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Saudis arrest more than 200 militants
From Peter Bergen
(CNN) — More than 200 Saudi and foreign militants have been arrested over their alleged involvement in various plots, including assassinations and a planned attack on an oil facility, Saudi officials say.
Militants were alleged to have plotted an attack on an oil facility such as this one in the Eastern Province.
The arrests took place over the past few months but were kept secret so as not to jeopardize ongoing investigations, a Ministry of the Interior official said Wednesday.
Eight of those being held are accused of involvement in a plot to attack an oil facility in the Eastern Province, where much of the nation’s oil industry is based, and had set a date for the attack.
Another militant cell is alleged to have planned to assassinate Saudi religious figures and security officials, while a separate cell allegedly planned to smuggle eight shoulder-fired rockets into the kingdom from Yemen for terrorist operations.
The official said 112 of those arrested were “linked in with elements stationed abroad who facilitate the exit and travel of those to conflict zones” such as Iraq.
U.S. military officials have said that Saudis make up the largest contingent of foreign fighters in Iraq, while a Saudi counterterrorism official noted that fighters returning from Iraq to Saudi Arabia represent a “troubling” phenomenon.
Thirty-two individuals — Saudis and non-Saudis — were arrested for allegedly providing financial support to other militants; 16 others were arrested for alleged involvement in the publication of a militant newsletter called Sada Alrafidain.
According to the Saudi counter-terrorism official, the number of arrests is the largest ever announced by the ministry.
The Saudi official said the Saudi government released the information before the Hajj pilgrimage season, when 2 million pilgrims travel to the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, in order “to alert the public of the ongoing threat to security in the kingdom.”
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31/03/2011 | Libya crisis - Gaddafi forces adopt rebel tactics
Ras Lanuf has now changed hands for the fourth time in three weeks. BBC world affairs editor John Simpson in Tripoli has been assessing the fighting.
Colonel Gaddafi's forces have changed their tactics.
The Libyan army has not always been known for its efficiency or its high morale.
Now though, it has shown a remarkable degree of flexibility, and has chosen to adopt tactics used by the rebels only a few days ago, when they were sweeping along the coastal road, apparently unstoppably, in the direction of Sirte.
The sudden turnaround of fortune is the result of several factors.
The first is that Colonel Gaddafi's army has decided to follow methods which the rebels have used so successfully.
Great panic
Its men are racing forward in the ordinary flat-bed trucks known elsewhere in Africa as 'technicals', with heavy machine-guns or anti-aircraft guns mounted on the back.
Others are equipped with mortars. Though these are quite light, they often cause great panic among the rebels, and are quick and easy to move forward.
Once the pro-Gaddafi forces managed to regain momentum, there was another shift in morale, and the rebels lost the confidence they had built up during the previous days.
The rebels have no perceptible command structure.
Individual gunners and their crews decide to go forward, if and when they choose, and vanish from the front line once they have had enough fighting.
Their morale has often been very high indeed, but when they are being beaten, it is easy for a retreat to turn into a rout.
The same is not true of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's army.
Their skills are not particularly impressive, and their morale until recently was noticeably lower than that of the rebels.
But when they are forced to withdraw, as they were at the start of the week, their training means that they can halt and regroup much more effectively than the rebels can.
And they have officers to urge them back into the fighting. The rebels have few, if any, officers.
In the past, too, the rebels became used to the sight of Col Gaddafi's soldiers manoeuvring into positions from which they could surrender and come over to the other side.
But by now, most of the pro-Gaddafi forces who want to switch will probably have done so.
Here in Tripoli, government officials are noticeably relieved and happy.
Just a few days ago they had to come to terms with the possibility that the rebels would capture Sirte and then advance up the coastal road to Tripoli itself.
There is another problem for the rebels. After the big advances which the pro-Gaddafi forces started making towards Benghazi 10 days ago, intervention by the coalition turned things round.
But it was fairly easy to destroy tanks and artillery from the air, even though, as we now know, the coalition's aircraft and missiles had difficulty dealing with tanks that had been well camouflaged or were stationed in narrow streets between houses, where ordinary civilians live.
Now the pro-Gaddafi forces have largely switched to the use of "technicals" of the kind the rebels use, the coalition will have much more difficulty identifying which ones belong on which side.
If the rebels try to mark their vehicles in some way, the pro-Gaddafi forces can be expected to follow suit.
