundation
A generous portion of Fairholme Capital Management's profits are donated to the Fairholme Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization which aims to inspire and empower humanity through funding select projects in the areas of arts, sciences, medicine, entrepreneurship, and education.
Education & Medicine
The Foundation helps institutions circumvent longstanding roadblocks to educational success, and in so doing has donated $20 million to finance the University of Miami's Student Activities Center (shown above) and has made substantial donations to the Miller School of Medicine and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as Nicklaus Children's Hospital. The Foundation has also made a donation to The Center for Jewish History to sustain its vast collections of documents, photographs, books, and other materials related to Jewish history, culture, and art.
The Foundation is committed to bringing world-class artworks to South Florida, including James Turrell's Aten Reign conceptual light installation (shown above at the Guggenheim), and Richard Serra's Passage of Time (shown above at the ALRIWAQ Doha Exhibition Space). The Foundation also supports the National YoungArts Foundation and Miami's New World Symphony, America's only full-time orchestral academy preparing musicians for careers in symphony orchestras and ensembles.
Entrepreneurship & Mentorship
In conjunction with Warren Buffett, the Foundation sponsors The Secret Millionaires Club "Grow Your Own Business Challenge." The program and competition were created to encourage kids to be entrepreneurial and practice good financial habits from an early age. The Foundation has also supported The Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program and The Launch Pad at the University of Miami, among other organizations.
The Foundation has demonstrated its resolve to give back to the community through a commitment to local charitable endeavors. Beneficiaries of the Foundation's support in South Florida include United Way of Miami-Dade, Camillus House, The Friendship Circle Miami, Lotus House, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami.
Other beneficiaries of The Fairholme Foundation's generosity include:
Make-a-Wish Foundation
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Gulliver Schools, Inc.
University of Miami's Executive Medicine Department
Beaver Country Day School
Art and Photo Credits:
Light Installation: James Turrell, "Aten Reign," 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photos: David Heald © SRGF, NY.
The University of Miami Student Activities Center at Night. Architect: Arquitectonica/Miami. Photo © 2014 Nick Gangemi for The Miami Hurricane.
Richard Serra, "Passage of Time." Cor-Ten steel sculpture installed at the ALRIWAQ Exhibition Space, Qatar. © Kevin Schwarte for Fairholme.
© 2018 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC. All rights reserved.
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This is the official website for European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) titled “EU Citizenship for Europeans: United in Diversity in Spite of jus soli and jus sanguinis” (registered here) and informally known as “Flock Brexit” and with a Facebook group of 4,000+ members.
The goal of this initiative is simple: “We will convince the European Commission and the European Parliament to pass a regulation and/or decision that will allow UK nationals to keep their EU citizenship regardless of Brexit negotiations. With enough public pressure, we will also force the UK to reciprocate these rights by taking our case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) before withdrawal negotiations are finalized.“ # eu citizenship
Like our facebook page for official updates!
Enjoy Reading? Check out more interesting articles related to this ECI!
This will open a new tab and send you to our Medium.com publication
ECIT (a Foundation on European Citizens’ Rights, Involvement and Trust) is a public foundation working exclusively on European citizenship. Its Board Members are Antoine Fobe, Niccolo Milanese, Rose Omondi, Jo Shaw and Tony Venables. Since its foundation in 2015, ECIT is quickly becoming a clearing house on European citizenship and a centre for dialogue among researchers, civil society activists and policy makers.
In February of 2017, the foundation filed a Petition through European Parliament arguing against the loss of EU Citizenship for 64 million people. Please take a few minutes to support their petition, which will help us when we present to the EU Parliament after one million signatures. Their website is HERE and the petition is HERE.
ECIT Foundation
Retaining European Citizenship is another ECI with similar motivations as EU Citizenship for Europeans. Their legal basis is Directive 2004/38/EC and their main objective is “to uphold the right of Union citizens to move and reside freely within the territory of Member States under objective conditions of freedom and dignity”.
Both of these initiatives aim to guarantee the rights and status of EU Citizenship and they are a reflection of much-needed civic engagement and participation. Our two initiatives are not competing against each other and you are encouraged to sign both in order to show pro-European solidarity and to strengthen all of our efforts in achieving an every-closer Union. Their official website is HERE and you can sign their ECI HERE.
Retaining European Citizenship
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Advice on salt, hidden in an array of foods, gets specific
NEW YORK (AP) — It can be hidden in bread, pizza, soup and other packaged foods and restaurant meals. Now, advice to watch out for salt is coming with a more specific reason.
A report released Tuesday by the National Academies of Science ties the recommended limit on sodium to a reduced risk of chronic disease. The report, which is expected to serve as a guide for policymakers, says the updated guidance is meant to convey that cutting back on salt can reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, even if people are still above the recommended limit of 2,300 mg a day for most adults.
Previously, the recommended limit was based on an "upper intake level," a threshold experts use to indicate a variety of potential bad effects. Now, the report says the upper intake level will indicate the threshold for potential toxicity, or when a nutrient causes an immediate harm. It says there's not enough evidence to set such a threshold for sodium.
It's the first dietary intake recommendation tied to a reduced risk of chronic disease, according to the report, but other nutrients may be similarly re-evaluated. Otherwise, the report mostly reinforces existing recommendations, with some tweaks. For example, it said there's no longer enough evidence that people who are 51 and older need less salt than other adults.
Advice on potassium, which is found in foods including bananas and potatoes, was also tweaked.
The report was sponsored by federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Health, which oversees the government's dietary guidelines.
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(Although everyone knows the ending to this particular tale, this post is spoiler heavy)
Within reason - reason being a month or two - I'm pretty forgiving of delayed international release dates given the practical and commercial complications of theatrical film distribution. But it's been a long month since the discourse concerning Zero Dark Thirty kicked off in earnest following its limited Stateside release. Kathryn Bieglow's feature length retelling of the hunt of Osama Bin Laden was immediately greeted by rapturous critical praise, but it wasn't long before the film started being accused of questionable ethics and a pro-torture viewpoint. This very vocal discourse has seen passionate arguments from both sides, and many cinematic conspiracy theorists went so far as to suggest the film's controversial reception ultimately denied Bieglow a 'best director' Oscar nomination (not that the Academy Awards mean anything anymore, but still). It was fascinating to see a mainstream film receive such a divisive reception, but of course it all couldn't really resonate in any meaningful way until I got the opportunity to see the damn film for myself. Cursed staggered releases!
Much of the debate has focused around the film's first act, in which a number of prisoners are tortured by CIA operatives - primarily Jason Clarke's Dan and Jessica Chastain's Maya - in an attempt to extract information concerning al-Qaeda. Bieglow has been accused of justifying the use of torture as a means of interrogation, but I have to agree with her own stance on the issue: depiction is not endorsement. While the film's characters do indeed extract some very, very limited information resulting from their use of appalling torture methods, the film never condones such actions. Indeed, the camera devastatingly stays focused on torture victim Ammar (Reda Kateb) as he is repeatedly humiliated and abused. No one can justifiably be stripped of their humanity in this way, and the audience is shown this morally repugnant tactic in all its horrific, dehumanising detail. Even the CIA characters show remorse for their unjustifiable actions - Maya is near physically ill after her first full-on experience in a black site torture chamber. The film does not for a second suggest that torture was the only possible investigation method, and I struggle to see how it anyway justifies the use of repugnant Medieval tactics. It shows torture because it was purportedly part of the real-life narrative, and to not include these hard-to-watch scenes would have been much more objectionable. Bieglow's search for truth and meaning must encompass a warts-and-all approach, otherwise what is the point?
Elsewhere, American taxpayers may be disappointed to find out their money was being spent buying top-of-the-range Lamborghini's for wealthy informants in exchange for a single phone number. How based on truth any of this is we will perhaps never know - indeed, the film's access to inside sources and supposedly classified information has been another source of controversy. But the film does a great job of crafting a compelling cinematic story - if truth was bent (as all films based on true stories inevitably do) it is done so in the spirit of crafting a thematically complex screen thriller. For a good half of the film, Bieglow breathlessly covers the 'war on terror' over a period of nearly a decade. Innocents - Pakistani, Afghan, British, American, many other nationalities - are killed without provocation. Maya becomes increasingly desperate and driven following the death of one of her friends and colleagues (Jennifer Ehle) at the hands of suicide bombers. Sources are found and lost. Information is verified, debunked and then verified and debunked again. Bribes, interrogations, high-tech tails and good old fashioned detective work are employed by the CIA in their efforts to track down public enemies number one, two, three etc... It's fascinating stuff and well-paced, although it's easy to get lost in the sheer bulk of names, places, jargon and acronyms. For a film that's already two and a half hours long, some extra breathing space would not have gone amiss. Luckily a heap of familiar faces in supporting roles - including Mark Duplass, James Gandolfini and Mark Strong - ably complement Chastain's impressively committed performance.
Eventually, we reach the inevitable climax - perhaps modern history's most famous covert military operation. This was perhaps the film's single-most challenging sequence - creating a setpiece out of Osama bin Laden's death. Bieglow handles this artfully. This is not a romantic, triumphant portrayal of American military action - it's shown as a brutally methodological operation. Only those who were there could account for its accuracy, but the lengthy sequence toes a potentially troublesome line expertly. While it works as a thrilling setpiece, it's also a sobering look at the harsh reality of military intervention. The silenced bullets not only kill armed 'adversaries', but innocent women and children also get in the way. The specialist soldiers even put a few extra bullets into corpses to ensure they'll stay down. There's an argument to be made that such an incident should not be the domain of Hollywood cinema, but it's hard to imagine it being handled anymore matter of factly than Bieglow achieves here.
Operation successful, the troops desperately gather intelligence materials and they are flown back to base, accompanied by public enemy number one in a bodybag. There is some minor self-congratulating, but there is no excessive fist-bumping here. No waving flags, soaring soundtracks or cheesy cutaways to celebrations back at base. In the final scene, Maya is alone in a carrier jet, being flown home (wherever home may be). She has spent an entire decade hunting for this one man and his associates - she was convinced nothing else mattered. Now she has finally achieved her goal, but at what cost? She has been completely consumed mentally and physically by the search, and countless lives have been lost. All they have to show for it is a bullet-ridden corpse. Is this a victory? Technically perhaps, but a horrible sort of victory, in which morals have been abandoned and billions (trillions) of dollars spent. All in search of a biblical sort of revenge - the death of one man. It's not only the torture victims whose humanity has been compromised. While Bieglow undoubtedly shows some level of respect for the work of the armed forces, Zero Dark Thirty chooses to conclude on a devastating character note, far removed from the imperialist triumphalism a lesser film or director would surely have embraced.
The conversations surrounding Zero Dark Thirty had almost led me to expect a piece of ethically dubious jingoism and pro-military propaganda. It is with relief that I instead discovered a film of complexity and thoughtful moral ambiguity. It's certainly a more provocative piece of work than some other recent Hollywood reimaginings of true events - this is several times the film Argo is, for example. I'd stop well short of 'masterpiece' - the film's second act can prove over-dense and the visual design, with some exceptions, is relatively uninspiring. But Zero Dark Thirty is still a smart, superior and challenging political thriller, and certainly bolder and more ambitious than pretty much every recent studio picture. While it's encouraging to see a mainstream release provoke a variety of critical and even political responses, let's hope the discussions don't drown out the many qualities of what is above all a cleverly crafted piece of cinema.
Posted by thecynicalgamer at 3:04 AM
Labels: american cinema, analysis, CIA, controversial, james gandolfini, jason clarke, jessica chastain, kathryn bieglow, mark duplass, mark strong, osama bin laden, oscars, political thriller, torture, zero dark thirty
La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game)
The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck and God in a Coi...
Sátántangó
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X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Brett Ratner
Hugh Jackman - Logan/Wolverine
Halle Berry - Ororo Munroe/Storm
Famke Janssen - Jean Grey/Phoenix
Ian McKellen - Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto
Patrick Stewart - Professor Charles Xavier
Kelsey Grammer - Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast
Anna Paquin - Marie/Rogue
Shawn Ashmore - Bobby Drake/Iceman
Rebecca Romijn - Raven Darkholme/Mystique
James Marsden - Scott Summers/Cyclops
Aaron Stanford - John Allerdyce/Pyro
Ben Foster - Warren Worthington III/Angel
Ellen Page - Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat
Vinnie Jones - Cain Marko/Juggernaut
Dania Ramirez - Callisto
Genre - Action/Fantasy/Comic Book
A lot of people, including myself, credit 2000's X-MEN to be the reason why we've gotten so many comic book adaptations in recent years. Due to its success, we got Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN films, Christopher Nolan's BATMAN films, the set up to THE AVENGERS movie with IRON MAN, both HULK films, THOR, CAPTAIN AMERICA: FIRST AVENGER, as well as graphic novel adaptations such as SIN CITY and WATCHMEN. There have been great comic book films [the first two X-MEN are definitely included in that] and there have been really bad comic book films [CATWOMAN and ELEKTRA anyone?]. But we can pretty much agree that Bryan Singer truly captured much of the essence that made many of us love the X-Men characters for so many years, proving that comic book adaptations can be deep, thought-provoking, and entertaining with special effects and action at the same time.
As I mentioned in my X2: X-MEN UNITED review, Singer was setting up a treatment that would lead into the third film that would be loosely based on, what is probably considered the greatest X-Men story of all time, The Dark Phoenix Saga. Obviously much of the background portrayed in the comics [and later in the 90s FOX cartoon] would have to be changed, but the general idea was definitely present. Not only would it had allowed Jean Grey to become the main villain of the piece, which would have also included Emma Frost [with Sigourney Weaver in mind for the role] and Magneto using Phoenix as their tool of destruction, but it would have allowed the major love triangle between Jean, Cyclops, and Wolverine to truly play out - allowing Cyclops to actually be in the film for more than 15 minutes. Singer was excited about it. The fans were really excited about it.
Unfortunately, the plans were hit with kryptonite, as Singer was given the opportunity of a lifetime - to direct and plan out the next SUPERMAN film. Singer had been a huge fan of 1978's SUPERMAN and 1980's SUPERMAN II and wanted to take the franchise to the next level, which culminated into SUPERMAN RETURNS in 2006. Because of this, 20th Century Fox was in a bind. Also seeking a 2006 release date for the third X-MEN film, they refused to wait for Singer to return to the franchise, instead going into a different direction with the series. A new treatment was created, one that would use The Dark Phoenix Saga as its emotional core while taking Joss Whedon's and John Cassaday's six-issue arc in The Astonishi ng X-Men comic books, called Gifted [where a cure was found to get rid of the mutant genes], would be the political arc of the film.
A whole bunch of directors were sought out of what would become X-MEN: THE LAST STAND. Hugh Jackman, who actually had approval for directors in his contract, wanted Darren Aronofsky to direct the film, due to their great collaboration on THE FOUNTAIN. Aronofsky refused. Joss Whedon was next, but he was preparing his ill-fated WONDER WOMAN film. Zack Snyder was also a contender, but was focused on 2007's 300. Matthew Vaughn, who would later direct the appropriately titled KICK-ASS and the latest X-MEN film, FIRST CLASS, signed on. After casting a few characters, such as Kelsey Grammer as Beast and Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, a family emergency caused Vaughn to drop out of the project. Vaughn was frustrated with the project anyway, since Fox was rushing the production, making him feel that his ideas wouldn't play out as well as he would have wanted them to. The studio then decided on RUSH HOUR director, Brett Ratner, who is known more for his style than his substance - something that's completely opposite with the first two X-MEN films.
The actors were also getting into the mix. Signed on for only two films, the main actors signed on for the third, with Jackman getting producer's credit this time around. Halle Berry, still riding her ego for winning the Best Actress Oscar for 2001's MONSTER'S BALL, wouldn't sign on as Storm unless her part was expanded and was made to be a huge character like her comic book counterpart. Apparently, Berry and Singer had issues during the filming of X2 due to this. Ratner agreed, which explains Storm's greater presence in the film, for better or for worse. Alan Cumming, who was going to reprise his role as Nightcrawler, had major issues with the make up for the role. While he was still willing to sign on, the studio felt Nightcrawler wasn't in the film enough to justify the cost of time to provide make up for the actor, especially since Beast was already in the film. His disappearance was explained in the X-Men: The Official Game video game, where Nightcrawler left the X-Men due to the violence that came with the uniform. Gambit was also supposed to be in the film, played by Lost's Josh Halloway. Combined with the fact that the studio wanted Gambit to have a bigger role than what the script provided with Halloway's decline due to feeling that Gambit and his Lost character, Sawyer, were too similar and didn't want to be typecast, Gambit was taken out in favor of Angel.
The film had twenty re-writes, and was rushed into production, but X-MEN: THE LAST STAND made its release date on May 26, 2006. While the critical appeal of the film took a downward spiral compared to the first two films, the box office was so high that X3 became the highest grossing film in the franchise as of this writing. But quantity doesn't always equal quality, and X3 is not the fanboys' X-MEN film at all. In fact, fanboys have and will hate this film for pretty much destroying an anticipated storyline that was tamed and reduced to pretty much a big-budget take of the Dark Willow storyline from the 6th season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer [another Joss Whedon creation]. Still, in terms of being a summer popcorn flick, X3 does succeed in providing entertaining visuals and a quick pace. So let's see why my reviewer side and my fanboy side are at odds over X-MEN: THE LAST STAND.
Jean Grey's (Famke Janssen) death has darkened the mood at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is put in a co-leader position with Storm (Halle Berry) as Cyclops (James Marsden) copes with Jean's passing. The mood dims more when they learn from Beast (Kelsey Grammer), who works in the Government as the Secretary of Mutant Affairs, that Warren Worthington II (Michael Murphy) and Dr. Kavita Rao (Shohreh Aghdashloo) have developed a serum that can cure the mutant gene, allowing mutants to de-evolve back to humans. This creates a debate about the drug: some favoring it like Rogue (Anna Paquin) and some opposed by it. Magneto (Ian McKellen), in particular, is disgusted by this and decides to clan together an army of misfit mutants to wage war against the Government if the cure isn't destroyed.
Meanwhile, Cyclops leaves the school, receiving mental messages near the location of Jean's death. He finds Jean is still very much alive, but much stronger and deadlier. Storm and Wolverine find Jean, but no Cyclops, taking her back to the mansion to figure out what's going on. Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) is not surprised by Jean's resurrection, claiming that Jean is the most powerful mutant he has encountered, to the point that he had to trick Jean into suppressing her evil alter-ego known as Phoenix - a part of her subconscious that has unlimited power that could be dangerous for everyone. Xavier is proven right when Phoenix seduces Wolverine into escaping, setting off a chain of destruction that leads her into the arms of Magneto, who wants to use her as his ultimate weapon. As Magneto, Phoenix, and the newly formed and larger Brotherhood head towards Worthington's laboratory on Alcatraz Island, the X-Men must decide to whether to join Magneto's cause or go against it.
Where do I even begin with X-MEN: THE LAST STAND? The fanboy in me finds nothing but disappointment in this film, due to the fact that what was set up in the previous f ilms ends up being nothing compared to what was expected. However, as a movie goer, it's a more than decent summer blockbuster with a lot of action sequences, a massive amounts of special effects and colorful characters, and a brainless pace that feeds your eyes rather than your brain. So how do I review this? As a fanboy? As an unbiased reviewer? Somewhere in the middle, perhaps?
Let me just get the elephant in the room out of the way. Zak Penn...Simon Kinberg - The Dark Phoenix Saga this ain't. Look, I wasn't expecting exactly the same scenario as the comic book story. It's obvious it would be too much, in such a short span of time, to go into the whole Shi'ar Empire, M'kraan Crystal, Phoenix entity duplicating Jean's body and taking her place, having the Hellfire Club [who just happen to be the villains in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS] manipulate Phoenix deal. That's something you'd take like 2 or 3 films to do. I do like the fact that the Phoenix powers are already part of Jean's DNA. It's an easy way to get around the whole thing, as well as it being quickly accessible to the audience. However, I feel that this whole sub-plot is not only disappointing, but a lost opportunity to really create something special here.
The Dark Phoenix storyline is meant to be the emotional core of the film. How hard is it to figure out that Jean's betrayal would effect the X-Men deeply, knowing that they'll have to kill her due to her uncontrollable power and urge for destruction? You have two men in love with her, who want to save her, but realize they can't. You have a villain who wants to use her as his personal weapon, only to realize he has no idea what he's unleashed upon everyone. And you have a character who is struggling with her growing power and rage, knowing she needs to be stopped but doesn't want to be stopped because the power is corrupting her. Do we get some of these themes? Not as much for it to truly work on an emotional level.
For example, here's an opportunity for Cyclops to finally be in the spotlight in one of these films. For a guy who's supposed to be the leader of the X-Men, he hasn't done much since the first film. But with a storyline like this, this should have been Cyclops' time to shine as Jean's protector. She's in love with Scott. She chose Scott over Logan. There has to be some reason why these two people are together, which we understand as a comic book fan, but have yet to see it unfold in any of these films. But instead of doing this, Cyclops is killed off in the first thirty minutes of the movie. Now I understand James Marsden couldn't really commit to a full schedule due to joining Bryan Singer in SUPERMAN RETURNS in a beefier role [and he's quite honestly the best part of that film, in my opinion], but to kill Cyclops off so quickly feels like a slap in the face to all the fans. Now if his death led to some sort of emotional scene where Jean feels guilty about it, making the X-Men wonder whether it's safe to keep Jean around when she's just killed off one of their own, I wouldn't have much of a problem with it. Instead, Jean is unsure she's killed him, feeling slightly guilty about it, and then it's forgotten like it didn't mean anything. Hell, the X-Men learn about Scott's death and don't even seem to flinch like they never gave a damn about their leader. It's terrible screenwriting because this is the point where the emotion should have started in the film. Instead, it's treated as if Cyclops meant nothing and he was just an afterthought.
At least with Professor Xavier's death at the hands of Phoenix, there's a better attempt at emotion here. Not only is Jean in shock after she's done the deed, but Magneto, who wanted to one-up Xavier by recruiting her, is genuinely troubled by Xavier's death due to their weird friendship. Wolverine and Storm are distraught over it, even holding a funeral for the man. Where was this when Cyclops died??? This should have been the moment where the X-Men realize that Jean has to pay for what she's done. Instead, they grieve, decide to ice skate, and walk around as if they're waiting for something to motivate their vengeance. Huh?
Also, we have a cure storyline that's going on at the same time as this storyline. While I'll get into the cure stuff in a bit, it's obvious as you watch this that the two storylines really deserve their own respective films because the blending of the two seems forced. If they rea lly wanted these storylines to really work together, the cure issue could have made a great example with Jean's behavior and her uncontrollable mutant abilities. Here is the perfect opportunity to showcase why this cure is beneficial to society - because it could stop someone like Phoenix from doing more damage if her powers are stripped. Not only would this have maintained the political element, but also create a stronger ethical element. While the Phoenix probably deserves to be shot with this serum, is it really the right thing to do morally to take away what's made her special since birth? Instead, it's just a straightforward "cure - bad, wage war to stop it - good" deal. I'm not saying that's horrible, but the two plot points could have really come together in a better, more thoughtful and emotional way.
As for the Phoenix character, watching her here makes me sad. There's no Phoenix emblem anywhere [with a $210 million budget, you couldn't at least design one for her costume?], no fiery aura around her, no fire powers anywhere, and no feeling of Godliness when it comes to her power. Sure she destroys a bunch of shit and kills people, but this character is not Phoenix - only in name. If I want to see this character portrayed, I'll watch Dark Willow from Buffy. At least it was done better there and actually have an emotional arc leading into it, during it, and after it.
As for the cure storyline on its own, I guess it's okay. It's obvious that this serum wasn't done as quickly as it was portrayed in the film. In fact, for the Government to let this be used as a weapon against mutants, it had to have been planned for months, even years. So it makes the Government look like prejudiced douchebags. But at least, compared to the other storyline, it moves the story forward in a believable [for a comic book film] way and there's actually some thought into how it's played out. It motivates the Brotherhood's justification for war. It divides the X-Men, with some members actually wanting to be cured. And when it is used on certain characters, it brings out the true colors in those they relied on, realizing they were never their friends at all. So it is the stronger plot point of the two and it does allow some sort of thought process to occur not only in the characters themselves, but in the audience as well. And that's a great thing because it's realistic. It does feel rushed at times [this film really is too short for what it's trying to attempt], but the story is strong enough to keep the film balanced. Like I said, this should have been its own film.
The main problem with X-MEN: THE LAST STAND is that it reminds me of MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION - too many damn characters. It's obvious Fox wanted to please fans by throwing every X-Men character they could manage into 104 minutes. Every X-MEN film has had this as one of their flaws to begin with, but at least Bryan Singer and his screenwriters were able to sort of maintain a healthy balance where we never felt overwhelmed. In this film, you can hardly keep up with all these people. You already have the X-Men, who are now joined by Beast, Colossus, and Shadowcat. You have a much larger Brotherhood that adds Multiple Man, Juggernaut, Callisto, Kid Omega [who's really Quill], Arclight, Psylocke, Phoenix, and a whole bunch of nameless mutants that all seem to share similar abilities [lazy...]. Then you have Dr. Moira McTaggert, General Trask, and a whole bunch of politicians and soldiers. It's just too damn much and it doesn't allow the characters to develop with each other or with the audience. Instead, you just point at the screen and randomly name the characters you recognize off to your friends. It sinks the film in a lot of ways, even though it's always cool to see them on screen.
As for the characters themselves, it's a mixed bag. Wolverine loses his edge a bit in this film, becoming more emotional - crying and screaming whenever he loses a loved one. He doesn't really go berserk here, instead acting more like a tamed leader than a hothead. I guess that's a natural progression of his character after three films, but the edge should never go away like it does here. Storm is more of a presence in the film. While she does do cool tricks and uses her power like the comic book storm would do, she acts like a bitch on her downtime. Plus, she's not that interesting as a character in these films, so she does nothing for me. Xavier comes across as a total dick to everyone, accusing Wolverine of letting Jean escape and acting sort of sly when he admits to keep Jean's Phoenix persona in check. Now this is something the real Xavier would do in the comics, but after seeing how level-headed he was in the first two films, it's a dramatic change that'll give you whiplash. Rogue is a waste. Her only purpose is to be part of a lame love triangle with Iceman [who she has no chemistry with at all, which makes me wonder why she even bothers taking the cure - Iceman, by the way, is only here to be the opposite of Pyro for their fight at the end...nothing more, nothing less] and Shadowcat [who actually has a personality and should have been in the film more]. I can't even write about this "Rogue" character anymore. Ugh. Colossus is just background dressing. Beast is actually interesting, but isn't in the film enough to really grab you as much as he should. Angel, who should have been a major character in the film since he was supposed to be a victim of this cure to please his father, is given the shaft fairly quickly until the predictable moment arrives where he has to save his dad from being killed by the Brotherhood. What's the point?
As for the villains, Mystique is still f'n cool as always. Unfortunately, her role is really small here and doesn't really get to do much. Multiple Man, due to Eric Dane's acting, is a character you would want more of. Of course, they give you less instead. Pyro's only real moments are with Iceman. Besides that, he does nothing. Juggernaut is just a mess here. He's a mutant in this film, which is totally wrong from his comic book character. Juggernaut is powerful due to the Gem of Cyttorak, with gives him his superhuman abilities, not because he's a mutant. Also, he's Xavier's stepbrother, which is never acknowledged in the film and could have added some much-needed drama. Other than that, I'm cool with the character. "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" is still my favorite piece of dialogue in this franchise. Psylocke, Arclight, and Kid Omega are wasted. Callisto, even though her powers are wrong, is one of the better new characters in the film. She actually has personality and her battles with Storm are entertaining, as well as being true to their rivalry in the comics. And we have Magneto, who is great as always. He's more crazed, evil. yet human here in this installment. It's really hard to mess up a character like him, and Penn and Kinberg do right by him.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND holds the biggest budget in the franchise, and you can definitely tell by all the special effects created for this film from beginning to end. Hundreds of mutants battling each other, with some growing bone daggers out of their forearms, some regenerating limbs, etc. Plus Storm gets to fly and shoot lightning like crazy, Callisto runs at super speed, Phoenix turning people into ash, and Magneto taking the Golden Gate Bridge and using it as a pathway to Alcatraz in probably the best moment in the film next to Phoenix battling Xavier inside her family home. We also witness the classic Colossus and Wolverine "Fastball Special" twice, especially during the Danger Room sequence with the Sentinel [which looks incredible - too bad it's just a tease]. And Iceman finally ices up into...Iceman! And compliments to the make-up team, who turn Kelsey Grammer into a truly believable Beast. To be honest, the special effects are the best part of X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, truly making it feel like a comic book film. It's total eye candy, which is perfect for a summer film like this.
Brett Ratner takes over for Bryan Singer here as director. Now it's widely known that Ratner isn't the most popular director in the world. A lot of people believe it's Ratner's fault that X-MEN: THE LAST STAND didn't really succeed on the level of the previous two films. A part of me does agree with that. In fact, Ratner is very much an ADD type of director, where he goes from one visual to the next without letting it resonate with the audience. I do think the film moves a bit too fast at times, which you can tell by how rushed the story progresses, as well as some bad edits that appear from time to time. However, Ratner does create an energetic movie that I can't honestly say I'm bored by. Do I think the direction is flawless? Absolutely not. But he provides a quick paced, entertaining popcorn flick that truly looks and feels like an all-out comic book brought to life. He could have let certain scenes play out longer to create more emotion, but the man has always been more about style rather than substance. Were people expecting anything less?
The acting in the film is great as usual. Hugh Jackman, as Wolverine, still rocks. His character isn't all that great this time around, but he definitely makes the most of it. Famke Janssen does her best work in the franchise as Phoenix, truly creating a dual-personality driven character that you actually feel sorry for. I wish she had less moments where she just stood around like a statue and more scenes where she just hurt people because she could, but Janssen does really well with the material. Ian McKellen is fantastic as usual as Magneto, bringing a class to the film that it truly needs. Same goes with Patrick Stewart, who plays a douchier character this time around. Ellen Page is great as Kitty Pryde. She got the role due to her phenomenal work on HARD CANDY, and truly creates a pitch perfect Shadowcat here. I think she should h ave been in the franchise since the start as a main character instead of Rogue, to be honest with you. Kelsey Grammer is the ultimate surprise as Beast. I remember thinking that the casting choice was terrible before watching the film, but I'm glad to have been wrong. He's really good as the character and his action sequence during the final act put a smile on my face. Vinnie Jones is funny as Juggernaut and Dania Ramirez is very cool as Callisto.
Unfortunately, Anna Paquin is totally wasted as Rogue. She doesn't do anything but whine. And Halle Berry, "Queen" of the X-MEN franchise, is terrible as Storm. I don't care if she has an Oscar and looks hot. She's still miscast as Storm and giving her a bigger role just proves it. It's sad that I think her acting was better in CATWOMAN. Scary, isn't it?
THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE SITTING DOWN AFTER MY LAST STAND
- Guys only have their minds on one thing. Ben Grimm is a cool character and all, but my mind is usually on sex - or like I usually call it, "It's clobberin' time!"
- Mystique is the perfect woman. She can shape shift into anyone, never giving you the need to find another woman that could give you something else your girlfriend or wife can't. Just like Paris Hilton, she's everyone's type.
- Jean Grey's dormant personality calls itself Phoenix. That's one of my nicknames as well. I usually get called that every time I arrive at a strip club, or watch porn.
- Captain's Log, 6311 - Phoenix turned Professor Xavier into a pile of ash with her powers. Being transformed into a Borg is probably a more pleasant experience. At least he doesn't have to deal with that annoying Crusher kid anymore. What a douche!
- Magneto broke off the Golden Gate Bridge to make a pathway to Alcatraz. Too bad he didn't do this during the intro of Full House to save me from that torture. How rude!
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND is an entertaining film for those who aren't too familiar with the X-M en storylines and characters from the comic books, providing great eye candy and a decent enough story to keep you interested from beginning to end. X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, for fans like me, is truly a massive disappointment and should have been a lot better than what we were given. But I can't say that I hate the film or that I wasn't entertained by it. I just wish things could have been different behind-the-scenes to truly see the full potential that's never touched upon. And while this film was called THE LAST STAND, it's anything but since Fox has already announced an X4 and an X5 coming soon dealing with Mister Sinister and Apocalypse supposedly. Let's hope those films aren't as flawed as this one and especially X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. But that's a review for another time...
SCORE 2 Howls Outta 4
Posted by Fred [The Wolf] at 1:28 PM
Labels: 2 Howls, 2000s, action, comic books, fantasy, marvel comics, sequel
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ChyronHego CEO Michael Wellesley-Wesley to Retire Effective December 31, 2013; Board Selects Johan Apel as Successor
September 04, 2013 16:30 ET | Source: ChyronHego
MELVILLE, NY--(Marketwired - Sep 4, 2013) - ChyronHego Corporation (NASDAQ: CHYR) today announced that CEO Michael Wellesley-Wesley has informed the board of directors of his plans to retire as the Company's chief executive officer after 10 years of service. ChyronHego president and chief operating officer, Johan Apel, will succeed Wellesley-Wesley as CEO effective January 1, 2014. Wellesley-Wesley will remain a member of ChyronHego's Board of Directors.
"The recent completion of the combination of Chyron and Hego unites two pioneering companies to create a global leader in broadcast graphics creation, playout and real-time data visualization," said Wellesley-Wesley. "This is a truly transformative leap forward, and it presents an appropriate opportunity to define an orderly succession whereby the leadership responsibilities for the combined company transfer to Johan Apel. Johan is superbly well qualified to develop and execute the vision, the strategies and operating concepts for ChyronHego in ways that will allow us to simultaneously address the evolving needs of customers and the expectations of our shareholders."
"Michael Wellesley-Wesley has had a distinguished career, working tirelessly on behalf of ChyronHego's customers, shareholders and employees to build a strategically focused company with a products and services portfolio shaped to meet the challenges of today's media production environment with an increased emphasis on 'live' production tools and services," said Roger Ogden, ChyronHego Chairman. "Throughout his tenure, Michael and the board have focused on identifying and developing talent and assuring a high-quality succession plan as a cornerstone of good corporate governance. The board has every confidence in Johan's ability to take the company forward and build shareholder value."
Johan Apel has served as ChyronHego President and COO since May 2013. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of Hego AB.
About ChyronHego
ChyronHego (NASDAQ: CHYR) is a global leader in broadcast graphics creation, playout and real-time data visualization with a comprehensive range of products and services for live television, news and sports production. ChyronHego's end-to-end graphics offerings include hosted services for graphics creation and order management, on-air graphics systems, clip servers, social media and second screen applications, channel branding, graphics asset management, virtual and touch graphics, telestration, and 3D player tracking. Headquartered in Melville, N.Y., the company also has offices in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom. More information about ChyronHego products and services is available at www.chyronhego.com. The Company's investor relations information is at www.chyron.com, click on Investors.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to our belief that the recent combination of Chyron and Hego has created a global leader in broadcast graphics creation, playout and real-time data visualization, and represents a transformative leap forward. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: current and future economic conditions that may adversely affect our business and customers; potential fluctuation of our revenues and profitability from period to period which could result in our failure to meet expectations; our ability to integrate the operations of Chyron and Hego successfully and in a timely manner; our ability to maintain adequate levels of working capital; our ability to successfully maintain the level of operating costs; our ability to obtain financing for our future needs should there be a need; our ability to incentivize and retain our current senior management team and continue to attract and retain qualified scientific, technical and business personnel; our ability to expand our Axis online graphics creation solution or to develop other new products and services; our ability to generate sales and profits from our Axis online graphics services, workflow and asset management solutions; rapid technological changes and new technologies that could render certain of our products and services to be obsolete; competitors with significantly greater financial resources; introduction of new products and services by competitors; challenges associated with expansion into new markets; failure to stay in compliance with all applicable NASDAQ requirements that could result in NASDAQ delisting our common stock; and, other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Item 1A in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 and Part II, Item 1A of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2013 and June 30, 2013, which have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release and we undertake no duty to update this information unless required by law.
All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
ChyronHego Investor Relations
Tel: (631) 845-2000, press 7
Email: IRelations@chyron.com
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October 2014 (Volume xxxv Issue 10)
The Big 5
The Cares certification scheme… covers all stages in the supply chain of reinforcing steel.
Authority on steel
CARES, the UK-based certification authority for reinforcing steel products and systems, will be at The Big 5 expo in Dubai, UAE, next month (November) to highlight the benefits of using its product certification services and deal with any concerns clients in the sector may have.
Its product certification schemes have been developed to meet the needs of users of steel products for the reinforcement of concrete. The authority has acquired extensive experience in designing and operating certification schemes to meet the needs of the industry.
Its certification covers all stages in the supply chain from the processing of raw materials, the manufacture of steel and construction products through to the product installation or delivery to the customer.
Cares always aims to maintain the highest standards of certification and service, and in doing so it treats the issue of complaints and their resolution very seriously. It handles concerns and complaints from all over the world. “In fact one of the most recent complaints was from Abu Dhabi, UAE,” says a spokesman for Cares.
One recent concern from Europe was regarding the quality of imported reinforcing steel from China: “There has been panic spread about the compliance of reinforcing steel to BS 4449, manufactured in China, and imported into the UK. To date, despite much investigation by Cares, no evidence has been found to indicate that the physical product placed on the market did not comply with the product standard, BS 4449 2005,” says the spokesman.
Cares operates by granting certification to individual steel mills at specific locations. As a consequence, the certificates that it issues to steel mills are product standard specific, size specific and location specific. “It is, therefore, unreasonable and unrealistic to denigrate all reinforcing steel manufactured in a specific country,” he says
However, in the event a steel mill fails to comply with the requirements of the Cares Steel for the Reinforcement of Concrete Scheme, the body then has a number of sanctions at its disposal in seeking to secure compliance with its scheme. It must also ensure a proportionate response to any infringement. In any investigation, the confidentiality that exists between Cares and the approved firm will also be preserved.
Explaining the certification process, the spokesman says: “The Cares product certification scheme for steel for the reinforcement of concrete utilises staff and auditors who are experts in the areas of reinforcing steel, including the product, processing and the supply chain. It audits manufacturers, processors and traders of the product.”
Furthermore, companies of this type are audited twice in every 12-month period against a particular set of criteria that are created by a set of committees designed for this purpose. These requirements are amended from time to time, and the turnaround time can be very short. Such committees include construction clients, designers, manufacturers, processors and contractors, and, hence, are balanced in terms of sector representation.
The spokesman says Cares certification cannot guarantee the compliance of every piece of rebar that comes out of a manufacturer’s factory, but rather, it vastly reduces the risk of a non-compliance happening. “The manufacturer retains all product liability, leaving Cares with the responsibility for the correct application of its scheme,” he adds.
But as an accredited body, Cares must react to investigate and correct any complaints that it receives from any area. This includes complaints against its approved firms from other parties and complaints against itself from various sources, including from its approved firms. It has received relatively few complaints since its operation began in 1984.
“Recently, there have been two separate complaints from, both a Cares-approved firm and its trade association. These complaints have both been in regard to the height of the longitudinal rib on reinforcing steel imported into the UK from China,” says the spokesman.
“The trade association has insinuated that there could also be the same concerns for steel imported from Turkey,” he says, adding “Cares has taken both complaints very seriously. In the first complaint, received from a Cares-approved firm, Cares concluded that the steel was perfectly satisfactory.”
However, as a result of its investigation, Cares wrote to the chairman of the BSI reinforcing steel committee regarding the repeatability of the test related to the measurement of the longitudinal rib. The investigation into the second complaint is ongoing.
“In order to reassure itself that it is not acting in a commercially unjust and irregular fashion, Cares is now consulting with other certification bodies throughout Europe regarding how they would have acted in a similar situation. Whilst still in the midst of this exercise, correspondence received to date from other certification bodies has indicated that Cares has acted in a responsible and professional way, and that other certification bodies would have acted similarly to Cares,” the spokesman concludes.
Big in Dubai
Japanese quality
Full range on show
Innovation on display
Industry pioneer
Focus on new launches
Hygienic floorings
Diversification move
Sealing success
Italian finesse
Green engineering
Saudi Build 2014 Glass & Metal The Big 5 ICT Precast Concrete Just Out Legally Bound Regional News Saudi Focus UAE Focus Events Diary of Events Real Estate Interiors Contractors Tenders
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Hearings for Kitterman murder defendants Thursday, June 25
By Gazette-Tribune on June 26, 2009 in News
OKANOGAN – All four defendants in the Michelle Kitterman murder case will appear in court for another hearing today.
On Thursday, June 25 at 8:30 a.m. in the Okanogan County Superior Court Courtroom, Lacey Hirst-Pavek will appear for an evidentiary hearing. Hirst-Pavek is being charged with First Degree Murder and First Degree Manslaughter.
Prosecuting attorney Jennifer Richardson said Hirst-Pavek’s jury trial date has been extended to Tuesday, Nov. 17. On Thursday, April 2, the accused was released on $250,000 bail after being arrested on Tuesday, March 31.
Tansy Fae Arwen Mathis, Brent L. Phillips and David Eugene Richards, the other three defendants, will begin appearing in the Okanogan County Jail In-Custody Courtroom at 1:30 p.m. June 25 for review hearings. Each is being charged with Aggravated First Degree Murder, Aggravated First Degree Manslaughter and First Degree Kidnapping. Mathis and Phillips are also being charged with First Degree Tampering with Physical Evidence. They are all being held in Okanogan Jail on $1 million bail and their jury trials have been rescheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22.
According to court documents, Kitterman was having an affair with Hirst-Pavek’s husband, Daniel Pavek, and was pregnant with his child. Hirst-Pavek allegedly made comments that she wanted Kitterman “taken care of.”
Through the investigation, the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Department determined that Hirst-Pavek eventually made contact with Mathis referencing Kitterman and over several meetings, in Okanogan County and Spokane, they came to an agreement for Mathis to take care of Kitterman for $500.
On Sunday, March 1, the body of Kitterman was found in the driveway of 193 Stalder Road in Tonasket. According to court documents the autopsy’s preliminary results indicated the cause of death was homicidal violence and that Kitterman was about 11 weeks pregnant.
Mathis was arrested in Spokane after midnight on Thursday, March 26. Phillips was arrested in Seattle around 10 p.m. on March 26. Richards turned himself in to the Spokane Police Department on Sunday, April 5 after a warrant for his arrest was issued on March 31.
All four defendants have pled not guilty to all charges.
Court Report and 911 Calls
Oroville gives go ahead to Verizon’s 80 foot cell tower
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Pakistani man finds fame as 'Game of Thrones' character doppelganger
AFP Fri, 22 Mar 2019 Fri, 22 Mar 2019
(COMBO) This photo combination created on March 14, 2019 shows (L) Pakistani Rozi Khan posing for a photograph at Dilbar Hotel in Rawalpindi on February 22, (R) US actor Peter Dinklage at the HBO premiere of "My Dinner With Herve" at the Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on October 4, 2018. AFP / Aamir QURESHI AND Chris DELMAS
In this picture taken on February 22, 2019, Rozi Khan, a 25-year-old Pakistani who resembles US actor Peter Dinklage, looks on at Dilbar Hotel in Rawalpindi. AFP / AAMIR QURESHI
In this picture taken on February 22, 2019, Rozi Khan (C), a 25-year-old Pakistani who resembles US actor Peter Dinklage, offers Friday prayers at a mosque in Rawalpindi. / AFP / AAMIR QURESHI
In this picture taken on February 22, 2019, Rozi Khan (C), a 25-year-old Pakistani who resembles US actor Peter Dinklage, offers Friday prayers at a mosque in Rawalpindi. AFP / AAMIR QURESHI
In this picture taken on February 22, 2019, Pakistani waiter Rozi Khan, 25, who resembles US actor Peter Dinklage, walks on a street in Rawalpindi. AFP / AAMIR QURESHI
In this picture taken on February 22, 2019, Pakistani Rozi Khan, 25, who resembles US actor Peter Dinklage, working at Dilbar Hotel in Rawalpindi. AFP / AAMIR QURESHI
Rawalpindi, Pakistan: Pakistani Rozi Khan had never heard of the Game of Thrones -- or its hugely popular character Tyrion Lannister -- until his striking resemblance to the dwarf anti-hero got heads turning at home.
The 25-year-old so resembles actor Peter Dinklage -- who has played the witty and wily nobleman since the hit series' first season in 2010 -- that he gets regularly stopped by strangers desperate for a picture.
"I don't mind. A lot of my pictures have been taken, that's why I have become very famous everywhere," he said.
Not only are Khan and Dinklage's faces strikingly similar, they are also the same height at around 135 cms (4 ft 5in).
Photographs of the pair have unsurprisingly made their way onto social media showing the doppelgangers side-by-side.
"Wherever I go, someone says to me: 'Sir, who is this man with you on Facebook', I say that he is my friend. 'He looks like you'. I tell them he is my brother. It's not a bad thing," said Khan.
The television series has won 47 Emmys -- more than any other fictional show in history -- along with a Golden Globe for Dinklage, 49, for best supporting actor in 2012.
A much anticipated final series is set to premiere on April 17.
Khan works at a small restaurant down a narrow line in Rawalpindi, serving customers hearty dishes such as mutton and spinach curries.
Owner Malik Aslam Pervez described him as a hard-worker -- and also a drawcard for the eatery.
"When he takes a day off or gets sick, people look for him and ask where did he go? They get upset. They love him. There is always a crowd here but it has boomed because of him," he said.
Born in Mansehra in northern Pakistan, Khan says he would love to meet Dinklage, describing him as a friend and brother.
"I love him very much, he is my friend... he is my height so I like him a lot," said Khan.
For customers, seeing Tyrion Lannister in the flesh is also a thrill.
"When I saw him, I'm happy, I feel that I met with Lannister in real [life]," said Zain Hadri, 20.
"Game of Thrones" tells the story of noble families vying for control of the Iron Throne, all the while keeping one eye on the "White Walkers" leading hordes of the undead toward an invasion from the North.
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Feininger, Lyonel (German painter, illustrator, and teacher, 1871-1956, active in Germany and America)
Note: Feininger's highly personal style was influenced by Delaunay and Cubism. He moved to Germany in 1887 and enrolled in art classes at the Allgemeinen Gewerbeschule in Hamburg, after which he left for Berlin in 1888 and studied painting at the Royal Academy (Berlin, Germany) from 1888 to 1892. In 1892 and 1906 he attended the art school in Paris run by Filippo Colarossi. From either 1893 to ca. 1907 or 1895 to 1914, Feininger produced illustrations for the journals Ulk, The Chicago Tribune and Le Témoin. He returned to painting in 1907 and was a member of the Berlin Secession from 1909 to 1913 and exhibited with the Blaue Reiter in 1913. He was appointed a Master at the Bauhaus, Weimar, in 1919 and directed the graphic workshop. In 1925 or 1926, Feininger moved to the Bauhaus, Dessau, and continued as a Master until ca. 1932 or 1933 but no longer taught classes. He was the only person to be on staff at the Bauhaus from start to finish. In 1936, Feininger left for New York and a year later, in Germany, his work was declared degenerate by the Nazis. He conducted a course at Mills College (Oakland, California) in either 1936 or from 1936 to 1937. From 1938 to 1939, he designed murals for the Marine Transportation Building and Masterpieces of Art Building at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He was elected president of the Federation of American Painters and Sculptors in 1947 and continued painting until his death in 1956. American painter. Comment on works: Landscapes
Feininger, Lyonel (preferred,V,index,LC,English-P,NA,U)
Lyonel Feininger (V,display)
Feininger, Léonell Charles (V)
Feininger, Lyonel Charles Adrian (V)
Feininger, Charles Léonell (U)
פיינינגר, ליונל (U,Hebrew-P,NA,U)
Feininger (LU,U)
feininger, l. (LU,U)
lionel feininger (LU,U)
American (preferred)
Born: New York City (New York state, United States) (inhabited place)
Died: New York City (New York state, United States) (inhabited place)
active: 1887-1888 Hamburg (Hamburg state, Germany) (inhabited place)
active: 1888-1892 Berlin (Berlin state, Germany) (inhabited place)
active: 1892-1906 Paris (Île-de-France, France) (inhabited place)
active: 1919-1925 Weimar (Hessen state, Germany) (inhabited place)
active: 1925-1933 Dessau (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) (inhabited place)
active: from 1936 United States (North and Central America) (nation)
colleague of .... Scheyer, Galka
...................... (American art dealer and collector, 1889-1945, born in Germany) [500349756]
parent of .... Feininger, Andreas
................ (American photographer, 1906-1999) [500031430]
parent of .... Feininger, T. Lux
................ (American painter and photographer, 1910-2011, born in Germany) [500021971]
professor at (person to institution) .... Bauhaus
................................................................ (German art school, 1919-1933) [500125058]
teacher at (person to institution) .... Black Mountain College
............................................................ (American liberal arts college, active 1933-1957) [500125890]
teacher of .... Ardon, Mordecai
.................. (Israeli painter, 1896-1992) [500030956]
........ Feininger, Lyonel (I)
(German painter, illustrator, and teacher, 1871-1956, active in Germany and America) ..... [VP Preferred]
(American painter, 1871-1956) ..... [BHA]
(American painter, illustrator, muralist and teacher; born New York (City) (New York, United States), 1871; died New York (City) (New York, United States), 1956) ..... [CCA]
(American, 1871-1956) ..... [GRLPA]
(American painter, 1871-1956) ..... [PROV]
(American artist, 1871-1956) ..... [WCP]
(American artist, 1871-1956) ..... [WCI]
(American artist, 1871-1956) ..... [WL-Courtauld]
(American painter, 1871-1956) ..... [AVERY]
(artist, active 20th century) ..... [GRISC]
(American artist, 1871-1956) ..... [PROV]
(American artist, 1871-1956) ..... [MoMA]
(American artist) ..... [PROV]
(American painter, 1871-1956) ..... [IMJ]
פיינינגר, ליונל ........ [IMJ]
.............................. Israel Museum Jerusalem database
Feininger ........ [PROV]
..................... Provenance Index Databases, Authority file (1985-)
Feininger, Charles Léonell ........ [GRL]
..................................................... Library of Congress Authorities database (n.d.) n 50001305
feininger, l. ........ [PROV]
.......................... Provenance Index Databases, Authority file (1985-)
Feininger, Léonell Charles ........ [CCA, GRL]
..................................................... Canadian Centre for Architecture database
Feininger, Lyonel ........ [AVERY Preferred, BHA Preferred, CCA Preferred, GRISC Preferred, GRL Preferred, GRLPA Preferred, IMJ Preferred, MoMA Preferred, PROV Preferred, VP Preferred, WCI Preferred, WCP Preferred, WL-Courtauld Preferred]
.................................... Artists, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York (2000-)
.................................... Avery Authority files (1963-)
.................................... CCA Authority File (1980-)
.................................... Database for the Witt Checklist of Painters c. 1200-1976 (1978-)
.................................... Harald Szeemann papers, Finding Aid, GRI Special Collections (2011-)
.................................... Israel Museum Jerusalem database
.................................... Library of Congress Authorities database (n.d.) n 50001305
.................................... M. Knoedler & Co. records, Finding Aid, GRI Special Collections (2012-)
.................................... Oxford Concise Dictionary of Art and Artists (1996) 178
.................................... Provenance Index Databases, Authority file (1985-)
.................................... Witt Library, Authority files
Feininger, Lyonel Charles Adrian ........ [CCA, GRL]
................................................................ Canadian Centre for Architecture database
................................................................ Library of Congress Authorities database (n.d.) n 50001305
lionel feininger ........ [PROV]
................................ Provenance Index Databases, Authority file (1985-)
Lyonel Feininger ........ [CCA, GRISC, MoMA, PROV, VP]
.................................. Artists, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York (2000-)
.................................. Canadian Centre for Architecture database
.................................. Getty Vocabulary Program rules
.................................. Harald Szeemann papers, Finding Aid, GRI Special Collections (2011-)
Subject: ........ [AVERY, BHA, CCA, Gallery Systems, GRISC, GRL, GRLPA, IMJ, MoMA, PROV, VP, WCI, WCP, WL-Courtauld]
.................... CCA Authority File (1980-)
.................... Database for the Witt Checklist of Painters c. 1200-1976 (1978-)
.................... Harald Szeemann papers, Finding Aid, GRI Special Collections (2011-)
.................... Israel Museum Jerusalem database
.................... LCNAF Library of Congress Name Authority File [n.d.]