The best that the rebels can probably hope for now is that the situation will stabilise and a stalemate can be established at some point along the coastal road to the east of Sirte.
That would make it far easier for coalition planes to identify the pro-Gaddafi troops.
But for that to happen, the rebels will have to overcome their terror of Col Gaddafi's mortars and the light motorised guns which his officers have copied from the rebels' own, and make a stand.
There may well be more changes of fortune to come along the coastal road.
20/04/2013 Is Libya’s Energy Future Green?
30/12/2012 Año de convulsiones severas en Oriente Medio
06/12/2012 U.S.-Approved Arms for Libya Rebels Fell Into Jihadis’ Hands
01/11/2012 'Troubling' Surveillance Before Benghazi Attack
13/09/2012 Opinion - Libya’s spiral of violence
13/09/2012 US - Congressman: Embassy attack in Libya was coordinated
12/09/2012 Libya - U.S. ambassador to Libya killed in Benghazi attack
12/09/2012 Libia - Muere el embajador estadounidense en Libia tras el asalto al consulado en Bengasi
06/07/2012 Africa - Libya’s election takes oil-rich nation closer to democratic rule after decades of Gadhafi rule
10/05/2012 Libyan missiles on the loose
Mexico arrests senior Sinaloa drugs cartel suspect
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National Institute of Bank Management
(Banking & Financial Services)
AICTE Approved
NIBM Site
List of Candidates Selected for PGDM 2019 to 2021
Loan Facilities to Students
Final Placement Report of PGDM 2017 to 19
Summer Internship Report
Adhikosh
Convocation Coverage 2019
Run for Unity
Alumini Meet 2017 Invitation
LIFE@NIBM
NIBM Vista News Letter
National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) was established in 1969 by the Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the Government of India, as an autonomous apex institution for research, training, education and consultancy in bank management. Its mandate is to play a proactive role of “think-tank” of the banking system. NIBM is part of the grand vision of giving a new direction to the banking industry in India and making the industry a more cost-effective instrument for national development. Therefore, helping the managers in their endeavour to make their organizations competitive both in domestic and international markets is the mission of the Institute. NIBM, an autonomous academic institution, is governed by a Board, its highest policy-making body. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (the central bank of the country), is the Chairman of the Governing Board.
The Institute is engaged in Research (policy and operations), Training & Education of senior executives of banks, and provides Consulting support to the banking and financial sector. As an institution of advanced learning, NIBM is well-equipped to train executives to function in a multi-cultural and multi-national environment. By providing interdisciplinary modules of theory and practical learning, participants are equipped to become masters in problem-solving. In a year the Institute, on an average, conducts about 150 Training Programmes in various functional areas and also Conferences and Seminars addressing issues of topical concern to the banking and financial services industry. Over 3500 participants, including about 250 from various developing nations attend NIBM training programmes every year.
The Institute is located in sylvan surroundings in a picturesque valley within the Pune city in the State of Maharashtra. The Campus is spread over a 60-acre plot of undulating landscape with minimum of distraction and pollution. It has its own self-contained campus with complete residential and educational facilities.
The Post-Graduate Programme in Banking and Finance (PGPBF), introduced in the year 2003-04 to groom new generation managers for the banking and financial services industry, is an additional key identity of the Institute. The PGPBF has been renamed as Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (Banking & Financial Services) – PGDM (B&FS) following recognition by AICTE, from 2013 onwards.
Vision of the Institute
“The National Institute of Bank Management will be the trustee for India for helping to create world-class, competitive banking and financial services capabilities. The Institute would endeavour to offer knowledge-based products and services in the field of bank management that are as good as, if not better than, the best anywhere in the world. While much of the products of the NIBM would be of universal interest, there would also be a focus on the legal and institutional aspects specific to India. The NIBM will be the preferred partner for enabling vision, strategies, organization, systems, technical, managerial and leadership competencies in the banking and financial sector, so as to help retain a high share of the domestic market, as well as capture a significant share of the global market.”
Roles of the Institute
To be the main research and academic arm of the banking industry for continuously upgrading the knowledge and skills relevant for its top management.
To be the storehouse of data and information of all new and emerging issues in the banking sector.
To be the catalyst in helping banks to secure their financial position and make them world-class.
To be a change agent in the overall functioning of the banking system and facilitate the ushering in of professionalism in the banking and financial system of the country.
HOW TO REACH PGDM
National Institute of Bank Management NIBM Post Office, Kondhwe Khurd
Pune 411 048, INDIA
pgdm@nibmindia.org
Copyright © 2014 NIBM. All Rights Reserved :::| powered by dimakh consultants |:::
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[ENG] Construction 82: The tower (part 2)
(go to part 1)
As the perimetral walls of the Domus keep growing, the tower start revealing its shape.
As I said, it is made with stones less regularily shaped than the slate blocks which compose the rest of the building. Consequently, the construction of the walls requires a more careful selection of stones, as a further adjustment would be very difficult due to their hardness.
The reinforcing wire is the same I used on the whole structure, but considering that the tower will double the height of the main building, standing out alone in its upper part, I decide to insert an additional support.
It will consist of two steel threaded rods, inserted inside two of the four corners of the tower. These "pillars" will be the skeleton of the tower until 2/3 its height.
Once the walls reach the middle of the supports, I will insert two more rods into the opposite corners until the top of the tower, making it really earthquake-proof (read "relocation-proof" at a 1:50 scale).
Regarding the structure of the tower, the construction goes on simultaneously to the other elements of which it is made: the woodshed and the staircase. The stone walls connect with the slate blocks, outlining the corners on the side facade of the building (as a consequence of the changes I made to the base of the tower and described in the previous chapter).
And now it's time to stop writing and keep laying stones...
stones, cement, vinyl glue, steel threaded rods, stainless wire
tweezers, sandpaper, files, pincers, hacksaw
rods lenght: 96 / 2
diameter: 0,3
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Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin: Championing the Struggle for Migrant Rights Through Their Frontera Fund
While it is true that the world is more democratized today than it has ever been, there are still many who do not have access to even the most basic human rights and freedoms. Even in the most developed nations on the globe, such as the United States, many continue to be discriminated simply for being the way that they are.
For many such individuals, their hope for justice and equality solely lies in the hands of non-profit organizations that go out of their way to advocate for their plight. One such non-profit is the American Immigration Council which has for the last few decades been engaged in assisting immigrants in the United States.
The American Immigrant Council was founded on the backdrop of America’s strong immigrant history. Based in Washington D.C., the organization is constantly engaged in efforts to shape how Americans view and act towards immigrants favorably. In addition to increasing awareness among the public, it also supports immigrants by participating in the formation of humane immigration laws and ensuring that they are enforced constitutionally.
To fulfill this broad mandate, the American Immigrant Council requires a significant amount of resources that it typically sources from likeminded individuals and organizations. Among the organization’s biggest supporters is the Frontera Fund founded by Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin.
More on Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin
For long, Lacey and Larkin were ordinary citizens like you and I. The two were reputable journalists and ran their own media publications: the Phoenix New Times and Village Voice Media. However, a sudden brush with injustice drove them to become strong human, civil and migrant rights advocates.
In 2007, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were arrested on charges of violating jury secrecy laws in the county of Maricopa. Their arrest was made under the instruction of the county’s sheriff, Joe Arpaio. The two strongly maintained that their arrest was illegal as there was no evidence of wrongdoing on their part. The county attorney, Andrew Thomas soon came to this realization as well and dropped the charges against the two.
However, Lacey and Larkin could not let the blatant violation of their First Amendment Rights by Maricopa county slide. Consequently, they brought legal action against the county’s Sherriff and special prosecutor. The court ruled in favor of Lacey and Larkin by finding that the Sheriff lacked sufficient probable cause to go ahead with the arrest. Maricopa County decided to settle with the two, giving them $3.7 million. Read more: Phoenix New Times | Wikipedia and Michael Lacey | Facebook
It is this small fortune that Lacey and Larkin used to form the Frontera Fund. They envisioned the primary goal of the fund being to assist the Hispanic community residing in Arizona. Towards this goal, the fund has distributed funds to more than two dozen organizations engaged in the struggle for human and civil rights causes in Arizona and beyond such as the American Immigration Council.
As Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin assert, we are all migrants and should thus be involved in fighting for migrant rights.
Greg Secker Trains Youths to Becoming Successful Entrepreneurs
The founder of Learn to Trade, Capital Index and SmartCharts Software, Greg Secker is a renowned businessman and a generous giver. He owns The Greg Secker Foundation which dedicated to impacting positively on the lives of youths and people living in different communities around the world. This foundation is like any other charitable organizations around the world.