.................... Luckhardt, Lyonel Feininger (1989) 172-181
.................... Ness, Lyonel Feininger (1974) 20-23
.................... Oxford Concise Dictionary of Art and Artists (1996) 178
.................... Phaidon Dictionary of Twentieth Century Art (1973)
.................... Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) (2002-)
.................... Who Was Who in American Art (1985)
English .......... [AVERY, CCA, PROV, VP, WL-Courtauld]
.......... Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres (1976)
.......... CCA Authority File (1980-)
.......... LCNAF Library of Congress Name Authority File [n.d.]
.......... Luckhardt, Lyonel Feininger (1989)
.......... Ness, Lyonel Feininger (1974)
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Gil: 'Scotland needs the powers to clamp down on payday loan sharks'
GIL Paterson has backed calls to tighten the regulations around “payday loan sharks”.
It follows the publication of a report from the UK’s largest debt advice charity that found regulations had “not fixed” the payday lending market.
The charity insisted some payday loan providers still do not engage in best practice.
Mr Paterson told how an independent Scotland – or with the devolved controls – would have clamped down on payday loans.
Last year, 11.8% of those who contacted StepChange Debt Charity from the Clydebank and Milngavie constituency had a payday loan debt, with their average payday debt balance at £885.40.
Although the charity has reported less and less people seeking help with payday debt, those who are turning to payday do not always get a fair deal.
Mr Paterson said: “Payday loans are a curse on poorer areas of my constituency and trapping the poor and working poor in financial bedlam.
“People in Clydebank and Milngavie, and across Scotland, are being snared in a cycle of repeated borrowing as their balances continue to mount – along with this comes stress, anxiety and even suicide.
“The Financial Conduct Authority has to tighten the rules to combat payday loan sharking the treatment of people in financial difficulty, for the good of our most vulnerable citizens.
“Unfortunately, the powers to regulate this industry rest with the UK Government. If it were a devolved matter, I am sure the Scottish Parliament would have taken radical action to end this injustice.”
James Stewart, StepChange Debt Charity Scotland’s public affairs officer said: “Regulation can make a significant difference to broken markets and FCA action over the last few years has gone some way to fixing the worst excesses of payday lending, but there is clearly still work to be done.
“It is essential that the FCA review of the payday lending cap is broad enough to fix areas of consumer detriment and poor lending practices. There is also a clear and immediate need for the Government to examine more affordable forms of borrowing for financially vulnerable people, who are often left with nowhere else to turn in their hour of need.”
Payday lending is covered by the provisions of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, including the requirement to have a consumer credit licence issued by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The subject matter of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 is reserved to Westminster under Schedule 5, Head C7 of the Scotland Act 1998. The Scottish Parliament therefore has no power to act in this area.
StepChange
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/payday-lenders-failing-customers-arrears-says-fca
StepChange Debt Charity conducted a survey among its clients to find out their experiences of using payday loans. The sample was StepChange Debt Charity clients who came to the charity for advice between 2015-2016 and had all applied for HCSTC after January 2015. We had 530 respondents between 1 August and 14 August 2016.
Payday loans are relatively small sums lent over a short period of time at a high interest rate. They were previously lent for around 30 days but can now be longer term instalment loans of two months to a year. This research covers both these loan types using the FCA definition of ‘high-cost short-term credit’: any regulated credit agreement that has an APR equal to or exceeding 100% and is provided for a maximum of 12 months and is not a doorstep loan, bill of sale loan or overdraft.
Figures from StepChange Debt Charity clients from before the regulations and in 2016. The numbers shown are for the whole of 2014, and for the first half of 2016 (January to June inclusive):
Average balance£1,397£1,380
Proportion of clients with payday loan debt23%16%
Proportion with three loans or more41%37%
Number of people with payday loan debt75,000 (full year)28,000 (half year)
About StepChange Debt Charity
StepChange Debt Charity provides free and independent debt advice by telephone and through its online Debt Remedy tool.
StepChange Debt Charity’s vision is a society free of problem debt. Our ethos is founded on helping people to repay their debts where they are able to do so. Where they cannot, we provide advice including, where appropriate, supporting them through insolvency processes. Our advice is always based on the best interests of our clients.
StepChange Debt Charity is majority funded by voluntary donations from lenders who support the work of the charity. All funding goes towards helping people in problem debt – this includes providing impartial advice, promoting the benefits of free debt advice, and managing all the debt repayment and debt relief options we provide.
StepChange Debt Charity campaigns for changes to public policy that will prevent problem debt and improve the situation of those affected. Details of the charity’s research can be found here.
Foundation for Credit Counselling Wade House, Merrion Centre, Leeds, LS2 8NG trading as StepChange Debt Charity and StepChange Debt Charity Scotland. A registered charity no.1016630 and SC046263. It is a limited company registered in England and Wales (company no:2757055). Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The StepChange Debt Charity free phone helpline 0800 138 1111 is open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday and 8am to 4pm Saturday.
Online help is available any time from StepChange Debt Charity Debt Remedy at www.stepchange.org
Follow us on Twitter: @StepChange and @Moneyaware
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Home/Featured/Player Profile: Kyle Palmieri
FeaturedNew Jersey Devils
Player Profile: Kyle Palmieri
Erica Commisso November 10, 2015
NEWARK, NJ - NOVEMBER 8: Kyle Palmieri #21 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates after scoring the game winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks during overtime at the Prudential Center on November 8, 2015 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Canucks 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
New Jersey native Kyle Palmieri is taking hometown pride to a whole new level. Since the month of November began, Palmieri has kicked his game into overdrive – he’s scored 5 points (2G – 3A) in three games, scoring the overtime game winner in the Devils’ 4-3 victory over the Canucks on Saturday.
Since the Devils acquired him from the Anaheim Ducks in the offseason, Palmieri has fit perfectly in a top six role on the Devils’ forward corps, playing with Travis Zajac (who has also been on fire in his own right) and Jiri Tlusty. Palmieri also sees minutes on the PP, and often finds himself on the ice in high-pressure situations – namely, 3-on-3 overtime.
Granted, it is still early in the season, but Palmieri’s name is one of the top 5 on the Devils’ scoring chart, joining the ranks of Zajac and the Devils’ first line – Mike Cammalleri, Adam Henrique and Lee Stempniak. This rate of production from Palmieri (and all of the Devils, for that matter) is exactly what the Devils need to find themselves in a postseason position come April. Palmieri himself shows flashes of puck savvy, plays a hard-working game, and his game is at a very mature level – believe it or not, Palmieri is just 24. He was born on the first day of February in 1991 in New York state, but was raised in the New Jersey suburb of Montvale.
Last season, Palmieri occasionally played on the Ducks’ second line with Ryan Kesler and Matt Beleskey (who has since relocated to Boston), but often was juggled as line matchups changed – he spent a majority of the season on the third line. But, he seems to be the perfect fit under John Hynes’ revamped Devils system.
His overtime goal on Saturday against Vancouver was the third of his young career and, as it stands, he is now one point away from 100 in his NHL career. Check out the OT winner below:
He also scored this goal right off the faceoff in November 6th’s huge win over the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Devils traded a 2015 second round pick and a 2016 third round pick to the Ducks for Palmieri. It is interesting to note, though, that this is the last year of Palmieri’s contract, which carries a cap hit of $1.47 million.
When they acquired him, GM Ray Shero was visibly pleased. “He’s at the right age for us,” he said. “The style of play, he plays with speed and can really shoot a puck. Plus his contractual situation in terms of having a year left and two years restricted is good for us. The attraction is the age, the way he plays the game, the way we want to play. I think it’ll be beneficial for both of us.”
Coach Hynes and Palmieri have worked together before, too. Hynes was Palmieri’s coach from 2007-2009, when they were both part of the United States National Team Development Program. Shero said that connection also contributed to the decision to trade for Palmieri.
“It was a little while ago, but certainly he knows Kyle well and having coached him is an added benefit,” he said. “Kyle was younger then, but he’s still only 24 years old now. John, I asked him his opinion on him as a player and as a person, what he’s like on and off the ice, and we made the deal so it couldn’t be too bad.”
“In terms of fit, that’s the kind of guy we were looking for.” Shero had no idea how right he was.
Erica Commisso
I am a Toronto writer with many passions - and many favourite hockey teams. I frequent Alex Mogilny highlight reels - to maintain hold of the glory days - but can also be found with my nose buried in a good book or in a mall with my wrists reddened from the strings of shopping bags.
@@erica_commisso
Latest posts by Erica Commisso (see all)
Cammalleri Named Second Star, Hall Returns - December 1, 2016
Hall Injured, Severson a Bright Spot Early Into Season - November 21, 2016
Henrique’s Movember Returns, Devils Struggle to Find Chemistry - November 10, 2016
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Photos reflect post-industrial revolution stories
November 22 2018 00:01:00
HATİCE UTKAN ÖZDEN
artSümer, in collaboration with The Empire Project, is hosting Emin Altan’s solo exhibition titled “Chaosmos.”
Altan’s photography focuses on telling us about mysterious places in the world, making us look through his eyes. We see how humans destruct nature and how nature resists the destruction and flourishes again.
Altan follows many different scenes in the world such as Kazakhstan, Aral Sea, the U.S. city of Detroit, Wales, the U.K., Japan’s Iwate prefecture and many more. In a way, he likes to show us his way of seeing the world through shots of abandoned places. However, rather than telling the stories of these places, he prefers to open a new visual point of view for the viewer. His photography can be defined with a few words: Dark, mysterious and catalytic. While looking at his photographs, it is almost impossible not to think about a catalyst scene from a Cormac Mccarthy novel, like “The Road.” Creating such colors, what Altan wants us to dig in is a world that we create in our minds.
Places that Altan visited and photographed have been chosen exclusively by the artist. He sometimes used guides to travel to those places and sometimes researched everything about them. During his travels, Altan sometimes discovered different places and sometimes waited hours to catch the best shot. Even though each place has a story, the story behind those places is not essential for the viewer to know. As a photographer, Altan only wants the viewer to see what he tries to reflect.
“In fact what we see is how humankind devastates nature and how nature strikes back again. Even in the most industrial places I have seen buildings that have been covered with nature,” said Altan.
“Each place has a story. For example, I photographed Chernobyl and many different places, but I am not interested in the story behind these places,” he added.
According to Altan, his photographs are not trying to tell stories. “First I research these places and then I travel. I am after a shot that reflects the area in the best way.”
Some places are hard to reach. One photograph in particular is very important in the exhibition. Altan travelled with a guide. The place is a mine and used as an automobile graveyard in the U.K. The place is hard to reach and almost impossible to get to without a guide. Altan, on the other hand, traveled there just to catch one shot that would satisfy him. To take this photograph, Altan entered a cave. The cave is full of vehicles thrown over each other. The cave is dark and there is only one ray of light coming from outside. The surface of the cave is full of water and the light coming in reflects on the water.
From a personal angle to collective consciousness
Each photograph is a part of Altan’s personal point of view. For him, this is important.
“I really do not want the viewer to know where exactly these places are. The important thing is how I see these corners of the world. I want viewers to discover their own points of view while looking at these shots.”
In a way, what Altan is trying to do is open a new way of seeing for the viewer. His photography book, published by Norgunk Publishing House, is another important aspect of the exhibition. In the book, there are no names of the places Altan visited. According to Altan, photography is a language and he is trying to show us his own personal point of view.
In a way these photos show us our need and ambition to change the environment and dominate it. However, Altan said, as soon as humankind leaves the environment, nature takes over. The photographs also demonstrate the power of nature. While on the one hand, we witness how humans have done everything to create and produce what they need; we see the world of the post-industrial revolution.
Even though Altan is not willing to put the stories of the places in words, he is successful in saying these stories through visuals.
The exhibition can be seen through Dec. 15.
exhibition, artsümer, Emin Altan, Chaosmos
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Painter’s life to be featured in film
Salt Lake welcomes flamingo chicks
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Sandow organized the first bodybuilding contest on September 14, 1901, called the "Great Competition". It was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Judged by Sandow, Sir Charles Lawes, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the contest was a great success and many bodybuilding enthusiasts were turned away due to the overwhelming amount of audience members.[4] The trophy presented to the winner was a gold statue of Sandow sculpted by Frederick Pomeroy. The winner was William L. Murray of Nottingham. The silver Sandow trophy was presented to second-place winner D. Cooper. The bronze Sandow trophy — now the most famous of all — was presented to third-place winner A.C. Smythe. In 1950, this same bronze trophy was presented to Steve Reeves for winning the inaugural NABBA Mr. Universe contest. It would not resurface again until 1977 when the winner of the IFBB Mr. Olympia contest, Frank Zane, was presented with a replica of the bronze trophy. Since then, Mr. Olympia winners have been consistently awarded a replica of the bronze Sandow.
The number of asanas used in modern yoga has increased rapidly from a nominal 84 in 1830, as illustrated in Joga Pradipika, to some 200 in Light on Yoga and over 900 performed by Dharma Mittra by 1984. At the same time, the goals of Haṭha yoga, namely spiritual liberation (moksha) through the raising of kundalini energy, were largely replaced by the goals of fitness and relaxation, while many of Haṭha yoga's components like the shatkarmas (purifications), mudras (seals or gestures including the bandhas, locks to restrain the prana or vital principle), and pranayama were much reduced or removed entirely.[225] The term "hatha yoga" is also in use with a different meaning, a gentle unbranded yoga practice, independent of the major schools, sometimes mainly for women.[226]
If you have high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart problems, ask your doctor what you can do. You may need to avoid certain postures, like those in which you're upside down or that demand more balance than you have right now. A very gentle program of yoga, coupled with a light aerobic activity like walking or swimming, may be the best way to start.
The early Buddhist texts describe yogic and meditative practices, some of which the Buddha borrowed from the śramaṇa tradition.[81][82] The Pali canon contains three passages in which the Buddha describes pressing the tongue against the palate for the purposes of controlling hunger or the mind, depending on the passage.[83] However, there is no mention of the tongue being inserted into the nasopharynx as in true khecarī mudrā. The Buddha used a posture where pressure is put on the perineum with the heel, similar to even modern postures used to stimulate Kundalini.[84] Some of the major suttas that discuss yogic practice include the Satipatthana sutta (Four foundations of mindfulness sutta) and the Anapanasati sutta (Mindfulness of breathing sutta).
Making the decision to join a gym is a great first step towards improving your health and quality of life. At 24 Hour Fitness, we are here to help make your gym experience fun, effective and easy. For over 30 years, 24 Hour Fitness has been dedicated to giving people a great fitness experience while helping people of all fitness levels reach their goals. Whether your goal is to stay in shape, lose weight or get fit for an upcoming event, we are here for you.
Personal health also depends partially on the social structure of a person's life. The maintenance of strong social relationships, volunteering, and other social activities have been linked to positive mental health and also increased longevity. One American study among seniors over age 70, found that frequent volunteering was associated with reduced risk of dying compared with older persons who did not volunteer, regardless of physical health status.[58] Another study from Singapore reported that volunteering retirees had significantly better cognitive performance scores, fewer depressive symptoms, and better mental well-being and life satisfaction than non-volunteering retirees.[59]
Prolonged psychological stress may negatively impact health, and has been cited as a factor in cognitive impairment with aging, depressive illness, and expression of disease.[60] Stress management is the application of methods to either reduce stress or increase tolerance to stress. Relaxation techniques are physical methods used to relieve stress. Psychological methods include cognitive therapy, meditation, and positive thinking, which work by reducing response to stress. Improving relevant skills, such as problem solving and time management skills, reduces uncertainty and builds confidence, which also reduces the reaction to stress-causing situations where those skills are applicable.
According to Zimmer, Yoga philosophy is reckoned to be part of the non-Vedic system, which also includes the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy, Jainism and Buddhism:[46] "[Jainism] does not derive from Brahman-Aryan sources, but reflects the cosmology and anthropology of a much older pre-Aryan upper class of northeastern India [Bihar] – being rooted in the same subsoil of archaic metaphysical speculation as Yoga, Sankhya, and Buddhism, the other non-Vedic Indian systems."[61][note 6]
Since the late 1970s, the federal Healthy People Initiative has been a visible component of the United States’ approach to improving population health.[11][12] In each decade, a new version of Healthy People is issued,[13] featuring updated goals and identifying topic areas and quantifiable objectives for health improvement during the succeeding ten years, with assessment at that point of progress or lack thereof. Progress has been limited to many objectives, leading to concerns about the effectiveness of Healthy People in shaping outcomes in the context of a decentralized and uncoordinated US health system. Healthy People 2020 gives more prominence to health promotion and preventive approaches and adds a substantive focus on the importance of addressing social determinants of health. A new expanded digital interface facilitates use and dissemination rather than bulky printed books as produced in the past. The impact of these changes to Healthy People will be determined in the coming years.[14]
"...[T]here is the cultivation of meditative and contemplative techniques aimed at producing what might, for the lack of a suitable technical term in English, be referred to as 'altered states of consciousness'. In the technical vocabulary of Indian religious texts such states come to be termed 'meditations' ([Skt.:] dhyāna / [Pali:] jhāna) or 'concentrations' (samādhi); the attainment of such states of consciousness was generally regarded as bringing the practitioner to deeper knowledge and experience of the nature of the world." (Gethin, 1998, p. 10.)
This terse definition hinges on the meaning of three Sanskrit terms. I. K. Taimni translates it as "Yoga is the inhibition (nirodhaḥ) of the modifications (vṛtti) of the mind (citta)".[142]Swami Vivekananda translates the sutra as "Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Citta) from taking various forms (Vrittis)."[143] Edwin Bryant explains that, to Patanjali, "Yoga essentially consists of meditative practices culminating in attaining a state of consciousness free from all modes of active or discursive thought, and of eventually attaining a state where consciousness is unaware of any object external to itself, that is, is only aware of its own nature as consciousness unmixed with any other object."[144][145][146]
Suicidal thoughts or actions. Topiramate, an ingredient in Qsymia, may cause you to have suicidal thoughts or actions. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms, especially if they are new, worse, or worry you: thoughts about suicide or dying; attempts to commit suicide; new or worse depression; new or worse anxiety; feeling agitated or restless; panic attacks; trouble sleeping (insomnia); new or worse irritability; acting aggressive, being angry, or violent; acting on dangerous impulses; an extreme increase in activity or talking (mania); other unusual changes in behavior or mood.
Health science is the branch of science focused on health. There are two main approaches to health science: the study and research of the body and health-related issues to understand how humans (and animals) function, and the application of that knowledge to improve health and to prevent and cure diseases and other physical and mental impairments. The science builds on many sub-fields, including biology, biochemistry, physics, epidemiology, pharmacology, medical sociology. Applied health sciences endeavor to better understand and improve human health through applications in areas such as health education, biomedical engineering, biotechnology and public health.
Jain yoga has been a central practice in Jainism. Jain spirituality is based on a strict code of nonviolence or ahimsa (which includes vegetarianism), almsgiving (dana), right faith in the three jewels, the practice of austerities (tapas) such as fasting, and yogic practices.[249][250] Jain yoga aims at the liberation and purification of the self (atma) or soul (jiva) from the forces of karma, which keep all souls bound to the cycle of transmigration. Like Yoga and Sankhya, Jainism believes in a multiplicity of individual souls which bound by their individual karma.[251] Only through the reduction of karmic influxes and the exhaustion of one's collected karma can a soul become purified and released, at which point one becomes an omniscient being who has reaches "absolute knowledge" (kevala jnana).[252]
Śaradatilaka of Lakshmanadesikendra, a Shakta Tantra work 11th century CE "Yogic experts state that yoga is the oneness of the individual soul (jiva) with the atman. Others understand it to be the ascertainment of Siva and the soul as non-different. The scholars of the Agamas say that it is a Knowledge which is of the nature of Siva’s Power. Other scholars say it is the knowledge of the primordial soul." (SaTil 25.1–3b)[35]
Classical yoga incorporates epistemology, metaphysics, ethical practices, systematic exercises and self-development techniques for body, mind and spirit.[144] Its epistemology (pramana) and metaphysics is similar to that of the Sāṅkhya school. The metaphysics of Classical Yoga, like Sāṅkhya, is mainly dualistic, positing that there are two distinct realities. These are prakriti (nature), which is the eternal and active unconscious source of the material world and is composed of three gunas, and the puruṣas (persons), the plural consciousnesses which are the intelligent principles of the world, and are multiple, inactive and eternal witnesses. Each person has a individual puruṣa, which is their true self, the witness and the enjoyer, and that which is liberated. This metaphysical system holds that puruṣas undergo cycles of reincarnation through its interaction and identification with prakirti. Liberation, the goal of this system, results from the isolation (kaivalya) of puruṣa from prakirti, and is achieved through a meditation which detaches oneself from the different forms (tattvas) of prakirti.[240] This is done by stilling one's thought waves (citta vritti) and resting in pure awareness of puruṣa.
^ Housman & Dorman 2005, pp. 303–04. "The linear model supported previous findings, including regular exercise, limited alcohol consumption, abstinence from smoking, sleeping 7–8 hours a night, and maintenance of a healthy weight play an important role in promoting longevity and delaying illness and death." Citing Wingard DL, Berkman LF, Brand RJ (1982). "A multivariate analysis of health-related practices: a nine-year mortality follow-up of the Alameda County Study". Am J Epidemiol. 116 (5): 765–75. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113466. PMID 7148802.
What is often referred to as Classical Yoga or Astanga Yoga (Yoga of eight limbs) is mainly the type of Yoga outlined in the highly influential Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.[234] The origins of the Classical Yoga tradition are unclear, though early discussions of the term appear in the Upanishads.[235] The name "Rāja yoga" (yoga of kings) originally denoted the ultimate goal of yoga, samadhi,[236] but was popularised by Vivekananda as a common name for Ashtanga Yoga,[note 19] the eight limbs to be practised to attain samadhi, as described in the Yoga Sutras.[237][234] Yoga is also considered as one of the orthodox philosophical schools (darsanas) of Hinduism (those which accept the Vedas as source of knowledge).[238][239]
The general strategy adopted by most present-day competitive bodybuilders is to make muscle gains for most of the year (known as the "off-season") and, approximately 12–14 weeks from competition, lose a maximum of body fat (referred to as "cutting") while preserving as much muscular mass as possible. The bulking phase entails remaining in a net positive energy balance (calorie surplus). The amount of a surplus in which a person remains is based on the person's goals, as a bigger surplus and longer bulking phase will create more fat tissue. The surplus of calories relative to one's energy balance will ensure that muscles remain in a state of anabolism.
Modern yoga was created in what has been called the Modern Yoga Renaissance[213] by the blending of Western styles of gymnastics with postures from Haṭha yoga in India in the 20th century, pioneered by Shri Yogendra and Swami Kuvalayananda.[214] Before 1900 there were few standing poses in Haṭha yoga. The flowing sequences of salute to the sun, Surya Namaskar, were pioneered by the Rajah of Aundh, Bhawanrao Shrinivasrao Pant Pratinidhi, in the 1920s.[215] Many standing poses used in gymnastics were incorporated into yoga by Krishnamacharya in Mysore from the 1930s to the 1950s.[216] Several of his students went on to found influential schools of yoga: Pattabhi Jois created Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga,[217] which in turn led to Power Yoga;[218] B. K. S. Iyengar created Iyengar Yoga, and systematised the canon of asanas in his 1966 book Light on Yoga;[219] Indra Devi taught yoga to many film stars in Hollywood; and Krishnamacharya's son T. K. V. Desikachar founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandalam in Chennai.[220][221][222] Other major schools founded in the 20th century include Bikram Choudhury's Bikram Yoga and Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh's Sivananda Vedanta Schools of Yoga. Modern yoga spread across America and Europe, and then the rest of the world.[223][224]
The earliest references to hatha yoga are in Buddhist works dating from the eighth century.[197] The earliest definition of hatha yoga is found in the 11th century Buddhist text Vimalaprabha, which defines it in relation to the center channel, bindu etc.[198] Hatha yoga synthesizes elements of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras with posture and breathing exercises.[199] It marks the development of asanas (plural) into the full body 'postures' now in popular usage[15] and, along with its many modern variations, is the style that many people associate with the word yoga today.[200]
An article by Muscle & Fitness magazine, "Overtrain for Big Gains", claimed that overtraining for a brief period can be beneficial. Overtraining can be used advantageously, as when a bodybuilder is purposely overtrained for a brief period of time to super compensate during a regeneration phase. These are known as "shock micro-cycles" and were a key training technique used by Soviet athletes.[54]
Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the West,[16] following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th century with his adaptation of yoga tradition, excluding asanas.[16] In the 1980s, a very different form of modern yoga, with an increasing number of asanas and few other practices, became popular as a system of exercise across the Western world.[15] Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more than physical exercise; it has a meditative and spiritual core.[17] One of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism is also called Yoga, which has its own epistemology and metaphysics, and is closely related to Hindu Samkhya philosophy.[18]
One of the best known early expressions of Brahmanical Yoga thought is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , the original name of which may have been the Pātañjalayogaśāstra-sāṃkhya-pravacana (c. sometime between 325 - 425) which some scholars now believe included both the sutras and a commentary.[129] As the name suggests, the metaphysical basis for this text is the Indian philosophy termed Sāṃkhya. This atheistic school is mentioned in Kauṭilya's Arthashastra as one of the three categories of anviksikis (philosophies) along with Yoga and Cārvāka.[130][131] The two schools have some differences as well. Yoga accepted the conception of "personal god", while Samkhya developed as a rationalist, non-theistic/atheistic system of Hindu philosophy.[132][133][134] Sometimes Patanjali's system is referred to as Seshvara Samkhya in contradistinction to Kapila's Nirivara Samkhya.[135] The parallels between Yoga and Samkhya were so close that Max Müller says that "the two philosophies were in popular parlance distinguished from each other as Samkhya with and Samkhya without a Lord."[136]
Some bodybuilders use drugs such as anabolic steroids and precursor substances such as prohormones to increase muscle hypertrophy. Anabolic steroids cause hypertrophy of both types (I and II) of muscle fibers, likely caused by an increased synthesis of muscle proteins. They also provoke undesired side effects including hepatotoxicity, gynecomastia, acne, the early onset of male pattern baldness and a decline in the body's own testosterone production, which can cause testicular atrophy.[43][44][45] Other performance-enhancing substances used by competitive bodybuilders include human growth hormone (HGH), which can cause acromegaly.
The early practice of Jain yoga seems to have been divided into several types, including meditation (dhyāna), abandonment of the body (kāyotsarga), contemplation (anuprekṣā), and reflection (bhāvanā).[253] Some of the earliest sources for Jain yoga are the Uttarādhyayana-sūtra, the Āvaśyaka-sūtra, the Sthananga Sutra (c. 2nd century BCE). Later works include Kundakunda's Vārassa-aṇuvekkhā (“Twelve Contemplations”, c. 1st century BCE to 1st century CE), Haribhadra's Yogadṛṣṭisamuccya (8th century) and the Yogaśāstra of Hemachandra (12th century). Later forms of Jain yoga adopted Hindu influences, such as ideas from Patanjali's yoga and later Tantric yoga (in the works of Haribhadra and Hemachandra respectively). The Jains also developed a progressive path to liberation through yogic praxis, outlining several levels of virtue called gunasthanas.
In the early 2000s, the IFBB was attempting to make bodybuilding an Olympic sport. It obtained full IOC membership in 2000 and was attempting to get approved as a demonstration event at the Olympics, which would hopefully lead to it being added as a full contest. This did not happen and Olympic recognition for bodybuilding remains controversial since many argue that bodybuilding is not a sport.[11]
Theosophists including Madame Blavatsky also had a large influence on the Western public's view of Yoga.[207] Esoteric views current at the end of the 19th century provided a further basis for the reception of Vedanta and of Yoga with its theory and practice of correspondence between the spiritual and the physical.[208] The reception of Yoga and of Vedanta thus entwined with each other and with the (mostly Neoplatonism-based) currents of religious and philosophical reform and transformation throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Mircea Eliade brought a new element into the reception of Yoga with the strong emphasis on Tantric Yoga in his seminal book: Yoga: Immortality and Freedom.[209] With the introduction of the Tantra traditions and philosophy of Yoga, the conception of the "transcendent" to be attained by Yogic practice shifted from experiencing the "transcendent" ("Atman-Brahman" in Advaitic theory) in the mind to the body itself.[210]
a technique for entering into other bodies, generating multiple bodies, and the attainment of other supernatural accomplishments; these are, states White, described in Tantric literature of Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as the Buddhist Sāmaññaphalasutta;[41] James Mallinson, however, disagrees and suggests that such fringe practices are far removed from the mainstream Yoga's goal as meditation-driven means to liberation in Indian religions.[42]
^ Andrew J. Nicholson (2013). Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History. Columbia University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-231-14987-7., Quote: "From a historical perspective, the Brahmasutras are best understood as a group of sutras composed by multiple authors over the course of hundreds of years, most likely composed in its current form between 400 and 450 BCE."
As the number of service sector jobs has risen in developed countries, more and more jobs have become sedentary, presenting a different array of health problems than those associated with manufacturing and the primary sector. Contemporary problems, such as the growing rate of obesity and issues relating to stress and overwork in many countries, have further complicated the interaction between work and health.
Yoga may have pre-Vedic elements.[45][46] Some state yoga originated in the Indus Valley Civilization.[51] Marshall,[52] Eliade[10] and other scholars note that the Pashupati seal discovered in an Indus Valley Civilization site depicts a figure in a position resembling an asana used for meditation, Mulabandhasana. This interpretation is considered speculative and uncertain by more recent analysis of Srinivasan[10] and may be a case of projecting "later practices into archeological findings".[53]
Gastrointestinal disorders are another common cause of unexplained weight loss – in fact they are the most common non-cancerous cause of idiopathic weight loss.[citation needed] Possible gastrointestinal etiologies of unexplained weight loss include: celiac disease, peptic ulcer disease, inflammatory bowel disease (crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), pancreatitis, gastritis, diarrhea and many other GI conditions.
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According to the World Nuclear Association, 21 percent of the world’s uranium production came about from ISL mining in 2004. We conducted interviews with some of the world’s top ISL experts, including the father of ISL, to help you better understand how uranium is currently mined for the world’s nuclear power plants.
uranium mining, ISL, nuclear energy, energy, heap leach, mining, Wyoming, Texas, Australia, geology
It’s time to rewrite the history books. In Situ Leach Mining (ISL), or Solution Mining, was not first commercially started in Bruni, Texas in 1973 by Westinghouse, a consortium of oil companies and others. The birthplace of ISL was never South Texas, as some have claimed. It was begun in Wyoming, about 16 years before an ISL operation was started in Texas. Why there has been a whitewash over the true history of ISL is not our concern. This series is an in-depth investigation into how and why ISL mining came about, how it has been tested over a period of nearly 50 years, and why this type of uranium mining will play an important role in providing U.S. utilities with the raw fuel to power nuclear reactors for the next few decades.
In this modern era of uranium mining, extremely skilled engineers, hydrologists and geologists establish ISL mining operations. Most insiders compare an ISL operation to a water treatment plant. It’s really that simple to understand. However, as with every modern industrial operation, the roots of ISL mining came about in a less genteel or sophisticated manner. In 1958, Charles Don Snow, a uranium mining and exploration geologist employed by the Utah Construction Company, was investigating a Wyoming property for possible acquisition for his company. During the course of that visit, he discovered a new method of uranium mining and helped pioneer its development into the modern form of ISL.
Since 1957, R.T. Plum, president of Uranyl Research Company, had been experimenting with a leach solution on his property at the Lucky June uranium mine. “They mixed up the sulfuric acid solution and just dumped it on the ground, and soaked it through the material and collected it in a little trench at the end,?Charles Snow told StockInterview. It wasn’t very scientific. Snow added, “They were just learning how, and I observed it and thought that the application could be made through some of the ore that we had in the Lucky Mc mine.?The company was mining uranium this way because it was below the grades miners were used to, when mining. As Snow noted, “It was not worth mining.?But it was practically at the surface. He explained what they were doing at the Lucky June, “There was an area where uranium leached out to the surface in a small area, and it had a clay under-bed. These people put solutions onto the surface, collected the solution, and ran it by resin beads to absorb the uranium.?
While they only recovered about $3600 worth of uranium, roughly 600 pounds, Snow was impressed. He later wrote an inter-office memorandum in July 1959, with the subject header: “Recovery of Uranium from Low Grade Mineralization using a leach in place process.? In his conclusion, Snow recommended, “From the preliminary information available, it appears that it will be possible to treat very low grade mineralization for recovery of uranium at a large net profit.?He explained the process to his bosses, encouraging them to consider this as an option:
“In brief, the process introduces a leach solution onto the surface of the ground and allows the solution to percolate down through the area to be leached. The solution is then recovered from wells and circulated through an ion exchange circuit with the barren solution being returned to the leach area. Recovery of the uranium is made by stripping from the ion exchange medium.?
He wanted the Utah Construction Company to try this method of mining where there was low grade mineralization. Snow succeeded in convincing his bosses. That began yet another innovation for Utah Construction Company, the same company which helped construct the Hoover Dam, decades earlier, before it got into the uranium mining business.
Utah Construction Becomes the
First Commercial ISL Miner
Newspaper reports, through the 1960s, illustrate that ISL mining was in full bloom more than a decade before anyone in Texas began a commercial ISL operation. On June 18, 1964, the Riverton Ranger newspaper reported, “The Shirley Basin mine is on a standby basis. The timbers are being maintained and the water pumped out. Total production comes from solution mining.?Between 1962 and 1969, ISL was the only method producing uranium at Utah’s Shirley Basin Wyoming. Later in that same article, under the section entitled, “Gas Hills Solution Mining,?it was reported, “The Four Corners area is ‘mined?by solution mining techniques similar to those employed at Shirley Basin.?Credit for this new mining method is also reported in that same article, “Lucky Mc introduced the heap leach process of recovering values from low grade ores in 1960.?
Charles Snow explained how his company made the transition from underground mining to solution mining, “The underground mining at Shirley Basin was very expensive, and we were having a lot of heavy ground problems.?The sandstone aquifers containing the uranium were uncemented and brittle, supported with timbers. “In some places, it was too heavy to hold with timbers,?said Snow. “We had to use steel sets underground, and it was even mashing the steel sets. So the expenses were getting very high.?
Water was flowing into the open drifts at prodigious rates. Snow recalled, “Barney Greenly said, ‘Let’s try solution mining over here.?They did a test, and it did operate quite well. They got some pretty good results. So the underground mine was shut down, and they went to a solution-mining program to produce the allocated pounds in the Shirley Basin area.?The procedure was tested for a few years before a full-scale commercial production began. This fulfilled 100 percent of Utah’s Shirley Basin uranium production allotment from the AEC.
There were problems at first. “We started out initially using sulfuric acid, and we had some reaction with carbonates in the formation.?Sulfuric acid plus calcium carbonate produces calcium sulfate, and this plugged up the formation. Calcium sulfate is gypsum, which was insoluble in the leach solution. “It tended to plug up the formation and reduce the transmissivity of the fluid from the input hole to the output recovery hole.?
To prevent interference with the porosity of the formation, Snow switched to nitric acid, but admitted, “We were reluctant to use nitric acid because it was much more expensive than sulfuric.?But they did, because the nitric acid solution did not form gypsum. Unlike present-day ISL methods used in Texas, Nebraska and Wyoming, Utah Construction did not use a carbonated leaching solution in their solution mining. Nitric solution was used during the 1960s and continued until the Lucky Mc switched over to open pit mining.
It all started as a heap leach experiment. “We had quite a bit of low grade in Lucky Mc,?Snow told us, “so we thought we would try a heap leach experiment.?Results were good on the test, and Utah pioneered ISL mining. Snow wrote in an August 2, 1960 memo, “The favorable results of the heap leach project and other research indicate that the process can be successfully applied in many of the low-grade areas to recover much of the mineralization.?Later in his report, Snow calculated reserves from random samples obtained from previous drilling at Lucky Mc, “The estimated reserve for the block is 147,000 tons @ 0.0361 percent U3O8, or 106,616 pounds of U3O8.?He estimated the program would cost $111,471. Using a value of $6/pound for U3O8, the anticipated returns were calculated as follows:
50 percent recovery: 53,318 pounds: $208,377
25 percent recovery: 26,654 pounds: $ 48,453
That was just the start. By the end of the decade, Shirley Basin’s solution mining operation was producing U3O8 at comparable levels to present day production at any of the major U.S. ISL facilities. In a paper presented by Ian Ritchie and John S. Anderson, entitled “Solution Mining in the Shirley Basin,?on September 11, 1967, at the American Mining Congress in Denver, Colorado, these Utah International executives explained the success of the Shirley Basin solution mining operation. In a summary explaining the company’s activities, we discovered the Shirley Basin operation not only filled the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) allocation requirements from 1962 through 1969 but we learned of the sizeable commitments into the future Shirley Basin was to fill:
“In 1968 sales of uranium concentrate were made to purchases other than the AEC. One of the first sales was to Sacramento Municipal Utility District with a minimum of 950,000 pounds to a maximum of 1,100,000 pounds of uranium concentrate in 1971. Additional contracts were signed with General Electric Company and with Nordostschwerzerische Kraftwerke A.G. (Baden, Switzerland). The contracts called for delivery of 8,000,000 pounds of concentrate to GE between 1968 and 1975, and 500,000 pounds of concentrate to NOK commencing in July 1969.?
The single reason solution mining stopped, well before the first “commercial?ISL operation began in Bruni, Texas in 1973, was because of the improved market forecast for uranium in the 1970s. Utah Construction switched to open pit mining because they needed to produce a lot more uranium. The nuclear renaissance of the 1970s demanded massive quantities of uranium to fuel the rapidly growing nuclear power industry.
Don Snow’s initial field tests, begun in the late 1950s, resulted in continuous production achieved by late 1962. Subsequently, production in the underground uranium mine was shut down by May 1962. The underground mine was maintained in a standby condition until 1965, when all underground operations were written off. Millions of pounds were mined by Utah Construction through its ISL operations in Shirley Basin. It wasn’t heap leaching.
Sufficient evidence confirms that Wyoming, not Texas, first pioneered commercial ISL mining. Not only were well fields designed as early as 1960, but the entire concept of an ISL “water treatment?plant can trace its roots to Utah Construction’s pioneer work. Everything from injection wells to production wells were pioneered in the early 1960s. We challenged Charles Don Snow that some have claimed it was heap leaching, not ISL mining. Snow shot back, “No, we drilled holes in the ground and the material had never been mined. We got our ideas, certainly, from heap leaching, which came from the copper industry.?Snow explained that after the solution mining experiment was successful, “A recovery plant was designed and put into the hoist house, where they had had the underground mine. That was designed by Robert Carr Porter and Ian Ritchie.?Snow added, “In fact, Ian Ritchie and J.S. Anderson have a U.S. Patent on the well completion procedures that we used at Shirley Basin.?
Snow pondered if his friend Jack Bailey may have exported the ISL technology to Texas. “Jack Bailey was the Shirley Basin project manager for the underground mine when we switched over to solution mining,?Snow said. “He later went to work for Chevron, and Chevron had operations in Texas. I believe they even experimented with solution mining. Now, whether or not Jack was directly involved, I don’t know.?As it is with history, many of the old-timers are gone. We were told Jack Bailey had had a stroke a number of years back, and did not trace this further. There may have been others. “Some of the people from that area (Shirley Basin) had gone to Texas,?Snow recalled. “There is documentation, it was published information, and a lot of people who went to Texas, came from the Wyoming area. So, I’m sure there wasn’t a paucity of information being transferred.?Ironically, the Westinghouse-led consortium, which included U.S. Steel and Union Carbide, among others, was called Wyoming Minerals. Now we know exactly why they chose that name.
While there have been a number of ISL operations built and operated in Texas, there may be little future for uranium mining in that state, unless there are new discoveries. By a few, Texas has been inaccurately called the “home of ISL mining.?Perhaps that came about because ISL operations continued, during the uranium depression of the past two decades, with small amounts of production occurring in Texas. According to Energy Information Administration figures published in June 2004, uranium reserves in Texas stand at 23 million pounds of U3O8 based upon $50/pound uranium. By comparison, Wyoming and New Mexico reserves, using that same benchmark, reach as high as 363 million and 341 million pounds, respectively.
This may explain the rush by junior exploration companies, such as Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF), Energy Metals Corporation (TSX: EMC), UR-Energy (TSX: URE), Uranerz Energy (OTC BB: URNZ), Kilgore Minerals (TSX: KAU) and others, to Wyoming. The large quantities of pounds are in Wyoming, not Texas. It may also explain why Uranium Resources (OTC BB: URRE) has looked beyond Texas into New Mexico to develop its ISL operation, and Strathmore Minerals has quickly been advancing through its permitting stage on one of its properties in that state. It is fitting that the big past uranium producing states may again become tomorrow’s leading U.S. producers. In any event, the entire world of ISL mining owes a debt of gratitude to Charles Don Snow for his pioneering efforts in bringing a heap leach experiment into full fruition as modern-day in-situ mining.
Against The Top Down Approach To Picking Stocks
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The Long 1968
Revisions and New Perspectives
Edited by Daniel J. Sherman, Ruud van Dijk, Jasmine Alinder and A. Aneesh
Format: Paperback 31 b&w illus.
From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, revolutions in theory, politics, and cultural experimentation swept around the world. These changes had as great a transformative impact on the right as on the left. A touchstone for activists, artists, and theorists of all stripes, the year 1968 has taken on new significance for the present moment, which bears certain uncanny resemblances to that time. The Long 1968 explores the wide-ranging impact of the year and its aftermath in politics, theory, the arts, and international relations—and its uses today.
Daniel J. Sherman is Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina.
Ruud van Dijk is Professor of History and International Relations at the University of Amsterdam.
Jasmine Alinder is Associate Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
A. Aneesh is Associate Professor of Sociology and Global Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s revolutions in theory, politics, and cultural experimentation swept around the world. The Long 1968 explores the wide-ranging impact of 1968 and its aftermath in politics, theory, the arts, and international relations--and its uses today.”
“The Long 1968 makes an important contribution to our understanding of politics and social life over four decades after the revolutionary fervor of 1968. As a complex, overlapping series of reflections on the impact of '68 in a present moment characterized by political apathy, cynicism, paralysis, and even despair, the volume is especially welcome. For those readers still committed to the possibility of political and social transformation, the volume offers both a sobering assessment of the differences between ‘then’ and ‘now’ and an intriguing invitation to reclaim the ‘spirit of '68’ for creative interventions in the present. . . . Sophisticated enough for an audience of specialists but also will be accessible to non-specialists. It will be especially valuable in upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in history; cultural studies; women's and gender studies; science and especially technology studies; French, Latin American, and African studies; art history; and media studies. . . . An impressive achievement.”
— Lynne Huffer, Emory University
“A rich and compelling volume . . . . [M]akes an important contribution to scholarship on ‘1968,’ and it is very teachable.”
— Daniel A. Segal, Munroe Center for Social Inquiry, Pitzer College
“[T]he thorough descriptions in the very useful introduction and the internal coherence of each section of the book [and] the wide-ranging selections are quite navigable. There are pieces of interest here to scholars working in any of the areas these essays engage, particularly those teaching social movements, transnationalism, performance, representation, and cultural politics.Winter 2015”
— Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
“Bringing together the fields of visual culture, art history, film and media studies, philosophy, and history, The Long 1968 illuminates the often-overlooked histories of 1968. . . . [T]he diverse sources and methodologies makes this a welcome addition that encourages further avenues of research.”
— The Journal of American History
Introduction Jasmine Alinder, A. Aneesh, Daniel J. Sherman, and Ruud van Dijk
Part 1. 1968, the Text
1. Foucault's 1968 Bernard Gendron
2. Palimpsests of <APOS>68: Theorizing Labor after Adorno Richard Langston
3. What's Left of the Right to the City? Judit Bodnar
Part 2. Locating Politics
4. The Rise and Fall of an International Counterculture, 1960<N>1975 Jeremi Suri
5. Invisible Humanism: An African 1968 and Its Aftermaths James Ferguson
6. Pushing Luck Too Far: <APOS>68, Northern Ireland, and Nonviolence Simon Prince
7. Mexico 1968 and the Art(s) of Memory Jacqueline E. Bixler
Part 3. Bodies, Protest, and Art
8. White Power, Black Power, and the 1968 Olympic Protests Martin A. Berger
9. Bodies Count: The Sixties Body in American Politics Robert O. Self
10. Beginning 9 Evenings Michelle Kuo
11. Sensorial Techniques of the Self: From the Jouissance of May <APOS>68 to the Economy of the Delay Noit Banai
Part 4. 1968, the Movie
12. Tempered Nostalgia in Recent French Films on the <APOS>68 Years Julian Bourg
13. Rhetorics of Resistance: The Port Huron Project Mark Tribe
Museums and Difference
The Question of Gender
The Socialist Sixties
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BEHRENS, SIR JACOB:
By: Joseph Jacobs, Goodman Lipkind
Municipal worker at Bradford, England; born at Pyrmont, Germany, Nov., 1806; died at Torquay April 22, 1889. His father, removing to Hamburg in 1815, became a successful merchant; and Jacob began his career by entering his father's firm. In 1834 he left Hamburg for England and took up his residence in Leeds. Here he entered into business as merchant, and in a short time extended his operations to Manchester. In 1838 he finally settled at Bradford, and the history of the development of the worsted trade of that town is inseparably associated with his name. He took an active part in the municipal life of the town, was the founder of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, and was regarded as an authority upon questions of tariffs and of commercial treaties. He was also an expert statesman, occupying himself in that capacity mainly with obtaining statistics on trade, the tribunals of commerce, the bankruptcy laws, and the Yorkshire Joint Tariffs Committee (of which he was president). Mr. Behrens appeared before a commission at Paris as a witness from the English worsted district, in reference to the commercial treaty with France. In recognition of his services on this occasion, he was knighted by Queen Victoria Oct., 1882. Sir Jacob was an advocate of free trade, and rendered much assistance to Richard Cobden in the intricate negotiations which led up to the French treaty of 1861. He was active also in philanthropic movements, held a prominent place in the Bradford Philosophical Society, founded the Eye and Ear Hospital at Bradford; and was a member of the Anglo-Jewish Association, although he took no further active part in Jewish communal affairs.
Jewish Chronicle and Jewish World, April 26, 1889.
J. G. L.
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Chandana de Silva has held several senior management positions including that of Chief Financial Officer for Level (3) Communications in Europe a NASDAQ quoted company and Head of Financial Planning for British Telecommunications PLC. Since moving back to Sri Lanka in 2002 he has worked for MAS Holdings in a variety of roles and established the Supply Chain Management function, set up the MAS training centre and until December 2011 was the Chief Executive Officer of the MAS Investment Division. He continues to be a consultant to the MAS Group and is on the Board of Hemas Transportation (Private) Limited, Hemas Power PLC, Eureka Technologies (Private) Limited, 24/7 Techies (Pvt) Ltd, and Sea-Change Partners Lanka (Private) Limited. He also serves as a Director of Dunamis Capital PLC, Kelsey Developments PLC and Premier Synthetic Leather Manufacturers (Private) Limited. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and in Sri Lanka and holds a Degree in Mathematics and Management from the University of London.
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You're here: Home / What we do / Alcohol Alert / Issue 1 2006
Issue 1 2006
Alcohol related disease to 'rise markedly'
Licensing Act 'shambles' slated by MPs
Government still rejects lower drink drive limit
Supermarket promotions and discounts on alcohol increase sales by 25%
Violence rates higher where alcohol cheaper, say Cardiff researchers
Campaign on consensual sex
Alcohol and liver disease
Alcohol makes cancer tumours 'grow faster'
Drunkenness, intoxication and criminal liability
Diageo launches two 'responsible drinking' TV advertisements
How Alcoholics Anonymous is changing
Self-medication with alcohol
Website to tackle student drinking
Interventions to tackle harmful alcohol consumption
International study questions health benefits of moderate drinking
Email info@ias.org.uk to subscribe
The burden of alcohol related gastrointestinal disease, alcoholic liver disease and pancreatitis, will increase markedly over the coming decade or more, according tothe British Society of Gastroenterology. Managing the health consequences of the rising tide of alcohol misuse in the United Kingdom will be one of the key challenges of the future, and much of it will fall to the gastroenterology and Hepatology services in acute hospitals, the Society concludes.
The Society, in a report putting forward a strategy for improving the care of patients with gastrointestinal disorders, says that the care of patients with alcohol-related diseases causes particular difficulties to gastroenterologists. The liver and GI tract are the most common focus for alcohol related damage and in most inner-city hospitals, the management of in-patents with alcoholic liver disease and its complications is the largest single workload that GI physicians face. Furthermore, when around 20% of unselected emergency admissions are alcohol-related, many of them gravitate to GI physicians under triage systems even when there are no specific liver or GI problems, for instance, patients suffering from alcohol withdrawal or the social consequences of alcohol dependence.
The Society says that it is important to anticipate that the burden from alcohol is going to increase markedly over the coming decade or more.
“As a nation, we are drinking more than for 90 years and there is a lag time between consumption and cirrhosis. Already, we have seen a 350% increase in cirrhosis between 1970 and 1998, and this figure is 900% for those under 45 years of age. Patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and alcoholic pancreatitis and related complications are heavy users of expensive hospital resources, particularly length of stay, intensive care, blood and interventional procedures, and they are often regarded by other specialties and departments as of lower priority because of the perceived self-afflicted nature of the condition.”
The Society says that GI physicians accept their key role in the management of patients with alcohol-related disease but realise that they cannot take on this load without explicit consideration of the implications. The Society endorses the evidence-based blueprint for managing alcohol related diseases produced in 2001 and reaffirmed at a recent joint Royal College of Physicians/British Society of Gastroenterology conference in early 2005 entitled ‘Alcohol related harm – a growing crisis, time for action!’
The blueprint included recommendations for local care by acute hospitals receiving unselected medical admissions:
Screening strategy for early detection of harmful/coincidental hazardous drinkers. Early assessment of dependence severity by appropriately trained staff.
Widely available protocols for the pharmacotherapy of detoxification.
Readily available “acute response” from liaison or specialised alcohol psychiatry services for the management of patients undergoing “complicated” alcohol withdrawal.
Assessment of the need for referral to on-going support services by appropriately trained staff with knowledge of local services.
Provision of brief interventions for coincidental hazardous drinkers.
Provision of general staff education.
Occupational policies for alcohol for all hospital health care workers, for examples with respect to drinking at work.
Close liaison with General Practitioners on discharge.
The blueprint also recommended that Health Trusts’ strategy should include the identification of:
1. A senior member of medical staff and a senior member of nursing staff to act as a focus for alcohol strategy and to support more junior members of staff.
2. Senior psychiatric colleagues with an interest in the management of alcohol problems to act as the primary link between the acute hospital trust and local mental health services. This individual may or may not be employed by the acute trust.
3. One or more dedicated alcohol health workers employed by and answerable to the acute Trust. The roles will include:
a. Implementation of screening strategies.
b. Detoxification of dependent drinkers
c. Brief interventions in hazardous drinkers.
d.Referral of patients for on-going support/with access/knowledge about locally available non-statutory/ voluntary agencies.
e. To provide links with liaison/specialist alcohol psychiatry.
f. An education resource and support focus for other health care workers in the Trust.
Care of Patients with
Gastrointestinal Disorders in the
United Kingdom: A Strategy for the
Future. British Society of
Gastroenterology. March 2006
The House of Commons committee which reviews the work of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has strongly criticised the Government’s introduction of the new Licensing Act. The cross party committee looked at the process of re-licensing which local authorities, the new licensing authorities, had to carry out over a six month period, and identified a catalogue of errors and failings on the part of the Department of Culture (DCMS), the government department responsible. The committee says that these errors caused ‘unnecessary stress on all parties involved’.