He has initiated programs for training young entrepreneurs for free hence paving their ways into being successful business people within the economy of Europe. He has also incorporated other upcoming investors and entrepreneurs into his programs thus helping them take great steps to thriving in the business world. Greg started his career at Thomas Cook Financial Services and then joined Virtual Trading Desk. Later on, he served at Mellon Financial Corporation as the deputy chief executive officer of the company. Right now, he runs his own company which has gained so much popularity around the world. He has benefited by receiving several awards due to the excellence of operations at Learn to Trade.
Teaching people has been his greatest inspiration and he grew this passion while he was working at a bank in the United Kingdom. He would work for few hours depending on how the transactional operations went at the bank. Out of boredom, he came to realize what he enjoyed doing most hence leading to the launching of Learn to Trade. He, therefore, learn to earn extra money off his average salary, so he did not have to entirely rely on the money he earned from the bank.
His achievements have been speared by his friends, family and his colleagues who believed in him and kept inspiring him to keep going after what he always wanted. Additionally, he admitted that his successes as an entrepreneur were greatly steered by his excellence in making reasonable decisions before executing and implementing any of them.
Greg Secker also uses software that has helped in speeding his operations as an entrepreneur, and he believes that giving back to the society chiefly contributes to everyone who wants to achieve so much around people who are not sometimes able to meet their own needs. With all these, he has dramatically impacted on the growth of the economy.
Meet Whitney Wolfe; the CEO of Bumble
Finding partners and new friends internationally has been challenging for a time. But dating apps are developed to assist people to get right partners for life. Bumble is one of the most excellent dating apps, and it was founded by Whitney Wolfe in 2014. Bumble is headquartered in Austin, Texas and it has over 18 million subscribers bymid-2017. Bumble’s success is attributed to Whitney’s hard work and innovativeness in ensuring the dating app is effective.
Whitney Wolfe is a great entrepreneur, and she joined business world at an early age. Whitney studied international studies at Southern Methodist University. While at the university, Whitney started a business of bamboo tote bags which grew significantly. After graduating, she moved to work with orphanages at Southeast Asia. Later Wolfe co-founded Tinder dating app which became famous after some time. She left the company and launched her dating app (Bumble).
Bumble has launched very many new modes which make the app better. It enables women to initiate conversations to people of their choice, and they respond within 24 hours. With the help of Whitney, dating app giant launched Bumble BFF. This mode helps people find new friends internationally with the help of the app. The app also has launched Bumble BIZZ which enables users to upload their photos, resumes, their work and abilities. This app is for mentoring and networking enhancing women and men interact within the bumble app. With affordable subscriptions, Bumble is dedicated to helping many people find lovers as well as new friends.
Whitney Wolfe has dedicated much of her time in helping other finding partners. But that doesn’t mean she is single. Recently she had a fantastic wedding at Villa Tre Ville Positano Amalfi Coast. Michael Herd is the lucky man who married Whitney. The wedding celebration was one of a kind, and it demonstrated pure love from the two lovebirds. The guests were delighted with the reception canopy, drinks, and food.
The cake was excellent with some fresh fruits like strawberries, and everything was set according to plan. An Oscar de la Renta gown was Whitney’s choice which made her perfect for the occasion. His Husband also looked very neat and simple. The environment was just romantic, and it was a great sign of a happy marriage beginning. Everybody has been talking about the wedding in social media as it was not from this world. Whitney Wolfe was pleased to have such a dream wedding. She is determined to help more people find their better halves with Bumble App. The app is very secure, and Whitney is confident that the app will continue to be upgraded to improve service delivery.
Whitney Wolfe info: www.fastcompany.com/person/whitney-wolfe
Nathaniel Ru Contributions towards Sweetgreen
Nathaniel Ru and his comrades atGeorgetown University found it hard to get a convenient place to find food in Washington D.C. At last, they found a tavern on M street with a fabulous 560 square foot eatery. Learn more about Nathaniel Ru: http://bitsylink.com/2017/07/27/nathaniel-ru-talks-about-sweetgreens/
After some time of visiting the restaurant, the friends found an idea of starting their eatery. After six years, they established an eatery on M street which has grown to the amazingrestaurant called Sweetgreen.
During an event, Nathaniel explained how the business came to be. It was a coincidence that the owner of the tavern space they were hunting was the landlord of the apartment they were residing.