A particular cause of criticism was that, although the Licensing Act was passed in 2003, the Statutory Guidance issued by the Secretary of State Tessa Jowell, designed to tell the licensing authorities how they should interpret and apply the new Act, was not produced by DCMS until two years later. The committee also complain that when the Guidance finally appeared it was in places vague and inconsistent, and not altogether compatible with the Act itself.
The committee’s chairman, Dr Phyllis Starkey MP, said: “The last details were only produced three weeks before the process (of re-licensing) had to begin and local authorities of course were then in difficulty in setting up their councillors’ licensing panels, in training the councillors and in training their staff to deal with it.” “ There was a six month period when pubs and clubs could apply for a licence, once they’d applied the licences had to be determined within two months by local authorities,” she explained.
“Another criticism we’ve made is that there should have been a financial incentive to encourage pubs and clubs to apply early so that the burden of work of the licensing panels would have been more spread out.
“And the consequence of all those things was that councils often had to determine applications within the two months period without being able to give them sufficiently detailed examination and either refused licences when they might not have done or approved them without being able to look at them carefully enough.
“Also the whole thing put enormous strain on local authorities and local authority members, particularly those local authorities like Westminster which have a very large number of pubs and clubs within their area.”
Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Hugo Swire, said: “Clearly the Government’s handling of the new licensing laws has been a shambles, and it is local authorities, village halls and community centres who are left to deal with the mess and the bill. Ultimately, council tax payers will be left paying for the Government’s mistakes.
“At times, the Department has seemed gripped by inertia and has refused to see the scale of the chaos before them. Most worrying is the admission that some licence applications were granted without being examined, even though the Government promised that residents would have a greater say in opposing rowdy pubs.”
Confirming its status as the Act that failed to satisfy anyone, Nick Bish of The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, one of the main alcohol industry groups, agreed that errors made by the DCMS‘ severely let down’ licensees.
Mr. Bish said: “We whole-heartedly support and endorse the Committee’s analysis of the problems faced by all sides in managing the introduction of the new Licensing Act. This was a complex piece of legislation and the Government let us all down by failing to provide clear, timely advice. We warned DCMS at the time that problems would emerge, but I’m afraid our advice was ignored.”
A DCMS spokesman said: “Of course, as with any major transition process, there are lessons to be learned and we will consider the committee’s report carefully.“It is important to remember that the Licensing Act was the biggest overhaul of licensing laws in a generation. It is now delivering a better deal for the public, industry and enforcement authorities.”
The Government is still strongly opposed to lowering the legal alcohol limit for drivers, as it was ‘minded’ to do when elected to office, but this may not be the case forever.
Appearing before the House of Commons Transport Committee in March, Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman appeared to hold out the prospect that the Government might lower the limit at some point in the future but only when it had made much more progress in tackling drinking and driving above the present legal limit. Dr. Ladyman said:
“Clearly, if everybody obeyed the law and we reduced the blood alcohol level to 50 micrograms, yes, we would save more lives but we think about 500 deaths a year are attributable to people over the 80 micrograms limit and I think the figure is about 50 to 70 lives a year would be saved by reducing it, involving people between 50 and 80. It seems to me obvious that the target for our enforcement, our priority, has to be catching all of the people who are over the 80 micrograms limit and saving the 500 lives before we start diverting police resources to try to catch the 70 or so that are between the 50 and 80 limit. I do not rule out the possibility, once we have strict enforcement at 80, once we have the situation under good control with 80, of the government of the day wishing to move down to 50. Let us focus where the big gain is to be made first.”
Asked whether reducing the legal limit would not help to reduce the number of drink drivers, Dr Ladyman denied that there was `the slightest bit of evidence’ to support that suggestion.
These comments are likely to cause dismay in the road safety community, not least because they clearly suggest that the Government is still flatly refusing even to acknowledge the existence of a substantial body of evidence from around the world showing that lowering the legal limit prevents drink driving and saves lives. In fact, and contrary to Dr Ladyman’s assertion, the evidence of the benefits of lowering drink drive limits is strong enough for a recent authoritative review to have rated lowered limits as one of the most effective drink drive policies available, far more effective than the designated driver programmes that the alcohol industry and the Government encourage.
An investigation conducted by Alcohol Focus Scotland has revealed that promotional offers on alcohol by the major retailers dramatically increase both sales and frequency of customer return.
Alcohol Focus Scotland approached a number of the major supermarket and off-sales chains to request information on
customer spending patterns when alcohol products are sold at reduced prices or through special offers such as ‘3 for 2’. Very few provided information, but of those who did, the findings show a clear link between off-sales promotions and how much alcohol people buy and therefore consume:
Sales increase by 20-25% when promotions are run
Customers who buy on promotions tend to be heavier spenders than average
83% of customers who purchase alcohol on promotion will return for a second purchase
Largest uptake is among those doing their weekly shop between Friday pm and Saturday am
Wine is the most popular promoted alcohol product
Jack Law, Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland said:
“We are not a nation which is known for storing or ‘laying down’ drink. It is not unreasonable to assume from this exercise that alcohol promotions, as is the case in the on-trade, will contribute to excessive and dangerous drinking at home.
For too long the major retailers have been putting profits before their social responsibilities by selling alcohol at ridiculously low prices and encouraging customers to purchase more than they intended via clever promotions. Alcohol is a very different product from any other - a special offer on bread or milk is not going to cause harm to individuals and communities the way a special offer on alcohol can. These irresponsible practices must be curbed when Scotland’s new licensing legislation comes into force, otherwise the health and social problems relating to excessive drinking will continue to escalate.”
AFS has begun discussions with some retailers who appear to be beginning to recognise this problem, but the blank denial of many is disappointing. AFS is asking for the sector to acknowledge that it too contributes to Scotland’s drinking problems and to work alongside us to establish what they can contribute to resolving them.”
Dr Peter Rice, Consultant Psychiatrist with Tayside Alcohol Problems Service said: “In my work helping people overcome alcohol problems, the issue of people avoiding high risk situations is a crucial one. In general, our clients don't expect the world to change to suit them, but one issue which is frequently raised is that of display policies in supermarkets. People plan carefully to avoid the ‘drink aisle’ but the display of alcohol outside these areas can catch people unawares and create problems. Alcohol is not an ordinary commodity; it is a drug which causes considerable and increasing harm to our communities. It has to be treated with respect and with appropriate safeguards, and the needs of those tackling alcohol problems should be given due consideration.”
Cardiff team uncovers the true price of a pint
Gordon Brown’s recent tax hike of a penny on a pint of beer is good news for hospital casualty departments, according to Cardiff University researchers.
Their analysis of more than 350,000 assault related accident and emergency cases found that violence rates were highest in those regions where alcohol was cheapest.
The study is the first to make a direct link between violence and the cost of alcohol. It suggests that a 1% increase in the price of beer could mean 2,200 fewer assault victims in casualty every month in England and Wales.
The research was carried out Professor Kent Matthews of Cardiff Business School and Professor Jonathan Shepherd and Dr Vaseekaran Sivarajasingham, both in the Violence Research Group at the University’s School of Dentistry. Professor Shepherd is a long standing campaigner for non-glass bottles and glasses to be used in pubs and clubs.
The team analysed assault figures over five years from 58 major accident and emergency departments, linking them to regional beer price data from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
They found violence was more closely linked to alcohol prices than a range of other factors, including house prices, youth unemployment and ethnic population density.
The study, published in the International Journal of the Care of the Injured, also found assaults were common in the summer months and during major sporting events. Men were three times more likely to be attacked than women.
Dr Sivarajasingham said: “The study shows that violence-related harm in England and Wales relates closely to alcohol prices.
“In practical terms raising alcohol prices, for example through taxation, may have a beneficial effect in reducing violence-related harm throughout England and Wales.”
The Government has launched a campaign warning men to ensure that a woman has consented to sex in order to avoid being accused of rape.
The £0.5 million campaign, consisting of magazine and radio adverts and posters, is designed primarily to reduce the number of sexual assaults taking place when a woman is drunk. The adverts will feature in ‘lads magazines’, on radio stations and in pub washrooms. Aside from its obvious coarseness and vulgarity, the campaign also raises questions about how far, if at all, individuals can be held responsible for their actions while intoxicated.
It is well known that alcohol is implicated in a high proportion of cases of sexual violence, and a recent study by the Metropolitan Police found that more than a third of women who reported being raped had consumed alcohol immediately before the alleged attack.
However, the Government is concerned that many cases of alleged sexual assault fail to reach the courts because the victim cannot remember all the details due to having been drunk, or judges have stopped trials on the grounds of the unreliability of the accuser’s evidence because of her being intoxicated at the relevant time.
The Government has also issued a consultation paper – ‘Convicting Rapists and Protecting Victims – Justice for Victims of Rape’ – which seeks views on the problem of capacity or incapacity to give consent to sex due to alcohol intoxication and on means of overcoming the problem.
Launching the advertising campaign, Home Office Minister Fiona Mactaggart said: “For a long time, work to raise awareness of sexual violence has focused on the need for women to take responsibility for their personal safety. That is still important, but I believe that we need to start putting the onus onto men and make them aware of their responsibilities.
“I want young men to see these adverts and realise that they should not be having sex unless they have secured the consent of the other person. Our campaign is not saying ‘don’t have sex’; it is about ensuring that sex is mutually agreed. Victims of crime often feel they are to blame for the offence, they are not - perpetrators are. But I want to make sure that men, who are most often the perpetrators of this appalling crime, are fully aware of their responsibility to seek consent before having sex. I hope that greater awareness of the law and a clearer sense of everybody’s responsibilities will lead to a reduction in the number of rapes committed.”
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 set down for the first time that a defendant in a rape case would need to show that he had reasonable grounds to believe that the other person had given her consent. The Act also introduced a definition of consent – that a person consents if s/he ‘agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice.’
Ministers insist that in sexual matters, at least, giving consent is an active not a passive process, and that the onus is on the man to take positive steps to ensure that the woman in question is actively consenting to sexual activity.
The problem arises, however, when modern sexual mores permitting or encouraging casual sexual relationships coexist with the binge drinking culture. Does drunken consent count as consent? Clearly, if a woman is so drunk as to be unconscious, the question of her consenting to sex does not arise. However, speaking on BBC TV’s Breakfast programme, Ms Mactaggart said it was important “that men were aware of the risk in having sex with a woman who was too drunk to really know what she was saying.” This clearly implies that even if the man does actively seek consent and obtains it, he could still be accused of rape if, subsequently, the woman’s consent is ruled not to count as a result of being given while under the influence of alcohol.
Ms Mactaggart’s comment appears, on the face of it, to conflict with the Home Secretary’s commitment in a 2002 White Paper ‘Protecting the Public’ that drunkenness would not be deemed to invalidate consent: “I have rejected the suggestion that someone who is inebriated could claim they were unable to give consent – as opposed to someone who is unconscious for whatever reason, including because of alcohol – on the ground that we do not want mischievous accusations.”
However, the Solicitor General, Mike O’Brien, suggested that the law may need ‘clarification’ to allow a jury to decide whether the woman was too drunk to be capable of consenting. If drunken consent is ruled invalid, it seems to follow that whenever sexual intercourse takes place with a drunk woman, then the man is a rapist by definition.
Given contemporary acceptance of both drinking to intoxication and free and easy sexual mores, it also seems to follow that high proportions, if not most, young people have either been raped or are rapists. A survey commissioned for Channel 4 TV found that 20% of males and 13% of females aged 15-19 cited alcohol as the main reason for first intercourse, and the younger the woman the more likely it was that alcohol was involved. The incidence of drunken sex is likely to be substantially higher in some older age groups.
Mr. O’Brien did not comment on cases in which the man is also drunk, and on any need to clarify whether, if drunkenness in a woman is held to render her incapable of giving consent, drunkenness in a man should be regarded as rendering him incapable of seeking it.
A Psychiatrist’s Perspective – Dr Jonathan Chick
There is another law which depends on an assessment by an individual of whether another person is ‘drunk’, namely the law that alcohol should not be served to an intoxicated person. There have never been more than a handful of prosecutions in recent times under this law, and one reason has been the difficulty in establishing the definition of intoxication. Most people coming up to the bar for a third or later drink would have some degrees of psychomotor deficit, except the markedly dependent (‘alcoholic’) drinker who might not manifest that till the 6th or 7th drink.
The drink-driving legislation did away with the difficulty of definition, by specifying a maximum blood, and then a breath, alcohol concentration, above which a driver is, by definition, too ‘drunk’ to drive. For the government’s plans on protecting women from rape to be effective, perhaps it will specify a breath alcohol level above which consent cannot be deemed to be given and males advised to have a breathalyser to hand and to request an apparently consenting woman to provide a specimen.
Another approach would be to increase the price and diminish the availability of alcohol, which research shows, would reduce the amount consumed per drinking session, and so reduce the number of women putting themselves at risk. While there may still be difficulties implementing the law in such cases, it is good to draw wise attention to this important matter, and we can hope that there will be men who will take note.
Dr. Chick is a Consultant Psychiatrist
at the University of Edinburgh
Doctors at the University of Southampton have found that most patients with severe alcohol-induced liver disease do not have a dependence on alcohol, as generally previously believed. These findings are at odds with current strategies to combat the increase in alcohol related deaths which are targeted at those with alcohol dependency.
In a study of thirty four patients with severe ALD (Alcohol-Induced Liver Disease), the team found that only 9 per cent showed evidence of severe alcohol dependence. They were more likely to be employed, married or in a stable relationship, and to drink with family, friends or work colleagues - a pattern which often escalated into heavy drinking.
This compared with the control group of thirty four patients known to have alcohol dependence, who were more likely to drink alone, to be unemployed and unattached. The trigger for heavy drinking was likely to be a traumatic event and/or depression.
“The majority of patients presenting with alcoholic liver disease appear to be heavy controlled or social drinkers, leading relatively controlled lives, perhaps not feeling that their drinking is a major health issue until they are diagnosed with end-stage liver disease, at which point the liver has been damaged to the extent that only 30 per cent will be long term survivors. Alternatively, if drinking spirals out of control as a result of dependence, subjects are more likely to seek treatment at an earlier stage, and therefore survive for longer.” said Dr Nick Sheron, consultant hepatologist and senior lecturer at the University of Southampton.
“The high mortality from severe ALD at first presentation means that there are limited options for reducing deaths. The current government focus on binge drinking and on alcohol dependency will miss many patients who will later die from ALD. The documented rise in liver deaths so far is very worrying but does not include the impact of more recent changes in drinking patterns, particularly in women. Unless something is done fairly urgently, we predict a continued rise in deaths from ALD over the next 10 years, most particularly in young and middle aged women,” concludes Dr Sheron.
Professor Ian Gilmore, Chairman of the Royal College of Physicians’ Alcohol Committee said: “The Royal College of Physicians welcomes this important piece of research which dispels the myth that all patients with alcoholic liver disease are alcoholics or dependent drinkers. Because alcoholic cirrhosis is such a silent killer, the first signs may come when it is already too late. This emphasises the importance of early detection of problem drinkers in the NHS and the availability of advice and support to help people cut down on their drinking.”
Having just two alcoholic drinks a day can cause cancer tumours to grow more rapidly and make them bigger, a new US study has claimed.
University of Mississippi research shows that alcohol seems to increase the body's production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) which can aid the growth of tumours by helping them develop a system of blood vessels which they would otherwise die without.
The researchers, led by the study's author Professor Wei Tan, looked at the effect of alcohol on tumours in mice.
Instead of giving the mice large amounts of alcohol, they gave them only the equivalent of two to four glasses a day.
Six mice were given drinking water with one per cent alcohol for eight hours each night during the month long experiment. In the second week the mice were injected with mouse melanoma.
Professor Tan found that the mice who had the alcohol, compared to the group who were given plain drinking water were almost twice as heavy, showed a dramatic increase in blood capillaries and had more VEGF in their system.
Co-researcher Professor Jian-Wei Gu said the study showed that people with cancer should not drink at all. He also said that usually the body's immune system can fight off small tumours, but that alcohol could make them grow so big that the immune system could not cope.
Professor Tan concluded:
“It's very important to have a model of how to prevent cancer, and this study provides that model. Epidemiologists have recognised alcohol as a risk factor for cancer for 100 years, but this study examines how that happens.”
The findings were presented at the Experimental Biology Conference 2006 in San Francisco at the beginning of April.
By Gavin Dingwall*
Reader in Law,
De Montfort University, Leicester
The statistics make grim reading. Research has consistently shown that a high proportion of offenders drink prior to offending (Dingwall, 2006, chapter 2). To take but one example, the 2000 British Crime Survey found that the offender was ‘under the influence of drink’ in 40% of violent incidents (Budd, 2003: 2). On a daily basis, therefore, criminal courts have to deal with individuals who had been drunk at the time that the incident took place.
A suitable response has to be found.
This has not proved easy. Usually the criminal law does not just penalise harmful conduct. In most cases, particularly with more serious offences, there is an additional requirement that the individual has to intend to commit that harm or is at least reckless that the harm would materialise. If an individual causes the prohibited harm but without the necessary mental state then he is entitled to an acquittal. Drunkenness in itself is not problematic. The law is quite clear that ‘drunken intent is nevertheless an intent’ and the jury are directed on this basis (Sheehan and Moore [1975] 2 All ER 960). The defendant will, therefore, not be entitled to an acquittal if he tries to argue that he would not have committed the offence if he had been sober if he still had the required mental state (Kingston [1994] 3 All ER 353).
The situation becomes more problematic where an individual is so intoxicated that he can form no intent whatsoever. Ordinarily, if someone does not form the required mental state, standard criminal law principle would suggest that he is entitled to an acquittal. However, many people would argue that intoxication should be treated as an exception because the individual is (almost invariably) responsible for his condition. This, though, does not get round the fact that he was incapable of satisfying a standard requirement of criminal liability. A number of different responses have emerged internationally. In Scotland, for example, intoxication is always irrelevant in determining criminal liability. Even in a murder case, the jury have to disregard the fact that the defendant was intoxicated at the time. Conversely, some jurisdictions (e.g. New Zealand) allow juries to consider evidence of intoxication in order to decide whether or not the defendant had the necessary mental state for all offences which specify a particular state of mind.
The position in England and Wales
In this jurisdiction the position is something of a half-way house. Evidence of intoxication can be considered for some offences but not for others (the case which is usually cited for authority for this is DPP v Majewski [1976] 2 All ER 142 although the roots of the doctrine go back far further: Singh, 1933). Offences are divided into two categories – those requiring a ‘specific’ intent and those requiring a ‘basic’ intent. If the offence requires a ‘specific’ intent, e.g. murder, then the jury may consider evidence relating to intoxication in order to decide whether or not the defendant possessed the required mental state. It should be emphasised that this does not mean that every defendant who is being tried for a ‘specific’ intent offence is going to be acquitted if he was drunk at the time of the offence. The evidence will be considered and only if he did not form the required mental state will he be acquitted (Sheehan and Moore [1975] 2 All ER 960).
If the offence is one of ‘basic’ intent, evidence of voluntary intoxication cannot be considered. However grave the charge, the evidence is deemed irrelevant. Given this structure, it is obvious that the definitions of ‘specific’ intent and ‘basic’ intent are of paramount importance. In Majewski [1976] 2 All ER 142, the judges considered this issue carefully but came up with different definitions. It is certainly true that some of the current categorisations are, therefore, problematic in terms of criminal law theory (Dingwall, 2006: 107-109) but, in practical terms, there is no real confusion as the courts have determined on a case-by-case basis which offences fall into each category.
Can the English position be defended? It could be argued that the English model represents a pragmatic compromise. An individual who killed whilst in a very intoxicated state might be acquitted on a murder charge but would be convicted of manslaughter. It could be argued that this better reflects the culpability of a severely intoxicated individual who kills unintentionally. There is also the added benefit that manslaughter does not carry a mandatory life sentence; the judge has discretion, therefore, to arrive at an appropriate sentence.
This defence, though, is not without flaws. Not all ‘specific’ intent offences are underwritten with a corresponding ‘basic’ intent offence. An obvious example of this is theft. Secondly, the approach rests on a fiction. For certain offences, where a particular state of mind (e.g. recklessness) has to be proved, the prosecution do not have to prove it if the defendant was intoxicated. Some have argued that intoxication equates to recklessness and that this is not problematic. However, this uses the term recklessness in a far wider sense than is usual in the criminal law. Ordinarily the recklessness has to be about a particular result occurring, here the recklessness would appear to be about getting intoxicated.
I have argued elsewhere (Dingwall, 2006: 118-125) that a better response would be to allow evidence of intoxication to go before a jury in all cases where a particular state of mind has to be proved by the prosecution (as say in New Zealand). The current distinction between offences of ‘specific’ intent and ‘basic’ intent in England and Wales rests on a fiction and has little to commend it. Under this alternative model, if the jury decide that the defendant did have the required state of mind then he should be convicted of that offence. However, I would propose creating a specific criminal offence of causing harm whilst intoxicated to deal with those who are acquitted of the primary offence. I am not the first to suggest such an option (the Law Society did in1993 but backtracked in 1995).It also operates in some other jurisdictions (e.g. the offence of total intoxication in s.323a(1) of the German Criminal Code). The attraction of this approach is that the offence targets what is culpable in such a scenario – the defendant intentionally or recklessly getting intoxicated.
A note on rape
The Government have recently launched a campaign highlighting the possibility that men who have sex with intoxicated women will be guilty of rape. In light of this, the position with regards to rape deserves separate comment. For the purposes of s.1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 a person (A) commits rape if –
(a) he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis,
(b) B does not consent to the penetration, and
(c) A does not reasonably believe that B consents.
There are two issues regarding consent: firstly, whether B does in fact consent to the penetration and, secondly, whether or not A reasonably believes that B consents. The Act expands on both of these issues (Tempkin and Ashworth, 2004). With regards to whether there is consent present, there is a general definition of ‘consent’, which is a notoriously difficult philosophical concept (Dingwall, 2002; Schulhofer,1998). Section 74 states that ‘a person consents if he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice’. There are further sections which provide scenarios where there will definitely be no consent (s.76) or where there will be an ‘evidential presumption’ that consent was lacking (s.75). In what circumstances will it be relevant that B had been drinking? With regards to s.74 the jury will have to determine whether or not B ‘agrees by choice’ and had ‘the freedom and capacity to make that choice’. This does not mean that every time B has been drinking she loses the freedom and capacity to decide whether to have sexual intercourse. It is suggested that the freedom and capacity to make such a choice is only lost when she is incapacitated by the alcohol. This is a question of fact for the jury to make. There are also two ‘evidential presumptions’ which could be relevant. If the complainant was asleep or ‘otherwise unconscious at the time of the relevant act’ (s.75(2)(d)) or if ‘any person had administered to or caused to be taken by the complainant, without the complainant’s consent, a substance which…was capable of causing or enabling the complainant to be stupefied or overpowered at the time of the relevant act’ (s.75(2)(f)) then there will be no consent unless sufficient evidence is adduced to raise an issue that there was consent (Finch and Munro, 2004). It is suggested that in these situations it would be exceptionally difficult to raise an argument that B was consenting.
If B does not consent to the penetration, it has to be shown that A does not reasonably believe that B consents. Rape traditionally has been regarded as a crime of ‘basic’ intent (Fotheringham (1988) 88 Cr.App.R. 206) and it seems logical that the defendant’s intoxication cannot be taken into consideration in determining whether his belief that B was consenting was reasonable. The campaign is to be welcomed in that it publicises how intoxicated men cannot rely on evidence of intoxication to show that they believed that the complainant was consenting. At the same time, it has to be recognised that drunkenness and incapacitation are not synonymous, and that only the incapacitated cannot consent to sexual intercourse.
I wish to thank my colleague Alisdair A. Gillespie for his comments on a draft of this article. All errors remain my responsibility.
Budd, T. (2003) Alcohol-Related Assault: findings from the British Crime Survey London: Home Office
Dingwall, G. (2006) Alcohol and Crime Cullompton: Willan Publishing
Dingwall, G. (2002) ‘Addressing the Boundaries of Consent in Rape’ 13(1) King’s College Law Journal 31
Finch, E. and Munro, V.E. [2004] ‘The Sexual Offences Act 2003: intoxicated consent and drug assisted rape revisited’ Criminal Law Review 789
Law Commission (1995) Intoxication and Criminal Liability Law Commission Report No.229 London: HMSO
Law Commission (1993) Intoxication and Criminal Liability Law Commission Consultation Paper No.127 London: HMSO
Schulhofer, S.J. (1998) Unwanted Sex: the culture of intimidation and the failure of law Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press
Singh, R.U. (1933) ‘History of the Defence of Drunkenness in English Criminal Law’ 49 Law Quarterly Review 528
Tempkin, J. and Ashworth, A. [2004] ‘The Sexual Offences Act 2003: (1) Rape, sexual assaults and the problems of consent’ Criminal Law Review 328
Drinks company Diageo spearheaded the alcohol industry’s campaign to be seen as responsible by launching a TV advertising campaign warning of the dangers of excessive drinking. The advertisements, titled ‘Many Me’ and ‘Mirror’, were shown in the London, Manchester and Nottingham regions.
They joined a range of other initiatives such as supposedly new codes of practice on cheap alcohol promotions, increased unit labelling on alcohol containers and the creation of the ‘Drinkaware’ web site taken as a response to the Government’s National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and its proposed social responsibility charter for alcohol producers and retailers.
The Diageo advertisements, which ran for a two-month period, were set in the different drinking environments of a night out in a bar and at a house party and illustrated how excessive drinking for both men and women could ruin a good evening.
Kate Blakeley, Head of Social Responsibility at Diageo GB commented: “As a leading alcohol producer we recognise we have a role to play in encouraging people to enjoy our drinks responsibly. We hope the campaign shows that no matter where you mix socially, alcohol should be enjoyed in moderation.” Andy Fennell, Diageo Europe Marketing and Innovation Director said:
“This campaign shows the negative impact that irresponsible drinking can have on you and the way others perceive you. It also shows the positive impact of being in control and at your social best. It is an empowering message, demonstrating that how you drink comes down to personal choice. We want people to enjoy alcohol in moderation and hope this campaign, alongside other initiatives from the drinks industry, Government and others, helps to make positive changes to our drinking culture.”
The campaign was based on the notion that drinking too much impairs ‘social currency’, by spoiling the good time that the drinkers and their friends are having. Drinkers were told that pacing themselves and staying in control helped them to avoid this pitfall.
The ‘Many Me’ advertisement showed a man considering the route a typical night out at a bar could go. He saw himself enjoying the company of friends; however, he also saw himself having too much to drink and becoming unruly and messy. The barman’s question to the man at the end, “So, what’ll it be?”, had an obvious double meaning and emphasised the message that everyone has a choice about how much they drink. The end line was “Don’t see a Great Night Wasted”.
The ‘Mirror’ advertisement followed a woman at a house party. At the start of the evening, she was enjoying herself and chatting to friends. Later she became aware that, reflected in the mirror and other surfaces, she was seeing someone who looked like herself also at the party. The difference was this woman’s behaviour – she was losing control and her friends were no longer as warm or welcoming as before. The woman realised that this was her drunk self and the ad closed with the strapline “Make sure you like what you see”.
The introduction of these advertisements follows the successful evaluation of a similar campaign that ran in the Republic of Ireland. The evaluation showed that responsible drinking advertising was an effective way of reminding the customer about issues of individual responsibility and choice in relation to alcohol consumption with:
80% of consumers saying they remembered that the ad is for sensible drinking
76% saying they would be more likely to consider drinking sensibly having seen the advertisement.
Another initiative taken by Diageo GB was a student unit awareness programme entitled ‘What’s In It?’ reaching 750,000 students across 55 universities, in partnership with NUS Services Ltd. Diageo GB has also funded theatre company CragRats to deliver workshops to 44,000 secondary school pupils, to raise awareness of alcohol issues.
By an AA member
My own experience
I first came into contact with Alcoholics Anonymous 20 years ago. I had just been discharged from mental hospital after a suicide attempt and after losing two jobs within a few weeks. AA was the main thing which kept me going over the following months, although I also got help from family, friends, my doctor and my therapist. I have not had an alcoholic drink since my first AA meeting.
I have had many problems getting my life together since then, not least with depression. With the benefit of hindsight depression was probably one ofthe reasons why I drank, but the drinking was more a cause than an effect of my problems.
I still attend AA meetings regularly. I do not want to drink again and I still value the support I get in maintaining sobriety, among other things by listening to people who have had a harder time than I have, have only just stopped drinking or are still trying to stop. AA is also part of my social life.
Carrying the AA message
The 12th step of the AA programme1 encourages its members to carry the AA message to other alcoholics. The proposition that helping others helps you to stay sober has support in peer-reviewed scientific literature2 as well as in the practical experience of AA groups. In London, where I live, current initiatives include AA members speaking to school children about their experiences, giving presentations at magistrates courts, working with the probation service and supporting AA meetings at prisons. A seminar about the work of AA was held at the Houses of Parliament in March 2005 and a repeat of this is due in May 2006.
AA has been particularly successful in working with some leading hospitals which provide treatment for alcohol dependence. AA meetings are held in the hospitals and AA members give separate talks to the patients to help them to think about becoming members too.
In other hospitals AA meetings may be held in the premises without such a close working relationship. There may be a clash of cultures. There are sometimes strong contrasts in general approach and language between AA members and those who work professionally in the field of addiction, although both sides are usually trying to achieve what is essentially the same thing.
Working with AA
A doctor in charge of an alcohol treatment unit once told me that I was the first AA member he had met. Others may strongly encourage their clients to try AA without having any direct contact with the fellowship themselves.
Professionals who want to make optimal use of AA as a resource may sometimes need to make a greater effort to understand its programme, meet with members involved in outreach activities and attend a few “open” meetings (which should usually be done far enough away from where you work to ensure that you do not meet your own clients). This is surely not a disproportionate time commitment. It can enable the professional, for instance, to tell his or her patients or clients at first hand what they should expect. You do not have to become an alcoholic yourself (or apply the ‘Minnesota Model’,which involves integrating the AA programme within treatment3) to get to this point.
Why should you make the effort? Partly because there is now a sound body of scientific evidence suggesting that AA does work for a significant number of people with drink problems4. It operates at no cost to the taxpayer and is paid for entirely by voluntary contributions from those members who can afford to make them. It is also most active outside normal working hours and thus complements the help that can be provided at a professional level.
The need for AA to adjust
AA members actively involved in its public relations activities may need to make an equivalent effort to understand other people’s points of view and find common ground. Involvement in AA outreach activities helps to achieve this up to a point as does, for instance, reading some scientific literature, contact with professionals, attending conferences focusing on alcohol problems and involvement in working groups at a local level. One of the co-founders of AA, William Wilson, acknowledged5 that some AA members ‘decry every attempt at therapy except our own’ but the majority ‘don’t care too much whether new and valuable knowledge issues from a test tube, a psychiatrist’s couch or revealing social studies’.
AA has changed considerably over the 20 years I have been a member. There are, for instance, more people under 30 and more women. There are meetings focused on the needs of young people, women, gays and lesbians and some provision in Central London (although still not nearly enough) for child care. It was rare in the 1980s to see anyone from racial minorities at meetings. Now it is rare not to see them. The fellowship is making every effort to provide help to people whose first language is not English or who may have other communication problems or disabilities.
The Internet and email has also helped to spread the AA message. For instance the basic ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ textbook is now available online6 in full text in English, French and Spanish as well as being available in hard copy in many other languages.
The anonymity tradition
There is sometimes a tendency to over-interpret the AA anonymity tradition. It only requires members to maintain anonymity at the level of press, radio, film etc. The second cofounder of AA, Dr Robert Smith, argued7 that maintaining anonymity at any other level and in particular “being so anonymous you can’t be reached by other drunks” was itself a breach of the anonymity tradition. He also considered that AA members should let themselves be known as such in the community. This may be feasible in North America, but in Europe it is perhaps more an ideal to be strived for. I am a professional myself, although I do not practise in the field of addictions. I do not tell my colleagues at work (whom I have only known for about 18 months) about my past drinking problems and my membership of AA. When I get to know them better, and if it were to serve a useful purpose, I might perhaps do so.
(This article represents the views of the author which are not necessarily shared by other AA members or by the AA fellowship as a whole)
1 www.alcoholicsanonymous. org.uk/geninfo/05steps. shtml
2 See Zemore SE, Kaskutas, LE and Ammon LN (2004) ‘In 12-step groups, helping helps the helper’, Addiction 99, 1015.
3 See www.hazelden.org/servlet/hazelden/go/INFO_MNMODEL
4 See, for instance: Vaillant, GE (2003) ‘A 60-year follow-up of alcoholic men’ Addiction, 98, 1043- 1051. Gossop M, Harris, R, Best D, Man L-H et al, ‘Is attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after inpatient treatment related to improved outcomes? A 6 month follow-up study’ Alcohol and Alcoholism, Vol 38 No 5 421-426. Project MATCH Research Group (1997) ‘Matching alcoholism treatments to client heterogeneity: Project MATCH post treatment outcomes’. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 58, 7-29.
5 ‘Let’s be friendly with our friends’, AA Grapevine March 1958.
6 www.aa.org/bigbookonline/
7 ‘Doctor Bob and the Good Oldtimers’, page 264, 1980 AA World Services i
Many adults in the UK are using alcohol to deal with feelings of stress, anxiety and depression, according to a new report from the Mental Health Foundation. The report, ‘Cheers?’ – outlines the relationship between alcohol and mental health and describes how excessive drinking increases vulnerability to a range of mental health problems.
National opinion poll research carried out to identify reasons for drinking found that people reported that alcohol made them feel:
relaxed (77 per cent)
happy (63 per cent)
more able to fit in socially (44 per cent)
more confident (41 percent).
The results also revealed that drinking alcohol made people:
feel less anxious (40 per cent)
less depressed (26 per cent)
more able to forget their problems (30 per cent).
This is consistent with the theory that people use alcohol to cope with feelings of stress, anxiety and depression.
Evidence outlined in the ‘Cheers?’ report also shows that people who drink high volumes of alcohol are vulnerable to mental ill health. Over the last 50 years, alcohol consumption has doubled in the UK, mirroring an increase in the number of people experiencing mental illness.
Regular drinking changes the chemistry of the brain and depletes the neurotransmitters the brain needs to prevent anxiety and depression naturally. According to the World Health Organisation, enough evidence exists to show alcohol can contribute to depression.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, physical health concerns related to increasing alcohol consumption are being reflected in Government policy developments, yet very little attention has been given to the links between alcohol and mental health, with little debate about why people drink alcohol.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: “The research confirms our worries that people are drinking to cope with emotions and situations they can’t otherwise manage, to deal with feelings of anxiety and depression.
“Drinking alcohol is a very common and accepted way of coping - our culture allows us to use alcohol for ‘medicinal purposes’ or ‘dutch courage’ from an early age. But using alcohol to deal with anxiety and depression doesn’t work as alcohol can weaken the neurotransmitters that the brain needs to reduce anxiety and depressive thoughts. This is why lots of people feel low when they have a hangover.”
The Mental Health Foundation believes that the public has a right to information about the hazardous effects that alcohol misuse can have on their mental as well as physical health. The report makes a number of Government policy recommendations.
Cheers? Understanding the relationship between alcohol and mental health. Mental Health Foundation. April 2006
An innovative way to tackle the growing problem of excessive drinking amongst students, a population whose drinking habits traditionally highlighted as indicative of carefree and transient lifestyle, has been launched by the University of Leeds.
As part of its e-UNICAL Project, funded by a grant from the European Advisory Research Board, the University has developed the country’s first interactive website designed specifically for UK students, which aims to help them reduce their consumption of alcohol. If it proves to be successful, then it could be implemented across the UK to other universities, and populations within the same age range.
The project will use tailored online feedback based on reported alcohol consumption in order to raise awareness amongst students, and help them make informed decisions about their drinking. It aims to reduce consumption by 10% in two years, following feedback from the UNIQOLL student experience survey which the University has been running for six years. The findings showed that, in common with all young adults, a proportion of students had a high alcohol intake.
The first phase of the project, now close to completion, involves three hundred student volunteers providing information on their drinking habits via the website; they will then receive tailored feedback in relation to the ‘sensible drinking’ guidelines, but will also receive information on their drinking in relation to fellow students. Indeed, principal investigator and project manager Bridgette Bewick from the Psychological Therapies Research Centre suggests that “students tend to overestimate how much their peers are drinking, and giving students personalised feedback that they’re in a high-risk category can act as a wake-up call.” Feedback will be given on students’ perceptions of how drinking is impacting on their health, their studies, and - a top priority for students - their finances.
The project has received an overwhelming uptake from the students, and over 1000 students have volunteered to participate, hugely exceeding the original sample of 300. “The fact that the students are willing to engage and participate in such a project shows that they find it relevant, and that they are thinking about their drinking”, says Bridgette.
The website, built by the University’s information systems services department, is currently only available to the volunteers. “If the trial is successful in reducing alcohol consumption and binge drinking it will provide an effective and low-cost tool that could be used not only by the University of Leeds but also by student populations across the UK and Europe,” said Bridgette.
Evidence shows that online surveys can be an effective method of data collection amongst certain populations, and there is an increasing use of the Internet as a tool for social research. “There is a growing interest in the health professions in using online resources to change the way people behave, and the widespread availability of low-cost IT makes the internet a great potential source for instigating change”, claims Bridgette.
Guidance providing practical steps to improve screening and brief interventions for problem drinkers or people drinking to hazardous levels has been published by the Department of Health.i
‘The guidance’, explained Minister, “supports organisations thinking about developing the alcohol misuse interventions that will help improve health, reduce inequalities, reduce demand and improve access for the NHS”.
The document provides further detail on the policy context and evidence of harm to the NHS, to individuals, families and communities. It presents powerful economic arguments for action, identifies practical steps for those implementing this guidance locally and introduces new, nationally developed tools that can be used by local organisations.
Findings from ANARP
The 2005 ‘Alcohol Needs Assessment Research Project (ANARP)’ report had already provided the first detailed national picture of the need for treatment and the availability of provision. The evidence presented suggests that the prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD’s) and access to treatment varies considerably across England. Indeed, there are important discrepancies in terms of levels of hazardous and harmful drinking, and the provisions of treatment. Some areas present high levels of hazardous drinking, which manifests itself in terms of alcohol-related crime and disorder and is typically associated with a younger population. On the other hand, some regions present high levels of harmful drinking, more often associated with dependent drinkers, who are usually older and are more likely to experience a range of health harms.
There are also wide regional disparities in terms of the provision of alcohol treatment services, which aim to benefit an older, dependent drinking population. It is also noted that people with alcohol dependence are heavy consumers of health services, but are not often identified as having alcohol dependence.
Alcohol misuse is now costing around £20 billion a year in England, it is suggested, including alcohol-related health disorders and diseases. This figure encompasses the costs of crime and antisocial behaviour, loss of productivity in the workplace, and problems for those who misuse alcohol and their families, including domestic violence. Evidence based alcohol treatment in the UK could result in net savings in the ratio of £5 saved for every £1 spent.
Making it happen locally, regionally and nationally
The new guidance outlines practical steps that Primary Care Trusts (PCT’s) can take. These include assessing local need, current provision and levels of investment for screening, brief interventions and services for dependent drinkers across the local health and social care economy. As part of an assessment of local need for the entire pathway, greatest impact may be made if screening and brief interventions are offered to hazardous and harmful drinkers.
The regional support to deliver local programmes includes a series of conferences, held from January 2006 in partnership with the DH Regional Directors of Public Health to discuss the emerging evidence and practice.
The sum of £15 million per annum will be included within the PCTs’ general allocation from 2007/2008 onwards to help PCTs’ improve their local arrangements for commissioning and delivering alcohol interventions.
A number of ‘Trailblazer Projects’ are to be implemented with the aim of strengthening the evidence base, in assessing and determining the impact of targeted screening and brief intervention within key settings: primary care, hospital and criminal justice systems. These projects are to begin in Spring 2006, with a final report released by the Summer 2008.
The Guidance summarises the economic justification for interventions into harmful and dependent drinking:
Potential benefits of interventions
Recent studies suggest that alcohol treatment has both short and long-term savings, and analysis from the UKATT Study suggests that for every £1 spent on treatment, the public sector saves £5.
The provision of alcohol treatment to the 10% of the dependent drinking population within the United Kingdom would reduce public sector resource costs by between £109m and £156 m each year. The direct cost of brief intervention delivered to hazardous harmful drinkers was calculated to be only £20 in 1993.
A recent trial found that brief intervention trials can reduce weekly drinking by between 13% and 34%, resulting in 2.9 to 7.8 fewer mean drinks per week, with a significant effect on recommended or safe alcohol use.
Evidence suggested that hazardous and harmful drinkers receiving brief interventions were twice as likely to moderate their drinking 6 to 12 months after an intervention, when compared to drinkers receiving no intervention.
If consistently implemented, GP based interventions would reduce levels of drinking from hazardous or harmful to low risk levels for 250,000 men and 67,500 women each year.
i Alcohol Misuse Interventions – Guidance on developing a local programme of improvement. NHS National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Department of Health 2005
The majority of studies suggesting that ‘moderate’ drinking helps prevent heart disease may be flawed, according to an international research group. In a new report, researchers from the U.S., Canada, and Australia analyse 54 studies that linked how much people drink with risk of premature death from all causes, including heart disease.
‘Sick quitters’
The researchers investigated a suggestion put forth by scientific skeptics of the ‘alcohol protects against heart attacks’ theory, that many of the studies conducted so far on drinking and premature death made a consistent and serious error by including as ‘abstainers’ people who had actually cut down or quit drinking due to declining health, frailty, medication use or disability. When such studies show a higher death rate for abstainers than for moderate drinkers, this result may reflect the poor health of some abstainers who recently quit drinking rather than indicating a protective effect for alcohol.
The authors credit British researcher Professor Gerry Shaper of the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London, for first proposing the possibility of an 'abstainer error’ in the design of prospective studies of the association between alcohol use and heart disease risks. The new study supports Professor Shaper’s conclusion that while the known biological effects of alcohol on risk factors for coronary heart disease are of scientific interest, they have limited significance for public health.
The team found just seven studies that included only long-term non-drinkers in the ‘abstainers’ group. The results of these seven studies showed no reduction in risk of death among the moderate drinkers compared with abstainers. When the researchers combinedthe data from these studies, they showed that it was possible to perform new analyses that appeared to show a protective effect of moderate drinking – but only when they deliberately included the error of combining long-term abstainers with people who had cut down or quit drinking more recently.
The authors caution that their report has not disproved the notion that light drinking is good for health, as too few error-free studies have been performed. They suggest, however, that the extent to which these benefits actually translate into longer life may have been exaggerated.
“The widely-held belief that light or moderate drinking protects against coronary heart disease has had great influence on alcohol policy and clinical advice of doctors to their patients throughout the world,” said Tim Stockwell, PhD, of the Centre for Addictions Research at the University of Victoria. “These findings suggest that caution should be exerted in recommending light drinking to abstainers because of the possibility that this result maybe more apparent than real.
“We know that older people who are light drinkers are usually healthier than their non-drinking peers,” said Dr Kaye Fillmore of the UCSF School of Nursing. “Our research suggests light drinking is a sign of good health, not necessarily its cause. Many people reduce their drinking as they get older for a variety of health reasons.”
The authors emphasize that there is a need for more well designed research in the future that assesses people’s alcohol intake and abstinence more precisely as their drinking patterns change with age.
Moderate alcohol use and reduced mortality risk: Systematic error in prospective studies. Kaye Middleton Fillmore, William C. Kerr, Tim Stockwell, Tanya Chikritzhs, & Alan Bostrom. Addiction Research and Theory 2006. Published online.
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Information maintained by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.
Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.
(205 ILCS 665/) Debt Management Service Act.
205 ILCS 665/1
(205 ILCS 665/1) (from Ch. 17, par. 5301)
Sec. 1. Declaration of policy. The business of providing debt management services to individuals is a matter of public interest and concern and is subject to regulation and control in the public interest.
(Source: P.A. 90-545, eff. 1-1-98.)
205 ILCS 665/1.5
(205 ILCS 665/1.5)
Sec. 1.5. Purpose and construction. The purpose of this Act is to protect consumers who enter into agreements with debt management service providers and to regulate debt management service providers. This Act shall be construed as a consumer protection law for all purposes. This Act shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purpose.
(Source: P.A. 96-1420, eff. 8-3-10.)
Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Credit counselor" means an individual, corporation, or other entity that is not a debt management service that provides (1) guidance, educational programs, or advice for the purpose of addressing budgeting, personal finance, financial literacy, saving and spending practices, or the sound use of consumer credit; or (2) assistance or offers to assist individuals and families with financial problems by providing counseling; or (3) a combination of the activities described in items (1) and (2) of this definition.
"Debt management service" means the planning and management of the financial affairs of a debtor for a fee and the receiving of money from the debtor for the purpose of distributing it to the debtor's creditors in payment or partial payment of the debtor's obligations or soliciting financial contributions from creditors. The business of debt management is conducted in this State if the debt management business, its employees, or its agents are located in this State or if the debt management business solicits or contracts with debtors located in this State. "Debt management service" does not include "debt settlement service" as defined in the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act.
This term shall not include the following when engaged in the regular course of their respective businesses and professions:
(a) Attorneys at law licensed, or otherwise
authorized to practice, in Illinois who are engaged in the practice of law.
(b) Banks, operating subsidiaries of banks,
affiliates of banks, fiduciaries, credit unions, savings and loan associations, and savings banks as duly authorized and admitted to transact business in the State of Illinois and performing credit and financial adjusting service in the regular course of their principal business.
(c) Title insurers, title agents, independent
escrowees, and abstract companies, while doing an escrow business.
(d) Judicial officers or others acting pursuant to
court order.
(e) Employers for their employees, except that no
employer shall retain the services of an outside debt management service to perform this service unless the debt management service is licensed pursuant to this Act.
(f) Bill payment services, as defined in the
Transmitters of Money Act.
(g) Credit counselors, only when providing services
described in the definition of credit counselor in this Section.
"Debtor" means the person or persons for whom the debt management service is performed.
"Person" means an individual, firm, partnership, association, limited liability company, corporation, or not-for-profit corporation.
"Licensee" means a person licensed under this Act.
"Secretary" means the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation.
(Source: P.A. 100-201, eff. 8-18-17.)
Sec. 3. Requirement of license. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a debt management service or engage in that business as herein defined except as authorized by this Act and without first having obtained a license as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 4. Application for license. Application for a license to engage in the debt management service business in this State shall be made to the Secretary and shall be in writing, under oath, and in the form prescribed by the Secretary.
Each applicant, at the time of making such application, shall pay to the Secretary the sum of $30.00 as a fee for investigation of the applicant, and the additional sum of $100.00 as a license fee.
Every applicant shall submit to the Secretary, at the time of the application for a license, a bond to be approved by the Secretary in which the applicant shall be the obligor, in the sum of $25,000 or such additional amount as required by the Secretary based on the amount of disbursements made by the licensee in the previous year, and in which an insurance company, which is duly authorized by the State of Illinois, to transact the business of fidelity and surety insurance shall be a surety.
The bond shall run to the Secretary for the use of the Department or of any person or persons who may have a cause of action against the obligor in said bond arising out of any violation of this Act or rules by a license. Such bond shall be conditioned that the obligor will faithfully conform to and abide by the provisions of this Act and of all rules, regulations and directions lawfully made by the Secretary and will pay to the Secretary or to any person or persons any and all money that may become due or owing to the State or to such person or persons, from said obligor under and by virtue of the provisions of this Act.
Sec. 5. Qualifications for license. Upon the filing of the application and the approval of the bond and the payment of the specified fees, the Secretary may issue a license if he finds:
(1) That the financial responsibility, experience, character and general fitness of the applicant, the managers thereof, if the applicant is a limited liability company, the partners thereof, if the applicant is a partnership, and of the officers and directors thereof, if the applicant is a corporation or a not-for-profit corporation, are such as to command the confidence of the community and to warrant belief that the business will be operated fairly, honestly and efficiently within the purposes of this Act, and
(2) That the applicant, if an individual, the managers thereof, if the applicant is a limited liability company, the partners thereof, if the applicant is a partnership, and the officers and directors thereof, if the applicant is a corporation, have not been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor involving dishonesty or untrustworthiness, and
(3) That the person or persons have not had a record of having defaulted in the payment of money collected for others, including the discharge of such debts through bankruptcy proceedings, and
(4) The applicant, or any officers, directors, partners or managers, have not previously violated any provision of this Act or any rule lawfully made by the Secretary, and
(5) The applicant has not made any false statement or representation to the Secretary in applying for a license hereunder.
The Secretary shall deliver a license to the applicant to engage in the debt management service business in accordance with the provisions of this Act at the location specified in the said application, which license shall remain in full force and effect until it is surrendered by the licensee or revoked by the Secretary as herein provided; provided, however, that each license shall expire by the terms thereof on January 1 next following the issuance thereof unless the same be renewed as hereinafter provided. A license, however, may not be surrendered without the approval of the Secretary.
More than one license may be issued to the same person for separate places of business, but separate applications shall be made for each location conducting business with Illinois residents.
Sec. 6. Renewal of license. Each debt management service provider under the provisions of this Act may make application to the Secretary for renewal of its license, which application for renewal shall be on the form prescribed by the Secretary and shall be accompanied by a fee of $100.00 together with a bond or other surety as required, in a minimum amount of $25,000 or such an amount as required by the Secretary based on the amount of disbursements made by the licensee in the previous year. The application must be received by the Department no later than December 1 of the year preceding the year for which the application applies.
Sec. 7. License, display and location. Each license issued shall be kept conspicuously posted in the place of business of the debt management service provider. The business location may be changed by any licensee upon 10 days prior written notice to the Secretary. A license must operate under the name as stated in its original application.
Sec. 8.5. Temporary location. The Secretary may approve a temporary additional business location for the purpose of allowing a debt management service provider to conduct business outside the licensed location.
Sec. 9. Denial of license. Any application for a license shall be approved or denied within 60 days of the filing of a completed application with the Secretary.
205 ILCS 665/10
(205 ILCS 665/10) (from Ch. 17, par. 5310)
Sec. 10. Revocation, suspension, or refusal to renew license.
(a) The Secretary may revoke or suspend or refuse to renew any license if he finds that:
(1) any licensee has failed to pay the annual license
fee, or to maintain in effect the bond required under the provisions of this Act;
(2) the licensee has violated any provisions of this
Act or any rule, lawfully made by the Secretary within the authority of this Act;
(3) any fact or condition exists which, if it had
existed at the time of the original application for a license, would have warranted the Secretary in refusing its issuance; or
(4) any applicant has made any false statement or
representation to the Secretary in applying for a license hereunder.
(b) In every case in which a license is suspended or revoked or an application for a license or renewal of a license is denied, the Secretary shall serve notice of his action, including a statement of the reasons for his actions, either personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested. Service by mail shall be deemed completed if the notice is deposited in the U.S. Mail.
(c) In the case of a denial of an application or renewal of a license, the applicant or licensee may request in writing, within 30 days after the date of service, a hearing. In the case of a denial of a renewal of a license, the license shall be deemed to continue in force until 30 days after the service of the notice of denial, or if a hearing is requested during that period, until a final administrative order is entered.
(d) An order of revocation or suspension of a license shall take effect upon service of the order unless the licensee requests, in writing, within 10 days after the date of service, a hearing. In the event a hearing is requested, the order shall be stayed until a final administrative order is entered.
(e) If the licensee requests a hearing, the Secretary shall schedule either a status date or a hearing within 30 days after the request for a hearing unless otherwise agreed to by the parties.
(f) The hearing shall be held at the time and place designated by the Secretary. The Secretary and any administrative law judge designated by him have the power to administer oaths and affirmations, subpoena witnesses and compel their attendance, take evidence, and require the production of books, papers, correspondence, and other records or information that he considers relevant or material to the injury.
(g) The costs for the administrative hearing shall be set by rule and shall be borne by the respondent.
Sec. 11. Contracts, books, records and contract cancellation. Each debt management service provider shall furnish to the Secretary, when requested, a copy of the contract entered into between the debt management service provider and the debtor. The debt management service provider shall furnish the debtor with a copy of the written contract, at the time of execution, which shall set forth the charges, if any, agreed upon for the services of the debt management service provider.
Each debt management service provider shall maintain records and accounts which will enable any debtor contracting with the debt management service provider, at any reasonable time, to ascertain the amounts paid to creditors of the debtor. A statement showing the total amount received and the total disbursements to each creditor shall be furnished by the debt management service provider to any individual within seven days of a request therefor by the said debtor. Each debt management service provider shall issue a receipt for each payment made by the debtor at a debt management service provider's office. Each debt management service provider shall prepare and retain in the file of each debtor a written analysis of debtor's income and expenses to substantiate that the plan of payment is feasible and practical.
205 ILCS 665/11.5
(205 ILCS 665/11.5)
Sec. 11.5. Examination of debt management service provider. The Secretary at any time, either in person or through an appointed representative, may examine the condition and affairs of a debt management service provider. In connection with any examination, the Secretary may examine on oath any debt management service provider and any director, officer, employee, customer, manager, partner, member, creditor or stockholder of a licensee concerning the affairs and business of the debt management service provider. The Secretary shall ascertain whether the debt management service provider transacts its business in the manner prescribed by law and the rules issued thereunder. The debt management service provider shall pay the cost of the examination as determined by the Secretary by administrative rule. Failure to pay the examination fee within 30 days after receipt of demand from the Secretary may result in the suspension of the license until the fee is paid. The Secretary shall have the right to investigate and examine any person, whether licensed or not, who is engaged in the debt management service business. The Secretary shall have the power to subpoena the production of any books and records pertinent to any investigation.
Sec. 12. Fees and charges of debt management service providers. A debt management service provider may not charge a debtor any fees or penalties except the following:
(1) an initial counseling fee not to exceed $50 per
debtor counseled; and
(2) additional fees at the completion of the initial
counseling services which shall not exceed $50 per month.
Sec. 12.1. All moneys received by the Department of Financial Institutions under this Act, except moneys received for the Debt Management Service Consumer Protection Fund, shall be deposited in the Financial Institution Fund created under Section 6z-26 of the State Finance Act.
(Source: P.A. 98-463, eff. 8-16-13.)
Sec. 13. Prohibitions.
(1) No licensee shall advertise, in any manner whatsoever, any statement or representation with regard to the rates, terms or conditions of debt management service which is false, misleading, or deceptive.
(2) No licensee shall require as a part of the agreement between the licensee and any debtor, the purchase of any stock, insurance, commodity, service or other property or any interest therein.
(3) No licensee shall, directly or indirectly, accept payment or any other consideration, whether in cash or in kind, from any entity for referring applicants to that entity. The licensee shall not, directly or indirectly, make payments in any form, whether in cash or in kind, to any person, corporation, or other entity for referring applicants or clients to the licensee.
(4) No licensee shall make any loans.
(5) No licensee shall issue credit cards or act as an agent in procuring customers for a credit card company or any financial institution.
(6) No licensee shall act as a loan broker.
(7) No licensee shall operate any other business at the licensed location.
Sec. 13.5. (Repealed).
(Source: P.A. 90-545, eff. 1-1-98. Repealed by P.A. 96-1420, eff. 8-3-10.)
Sec. 14. Trust funds; requirements and restrictions.
(a) All funds received by a debt management service provider or his agent from and for the purpose of paying bills, invoices, or accounts of a debtor shall constitute trust funds owned by and belonging to the debtor from whom they were received. All such funds received by a debt management service provider shall be separated from the funds of the debt management service provider not later than the end of the business day following receipt by the debt management service provider. All such funds shall be kept separate and apart at all times from funds belonging to the debt management service provider or any of its officers, employees or agents and may be used for no purpose other than paying bills, invoices, or accounts of the debtor. All such trust funds received at the main or branch offices of a debt management service provider shall be deposited in a bank in an account in the name of the debt management service provider designated "trust account", or by some other appropriate name indicating that the funds are not the funds of the debt management service provider or its officers, employees, or agents, on or before the close of the business day following receipt.
(b) If a consumer's funds are kept in an interest earning trust account, then any interest earned on the consumer funds shall belong to the consumer. If multiple consumers funds are kept in a single interest earning trust account, then the interest earned shall belong to the consumers and shall be deposited pro rata among the consumers whose funds are in the account. Such funds are not subject to attachment, lien, levy of execution, or sequestration by order of court except by a debtor for whom a licensee is acting as an agent in paying bills, invoices, or accounts.
(c) Each debt management service provider shall make remittances within 30 days after initial receipt of funds, and thereafter remittances shall be made within 15 days of receipt, less fees and costs, unless the reasonable payment of one or more of the debtor's obligations requires that the funds be held for a longer period so as to accumulate a sum certain.
(d) At least once every quarter, the debt management service provider shall render an accounting to the debtor which shall itemize the total amount received from the debtor, the total amount paid each creditor, the amount of charges deducted, and any amount held in reserve. A debt management service provider shall, in addition thereto, provide such an accounting to a debtor within 7 days after written demand, but not more than 3 times per 6 month period.
Sec. 15. Rules.) The Secretary shall make and enforce all reasonable rules as shall be necessary for the administration of this Act. Such rulemaking shall be subject to the provisions of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.
(Source: Laws 1965, p. 2494. Repealed by P.A. 96-1420, eff. 8-3-10.)
Sec. 16. Penalties.
(a) Any person who engages in the business of debt management service without a license shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
(b) Any contract of debt management service as defined in this Act, made by an unlicensed person, shall be null and void and of no legal effect.
(c) The Secretary may, after 10 days notice by registered mail to the debt management service provider at the address on the license or unlicensed entity engaging in the debt management service business, stating the contemplated action and in general the grounds therefore, fine that debt management service provider or unlicensed entity an amount not exceeding $10,000 per violation, and revoke or suspend any license issued if he or she finds that either:
(1) the debt management service provider or
unlicensed entity has failed to comply with any provision of this Act or any order, decision, finding, rule, regulation, or direction of the Secretary lawfully made pursuant to the authority of this Act; or
existed at the time of the original application for the license, clearly would have warranted the Secretary in refusing to issue the license.
Sec. 16.5. Additional liability for unlicensed activity. Any person who, without the required license, engages in conduct requiring a license under this Act, shall be liable to the Department in an amount equal to the greater of (1) $1,000 or (2) an amount equal to 4 times the amount of consumer debt enrolled. The Department shall cause any funds so recovered to be deposited in the Debt Management Service Consumer Protection Fund.
Sec. 16.6. Debt Management Service Consumer Protection Fund.
(a) A special non-appropriated income-earning fund is hereby created in the State Treasury, known as the Debt Management Service Consumer Protection Fund. This Fund is not subject to appropriation by the Illinois General Assembly.
(b) All moneys paid into the Fund together with all accumulated, undistributed interest thereon shall be held as a special Fund in the State Treasury. All interest earned on the Fund is non-distributable and shall be returned to the Fund, and shall be invested and re-invested in the Fund by the Treasurer or his or her designee. The Fund shall be used solely for the purpose of providing restitution to consumers who have suffered monetary loss arising out of a transaction regulated by this Act.
(c) The Fund shall be applied only to restitution when restitution has been ordered by the Secretary. Restitution shall not exceed the amount actually lost by the consumer. The Fund shall not be used for the payment of any attorney or other fees.
(d) The Fund shall be subrogated to the amount of the restitution, and the Secretary shall request the Attorney General to engage in all reasonable collection steps to collect restitution from the party responsible for the loss and reimburse the Fund.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, the payment of restitution from the Fund shall be a matter of grace and not of right, and no consumer shall have any vested rights in the Fund as a beneficiary or otherwise. Before seeking restitution from the Fund, the consumer or beneficiary seeking payment of restitution shall apply for restitution on a form provided by the Secretary. The form shall include any information the Secretary may reasonably require in order to determine that restitution is appropriate. All documentation required by the Secretary, including the form, is subject to audit. Distributions from the Fund shall be made solely at the discretion of the Secretary, except that no payments or distributions may be made under any circumstance if the Fund is depleted.
(f) All deposits to this Fund shall be made pursuant to Section 16.5 of this Act.
(g) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the Fund is not subject to administrative charges or charge-backs that would in any way transfer moneys from the Fund into any other fund of the State.
Sec. 17. Injunction. To engage in debt management service, render financial service, or accept debtors' funds, as defined in this Act, without a valid license so to do, is hereby declared to be inimical to the public welfare and to constitute a public nuisance. The Secretary may, in the name of the people of the State of Illinois, through the Attorney General of the State of Illinois, file a complaint for an injunction in the circuit court to enjoin such person, from engaging in said business. Such injunction proceeding shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of, penalties and remedies otherwise in this Act provided.
Sec. 18. Review. All final administrative decisions of the Secretary hereunder shall be subject to judicial review pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Review Law, and all amendments and modifications thereof and the rules adopted pursuant thereto.
Sec. 19. If any clause, sentence, section, provision or part of this Act shall be adjudged to be unconstitutional or invalid for any reason by any court of competent jurisdiction, such judgment shall not impair, affect or invalidate the remainder of this Act which shall be in full force and effect thereafter.
(Source: Laws 1957, p. 2164.)
Sec. 20. Cease and desist orders.
(a) The Secretary may issue a cease and desist order to any licensee, or other person doing business without the required license, when in the opinion of the Secretary, the licensee, or other person, is violating or is about to violate any provision of the Act or any rule or condition imposed in writing by the Department.
(b) The Secretary may issue a cease and desist order prior to a hearing.
(c) The Secretary shall serve notice of his action, including a statement of the reasons for his action either personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested. Service by mail shall be deemed completed if the notice is deposited in the U.S. Mail.
(d) Within 10 days after service of the cease and desist order, the licensee or other person may request, in writing, a hearing.
(e) The Secretary shall schedule either a status date or a hearing within 30 days after the request for a hearing unless otherwise agreed to by the parties.
(g) If it is determined that the Secretary had the authority to issue the cease and desist order, he may issue such orders as may be reasonably necessary to correct, eliminate, or remedy such conduct.
(h) The powers vested in the Secretary by this Section are additional to any and all other powers and remedies vested in the Secretary by law, and nothing in this Section shall be construed as requiring that the Secretary shall employ the power conferred in this Section instead of or as a condition precedent to the exercise of any other power or remedy vested in the Secretary.
(i) The cost for the administrative hearing shall be set by rule and shall be borne by the respondent.
Sec. 20.5. Receivership.
(a) If the Secretary determines that a licensee is insolvent or is violating this Act, he or she may appoint a receiver. Under the direction of the Secretary, the receiver shall, for the purpose of receivership, take possession of and title to the books, records, and assets of the licensee. The Secretary may require the receiver to provide security in an amount the Secretary deems proper. Upon appointment of the receiver, the Secretary shall have published, once each week for 4 consecutive weeks in a newspaper having a general circulation in the community, a notice informing all persons who have claims against the licensee to present them to the receiver. Within 10 days after the receiver takes possession, the licensee may apply to the Circuit Court of Sangamon County to enjoin further proceedings. The receiver may operate the business until the Secretary determines that possession should be restored to the licensee or that the business should be liquidated.
(b) If the Secretary determines that a business in receivership should be liquidated, he or she shall direct the Attorney General to file a complaint in the Circuit Court of the county in which the business is located, in the name of the People of the State of Illinois, for the orderly liquidation and dissolution of the business and for an injunction restraining the licensee and its officers and directors from continuing the operation of the business. Within 30 days after the day the Secretary determines that the business should be liquidated, the receiver shall file with the Secretary and with the clerk of the court that has charge of the liquidation a correct list of all creditors, as shown by the licensee's books and records, who have not presented their claims. The list shall state the amount of the claim after allowing all just credits, deductions, and set-offs as shown by the licensee's books. These claims shall be deemed proven unless some interested party files an objection within the time fixed by the Secretary or court that has charge of the liquidation.
(c) The General Assembly finds and declares that debt management services provide an important service to Illinois citizens. It is therefore declared to be the policy of this State that customers who receive these services must be protected from interruptions of services. To carry out this policy and to insure that customers of a licensee are protected if it is determined that a business in receivership should be liquidated, the Secretary shall make a distribution of moneys collected by the receiver in the following order of priority:
(1) Allowed claims for the actual necessary expenses
of the receivership of the business being liquidated, including:
(A) reasonable receiver's fees and receiver's
attorney's fees approved by the Secretary;
(B) all expenses of any preliminary or other
examinations into the condition of the receivership;
(C) all expenses incurred by the Secretary that
are incident to possession and control of any property or records of the licensee's business; and
(D) reasonable expenses incurred by the Secretary
as the result of business agreements or contractual arrangements necessary to insure that the services of the licensee are delivered to the community without interruption. These business agreements or contractual arrangements may include, but are not limited to, agreements made by the Secretary, or by the receiver with the approval of the Secretary, with banks, bonding companies, and other types of financial institutions.
(1.5) Secured claims.
(2) Allowed unsecured claims for wages or salaries,
excluding vacation, severance, and sick leave pay earned by employees within 90 days before the appointment of a receiver.
(3) Allowed unsecured claims of any tax, and interest
and penalty on the tax.
(4) Allowed unsecured claims, other than a kind
specified in items (1), (2), and (3) of this subsection, filed with the Secretary within the time the Secretary fixes for filing claims.
specified in items (1), (2), and (3) of this subsection, filed with the Secretary after the time fixed for filing claims by the Secretary.
(6) Allowed creditor claims asserted by an owner,
member, or stockholder of the business in liquidation.
(7) After one year from the final dissolution of the
licensee's business, all assets not used to satisfy allowed claims shall be distributed pro rata to the owner, owners, members, or stockholders of the business.
The Secretary shall pay all claims of equal priority according to the schedule established in this subsection and shall not pay claims of lower priority until all higher priority claims are satisfied. If insufficient assets are available to meet all claims of equal priority, those assets shall be distributed pro rata among those claims. All unclaimed assets of a licensee and the licensee's business shall be deposited with the Secretary to be paid out when proper claims are presented to the Secretary.
(d) Upon the order of the circuit court of the county in which the business being liquidated is located, the receiver may sell or compound any bad or doubtful debt, and on like order may sell the personal property of the business on such terms as the court approves. The receiver shall succeed to whatever rights or remedies the unsecured creditors of the business may have against the owner or owners, operators, stockholders, directors, members, managers, or officers, arising out of their claims against the licensee's business, but nothing contained in this Section shall prevent those creditors from filing their claims in the liquidation proceeding. The receiver may enforce those rights or remedies in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(e) At the close of a receivership, the receiver shall turn over to the Secretary all books of account and ledgers of the business for preservation. The Secretary shall hold all records of receiverships received at any time for a period of 2 years after the close of the receivership. The records may be destroyed at the termination of the 2-year period. All expenses of the receivership including, but not limited to, reasonable receiver's and attorney's fees approved by the Secretary, all expenses of any preliminary or other examinations into the condition of the licensee's business or the receivership, and all expenses incident to the possession and control of any property or records of the business incurred by the Secretary shall be paid out of the assets of the licensee's business. These expenses shall be paid before all other claims.
(f) Upon the filing of a complaint by the Attorney General for the orderly liquidation and dissolution of a debt management service provider's business, as provided in this Act, all pending suits and actions upon unsecured claims against the business shall abate. Nothing contained in this Act, however, prevents these claimants from filing their claims in the liquidation proceeding. If a suit or an action is instituted or maintained by the receiver on any bond or policy of insurance issued pursuant to the requirements of this Act, the bonding or insurance company sued shall not have the right to interpose or maintain any counterclaim based upon subrogation, upon any express or implied agreement of, or right to, indemnity or exoneration, or upon any other express or implied agreement with, or right against, the debt management service provider's business. Nothing contained in this Act prevents the bonding or insurance company from filing this type of claim in the liquidation proceeding.
(g) A debt management service provider may not terminate its affairs and close up its business unless it has first deposited with the Secretary an amount of money equal to all of its debts, liabilities, and lawful demands against it including the costs and expenses of a proceeding under this Section, surrendered to the Secretary its license, and filed with the Secretary a statement of termination signed by the debt management service provider containing a pronouncement of intent to close up its business and liquidate its liabilities and containing a sworn list itemizing in full all of its debts, liabilities, and lawful demands against it. Corporate licensees must attach to, and make a part of the statement of termination, a copy of a resolution providing for the termination and closing up of the licensee's affairs, certified by the secretary of the licensee and duly adopted at a shareholders' meeting by the holders of at least two-thirds of the outstanding shares entitled to vote at the meeting. Upon the filing with the Secretary of a statement of termination, the Secretary shall cause notice of that action to be published once each week for 3 consecutive weeks in a public newspaper of general circulation published in the city or village where the business is located, and if no newspaper is published in that place, then in a public newspaper of general circulation nearest to that city or village. The publication shall give notice that the debts, liabilities, and lawful demands against the business will be redeemed by the Secretary upon demand in writing made by the owner thereof, at any time within 3 years after the date of first publication. After the expiration of the 3-year period, the Secretary shall return to the person or persons designated in the statement of termination to receive repayment, and in the proportion specified in that statement, any balance of money remaining in his or her possession after first deducting all unpaid costs and expenses incurred in connection with a proceeding under this Section. The Secretary shall receive for his or her services, exclusive of costs and expenses, 2% of any amount up to $5,000 and 1% of any amount in excess of $5,000 deposited with him or her under this Section by any business. Nothing contained in this Section shall affect or impair the liability of any bonding or insurance company on any bond or insurance policy issued under this Act relating to the business.
Sec. 21. Effective date. This Act shall become effective on the first day of January 1958.
Sec. 22. Title of Act. This Act may be cited as the Debt Management Service Act.
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Dieting | Food & Nutrition | Neurology |
Exercise and Mediterranean-type diet combined associated with lower risk for Alzheimer’s
Aug 12, 2009 Viewed: 329
Both being more physically active and adhering to a Mediterranean-type diet appears to be associated with reduced Alzheimer’s risk, according to a new report in the August 12, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
While previous studies have only investigated the association between either physical activity or diet and Alzheimer’s disease risk separately, this new research explored their combined association.
“Often times people who exercise also follow a healthy diet and vice versa. We wanted to tease out which of these two behaviors may be associated with lower risk for AD, or if the combination of the two is associated with decreased risk even further,” said Nikos Scarmeas, M.D., lead author of the study and associate professor of clinical neurology in the Department of Neurology, in the Sergievsky Center and in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center.
This population-based study in a multi-ethnic community living in Northern Manhattan, observed 1880 elderly subjects, with an average age of 77. The participants were interviewed about their level of physical activity and dietary habits, and their responses were then summarized into two single scores. The study subjects were then followed to observe which subjects went on to develop Alzheimer’s over the course of approximately five and a half years.
To learn about their physical exercise routine, participants were queried about their activity during a two week period prior to the interview. The subjects were asked to quantify how many times they engaged in physical activity and for how long. Participants were queried regarding three categories of activities: vigorous activity (i.e., jogging etc), moderate activity (i.e., hiking, bicycling, etc), and light activity (i.e., golfing, gardening, etc).
For the dietary portion of the study, subjects were asked regarding their food consumption over the course of the previous year. Their responses were then grouped into nine food categories, the sum of which represented the Mediterranean-type diet score. A Mediterranean-type diet is typically characterized by high intake of fish, vegetables, legumes, fruits, cereals and monounsaturated fatty acids; relatively low intake of dairy products, meats and saturated fats; and moderate alcohol consumption.
The study found that those subjects who were very physically active had a 33 percent risk reduction of Alzheimer’s; those who adhered more strongly to a Mediterranean-type diet had a 40 percent risk reduction. In addition, Dr. Scarmeas and his colleagues found that there was a gradual decreasing risk for Alzheimer’s in study participants who were reporting that they were both exercising a lot and following a diet closer to the Mediterranean-type: those subjects had a 60 percent reduction in their risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
“So it seemed that the more that they were doing in terms of both diet and exercise, the lower was their risk for the disease,” said Dr. Scarmeas.
Dr. Scarmeas further noted that even low degrees of physical activity reported by these elderly study subjects seemed to be associated with having a protective effect against Alzheimer’s
“This study is important because it shows that people may be able to alter their risk of developing Alzheimer’s by modifying their lifestyles through diet and exercise,” said Dr. Scarmeas.
Dr. Scarmeas cautions, however, that this was an observational, epidemiological study – based on interviews with study subjects on their physical activity routines and dietary habits. Therefore, the associations were based on what subjects reported and no randomized interventions were done. Only a clinical trial type of design would offer additional information to help clarify the role of these behaviors and reveal other potential contributing factors.
“We know that some part of Alzheimer’s is related to genetic changes and as time goes on we discover more and more of these changes. But it is also possible that non-genetic changes, including lifestyle and behavior, may also be affecting our brain health and our risk of developing brain diseases, like Alzheimer’s, maybe in combination with our genetic predisposition,” said Dr. Scarmeas. “We need to understand and learn more about the exact biological mechanisms that may connect physical activity and diet with the biological changes of Alzheimer’s disease.”
“Since the benefits of following a healthy diet and remaining active have already been suggested as beneficial in other disease prevention and since based on the present and other similar studies we have some preliminary hints that this may also be helpful for brain health, it seems advisable that we emphasize not only to patients, but to healthy individuals, too, the importance of these lifestyle behaviors in affecting our overall health,” said Dr. Scarmeas.
Authors of the JAMA study include: Nikolaos Scarmeas, M.D.; Jose A. Luchsinger, M.D.; Nicole Schupf, Ph.D.; Adam M. Brickman, Ph.D.; Stephanie Cosentino, Ph.D.; Ming X. Tang, Ph.D.; and Yaakov Stern, Ph.D.
Note: In the same issue of JAMA, Dr. Scarmeas co-authored with researchers from the Université Victor Ségalen Bordeaux 2 in France, a separate study titled, “Adherence to Mediterranean Diet, Cognitive Decline, and Risk of Dementia.” Dr. Scarmeas expressed his encouragement about the study, which helps to validate findings by Dr. Scarmeas and his colleagues on the association between the Mediterranean diet and a reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease. More specifically, the French study found an association between higher adherence to this diet and slower rates of cognitive decline. No associations with risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease were noted in this study, but this was clearly due to methodological limitations including the relatively small number of study subjects who developed Alzheimer’s disease according to Dr. Scarmeas. Dr. Scarmeas also noted the significance of the fact that the French study looked at a different population, and in particular, a Mediterranean one.
The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary group that has forged links between researchers and clinicians to uncover the causes of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other age-related brain diseases and discover ways to prevent and cure these diseases. It functions in close cooperation with the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, the Department of Neurology and the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree and is among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and state and one of the largest in the United States.
Contact: Karin Eskenazi
Columbia University Medical Center
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Children's Health | Obesity |
Obesity Police Want to Track Your Kid’s BMI
Mar 06, 2010 Viewed: 1107
Amy Oztan is one of thousands of parents who got a letter from school bluntly pointing out that her son is fat. She promptly threw the letter away.
“My son, who is very tall for his age and is a little husky, but fit, brought home a piece of paper from his school listing his BMI and stating that he was obese,” said Oztan, a New York City mother of two.
“I ignored it, because anyone looking at him would laugh at that assessment,” said the 37-year-old who writes for NYC Mom Blog. “But when my husband saw it he freaked out a little bit.”
Soon, many more children might be routinely subjected to the fat police and a one-size-fits-all measurement of health - the body mass index or BMI - as health experts and politicians attempt to deal with the childhood obesity crisis.
BMI, a simple formula that compares a person’s weight and height, is the most widely used tool to screen for weight-related health problems and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for all children and adolescents.
Though some individuals are exceptions, the BMI can prompt doctors for further test for an absolute diagnosis of obesity.
Just this week, researchers from the nonprofit Altarum Institute published an analysis in Health Affairs magazine, calling on states to implement an electronic BMI surveillance system.
The report is part of the Altarum Institute Obesity Prevention Mission Project, which has responded to first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to promote regular screening of all children’s BMI.
Researchers say public health surveillance through immunization registries - a model being implemented in Michigan and in San Diego County, Calif. - could be a cost-effective way to provide needed data and help determine how resources are allocated.
Doctors would measure children’s BMI and enter data in established immunization registries that often include additional data like newborn hearing tests and lead exposure.
Oztan insists the BMI is a “minefield” when it comes to evaluating health and state surveillance would be a “dumb idea.”
“I see thin kids walking to my kids’ school eating Cheetos for breakfast, and those kids wouldn’t get targeted by this program,” she said. “My son takes tae kwon do four days a week and can run faster than any kid in his class, but he would be targeted.”
And doctors, who are on the front lines, say that the BMI battle alone may not be enough.
“My admonition is not to lull ourselves selves into thinking just BMI gives us a solution,” said Dr. George Flores, senior program officers of The California Endowment, a community-based health foundation.
“Environment and behavior are the things we need to pay most attention to,” he said. “If you just look at weight, you miss the more important issues of what need to be measured tracked and corrected - the things that lead to being overweight.”
Doctors say the problem is that children watch too much TV and play video games instead of going outside. Parents don’t model good eating habits and schools are cutting back on physical education programs and recess.
Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The prevalence among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008. Among teens it jumped from 5 percent to 18 percent.
But Altarum researchers say data on children ages 5-14 are scarce and among children under 5, only those enrolled in public assistance programs are counted.
“The advantage of the registry-based clinical model is that it focuses on the youngest children - where we have the best chance of preventing obesity from developing in the first place,” said co-author and Altarum fellow Matt Longjohn.
“The clinical model also reminds providers to screen children and how to counsel them and their families according to established standards.”
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Film Review: Kung Fu Panda 3 (USA/China, 2016)
Lucy Lee | March 23, 2016 | Film Reviews, Reviews
The strong, funny and perhaps a little clumsy panda is back on the screen to entertain the audience once again in Kung Fu Panda 3. Produced by DreamWorks Animation in a first time collaboration with China’s Oriental DreamWorks, the Kung Fu Panda franchise is back with its third installment on the screen after a 3 years’ gap (2008 and 2011). The previous two movies have grossed more than $US400 million in the US alone, and were loved around the world. The fans, including myself are very excited to welcome back Po, our beloved panda hero.
In the last episode, the audience were hinted about the reunion of Po (voiced again by Jack Black) and his long-lost panda family. Thus the plot line for Kung Fu Panda 3 has its background set in the secret panda village where the pandas have been living their relaxed, loving life. But there comes the villain Kai (J.K. Simmons) who desires to destroy the world. Will Po be able save the his family and the world once again as a dragon warrior? Just like the previous movies, Kung Fu Panda 3 isn’t just about the fight between the protagonist and the villain. One factor which I love the most about the series is that the movie has so many underlying messages for the audience to observe. I have been able to identify several messages again, and I think the presence of these message makes Kung Fu Panda so enjoyable for everyone, across all generations.
Po is finally reunited with his long-lost family who looks just like him. But then what happens to his relationship with his adopted duck father Mr. Ping (James Hong)? In previous series Po was shown to be stressed about the difference between Mr. Ping and himself. In the third episode, the family relationship is once again underlined. Most people go through the stages of puberty where differences between family members become a stress and the relationship with the parents are reconstructed. People become mature through the experience, and Po is presented as the exact reflection of such situation. The audience will realise the importance of family affections and understanding the differences with Po.
One can say that Kung Fu Panda is all about witnessing the friendship between Po and his fellow Furious Five Kung Fu fighters Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogan) and Crane (David Cross). We as an audience become tensed when they fight each other and excited when they work together to defeat the villain. Their relationship also reflects ours’ as we live along with friends and colleagues around us. In Kung Fu Panda 3, the audience once again laughs and cries with Po and his friends as they struggle towards the victory, teaching us lessons of maintaining a relationship.
We all get lost once in a while trying to define who we are and what we can do best. Po has shown psychological growth and maturity throughout the series as he experienced different events and defeated several villains. In this episode as he sets out to complete a new mission from his master to teach a village of pandas, Po once again have to test his capability as a true dragon warrior. Through his previous victories Po came to believe himself as the most powerful Kung Fu master with nothing more to learn. But as he faces new situations and difficulties, he will soon realise that maybe he is yet to define his capabilities and who he is.
Watching and reviewing about these messages hidden in the movie, I become more aware of how Po represents the thoughts and lives of the audience. We as individuals experience the relationship between family, friends and even with ourselves. Understanding who we are and what we are capable of is such a hard thing to do and it does take a long time for us to find the answers for ourselves. Po also has to find the answers himself in the movie with helps from friends and family. Thus Kung Fu Panda 3 may just be the replicate of our lives in the form of pandas, trying to teach us important life lessons. So with the beautiful animated settings of the movie and the underlying messages, Kung Fu Panda 3 can be enjoyed by everyone, especially those who have been waiting for Po to return and show off his Kung Fu movements.
Review Score: THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Kung Fu Panda 3 is currently playing in cinemas nationally.
Tags:China, Kung Fu Panda 3, USA
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INTERVIEW: SUPERBEE (수퍼비) talks K-Hip Hop, Sydney and Unique Styles in his first Australian performance
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Blaze Baseball, BAC will honor Ty Alyea and family
The Burnsville High School baseball team and the Burnsville Athletic Club are having a tribute to Ty Alyea and his family on Tuesday, May 12, at Alimagnet Park in Burnsville.
Ty Alyea, 17, was a star baseball player at BHS who was killed in a car accident on Aug. 6, 2014. This would have been Ty’s last year playing baseball for the Blaze. Ty’s former teammates, coaches and peers will honor him and his family in a special ceremony.
Community members are invited to attend the ceremony at 6:30 p.m., which will be followed by a baseball game versus Eagan at 7 p.m. All BAC youth baseball players, who attend the game in their BAC baseball jersey, will receive a free drink and chips.
Please join BHS and the #BurnsvilleStrong community to cheer on the team and honor the Alyea family.
Athletics, Community
bhs, baseball, BAC, Ty Alyea, #burnsvillestrong
Posted: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - 10:51
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Justin Timberlake To Release 4th Album: Man Of The Woods
By: LATF Staff | Jan. 3, 2018, 9:28 a.m.
Filed in: Music > Music Videos
Photo Credits: www.facebook.com/justintimberlake
Ten time Grammy® winner and four time Emmy® winner Justin Timberlake is set to release his fourth studio album, Man Of The Woods on February 2nd via RCA Records.
The album will be available for pre-order alongside the release of his brand new single and music video, “Filthy” on January 5th. “Filthy” was co-written and co-produced by Timberlake, Timbaland, and Danja with additional writing credits from James Fauntleroy and Larrance Dopson.
Man Of The Woods marks Timberlake’s most ambitious album to date, both sonically and lyrically. Combining the sounds of traditional American rock with the modern influences of collaborators The Neptunes, Timbaland, Chris Stapleton, and Alicia Keys, this new material explores storytelling inspired by his son, his wife, and his personal journey from Memphis to where he is today.
The colorful, futuristic music video for “Filthy” was directed by groundbreaking and multiple award-winning director Mark Romanek. The dance heavy video features Timberlake as a modern day inventor presenting his latest creation to the world. This is the second time Timberlake and Romanek have teamed up for a one-of-a-kind video.
Following “Filthy” and leading into the February 2ndMan Of The Woods album launch, Timberlake will release three additional music videos, each with their own individual style and color from three different directors. The additional songs will be released weekly starting on January 18th leading up to the release of the full album.
Two days after the release of the album, Timberlake will hit the stage and headline the Pepsi Super Bowl LII Halftime Show on Sunday, February 4th.
Target will carry an exclusive version of the album, featuring unique cover art, a poster and a digital download code. In addition, the retailer will release a special version of the Vinyl edition. Presale begins Jan. 5.
Multi-talented actor and musician Justin Timberlake has sold over 32 million albums worldwide, sold out arenas all across the globe, received numerous awards and nominations and has wildly become one of the most highly respected entertainers in the business.
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Follow Indy and Explore London’s Crystal Skull
May 3, 2008 - Staff
Later this month Harrison Ford returns to the big screen as everyone’s favourite archaeologist in the long awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Plot details are being kept under wraps but it’s probably safe to assume that Indy’s going to spend some of his time finding the titular skull.
If you fancy seeing such a remarkable artifact without taking the risks Indy seems to love you’re in luck – a real crystal skull can be found at London’s British Museum.
The museum’s skull has as fascinating a back story as anything Hollywood could dream up. It was originally claimed that the skull was brought from Mexico by a Spanish officer before the French occupation of 1863.
At some stage it was sold to an English collector before being acquired on his death by French antiquities dealer Eugene Boban. It later become the property of Tiffany and Co. who sold it in 1897 to the British Museum.
It’s since been established that the skull isn’t a genuine pre-Columbian artefact and was most likely produced in the 19th century in Europe but whatever it’s origins the skull is an undisputed work of beauty.
Since 1950 it’s been the subject of several and examinations, the last of which – an on-going collaborative project focusing on the British Museums skull and a skull in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC – started in 1996.
Researchers have examined how the skulls were carved and where the quartz used originated from, observations made under a binocular microscope and in a scanning electron microscope suggest that the techniques of carving used to produce the skulls post-dated the Aztec period.
Tool marks on the skulls don’t match those on other Aztec period rock-crystal objects which were invariably carved by hand. It’s most likely that the British Museum skull was worked with a rotary or jeweller’s wheel) – a device unknown in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans.
Research also suggests that the rock crystal used in the manufacture of the British Museum’s skull may have come from Brazil, an area outside of the ancient trade network of Mexico.
Staff at the museum are hoping the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel will spark a wave of interest in the skull. A spokesperson says “as entertainment the movie will surely appeal to the public, but it is very much a work of fiction. We hope, however, that it will encourage visitors to see the skull at the British Museum and to learn more about Aztec culture. “
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is released to cinemas across London and the UK on 22 May 2008.
The British Museum’s skull is on permanent display in the Wellcome Trust Gallery (room 24).
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Tigers on the ATP Tour
Former Tiger Michael Venus at Wimbledon
LSUsports.net
August 13, 2018, 01:07 PM (CT)
Alissa Cavaretta
Communications Graduate Assistant
BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tennis program has a total of 10 former players currently competing professionally across the globe. There are six former men’s tennis players on tour and four LSU women’s tennis alumnae. These Tiger tennis alumni travel with the tour around the world to face the best the sport has to offer in hopes of improving their ranking and qualifying for a major tournament. Here is an update on how the Tigers have performed.
On the men’s side, the former Tigers currently competing professionally including Boris Arias, Justin Butsch Ken and Neal Skupski, Tam Trinh and Michael Venus.
Incoming freshman Boris Kozlov is also ranked on the circuit.
The LSU women’s team has Ryann Foster, Jade Lewis, Ella Taylor and Joana Valle Costa on tour.
Tigers in the US Open
The U.S. Open is slated to begin on Monday, Aug. 27, and there are three former Tigers scheduled to play in the Skupski brothers and Venus.
Michael Venus
In 2017, Venus became the first Tigers to win a Grand Slam Title as he won the 2017 French Open doubles competition with partner Ryan Harrison. The duo entered the French Open unseeded and used six straight three set wins to take the title. Venus also made the finals of the US Open mixed doubles. Earlier this summer, Venus and his partner reached the gentlemen’s doubles finals at Wimbledon with partner Raven Klaasen. The New Zealand native also reached the semifinals of Wimbledon’s mixed doubles with Katarina Srebotnik. He played in the Hertogenbosch finals and advanced to the round of 16 in the French Open. Venus last played in the Rogers Cup and advanced to the finals.
He and Klaasen have won one doubles title this season at Marseille. He currently sits ranked No. 18 in the world in doubles and has been ranked as high as No. 12 in his career.
Ken Skupski
Ken Skupski has finished inside of the top-100 in doubles for nine-straight seasons and is on pace to do that again in 2018. He is currently ranked No. 57 in doubles competition. He and his brother, Neal, clinched the Quimper Challenger this season, reached the round of 16 in Wimbledon’s Gentlemen’s Doubles and advanced to the French Open round of 32. After playing in mixed doubles at Wimbledon, he reached the quarterfinals of Newport and the semifinals in Atlanta with partner Purav Raja.
Neal Skupski
This season, Skupski hit a career-high doubles ranking of 42 and currently is No. 46 in the world. He has 30 wins this year on the doubles court.
Boris Arias
Last season, Arias won five futures doubles titles, and he finished the year ranked at No. 361 in doubles play. The Bolivia native is currently No. 289 in doubles and recently reached the semifinals of the Spain F20 Futures and is slated to compete in the Spain F23 Futures competition.
Tam Trinh
Trinh recently began his professional career and last competed in April 2018 where he reached the quarterfinals of the USA F12 Futures.
Justin Butsch
Butsch is also very new to the professional circuit. He took home two doubles victories in the 2017 season and has one in the 2018 season. He is currently competing in the Morocco F3 Futures, and after compiling three wins in the qualifying draw, the former Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals, earning his first ATP points. He sits ranked at No. 1,496 in singles.
Boris Kozlov
Incoming freshman Kozlov has won four doubles matches this season. He is ranked 1,066th in doubles competition. The future Tiger reached the semifinals of the USA F19 Futures in Wichita, Kansas earlier in July.
Jade Lewis
Currently ranked No. 842 on the doubles circuit, Lewis was ranked her career-best No. 705 earlier this season. She has won nine doubles matches and three singles competitions in 2018. The New Zealander has won two doubles titles in 2018 and recently reached the doubles round of 16 at Darndstadt.
Ryann Foster
Foster wrapped up her three-year career at LSU earlier this year. She quickly turned pro after the conclusion of her time as a Tiger and has been ranked as high as 953 in doubles on the pro circuit. She has won one doubles match this season and recently advanced to the quarterfinals of Figueira Da Foz with her partner Kelly Williford.
Ella Taylor
Playing at a career-high No. 833, Taylor has won six career singles matches in her pro career. She finished the 2017 campaign listed at No. 1,145.
Joana Valle Costa
After coming off of an injury and a year as the LSU women’s tennis undergraduate assistant coach, Valle Costa is ready to begin playing on the pro circuit. The Portugal right-hander has reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 782 and doubles ranking of No. 709. She has a total of 21 singles and 21 doubles wins on the circuit.
For up-to-date information and behind-the-scenes access on the Tigers, fans can follow the LSU men's tennis team on Twitter and Instagram at @lsutennis and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutennis.
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Men's Tennis Falls Short in SEC Second Round
LSU Top Plays - April 8-14
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Men's Tennis vs. Kentucky - Recap
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Washington has called upon the government of Bahrain to release the Shia opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, who was arrested in 2014.
Although Salman was sentenced to four years in prison at the time, this was later increased to nine years.
The US call came hours after the Shia leader was acquitted by a Bahraini court on Thursday of “carrying out hostile acts inside the kingdom and receiving money from a foreign state in return for passing military secrets.”
According to Shaikh Maytham Salman of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, “Shaikh Ali Salman was acquitted of the charges for which he had been detained since last November.”
According to several Bahraini activists, two of Sheikh Salman’s colleagues, Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad, have also been cleared of the espionage charges against them.
Sheikh Salman, however, will remain in jail, serving a prison term for inciting hatred handed down in 2014.
On November 1, 2017, the 52-year-old secretary general of the dissolved al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad were charged with “spying on behalf of a foreign country... with the aim of carrying out subversive acts against Bahrain and harming its national interests.”
Sheikh Salman was also charged with “revealing defense secrets to a foreign country and disseminating information that would harm Bahrain’s status and reputation.”
The senior Bahraini Shia cleric has been in jail on a nine-year prison sentence since late 2014 for what the Manama regime has called “insulting” government officials, “inciting” unrest through his speeches targeting the authorities during the 2011 uprising, attempting to overthrow the regime and collaborating with foreign powers.
Sheikh Salman denies all the charges, saying he has merely been seeking reforms in the country through peaceful means.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups had censured his arrest and called for his release.
(ABNA)
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Eat Well >
Growing Growers
Work Well
Age Well
Breathe Well
Live Active
About Crawford County
Bike 4 Discounts
Pathways Grant
Community Well-Being
Health Equity Grant
Pedal Power
Raider Runners inspires kids to get active
What began with a teacher’s idea to get students more physically active has blossomed into a source of pride for Frank Layden Elementary School in Frontenac, Kansas.
Teacher Caroline Capehart grew up in Frontenac, a town built by immigrants and coal miners in the late 1800s, and graduated from Frontenac High School in 1996. Although considered a small town at 3,437 residents, Frontenac is the second largest town in Crawford County.
Our county ranks 92nd out of 101 counties in terms of health risks, with 36 percent of adult residents considered obese and 45 percent report no leisure time physical activity. Capehart, once a cheerleader who began running as a youth and now physically active as an adult, aimed to set about lowering those health risks for the kids that she and her colleagues teach.
Principal Courtney McCartney said she was inspiring them to begin a lifelong habit of fitness.
It was while running one of several marathons in Missoula, Montana, that Capehart herself was inspired.
“I had the idea to start our students on a running program that would allow them to run a marathon, or even just a 5K or 10K to start smaller, but to do it in increments over a period of time,” she said.
Last summer, Capehart applied for the Healthy Habits for Life grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. She asked McCartney for permission to use the school gymnasium before school, and the program, Raider Runners, was underway.
She was overwhelmed with the number of students who jumped on board: Hoping to have 50 sign up, she got more than 150 of them from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Each Tuesday and Thursday, they can choose to show up to school 20 minutes early and begin laps in the gym.
Capehart enlisted the help of several other elementary teachers to keep track of their progress; they sit in the bleachers and using a Google spreadsheet that she set up, keep tally marks for all names by grade level.
“Eight laps is roughly the equivalent of a mile,” Capehart said, “and kindergarteners through second graders average about 10 laps each morning. Third through fifth graders average about 12.”
Last month, Capehart recognized milestone moments in a special all-school assembly in the gym: She awarded the first incentives to 120 students who reached the 5K and to 98 of them who reached the half-marathon (13.1 miles) mark just prior to the Christmas break.
“We have shoelaces charms for you today,” she told them before announcing the names of the recipients. “They slide on your shoelaces, and then whenever you wear your shoes, it reminds you of how far you’ve come, and it shows other people how far you’ve come, too.”
Costs for the incentives are offset by a $500 donation by Jane Hutsey Insurance & Investments and a $100 donation by Dr. Rob Herron, DDS.
At the end of the Spring semester, Capehart will hold another assembly and award charms and t-shirts to those who have completed marathons.
Capehart, meanwhile, is looking forward to April: She qualified to run the Boston Marathon.
“Running can be a lifelong thing,” she said. “It has been for me so far, and I’m hoping it can be for some of these kids.”
It’s no secret that inactivity increases with age; by age 75, about one in three men and one in two women engage in no physical activity.
Dottie Davi is not one of those people.
At age 79, she regularly works on cardio, strength training, balance, and flexibility. She doesn’t do it alone. Her partner is Sunni Stipp, who teaches the Age Well class at Pinamonti Wellness.
“We meet four days a week for supervised exercises,” Stipp said, “and Dottie is a regular.”
Stipp says the class combats what the CDC is concerned about — that as we age, we lose strength and stamina. Remaining physically active helps maintain the ability to live independently and reduces the risk of falling and fracturing bones. It reduces the risk of dying from coronary heart disease and of developing high blood pressure, colon cancer, and diabetes. It reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression. And it helps control joint swelling and pain associated with arthritis.
Davi says it makes her feel happy and healthy to be active at Pinamonti Wellness.
“It’s the best place in town,” she said. “The people are so nice to us older ones and they take good care of us. They come out to my car and get me when I arrive and walk me back out when I’m done.”
To owner Brian Pinamonti, it was a no-brainer to offer not just a class to that demographic, but other Age Well opportunities, as well.
On Tuesday, the Crawford County Health Department provided a free Age Well Advantage Day to older members of Pinamonti Wellness, including a fall prevention session by Janie Terry, flu shots, free blood pressure checks, and chair massages.
Dottie was among those who took advantage of what the day offered, ensuring that her health and wellness are on track.
“I like that all this is in one place,” she said. “It’s one stop and you’re done.”
Terry says older members who don’t care to participate in a class but who want a safe, well-lighted, even-surfaced place to walk indoors out of the weather and do so on the facility’s indoor walking track, which is bordered by a railing. And, she invited older residents who are interested in setting up a personal plan for physical activity to call or visit Pinamonti Wellness.
"It's never too late to get started being active," she said.
Have a suggestion for a future Spotlight?
Leslie and BJ Harris had discussed focusing on their health and fitness goals for some time. In May, they took the plunge with a weight loss challenge by local business Piece of Cake Nutrition. But their journey became about much more than just losing weight: They wound up adapting to a lifestyle of healthy living and eating, becoming more active as a family, and feeling more energetic.
“We realized we are in our mid-30s now and it's just going to get harder the longer we wait,” Leslie said. “And we want to be better role models for our daughter, Quorynn.”
The couple also felt like they owed it to their late daughter, Delylah, who died as an infant and didn’t have the opportunity to live a healthy life.
“We were given that opportunity and should take advantage of it,” Leslie said.
Their strategies:
They started eating a high protein diet
They cut back on bread, pasta, potatoes, and sweets.
They logged everything onto a "My Fitness Pal" app.
They evaluated their meal logs and made changes to areas that needed work, like more fruits and vegetables and whole grains. When they took a road trip, they packed their own healthy snacks so they weren't tempted to stop at a convenient store for packaged items.
They began exercising more as well, with BJ getting up in the mornings to work out and Leslie returning to teaching Zumba classes on a regular basis after a 5-year hiatus.
They started walking more as a family and swimming in their pool together.
They started cooking at home a lot more, which enabled BJ to grill meat and veggies, which he enjoys doing. It also began saving the family money when they turned away from fast food.
Leslie began going on regular bike rides with Quorynn, which she loves.
“It helped that we had each other to rely on and keep each other accountable,” Leslie said. “The weight loss challenge was also a great motivator. BJ likes competition so that helped!”
The couple created a "Healthier Harrises" Facebook page to also add accountability and encourage others to join them in a healthier lifestyle.
“We have a long way to go before we get to where we want to be,” she said. “I'm proud of myself for getting up in front of people to instruct them in Zumba even though I know I would still be considered heavy. But I just remind myself that I'm dancing it off! We both have more confidence and feel better overall from taking better care of ourselves.”
“We all know what we SHOULD be doing, but a lot of us go for the easy way out. We still do at times, too. But once you start leading a healthier lifestyle, you start feeling much better and looking at things differently. It's amazing how great you feel when you take better care of yourself,” Leslie said. “No one cares about you more than you!”
Do you have someone to nominate for our Spotlight? We're looking for active people of all ages and backgrounds who exhibit healthy behaviors that could serve as inspiration or motivation for others. Email us at livewellcrawfordcounty@gmail.com with "Spotlight" in the subject line.
Everyone a winner with Get Fit TRYathlon
Joanna Rhodes knows the benefit regular physical activity: A busy mother, she makes time for it because it has improved her health, reduced her stress, and improved her well-being. Integrating it into an event to raise much-needed funds for a cause she's passionate about seemed only logical.
The event: The Get Fit TRYathlon, which kicks off Saturday in Pittsburg and continues on Aug. 6.
A mentor for Big Brothers-Big Sisters for more than 10 years, Rhodes' match ended in May just shy of 11 years because her “little,” Cheriah, turned 18 and graduated from high school.
As a board member, she also was well aware of the cost of matching adult volunteers with “littles” who need a mentors; each match requires $1,000.
“But those matches also are invaluable,” Rhodes said. “More than 80 percent of the kids we serve live at or below the poverty level, and 80 percent of them come from single parent households. More than 30 percent of our children currently have or have had at least one incarcerated parent.”
The desire?
“To match them with someone who can make a significant positive impact in their lives, and show them who they are capable of becoming,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes, who competes in area race events herself, saw the Get Fit TRYathlon as a unique way to bring awareness to the agency and to raise funds. But it also was a way to encourage youth and amateur athletes to get out and get active, perhaps at something they've never done before.
“I wanted to encourage individuals to be active and try something new,” she said. “You don’t have to be the fastest or most skilled. It’s just about completing something that is outside your comfort zone and supporting a great organization.”
“The TRYathlon portion of this event is so encouraging to see someone overcome a fear or improve from the year before,” she said. “There are some kids who have done this event every year and now are no longer using a lifejacket or training wheels.”
She has seen adults doggy-paddle during the swim portion.
“I have also had one adult participant struggle during the bike portion and the next year she was excited because she was able to ride her bike the whole time and not get off to walk,” she said. “That’s what gets me excited when someone else is proud of themselves. It’s not about what you can’t do, but that you tried and succeeded.”
The 5K/10K course will start and end at Gorilla Village on the campus of Pittsburg State University on July 30. The Get Fit TRYathlon will be held at the Pittsburg Aquatic Center on Aug. 6.
The 5K/10K race is open to all ages. Start time is 7:15 a.m. July 30. The free youth TRYathlon clinic is also July 30 from 8:30-11 a.m. at the Aquatic Center. Experienced volunteers will cover the basics of safe swimming, biking, running and transitioning, and safety checks on bikes and helmets. You can register on site.
Kids ages 5-14 can compete in the youth TRYathlon on Aug. 6 with distances varying by age. The Super Sprint Team Relay TRYathlon will feature teams of three any gender over the age of 10. Each individual will swim four laps, bike four miles, and run one mile. Team members can be any gender and must be at least 10 years old.
All participants receive T-shirts and finishers medals. The top finishers in age categories get trophies. Everyone is welcome to the post-race celebration to enjoy food and festivities.
Register online at http://getfittryathlon.weebly.com or call 620-704-1396 for more information. All proceeds benefit Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters serving Crawford County.
Wake-up calls prompt lifestyle makeover
Early in life, John Robb didn’t give a thought to exercise or what he ate.
“I was a fat kid,” said Robb, who by sixth grade weighed 150 pounds and as an adult, was told he'd better shape up or his lifestyle would kill him.
At 73, he’s now a distance athlete. He logged 4,000 miles on his bicycle in 2014. He’s ridden across Kansas nine times — missing only the year he had a knee replaced, but not the year he was fitted with a pacemaker.
A native of Pittsburg, he grew up on a farm eating gravy and whole milk. He played no sports and was mostly sedentary.
It was while in basic training at Ft. Riley that he learned he had high blood pressure. While stationed in Korea, he was told it was serious: He weighed 275 pounds.
So he cut out drinking and desserts. And he started running.
"It was life or death,” he said of his condition. “You’ve got to come to a point where you realize that. I saw it as a wake-up call. The first quarter mile was awful."
In 13 months, he lost 100 pounds. Back stateside, he continued running.
Then, he began competing, starting with 5Ks, working up to 10Ks and then a marathon. He wasn’t going for speed — his best time was 4 hours. But he was 51at the time, and he was proud to finish.
When he retired and returned to Pittsburg in 2002 with his wife, Carole, he took up cycling and completed his first 400-plus-mile Bike Across Kansas in 2009. But then the lights went out.
Physicians discovered a heart blockage: A Widow Maker.
“It was filled with gravy,” Robb said. “I wasn’t watching what I ate.”
The misconception?
“That I could put in the miles exercising and then scarf down a cheeseburger, desserts or whatever else sounded good,” he said. “I figured I was skinny, so I had no reason to worry.”
His logic made sense, his wife said.
“He was putting in miles and miles, so if he wanted a milkshake, he would eat it,” she said.
“That’s one of the reasons he liked to run, so he could eat all the desserts he wanted.”
He began a strict diet: No foods with anything they couldn’t pronounce. No preservatives. No palm oil. No artificial sweeteners. Beef, pork or chicken once a week, and no more than 3 ounces at a time. No more than 29 grams of fat a day, including the good kind. Broccoli and fish each twice weekly. No more than 1,500 milligrams of salt per day.
Breakfast is a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal. Instead of salad dressings, they dress up greens with crunchy stuff: cranberries, walnuts, dried fruits, carrots.