Nathaniel Ru called her explaining their business idea, but at first, she just hung up. However, they did not lose hope, Nathaniel and his colleagues insisted on calling until she gave in and asked for a business meeting.
The upcoming restaurant owners showed up at the meeting with a 3-page business plan and one page for the financials. They had an idea of naming the restaurant greens at first. The tavern owner believed in their idea and asked them to bring an architect, some sponsors and a real business plan on the table during the next meeting. Despite Ru and his friends not having any restaurant experience, the tavern owner believed in them and supported their idea.
The Sweetgreen restaurant has grown to have outlets in Northeast’s urban areas and its environs in places like Philadelphia, New York, Washington and Boston. Most of sweetgreen’s ingredients are supplied by local farmers providing natural products. Read more: Sweetgreen | Wikipedia
Therefore, their food is usually healthy, delicious and fresh. Theresa Dold, an alumnus of Georgetown University and who is in charge of digital marketing at Sweetgreen, stated that the Sweetgreen was established with a significant purpose and not only as a salad restaurant.
Nathaniel Ru and his fellow co-founders in April 2009 found a convenient restaurant space in Washington near DuPont. However, for the first two weeks, the sales recorded was very low.
The owners of the space introduced speakers to play music and entertainment every weekend. The number of customers grew to 600 which increased profitability. Also, the music idea led to an annual event of the restaurant called Sweetlife.
Nathaniel Ru serves as the Co-CEO of Sweetgreen Company. He founded Sweetgreen with his colleagues, Nicolas Jammet and Jonathan Neman. He graduated from McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University with a BS in Finance. Nathaniel Ru is passionate that Sweetgreen is going far in business.
Michael Lacey, a Genius in Mathematics
October 2, 2017 / waseem / 0 Comments
Michael Thoreau Lacey, who was born on 26th September 1959, is an established American Mathematician. Lacey attained his Ph. D in 1987 at Urbana-Campaign from the University of Illinois. Under the guidance of Walter Philipp, he presented a thesis that used probability to solve a mathematical problem that involved the Law of Iterated Logarithm.
His thesis that was centred around empirical characteristic functions indicated his interest in probability. He has made significant contributions in the field of ergodic theory, probability, and harmonic analysis. He first held postdoctoral positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Louisiana State University. While at the University of North Carolina, Lacey together with Walter Philipp provided proof of the Central Limit Theorem.
Between 1989 and 1996, Michael worked at Indiana University. During this time, he studied the bilinear Hilbert Transform after receiving a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation. In 1996, Lacey with the help of Christoph Thiele solved the Hilbert Transform, which had been introduced earlier by Alberto Calderon.
For this achievement, they received the Salem Prize. Since 1996, Michael Lacey has been working at Georgia Institute of Technology as the professor of mathematics. While working here, he has made significant strides and his hard work and effort have seen him receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, which he received after working with Xiaochum Li.
Those that have experienced Lacey’s first-hand work can testify to how great he is in mathematics and how he is determined to find the solutions that seem to be troubling people. He joined the American Mathematical Society in 2012 and has been a member since. This move was expected since the moment he started solving major mathematical problems and bringing new ideas to the table.
During the mid-2000s, Michael had become a very popular public figure on many platforms, especially those in the media. During this time he was involved in minor publishing, working for a certain empire under the Village Voice Media (VVM). Village Voice Media was a chain that consisted of various weekly newspapers, some of which were the City Pages, the iconic New York Paper, the LA Weekly and the Phoenix New Times.
Michael Lacey had founded the Phoenix New Times back in 1970. He was working with almost all of the weeklies across the nation. Michael Lacey stepped out of the newspaper business in 2012. However, he is still mentioned in most of the stories that appear in the newspapers from time to time.
Read more: Michael Lacey | Wikipedia and Michael Lacey | Mathalliance
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Quarrels and Quills - The Play by Post Role-Playing Community > Role Playing Guild 1x1 Wing > 1x1s > IC Confined Crime Story (with Sojourn)
View Full Version : IC Confined Crime Story (with Sojourn)
Michael Callaghan
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/97/d8/25/97d8258ff1f15902ec2211bc703eafbd.jpg
Michael couldn't believe his luck. He was married to a beautiful, intelligent and sweet woman, and he couldn't be happier with her. She was like the rise of a bright day after being with Julianne.