The couple now cooks almost entirely with organic or locally grown food, shopping at the farmers market, a local food cooperative, the organic sections at Ron’s and Dillons supermarkets, and at Whole Foods in Kansas City.
For meat, they eat only grass-fed turkey, bison and venison for its low fat content. And their larger meals are at noon, with lighter fare such as soup or smoothies in the evening.
Keeping an exercise diary is important to his success, he said.
He's also participated in the National Bike Challenge sponsored by the League of American Cyclists. In 2014, he finished 16th out of 320 riders of all ages. He also has completed the PSU Gorilla Century and ridden every county road in Crawford County.
“Doctors tell me to just keep doing what I’m doing,” he said.
— By Andra Bryan Stefanoni
John Robb is a Live Well member and part of the Live Active commitee.
John participated in the BAK with his son and a granddaughter.
Live Well will spotlight Crawford County residents who have made lifestyle changes, who make living well part of their daily routine, or who have a unique story to share that could serve as inspiration to others. Email suggestions to livewellcrawfordcounty@gmail.com
director
Brad Stroud
410 E Atkinson
Pittsburg, KS 66762bstroud@crawfordcohd.org
Community liaison
Matt O'Malley
pittsburg, KS 66762
matto.livewellcrawfordcounty@outlook.com
To promote healthy lifestyle choices
through education, motivation, and support for all generations.
Making the healthy choice the easy choice.
live Well crawford county
by Andra Stefanoni
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Lacascata Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Riiff
2005 WL 2860558 (N.J. Super. App. Div. 2005) (Unpublished)
Opinion Date: November 2, 2005
RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL; PUBLIC AUCTIONS — A right of first refusal is effective against a buyer at a public auction, even one conducted by a governmental agency.
A municipal housing authority owned three properties in a condominium development. The deeds for the property granted the condominium association a right of first refusal. The housing authority sought to sell the properties by auction pursuant to the New Jersey’s public bidding laws. It contacted the condominium’s homeowner’s association about the association’s right of first refusal for the properties. The housing authority then published notice of the public auction in the local newspapers. The successful bidder for two of the units tendered the deposit and a closing was scheduled. Prior to the closing, the association informed the housing authority that it wished to exercise its right of first refusal for the properties and that it would purchase the properties for the prices established at the auction. The housing authority ignored the association’s request to exercise its first refusal right. The association then filed an action against the housing authority and the successful bidder. The association requested that the lower court restrain the housing authority from conveying title to the properties and allow the association the right to exercise its right of first refusal. The lower court permitted the sale to go forward on the condition that the buyer assume any risk of an adverse judgment. It also dismissed the housing authority from the case after the properties were transferred. Following oral argument, the lower court ruled that the association had retained the right of first refusal and ordered the properties to be sold to the association at the auction prices. The buyer appealed, asserting that the association’s right of first refusal was only enforceable against the housing authority as the seller of the properties and not against him. He also argued that the association’s right of first refusal was void as against public policy.
The Appellate Division affirmed the lower court’s decision. It reviewed the right of first refusal clause in the property deeds and concluded that it applied to all owners seeking to sell their condominium units, including the housing authority. The Court further found that the buyer effectively stepped into the shoes of the housing authority when he agreed to the dismissal of the housing authority from the case. Once the housing authority was dismissed, the buyer became the only party against whom the association could enforce its right of first refusal. The Court also rejected the buyer’s assertion that the association’s right of first refusal was void because it was against public policy. The buyer was claiming that the right contradicted New Jersey’s public bidding law because it permits someone other than the highest bidder to purchase property at a public auction. The Court rejected this argument finding that, prior to the auction, all of the bidders, including the successful bidder, were placed on constructive notice of the right of first refusal because this information was contained in the housing authority’s resolution authorizing the sale of the properties.
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Amorphis - "Skyforger" (CD)
"Skyforger" track listing:
1. Sampo (6:08)
2. Silver Bride (4:13)
3. From the Heaven of My Heart (5:20)
4. Sky is Mine (4:20)
5. Majestic Beast (4:19)
6. My Sun (4:04)
7. Highest Star (4:44)
8. Skyforger (5:15)
9. Course of Fate (4:15)
10. From Earth I Rose (5:04)
Reviewed by xFiruath on May 25, 2009
"While it appeared that the band had finally decided to stick solely with the death metal style in their last offering 'Silent Waters,' they have again gone for a dip into the sickly sweet waters of prog..."
True to their namesake, long running Finnish act Amorphis have kept their core sound a very fluid concept. “Skyforger” is the band’s ninth full-length album and it’s just as much a radical departure from their famous early album “Tales From the Thousand Lakes” as was their middle album “Am Universum.” While it appeared that the band had finally decided to stick solely with the death metal style in their last offering “Silent Waters” they have again gone for a dip into the sickly sweet waters of prog, which could either excite or disappoint any given fan, depending on how they liked the band’s previous excursions into more mellow territory.
The first few moments of opening track “Sampo” will give a good idea of who is going to be down with the new direction and who will long for the albums of yester year. A smooth and light-hearted piano arrangement stays in the forefront for most of the song, carrying it along with the backing guitars and drums. Tomi Joutsen’s vocals start out slightly lower and harder than can really be considered fully “clean,” but they are clearly distinguished from actual death growls. As the song progresses, his vocals shift completely into clean and melodic territory. He’s got an amazingly wide range and his voice has a deep, rich quality that is incredibly pleasing to the ear. Whether that’s a compliment or criticism is completely open to the interpretation of the audience, as they may have been expecting full on death screams based on the band’s previous offerings. Throw in the catchy repeating chorus segments on nearly every song and the result is easily the most mainstream Amorphis disc yet.
There are very few growls to be heard anywhere on “Skyforger,” as the melodic singing has become the focus of the music. That’s not to say that the album isn’t heavy, as it definitely still qualifies as a metal release. “Majestic Beast” is the track that will most please the more extreme crowd, and manages to nearly perfectly evoke the feel of its title. Terrible and beautiful at the same time, it combines all of the various sounds of each instrument to produce a dreadful majesty. Even when the menacing guitars and hellish screams are pounding at full blast, there is still a strong melody and rhythm. The heavy repeating guitar riff on the song is very similar to the sound of “The Grand Conjuration” by Opeth, so any fans of that song will be quite pleased.
The remainder of the songs on the album spend their time switching between folksy and gothic, or combining the two together. Some of the backing synths have a very heavy folk emphasis, which leads to a few of the tracks having a style more in common with a band like Tyr or Equilibrium than they do with the earlier Amorphis albums. “My Sun” strikes on the best balance between the opposing forces, providing the most seamless blending of the folk, rock, gothic overtones, and metal.
Even if some of the individual elements may be slightly off-putting to fans of the older style, it’s always good to hear a band actively work to evolve their sound in new and interesting directions. Despite the de-emphasis of growls and introduction of much more clean melody “Skyforger” is still thoroughly enjoyable and should work its way into the collection of any serious Amorphis fan.
Highs: Catchy and compelling clean vocals, a few songs that are heavy and menacing
Lows: Overall much more toned down and mellow that would be expected from Amorphis, some of the sounds are a little too mainstream
Bottom line: A more mellow and catchy version of Amorphis that should appeal to hardcore fans as well as prog enthusiasts
Get more info including news, reviews, interviews, links, etc. on our Amorphis band page.
"Silent Waters" (CD)
"Eclipse" (CD)
"IV: Revenge of The Vengeance" (CD)
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Robert McKee is the most sought after screenwriting lecturer around the globe. He has dedicated the last thirty years to educating and mentoring screenwriters, novelists, playwrights, poets, documentary makers, producers, and directors internationally. Those who have learned from McKee have called him ‘the Aristotle of our time’ because of his insight into the substance, structure, style, and principles of the grand art of story. McKee’s former students include over sixty Academy Award Winners, two hundred Emmy Award Winners, a hundred Writers’ Guild of America Award Winners & fifty Directors’ Guild of America) Award Winners. A winner & nominee of BAFTA for his popular Channel Four series Reel Secrets, McKee also wrote & hosted twelve episodes of BBC’s FILMWORKS series. McKee’s articles on Story have also appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines around the world including Vanity Fair, The New Yorker Magazine, BBC & Channel 4. Since 1984, more than 100,000 students have taken McKee’s courses at various cities around the world including Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Boston, San Francisco, Singapore, Madrid, Rome, Stockholm, Beijing, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow. McKee continues to be a project consultant to major film and television production companies & TV & Film companies regularly send their entire creative and writing staffs to his lectures.
See www.mckeestory.com for details about forthcoming Story & Genre & Storynomics seminars which will be held in London in May 2016
Thomas Gerace
Storynomics
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Memorable Manitobans: Donald Gordon McKenzie (1887-1963)
Donald Gordon McKenzie
Farmer, MLA (1927-1932), MLA (1933-1936).
Born at Brandon on 9 April 1887, son of Roderick McKenzie and Janet McDonald, he was educated at Turriff School, Brandon Collegiate and the Manitoba Agricultural College. He farmed near Brandon and, from 1916 to 1926, served as Secretary-Treasurer of the United Farmers of Manitoba. In April 1926 he was appointed by the federal government to the Advisory Board on Tariff and Taxation. He was appointed Minister of Mines and Natural Resources and Provincial Secretary in October 1928, then elected to the Manitoba Legislature at a by-election held in November 1928. He was re-elected at the 1932 general election. He served as Minister of Public Utilities (1929), Minister of Agriculture (1932-1936), and Power Commissioner (1933-1936).
In 1939 he moved to Winnipeg as Vice-President and General Manager of United Grain Growers. In 1942 he was appointed Chief Commissioner to the Board of Grain Commissioners of Canada, retiring in 1957.
On 18 November 1914, he married Katie Belle Cole (?-1946), daughter of Alexander and Margaret Cole, of Brandon. They had eight children: Margaret Janet McKenzie (1916-2011), Kathleen Donalda McKenzie (1917-2012), Alyce Lillian McKenzie (1919-2005), Rae Alexander McKenzie (1921-1984), Lorna Jean McKenzie (1926-1998), Donald Roderick McKenzie, John Malcolm McKenzie (1929-2012), and Ian Robert McKenzie (1932-1949). He served as President of the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce (c1948), Canadian Chamber of Commerce (1941-1942), Canadian Club of Winnipeg (1953-1954), and International Peace Garden Association. He was a member of the Board of Governors for the University of Manitoba, Brandon College, Provincial Exhibition Board, Manitoba Health Services, and Dafoe Foundation. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club (Brandon), Elks Club (Brandon), Masons (Brandon Lodge), and St. Andrews River Heights United Church (Winnipeg).
He died at his Winnipeg home, 28 Cordova Street, on 14 May 1963 and was buried in Brookside Cemetery. He was inducted posthumously into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
The Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1934. [Manitoba Legislative Library]
“Election held by Chamber of Commerce,” Winnipeg Free Press, 2 October 1942, page 12.
“Gurney Evans Canadian Club Head,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 May 1954, page 3.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 15 May 1963, page 38.
We thank Nathan Kramer, Bruce McKenzie, and Donald McKenzie for providing additional information used here.
Page revised: 25 July 2018
This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society.
Search the collection by word or phrase, name, place, occupation or other text:
Browse surnames beginning with:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z | 2017
Send corrections and additions to the Memorable Manitobans Administrator at biographies@mhs.mb.ca
Criteria for Memorable Manitobans | Suggest a Memorable Manitoban | Our Inspiration | Acknowledgements
Support the MHS and
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Henry's Songbook
© All original copyrights respected / For private use only
Susannes Folksong-Notizen English Notes
(Pete Seeger / Lee Hays)
If I had a hammer I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening all over this land
I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
If I had a bell I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening all over this land
I'd ring our danger, I'd ring out warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
If I had a song I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening all over this land
I'd sing out danger, I'd sing out warning
I'd sing out love between my sisters and my brothers
When I've got a hammer, and I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing all over this land
It's a hammer of justice, it's a bell of freedom
It's a song about love between my brothers and my sisters
(as sung by Peter Paul & Mary)
Susannes Folksong-Notizen
[1980:] Lee Hays and I wrote Hammer in 1949. It was the very first song recorded by the Weavers. A collectors item. ("No one but collectors ever got it.") But nine years later a brand new group of singers, Peter, Paul and Mary, put it on every radio in the country. They rewrote my melody slightly, and most people nowadays sing it as they heard it on PPM's record. I made an interesting discovery, though: both versions can be sung at the same time, and they harmonize with each other. A moral there. (Notes Pete Seeger, 'Singalong')
[1980:] For the old-timers, the feeling [in the early days of People's Songs] was something on the order of a class reunion. At one of the first board of directors' meetings, Pete Seeger and Lee Hays entertained themselves by passing a sheet of paper back and forth, gleefully collaborating on the lyrics for "If I Had a Hammer ..." (Klein, Woody Guthrie 316)
[1985:] [Detailed story of Peekskill incident (see below, 1989) cf. Dunaway, Seeger 18ff.]
[The right-wing magazine] 'Counterattack' and the FBI succeeded in blacklisting the Weavers, but If I Had A Hammer was unconquerable. The song had a specific radical message in 1952; when Seeger suggested the Weavers perform it on bookings, one of them answered, "Oh no. We can't get away with anything like that."
"Why was it controversial?" Pete reflected. "In 1949 only 'Commies' used words like 'peace' and 'freedom'. ... The message was that we have got tools and that we are going to succeed. This is what a lot of spirituals say. We will overcome. I have a hammer. [...] No one could take these away." The Weavers never had the opportunity to make a hit of this - that honor fell to Peter, Paul and Mary - but they had the satisfaction of seeing that no edict and no committee could kill [the] song. (Dunaway, Seeger 157)
[1989:] It was becoming dangerous to be a performer if you were suspected of having left-wing views, and the following year Seeger and [Paul] Robeson faced their most dangerous concert of all. The venue was Peekskill, New York State, where on 4 September 1949 they both appeared at an outdoor show that turned into one of the most terrifying and violent events in the history of pop music.
The concert had been planned for the previous month, when it was advertised in a Communist newspaper, but crowds had blocked the roads, beaten up some of the organizers, and it had to be called off. But the performers, and the Communist Party, decided that the show should still be held - this time on Labor Day. Supporters provided protection around the site, and the performance actually went ahead. Paul Robeson sang [...] Old Man River, and Seeger sang If I Had A Hammer.
Fifteen years later (after first being revived by Peter, Paul and Mary) the song became a nightclub favourite, and the sing-along, Latin-tinged version by Trini Lopez sold 4 1/2 million copies around the world. In 1949 it was considered dangerously political, with highly controversial lyrics.
Only when the concert was over did the trouble really start. The performers were ambushed as they left the show, for the residents had been whipped up into an anti-Communist fervour [...]. Seeger escaped, covered in glass, his car dented with rocks. (Denselow, Music 13)
[1993:] Peter, Paul and Mary [...] changed my melody of that song (and only then did it "take off".) (Seeger, Flowers 13)
Us Weavers recorded it [...] in the fall of '49, for a microscopic label, Charter Records. Lee Hays used to say, "It was a collector's item - nobody but collectors ever bought it." A year later, when the Weavers were temporarily "on the charts", our manager wouldn't let us perform it. ("I'm trying to cool down the blacklisters; that song would encourage them.") But nine years later [Peter Paul and Mary] had a surprise hit with the song. [...]
It was a young radical activist, Libby Frank, in 1952 who insisted on singing "my brothers and my sisters" instead of "all of my brothers". Lee resisted the change at first. "It doesn't ripple off the tongue as well. How about 'all of my siblings'?" He finally gave in. It was sung in Europe and elsewhere in the '50's, sometimes with variant melodies, sometimes with added verses [...]. Victor Jara, the great protest singer of Chile, made up a version in Spanish. (Seeger, Flowers 38)
Quelle: USA
I-Index
© Sammlung : Susanne Kalweit (Kiel)
Layout : Henry Kochlin (Schwerin)
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Kangana slams Ranbir for not taking stand on politics
by veena March 4, 2019 March 4, 2019 0554
Mumbai, March 4 (IANS) Actress Kangana Ranaut has slammed actor Ranbir Kapoor for not taking a stand on the country’s politics and other issues.
Kangana was interacting with the media at the success party of “Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi” along with co-star Ankita Lokhande here on Sunday.
When asked if she planned to join politics or to participate in an election campaign, Kangana said: “I don’t have any intention to join politics or an election campaign of a political party. Many people feel that I want to enter politics but that’s not true. There are few actors in our industry like Ranbir Kapoor where he has been seen talking in an interview that ‘We have regular supply of water and electricity at my home so, why should I comment about politics?’ But I feel because of this country’s people you are living in your luxurious home and you are travelling in your Mercedes so, how can you talk like that? This is irresponsible behaviour and I am not that kind of person.”
In a 2018 interview, Ranbir was asked why he shied away from making political statements.
The actor replied that he doesn’t follow politics since it makes no difference to his life. He added that since he lives in a luxurious life and has complete access to basic needs like water, and electricity, he was fairly satisfied.
Kangana said that if expressing her opinions about a certain issue ruins her film career then, she is okay with it.
“If talking about politics can hamper my career then let it be. I also have regular supply of water and electricity at my home but that doesn’t mean that I will not talk about other issues. This has to change and the media should change that.
“I feel you shouldn’t distance yourself from issues of the country. In a democracy, you should speak about how the government has performed and also speak about your political inclination as a youth of this country. You cannot say why should I talk about politics when I get all the facilities. I don’t understand why they think of their career so much that they don’t have anything to do with their own country?”
On the film front, Kangana will be next seen in “Mental Hai Kyaa?” opposite Rajkummar Rao, slated to release in May .
She will also share screenspace with Punjabi singer Jassi Gill, Richa Chadha, Pankaj Tripathi and Neena Gupta in Ashwini Iyer Tiwari’s “Panga”.
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It was all tears: Priyanka on emotional wedding with Nick
veena December 4, 2018
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What’s wrong with Eton
August 14, 2012 Education, Society No comments
I am not sure of the wisdom of writing this article: but, after some months of thought, I felt it necessary to do so. Every time I see my old school heavily criticised in the press, I sit down at my keyboard. But I then experience such a range of emotions – chiefly frustration, rage, and sadness – that I end up deleting several drafts, and finally folding my laptop away. Today, though, I think it is necessary to sit here and type till I finish.
I have Lucy Mangan of The Guardian to thank for this final prompt. Yesterday she filed a piece about the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, in the course of which she wrote that:
“we are…just a few days away from the traditional furore about the number of white, upper-class, privately educated, male students who get into Oxford and Cambridge, compared with the percentage of non-pink, non-posh, non-privileged, non-penised people who go on to study in the land of dreaming spires or a punt-strewn idyll. It happens every year, and every year it is a bigger waste of time.
“It is true, of course, that in some quadrangles you cannot throw a stick without hitting an Old Etonian. This is what makes throwing sticks in quadrangles such fun. And it is equally true that the dominance of such people at these (and other) universities is unfair, inequitable and unconscionable.”
I am wholly conflicted here. On one hand, I hate the idea that I am part of a group of school alumni whom it is fair game to mock as posh, pampered and out of touch. On the other hand, I hate the idea of inequality of opportunity, of which Eton is her metaphor. I hate the fact that Eton, which I love for many reasons, is routinely singled out from hundreds of private schools for public ridicule. It makes me bristle in the same way that you would if you heard a stranger slagging off a family member. At the same time, I get it, for the same reason that there is currently such fury at Britain’s bankers. We signify the rule by the few for the few. This last sentence will be news to my bank manager; but, all the same, it is true.
I also think, further to Ms. Mangan’s comments about a “waste of time”, that in the media we should spend more time celebrating the excellence of universities other than Oxford, which I attended, and Cambridge. My father attended Cardiff University and then Edinburgh, an education good enough to make him one of the first black consultant surgeons in the UK. My mother, a GP, went to Manchester, which was then and remains a superb place to study. The London 2012 Olympics showed that Britain’s achievers come from a diversity of places. What is true of athletics is also true of academia. We spend too long, I think, extolling the virtues of two universities, whilst in my professional and personal life I am inspired by outstanding graduates from Leeds, Exeter, Southampton, University College London and so on.
Further to being on the receiving end of sticks, I am very proud to have attended Eton. Many people will say in the defence of Old Etonians that they did not choose to go there, but that is not true in my case. When I was eleven years old, I passed up a place at the local grammar school because I had seen a documentary about Eton on Channel 4, and had been struck by the history and the majesty of the place. It was a little like being on the verge of signing terms with Sunderland, and then paying a visit to Old Trafford. And so I went to a prep school for two years on an assisted place scheme, crammed subjects I had either never learned before or even heard of, and ended up gaining a fifty per cent bursary to study at Eton. My father had passed away many years before then, and so I will be forever grateful for the financial assistance that the school gave to my family, as well as the many fantastic role models that it gave me.
The five years I spent at Eton were, in many ways, a life-defining experience. Its scholarship entrance examination remains the hardest test I have ever sat. The boys I met there were some of the kindest people I have ever met, some of the most intelligent, and certainly the most competitive. No matter how hard you worked, there was always someone more diligent. You might think yourself smart, but you would be in a class with not one genius but three or four at a time. I felt no room for complacency there: every mark was earned. Every grade was grafted for. Every two terms, you were ranked from 1 to 256 against your fellow students in year-wide examinations. Your positions were read out in a countdown in front of your peers. The tension of X-Factor had nothing on this.
In that sense, then, Eton was supremely meritocratic – once you got there, of course. Sadly, I also understand why Ms. Mangan might think it funny to swing sticks at us. Our country is currently being run by an unhealthily homogenous group of people, and that narrowness of vision is, I think, reflected in many of their policies. My anger at her piece was the implication that, by virtue of my education there, I automatically shared their outlook on society, which I emphatically do not.
A close friend has repeatedly asked me to remember that I was an anomaly there, the exception to the rule, and in some ways she is right. At one point, I was one of only two black pupils out of a total of just over 1250 boys. But, as David Cameron and Boris Johnson are faced with charges of arrogance, I can safely say that I was far from the only person at Eton without a sense of entitlement. Unfortunately, it looks as if some of those with such a sense have embarked on a career in politics.
Eton gave me two things. The first thing was the final catalyst for my ambition, which was already pretty superheated by the time I got there. As a result, I tend to look upon much of what I have achieved so far as a failure to achieve my true potential. The second thing was a keen understanding of just how this part of the Establishment works. Put simply, you are constantly in the presence of successful adults, be they teachers, parents, or the busts of 19 Prime Ministers. The unspoken narrative is that, if you work your hardest, their success will one day be yours too. And, long after you have left, many of their contacts and references may prove invaluable.
On reflection, I am not sure that I have said anything new. But I have not yet heard a thoroughly convincing argument as to why my old school, and others like it – Wycombe Abbey, Westminster and St. Paul’s, to name but three – should continue to enjoy charitable status in the long run. They are brands, who benefit an increasingly smaller section of society. They are private schools, and perhaps the time is coming for the law to treat them as private enterprises.
This is not the only pressing problem that I have with Eton. I hesitate to criticise the personal manners of others, as it implies that my own manners are without fault. I must say, though, that I was often shocked by some of the snobbery I saw there, which on occasion took the breath away. Most of my tutors were ruthless in calling it out, but you can’t undo some people’s upbringing in just a few years. Had a few of my contemporaries ended up in the Bullingdon Club, I would not have been surprised.
When all’s said and done, I took issue with Ms. Mangan’s article for one reason: I didn’t go to Eton so that I could learn how to look down on other people. I went there because I wanted to acquit myself against the best. There is almost nothing more thrilling than putting yourself in the right position to thrive. As a result, I entirely agree with her that there should be far greater diversity in the intake of Oxford, and Cambridge, and other universities. I just hope that she is a little less gleeful when, stick in hand, she next enters the quadrangle.
St. Paul's
Wycombe Abbey
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Wed Jul 3
US agriculture needs a 21st-century New Deal
Written by Maywa Montenegro, UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Davis
Jeff Jorgenson looks over a partially flooded field he farms near Shenandoah, Iowa, May 29, 2019. AP Photo/Nati Harnik
These are difficult times in farm country. Historic spring rains – 600% above average in some places – inundated fields and homes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that this year’s corn and soybean crops will be the smallest in four years, due partly to delayed planting.
Even before the floods, farm bankruptcies were already at a 10-year high. In 2018 less than half of U.S. growers made any income from their farms, and median farm income dipped to negative $1,553 – that is, a net loss.
At the same time, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that about 12 years remain to rein in global greenhouse gas emissions enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Beyond this point, scientists predict significantly higher risks of drought, floods and extreme heat.
And a landmark UN report released in May warns that roughly 1 million species are now threatened with extinction. This includes pollinators that provide US$235 billion to $577 billion in annual global crop value.
As scholars who study agroecology, agrarian change and food politics, we believe U.S. agriculture needs to make a systemwide shift that cuts carbon emissions, reduces vulnerability to climate chaos and prioritizes economic justice. We call this process a just transition – an idea often invoked to describe moving workers from shrinking industries like coal mining into more viable fields.
But it also applies to modern agriculture, an industry which in our view is dying – not because it isn’t producing enough, but because it is contributing to climate change and exacerbating rural problems, from income inequality to the opioid crisis.
Reconstructing rural America and dealing with climate change are both part of this process. Two elements are essential: agriculture based in principles of ecology, and economic policies that end overproduction of cheap food and reestablish fair prices for farmers.
Since the mid-1930s, the number of U.S. farms has declined sharply and average farm size has increased.USDA
Climate solutions on the farm
Agriculture generates about 9% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from sources that include synthetic fertilizers and intensive livestock operations. These emissions can be significantly curbed through adopting methods of agroecology, a science that applies principles of ecology to designing sustainable food systems.
Agroecological practices include replacing fossil-fuel-based inputs like fertilizer with a range of diverse plants, animals, fungi, insects and soil organisms. By mimicking ecological interactions, biodiversity produces both food and renewable ecosystem services, such as soil nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration.
Cover crops are a good example. Farmers grow cover crops like legumes, rye and alfalfa to reduce soil erosion, improve water retention and add nitrogen to the soil, thereby curbing fertilizer use. When these crops decay, they store carbon – typically about 1 to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide per 2.47 acres per year.
Cover crop acreage has surged in recent years, from 10.3 million acres in 2012 to 15.4 million acres in 2017. But this is a tiny fraction of the roughly 900 million acres of farmed land in the U.S.
Another strategy is switching from row crops to agroforestry, which combines trees, livestock and crops in a single field. This approach can increase soil carbon storage by up to 34%. And moving animals from large-scale livestock farms back onto crop farms can turn waste into nutrient inputs.
Advocates say sustainable farming methods are less vulnerable to impacts of climate change than conventional large-scale farming.
Unfortunately, many U.S. farmers are stuck in industrial production. A 2016 study by an international expert panel identified eight key “lock-ins,” or mechanisms, that reinforce the large-scale model. They include consumer expectations of cheap food, export-oriented trade, and most importantly, concentration of power in the global food and agricultural sector.
Because these lock-ins create a deeply entrenched system, revitalizing rural America and decarbonizing agriculture require addressing systemwide issues of politics and power. We believe a strong starting point is connecting ecological practices to economic policy, especially price parity – the principle that farmers ought to be fairly compensated, in line with their production costs.
Economic justice on the farm
If the concept of parity sounds quaint, that’s because it is. Farmers first achieved something like parity in 1910-1914, just before America entered World War I. During the war U.S. agriculture prospered, financing flowed and land speculation was rampant.
Those bubbles burst with the end of the war. As crop prices fell below the cost of production, farmers began going broke in a prelude to the Great Depression. Unsurprisingly, they tried to produce more food to get out of debt, even as prices collapsed.
President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal included programs that directed public investments to rural communities and restored “parity.” The federal government established price floors, bought up surplus commodities and stored them in reserve. It also paid farmers to reduce production of basic crops, and established programs to prevent destructive farming practices that had contributed to the Dust Bowl.
An Agricultural Adjustment Administration representative in his office, Taos County, New Mexico, December 1941. The agency was created under the New Deal to reduce farm surpluses and manage production.Irving Rusinow
These policies provided much-needed relief for indebted farmers. In the “parity years,” from 1941 to 1953, the floor price was set at 90% of parity, and the prices farmers received averaged 100% of parity. As a result, purchasers of commodities paid the actual production costs.
But after World War II, agribusiness interests systematically dismantled the supply management system. They included global grain trading companies Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill and the American Farm Bureau Federation, which serves primarily large-scale farmers.
These organizations found support from federal officials, particularly Earl Butz, who served as secretary of agriculture from 1971 to 1976. Butz believed strongly in free markets and viewed federal policy as a lever to maximize output instead of constraining it. Under his watch, prices were allowed to fall – benefiting corporate purchasers – and parity was replaced by federal payments to supplement farmers’ incomes.
The resulting lock-in to this economic model progressively strengthened in the following decades, creating what many scientific assessments now recognize as a global food system that is unsustainable for farmers, eaters and the planet.
A new New Deal for agriculture
Today the idea of restoring parity and reducing corporate power in agriculture is resurging. Several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have included it in their agriculturepositions and legislation. Think tanks are proposing to empower family farms. Dairy delegates to the regulation-averse Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation voted in December 2018 to discuss supply management.
Along with other scholars, we have urged Congress to use the proposed Green New Deal to promote a just transition in agriculture. We see this as an opportunity to restore wealth to rural America in all of its diversity – particularly to communities of color who have been systematically excluded for decades from benefits available to white farmers.
This year’s biblical floods in the Midwest make any kind of farming look daunting. However, we believe that if policymakers can envision a contemporary version of ideas in the original New Deal, a climate-friendly and socially just American agriculture is within reach.
[ Like what you’ve read? Want more?Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter. ]
Annie Shattuck is a Fellow with the Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First - a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank based in Oakland, California.
Joshua Sbicca and Maywa Montenegro do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Authors: Maywa Montenegro, UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Davis
Read more http://theconversation.com/us-agriculture-needs-a-21st-century-new-deal-112757
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FAU AWARDED $1.25 MILLION BY UNITED STATES NAVY
Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science has been awarded a $1.25 million grant by the United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) to undertake research in support of autonomous unmanned marine vehicle platforms for coastal surveillance, coastal surveys, target tracking and protection of at-sea assets.
The five-year project will entail developing unmanned surface vehicles that serve as “motherships” for unmanned underwater vehicles and aerial drones, thereby enabling multi-vehicle, multi-domain capability that may serve as a mobile coastal monitoring system, as well as training and education of graduate and undergraduate students in ocean engineering.
The project will leverage and collaborate with FAU’s ongoing Naval Engineering Education Consortium effort in conjunction with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, which involves use of two unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) for adaptive subsurface sensing in support of detection of objects on the sea bottom.
“Fostering collaborative partnerships in scientific research is essential to ensuring that the United States remains at the forefront of innovation and technology,” said Stella N. Batalama, Ph.D., dean of FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. “We are very pleased to continue our relationship with the Office of Naval Research. This latest grant will enable us to develop important technology that will help to secure our U.S. coastal waters and our assets at-sea both nationally and globally.”
FAU researchers will develop capabilities for multi-sensor perception, collision avoidance, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and improved low-level control in adverse weather conditions. Capabilities will also be developed for a USV to serve as a docking station for power and data transfer between the USV and UUVs and aerial drones. Implementation of the SLAM algorithm will provide the USV a world map in support of situational awareness and improved navigation and path planning.
“Our focus will be on developing a multi-vehicle system that can safely and reliably navigate coastal waters with a high level of autonomy while performing assigned tasks,” said Manhar Dhanak, Ph.D., principal investigator of the award and professor and director of SeaTech – The Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering in FAU’s Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering. “We will build on our ongoing efforts and leverage technological advances in sensor systems for perception and communication, as well as in computer architecture and robotic frameworks.”
Manhar Dhanak, Ph.D., principal investigator of the award and professor and director of SeaTech – The Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering in FAU’s Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering.
Within the last decade, interest in UUVs as part of specific military, industrial and academic missions and applications have increased due to technological innovations and the evolution of their sensor payloads. Missions such as persistent surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, oceanography and mine countermeasures are among key advantages of utilizing UUVs as compared to other platforms.
The U.S. Navy has identified several major benefits of unmanned vehicles in maritime surface and sub-surface applications. They are far less expensive to operate and maintain than manned vehicles, and automated sensors can maintain near-constant awareness and coverage of an environment. Near-constant surveillance also provides persistence in data collection, which enables a better understanding of long-term behavior patterns and trends. Unmanned platforms also have the potential to improve productivity and foremost, they keep human sailors and expensive manned platforms away from danger.
“This latest grant awarded to Dr. Dhanak by the Office of Naval Research significantly amplifies previous and ongoing work on unmanned marine vehicles at SeaTech. It highlights ocean engineering research at Florida Atlantic University,” said Javad Hashemi, Ph.D., associate dean for research, interim chair of the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, and a professor in FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. “Furthermore, the project promotes training and education of U.S. graduate and undergraduate students in unmanned autonomous marine vehicles-related research, in support of National Naval Responsibility for Naval Engineering.”
Dhanak will spearhead the project working with a team of engineers, a post-doctoral associate, and graduate and undergraduate students at SeaTech.
Located in Dania Beach and established in 1997 as a state-funded type II research center, SeaTech - The Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering is part of FAU's Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, and the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Ocean engineering research and technology development focuses on acoustics, marine vehicles, hydrodynamics and physical oceanography, marine materials, nano-composites, applied ocean systems, and ocean energy technologies. Federally and state funded research and development projects include autonomous underwater vehicle-based BOSS sonar systems, high-speed underwater modem communication, air-deployable buoys, durability of composite materials, coastline security technologies and systems for harnessing ocean energy.
SeaTech has a long-term partnership with the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Carderock Division and its South Florida Ocean Measurement Facility (SFOMF), which extends offshore south of Port Everglades. The partnership provides extensive combined in-water testing and evaluation capabilities for UUVs and other underwater systems.
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Phyllis Hopkins Electric Trio
Phyllis Hopkins
Nolan Ayres
Julio Caprari
ELECTRIC TRIO
Nolan Ayres, Phyllis Hopkins, and Julio Caprari all come from diverse musical backgrounds
PHYLLIS HOPKINS has shared stages with many top tier blues artists through the course of her career. Known for her unique voice and fiery guitar solos, she has already released two independent CD's of her own music. Although the songs run the gamut from rock to quirky pop, the cornerstone of all of her work has been a deep love of blues. More often than not, her work is rooted there, regardless of where it may roam stylistically. You can hear healthy doses of MAGIC SAM AND RONNIE EARL in her guitar playing. Her voice is dynamic, sometimes quiet and demure and other times loud and forceful.
Drummer JULIO CAPRARI'S was a member of Sting Ray's Blues Band. That group's leader, Ray DelPriore, is a well-known blues guitarist in the Pittston area and it proved to be a fertile training ground in traditional blues. It was here that he met bassist NOLAN AYRES who was also part of Ray's band. After that group dissolved, it was a few years until the two would work together again, this time behind Phyllis.
From their back BONE SHUFFLES, ROCK DRIVING, LATIN STYLES to their slow DYNAMIC RHYTHMS, this trio proved to be a perfect fit and were out playing almost immediately. The band in this incarnation has been working on its first independent CD with a scheduled release date in September 2014. As Phyllis says "We've been playing a lot of the material at our live shows and the reaction has been very positive, so we're really looking forward to sharing it with everybody."
The band works a steady schedule of club dates in the greater Northeastern, Pa areas, playing eclectic covers and originals. If you get an opportunity, check them out.
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Sankey Analysis
Geospatial Modeling
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OUR MISSION IN SUPPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The Renewable Nations Institute is a Commitment Partner to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide an integrated set of Enabling Actions in Energy Planning and Policies, and in Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing, targeted to low- and middle-income member countries of the UN.
The Institute seeks to establish the United States Partnership for the SDGs, a public-private-partnership to stimulate $200 billion USD in U.S.-based investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects through 2030, and to develop a Project Incubator to support the development of investment-grade proposals to help meet the goals and objectives of the historic Paris Agreement.
The Institute is committed to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Enroll in the Sumner Institute and/or Online Learning in Education for Sustainability. Apply Today!
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Join the Green Earth Corps to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries. Enroll Today!
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Join the Micro-Solar Distance Learning Programme to ensure that all schools in the developing world have access to electricity. Commit Today!
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Join us in service to the global community.
Sponsored by SolarQuest L3C
The Global Challenge Award, Inc.
d.b.a. Renewable Nations Institute
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Home > About Ricoh > Corporate Overview
Ricoh (Singapore) Pte Ltd is established as part of the sales and service network to serve the needs of Singapore offices, with Ricoh Asia Pacific Operations Ltd as our immediate holding company and Ricoh Company Ltd in Japan as our ultimate holding company.
Ricoh (Singapore) Pte Ltd is committed to simplifying how people work by making sophisticated technologies more accessible than ever. As an industry leader in office solutions, Ricoh creates new value at the interface of people and information, offering a broad range of digital networked products, including copiers, printers, fax machines to digital production printers. Additionally, Ricoh offers a wide variety of document and printing solutions through strategic alliances enhancing office productivity and document workflow.
Ricoh is also one of the world’s leading environmentalist companies, committed to sustainable business everywhere. Ricoh (Singapore) Pte Ltd is a firm advocate of people developer and work life balance policies.
To be the Winner in the 21st century and to achieve customer satisfaction, we have taken steps to improve our business processes by attaining the ISO 9001 certification in 2002. Ricoh also strives to work towards attaining world’s best sustainable environmental management by continuing to develop environmental technologies that will help to reduce society’s overall environmental impact. In that same year, Ricoh attained excellence in environmental performance by achieving the ISO 14001 certification.
Ricoh recognizes the importance of information security, that every organization’s information system and network is vulnerable to security threats such as fraud, espionage, fire, flood and sabotage from a wide range of sources. Thus, Ricoh Singapore took a holistic perspective to embark on a journey to address the security threats of today’s society. In 2009, Ricoh is one of the first organizations within the industry to be awarded the Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification.
In addition, Ricoh is proud to have Excellent Service Award (EXSA) staffs, who are committed to achieving service excellence. They seek to deliver superior service through service champions in their organizations. EXSA award is a national award that recognizes individuals who have delivered outstanding service. EXSA is supported by Spring Singapore and managed by 9 industry lead associations.
Home / About Ricoh / Corporate Overview
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Land Of Doom (Scorpion Releasing) Blu-ray Review
Released by: Scorpion Releasing
Released on: March, 2019.
Director: Peter Maris
Cast: Deborah Rennard, Gerry Dowhen, Daniel Radell
Land Of Doom – Movie Review:
One of about a zillion post-apocalyptic action/sci-fi movies made in the eighties, 1986's Land Of Doom, directed by Peter Maris (the man who gave us the Jan Michael Vincent classic Hangfire), tells the story of a survivor named Harmony (Deborah Rennard). She lives in a world that has become a wasteland… we see this in the opening scene where crabs crawl over the hand of a corpse laying on a riverbed. The bomb has been dropped and what's left of mankind has resorted to barbarism. Gangs of hairy guys clad in leather roam the cities raping and pillaging as they see fit. These gangs are called Raiders and they're bad news.
After getting into a scrap or two, Harmony winds up befriending a soldier of fortune type named Anderson (Gerry Dowhen). They decide to work together to stop the Raiders but those guys, they've got vehicles and weapons to spare whereas our heroes are a bit strapped in that regard. As Harmony and Anderson zip about the desert, they come across some cannibals who attack them with crossbows and a bunch of desert denizens that bear a striking resemblance to the Tuskens from Star Wars. Making matters worse, there's a plague in the land that they don't want to get contaminated with. For reasons never explained, the two decide to head south… the hope is that if they do that, they'll find a better life. But of course, it can't be that simple, not where there's a bald guy on a bike (not a motorcycle, a bike) with a flamethrower chasing them and the leader of the Raiders, Slaten (Daniel Radell), a crazy guy with a metal plate thing attached to his face and a metal arm, hot on their tails!!!
This movie comes to you straight from the cerebral cortex of a twelve-year-old boy. It's got everything a prepubescent male could want out of a movie, and that makes it kind of awesome. We get a foxy heroine in the form of Harmony (who acted opposite Van Damme in Lionheart but who is still probably best known for a lengthy stint on Dallas), a woman as tough as she is beautiful. It doesn't matter that we don't know much about her, because really, we don't care. She's there to look good and kick ass and she does both of these things well and that's more than enough. But if you look at it from a twelve-year-old boy's perspective, she can't go this alone, right? Right! That's why we get Anderson thrown into the mix. Even if it seems like Harmony can take care of herself, pre-pubescent boys want their hot heroines to fall for the hunky male character because those boys want to grow up to be that character, thus getting the hot heroine for themselves. That's not enough though. We also need comic relief, which we get from the guy on the bicycle, and we need a tough bad guy with a crazy outfit, which we get from Slaten. Throw in a bunch of explosions, more cool leather costumes than you can shake a stick at, some awesome Turkish desert locations and rad-tastic old cars outfitted for combat Mad Max style and you can see how this one hits all the right notes… so long as you look at it from the proper skewed, underdeveloped perspective.
As far as post nuke movies go, this one does what it does well enough but it doesn't really bring anything all that new to the genre aside from putting a female in the lead. It borrows a lot from other films of the same ilk, but it is ridiculously fast paced and plenty violent. You don't have to go more than a few minutes before Harmony kicks a guy in the balls or something explodes, so the film has that going for it too. The production values? Well, this was made on the cheap but it's slicker and a bit more polished than some of the entries in the genre that Roger Corman was contributing around the same time (think The Sisterhood or Equalizer 2000). The performances are pretty hokey but that's alright, it doesn't take away from anything. Radell, whose filmography is pretty slim unfortunately, definitely steals every scene that he's in as the main bad guy but there are plenty of other weird, greasy, scruffy looking bad dudes wreaking havoc on his behalf that are amusing to watch too. It's not a one man show as far as bad guying goes.
So yeah, this is dumb in every way a movie like this should be dumb, but it's pretty entertaining if you're in an undemanding mood and hankering for leather, explosions, flamethrowers and guys with metal arms and face plates. Personally, I had a lot of fun with it.
Land Of Doom – Blu-ray Review:
Scorpion Releasing brings Land Of Doom to Blu-ray on a 25GB disc in AVC encoded 1080p high definition with the picture framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. This was previously released on MOD/DVD-R through MGM and this transfer improves on that older release. There is, however, mild print damage and small scratches visible throughout. This could have been cleaned up more than it has been. That said, detail is generally decent even if it rarely hits reference quality. Colors do look very good here, and black levels are fine too. There are no problems with any compression artifacts or edge enhancement problems and the image is free of obvious noise reduction as well.
The English language DTS-HD 2.0 track, which comes with optional SDH subtitles in English only, is fine. It’s balanced well and the dialogue is clear. The score sounds pretty solid and the effects pretty decent as well. No problems here.
The main extra on the disc is a twelve-minute interview with leading lady Deborah Rennard who speaks about how she got her start in the business doing commercials before then going on and spending a decade working on the popular soap opera Dallas. She talks about her thoughts on the part, notes that her character pre-dates Charlize Theron’s in Fury Road by a few decades, and talks about what it was like shooting in Turkey. She also shares her thoughts on the movie itself and what it was like working with a few of the people she was involved with during the shoot. It’s an interesting piece and a nice addition to the disc.
The disc also includes a trailer for the feature and bonus trailers for P.O.W. The Escape, Iron Warrior, From Deep Space, Bucktown and Opposing Force. Menus and chapter selection are also provided.
Land Of Doom – The Final Word:
Land Of Doom is dumber than a bag of rocks but if you dig trashy post-nuke action it does offer that up in deliciously low budget dollops. It might not be good in the way that other movies are good, but it never fails to entertain. Scorpion’s Blu-ray offers a nice upgrade over the previous DVD-R release.
Click on the images below for full sized Land Of Doom screen caps!
DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M
Tags : blu-ray, blu-ray review, daniel radell, deborah rennard, gerry dowhen, land of doom, peter maris, scorpion releasing
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RolfingDevon.co.uk
Welcome to the Rolfing Devon website!
Rolfing® structural integration is a deep manual therapy in which the client's body becomes more integrated through a series of well-defined, yet individually applied treatments. New patterns of structure and function become a way of life through and after the Rolfing sessions - i.e. your structure (how the tensions/injuries in your body are held) affects your function (how supple you are and how you move, sit and stand).
It can aid healing of sports injuries, providing a better athletic performance, help alleviate migraine, neck pain and associated headaches, improve back problems including back pain, slipped discs, prolapses, sciatica and scoliosis. I also work with clients who have Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and Dystonia.
Through the Rolfer's decisive, yet sensitive touch, elasticity can be restored to the body to give it back its fluidity and lightness of movement, freedom and flexibility.
Freeing you from pain, stiffness and chronic stress.
Who was Dr. Rolf?
Ida P. Rolf (1896-1979) was born in New York and raised in the Bronx. In 1920 she received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. She then furthered her knowledge of the body through research in organic chemistry at the Rockefeller Institute.
Dr Rolf also studied many different systems of healing and manipulation, such as homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic and yoga.
Having developed pneumonia-like symptoms after being kicked by a horse, and dissatisfied with the inadequate treatment available, she searched for health solutions for herself and her two sons. Soon she was working on others, to begin with, mainly people who had been physically injured but as time went on, clients such as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich came. As the reputation of the work grew, the Rolf Institute was founded in Colorado in 1971.
She had originally named her work Structural Integration. Over time, clients and Practitioners nicknamed the work 'Rolfing' and it is now a registered service mark in 27 countries.
Since her death at the age of 83, the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration has continued to share her work by certifying Rolfers and Rolf Movement Practitioners, supporting research, and building upon her inspiration. Today, there are more than 1,550 Rolfers and Rolf Movement Practitioners worldwide.
Dr. Rolf continues to be recognized as a pioneer and leader in soft tissue manipulation and movement education.
jactherolfer talktalk.net
“Structure governs function - but use determines structure.”
– Ida Rolf
The term Rolfing® is a registered service mark of the ROLF INSTITUTE of Structural Integration, Boulder, Colorado, USA
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Jewel Kilcher (born May 23, 1974), professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress, and poet.
She has received four Grammy Award nominations and has sold over 27 million albums worldwide.Jewel's debut album, Pieces of You, released on February 28, 1995, became one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, going 15 times platinum.
One single from the album, "Who Will Save Your Soul", peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100; two others, "You Were Meant for Me" and "Foolish Games", reached number seven and two respectively on the Hot 100, and were listed on Billboard's 1997 year-end singles chart, as well as Billboard's 1998 year-end singles chart.
She has crossed several genres throughout her career.
Perfectly Clear, her first country album, was released on The Valory Music Co.
It debuted atop Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and featured three singles, "Stronger Woman", "I Do", and "Til It Feels Like Cheating".
Jewel released her first independent album Lullaby in May 2009.Jewel is the co-host, as well as a judge, with Kara DioGuardi on the songwriting competition reality television series Platinum Hit, which premiered May 30, 2011 on the cable network Bravo.
Jewel has the vocal range of a lyric soprano.
On July 2, 2013, NBC announced that Jewel would be a judge on the fourth season of the a cappella competition The Sing-Off.
Goodbye Alice In Wonderland
Pieces Of You
Sweet And Wild
Joy: A Holiday Collection
Chasing Down The Dawn
Once Upon A Lullaby
The Merry Goes 'Round
Let It Snow : A Holiday Collection
Stronger Woman
It's Christmastime
Christmas in the Country
No Good In Goodbye
Who Will Save Your Soul
Words Get In The Way
Standing Still
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News roundup: Sengoku Basara Judge End is back on the air tomorrow
The Judge End news is at the end of this post so that I can hide the (very minor) spoilers from the main page of the blog.
There'll be some Sengoku Basara activity at this month's Tokyo Game Show
Capcom have announced that they'll be holding a 40-minute Sengoku Basara panel with creators Kobayashi 'KobaP' Hiroyuki and Yamamoto 'YamamotoD' Makoto at Tokyo Game Show on Saturday 20th September 2014 at 15:00 Japan time. They're asking fans to submit questions on Twitter and their website until the 16th of the month. Some of the fans who participate in the social media activity throughout September will be selected to win Capcom-related prizes as shown on the website - please note that the prizes will usually only be shipped to Japanese addresses even though anyone can go ahead and submit a question.
Personally, I think that the staff are likely to give a separate presentation for the media on the 18th or 19th September with details of upcoming merchandise and events. While this is just my speculation, we're long overdue for a proper Basara Matsuri event announcement and they don't usually circulate the details of their press events to the general public in advance. Whether they're going to announce a new game of some kind is anyone's guess given how unpredictable these things have been historically, but it seems likely we'll get some kind of news about the series on top of the public Q&A session. I'm looking forward to it.
Capcom teams up with the Inazuma Rock Festival
T.M.Revolution's Nishikawa Takanori regularly participates in a music event called the Inazuma Rock Fes in Shiga Prefecture and this year, for the first time he'll be getting some extra support from 'Masamune-kun' and 'Yukimura-kun', a pair of mascot characters based on the Sengoku Basara series. The Sengoku Basara songs are often performed at the event so the collaboration makes a little sense.
The press release explains that the mascots will be appearing as dancers alongside the event's mascot character Tabo-kun (a caricature of Nishikawa himself) and his band formed of fellow mascots Inappii (the mascot of Inazawa City in Aichi) and Wataru (representing the bridge between Honshuu and Shikoku). Their performance will be on the Ryuujin stage on 13th September 2014 between 15:50 and 16:10. KobaP tweeted to say he was going to show up too.
Sadly there are no pictures showing what the Sengoku Basara mascots will look like, yet. I'm hoping they'll be similar to Jumbo Xavi-kun!
Even more Sengoku Basara Judge End merchandise is on the way
The official Judge End website has recently added details of some more upcoming goodies.
Lollipops printed with pictures of the series' four leads, priced at ¥400 and due for release in September 2014.
A ¥350 clear file, released in September. There's also a magnet with the same illustration, priced at ¥400 and due in late October 2014.
The magnet and clear file are limited to Miyagi Prefecture and they're decorated with a brand new illustration. The picture shows Masamune and Kojuurou in front of the scenery of Matsushima, one of the parts of Japan most celebrated for its natural beauty. Matsushima has very strong links to the real Date Masamune so this is an appropriate tie-in; I'm glad that the series' tradition of creating promotional illustrations for local areas has continued after the switch in animation studios.
Amazon posts a preview picture of its exclusive Judge End badge
Amazon Japan has an exclusive oversized Yukimura badge on offer for customers who purchase Sengoku Basara Judge End on DVD or Blu-ray, and it recently added a preview picture to the listings.
Now I'm even more certain that the three remaining volumes will come with additional exclusive badges.
Animate TV posts a preview of tomorrow's episode of Sengoku Basara Judge End
Just in case last week's break in the schedule was enough to make people forget about Sengoku Basara Judge End, Animate TV have posted their usual preview gallery for tomorrow's episode. I don't believe we ever had a summary for episode nine before so here's the vague description promised by the article:
Episode 9: Sekigahara
A great fissure was created in Sekigahara, in the place where Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari once fought, and as time passed that crack came to symbolise the two halves of the land of Hinomoto. The pair's promised place is now the site of the battle upon which everything is at stake. To be able to carve out a life he can call his own; to do battle with his destined rival; for the sake of revenge or to create a world of bonds... Everyone involved faces a decisive battle, so that each of them can move forwards in their own way.
at 3:33:00 pm
Labels: News, Sengoku Basara, Sengoku Basara Judge End (End of Judgement)
scarstobone Saturday, 6 September 2014 at 16:45:00 BST
Thank you for your blog, I recently found the series and am loving it, and am grateful for all the info you've put out there.
Raindrops and Daydreams Saturday, 6 September 2014 at 19:08:00 BST
Thank you so much! I hope you continue enjoying the series :)
Streaming: Summer 2014 anime final impressions
Today's acquisitions (28th September 2014)
Anime review: Sengoku Basara Judge End episode 12 ...
News roundup: More difficult-to-obtain Sengoku Bas...
Anime review: Sengoku Basara Judge End episode 11
News: Basara Matsuri 2015 is announced at the Seng...
DVD review: Sengoku Basara 4 Basara Matsuri 2014 ~...
Preparing for the Tokyo Game Show 2014
News roundup: Another round of Sengoku Basara fest...
News roundup: September's Sengoku Basara Judge End...
News roundup: The final Sengoku Basara Judge End e...
Anime review: Sengoku Basara Judge End episode 9
News roundup: Sengoku Basara Judge End is back on ...
News roundup: A little merchandise is announced, a...
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Review: Forget Her Name by Jane Holland
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (January 25, 2018)
From Goodreads.com: Rachel’s dead and she’s never coming back. Or is she?
As she prepares for her wedding to Dominic, Catherine has never been happier or more excited about her future. But when she receives an anonymous package—a familiar snow globe with a very grisly addition—that happiness is abruptly threatened by secrets from her past.
Her older sister, Rachel, died on a skiing holiday as a child. But Rachel was no angel: she was vicious and highly disturbed, and she made Catherine’s life a misery. Catherine has spent years trying to forget her dead sister’s cruel tricks. Now someone has sent her Rachel’s snow globe—the first in a series of ominous messages…
While Catherine struggles to focus on her new life with Dominic, someone out there seems intent on tormenting her. But who? And why now? She doesn't have the answers - and in one final question lies her greatest fear.
Is Rachel still alive?
Unfortunately (or maybe ironically), for a book entitled Forget Her Name, this book is utterly forgettable.
There wasn't much to like about any of these characters, and the main twist was ... disappointing to say the least. In fact, I had it figured out within the first few chapters - it was that obvious (for me anyway). The characters had no redeeming qualities (although in some cases it made sense), but for the most part this story just seemed full of unnecessary elements that did more to drag the story down than it did to build suspense or add any kind of "twist".
What sealed the fate of this story for me was the utterly laughable and improbable ending. After everything that had happened - all the things these characters had endured and put each other through - and that is how the author decided to end it? I guess it could be said the ending was surprising in a way as I never expected it to play out the way it did.
Overall, I am sure this novel may still appeal to some readers. It just wasn't for me.
A Steep Price is available from Amazon.com
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Home Sci-Fi SW Battlefront Gameplay Trailer Is Out
SW Battlefront Gameplay Trailer Is Out
Rostislav Kurka
After years of waiting, the new Star Wars Battlefront game is finally just around the corner. Those who remember how many times the potential sequels of this successful series have been cancelled, certainly appreciate knowing that the time has finally come. And the freshly released gameplay trailer offers the players a peek at everything they can expect.
Star Wars Battlefront, this time developed by EA Dice Studio, promises a return to the iconic battle locations known already from the previous Battlefront games, such as Endor or Hoth. It is clear from the trailer that the creators have put a lot of effort into recreating the film environment. A very special bonus appears in the possibility to recreate the Battle of Jakku – Jakku being the desert planet featuring in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Players will therefore have the chance to visit this planet before the film comes out. Just like in Battlefront II, there is the possibility to play as some of the heroes: at least Han Solo, Boba Fett, princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and the Emperor are shown in the trailer. Every Battlefront fan is probably delighted at the iconic details remaining in the game, the trailer shows for example the classic snowspeeder trick of destroying AT-ATs by tripping them with the tow cable.
Star Wars Battlefront‘s launch date is 17th November for North America and 19th November for Europe and Australia.
hpgaming
Rostislav is a Protestant theologian and a self-trained Sith, counting Jan Hus, Dorothee Sölle, Darth Revan and Darth Traya among his main influences. He hails from the hundred-towered city of Prague, where he had spent a large part of his life creating worlds and inspiring young generations to roleplay. His involvement in organising children's camps led him to accidentally writing a Lord of the Rings musical, which made him temporarily famous, and a Three Musketeer-Jedi fanfilm, which didn't. He has recently moved to the frozen waste of Finland, because that's it, the Rebels are there.
Latest Sci Fi Stories
Katie Alford - Jul 16, 2019
https://youtu.be/Q-o3cuQo5as The release date for Borderlands 3 is getting closer, with a release date confirmed for 13th September. So what should we expect? Well this...
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Playhouse adds on a dizzying ‘Third Story’
by CHARLENE BALDRIDGE | Village News San Diego Community News Group
Published - 09/25/08 - 01:40 PM | 3823 views | 0 | 26 | |
view slideshow (2 images)
They say the third story a writer writes is the best. One may question the truth of that statement on the way home from Charles Busch’s “The Third Story,” which opened in its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse Sept. 21. A noted author and drag performer, Busch wrote the long-running off-Broadway hit “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom,” as well as the Broadway hit “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” and “Die Mommie Die” (he starred in the recent film). He wrote a couple of roles for himself in “The Third Story,” commissioned by the Playhouse. As the name implies, it’s a madcap weaving together of three tales, one cut from the same colorful cloth as “Cinderella” and “The Firebird” a la Walt Disney; one a sci-fi /mad scientist/dying mother scenario; and the third, and least cohesive, about the mother from hell and the son that in her eyes at least is a failure.
The underlying theme of all the stories may be codependency: parents’ inability to let go of adult children, children’s reluctance to let go of parents and, most outrageously, the scientist loath to release the experiment gone awry. Because Busch is Busch, there is also a melodramatic, hilarious resonance with film.
Some patrons departed at the interval, perhaps confused by the pace of the stories’ intermingling, perhaps finding it all a bit of stuff and nonsense. Others are still savoring the intricacies, motivations and deeper social meanings the morning after.
The requisite acting style for such ridiculousness (Busch was influenced by Charles Ludlam’s Theatre of the Ridiculous) is absolute sincerity and involvement, and director Carl Andress, in addition to being traffic cop, elicits the style with flair. He gets valuable assists from Lewis Flinn’s original music, David Gallo’s scenic design, Christopher Akerlind’s lighting, Walter Trarbach’s sound and Tom Watson’s vital and hilarious hair and wig designs. Gregory Gale’s costumes are a joy, especially the scientist’s designer-label lab coat.
If those production team credits sound like an ode to showbiz, so be it; but the actors are the thing. Foremost of course is Busch as Baba Yaga the Witch, who makes two princesses from one, and Queenie Bartlett, a desperate mother loath to depart this mortal coil without providing a clone for her incompetent, badly married son. Queenie’s Sam Spade-like “boy” is played by Jonathan Walker, whose moll is played by Rebecca Lawrence, also the princess and another character. Walker also portrays a reformed screenwriter in the third story. This fellow’s mother, who’s been involved with the greats of Hollywood, reveals long-held secrets about his birth. She is portrayed by Mary Beth Peil, who dons glasses as she walks from her son’s house outside Omaha, Neb., to become Dr. Constance Hudson’s lab assistant.
Jennifer Van Dyck plays the sex-deprived scientist (a sly reference to the defeminization of women who enter male-dominated professions). Dr. Hudson has discovered Baba Yaga’s secret of human duplication, well, kinda. Her “medical experiment gone wrong” is Zygote, brilliantly played by Scott Parkinson. His makeup, lumps, hair and attire are wondrous.
It’s a whale of a tale (or three) to swallow. The aftertaste is magnificent.
“The Third Story” continues at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 19 at the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive. For tickets and information, call (858) 550-1010 or visit www.lajollaplayhouse.org. n
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By Theresa Ficazzola The minerals that comprise the periodic table are quite diverse. Salt, or NaCl, is comprised of sodium and chloride ions and is essential to human existence. It can be obtained from sea water; however, most of it is harvested from extensive underground rock salt beds resulting from dried up lakes and seas.
Thousands of years ago, salt was hard to come by, so it was highly valued. Many civilizations even used it to trade for other items. In colonial times, settlers learned how to use salt to preserve certain foods in the summer, which they subsequently ate to sustain themselves in the colder winter months.
According to Wikipedia, salt was first mentioned in a written document in the year 804. And Solnitsata, the earliest known town in Europe (located in present day Bulgaria), seemed to have been built around a salt production facility which supplied salt throughout the Balkans.
Salt also helped contribute to the Roman Empire with roads built to make the transportation of salt from the Adriatic Sea easier. In fact, the word “salary” comes from the Latin word for salt because the Roman Legions were sometimes paid in salt. And they say the soldiers who did their job well were “worth their salt.”
It would appear that salt created many cities, including Liverpool, England and Munich, Germany. Wars were fought and empires rose or fell—all because of salt. In fact, some say the salt tax was one of the causes of the French Revolution.
Today, salt is much more accessible and relatively cheap to purchase at any grocery store. Everyone knows that salt is added to food to give it more flavor. However, did you know that salt has other helpful uses?
Salt is a natural, organic cleaner. To lessen the impact of a stain on clothing or carpets, immediately sprinkle salt on the spill for 10-15 minutes and let the salt absorb the liquid, then wash as you normally would.
To clean a glass water stain on a wooden table, mix salad oil with salt and rub on the stain with a soft cloth, then wipe off.
To fill a small nail hole in your wall, mix 2 tablespoons of salt with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and about 5 teaspoons of water to make a paste, which you can use to fill in the hole, then let dry.
Salt is also great for medicinal purposes. Rinse your mouth with salt and warm water to heal a cold sore or cut inside your mouth.
If you get a mosquito bite, wet the bite with water or your saliva, then sprinkle with salt and let dry to eliminate the itch.
Ants don’t like to walk on salt, so place a fine layer of salt around your doorway or window sill to deter ants from invading your home.
As you can see, salt has many uses and can be a more healthy alternative to harsh chemicals. Taking small steps like these can help our planet, protect our natural resources and enable you to go green.
One of the best things you can do to go green and save green is installing solar panels on your roof. Using the sun to generate your own electricity to power your home is both smart and cost effective. To find out if you qualify for a home solar energy system for no money down, contact SI Solar today.
And by the way, the periodic table symbol for silicon, which is used to make solar panels, is Si—as in SI Solar!
By theresa718| 2017-01-26T23:25:08+00:00 September 30th, 2016|
Buy Fish from a Sustainable Source to Protect Our Planet
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Oh No! Ewedu Soup Wipes Out Police Officer's Entire Family Including His Pregnant Wife, Unborn Baby & Dogs In Kaduna State
People in Dushai village along the Kagoro-Manchok road, in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State are gripped by grief and wondering how a local staple vegetable, jute, (and known among the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria as ewedu and called rama in Southern Kaduna), which they have been using to make soup for centuries could have caused the death of a whole family in their community.
The family five, including an unborn baby, as well as two domestic dogs, perished the next day after consuming a meal made with the vegetable. The dead were identified as ex-police inspector, Peter Dauda, 43, his expectant 35-year-old wife, Dorothy, nine-year-old son, Godwin and six-year-old daughter, Patience.
Sunday Sun learnt from a member of the community that the family had enjoyed their meal prepared with jute one night and went to bed. They woke up hale and hearty. Meanwhile before turning in that night, the used portion of the jute was spread on a container overnight. In the evening of that day, it was used to make a fresh pot of soup.
With no premonition, the family ate the soup went to bed, but never woke up again. The sumptuous vegetable soup allegedly killed them.
Narrating the sad incident, President of Dushai Community Development Association, Mr. Daniel Duniya Bosan said,
''The family had prepared and eaten the jute leaves in the evening of Wednesday, September 6, 2017 and went to bed without any problem. But the remaining leaves were spread on a container and preserved for consumption the following day.
“Trouble started on Thursday, September 7, shortly after they had eaten the vegetable soup. All the family members started complaining of stomach aches the following day, which was Friday, and neighbours rushed them to nearby hospital.
“The jute leaves was suspected to have been laced with a poisonous substance by unknown persons. The first family member to die was their six-year-old daughter, Patience, who gave up the same Friday, while Dorothy, Godwin and their father, Inspector Dauda, died on Saturday, September 9.”
The community leader said the whole village was thrown into mourning when news of the death of the family in suspicious circumstances was broken to them.
He described late Inspector Dauda as a hardworking and peace loving man who contributed in no small way to the development of Dushai community by preaching unity and love among the people.
Saddened by the news of the family’s death, Kaduna State Deputy Governor Barnabas Bantex paid a condolence visit to the community.
While in the community, Bantex appealed for calm, particularly from the youths and urged them shun any rumour relating to the death of members of the family.
“I am appealing to you to shun any rumour relating to the death of this family members because such rumour is capable of escalating the already charged atmosphere in your community,” Bantex said. Bantex who hails from Kaura Council Area was accompanied on the condolence visit by top government functionaries as well as the sole administrators of Zango and Kaura councils.
The Deputy Governor used the opportunity to call on all communities in Southern Kaduna to assist government in sustaining the relative peace being enjoyed in the area.
In his reaction to the death of the family of five, Anglican Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese, Reverend Markus Dogo condoled the community and appealed to the people, “to commit everything to God and continue in fervent prayers for God to avert such incident future.”
Ewedu, also known as Jute leaf, is one of the most popular vegetables among the Yoruba people of the Southwestern part of Nigeria. However, it is also eaten among other tribes of the country. It is usually eaten with starchy foods like amala, eba, pounded yam and semovita.
Ewedu is a very good source of fibre, vitamins and minerals. It is low in calories and this makes it an excellent option for people that are trying to lose weight. Also, it serves as a source of lignin, an important raw material used in the textile industries.
One interesting thing about this vegetable is that it grows virtually everywhere however, when it is grown properly on well-watered land, it tends to grow fast and produce optimal yield.
Labels: Health, News
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Since 2005 PJSC LUKOIL Museum has been busy organizing various exhibitions both in the Company and beyond. Corporate collections go on to become part of inter-museum projects, and are actively utilized to support the events with involvement of the Company's management in the regions of its presence in Russia and abroad. Expositions are set up to launch new projects or to celebrate the Company's and oil industry anniversaries.
Decorations for labor achievements ("Labor Record Setter", "Excellent Worker") were first awarded in the 1930s. Later on, as the economic management system of the country was transformed, and a move from economic councils to ministries was made and then back to economic councils again, the system of industry-specific decorations also reflected the changes. The PJSC LUKOIL museum collection includes decorations for geological services and fuel-and-energy sector, including "Honored Subsoil Explorer", "Field Discovered", "Excellent Participant of the Socialist Competition Held by the National Oil Committee", "Honored Oiler", "Honored Petrochemist", etc. The collection also features regional industry-specific awards of the Soviet republics and subjects of the Russian Federation.
EXHIBITIONS AT HIGHER EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENTS
It is now a tradition at PJSC LUKOIL to organize Company Days in the country’s specialized institutes and universities. Such events include meetings with the Company’s managers and lead specialists, as well as museum exhibitions. Expositions whose clear goal was professional guidance and education were set up at Tyumen State Oil University (2006), Ukhta State Technical University (2013), Perm National Exploration Polytechnic University (2013), and I.M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (2014). In addition to exhibits illustrating the key focus areas and the Company’s performance, historical collections of the museum are also displayed at such exhibition events. For example, students are unfailingly interested in the collection of uniforms, from a mining officer’s caftan of Elizabethan times (1750s) and full-dress jacket of the General Direction of Oil Industry (1950s) to current LUKOIL uniforms.
EXHIBITION AT PERM NATIONAL RESEARCH POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY
EXHIBITION AT I.M. GUBKIN RUSSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF OIL AND GAS
CLASSES FOR SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
In 2010, the museum provides a training course entitled "Vertical Integrated Russian Oil and Gas Companies - History and Traditions" which is delivered to the postgraduates of the I.M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (national research university). Each lecture is accompanied by presentation of museum showpieces from PJSC LUKOIL museum collection hand picked according to the lecture topic, and a display of historical films from the museum's video collection. Such approach in combination with the museum's overall atmosphere, facilitates a more in-depth understanding of the historical development, new emotional perception and better learning of the teaching materials.
In 2011, the Museum developed and began staging an interactive learning program for its youngest visitors (aged 6 and older) entitled "Black Gold Secrets". What is a "wildfire", how a kerosene lamp works, how people used and where they bought gasoline in the late 19th century, how can our everyday life change without oil? Museum articles help children to find answers to these and many other questions, because the key idea behind such museum classes is "Do touch it!"
INTER-MUSEUM PROJECTS
PJSC LUKOIL museum is an active participant of the national museum life. The specifics of PJSC LUKOIL museum collections that do not only reflect the scientific and technical part, but also focus on social economic issues, enable the Museum to take part in inter-museum exhibition projects such as "Earth Oil Time" (Khanty-Mansi Museum of Geology, Oil and Gas, 2005), "From Russian Nationwide Electrification to the 21st Century Innovations" (State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, 2010), "Space Era" (State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, 2011), "Caucasian Dictionary: People and Earth" (State Museum-Reserve Tsaritsino, 2012), "70th Anniversary of SMERSh Military Counterintelligence" (Central Museum of Armed Forces, 2013), "Pages of History of the Northern Caucasian Nations" (State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, 2013), and many other ones.
NOBEL BORTHERS EXHIBITION AT THE STATE CENTRAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF RUSSIA
OFFICIAL CEREMONY FOR ADMISSION OF NEW EMPLOYEES AT PJSC LUKOIL
An important goal of the corporate museum is to support the internal integration process for the Company's personnel, build a team spirit and inspire fruitful cooperation. The first step on this path is to stage official ceremonies for admission of new employees to the Company at the museum. Representatives of PJSC LUKOIL management, the Council of Young Specialists, the trade union organization, and the council of veterans take part in such events. Corporate badges are handed to the employees as part of the official ceremony. New employees listen to the words of welcome and take a memorable corporate team photo. Not only the newly hired young specialists take part in the ceremony, but also the employees who joined the company as managers are invited. The final part of the ceremony, a museum excursion, is an opportunity for the newly hired employees represented by professionals of various trades, to learn about the Company's overall business, its structure, key developments and plans for the future.
ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITIONS
The key mission of any museum is to preserve social memory and link generations. This is why the central figures of anniversary museum exhibitions are our famous compatriots who made a great contribution to the country's oil and gas industry. Among them is V.G. Shukhov, whose effort was aimed at modernizing the oil industry technologies – oil production, transportation, storage and refining operations. No less interesting are the life and work of N.K. Baibakov that are also closely connected with the development of the country's oil industry infrastructure. During the war he was the People's Commissar for the Oil Industry, after the war for many years he was in charge of the USSR State Planning Agency.
N.K. BAIBAKOV’S 100th BIRTHDAY AT THE STATE CENTRAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF RUSSIA
I.M. GUBKIN’S 140TH BIRTHDAY
V.G. SHUKHOV’S 160TH BIRTHDAY
Our Georaphy
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Shock as leaked document reveals government requested Ofcom make Digital Economy Act appeals harder
Reasons for further delays to the Initial Obligations Code (IOC) - legislation which details exactly how the online copyright clamp-down under the Digital Economy Act will operate - were revealed in a document leaked online nearly a month ago, but very few seem to have noticed the leak (and I've been busy with a new arrival)!
I previously reported that further delays could be expected to the UK's 3-strikes anti-filesharing laws when I noticed only one of two remaining pieces of legislation arrived at the EC this month.
Leaked documents; or rather, sections redacted in previously-released official documents; now reveal at least one reason for further delays to the IOC is because the Government made a direct request to Ofcom that it should make it harder for people accused of copyright infringement to appeal the accusation.
The request comes under the guise of reducing costs of the scheme; however costs should not be of concern to government as the entire cost of running the measures are due to be met by copyright owners and, to a much lesser extent, by ISPs.
The request to narrow the grounds for appeal comes on top of the announcement at the start of this month that those wishing to appeal will have to pay an appeals fee before an appeal can be heard, renewing concerns from consumer groups that those on a low income will be denied access to justice.
No more public consultations, chilling effects on open public WiFi
In a further blow to public confidence in the Digital Economy Act, sources indicate the changes will be made without further public consultation, and rushed to Brussels by the end of September.
Public consultation is now essential, due to the importance of ensuring the appeals process remains fair, robust and lawful under relevant sections of the Digital Economy Act.
The appeals process is critical to an individual's right to due process under law, because accusations of copyright infringement will be made solely on evidence gathered by groups working directly for copyright owners. The appeals process is the first time those accused of copyright infringement have a chance to examine the evidence against them and have their side heard by an independent body.
Consultation is also overdue because of changes I'm told are in the latest update of the IOC to protect those who offer open internet access in light of a lobbying campaign by schools, colleges and libraries.
I'm hopeful that all bodies who offer open internet access will be protected after comments made by Justice Kenneth Parker [paragraphs 235-240] concerning potentially "chilling effects" on free an open public WiFi during a judicial review of the Act.
Section 13(6)(b) of the Digital Economy Act means those who do not take "reasonable steps to prevent other persons infringing copyright" (i.e. closing-down all open WiFi) will not be able to appeal any accusations of copyright infringement made made against them. This for me is one of the most contentious areas of the Act, as it - despite protestations from government - effectively introduces vicarious liability of the ISP subscriber for activity occurring on their internet connection; even if they had no knowledge.
Leaks and redaction of recommendations
A tipster reported Twitter account @ThemisProject to this blog, whose tweet dated 3rd August provides a link to what appears to be an unredacted copy of the Ofcom report. Authenticity of the leaked report cannot be verified at this stage, but the content appears genuine as it closely matches what other previously-reliable sources have told me.
I recently had a Freedom of Information request for an unredacted copy of this document refused. It's not clear at this stage whether the document published on Twitter entered the public domain via a leak or a flawed redaction technique.
Sources indicate that the IOC is being redrafted in line with the recommendations in this report.
Comparing the official (redacted) document to the leak reveals The Government has asked Ofcom to remove a catch-all in the appeals process which allowed appeals to be made on "any other reasonable ground."
This catch-all was previously thought necessary, as the list of grounds for appeal was "non-exhaustive" and may need updating as technology evolves. Justice for internet subscribers is now dependent on Ofcom coming back with an exhaustive list of appeal grounds in the redrafted IOC; and, keeping this list up-to-date as technology evolves (and, presumably, updating the legislation in Parliament and notifying each update to the EC).
Ruling-out a public consultation makes it more likely that grounds will be overlooked.
It's worth stressing again that the government appears to have asked for this change; this approach is not the approach first recommended by Ofcom.
Also revealed in the redacted sections is that a scheme to help improve the accuracy of infringement accusations by requiring ISPs sign-up to a Quality Assurance process to ensure accuracy of IP address matching will not be mandatory. Note also the equivalent Quality Assurance process copyright holders are required to sign up to is centred around self certification, with no obvious checks and balances. It's hard to see how voluntary/self-certification processes will do anything to improve the accuracy of accusations of copyright infringement.
Posted by James Firth at 17:16
Shock as leaked document reveals government reques...
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More Digital Economy Act delays? Cost Sharing Orde...
Redactions make a mockery of the public consultati...
Behind the scenes in the government's digital econ...
Parliament needs to act to stop the worst-of-all-w...
Info Commissioner suggests shooting messenger, ove...
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Florida - WITHDRAWAL
Court abused discretion in not granting criminal defendant brief continuance to retain counsel of choice. [Added 6/19/19]
Criminal Defendant was charged with DUI, drug possession, and other offenses. While being held in jail in an adjoining county on unrelated charges, Defendant’s public defender told the court Defendant was “fine” with going to trial on January 29. Five days before trial, Defendant was transported for trial. On the day of trial, Monday, Defendant’s public defender informed the court that he was “familiar with everything” and “in theory” could try the case, Defendant had a private lawyer with him and wanted to that lawyer to represent him. The public defender asked for a continuance to allow private counsel to take over the case, stating that Defendant became aware of the trial date only the preceding Thursday. Private counsel requested a 2 or 3 day continuance to prepare for trial. The state responded that one of its witnesses would be unavailable on Thursday.
The trial court denied the request for continuance and proceeded to trial, noting that “it’s not like we have unprepared lawyers. If we have an unprepared lawyer I would be continuing it.” Defendant was tried and convicted. He appealed, contending that the trial court violated his constitutional right to retain counsel of his choice.
The Fourth DCA agreed and reversed. “[W]e find that the trial court abused its discretion in not granting a short continuance. The court did not make ‘proper findings’ that the state would be prejudiced by the delay, that the request for continuance was made in bad faith, or that the trial court’s schedule would not permit a continuance. See Deal [v. State], 145 So. 3d [212 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)] at 214. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial.” Jones v. State, __ So.3d __ (Fla. 4th DCA, No. 4D18-656, 5/29/2019), 2019 WL 2275000.
Mandamus lies to compel entry of order ruling on lawyer’s motion to withdraw from guardianship case. [Added 6/7/19]
Lawyer moved to withdraw from representing a client who was acting as a guardian, citing “irreconcilable differences between them.” The client consented to the withdrawal. The withdrawal motion was set for hearing, but the court’s judicial assistant cancelled the hearing. No order cancelling the hearing or ruling on the withdrawal motion was entered.
Lawyer petitioned the Third DCA for an order remanding the case to the trial court with directions to enter an order of withdrawal. The appeals court noted that it has no certiorari jurisdiction in the matter because no order was entered below. But the court did determine that, pursuant to Fla.R.App.P. 9.040(c), we to treat Lawyer’s certiorari petition as a petition for a writ of mandamus and to grant the petition. The court withheld issuance of the writ, “trusting that the trial court, in a timely manner, will adjudicate Schwartz’s motion to withdraw.” (Footnote omitted.) Steven K. Schwartz, P.A. v. Banks, __ So.3d __ (Fla. 3d DCA, No. 3D19-839, 5/22/2019), 2019 WL 2202559.
Court abused discretion in dismissing case after refusing to recognize appearance of new counsel because prior counsel had not withdrawn. [Added 2/19/19]
Bank, acting as a trustee, brought a foreclosure action against the Bells in 2008. Bank moved for summary judgment. The Bells appeared at the hearing but their counsel did not. Final judgment was rendered for Bank, but before the foreclosure sale could occur the Bells filed for bankruptcy. After the bankruptcy case was dismissed, new counsel for the Bells moved to vacate the judgment. The trial court granted the motion and vacated the foreclosure judgment, ruling that the Bells “had been prejudiced by their attorney’s failure to appear at the summary judgment hearing and thereby denied an opportunity to be heard.”
The case was set to be tried on February 9, 2017. On February 7 a new law firm, Brock & Scott, filed a notice of appearance for Bank and a motion to continue the trial. The trial court denied the motion for continuance. The Bells’ counsel subsequently argued that “Brock & Scott was not properly representing [Bank] because there was no withdrawal of the prior law firm and there was no order of substitution of counsel,” contended that as a result Brock & Scott should not be heard, and moved for dismissal of the case with prejudice. The trial court “found that [Bank’s] attorney ‘failed to appear after being properly noticed’ and granted [the Bells’] motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.” Bank appealed.
The Fifth DCA reversed because the trial court abused its discretion in finding that Bork & Scott was not counsel of record for Bank. Under Fla.R.Jud.Admin. 2.505(e), “counsel may appear in a proceeding through any one of three ways: (1) by serving and filing a party’s first pleading; (2) by substitution of counsel, which requires an order of the court and the client’s written consent; or (3) by ‘filing with the court and serving upon all parties a notice of appearance as counsel for a party that has already appeared in a proceeding pro se or as co-counsel for a party that has already appeared in a proceeding by non-withdrawing counsel.’ Here, Brock & Scott filed a notice of appearance pursuant to rule 2.505(e)(3), which did not require a court order. As prior counsel had not moved to withdraw, the only implication is that [Bank] was represented by more than one law firm, which is permissible. We further determine that [Bank] was denied due process when the trial court proceeded to hear and rule on [the Bells’] ore tenus motion for dismissal of the complaint with prejudice without providing [Bank] a full and fair opportunity to present its case, despite the fact that [Bank] was present by counsel and a corporate representative witness.” U.S. Bank, N.A. Trustee for AMP 2006EFC26 v. Bell, __ So.3d __ (Fla. 5th DCA, No. D17-2983, 2/1/2019), 2019 WL 405482.
Court erred in denying public defender’s motion to withdraw on conflict grounds after lawyer failed to disclose privileged information in response to judge’s questioning. [Added 4/20/16] -- Young v. State, __ So.3d __ (Fla. 2d DCA, No. 2D15-3245, 3/30/2016), 2016 WL 1238597.
Lawyer’s failure to file proper notice of withdrawal eventually mushroomed into sanctions and referral to Bar for not maintaining reliable address. [Added 12/27/15] -- Belkova v. Russo, __ So.3d __ (Fla. 5th DCA, No. 5D14-2201, 12/18/2015), 2015 WL 9239810.
Actual prejudice to defendant not required before public defender will be permitted to withdraw during retrial phase due to conflict involving another client. [Added 2/25/15] -- Smith v. State, __ So.3d __ (Fla. 1st DCA, Nos. 1D14-5647, 1D14-5730, 2/17/2015).
Supreme Court denies motion to withdraw filed by lawyer representing convicted criminal defendant who wants to argue for death sentence. [Added 7/17/14] -- Robertson v. State, __ So.3d __ (Fla., No. SC13-443, 7/10/2014).
Supreme Court adds new Rule of Juvenile Procedure governing withdrawal in dependency and termination of parental rights cases. [Added 5/31/13] -- In re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure, 115 So.3d 286 (Fla. 5/23/2013).
Per Supreme Court, trial courts may consider “excessive caseload conflict” issue in deciding motions to withdraw on systemic rather than case-by-case basis. [Added 5/28/13] -- Public Defender, Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida v. State, 115 So.3d 261 (Fla. 5/23/2013).
Court erred in dismissing case where party was not notified that his lawyers had withdrawn and was not provided copy of withdrawal order. [Added 3/7/13] -- Brunoehler v. Burger, 108 So.3d 733 (Fla. 5th DCA 3/1/2013).
Fifth DCA indicates that lawyer’s motion to withdraw should be granted where attorney-client relationship has become “adversarial.” [Added 11/13/12] -- Bowin v. Molyneaux, 100 So.3d 1197 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012).
Criminal conviction reversed because court abused its discretion in denying motion to substitute counsel and for short continuance. [Added 12/20/11] -- Alvarez v. State, 75 So.3d 420 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011).
Supreme Court amends Rules of Judicial Administration regarding withdrawal motions, pro hac vice admissions, electronic filing, and electronic testimony. [Added 10/4/11]
The Florida Supreme Court amended the Rules of Judicial Administration effective January 1, 2012. A sunEthics.com summary of the changes appears below.
Motions to withdraw. Amended Rule 2.505(f) requires that a motion to withdraw filed by a party's counsel include the client's last known telephone number and email address. The Court stated in its opinion that the amendment would "make it easier for the court [in which the withdrawal motion was filed] to maintain contact with a party who may have to proceed pro se after withdrawal of the attorney."
Pro hac vice admission. Amended Rule 2.510(a) requires an attorney licensed in another state seeking pro hac vice admission in a Florida court "must make application in each court in which a case is filed even if a lower tribunal granted a motion to appear in the same case." However, the amended rule goes on to specify that "[a]ppearances at different levels of the court system in the same case shall be deemed 1 appearance for the purposes of determining whether a foreign attorney has made more than 3 appearances within a 365-day period."
Electronic filing. New Rule 2.525(g) requires that "[a]ll documents transmitted in any electronic form under this rule must comply with the accessibility requirements of Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.526." In turn, new Rule 2.526 requires that electronically-filed documents that become judicial branch records must be formatted in a manner that is accessible to persons with disabilities.
Electronic testimony. Looking toward the wider use of electronically-transmitted testimony, the Court amended Rule 2.530(d) to provide: "A county or circuit court judge, general magistrate, special magistrate, or hearing officer may allow testimony to be taken through communication equipment if all parties consent or if permitted by another applicable rule of procedure." In explaining this change, the Court stated that the amendment "will allow the various Florida Bar rules committees to consider whether their bodies of rules should be amended to allow for the use of communication equipment without the parties consent." In re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Judicial Administration, 73 So.3d 210 (Fla. 2011).
Fifth DCA denies motion to withdraw from appellate proceeding on ground of "irreconcilable differences." [Added 9/26/11] -- Benenati v. Chase Home Finance, LLC, 70 So.3d 600 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011).
Law firm may be liable in legal malpractice action for harm to former client occurring after firm withdrew from representation. [Added 4/17/11] -- Golden Gate Homes, LC v. Levey, 59 So.3d 275 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011).
Court erred in denying motion to withdraw filed by lawyer who wasn't being paid. [Added 3/4/11] -- Roth v. Cortina, 59 So.2d 163 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011).
Court erred in denying continuance where party was unemployed and her counsel withdrew on eve of trial. [Added 12/3/10] -- Quintero v. Kenyon, 48 So.3d 808 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010).
Court erred in granting Public Defender's motion to withdraw based on alleged "excessive caseload" conflict. [Added 7/8/10] -- State v. Bowens, 39 So.3d 479 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010).
Court erred in denying motion to withdraw because Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel not subject to appointment for indigent defendants in postconviction case. [Added 4/26/10] -- Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Second District v. Smith, 33 So.3d 105 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010).
Lawyer appointed from "Involuntary Appointment List" to represent defendant in complex RICO prosecution should have been permitted to withdraw. [Added 8/18/09] -- Hagopian v. Justice Administrative Commission, 18 So.3d 625 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009).
Third DCA reverses circuit order permitting Public Defender's Office to decline representation in all future 3rd-degree felony cases. [Added 5/15/09] -- State v. Public Defender, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, 12 So.3d 798 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009). Law firm's effort to withdraw from case in response to motion to disqualify may not remedy problem. [Added 4/2/09] -- Lewis v. Nical of Palm Beach, Inc., 10 So.3d 159 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009).
Regional Conflict Counsel has no standing to object to Public Defender's motion to withdraw from a case on conflict grounds. [Added 3/20/09] -- Johnson v. State, 6 So.3d 1262 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009).
Lawyer who withdrew from contingent fee case for health reasons may not have forfeited his right to fee. [Added 11/1/07] -- Collier v. Bohnet, 966 So.2d 1033 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007).
Defense counsel's "nodding acquaintance" with key state witness was not conflict of interest requiring counsel's withdrawal; defense counsel did not err in failing to withdraw; RPC 4-3.5(d)(4) constitutional. [Added 10/17/07] -- Kormondy v. State, 983 So.2d 418 (Fla. 2007).
Second DCA outlines procedure for lawyers to follow when withdrawing from or appearing in cases already on appeal. In re P.G., 944 So.2d 443 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006). NOTE: See also S.H. v. Department of Children and Family Services, 955 So.2d 610 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007).
Client's absence from defense counsel's ex parte disclosure to court of counsel's concerns about his ability to be effective (due to anticipated bar complaint and client perjury) violated client's due process rights. Frett v. State, 864 So.2d 577 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004).
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Education - Jewelry Guide
Jewelry Guide - History of Jewelry
The history of jewelry is as old as human civilization which also demonstrates growth and development process of human civilization.
Since the dawn of civilization jewelry has been an integral part of our culture and customs. We all love and use jewelry in some way or the other. Jewelry is in use long before clothing developed into fashion and is a cherished symbol of prestige and beauty.
The first signs of jewelry came from thousands of years ago and no other consumer item has such a long history. The use of jewelry began when early humans started to settle down in certain areas and began building communities. In this early period, minerals and metals were not in existence and jewelry items, such as preliminary form of necklaces and bracelets, were made by using bone, animal teeth, shell, wood, and carved stone. But after the discovery and extraction of minerals and metals, people started using gems and metals in jewelry items. Around 7,000 years ago, the first use of copper jewelry was seen.
Jewelry was used widely by almost all the early cultures and it was an integral part of their customs. The first sign of crafted gold jewelry in ancient Egypt was around 3,000-4,000 years ago. In combination with gold jewelry, Egyptians mainly used colored glass instead of precious gems, as they preferred glass colors more to the natural colors of gems. For nearly each gemstone available that time, there was a glass formulation used by the Egyptians to imitate it. In Egypt, jewelry was a symbol of power and wealth and worn by wealthy Egyptians through out their life and after their death these jewelry items were placed among grave goods.
The Greeks started using gold and gems in jewelry in 1,400 BC and soon they mastered in making colored stone jewelry by using various stones like emeralds, amethysts and pearl. Initially designs in Greek jewelry were simple but attractive and jewelry makers in ancient Greece mainly created two different styles of jewelry pieces such as cast pieces and hammered pieces. In Greece, jewelry was worn on special occasions instead of daily use and majorly woman wore jewelry to display their beauty, wealth and social status. Jewelry was also worn for religious purposes and it was believed to provide safeguard from bad luck.
The Romans borrowed styles from other cultures and developed their own styles on the basis of these styles. They used a variety of materials for their jewelry from their extensive resources across the continent. They used mainly gold with more colored stones such as topaz, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and pearls in their jewelry than previous cultures. The most common artifact of early Rome was the brooch, which was used to secure clothing together. The other jewelry items they used to create were rings, necklaces, clasps, earrings, pendants and bracelets. In Rome, women wore a vast range of jewelry whereas men often used to wear only rings. Like the Greeks, Romans also wore jewelry as a safeguard from the bad luck.
Jewelry in Asian countries, like India and China, has history of around 5,000 years and it was an integral part of their culture. In China, jewelry was preferred in silver as compared to gold and often decorated with blue color. Chinese women used to wear all types of jewelry to show their beauty and wealth and the most common piece of jewelry worn by Chinese was the earring, worn by both men and women.
India is considered the first country to mine diamonds dated back 300 BC and involved in a continuous development process of jewelry making. Before 2100 BC, the natives of the Indus Valley Civilization used to trade jewelry beads as that time, metals were not widely used in jewelry items. In the Indus Valley, jewelry beads were made by using some simple techniques which also involved heating and polishing of a stone for color improvement. By 1500 BC, the natives of the Indus Valley were using metals such as gold to create earrings, necklaces, rings, bead necklaces and metallic bangles. In the Indus Valley, women wore jewelry items like gold rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, brooches, chokers, forehead bands etc. Unlike many other ancient cultures, Indus Valley jewelry was never buried with the dead and natives of Indus Valley used to pass these to their children or family members.
Jewelry played an important role in almost all the ancient cultures.
Recent Times
By the 17th century, the Renaissance and exploration had vital impacts on the growth of jewelry and jewelry it began to establish as one of the most important parts of fashionable clothing. By this time, wide ranges of gemstones were available due to increase in exploration and trade. In 17th century, craftsmen studied as well as explored many ancient cultures and made some important technical improvements in gemstone cutting, which helped in enhancing the popularity of gemstone jewelry. Beautiful floral art was on peak at that time and flower designing became a dominant theme for fine jewelry.
By the 18th century, diamond jewelry became very popular and began to express changing trends in fashion. In this period, some new stone setting styles including prong setting was invented which multiplied the brilliancy of a diamond.
In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution brought enormous change to the whole world including jewelry industry. Mass production of jewelry and concept of imitation stones made jewelry available to everyone. In this period, jewelry and jewelry accessories became very popular even in middle and lower classes.
In the 20th century and afterwards, jewelry reached onto new highs and now is available in more stylish and trendy forms. This century was characterized by the beginning of a new era in jewelry making. New technological improvements in stone cutting, polishing and setting were developed as well as new metals such as platinum and palladium were used in jewelry. In addition, new casting technologies along with new sophisticated machinery allowed for the production of more versatile jewelry by using different patterns, shapes and styles.
In today's world, jewelry has become part of our day-to-day life and our culture. Now jewelry making has improved exceptionally well due to involvement of computers and technology but still maximum cutting, polishing and finishing work of a gemstone is done manually by experts.
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TriniView.com
Trinicenter Home Trini News & Views RaceandHistory.com HowComYouCom.com
RAFFIQUE HOMEPAGE
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Black Power 1970
Indians in 1970
E-mail Raffique
Mass retrenchment no solution to
Government's money woes
Sunday Express - June 03, 2001
FINANCE Minister Gerald Yet Ming sparked fear among public sector workers when he announced last week that given the state of the country's finances, the Government may have to resort to "trim the fat" in the public service in order to meet an increased wages and salaries bill. He said that the two largest elements of expenditure in the annual budget were the public sector salaries and debt servicing. Although he added that he was not "picking on public sector salaries", he felt that cutbacks on jobs were necessary, especially in view of impending increases for public servants.
To add to the woes of public servants and other public sector employees, Prime Minister Basdeo Panday agreed with Yet Ming, comparing the Public Service to a bell. "It has a very large bottom," he said. He argued that it was difficult to raise the salaries of those at the top since the representative trade unions invariably sought to get commensurate increases for their members. That, he said, made the cost of maintaining current levels of employment in the public sector "prohibitive". The former trade union leader, who resisted all attempts by Caroni Limited to cut back on its work force, is now supporting Yet Ming's call for "trimming the fat" in the service.
Yet Ming is not the first finance minister to threaten to make cuts in the Public Service. Many years ago, the late Ronald Williams earned the title of "Chinee Chopper" when he made similar threats in the "dog days" of the recession of the 1980s. And when the PNM government, of which Ronnie was part, was routed by the NAR in 1986, the latter went even further. The NAR actually cut back on public servants' salaries because of low oil prices and the general state of the economy. And so, from government to government, public sector employees have become "soft targets" for reducing the expenditure side of the country's balance sheets.
It is estimated that government employs some 60,000 persons, approximately 10 per cent of the country's overall work force. In 1998, the government spent $3.522 billion on wages and salaries for these employees (and that includes ministers, MPs, consultants, contract workers, etc.) out of a total budgeted expenditure of $10.4 billion. Debt servicing that same year amounted to $1.9 billion, which will have since increased because of increased borrowing by government.
By comparison, Caroni Limited employs some 3,400 regular workers and another 5,000 seasonal and temporary workers (during the harvesting period). Caroni's expenditure in 2000 was $746 million, the bulk of which will have been on wages and salaries. The company's revenue for the same year was slightly under $300 million; this year it will be just over $200 million, what with the steep drop in production of sugar. If we analyse these numbers, what we come up with is that government pays an average annual wage/salary of $58,700 to each public sector employee. In Caroni's case, deduct what is paid to cane farmers (just over $100 million), suppliers and transport contractors, as well as factor in the temporary/seasonal workers' much lower earnings. What we find is that Caroni expends an average of $120,000 a year on each employee-which, I can assure you, in no way reflects the real wages and salaries of managers or workers in the sugar industry.
Public servants are largely responsible for running government's day to day affairs, servicing the public and collecting revenues from different sources for government. In 1998, they were responsible for collecting $7.8 billion in taxes. I have not added to this function services like maintenance of roads and drainage, educating our children, policing the country, keeping vital records, and more, much more. In addition to what they earn, one must remember that, like all persons on fixed incomes, they contribute substantially to the income tax revenue collected by government ($3.38 billion in 1998).
While I am in no position to question the Finance Minister's numbers, I believe he will understand when I say that cost-cutting measures like retrenchment of workers is the first-resort of people who do not know how to run successful businesses. The idea of improving productivity, of upgrading workers' skills so that they may improve benefits to their employers, hardly surfaces when a businessman examines a bleak-looking balance sheet.
Retrenchment carries with it hidden costs that could worsen a bad situation. Besides throwing people on the breadline, hence reducing their purchasing power (less sales of goods and services), it denies the Treasury income taxes and VAT. Retrenching, say, 10,000 public servants and 2,000 sugar workers, could also lead to massive social-and economic-dislocation that will impact negatively on an already bad crime situation. And I have not even mentioned plans to cut back on work forces in the oil sector, the bottoming out of construction activities, and the harsh reality that all these heavy industries government boasts about are automated plants that employ very few people.
In all that I have written here suggesting that retrenchment is not the answer to government's financial woes, I am not a trade unionist who blindly ignores the sins of workers. Public servants have a terrible image of not performing anywhere close to the level of productivity that is expected of them, and some of them are openly hostile to the public, who are their paymasters. These negative attitudes must be changed if they are to resist retrenchment and merit salary increases. I was shocked to learn that Air Traffic Controllers fall in the $3,000-$5,000-a-month salary range. By similar token, it is criminal to pay junior doctors $5,000 a month while some dumbo-of-a-minister who cannot pronounce his name gets $15,000 a month.
Minister Yet Ming should, therefore, look at alternatives to retrenchment. He has pointed out that the collection of VAT is a nightmare. Why not send out an army of public servants to scour the country and corner the culprits? The increased revenue from this source alone may cover what is needed to keep the service fully staffed. Also, ex-Finance Minister Brian Kuei Tung had started an exercise to bring everyone who should be paying income taxes into the net. That remains a major challenge, and if Yet Ming can have that department function at 75 per cent of its capacity, the result would again be greater revenue to the government's coffers.
So there are alternatives to simply retrenching workers en masse. While Yet Ming would want to have the government's balance sheet look good, that goal must not be achieved by expediency. Creativity is the answer, balancing government's economic goals with its social responsibilities.
Copyright © Raffique Shah
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consumer psychology
digital behaviour
Navigation Home consumer psychology behavioural economics digital behaviour About
Advertising During the Super Bowl is a "Costly Signal" to Consumers
March 14, 2016 by Adam Spadaro
Some of the most iconic TV ads of all time have used the Super Bowl as the event they use to break through to the masses. Advertisers covet these spots because they know they’ll never get a better chance each year to leave an impression on millions of people tuned into watch the big game.
However, there happens to be one problem – most of us can’t remember any of the Super Bowl ads! But, maybe forgetting the message of a Super Bowl commercial isn’t such a bad thing. Instead, brands that advertise during the Super Bowl are signalling to consumers a different kind of message.
Dollar, Dollar Bills Y'all
This past Super Bowl saw advertisers shell out up to as much as $5 million to air a 30-second commercial spot, and that does not even include the cost of actually creating the ad. Brands willing to pay top dollar for the opportunity to talk to over 100 million people are betting big that their ad campaign will pay off in a huge way. But, what is the actual payoff for a Super Bowl ad?
Wait, what was that commercial again?
A recent study found that 1-week after the 2016 Super Bowl, most people forgot more than 90% of all the brands that advertised during the game. 90%! What is even more surprising is that people’s recall of the Super Bowl ads didn’t improve if they saw the ad previously (online or otherwise). Paying millions of dollars for a Super Bowl ad that has such a short half-life seems like a colossal failure, but is it?
Paying attention to the game vs the commercials
Asking people to explicitly recall an ad, even after a week, is a difficult task. It is made even more difficult by virtue of the fact that the commercials will never be the major focus of the audience’s attention. I know what some of you are thinking– ‘but a lot of people tune in to the Super Bowl to watch the commercials’. While that may be true, you’d be fooling yourself into thinking that the commercials trump the game itself.
Since the focus of the audience's attention is squarely on watching the actual Super Bowl game, that means that people will be able to remember more details from the game itself, even after a week. Since the commercials receive relatively less of the audience’s attention, it is more of a challenge for people to remember the details (e.g. what brand was that commercial for?) of each commercial. But just because people can’t remember all the details of a commercial, doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten it entirely.
As a result, the benefit to a brand that advertised during the Super Bowl was not reflected in the consumer’s explicit recall of the ad, but instead in the implicit association that consumer’s now have created with the brand.
For example, you probably don’t remember whether it was Crest or Colgate that advertised during the Super Bowl…. Can't remember which of those brands you saw? ...
...Well, it was Colgate. But if you’re Colgate, or worked on the ad campaign, that is ok. Even though consumers don’t explicitly recall the message from the ad, they were still being sent a strong implicit message that in many means helps strengthen the Colgate brand at the expense of the Crest brand.
Super Bowls as “Costly Signals”
For all their pageantry, Super Bowl ads are signals to consumers about the strength of their brand. Essentially, brands are using those commercials to implicitly signal to consumers that their brand is strong enough to afford the cost of a Super Bowl commercial. Brands are using the spectacle of the Super Bowl to show off their dominance in their marketplace.
In fact, this type of boasting is commonly seen in nature. There is a theory called “costly signalling” from the fields of evolutionary biology and psychology that explains why some animals actually benefit from engaging in types of behaviours that would otherwise put them at a disadvantage.
One of the best examples of costly signalling comes from the Peacock. Male peacocks use their attention-grabbing feathers to attract females, but by doing so, they also run the risk of attracting predators. According to the theory of costly signalling, male peacocks use their plumage to communicate to other peacocks that they are so dominant that not only can they afford to risk attracting unwanted attention, but also thrive under those conditions.
Taking advantage of Costly Signals
Obviously, costly signals from a peacock are a far stretch from Super Bowl commercials, but costly signals have long been a part of human behaviour too. If we have an inherent bias to respond favourably to costly signals, then why can’t brands take advantage of that insight?
Perhaps brand have already taken advantage of costly signals without even knowing it. Arguably, the notion of a peacock using its feather to signal its strength to potential mates is analogous to an advertiser using the Super Bowl to communicate the strength of their brand to potential customers.
Costly signals have proven to be an effective evolutionary strategy played out in nature, so why should that strategy play out any differently in the Super Bowl?
Want to share your thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comments section below or on social media.
costly signals, commercials, evolutionary psychology, super bowl
Some of the most iconic TV ads of all time have used the Super Bowl as the event they use to break through to the masses. Advertisers covet these spots because they know they’ll never get a better chance each year to leave an impression with millions of people that are tuned into watch the big game.
celebrity, voice over, misattribution theory
A Case of Mistaken Celebrity
Celebrities are commonly used as voice-over talent in advertising. The common thinking is that celebrities can transfer their positive attributes (e.g. trustworthiness, familiarity, likeable) over to a brand. This approach is no different when it is just the celebrity’s voice that is used in commercial. Depending on whether brands want to come off as likeable, fun, authoritative, or manly, that can dictate the type of celebrity they will use as their brand’s voice. Depending on the celebrity, their voice is instantly recognizable, such as Morgan Freeman in the VISA commercials, but often the celebrity lending their voice goes unrecognized.
decision-making, introspection, rationalization
Rationalizing Post-Hoc Rationalization
It is comforting to think that we know how we think and understand how we come to the decisions we make. We are very good at rationalizing our decisions to ourselves, especially when the decisions we are making is a big one. But what if there are forces completely unbeknownst to us that deftly guiding each decision we make? This sounds like some kind of Jedi mind trick, but it is not magical sleight of mind. The fact of the matter is that we often fool ourselves into thinking that we know how we think. In reality, when we introspect on our choices after the fact, we are often left to rationalize our decisions in a way that is completely different from the actual thought process that led us to our choice.
March 14, 2016 /Adam Spadaro
consumer psychology RSS
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Invention of Napier's Bones
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The Synod of Dort, Controversy of Arminianism
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The Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts, as well as the deadliest European religious war, in history. It took place in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648 and resulted in eight million casualties. Ini...
Jan Six, Mayor of Amsterdam
Jan Six was an important cultural figure in the Dutch Golden Age. The son of a well-to-do merchant family Six, Jan studied liberal arts and law in Leiden in 1634. He became the son-in-law of the mayor of Amsterdam, Nicolaes Tulp, in 1655, w...
Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor
Aurangzeb Alamgir and by his imperial title Alamgir ("world-seizer or universe-seizer") was the sixth Mughal Emperor and ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent. His reign lasted for 49 years from 1658 until his death in 1707. Aurangzeb...
Cyrano de Bergerac, French Writer and Duelist
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Prince Rupert, Hudson's Bay Company
Prince Rupert of the Rhine was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century. Rupert was a younger son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Elizabeth Stuart, the older brother...
Morosini, Venetian Captain-General
Francesco Morosini was the Doge of Venice from 1688 to 1694, at the height of the Great Turkish War. He was a member of famous noble Venetian family (the Morosini family) which produced several Doges and generals. Morosini first rose to pro...
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "the Great Elector" (der Große Kurfürst) b...
Aelbert Cuyp, Landscape Painter
Aelbert Jacobsz Cuyp was one of the leading Dutch landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. The most famous of a family of painters, the pupil of his father Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp (1594–1651/52), he is especially known fo...
Thomas Willis, Pioneer Neurology
Thomas Willis was an English doctor who played an important part in the history of anatomy, neurology and psychiatry. He was a founding member of the Royal Society. He was a pioneer in research into the anatomy of the brain, nervous system...