Not that Julianne wasn't beautiful. Or intelligent. She was actually too intelligent for Michael's comfort, to the point where he felt threatened. Her intelligence had a malicious streak to it, and, if he were to be honest, Michael was slightly afraid of his lady.
Had Mercedes not come in the picture, Michael might have married Julianne and spent the rest of his days looking over his shoulder every time he angered his wife. After he met Mercedes, though, everything changed. He knew he couldn't be with Julianne anymore.
Despite his fear of Julianne's wrath, Michael tried to do the right thing. He sat with Julianne, and broke up with her before even pursuing anything with Mercedes. Once they were separated, then he went for his new love.
Things with Mercedes were easy and happy, and Michael proposed to her as soon as he could put some money aside for a ring. Her 'yes' made him the happiest man in the world. And now, they were starting their new life with a grand trip. Everything would be perfect now.
Julianne Wallis
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/69/6f/fb/696ffbb4e76bd2038964d487f0624ab8.jpg
Just like Michael, Julianne also planned on starting a new life. Of course, as with every big life changes, there were a few loose ends that needed to be tied before she could get a fresh start.
In Julianne's case, her loose ends were two, and had names and surnames: Michael and Mercedes Callaghan.
Michael was her ex-boyfriend, and she had been planning on marrying him - until Mercedes came along. As soon as that little wench had come along, Michael had forgotten everything about her, and had eyes only for the other girl. And, in no time, he had turned his back on Julianne and married Mercedes.
And he would pay for that. Both of them would.
In her crusade to make both Michael and Mercedes pay for their 'crime', Julianne had taken the time to do homework. She poked around, asked questions, and learned that Mercedes had also apparently left someone behind when she married Michael. Deciding that it was worth a shot, Julianne went after the man to figure out what he was like.
Meeting Nathaniel made Julianne see that she would have a very easy time recruiting him to do her dirty work. He was pretty easy to manipulate, as he saw himself as entitled to Mercedes, but didn't really object sleeping with another woman. And that was just what Julianne needed.
While the new couple was preparing a wedding, Julianne was plotting revenge with Nathaniel. And now that the newlyweds were hoping for a peaceful trip... she was sure they would get it. There was no way out.
Mercedes Callaghan
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll145/sojournfan/1424890618.jpg
Mercedes Callaghan loved her new husband. It didn't matter to her at all that Michael had been her father's gardener. He was the most handsome and kindest man she had ever met. Much better then her ex boyfriend, Nathaniel. The difference between Michael and Nathaniel was like night and day. It was meeting Michael that had given her the courage to dump that cheating jerk for good. She felt sorry for whatever woman caught Nathaniel's attention next. He wasn't a nice man, after all. And she felt her parents were pretty happy when she told them she was breaking things off with Nathaniel to be with Michael instead. Her father had given Michael is blessing right away, something he never would have done with her ex.
Life was good for Mercedes and she couldn't be happier. She didn't care how much money Michael had. That didn't matter to her. What she felt with him, the joy her brought into her life, that couldn't be bought. The best things in life were free. He could have given her ring from a Cracker Jack box and she would have loved it. She loved him very much and was so excited to spend the rest of her life with him.
Mercedes found Michael and wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss.
"Are you excited about the cruise?"
She asked him, she thought it would be lots of fun. She wasn't the only one who was bringing some baggage into their marriage. Michael's ex, Julianne, hadn't taken their break up well either. Julianne had been as angry as Nathaniel had been. Although, for different reasons, she was sure. Nathaniel was a possessive man, whose ego didn't take to being dumped. Julianne...She seemed more dangerous. Well, a nice cruise would do her and Michael some good. Put their pasts where they belonged, in the past. They could just enjoy being with each other and focus on their future. Which she was sure would be long and happy.
Nathaniel Williams
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll145/sojournfan/orson.jpg
Nathaniel Williams was angry. Mercedes had been his and Michael Callaghan had 'stole' her from him. Nathaniel was a proud man, he didn't take to being dumped well. He was the one who did the dumping in relationships, not the other way around. How dare that little bitch act like she was happy and moving on from him? He never said it was over. And to make matters worse, he was dumped for a gardener. Perhaps, being dumped for some richer he could see. He would have still been angry, but it would have been understandable. But a bloody gardener?! That was a slap in the face. He had been the laughing stock of the country club!