Jean de La Fontaine, Most Famous French Fabulist
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Charles X Gustav of Sweden
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Molière, Master of Comic Satire
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About Beliefs News Connect Donate
AboutBeliefs
NewsConnectDonate
Lila Anna Sauls
The right person at the right time.
Richland School District One, at-large
Community Leader. Parent. Education Advocate. Collaborator. Change Agent.
Lila Anna Sauls knows how to build community. With 25 years in the nonprofit sector, she’s spent a career bringing people together around challenging issues: encouraging diverse voices and points of view; modeling and engaging in the art of generous listening; working together for positive change. She’s a champion for children—all children—and has spent more than a decade working within our district’s schools to create innovative programming that achieves results.
It’s why she’s the right person at the right time for Richland School District One.
Parent.
The mother of five children and a champion of hundreds more who have lived at St. Lawrence Place—each of whom attends or attended school in Richland One—Lila Anna understands the opportunities and challenges faced by teachers, parents, administrators and neighborhoods who want the best for kids.
Systems Thinker.
As Chief Executive Officer of Homeless No More, a nonprofit based in Columbia, Lila Anna leads an ambitious strategic plan to eliminate family homelessness in the Midlands by creating a complete, coordinated, and viable continuum of services and service providers to meet the needs of at risk families with children, where they are.
Strategic Planner.
Lila Anna oversees the operations of St. Lawrence Place, a 30-unit transitional housing community, and Live Oak Place, a system of affordable housing units across our city. Lila Anna joined St. Lawrence Place in 2005 and became CEO in 2007.
Education Advocate.
Since 2007, Lila Anna has worked in district schools through the McKinney-Vento programs for homeless children, and outside of that as a volunteer with other at-risk students. Through the University of South Carolina’s continuing education programs, she has worked closely with teachers to ensure they are armed with the information and support they need to help those children succeed.
Collaborator.
Lila Anna and her team created an after-school and summer camp curriculum for low income children that battled the “summer slide” and saw over 96 percent maintain or increase their reading levels. This curriculum serves as a model for use by other nonprofits addressing the same important educational issue across the United States.
Change Agent.
Lila Anna advocates for children on local, state and national levels. She worked at the district level on the creation of the Montessori Middle School located at WG Sanders. She has served on the School Improvement Council and PTO committees at both Brockman Elementary and Crayton Middle School. And she is a founding member of the Health and Wellness Committee at Brockman, which recently was awarded the Healthy Schools Gold Award. Brockman was the first school in South Carolina to earn this distinction.
Voice of the Community.
Lila Anna is often called upon as a speaker and panelist in important community conversations. Most recently she joined a panel of educators, politicians, social workers, city officials and law enforcement to discuss the best ways to lead children in times of racial discord.
A graduate of the University South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communications, Lila Anna also holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Change and Leadership from Columbia College. She is a 2015 fellow of the Blue Ridge Institute, recipient of the Carolina Academy Alumni Award, TWIN Honoree of the Palmetto Center for Women, and Renaissance Foundation honoree for servant leaders.
She and her husband, Brad, are proud parents of five boys who are students at Brockman Elementary, Crayton Middle and AC Flora High School in Richland One. Her St. Lawrence Place children attend many elementary, middle and high schools across the district.
AboutBeliefsNewsConnectDonate
lila anna for Richland District One school board, at-large
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Vehari (also spelled as Vihari; Urdu: وہاڑی) is a city about 100 km (62 mi) from the historical city of Multan and is the headquarters of Vehari District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is situated at the Multan Delhi Road constructed by Indian Muslim Emperor Sher Shah Suri.[5] It is located at an altitude of 135 m (443 ft).[6] It is 96 km (60 mi) from the regional metropolis of Multan, 956 km (594 mi) from Karachi, 300 km (190 mi) from Lahore, 218 km (135 mi) from Faisalabad, 119 km (74 mi) from Bahawalpur, 61 km (38 mi) from Hasilpur, 41 km (25 mi) from Mailsi, 46 km (29 mi) from Kacha Khuh, 36 km (22 mi) from Burewala, 27 km (17 mi) from Luddan, 78 km (48 mi) from Arifwala, 112 km (70 mi) from Pakpattan, and about 37 km (23 mi) north of the river Sutlej – the southernmost of the five rivers of the Punjab region. Islam Headworks is located on this river near Luddan on the Luddan-Vehari canal providing irrigation water to both banks of the river, which includes the upper fringes of the Cholistan Desert.
Vehari is the centre place for diverse socio-economic life in the region. Vehari District was established in 1976. It has an area of 4,373 sq. km and an estimated population of 3.5 million. The district shares its boundaries with Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur districts on the Southern side, Pakpattan district on the Eastern, Lodhran district on the Western and Sahiwal and Khanewal districts on the Northern side.
Vehari is known to be city of cotton, among other crops. The summer in Vehari is very hot; however the weather becomes much more pleasant between October and February. Occasionally, light rainfall leaves the land generally arid and dusty. Vehari has dozens of cotton processing factories and cottonseed oil manufacturing plants, and sugarcane farming and processing is also common. Agricultural products include mangoes in the Summer and guava and other citrus fruits in the Winter.
As per national census of 1998 Punjabi is the main language of Vehari spoken by 94% population (83% Majhi dialect, 11% in siraiki dialect). Urdu, the national language, is spoken widely while English spoken by educated elite. Other language spoken by few afghan refugees is Pashto.
Vehari District was an agricultural region with forests during the Indus Valley Civilization. The Vedic period is characterized by Indo-Aryan culture that invaded from Central Asia and settled in Punjab region. The Kambojas, Daradas, Kaikayas, Madras, Pauravas, Yaudheyas, Malavas and Kurus invaded, settled and ruled ancient Punjab region. After overrunning the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BCE, Alexander marched into present-day Punjab region with an army of 50,000. The Vehari was ruled by Maurya Empire, Indo-Greek kingdom, Kushan Empire, Gupta Empire, White Huns, Kushano-Hephthalites and Shahi kingdoms. In 997 CE, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, took over the Ghaznavid dynasty empire established by his father, Sultan Sebuktegin, In 1005, he conquered the Shahis in Kabul in 1005, and followed it by the conquests of Punjab region. The Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire ruled the region. The Punjab region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of Punjab region. After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Sikhs invaded and occupied Vehari District. During the period of British rule, Vehari district increased in population and importance. Vehari District is the result of construction of the Pakpattan canal from Sulemanki Head Works on the Sutlej and the institution of Nili Bar colony project in 1925, so called because of the hints of blue in the water of the Sutlej. The ancient history of the district is obscure. The populated areas in ancient times was restricted to the banks of the river Sutlej where seasonal inundation permitted some cultivation. The rest of the area was a vast sandy scrap-land at best affording pastures itinerant herdsmen. The riparian tract formed the state of Fatehpur during the time of Akbar the Great. This was ruled by Fateh Khan of Joya family who founded and gave his name to the town of Fatehpur. Fatehpur is still in existence about 15 kilometres to the south of Mailsi and is the oldest town of Mailsi subdivision. It has some remains of archaeological value. The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while the Muslim refugees from India settled in the Vehari District. In May 2002, Vehari District was the scene of a shootout between members of the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and local Shia villagers. LeJ members had come to a local village to stage an attack on a prominent local Shia, but were met with local armed resistance. In the ensuing shootout, all four LeJ members were killed, including their leader, Riaz Basra.
City has two full fledge operational university campuses and two post graduate colleges both for men and women. Virtual University Campus is working at Vehari since 2001. Also the city contain many higher secondary schools and private colleges. Education University is a government. funded and operated campus with more than four faculties and many departments. COMSATS Vehari is ministry of Science and Tech funded public sector university. Pakistan's leading agriculture university, UAF (University of Agriculture Faisalabad) has also recently launched its sub campus in Vehari.
Vehari is located on the southern alternate route of both railway and road between Multan and Lahore, the capital of the province. The northern route is the main route. Both of these routes run roughly in a northeasterly direction, almost parallel to each other and only 20 to 30 miles apart at any given point. A section of the railway between Multan and Lahore was electrified on the main line between Khanewal and Lahore during the 1960s; however in subsequent decades and lately with rapid decline and deterioration of the infrastructure of Pakistan Railway (PR) the above electrified section lies in ruins and is not likely to be restored in the foreseeable future. With the new motorway between Multan and Lahore which is due to be completed sometimes in the early part of 2014, Vehari is set to benefit from its proximity to its north.
The Vehari route goes to Lahore through the religiously renowned city of Pakpattan, where the Sufi saint Fariduddin Ganjshakar is buried. Thousands of pilgrims come annually to Pakpattan for the saint's Urs celebration which include all sorts of festivities. Selections from his work are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred scripture. He was commonly known as "Baba Farid".
Power Radio FM 99 (Pakistan)
Chamber of commerce & industry
ehari Chamber of commerce & industry (VCCI) was established on 26 April 2013.The Founder president of VCCI was Hafiz Mahmood Ahmad Shad.
The climate of the district is hot and dry in summer and cold in winter. The maximum and minimum temperature ranges between 45 °C and 28 °C in summer. During winter, the temperature fluctuates between 21 °C and 5 °C.
COMSATS Vehari provide education in the following programs:
Department of Computer Sciences
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science - BS(CS) - 4 Years
Master of Computer Science - MCS - 2 Years
Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering - BS (SE) - 4 Years
Department of Management Sciences
BS(BA)- 4 Years
MS - 2 Years
MSc Economics - 2 Years
MBA Executive - 2 Years
BS(Accounting and Finance)- 4 Years
BS(ES) - 4 Years
MS(ES) - 2 Years
MA English
CIIT Vehari at a Glance
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Fortunus, Morin Selected for the AHL All-Star Classic
CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, announced today defenseman Maxime Fortunus and forward Travis Morin have been selected to compete in the AHL’s All-Star Classic on Jan. 25 and 26 in Utica, N.Y.
Fortunus was already announced as captain of the Western Conference All-Stars on Dec. 19, after being selected by league commissioner David Andrews. Morin will be making his second straight appearance as an All-Star after tallying 24 points in 23 games this season for Texas, 10 goals and 14 assists, to lead the team.
Last season, Morin was named the Les Cunningham award winner as the AHL’s Most Valuable Player with an 88-point campaign. He was also named the MVP of the 2014 Calder Cup playoffs.
Fortunus is currently in his 12th AHL season and is the franchise leader among defensemen in most statistical categories. The Stars’ captain is also the only player to appear in every postseason game in franchise history (60). Fortunus is currently second among Stars defensemen in scoring with 13 points (four goals, nine assists) this year.
The Texas Stars entered the 2014-15 season as the AHL’s defending Calder Cup Champions. Single-game tickets and season ticket packages for the 2014-15 campaign are on sale now. For more information, call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit TexasStarsHockey.com.
Photo Credit: Michael Connell/Texas Stars
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World Vodka boycott in U.S. spreads on concerns over gay rights in Russia
Vodka boycott in U.S. spreads on concerns over gay rights in Russia
Friday, August 02, 2013 09:25 Email Print
A piece of carpet with a logo of Stolichnaya, a brand of Russian vodka, is marked with black tape during a news conference at Micky's nightclub in West Hollywood, California August 1, 2013. Photo: Reuters
Gay rights activists in New York City dumped vodka onto the street on Wednesday to protest new laws in Russia targeting homosexuals, as a growing number of gay bar owners across the United States vowed to stop pouring Russian vodka.
"Boycotts are set for a reason. We're trying to influence change, and maybe change what's happening in Russia," said Chuck Hyde, general manager of Sidetrack, the largest gay bar in Chicago, which stopped carrying Stolichnaya about a week ago.
The boycott was called last week by gay rights activist and Seattle-based sex advice columnist Dan Savage in response to anti-gay violence and restrictive laws in Russia. Since then, owners of mostly gay bars from San Francisco to New York have vowed to stop serving Stolichnaya and other Russian vodka.
Gay rights advocates in New York City, carrying signs that read "Russian vodka: infused with hate," gathered outside the Russian consulate on Wednesday protesting Russia's stance on gay issues. They emptied bottles of Russian vodka onto the pavement.
The call to "dump Russian vodka" came after Russian investigators said in May that a 23-year-old man had been tortured and killed after revealing to a friend that he was gay.
In June, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a law banning gay "propaganda," which critics have said effectively disallows all gay rights rallies and could be used to prosecute anyone voicing support for homosexuals. Putin also banned same-sex couples from adopting Russian children.
The boycott has focused heavily on Stolichnaya vodka, which is made from Russian ingredients, even though the company has said it supports gay rights.
In an open letter sent a day after Savage's call for a boycott, Val Mendeleev, chief executive of Stolichnaya's parent company the SPI Group, distanced his enterprise from the Kremlin's policies and emphasized that the Russian government has no ownership stake in the Luxembourg-based company.
"Stolichnaya Vodka has always been, and continues to be a fervent supporter and friend to the LGBT community," he wrote. "We also thank the community for having adopted Stoli as their vodka of preference."
Russia is due to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Savage wrote in a column last week that an Olympic boycott was neither practical nor necessarily desirable.
"There is something we can do right here, right now, in Seattle and other U.S. cities to show our solidarity with Russian queers and their allies and to help to draw international attention to the persecution of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people, and straight allies in Putin's increasingly fascistic Russia: DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA," he wrote.
Savage was on vacation and did not immediately respond to an email request on Wednesday for comment on the widening boycott.
Ben Kampler, a bartender at the Stonewall Inn bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, said most gay bars in the area, including Stonewall, had joined the boycott.
"It's pretty much every bar in the area," he said, adding that the bar had asked brands like Absolut to supply vodka to match the Stoli flavors that are popular with customers.
Moby Dick, a bar in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, joined the boycott last week but its owner, Joe Cappelletti, said he stopped it on Wednesday after learning that Stolichnaya has been a longtime advocate of gay rights.
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Are the Yankees in for a rough June?
MSN Sports published an article laying out ten bold predictions for MLB as we head into June, and right away I wasn't disappointed.
Even Chuck Norris gave it two thumbs up.
The very first prediction involved the Yankees, where author Michael Dixon said that June would be a rough month for the Yankees. You might be thinking "why does that prediction not disappoint you?" Well, to be completely honest, I'm not disappointed with that prediction because I agree with Mr. Dixon. And if you click that link you'll read his reason why he made that prediction, and that reason falls right in line with why I worry the Yankees' success will not last.
In case you don't want to click that link I'll fill you...
While he may not strike out 13 hitters every time he starts a game, Masahiro Tanaka is much closer to the pitcher we saw against the Athletics last Friday night, than the pitcher we saw in his previous two starts. But, at least for now, 'Hiro is the only starter that I believe this team can count on.
Five of Luis Severino's nine starts this season have been really good to downright awesome. Another if his starts (May 19th vs. the Rays) was good... certainly not great, but good. That's six of nine starts where the Yankees had a good to excellent chance of winning. Unfortunately, after just 31 starts in MLB, I'm not ready to lean on this guy to start a game in the postseason. Don't get me wrong, I think he'd do a fine job, but I wouldn't be going into that game feeling all nice and cozy.
Prior to 2017 Michael Pineda's ERA+ as a Yankee, which spanned 72 starts, was 101. That, my friends, is as close "average" as you can get. In his last five starts he's failed to finish the 7th inning, and couldn't get through six innings in the previous two. You know how many times, last September, that Pineda completed six innings? None. You know how many times, after the 2016 All Star break, Michael completed seven innings? Once. Look, a quality start every time your starter takes the mound is nice, as it gives his team a shot at winning. But a mere quality start does not make a fan like myself feel great when the next time he takes the mound... particularly in game two or three in the postseason.
Jordan Montgomery has been a great story. I don't think I heard anyone during the offseason predict that Montgomery would make the starting rotation out of Spring Training. And in nine starts this year Jordan has posted a respectable ERA of 4.11. In fact, if Jordan could gain a little more control, thus keeping his walks down, then he'd be somebody the team could depend on in the home stretch of the season and beyond. But I just don't see it happening. His changeup and slider are good, his curveball is okay, and his fastball stinks. I don't know much about him, but I don't want to see him starting a postseason game.
CC Sabathia? Let's just say that if the Yankees need Sabathia to carry any load, of any size, during the season's home stretch and into the postseason we're in big trouble.
"Sorry to keep dogging you, but don't be sad. I'll look back fondly on your first four years in pinstripes."
Michael Dixon went on to say that having a rough June could be a good thing for the Yankees, as it would push them to make improvements to the team. If they were to have another really good month, Cashman and Co. may hold off on doing anything to really improve, which could very well hurt their chances down the stretch. And I can't help but agree with him there, too.
I've said it in the past, and I'll say it again...
I don't want the Yankees to deal away good prospects for a rental. I absolutely do not want to sit here a year from now and see somebody we traded for playing elsewhere, while one or more of our good prospects is playing in another organization. Then again, a World Series title would make that okay, but 2016 is about the future as much as anything else.
Man how I salivate thinking of what this team could look like in 2019.
Yeah, yeah... this could be a very good year too.
Posted by Bryan Van Dusen at 3:08 PM No comments:
Labels: Bold Predictions, CC Sabathia, Jordan Montgomery, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, MLB Trade Deadline, Starting Rotation
Two Little, Too Late...
Credit: Matt Hazlett/Getty Images
Orioles 3, Yankees 2…
Admittedly, I had wished the Baltimore Orioles had won on Sunday (when they lost to the Houston Astros, 8-4). Coming into the series with the Yankees, the O’s were on a seven-game losing streak but were returning home to Camden Yards for the Memorial Day showdown (a wounded dog ready to bite). The Orioles were due and unfortunately it came at the expense of the Yankees.
It was a winnable game, but you need offense to win. Dylan Bundy, who has been Baltimore’s best pitcher so far this year, was good but you can’t say great. He scattered seven hits over seven innings and held the Yanks to only two runs. Bundy was the beneficiary of three double-plays. It was hard to say if it was simply great Bundy pitching or anemic Yankee bats. Outside of the Aarons, the Yankees couldn’t generate any runs. Aaron Hicks had an early sac fly, scoring Starlin Castro to tie the game at one in the second inning, and Aaron Judge had a solo homer in the seventh (his 17th of the year).
Credit: Randy Miller/NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The two runs were not enough to overcome Mark Trumbo's run-scoring single in the first and Jonathan Scoop’s two-run double in the third.
Jordan Montgomery (2-4) reopened long term concerns about his spot in the rotation. He threw 100 pitches just to get into the fifth inning. After allowing two one-out singles in the fifth, Montgomery was finished. For 4 1/3 innings of work, he had allowed eight hits and three runs (only one earned, thanks to Starlin Castro’s fielding error in the third). He walked one and struck out five. He is pitching well enough to earn his next start, but if the Yankees do make a trade for a starter within the next couple of months, Montgomery could be the odd man out.
Both Jonathan Holder and Chasen Shreve pitched well in relief of Montgomery as they combined for 3 2/3 innings of hitless, scoreless relief and six strikeouts. The only blemish was Shreve’s insignificant walk of Mark Trumbo in the seventh.
Aaron Judge had one final shot in the ninth inning to try and tie the game, but he struck out against interim O’s closer Brad Brach. Brach, hardly a clone of injured O’s elite closer Zach Britton, also struck out Didi Gregorius to end the game.
Credit: Ulysses Munoz/Baltimore Sun
Chris Carter was miserable. He had an 0-for-3 day with two strikeouts. Overall, he is 0-for-12 for his last five games and has been punched out in half of those at-bats. Carter is batting .188 on the season. When both Tyler Austin and Greg Bird are healthy, Carter is going to be in a very precarious situation if he doesn’t find the swing that drilled 41 homers last year.
Chase Headley, after a two game rest, was 1-for-2 with a walk. It kind of makes me wonder what the pesky Ronald Torreyes could have done against Bundy. But alas, we’ll never know. The Orioles won this game, and pulled back to within 3 1/2 games of the Yankees (29-19) in the AL East. Fortunately, the Chicago White Sox rallied against the Red Sox bullpen to beat Boston 5-4 in a game saved by former Yankee closer David Robertson. So, the Red Sox remain 3 games behind the Yankees.
Credit: Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune
Better luck to the Baby Bombers today. It is more fun to write about wins than losses.
It doesn’t sound like Jacoby Ellsbury will be back anytime soon. As of Sunday, he still had a headache and continues to deal with the neck sprain so he has not resumed baseball activities. The presence of Aaron Hicks makes Ellsbury’s absence a non-factor unless Brett Gardner or Aaron Judge get hurt.
Aroldis Chapman was able to throw again prior to yesterday’s game against Baltimore but still no word when he’ll be ready for a rehab assignment. He’ll take today off before resuming light throwing tomorrow.
Tyler Austin was 1-for-4 (single) in his latest rehab assignment as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fell to the Toledo Mud Hens, 5-0.
The Yankees will miss Los Angeles Angels slugger Mike Trout in a couple of weeks when they make their West Coast road trip. Trout had surgery yesterday on a torn ulnar ligament in his left thumb and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. Trout injured the thumb on Sunday with a head first slide in Miami.
Have a great Tuesday! Twelve games left against the AL East in the current stretch…let’s make the most of it. A win today would be a good start…
Labels: Aaron Judge, Aroldis Chapman, Baltimore, Brad Brach, Chase Headley, Chris Carter, David Robertson, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jordan Montgomery, Mike Trout, MLB, New York, Orioles, Starlin Castro, Tyler Austin, Yankees
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Bid to sell $2.2b Xiaomi stake
Business | Avery Chen and Bloomberg 16 Jan 2019
An undisclosed institutional seller is in the market selling a stake in Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi (1810) to raise up to HK$2.22 billion at a discount of about 4 percent to 7 percent compared to yesterday's closing price of HK$9.96. Meanwhile, Apoletto Managers, one of Xiaomi's shareholders backed by Russian billionaire Internet investor Yuri Milner, has reduced its stake from 1.45...
An undisclosed institutional seller is in the market selling a stake in Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi (1810) to raise up to HK$2.22 billion at a discount of about 4 percent to 7 percent compared to yesterday's closing price of HK$9.96.
Meanwhile, Apoletto Managers, one of Xiaomi's shareholders backed by Russian billionaire Internet investor Yuri Milner, has reduced its stake from 1.45 billion shares to 855 million shares, or 9.25 percent to 4.99 percent of the total shareholding, after the initial public offering lockup ended on January 9.
Founder and CEO Lei Jun said that he expects the advent of next-generation wireless to energize demand for its smartphones. "I think we are at the eve of 5G. I believe when 5G phones start to get popular, the overall demand from China will recover," he said.
Xiaomi's share price has fallen over 41 percent since its market debut on July last year.
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Home > Art & Music > “A Bronx Tale” on Sale at Broward Center for the Performing Arts
“A Bronx Tale” on Sale at Broward Center for the Performing Arts
March 10th, 2019 John Delia Leave a comment Go to comments
Fort Lauderdale premiere engagement announced for
Broadway’s Hit New Musical
Book by Chazz Palminteri, Music by Alan Menken
and Lyrics by Glenn Slater
Directed by Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks
Choreographed by Sergio Trujillo
Will play the Broward Center for the Performing Arts June 11 – 23, 2019
Tickets go on sale Friday, March 15 at 10AM
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Friday, March 8, 2019. Producers Tommy Mottola, the Dodgers, Tribeca Productions and Evamere Entertainment are pleased to announce that the North American Tour of A BRONX TALE, the new musical featuring a book by Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri, music by Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award winner Alan Menken, and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Oscar and Tony Award nominee Glenn Slater, directed by two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro and four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, with choreography by Tony nominee Sergio Trujillo, will play the Broward Center for the Performing Arts for a limited two week run, June 11 – 23, 2019. Tickets will go on sale Friday, March 15 at 10 AM.
Tickets for A BRONX TALE will be available at the Broward Center AutoNation Box Office, 201 SW Fifth Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33312, browardcenter.org or call 954.462.0222. Orders for groups of ten (10) or more may be placed by calling 954.660.6307. Ticket prices start at $40.75*.
Hear directly from the creative team about the North American Tour!
Click here: https://youtu.be/0Pbiz1uumTY
A BRONX TALE premiered at the Tony Award-winning Paper Mill Playhouse to critical and popular acclaim in Spring 2016. A BRONX TALE opened on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre on December 1, 2016, following previews from November 3. The show ended its Broadway run on August 5, 2018, having played 700 performances and as the second longest running show in the history of the Longacre Theatre.
Based on the one-man show that inspired the now classic film, this streetwise musical takes audiences to the stoops of the Bronx in the 1960s—where a young man is caught between the father he loves and the mob boss he’d love to be. Featuring an original doo-wop score, this is a tale about respect, loyalty, love, and above all else: family.
The design team for A BRONX TALE includes Beowulf Boritt, Scenic Design; William Ivey Long, Costume Design; Howell Binkley, Lighting Design; Gareth Owen, Sound Design; Paul Huntley, Hair & Wig Design; Anne Ford-Coates, Makeup Design; Tara Rubin Casting, Casting; and Robert Westley, Fight Coordinator. Music Supervision and Arrangements are by Ron Melrose and Orchestrations are by Doug Besterman.
A BRONX TALE evolved from the one-man Off-Broadway play, A Bronx Tale, written and performed by Chazz Palminteri in 1989. During the original Off Broadway and subsequent Los Angeles engagements, Robert De Niro came to see the show, and brought the story and star Palminteri to the screen in 1993, making his film directorial debut in the process. Following the success of the film, Palminteri performed the one-man show A Bronx Tale on Broadway in the 2007-2008 Season.
A BRONX TALE’s Original Broadway Cast Album is now available on Ghostlight Records in digital formats, with CDs in stores and online.
For tour dates and more, please visit www.ABronxTaleTheMusical.com. Follow A Bronx Tale on Twitter: @BXTaleMusical, Facebook, and Instagram.
CHAZZ PALMINTERI (Book) wrote and performed his one-man show A Bronx Tale for the first time in 1989 before moving it off-Broadway. Mr. Palminteri went on to write the screenplay and co-star in the screen adaptation of A Bronx Tale alongside Robert De Niro. Mr. Palminteri has more than 55 movies to his credit as an actor, writer, and director, including The Usual Suspects, Bullets Over Broadway (Academy Award nomination), Analyze This, Hurlyburly, Mullholland Falls, Faithful (also written by Mr. Palminteri), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Yonkers Joe, Jolene and most recently Legend starring Tom Hardy. Mr. Palminteri had a recurring role on the hit show Modern Family and has starred in Blue Bloods. Mr. Palminteri directed the HBO series Oz (episode “Unnatural Disasters”), Showtime’s Women vs Men, and the feature film Noel starring Susan Sarandon, Paul Walker, and Robin Williams.
ALAN MENKEN (Music) composed the stage and film musicals Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Newsies, Aladdin and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Mr. Menken’s other stage musicals include God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz; A Christmas Carol; Sister Act and Leap of Faith. Mr. Menken’s film musicals also include Life With Mikey, Pocahontas, Hercules, The Shaggy Dog, Enchanted, Tangled and Mirror, Mirror. Some of Mr. Menken’s television credits include Galavant, The Neighbors, Lincoln, Sesame Street and more. Mr. Menken won eight Oscar Awards, 11 Grammy Awards (including Song of the Year), seven Golden Globe Awards, a Tony Award, an Olivier Award, a New York Drama Critics Award, a London Evening Standard Theatre Award, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Some of Mr. Menken’s other awards and honors include Billboard’s #1 single and album, Disney Legend, and honorary doctorates from NYU and the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Glenn Slater (Lyrics) co-created Disney’s worldwide smash Tangled (Grammy Winner, Oscar and Golden Globe nominations), and is a three-time Tony nominee for the international hit musicals The Little Mermaid, Sister Act, and current Broadway sensation School of Rock. With longtime collaborator Alan Menken, he wrote all the songs for two seasons of the cult-favorite Medieval musical TV series “Galavant” (Emmy nominee), and a song for the recent animated hit Sausage Party, as well as Disney’s Home On The Range and Broadway’s Leap of Faith. In the West End, Glenn provided book and lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies. His newest musical, A Bronx Tale, opens on Broadway in 2016. Glenn lives in New York City with his wife, composer Wendy Leigh Wilf, and their sons Benjamin and Daniel.
ROBERT DE NIRO (Director), considered one of the greatest American actors of all time, produced, directed and starred in many iconic films. Mr. De Niro won the 1974 Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role in The Godfather: Part II and the 1980 Academy Award for best actor for his role in Raging Bull. Mr. De Niro received Academy Award nominations for Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Awakenings, Cape Fear and Silver Linings Playbook. Mr. De Niro is a four-time New York Film Critics Circle Award winner for his work on Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Awakenings. In addition to winning the 1981 Golden Globe award for his work on Raging Bull and winning the 2011 Cecil B. DeMille Award, Mr. De Niro was nominated for a total of seven Golden Globe Awards. Mr. De Niro was nominated for six British
Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards. Mr. De Niro starred in many other films including Mean Streets, Bang the Drum, Analyze That, Meet the Fockers and more. Mr. De Niro made his Broadway debut in the 1986 play Cuba & His Teddy Bear. Mr. De Niro founded his own production company, Tribeca Film Center, and made his film directorial debut in 1993 with A Bronx Tale.
JERRY ZAKS (Director) won four Tony Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and an Obie Award. Mr. Zaks directed many Broadway shows including Hello, Dolly!, Meteor Shower, Sister Act, The Addams Family, Guys and Dolls, Six Degrees of Separation, Lend Me a Tenor, House of Blue Leaves, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Anything Goes, La Cage aux Folles, Little Shop of Horrors and more. Mr. Zaks received SDC’s Mr. Abbott Award for lifetime achievement and an honorary doctorate of fine arts from his alma mater, Dartmouth College. Mr. Zaks is a 2013 inductee to the Theater Hall of Fame.
SERGIO TRUJILLO (Choreographer) is the recipient of an Olivier Award for Memphis and a Tony Award nominee for choreography for On Your Feet! Mr. Trujillo had the honor of having four shows simultaneously running on Broadway: Tony Award Winning Best Musical Memphis (Olivier Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk and Astaire Award nominations), Tony/Olivier Award winning Best Musical Jersey Boys (Greenroom Award, Olivier, Drama Desk, Dora, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), The Addams Family, and Next to Normal (2010 Pulitzer Prize). Other Broadway credits: Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Hands on a Hardbody (Drama Desk nomination), Leap of Faith, Guys and Dolls (Astaire Award nomination) and All Shook Up. TV/Film credits include; Jersey Boys (directed by Clint Eastwood), “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Triple Sensation,” “The 14th American Comedy Awards,” “Broadway: The American Musical” for PBS. In December 2012, Mr. Trujillo was distinguished as one of the Top 100 Colombians in the world by President Juan Manuel Santos.
Follow A BRONX TALE on Twitter: @BXTaleMusical, Instagram: @BronxTaleMusical, or on Facebook
*All programs, artists, ticket prices, availability, dates and times are subject to change without notice. Additional fees may apply. Visit www.browardcenter.org for up-to-date information, details and performance schedules.
The Broward Center for the Performing Arts
The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is one of America’s premier performing arts venues, consistently ranked among the top ten in the country. Presenting more than 700 performances each year to more than 700,000 patrons, the Broward Center showcases a wide range of exciting cultural programming and events and offers one of the largest arts-in-education programs in the United States, serving more than 150,000 students annually.
The Broward Performing Arts Foundation, Inc. receives and maintains funds to sustain, develop, and secure the future of the Broward Center. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located in the Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District at 201 SW Fifth Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. For more information, visit www.BrowardCenter.org. #browardcenter #biftl
BROADWAY ACROSS AMERICA
Broadway Across America (BAA) is part of The John Gore Organization family of companies, which includes Broadway.com, The Broadway Channel, BroadwayBox.com and Group Sales Box Office. Led by 18-time Tony-winning theater producer John Gore (Owner & CEO), BAA is the foremost presenter of first-class touring productions in North America, operating in 45 markets with over 400,000 subscribers. Presentations include Disney’s The Lion King, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, The Phantom of the Opera and Hamilton. Current and past productions include The Band’s Visit, Beautiful, Cats, Chicago, Dear Evan Hansen, Hairspray, Mean Girls, The Producers and Waitress.
The John Gore Organization is the leading developer, producer, distributor and marketer of Broadway theatre worldwide. Under the leadership of 18-time Tony-winning theater producer and owner John Gore, its family of companies includes Broadway Across America, Broadway.com, The Broadway Channel, BroadwayBox.com, and Group Sales Box Office. The company presents shows in 45 cities across North America as well as on Broadway, Off-Broadway, London’s West End, Japan, and China. It has won Tony Awards in every producing category as well as numerous other Drama League, Drama Desk and Olivier awards.
Florida Theatrical Association – the non-profit presenter of Broadway in Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami – was founded with the charge of educating and developing new theater audiences and encouraging and preserving the presentation of touring Broadway theater. Since 1989 Florida Theatrical Association has presented over 1,050 Broadway performances and distributed over $1.6 million in scholarships and grants to arts organizations across the state of Florida.
Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy
At Bank of America, our focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors is critical to fulfilling our purpose of helping make people’s financial lives better. Our commitment to growing our business responsibly is embedded in every aspect of our company. It is demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our customers, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocate groups, such as community and environmental organizations, in order to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Learn more at www.bankofamerica.com/about, and connect with us on Twitter at @BofA_News.
Categories: Art & Music Tags: Broward Center for the performing arts, Musical
“Green Book” Best Picture now on Blu-ray “Babylon” Dealing with Discrimantion
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Chabad Rabbi Competes on CHOPPED
Leap of Faith episode will test rabbi’s culinary skills
by Dvora Lakein - New York
Heard the old joke about the rabbi, the monk, the nun, and the priest walking onto a show set? It’s a cliche certainly, but in this test kitchen, there’s nothing stale about it.
It is Leap of Faith, literally and otherwise, the latest episode of the Food Network’s popular cooking competition, Chopped. Rabbinic contestant, Rabbi Hanoch Hecht, Chabad’s representative to Rhinebeck, New York, faced off with three other clerics in the episode airing June 21, 2016.
Hecht, who gives kosher tutorials at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), was nominated for the show by a professional chef. He interviewed intensively at the Network’s Chelsea studios and then, he didn’t hear back. Months later, he got the call. “They wanted me there the following week, and I was in.
“I thought my participation would be a fabulous platform for raising awareness about keeping kosher in this evolving food market,” the 34-year-old shares. “Kosher presents a unique challenge that many other religions don’t face, in that there are not only prohibitions on what we eat, but also on how we prepare our food. The show was very accommodating. I was very grateful and touched that they were sensitive to my needs.”
Now in its 28th season, Chopped is one of the most popular food shows in this hot category. The premise is simple: four chefs are pitted against each other to create an appetizer, entree, and dessert, in three separate stages. The catch? They must use all of the (generally obscure) ingredients in the secret baskets they open at the start of each round.And, of course, they’re being timed.
“I was surprised at how real it all was,” says Hecht soon after the rigorous taping. “I think when you’re watching at home it’s hard to believe it’s all real. But when that competition begins, it’s very intense. Those time limits are genuine.”
When he isn’t cooking, Hecht teaches short Torah classes to businesspeople in Manhattan. Known as the Six-Minute Rabbi, Hecht (and his team) go to offices to present a personalized six-minute class to 30 individuals each week. The short lessons, “made for a generation with a 140-character attention span” allow for a few moments of spirituality in an otherwise hectic work day.
“The fact that I know how to take a tremendous amount of knowledge and condense it into six minutes certainly helped me here. I was able to pack an hour’s worth of cooking into 30 minutes.”
The classes he teaches regularly at the CIA also served him well. Hecht instructs would-be chefs on the intricacies of kosher laws. He explains why certain animals and birds are permissible, what makes utensils kosher, and the concept of kosher supervision and the attending supervisor. Being in that environment gives him, “an appreciation for food, not in a gluttonous way, but in a spiritual way. We can elevate all the stages of preparation and eating and utilize that energy in our service of the Almighty.”
At home in Rhinebeck, a village in the Hudson Valley, Hecht tends to his 1,200 square foot garden. This season, he already has lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, blueberries, raspberries, and grapes growing. It’s important to him that his children are involved: he brings them outside to teach them to respect not only the ingredients, but also the process. The youngsters help garden and collect peels and produce to compost, another passion of Hecht’s. “Going green is a principle in Judaism,” he believes. “The law of “baal tashchis,” not to waste, applies equally to things and the earth.
“Because I spend time in the garden, and in the food industry, I went in with the confidence that I would be familiar with the mystery ingredients in the baskets.”
But there was one area where his confidence flagged. Before the taping, Chef Richard Coppedge, a professor of Baking and Pastry Arts, gave the rabbi a primer on baking. “It is a science, while cooking is more by feel, and I really had very little experience with it,” says Hecht. “But I can’t say if I even made it to that round.”
That’s the thing. Until the show airs, there’s a lot that Hecht can’t say. He has plans to watch the episode with friends and family in Midtown’s Edison Ballroom. That’s when they’ll find out if he won the $10,000 prize. And also, what was inside his baskets.
My kids and I LOVE watching Chopped. We loved it even more when we saw the Rabbi on. We were all hoping and praying he would win. It was touching when he said what he was going to do with the money if he won. When he said he wanted to bring smiles to children and give toys, I was in tears. I have a nonprofit called sweet dreams for kids, where we give new pajamas to kids in the hospital. We started this because my youngest is a cancer survivor. We wish you would have won, but you are a winner in our eyes, especially for what you wanted to do with the money. Mazel tov!!!
Mazal Tov! As someone who keeps kosher I often watch Chopped and ask myself why there is no Kosher food episode! I'd also like more shows on the Food Network that deal with kosher meals. I can't wait to see this episode! When does it air?
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Beautiful Day Lyrics
Always Lyrics
The first single from All That You Can't Leave Behind which became one of the biggest hits of the band's career and catalysed the worldwide success of the album. The single went on to win 'Song of the Year', 'Record of the Year' and 'Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group with Vocal' at the Grammy Awards.
The Guardian said the song 'strikes an appropriate note of putting the past behind you and getting on with the rest of your life' while Robert Hilburn of the LA Times said it was evidence that the band's music was again 'graced by the glorious textures of Edge's guitar, and [that] Bono has dropped the masks'. The song's huge popular appeal was extended for football fans when it was chosen as the theme tune for the UK's 'Match of the Day.'
It debuted on the road with the Elevation Tour in Miami in March 2001 - and has never left the set since. On U2360° in 2011, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly introduced the track each night on video, with a special message for his wife, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords - 'I'm looking forward to coming home. Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows.'
Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno
Richard Rainey
HQ Dublin
"This tastes very sweet. You think to yourself, you're a rock band, you don't need the pop charts, but you do need the pop charts. Singles are what makes rock sharp, and we've not been great at singles. I can't tell you how excited we feel, we've been around for a while and to hear this song on the radio, it feels very special."
Bono to BBC Radio One when Beautiful Day went to No.1 in the UK
"It's good, back to their rock'n'roll days. My version is different - it's pumping funky house."
Paul Oakenfold on his dance-floor remix of Beautiful Day.
"It was actually a difficult mix, just trying to get it 'in the boat,' so to speak. It was this extraordinary, beautiful thing - like a beautiful marlin that they catch off the coast of Florida, you know? You could break your arm getting it into the boat. It was a bit like that."
Bono, on the recording of Beautiful Day
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Posted on October 13, 2017 October 14, 2017 by Robert Daniels
‘Blade Runner 2049’: Losing is Only Half the Journey
Over thirty-five years after Ridley Scott’s noir-classic Blade Runner debuted and became a cult sensation, Denis Villeneuva has returned with an installment that does away with much of the religious and authoritarian zeitgeist of the former. Instead, Blade Runner 2049 focuses on the human.
Villeneuva’s most decisive jumps from Scott’s iteration are the use of voice over and change of soundtrack. Most of Blade Runner sounds like it should be a Bogart film set in a dark alley of Brooklyn, with its plaintive horns and Decker’s (Harrison Ford) monotone voice. 2049 dispenses with that signature mainly because K’s (Ryan Gosling) voice is flat out boring (I kid). Its real “drive” isn’t to observe the world around K, but to observe K.
2049 has two mysteries. Its foreground mystery is the discovery of Deckard and Rachel’s (Sean Young) child. Yes, replicants can have children. The ability for a species to procreate means that they are real, and to a point, autonomous. In a society that depends on slave labor, this is a big no-no. Nevertheless, there are two main factions (the third I’ll leave out because it’s a spoiler), Wallace (Jared Leto) and Luv (Silvia Hoeks) who want to breed more slaves through procreation, and Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright) who is afraid of how this revelation will destroy society.
2049’s background mystery is the questioning of what it means to be human. The original Blade Runner touches on the effect that lifespan and memories have on humanity. However, the two do not constitute complete humanity (Dogs have a decent lifespan and have memories too, but they’re not human). While 2049 certainly focuses on implanted memories and lifespan, its addition of Joi (Ana de Armas), K’s holographic girlfriend, adds a layer first brought about in Spike Jonze’s Her. It is how we tie procreation and sensual contact to humanity (And yes, dogs do procreate too if you didn’t already know).
While Bautista plays his role as the large guy who gets into a fight, and Robin Wright is the cold-hearted shrill, it’s Joi who is the most indelible of the secondary characters. Though she’s one-dimensional and doesn’t have the human quality of self-preservation, she is searching for humanity. One of the most touching moments of the film is when she’s able to walk outside into the rain because K has bought her a device that allows her to now be trapped to a projector. Though we don’t know if she can feel the rain, we do know that the rain can feel her. And somehow that interaction with the outside world is telling us that nature says she’s real.
In fact, it says something about our culture that visions of the future no longer feature neon, but holographic and interactive screens. Lights don’t constitute the future, the immersion and animation of our surroundings do. The grandest and most melancholic visual of 2049 is K walking through the snowy streets of Los Angeles, hiding his face in his dusty green coat as the futuristic city, its giant-sized ads, its fur-coat-covered-prostitutes, and its mixture of run down and brightly lit Asian-character-laden-buildings pass beside him. It’s an image that brings to mind Rorschach of Watchmen, and it’s one that will be of the most iconic portions of this film. It will also earn the Cinematographer, Roger Deakins, an Academy Award.
Nevertheless, what was most surprising about 2049 is the lack of screen time for Leto. Though Tyrell’s character wasn’t greatly featured in the first installment, his name seemed to be everywhere. Yes, the technology for K’s girlfriend Joi is made by Wallace’s company, but it’s difficult to know how much power Wallace really has. He has an assistant who has to kill to get things done. Shouldn’t a despotic Amazon-like figure have more power (And yes, Amazon will make replicants. They’ll be going for $5,000 each with free shipping, limited lifespan)?
One of the keys to 2049 is the fact that we know K is a replicant. The journey isn’t to find out if he’s a replicant, the journey is to find out how human a replicant can be. The answer to this question can only be answered by Deckard, a retired Blade Runner who lives in an abandoned casino where a dirty bomb once landed. He is a relic inhabiting a land of relics. It’s not often you get to see Ford cry in a role, but he still is one of the best actors when it comes to using his eyes. His crying over the memory of Rachel, his long dead wife, as he is surrounded by the cold wooden austerity of Wallace’s “office,” is the clear humanity Vileneuva has been searching for.
Though Blade Runner 2049 is different from the former Blade Runner in style and content, it still retains the central question that Philip K Dick was searching for: “What does it mean to be human?” I don’t think the question is ever fully answered.
Maybe the ability to procreate does create a more tangible transaction from sex, but it doesn’t make one human. Instead, I believe it is the ability to share an emotional connection. It’s the relationship K and Joi have and Deckard and Rachel had. Their relationships are more human than we’ll ever find in our everyday lives. The ability to feel loss is the most human emotion possible. In a world with replicants and holographic ads, where nothing seems real, the fear and sorrow of losing is the only thing that is real. That’s what blade runners are really wiping out, love-based emotion……….
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Tagged with:Ana de Armas, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, Dave Bautista, Deckard, Denis Villleneuve, film, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, movies, Philip K Dick, Replicants, reviews, Ridley Scott, Robin Wright, Roger Deakins, Ryan Gosling, Sean Young, Sylvia Hoeks
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Family of deaf man shot by OKC police hires attorney
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma -- The police chief of Oklahoma City said Thursday the fatal shooting of a deaf man has raised "a lot of concerns" about training for officer interaction with people with hearing or speech problems, and he plans to meet with advocates for those who have such impairments.
Chief Bill Citty said the shooting of 35-year-old Magdiel Sanchez "is something that's tragic, either way." He added that he gives condolences to the Sanchez family.
Officers who responded to a hit-and-run accident Tuesday night encountered Sanchez holding a metal pipe in his right hand. Citty said Sanchez didn't respond to commands to drop the pipe and was fatally shot.
Surveillance video obtained by KOCO News 5 shows the hit-and-run. A pickup truck collides with a car. As the car hits the pickup in its side, the truck rolls over and then comes to rest in an upright position on its wheels. The car doesn't stop and the pickup drives away, too.
A witness that followed the pickup led police to an address where Sanchez's father, who was driving the truck, had parked the vehicle.
Officers arrived at the home and Sanchez was outside holding a metal pipe. Witnesses there yelled "he can't hear you" before the officers fired, but they didn't hear them saying that, police said.
One officer fired a Taser and the other a gun. Sgt. Chris Barnes, the one who shot the gun, is on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Meanwhile, Sanchez family spokesman Julio Rayos told The Associated Press on Thursday that attorney Melvin C. Hall has been hired to represent the family. Hall, who specializes in employment law and civil rights cases, was an attorney for the family of Terence Crutcher, who was fatally shot in September 2016 by Tulsa police officer Betty Jo Shelby.
The 40-year-old Crutcher, who was black and unarmed, was shot by Shelby after she encountered him on a road where his SUV was stopped. Shelby, who is white, was acquitted of first-degree manslaughter. Crutcher's family has filed a lawsuit over his killing.
oklahomadeafofficer involved shootingu.s. & worldman shotman killed
Copyright © 2019 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Underground blast creates 'Tremors'-like scene in Virginia
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This document “Privacy Policy” (hereinafter referred to as the “Policy”) is the terms for using the User’s Personal information by Habr Limited Liability Company (hereinafter referred to as “Habr”).
Habr LLC
Entered into force on 25.12.2018
User’s consent:
By checking the box “I agree” accompanied with the link to this Policy you (hereinafter also referred to as “User”) with your own free will and for your benefit give your written consent to the processing of User’s Information for the purposes and under the terms and conditions stipulated by this Policy.
This Policy is an integral part of the User Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement”) posted and/or available on the Internet at: https://account.habr.com/info/agreement/, as well as other agreements entered into with the User, when it is expressly stipulated by the terms and conditions thereof. Therefore, when executing the above said agreements by methods defined therein including by visiting and using the Application you fully accept the terms of this Policy.
Methods of processing of Personal Information include any action (operation) or a combination of actions (operations) with Personal Information including collection, recording, systematization, storage, updating (refreshment, modification), extraction, use, transfer (distribution, provision, access), depersonalization, blocking, deletion, destruction in the purposes established by this Policy with/without the use of automated facilities at the discretion of Habr.
The terms and definitions provided for by the Agreement are used herein, as well as other agreements entered into with the User, unless otherwise provided for by this Policy or follows from the merits thereof. In other cases, the terms used in the Policy shall be interpreted in accordance with the applicable laws, the business practice, or scientific doctrine.
Personal information in this Policy means as follows:
Information that the User provides about him/her on registration or authorization, as well as during further use of the Application and/or the System, including personal data of the User.
Data transmitted in a depersonalized form in automatic mode, depending on the settings of the User’s software.
Habr is entitled to establish requirements for the composition of the User’s Personal Information, which are mandatory for the use of the Application and the Service based thereon. If certain information is not marked by the Habr as mandatory, it is provided or disclosed by the User at his/her discretion.
When being registered, the User shall indicate in the mandatory manner the account name (login), e-mail address and password. When registering, Habr creates a unique identifier for each User (user_id). The User ID is linked to the User profile information. To enter into the Agreement, the User may also provide the following personal data about himself/herself: name, title, telephone number.
If an individual acts for the benefit of an institution, the name, taxpayer identification number, tax registration reason code, primary state registration number, registration address and postal address of such institution, corporate telephone number, settlement account, service bank name, and SWIFT can additionally be provided.
The aforementioned information about the institution does not qualify as personal data.
If an individual acts as an individual entrepreneur or in his/her benefit, at will or with the direct written consent of such individual entrepreneur, the following data may be additionally provided: surname and initials of the individual entrepreneur, taxpayer identification number, primary state registration number, address for correspondence, telephone number, settlement account, the name of the serving bank, and SWIFT.
Publicly available information. At his/her discretion, in order to fill out a profile in the System, the User can also provide the following personal data about himself/herself: surname, name, patronymic, gender, date of birth, city of residence, employer, title, and information about himself/herself in a free form. By adding information to the profile, the User makes such information available to an unlimited number of persons, i.e. makes it publicly available, taking into account the settings for displaying profile information in the System.
Habr will not verify the reliability of the provided Personal Information and whether the User has the necessary consent for the processing thereof in accordance with this Policy, believing that the User acts in good faith, carefully and makes every effort to keep such information up to date and obtain all necessary agreements of the subjects of personal data.
Habr collects and stores data about the User’s activities in the System, using log files. In the event that the actions are committed by an authorized User, such information is related to the User ID.
The User understands and accepts the possibility of using third party software on the Website and in the Mobile Application; as a result, such persons can receive and transmit the data in a depersonalized form as stipulated in the paragraph 2.1.2 hereof.
The aforementioned third party software includes:
web analytics services: Google Analytics, Yandex. Metrica, Yandex AppMetrica, Fabric; Firebase; mediator (http://mediator.mail.ru)
analytic tools (pixels) of social networks: Facebook, Vkontakte;
advertising systems: Google DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), Google Adsense, Yandex Advertising Network (YAN), Criteo.
The scope and conditions for collecting impersonal data by using third party software are determined directly by its titleholders and may include:
browser data (type, version, cookie);
operating system data (type, version, screen resolution);
query data (time, source, IP address).
other impersonal information about User’s activity in the Application.
As a part of rendering certain types of services, Habr may provide Users with the opportunity to independently host a software on separate pages of the Website for collecting and processing impersonal data similar to that stipulated in paragraph 2.7 hereof, as a result of which such Users may receive the data stipulated in paragraph 2.1.2 hereof in a depersonalized form. The scope and terms of collection of such data in this case is determined by the User who placed the software to collect and process impersonal data, but cannot contradict this Policy.
Habr shall not be held liable for using the User’s Personal Information by third parties interacting with the User within the framework of using the Application and/or the System.
Legal basis of processing of Personal information
The legal basis on which Habr relies for the use of Personal information includes:
Processing of Personal information where User has given consent for one or more specific purposes;
Processing of Personal information that is necessary for performing a contract to which User are party;
Processing of Personal information that is necessary to take steps at User’s request prior to entering into a contract;
Processing of Personal information that is necessary for Habr to comply with a legal obligation according to applicable law.
Policy with regard to children
Habr does not intentionally collect personal data from children younger than 18, it does not request it and does not allow them to use the Application. Persons under 18 are not allowed to provide personal information including name, address, telephone number and e-mail. If Habr gets to know that the information was collected from a child under 18, Habr shall immediately delete such information. If you think we could have obtained any information from a child or about a child under 16, please, contact us through e-mail: support@habr.com.
Purposes for Personal Information Processing
Habr performs processing, including collection and storage of the Personal Information required for entering into and executing agreements with the User, and made public by the User by filling in the profile and making settings in the Personal Account.
Habr is entitled to use the Personal Information for the following purposes:
Implementation of the functional opportunities of the System to create and display the User’s Profile in the Application. Habr stores, organizes and displays the Users’ profiles in the Application, containing the Personal Information that Users have made publicly available.
Entering into the agreements for using the Application and the System; the Agreement shall be entered into remotely by the exchange of electronic documents signed by a basic e-signature. In this case, a pair “login – password” or an e-mail address can be used as the User’s basic e-signature key. Therefore, they are requested during the registration.