Nathaniel wasn't the only one angry, though, about the new marriage. It hadn't taken long to find out that Mercedes hadn't been the only rich girl Michael Callaghan had latched himself on to. Julianne Wells had been the first. A beautiful and fiery red head. She had sought him out and her anger matched his own. They had a lot in common and quickly became friends.
Nathaniel would have loved to have crashed the Callaghan wedding, make a huge scene. But Julianne had convinced him to be patient. Michael and Mercedes were going on a cruise for their honeymoon. It would be a much better place to strike. Closed quarters and all. He was so eager, he could barely control himself. He went to meet Julianne to go over some plans before the big trip.
"Hey, gorgeous, ready for a cruise to die for?"
Nathaniel told her with a sinister grin.
Feeling his wife's arms around his neck made Michael let out a happy sigh. He couldn't help but feel incredibly blessed to have Mercedes. She was beautiful, sweet and smart, and she really loved him. He could see it in her eyes.
Julianne had loved him in her own way, Michael supposed. But Julianne's love was possessive and dangerous. She was off balance, he was sure. But before Mercedes, he thought he couldn't do better than his former lover. Mercedes was the kind of woman he wanted, though.
She was rich, but he knew she wasn't a snob. She knew what really mattered in life. She appreciated the small things he could give her, and was truly grateful for what she had. Julianne was insatiable, she always wanted more, to the point where she was consuming his life and soul.
But Julianne was in the past now. Mercedes was his present and future.
"I would be excited to spend time in the backyard with you", he replied to his wife's question, holding her hand gently and kissing it. He loved doing such small gestures. He would avoid them with Julianne, though, because she was always complaining that his hands were too rough for her. Mercedes didn't seem to mind that he had the hands of a working class man.
Leaning in for another kiss, he finally replied to the question at hand. "I am, I can't wait to travel around with you before we settle back at home", he stated, his eyes lighting up. "I cannot wait to start our lives together. I love you, Mercedes Callaghan", the man murmured gently.
Julianne was incredibly excited about this cruise. She had pretty much everything she wanted on her fingertips. She had luxury, fun, a handsome man to warm her bed - even though she couldn't care less about him as a person - and the prospect of murder. This would indeed be a cruise to die for.
Nathaniel's question made Julianne let out a happy giggle. "More than ready. I can't wait to pay our darlings a visit", she replied, moving a hand to Nathaniel's backside and pinching him. "Of course we'll also be doing some other interesting things with our time", Julianne carried on.
If she were to admit, Julianne was having a lot of fun with Mercedes's ex boyfriend. He was handsome, wealthy, and - ironically - he wasn't half as clever as Michael had been. Michael had seen the darkness in her heart, and the fact that she wasn't well balanced mentally. Nathaniel seemed to see only a beautiful woman who was more than willing to give him whatever he wanted. For now, at least.
What he could not see was that she planned to use him to do her dirty work and then dispose of him. But that would have to wait. For now, she had to be all smiles, bright eyes and open arms.
"And after they are done... I'll be all yours, sweetheart", she added, playing her part as the lovestruck girl she knew so well how to play.
Mercedes never imagined she'd be so happy. What she and Michael shared, it was something special. Something out a fairy tale. So different then what she shared with Nathaniel. Her only regret was that she hadn't met Michael sooner. Michael was everything she had ever dreamed in man. She didn't care how much he had. He had a heart of gold.
Mercedes smiled at her husband.
"Oh, I know you would. I would too, but I do think the trip will be fun. We'll get to relax and see a little bit of the world."
Mercedes loved when Michael would hold her hand and kiss it. She didn't mind that he had calluses. He was a hardworking man. Not like Nathaniel. Who had never worked a day in his life. Usually the only thing in that man's hands was a damn whiskey glass. She was glad she had gotten Nathaniel out of her life and found Michael.
She happily returned Michael's kiss and said.
"I can't wait either, Mister Callaghan."
She loved being Mrs. Callaghan. She hoped they had long and happy lives together and a house filled with babies. Maybe they could make a baby on the cruise. That idea sounded perfect to her.
Nathaniel thought the cruise would be to die for. At least for the new Misters and Mrs Callaghan. While he was still angry that Mercedes thought she could leave him. He didn't mind the company of his new 'friend'. She was absolutely gorgeous. And smart, but Nathaniel never cared how smart a woman was. Nor would his ego allow him to realize that Julianne was far smarter then him. He was just thrilled they both wanted the same thing. To make the newlyweds pay for what they did.