Fulfillment of obligations under concluded agreements, including providing the User with access to the Application and the System; requests for access to the System are accepted by using the Aplication’s software and e-mail.
Identification of the User within the fulfillment of the obligations under agreements concluded with him/her; The User’s Personal Account is linked to the User's login-password and the e-mail address.
Providing technical support in regards to the use of the Application and the System; Calls to the support service are accepted by using the Application and e-mail.
Providing communication with the User for the purpose of information services and improving the quality of the Service under the concluded Agreements, including by way of notification with the involvement of third parties; Communication with the User is carried out via e-mail or by the subscriber number of the phone number provided by the User at the registration or in the process of using the Application and/or the System.
Use of depersonalized data for targeting advertising and/or informational materials by age, gender, other characteristics.
Marketing, statistical and other research based on depersonalized data. Data from the data collection systems stipulated in the paragraph 2.7 hereof is collected and analyzed in anonymized form to find out how much time Users spend on different sections of the Application, their interests and preferences.
Enforcement of Legal Provisions. As the organizer of the information dissemination on the Internet, the Habr stores information about the receipt, transmission, delivery and/or processing of written text, images, sounds, video or other electronic messages of Internet users and information about such users for one year upon completion of such actions.
User’s Rights to User’s Personal Information
Subject to specific provisions of applicable law, the User has the right:
to be informed about the collection and use of his/her personal data.
to access his/her personal data and have it corrected if it is wrong or incomplete.
to restrict the processing of his/her personal data where the accuracy of the personal data is contested, where the processing is unlawful, and where Habr no longer needs the personal data for the purposes for which Habr has processed it.
to object to the processing of his/her personal data and also restrict its processing in those instances where Habr undertook processing of it in carrying out a task in the public interest or where necessary for our legitimate interest where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.
to withdraw consent that User had given to the collection and processing of his/her personal data at any time. If User does withdraw his/her consent to the collection and processing of personal data, that withdrawal shall not affect the lawfulness of any processing by Habr that is based on the consent User had given before he/she withdrew it.
to obtain the deletion of his/her personal data when it is no longer relevant to the purposes for which it was collected or processed, when User has withdrawn consent and there is no basis for us to continue processing, when User has objected to further processing and there is no compelling interest for continued processing, and when the data was unlawfully processed.
not to be a subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal affects concerning User or similarly affecting User, except where there is a lawful basis for continued processing.
to receive personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine readable form for the purpose of data portability in those instances where Habr processes by automated means personal data that User has provided.
These rights may be exercised by using the tools Habr offers in the Application or by contacting Habr with specific request through the methods described below. Habr will address any such requests in a timely manner and according to applicable law. In certain cases, Habr may ask User to verify identity before acting on User’s request. If User is unsatisfied with Habr’s response, User may refer his/her complaint to the relevant supervisory authority in User’s jurisdiction.
Personal Information Storage Retention
All Personal Information that is collected will be stored only as long as is necessary to accomplish the purpose for which it is collected, or as long as is permitted or required by applicable law. Periodically, Habr will review its data processing systems to determine whether or not the purposes for the collection and processing of User’s personal data remain valid. That determination will be based on factors that include, but are not limited to, whether or not you are still in contact with Habr, whether or not any requests made by User from Habr have been fulfilled (including any follow-up tasks), whether or not there is a contractual relationship between User and Habr, and whether or not there is a contractual or legal basis for continuing to retain User’s personal data. Based on that review and any notifications received from data subjects, Habr will update its systems.
To improve the quality of the System and to ensure the possibility of legal protection, Habr is entitled to keep log files about actions taken by the User in the context of using the Application and/or System, as well as in regards to the conclusion and execution by the User of the Agreement and other agreements on its part, within 1 (one) year upon their commission.
Requirements for the Personal Information Protection
Habr stores the Personal Information and provides its protection against unauthorized access and distribution in accordance with internal terms and regulations.
With regard to the User’s Personal Information, its confidentiality is protected, except for publicly available information (paragraph 2.4 hereof) and in other cases when the technology of the Application or the Service provided on its basis or the configuration of the User’s software provides for an open exchange of information with other Users of the Application or with any Internet users.
Transfer of the Personal Information
Habr is entitled to transfer Personal Information to third parties in the following cases:
The User expressed his/her consent to such actions, including when the User applies the settings of the used software that do not limit the provision of certain information;
The transfer is necessary in the context of the User’s use of the Application’s functionality and/or the specificity of the Service based on it;
Due to the transfer of the Application to the possession, use or property of such third party, including the assignment of rights under contracts concluded with the User in benefit of such third party;
Upon request of a court or other state authority within the procedure established by law;
To protect the rights and legitimate interests of Habr in connection with failure to comply with the agreements entered into with the User.
Amendments to and deletion of the Personal Information
The User is entitled at any time to independently edit the Personal Information in his/her Personal Account provided by himself/herself during registration or authorization.
The User is entitled to delete his/her own account or to exercise the right to withdraw consent to the processing of his/her personal data by sending to Habr a request to delete his/her account at the address: support@habr.com.
Amendments to the Privacy Policy
This Policy may be amended or terminated unilaterally by Habr without prior notice to the User. The new version of the Policy becomes effective after posting on the Habr’s Website, unless otherwise provided for by the new version of the Policy.
The current version of the Policy is on the Habr’s Website at: https://account.habr.com/info/confidential/.
Address: 2/1 Spartakovskiy Lane, Section 3, 105082, Moscow, Habr LLC
Any questions related to this Policy can be mailed to support@habr.com
The Russian Federation is outside the European Economic Area. An adequacy decision by the Commission with respect to the Russian Federation is absent.
The representative of Habr in European Union is HABR BLOCKCHAIN PUBLISHING LTD. Registered office at Diagorou, 4, Kermia building, 6th floor, office 601, 1097, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Русский About Blog Feedback User agreement Privacy policy
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Minna Gombell
Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (3) | Trivia (6)
Born May 28, 1892 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Died April 14, 1973 in Santa Monica, California, USA
Birth Name Minna Marie Gombel
Nicknames Winifred Lee
Nancy Gardner
Nancy Carter
Mini Bio (1)
A doctor's daughter, the versatile actress Minna Gombell had a successful career on the stage from 1912 to the end of the 1920's, appearing often in comedic roles, almost always in leads. She had a reputation as a fast learner, capable of reading and comprehending a script in a matter of hours. This ability served her well as an understudy early in her career. She made her Broadway debut in 1913 in 'Madam President' and later appeared in several productions of her stage director husband Myron C. Fagan (for instance,'Nancy's Private Affair',1930).
Minna began her film career in 1929. Although her specialty was street-wise, tough-talking blondes, she displayed quite a repertoire of varied characters during her movie career. She was best friend and steadying influence on Sally Eilers in Bad Girl (1931), a conflicted and unhappy mother in After Tomorrow (1932), the cold wife of The Thin Man (1934), a waspish wife in Babbitt (1934), brassy burlesque performers in Stepping Sisters (1932), a spunky wagon-line owner in Doomed Caravan (1941), and a tough nurse presiding over The Snake Pit (1948). She also had occasional leads, for instance as the gold-digger Stella in Bachelor's Affairs (1932), a comedy with Adolphe Menjou. An underrated actress, she enlivened many a film with her presence.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis
Spouse (3)
Joseph W. Sefton, Jr. (1881-1966) (1933 - 1947) ( divorced)
Howard Chesham Rumsey (9 March 1916 - 1921) ( divorced)
Myron C. Fagan (? - 12 May 1972) ( his death)
Started her movie career under the name Nancy Gardner.
The 1900 census lists her family as living at 835 W. Fayette St. in Baltimore (MD) and the 1910 census shows them owning and residing at 1704 W. Madison St., also in Baltimore.
Her father William was a prominent German-born Baltimore physician and her mother Emma was a first-generation American whose parents were also from Germany.
She and Duncan McRae both made their Broadway debuts in the same production of the play "Miss President" by Jose G. Levy, Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber. The production ran from September 15, 1913, to some time in January 1914, at the Garrick Theatre. Fannie Ward was also in the cast.
Was in four Oscar Best Picture nominees Bad Girl (1931), The Thin Man (1934), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and The Snake Pit (1948) with The Best Years of Our Lives winning Best Picture of 1946.
Buried at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore with her parents.
Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites
View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro
Birthdays: May 28
Actresses of the 1930s
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Beauties of 1892
created 4 days ago
Character Actors - The Mortar Between the Bricks
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sunday in “the spiritual home of britain’s left-wing intelligentsia”
I’m not sure exactly why I’m driven to record my familal jaunts, my Sundays, in bland photoessays on here. The one I wrote two weeks ago worked out pretty well, so whatever, I’ll keep doing it and see what happens.
We had no plans when we woke up this morning. Today is my sleep-late day and I actually made it to 9 AM, which is rare. I’m headed into old man territory, very suddenly, with my sleep patterns. For my entire adult life, I’ve gone to bed only begrudgingly before 2 AM, and while work often mandated an early rise, if permitted I’d sleep fairly late. All of a sudden, in the last few months, I’m down before midnight and up before the alarm rings, generally no later than 7 AM.
We had no plans. It suddenly strikes me that Sunday afternoons, and what you do with them, might be read in the same way that one reads a dream. Left to one’s own devices, without the pressures of work (even if the mandate to mind children remains) one’s leisure choices form patterns that sometimes are only discernable after the fact, and sometime not really discernable at all.
I don’t really know why I woke with a strong desire to go to Islington, to Upper Street to be exact. We’d passed through on the bus a few months ago, and it’s not all that far from our house. And we’ve been around Angel for various reasons (me for Kinofist what seems like a long, long time ago and both of us together to buy couches when we moved into our place). But never to Upper Street. It’d take changing buses at Finsbury Park to get there, but buses are easier than the Underground, as we are always a large and heavily encumbered party-of-four at this point.
At the busstop near my house, we couldn’t take the first bus that came by, as there were already two strollers onboard. Another nine minutes. So I walked away to have a cigarette. When I returned my wife was having “the smoking talk” with my oldest. Ah me. Bet you my remaining days of nicotene-tint are few and getting fewer all the time. It’s just what happens, isn’t it… I suppose it’s for the best.
Ah there we are. Upper Street. There’s a farmers market on Sundays behind Islington Town Hall, but we didn’t want to keep the produce all day in the heat, so we bought nothing but pastries. The place was loaded with Americans – another woman with her own set of two kids was dropping her purchases into a Trader Joe’s bag, which made us chuckle – fucking Californians! Our own bag comes from a co-op in the rust-belt city where we lived before all this – and almost certainly marks us as academics in the Expat staring contests that occur constantly in neighborhood like this one.
A few minutes later my wife and the kids ducked into a children’s store and I had a cigarette out on the street, and took the photo that appears above. A second later, I turned to the right, and saw….. this:
Mexican food! In London! I’ve had it exactly once in the more than 1.5 years I’ve been here. It simply doesn’t exist as a food category here – there’s like a total of eight places in the entire city, and generally if you look one up and head there you find that it’s closed for one reason or another. I bounded back to the wife, who was coming out of the shop, wildly pointing toward, yes, that! And yelling, yes, yes I will, yes we will eat there! Yes! But she reminded me, though, that it was only 10:45 AM, so a little early for burritos. And plus, “tex-mex” is an ill-omen, and doubleplus (or doubleminus), good Mexican restaurants don’t ever serve tapas too. (Look closely at the sign). WTF? Yeah, Mexico is not in Spain, hmmm… I conceded she had a point, at least about the tapas part, and so we moved on.
But here’s the kicker. This Desperados, object of my gleeful pleading, is located on the site of the former Granita Restaurant, where the “Granita Pact” between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown was supposedly sealed in 1994. According to wikipedia:
According to several authors, Gordon Brown agreed not to stand in the Labour Party leadership election, effectively giving Blair a clear run, and letting him lead the Labour Party in the 1997 general election. In return, Brown would be allowed wide powers over domestic policy. This was apparently confirmed by a copy of a note published in The Guardian in June 2003. The note mentions Blair’s commitment to a “fairness agenda” consisting of “social justice, employment opportunities and skills” under a Labour government.
Further, according to the Guardian, if we had gone in, we might have gotten to sit at the very table, preserved as it was, where this deal that in the long-run seems to have wrecked the Labour Party, perhaps permanently, was hashed out. I hope, when (if!) my wife reads this post, she realizes that my world-historical radar is very much in operation, even if it is oddly connected with my melted cheese radar system, and that she should always listen and willingly concede to my choices in lunchtime restaurantage!
(Hmmm… now I’m wondering if any world-historical events took place at the site of the Fuddruckers on Rt.1 right by the turnoff for the NJ Turnpike… I used to make my wife take me there for birthday dinners during grad school, because of the melted cheese machine. They should dig for Jimmy Hoffa in the parking lot!)
There is a Waterstones bookshop in Islington. I have to admit, I like going to a decent Waterstones better than the crappy little store in my neighborhood. On the front table, we saw this:
My wife made the same mistake that I did when I first saw this one. We had a long and lovely talk last night about aggregate fiction, and she lifted it from the table thinking…. But nope, no. If it were Twenty People, Two Years we’d be in business. But as it is, no not aggregate – just sentimental romantic trope. Pooh. I bought the first volume of Ballard’s Complete Short Stories and Ian Sinclair’s London Orbital.
I won’t have time to read either anytime soon, but I buy books when I am happy. And I was happy today. We ate lunch at Pizza Express. Soon, I will have eaten at all 400 or so PE outlets. During lunch, I goofed with my older daughter and discussed with my wife the strange fact that in London, people eat at chain restaurants all the time, while in NYC it would be considered quite gauche to eat at chain places. That is to say, there exists here a whole category of middle to upper-middle level restaurants that basically dominate the sub-really-fancy spectrum of eating, while in America it’s hard not to think TGIFridays when you see the same place in more than a single neighborhood. My pet theory about this divergence is that hip American cities have been populated with refugees from the suburbs (comme moi) who grew up eating and lower-middle to upper-middle tier chains on the side of highways. (For the record, Fuddruckers is distinctly sub-lower-middle, just in case you’re tempted to try….) and thus run away from them en-masse when they acquire the West Elm accoutred urban pad of their dreams. I imagine that labour issues are significant too – these fucking chains are rather merciless over here, and there’s not the endless supply of undocumented Latin Americans to shuffle the plates and make the salads.
Weird. There’s a mall in Islington. I like its name: The N1 Mall. Maybe everything should be named after its postcode – far more generic, rational, clean. (Big huge post coming soon, in the hopper, on city names, station names, predicated by an act of barbarity back in Brooklyn.) My youngest decided to poop voluminously, voluminously enough to make it through the clothes. Back with the first one, wouldn’t we have panicked… But we’re veteran parents now and so we just pulled over and took care of business right there in the stroller. Much, much nicer the second time around, I have to say. But malls never look right in the UK – or really anywhere but America. Why is this? Ah, because it’s nicer over here and they simply don’t belong.
How much nicer? This much nicer….
From what I can tell, it’s a co-op-ized former estate built on the site of a V-1 bomb attack during WWII. Islington took quite a lot of bomb damage during the war, and this is the reason why Caledonian Road, for instance, is basically a several mile long block of public or ex-public housing estates. This one (I think it’s now known as the Half Moon Crescent Co-op, though I’m not exactly sure…) is bucolic and lovely, and I sort of wish that I lived there…. But BoBos like us settle where the schools are good, where the Ofsted ratings top 90… And so we are where we are. Which is good, which is fine…
You can see the very top of my wife’s head in the picture, by the way….
We had two sleeping children by the time we boarded the bus on Caledonian Road for the trip back home. We stopped somewhere and looked at a copy of the Times whle they slept, especially the cover article about Michael Jackson’s nanny:
She confided: “When Paris had her birthday this April, I wanted to buy balloons, things, to make a happy birthday. There was no money in the house. I had to put everything on my personal credit card. I brought people to clean the house. The room of the kids needed to be cleaned. But they weren’t paid.”
Revealed within her account of their love-hate relationship was Jackson’s everyday life as a father and drug addict. Grace told me of pumping out his stomach after he took too many drugs and of how dirty and unkempt he became towards the end. Her stories of his attitude to the children shocked me.
Hard to know what to say to all that, and so we went home. It’s taken me over three hours to write this post, as my wife’s been upstairs working on a book proposal and I’ve been downstairs with the kids. One watched Cinderella for a bit, the other would sleep for 15 minute bursts only after 20 minutes of carrying her about.
I’m starting to think that I’d like to write a book someday, perhaps even someday soon, about Sundays. I certainly seem to have a lot to say about them. (Interesting to note that back at the founding of LS I was very against Long Sunday as a title – I favoured Por Ahora – maybe I’m slowing out of radicalism or something as I age, or slowing into another sort of radicalism, who knows…)
In his Politics of Time, Peter Osborne at one point quotes Benjamin’s One-Way Street:
In Nadja, Breton and Nadja are the lovers who convert everything that we have experienced on mournful railway journeys… on Godforsaken Sunday afternoons in the proletarian quarters of the great cities, in the first glance through the rain-blurred windows of a new apartment, into revolutionary experience, if not action. They bring the immense force of ‘atmosphere’ concealed in these things to the point of explosion.
I think it might just be my favorite snippet of critical prose that I’ve ever come across, even if I can’t decide for the life of me whether I agree with Benjamin here, with even the basic principles behind what he is saying. I go back and forth, and in a sense this oscillation, is an index of the rhythm of my entire intellectual life in all of its dimensions. And not just my intellectual life, but the whole burrito really.
Posted in everyday, london, sunday
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August 1, 2011 / 9:39 AM / 8 years ago
FACTBOX-Key political risks to watch in Congo
Jonny Hogg
KINSHASA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo is seeking stability while battling economic woes and rebel insurgencies as it gears up for elections later this year.
The polls for the presidency and parliament, due in late 2011, will be the second since the official end to the 1998-2003 war, which drew in six foreign armies and resulted in the deaths of 5 million people. Here are some factors to watch:
President Joseph Kabila came to power after his father was assassinated in 2001, winning presidential elections in 2006.
Rather than pushing through steps towards decentralisation set out in the constitution, Kabila has concentrated power and analysts say political oppression is on the rise.
Kabila’s chances of re-election later this year were boosted when parliament approved constitutional changes that scrapped the possibility of a run-off between the two leading candidates if neither has an absolute majority.
What to watch:
— Is the election timetable workable? The polls are due to take place on Nov. 28 but there are doubts over the date.
— The leading opposition parties have said the plan is unworkable. . The International Crisis Group think tank has warned of potential violence and chaos unless Congolese authorities shore up preparations.
— Electoral planning. By the end of June, more than three quarters of country’s estimated 31 million eligible voters had registered, but the process is going slowly and could lead to delays in several places, including Kinshasa, an opposition stronghold. The head of the electoral commission is close to Kabila, raising concerns over its neutrality.
— Can Congo’s fractured opposition unite around a single candidate for the first round? There is talk of a possible triumvirate, with veteran opposition figure Etienne Tshisekedi linking up with Vital Kamerhe, a former campaign manager of Kabila’s, and Jean-Pierre Bemba’s MLC party. However, official negotiations have yet to begin and analysts say a failure to unify would hand Kabila victory.
— Bemba’s trial. The former vice president and leader of the MLC is being tried before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accused of war crimes in the Central African Republic. The MLC named Bemba its presidential candidate in July - and many in Congo say he would be a strong presidential contender if he were acquitted in time.
— Political crackdown. There are already allegations from opposition politicians that their supporters are facing intimidation at the hands of the authorities whilst the government has scrapped the old coalition for a more tightly controlled line-up seen centralising power around Kabila.
Despite concerns over governance, Congo secured debt relief from most lenders last year, including $7.53 billion from the Paris Club in November, leaving a total stock of $2.9 billion. It has taken measures to stabilise its economy and keep in step with conditions for a three-year $550 million IMF loan.
The official interest rate has gone up to 29.5 percent from 22 percent at the beginning of 2011 but is still down from a high of 70 percent. A central bank official warned in May that Congo, a country heavily dependent on imports, would struggle to meet its 2011 inflation target of 13 percent due to global food and fuel prices.
The Congolese franc is trading at 920 to the US dollar, against 915 at the beginning of the year.
Sustained economic growth is vital to a country where 80 percent of a population of 67 million live on less than $2 a day and the country struggles with a budget of $7.3 billion. Congo grew more than 7 percent in 2010 and is expected to grow 6.5 percent in 2011.
— Corruption and bad governance are hurting economic growth and preventing the emergence of small businesses, seen as critical to bringing down unemployment, currently at 75 percent, a World Bank report said in June.
— Impact of debt relief. Congo says from 2011, $520 million a year intended for debt service will be freed up as a result, but the IMF warns against taking on more expensive debt.
— Macroeconomic policy. Looming elections may prompt a hike in spending, although the 2011 budget was praised by the IMF for maintaining fiscal discipline.
INVESTMENT CLIMATE
Congo moved up four places in the World Bank’s 2011 business rankings to 175 of 183 countries but risks remain high and several investors are pursuing international arbitration. Ministers agreed in May to publish all contracts for extractive industries after pressure for greater transparency.
— First Quantum case. The Canadian firm is seeking international arbitration after its $750 million KMT project was closed and the rights handed to mining group ENRC. The Kazakh company said it would pay $175 million for five Congo projects acquired through listed and offshore entities. A court hearing ENRC’s bid to strike out the First Quantum claim has so far not ruled.
— Efforts to trace minerals. New industry standards to tackle “conflict minerals” came into force in April. A government official said the new rules have already hit mineral exports in the east , while further U.S. legislation is due to come into effect later in the year.
While the moves are aimed at curbing the funding of armed groups, critics say they do not tackle the roots of Congo’s conflicts and have a devastating impact on local miners.
— Congo’s nascent oil sector. Following a tussle with the government over two oil blocks, London-listed Tullow Oil has said it is pulling out of Congo. French Oil giant Total has taken a share in another eastern oil block near Virunga. After buying into a block in the west, Italian major Eni would also like oil blocks in the east.
SIMMERING CONFLICTS
Open conflict between Kinshasa and Congolese Tutsi-led CNDP rebels has ended, and CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda is being held by Rwandan authorities. The CNDP have been integrated into the army, but rights groups and the United Nations say they maintain control of swathes of land, extract taxes and mines.
Congo’s army continues to fight against Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels, whose numbers are down to 2,500 according to the U.N. But talks are also on-going between the two sides. Several other rebel groups, including the former pro-government Mai Mai militia, LRA and Islamic ADF-NALU fighters still roam.
Mass rapes continue, underlining the precarious security and raising questions over the effectiveness of Congolese and U.N. forces. However some high profile convictions this year have been welcomed as signs that impunity is being tackled.
— Restructuring of regiments in the east of the country has led to a spate of desertions by former rebels who had integrated into the army. The latest deserters, led by Colonel Kifaru Niragiye, have been accused of raping as many as 170 women in South Kivu in June.
— U.N. peacekeepers. The world body renewed its mandate in June, but Kabila’s calls for a full withdrawal of the 17,000 strong force could grow louder if he is re-elected.
— CNDP ex-rebels. Current leader General Bosco Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, but says he is second-in-command of U.N.-backed army operations, and the fragile alliance with the army is under strain.
— LRA threat. Attacks by the Ugandan rebel LRA in north-eastern Congo have risen sharply this year, with Ugandan and Congolese officials saying its leader, Joseph Kony, is back in the country.
— Intervention from neighbours. Relations with neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda have warmed but remain fragile. Meanwhile analysts say latent tensions with Angola over offshore oil in the west could destabilise the country if they worsen. (Editing by Mark John)
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Bonnie Hampton: The Wonder Of It
by Alex Walsh
Bonnie Hampton is a cellist, teacher, Berkeley native, and Local 6 life member. In the 1960s she was a founding member of the Francesco Trio, which recorded and toured internationally. She has taught in many educational settings including Stanford, Mills College, Julliard, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Bonnie Hampton was born in Berkeley, CA, in 1935. Her father was an attorney and her mother was an amateur violinist. Growing up, her house was filled with music. Bonnie’s older brother and sister played, and her parents rented out rooms to Cal music students.
One day, when Bonnie was 4, her mother found her doodling on the family piano, so she decided to give her lessons. When she was 8, Bonnie discovered the cello her mother had borrowed from a friend–she was hooked. “My mother was actively involved with the beginnings of the Young People’s Symphony, so naturally when I was ready to join them, that was my youth orchestra. I’m very proud that it’s still going and doing well.”
Bonnie’s inclination for teaching began at an early age. “I remember walking home when I was 13 and this kid rode by with a cello on her handle bars. She stopped and it turned out she was my age and she lived a block away, so I said, ‘Why don’t we get together and play some duets?’ She only had public school lessons, so I helped her. I arranged for my teacher to hear her and she took her as a student. I helped with her audition material and she got into the Young People’s Symphony. Ellen Dessler is her name. She made her living as a single parent raising four kids as a cellist in the shows in San Francisco.”
Bonnie was so passionate about cello that her parents decided to homeschool her. She began studying with Margaret Rowell, a legendary teacher with an international reputation at the center of the burgeoning Bay Area cello community. “Margaret was the magnet for all the cellists to come visit. Not only was she a wonderful teacher, she would really welcome them. She helped me get started and encouraged me to teach.”
During her teenage years, Bonnie says she was always taking lessons from the musicians and professors at Cal and the SF Conservatory. She became a fixture at Cal when they started their noon-time concert series and played in so many different chamber groups that they finally anointed her Official Un-official Student. Bonnie says she was taking the courses she wanted to take but had no intention of getting a degree. “I was just doing what a young musician does, running around doing everything.”
Hired to play in the Composers Forum at Mills College with the composer Leon Kirshner, Bonnie joined the union when she was 17. The philosophy around her at the time was that you learned to perform by doing it. She played in as many different situations as she could, including the Hungry i night club in San Francisco for a special chamber music series, San Quentin prison with the SF Conservatory chamber group, and three times as a soloist for the San Francisco Symphony. “I enjoyed playing in orchestras, but I was very bitten by the chamber music bug. Of course, I’ve had students win auditions for orchestras and earn three times as much as I would ever earn, but I just knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
During her 20s, Bonnie taught regularly in Berkeley and Marin County, played in contemporary groups including as guest with the Griller Quartet, and many Concerto performances. She also started teaching at Mills College where she was a part of the Mills Chamber Players.
The Francesco Trio in the 1970s: David Abel, violin, Bonnie Hampton, cello, Nathan Schwartz, piano.
By necessity, Bonnie learned how to be her own concert promoter. “I think it’s the musicians who are able to keep their own projects going that are able to keep refreshing themselves. I learned pretty early that everybody will ask me to do their project, but how come no one is asking me to do my project?” When the phone stopped ringing Bonnie took up the slack by producing a series of 3 concerts. “I had to rent the hall, print the programs, hang the posters, and figure out how to get the stuff into the paper on time. Playing the two-hour concert was the easiest part of it. It made me realize that if people see you doing that they’ll think of you for other kinds of work. You can’t assume that our culture is just going to hand it to us.”
In the early 1960s Bonnie spent time in New York. She was invited to play for many projects but knew she would have to live there full-time in order to take full advantage of them. This would also limit her ability to do her own projects. “I saw my peers in New York running around like crazy trying to pay the rent. I was given offers, and it was very attractive, but there were two things – I felt I could make more of a contribution in the Bay Area, and I could create a direction for myself rather having to do what someone asked me to do. There are a lot of opportunities that open up if you are in New York, but I don’t complain about the opportunities here. We became known, especially in the 60s, as being a very cello friendly place.”
THE FRANCESCO TRIO
Bonnie started the Francesco Trio in 1964 with violinist David Abel and pianist Nathan Schwartz. “The first year we played a few concerts, the second year a few more, and then we got invited to do a tour in Alaska and British Columbia. We won the Naumburg Chamber Award which put us on the international map with management and touring, and we procured a part-time residency at Stanford University.”
The trio taught at Stanford for a few years but left for a fulltime residency at Grinnell College in Iowa, which offered a better contract. Stanford was shocked that they would leave for such a small school, but eventually got them back by offering them a fulltime residency with health insurance and retirement benefits.
In 1972, Bonnie joined the faculty of the SF Conservatory where she taught for 30 years.
“In the 60s and 70s, the cello community was very tight-knit.All the cellists who came through the SF Symphony—you name any cellist from that period—Casals, Rostropovich, Starker, Rose, we did things together. When Casals was here I was involved in getting together the 65 cellists to play one of his pieces at the Opera House. We were very active with all these giants.” When Bonnie was invited to play Mahler with the SF Symphony, the conductor Seiji Ozawa urged her to stay, but she declined because of her trio.
In the 1980s, Bonnie started the Masters in Chamber Music at the SF Conservatory, the first of its kind in the nation. In the 90s, Bonnie’s husband Nathan (pianist in the Francesco Trio) was diagnosed with leukemia. They eventually stopped touring but continued to play concerts locally until he passed in 2002. “Once Nathan died, I realized that teaching was going to be more of my life. It had always been a balance of the two things. I loved teaching but I also wanted to play as much as possible. It’s a juggling act.”
For a change of pace, Bonnie accepted a contract to teach at Julliard. She moved to New York and liked it so much she stayed for 9 years. When she decided to return to the West Coast, she would go back to teach at various schools for special projects and mini-residencies. “I’m a homing pidgeon, I just keep coming back to Berkeley.”
Now in her 80s, Bonnie says she can still do everything she’s always done musically, just not so much of it. In 2018, the SF Conservatory bestowed an Honorary Doctorate degree on her and asked her to return and teach chamber music. “When they asked me to come back and do more I thought, ‘If I’m going to accept an honorary doctorate I’d better earn it!‘”
Photo by Victor Xie.
“If there’s anything that I would like to get across to students, it is the wonder of it. I’ve had to tell students, ‘Look, you may need to earn your living another way for a while. But you’ll still learn and grow as a musician.’ I believe in having music in your life. It’s a hard profession. With an opening in the symphony there are 200 applicants. And who’s going to get the job? One person. But I still think it’s worth trying. I just believe in music, what can I say?”
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Home News Asia News Respecting the environment crucial to rebuilding a safe Kodagu
Respecting the environment crucial to rebuilding a safe Kodagu
A view of the coffee estate that was destroyed in the recent floods that hit Madikeri in Kodagu district of Karnataka.
Heavy, incessant rainfall is a fact of life for the people of Kodagu (the erstwhile Coorg district) in Karnataka…reports Asian Lite News
“For the old-timers here in Coorg, the last few months of rain was nothing new. None of us were really expecting such incredible damage to happen though,” said Pavita Subbaiah, a resident of Madikeri. Subbaiah and her husband had shifted back to Kodagu five years ago, after he had retired from his job at Bengaluru. She added, “Everyone thinks the reason for all this damage and loss of life is the buildings that have come up everywhere and the constant use of earthmovers and drillers. A fragile region like ours just cannot take that much pressure.”
The district of Kodagu is indeed used to heavy rains, especially when the Southwest monsoons traverses it during its journey across the Indian subcontinent. Thus, when heavy rains battered the region in June this year and continued over the next few months, there was an apprehension about loss of good coffee crop (Karnataka grows more than 50 percent of India’s coffee) but no one was thinking of extensive damage, lesser still about entire villages being consumed by landslides. It was the mid-August rains that began on Independence Day, August 15, and continued unabated till August 17, that broke the levee, quite literally.
Over the course of three days, August 15, 16 and 17, Kodagu received 768 mm of rainfall. This is almost half of the entire rainfall received in August, which was 1,675 mm. The rainfall recorded in August 2018 broke all records in living memory — it was back in 1931 that Kodagu had last received such heavy rainfall. Even then, August 1931 had recorded 1,559 mm of rainfall. The fact that this time most of the rain fell over a period of 72 hours made things worse.
An aerial view of the flood-hit Kodagu district of Karnataka.
The higher altitude towns and villages in the region just couldn’t handle the rains. A third of all the panchayats in Kodagu were critically affected. At least 14 people were reported dead, more than 5,000 people were in rescue camps in the first few days after the rains, crop damages alone was estimated to be more than Rs 3 billion (Rs 300 crore).
A few villages in the worst-affected municipalities, Kushalnagar and Madikeri, have been completely submerged by landslides with no traces left of homes or farmland.
Kodagu is a region most famous for its coffee beans, martial prowess and, of course, for being the birthplace of the Cauvery — the river that is the lifeline for millions of farmers in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The district varies in altitude from 390 metres above mean sea level (MSL) up to 1,750 metres above MSL. Over the last decade or so, Kodagu has also seen a great inflow of tourists, with city slickers from Bengaluru and other urban centres driving down for weekend holidays. The number of home stays in Kodagu has mushroomed to keep up with the tourists and, as of now, every other coffee estate in the region doubles up as a home stay.
A senior forest official in Karnataka who declined to be named said that excessive tourism is detrimental to the environment but also argued that other underlying factors are not even discussed.
“In line with the global trend of deforestation and forest degradation, much forest area (mostly government lands) came under coffee cultivation in the last three decades in Kodagu,” he said. “The governance was under tremendous pressure to facilitate development. There was no stopping this trend as the priority of governance was not in regulating and containing encroachments or unbridled development but to regularise and promote it.”
The official added, “Since coffee cultivation is under shade of trees, deforestation was less visible to satellite imagery and less visually arresting. The landslides have primarily happened in the revenue villages of Mukkodlu, Galibeedu, Kalur, Monnangeri and Madapur. These are some of the areas that have been recently deforested. Deforestation in Kodagu is cryptic and happens below the radar. The landscape remains green and the canopy cover shows little change, but the land below changes significantly.”
According to the Coffee Board of India, Kodagu accounts for 107,089 hectares of the 2,44,785 hectares of coffee plantations in Karnataka, the state which accounts for over 53 percent of India’s coffee production. Thus, if this deforestation is a reality, it is happening at an overwhelming scale.
A view of the flood-hit Kodagu district of Karnataka.
All the talk and focus in Kodagu right now is about getting the district back on its feet. The region is still reeling from the disaster with 25 relief camps acting as temporary homes to about 3,000 victims. At least five people are missing and the search is still on for them. The state electricity board is trying to get their services up and running but heavy landslides and damage to arterial roads is proving to be a major impediment.
As Kodagu recovers, there is talk about reviving the recommendations made by committees such as the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (popularly known as the Gadgil committee report). The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) not to reduce the eco-sensitive area (ESA) of Western Ghats further from the proposed 56,825 sq kms and to notify the same within six months.
These are signs of acknowledging that anthropogenic activities should be reduced in regions such as Kodagu. Whether this will translate effectively on the ground is still questionable.
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Click to copyhttps://apnews.com/f5d9b16746934686a8c91f0bcbb47660
Senegalese vote in election that brought back ex-leader
FILE- In this Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 file photo, the then Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade is surrounded by supporters and security as he travels between campaign stops in downtrodden suburban neighborhoods of Dakar, Senegal. Voters in Senegal are casting ballots in a legislative election that has brought the country’s former longtime leader back to the political scene. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Voters in Senegal are casting ballots in a legislative election that has brought the country’s former longtime leader back to the political scene.
Ex-President Abdoulaye Wade, now 91 years old, has been leading his loyalists’ efforts to win seats in Sunday’s election.
Wade was president from 2000 to 2012, when he was defeated by current President Macky Sall. He returned from France this month to campaign in the parliamentary contest, though critics accuse him of re-entering Senegalese politics to try and pave the way for his son to return as well.
Karim Wade has been in Qatar since his release from prison in 2016 after serving three years on corruption charges.
Unlike many of its West African neighbors plagued by dictators and coups, Senegal is known for its political stability.
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Tag Heavy Metal
VINTAGE ARENA ROCK RETURNS TO THE SUNSET STRIP WITH THE APOCALYPTIC LOVERS!
April 2, 2019 apocalypticlovers Leave a comment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: David B. Hope
Email: apocalypticlovers@gmail.com
VINTAGE ARENA ROCK RETURNS TO THE SUNSET STRIP WITH THE APOCALYPTIC LOVERS
LOS ANGELES, CA – April 2, 2019 – Armed with an album helmed by long time Dokken producer Michael Wagener, the Apocalyptic Lovers return to Los Angeles for the first time in 25 years.
When the band hits the stage at 8:45 PM to open for Dokken at the World Famous Whisky A Go Go on April 20th, they will have come full circle since attending Foundations Forum in 1994 – a trip that garnered them (the only unsigned band) a mention in Entertainment Weekly magazine.
The band went on hiatus once the grunge scene peaked, but after consulting with former Guns ‘n Roses and Great White manager, Alan Niven in 2016, the Apocalyptic Lovers have rebranded (once Love And War) and returned with Redemption Volume I, mixed by producer Michael Wagener (Queen, Motley Crue, Dokken, Ozzy, Extreme, Metallica, Poison and Skid Row, to name a few).
On the cusp of releasing their new album, the Whisky A Go Go will also be the official release party for the reissued version of Redemption Volume I. The reissued CD will be exclusive to The Whisky A Go Go performance until it goes on sale to the public the following weekend. It contains a bonus song, all new art, photos, and lyrics. The bonus track is a demo from their upcoming album and is a rocker called Gasoline that Hope penned for his wife.
Attendees of the show are in for a real treat with the band’s silver bullet, singer Robert Kane. Kane’s lead vocals are on point and soar live. One album reviewer compared Kane to Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Tony Harnell (T.N.T.), and Don Dokken himself all rolled into one. This has fans of 80s arena rock grabbing tickets so they don’t miss the Apocalyptic Lovers’ one and only Los Angeles appearance in 2019.
About the Apocalyptic Lovers: Reminiscent of when arena rock and music videos ruled the air waves, the Apocalyptic Lovers consists of all four original members: founding member Dave Hope, vocalist Rob Kane, lead guitarist and writer Sean Magee, and bassist Mike Nagy. Once based out of the rust belt city of Youngstown, Ohio, the four members now populate great cities in AZ, PA, RI and VA, but this has not deterred them from writing, recording and planning world domination one fan at a time.
As Whisky A Go Go show draws near, the band hits multiple radio shows.
March 9, 2019 March 12, 2019 apocalypticlovers 1 Comment
March 8, 2019 – As the Apocalyptic Lovers prepare to open for Dokken at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, California, they are taking to the air waves on a few radio shows.
Most recently, drummer and founding member David B Hope stopped by Hard, Heavy & Hair with host Pariah Burke. Pariah reached out to David to inquire about him co-hosting the indie segment of his show, chat about what the band is up to, and introduce his listeners to a very young, up-and-coming band, WALKER.
Apocalyptic Lovers also made their debut on several other radio shows/podcasts including the Jet City Rockers Show, the Record Machine Show, and the Rock Avenue Radio Show.
David had a great time hanging out with James Michael Hollenstein of the Record Machine Show and talking shop. You can listen to David and Michael discuss the Whisky A Go Go show and the perks their ticket buyers will receive. They also touch on the band’s re-issued version of Redemption Volume I (due March 19, 2019) and their new album coming out in late 2019. Michael always spins music on his show, so he picked his two favorite Apocalyptic Lovers tunes.
The Rock Avenue Radio Show hailing from Germany will see the Apocalyptic Lovers making their debut as well. Host Jörg Bonszkowski found the band via social media and reached out about introducing his listeners to the band. Make sure to catch Jörg introducing his listeners to the band on Tuesday, March 12 at 4:00 PM (EST).
The band’s music also made its debut on the Jet City Rockers Show with the incredibly funny hosts Captain Michele and Co-pilot Rob. These two have some of the best tongue-and-cheek commentary out there, so make sure to catch their show. The band debuted last week and the flight crew plans to continue spinning them in support of their April 20th Whisky A Go Go show opening for 80’s icon metal band, Dokken,
All the shows above are syndicated on multiple celestial and FM radio stations throughout the week. If you miss any of the shows, they will be posted on their respective websites to catch at your leisure.
Click on any of the links below for all scheduled radio affiliates and archived podcasts.
Hard, Heavy & Hair: Listen Free & Info
Record Machine Show: Listen Free & Info
Rock Ave Radio Show: Listen Free & Info
Jet City Rocker Show: Listen Free & Info
Band debuts on the Castle Rock radio show 107.8 FM in the U.K. with host Welsh Gene!
January 17, 2018 – Time has not stood still since the release of the Apocalyptic Lovers last release, but Redemption Vol I is still picking up steam via radio. The band and album was recently discovered by DJ Welsh Gene host of the The Castle Rock radio show.
The Apocalyptic Lovers will make their debut on the show this Thursday, January 17th. The show is two hours long and airs at 10:00PM UK time (5:00 PM EST in the U.S.A.). While you are at home, work or in your car, you can catch 2 hours of new and classic rock/metal streaming via Tudno 107.8 FM radio’s website worldwide!
Here is a look at this weeks show.
This week’s Castle Rock radio show will feature: Alterbridge, Poison & Anthrax along with new music from Karrier. Blindside Thunder, Dead Coyote and the Apocalyptic Lovers. Also from the dark Vaults of the Castle memory making tracks by, Bad city, Miss Behaviour & Burn halo. Lastly do not miss an incredible version of a KISS classic by one of the most amazing female rock vocalists – Chez Kane.
Click the following link to listen commercial free: The Castle Rock Radio Show on Tudno radio 107.8 FM U.K.
You can also listen via the TuneIn radio app for free. Search Tudno 107.8 FM and look for a green logo.
The music business is not the same in many ways these days, but one thing that has not changed is the passion that people in all walks of life have for hard rock and heavy metal music. Apocalyptic Lovers want to send out a big thank you to Welsh Gene and his show for spinning them and the many other great hard rock bands!
Opening for Dokken at the Whisky A Go Go over spring break and a new album in the works set the stage for the Apocalyptic Lovers in 2019.
December 14, 2018 December 15, 2018 apocalypticlovers Leave a comment
December 13, 2018 – Life for the Apocalyptic Lovers (formerly Love And War) in September of 1994 seemed to be moving on up. Upon their return from a successful stay at Foundations Forum (Hard Rock/Heavy Metal convention held in Los Angeles) the band was informed they were the only unsigned band mentioned in Entertainment Weekly Magazine (No. 242) in a full page spread titled Symposium for the Devil. Though the mention was small, the phone calls started to pour in and the trip to LA seemed to be paying off.
Two distribution deals where secured, an overseas tour was in the works, a new album was due out. and many U.S. shows were being booked. Then, like many hard rock and metal bands in the 90s, the wheels came off and the band took a very long break.
In April of 2016, the band returned, rebranded as the Apocalyptic Lovers with an aptly named new record Redemption Volume I. Not wanting to jump on any bandwagons, the band stuck to their sound and sought out long-time, legendary producer of Dokken, Michael Wagener to work on their album. Even though the music industry had changed, the album received very favorable reviews from the hard rock and metal community.
All four original members of the band live in different states these days, but continue to write music, market the band, and book live shows. Founding member and drummer, David B Hope had this to say in regards to playing live shows.
“Our goal since being back has been to use the web to target and reach the millions of fans who grew up on and still love our brand of music. We knew the timing was right when we saw kids in middle and high schools wearing Motley Crue and Kiss shirts. Our record release party went really well and we sounded even better than we did more than twenty years ago. Rob’s voice has aged well – he just nails the highs and sounds so good both in the studio and live. His voice, Sean’s guitar playing, and Mike’s bass playing really sets this band apart. As the drummer, I have the best seat in the house listening to these three play together, and Rob’s voice really is our silver bullet.
“We had no real plans to play after our record release party, but it went well and was so fun, I think we were bit by the rock & roll bug. So I have been attempting to book shows ever since, but in a new way. We only want to play a handful of shows per year and take time off to put out new music. For us, it’s really about writing and recording the music, so the shows are more PR for our album than anything else. Plus, with the less-is-more approach, the fans seems to be open to travel to see a band that is not out over-saturating the market.
“It just so happened that the planets aligned and hell must have frozen over, too for this DOKKEN show to happen,” Hope laughs. “The really difficult one to schedule is our founding bassist, Mike Nagy. Mike is a full time firefighter, so his rotating schedule is tough to schedule around, but with Dokken at the Whisky A Go Go on a Saturday night in LA, we had to make it happen, right? Dokken is the one band all of us in the band loved growing up and still love to this day, and playing with them at the Whisky is really a dream come true that we thought was going to happen back in the 90s. Better late then never.”
The Apocalyptic Lovers are set to hit the stage of the world famous Whisky A Go Go on Saturday, April 20th when they open for 80s icon, Dokken. The band would like fans to know that they have a small amount of fee free, discounted tickets to the Dokken show. These discounted tickets can only be ordered via the Apocalyptic Lovers website and should sell quickly since the show is all ages. At the time of this press release, the other bands on the bill have not been published. The Apocalyptic Lovers hit the stage at 8:45 PM and will unleash a 30 minute set containing songs from their Michael Wagener mixed album, Redemption Volume I.
As for their set list opening for Dokken, Hope said, ” We only have 30 minutes to introduce LA and the Whisky to the Apocalyptic Lovers, so we plan on picking the strongest songs from the album, and maybe a new one from our new record due out in 2019. The thing that excites us about the show besides performing is we will have a new second pressing of our CD to sell at the show along with new shirts. Both will be exclusively available at the Whisky, and we will place whatever is left in our online store.
“The exciting thing about the second pressing of Redemption Volume I is the entire packaging overhaul. This time out, it will have all new art work more inline with the limited edition vinyl we just released. The CD booklet is going from a couple pages to about 18, so it will have all the lyrics and more vintage photos of us and our fans. The CD connoisseurs will be thrilled that it will not be a CDR this time either. The cherry on top is that we may add a bonus song as well. The writing for our new album is going well and the demos sound great, so we may add one of the demos as a bonus song so fans can hear whats coming next. Since we plan on playing more shows in 2019, what we don’t sell at the Whisky, we will sell online or at the other live shows along with our new album when it’s released.”
This is sure to be a big spring break bash at the Whisky A Go Go with Dokken and the Apocalyptic Lovers. Make a night of it by grabbing dinner at the Rainbow Bar & Grill and head on over to see how much Dokken influenced the sound of the Apocalyptic Lovers. I am sure you will agree, they are a band that fans of the melodic rock/metal genre will fall in love with musically. Welcome back and go get ’em.
Dying Day, stop motion video, and three kids equals toy box mayhem!
November 21, 2018 apocalypticlovers 1 Comment
November 21, 2018 – While the Apocalyptic Lovers are working on their full-length follow up to 2016’s Redemption Volume I, previously mixed by legendary producer Michael Wagener, the band’s third music video dropped, and it’s a fun one!
The video is a mixture of stop motion video using Roblox band members, three young children, and the closing track from Redemption Volume I, Dying Day. It seems none of the band’s members knew a new music video was on the way, including founding member, drummer David B Hope.
“Redemption Volume I is the album that just wont stop,” laughs Hope. “We had just finished up promoting the album and were ready to move on when the vinyl album campaign happened. The campaign was fun, and now all the band members and some die hard fans have the album on vinyl in their hands. We were thrilled it happened and ended our push of Redemption on a high note.
“We then put out PR about the second full-length album coming in 2019 along with a cool covers EP, and we were full steam ahead with that and not looking back. I had just worked out a bunch of technical issues with my singer (Robert Kane) regarding recording my drums, and had just sent off the drum track for Back On My Feet to him when all of a sudden this new idea for a video dropped in my lap, thanks to my beautiful wife.
“Along with being the mother of five children and working full time, she is also working towards her masters degree. She is currently in a video production class and had to make a music video with certain parameters, so she asked me if she could use the song Dying Day. It’s my favorite song to play live, and maybe my favorite song on the entire album, so I was thrilled, but also curious about what was in her head. We were not playing live and really had no way of letting her shoot any video of us playing Dying Day.
“For me, the idea was always to have a killer video for this tune in the vein of a 90s Pantera video, so I had tons of ideas for the visuals and not sure how she was going pull it off. She came to me with the idea of doing stop motion with a toy rock band along with live video of kids playing with them. I’m not gonna lie, it took me a bit to warm up to the idea. But honestly, sometimes the best ideas are the ones that are way, way outside of the box and that have humor. Once I wrapped my head around what she was doing, I tossed in a couple thoughts on what the Roblox band members could do, and she was off to the races. Stop motion video is so tedious, I could not believe how much work it took. I would never have the patience,” laughs Hope.
“She got very creative with the children playing with the band members in the video to the point of the destruction of band members at times. Then the band comes to life and puts on a killer rock show with some very familiar moves. You might just see the Van Halen, Best of Both Worlds walk across the stage, a take on the Scorpions live pyramid, a homage to Queen, and even a special guest appearance by a certain hairy Star Wars character.
“This video was a lot of fun to watch being made and on top of that, we have a very fresh vision that we can share with fans for our song Dying Day,” says Hope. “If you are 5 to 65 years old, I am pretty sure you will ‘Crack a Smile,’ and enjoy and share this video with friends.”
The “Behind the Toy Box” music video for Dying Day can now be seen via YouTube and the band’s Facebook page. This stop motion music video is likely the last we will hear from the band regarding Redemption Volume I. According to Hope, the new album should hit in 2019 and will have 9 or 10 originals on it along with a surprise cover song as well. He said the new material is going to blow people away and that the band is looking forward to more live shows with their next outing. Hope said more info on the two new albums and live shows will start to hit after the New Year.
Apocalyptic Lovers debut new live music video, but not without controversy.
August 29, 2018 apocalypticlovers Leave a comment
August 28, 2018 – Amid a successful vinyl album campaign that put their most recent album Redemption Volume I mixed by Michael Wagener on vinyl, the Apocalyptic Lovers thought it would be fun to toss out a live and raw video of their performance of Who the Hell Are You? Seems simple and innocent enough, right?
The new music video consists of all five band members with multiple camera shots and live unedited audio directly from the soundboard. The song Who the Hell Are You is one of the more recent songs to make that album, and the band was pretty happy with how the raw live audio of the song sounded. Founding member David B Hope states, “There were several things about this video I really enjoyed and I thought our fans worldwide would dig it as well. First, considering that it’s directly from the sound board with no computer enhancements, we sound pretty cool, mistakes and all. Rock and roll was not meant to be perfect and we don’t use anything electronic to help perfect our live sound.
“The song was never demoed and we were thrilled it made it onto our latest album. We played the song for a few months before we split, but nothing more until we got back together 20 plus years later. We are very stoked to bring this song a new life.
“At this particular show, we wanted to have a friends-family-and-fans reunion of sorts, and we used both of our bass players who traded between playing bass and rhythm guitar. In this video, George Allan is on bass and Mike Nagy is on guitar, and that was a first for both guys. We are staying as a four-piece now with rhythm guitar duty being picked up by our singer, Rob Kane, but the trading on and off was good times for all involved, both on the album and playing live.” (Mike is another founding member of the band and will be the full time bassist in studio and live, unless duty calls and he is fighting fires in his hometown of Virginia.)
The band did a soft launch of the live video on YouTube and Twitter on August 18th and leaked it to die-hard fans as well. The band was then set to launch Who the Hell Are You with a major push via all social media on the 21st of August. The launch went smoothly on all platforms until Hope attempted to embed the video and boost it on the band’s Facebook page.
Hope tried to load the video on the band’s Facebook page in multiple ways. He tried multiple browsers, file sizes, and other tricks to get the video to take. However, nothing seemed to let him launch. Since the video is not a YouTube link and can be boosted through the band’s page to Facebook and Instagram followers, there are many sensitive rules. Remembering this, Hope was prompted to try one last thing before contacting support. He removed the word “hell,” and what do you know? After the tiny, four-letter-word was removed, the video launched within seconds.
It seems ironic that a word used in the Bible and on public television is dubbed too harsh for Facebook, while animal beatings, violence, and almost naked people show up in news feeds at an alarming rate. So, a word of caution – post and consume social media at your own risk!
If you’re not so easily offended by a mere word, take a moment to head to a page that does not give a “hell” (at least not as far as to censor it in its word form), and subscribe to the band’s YouTube channel. And while you’re there, like and share the new live, raw music video, Who the HELL Are You?
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