He grinned at Julianne, loving her hands on his body.
"Oh, I'm sure we can keep each other very entertained in the mean time."
He told her, lowering his head to give her a kiss. He also loved the idea of having Miss Wallis all to himself. At least, until he got bored of her. Which would no doubt happen. It always did. He just hadn't gotten bored of Mercedes before she dumped him.
Michael showed a bright smile when Mercedes called him Mister Callaghan. He really loved the idea of being married to a woman like Mercedes. He wouldn't have cared if she didn't have a quarter to her name. He could and would work and support their family. Sure, he would never be able to give her a life of luxury, but he could provide well enough for a modest and decent life for them and their future children.
Michael's eyes lit up when he thought about children. He was sure Mercedes would be a very loving mother, and he planned on raise their children to be good and hard working men and women in the future. Without knowing what Mercedes had in mind, Michael also thought that it would be great if they could go home already with a baby on the way.
"I want to shout to the world that you are my wife", Michael stated, his voice warm and happy. Wrapping his arms around Mercedes, he kissed her hair and neck. After those kisses, he leaned forward and picked up his wife, not giving her time to protest.
"How about we go and check out our cabin? I think we'll need some time to... get acquainted with it", he suggested with a wink.
Julianne kissed Nathaniel and nibbled on his lower lip before showing him a devious smile. The wheels in her head were turning even as she did her best to make the man think she was head over heels in love - or lust - with him. Truth was that she didn't care in the least about Nathaniel. He could be in Japan or dead, as far as she cared. For now, though, he was a really useful tool, and she wanted to keep him happy and around.
"We surely can", she murmured, licking her lips in a way that made clear what she was thinking about. Julianne knew a man with the ego the size of Mount Everest like Nathaniel would definitely take well to being pleasured without having to pleasure his partner. And Julianne didn't really want to do anything that could make her get involved with Nathaniel. He wasn't worth her affection.
"Come on", she said, her hand slipping into Nathaniel's. "Let's give our bed a warm welcome, before we start getting friendly with the lovebirds", she invited, the idea of revenge and murder making her more aroused than any man could.
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Mercedes loved Michael's smile. She was sure they would have a long and happy life together. Filled with love, good times, and she hoped some kids. She'd love to get pregnant on the cruise. To become pregnant with her new husband's child would make this a perfect year for her. Not that she would spoil any of their children rotten. She knew Michael would want to make sure any future children they had were hard workers and good people. Which was fine with her, it would be easy to spoil her children but she wanted to raise her kids the way she was raised. As a decent person. She didn't want any of possible children to grow to be like Nathaniel.
"You are more then welcome to do so. While you do that, I'll shout to the world you are my husband."
Mercedes replied to Michael with a smile and returned his kisses. She laughed when he picked her up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Why, Mister Callaghan, I think that's a perfect idea."
Mercedes replied to him.
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Nathaniel groaned happily when Julianne kissed him. She was a beautiful woman and he enjoyed her company. Of course, he was good looking enough and confident enough that he was never lacking in female company. Julianne just happened to be far smarter then the women he usually had to warm his bed. She was certainly far more devious then Mercedes was.
Mercedes....that bitch would pay for dumping him. Especially for the damn gardener. Hell, if she had dumped him for a richer man, he'd still been angry, but it would have made more sense to his mind. She had married someone so much poorer then both of them. It was crazy to him.
When Julianne suggested they try out their bed, he squeezed her hand.
"Sounds like a good plan, my dear."
He was definitely find with some pleasure before they got down to business.
Michael's eyes lit up when Mercedes said she would shout to the world that he was her husband. He had feared that his wife would be ashamed of him. He knew that, socially, he had been below her his entire life. He didn't know most of the social graces people of Mercedes's circle had learned from as early as they could speak. All he knew was how to be a good person and work hard. Lucky for him, that had been enough for Mercedes, and her family had embraced him as well.
Now that he was learning to get past his awkward feelings about his new wife, Michael was starting to feel relieved. He was happy that Mercedes would allow him to keep to his lifestyle and work with his hands. The difference was, that, now, he would start working for their own home, instead of for someone else for a paycheck.
When Mercedes approved of the idea of them 'checking out' their cabin, Michael killed her yet again and carried her to the luxurious cabin they had rented for their trip.
Once inside, Michael pushed the door closed with his foot and placed Mercedes gently on their bed, leaning in to kiss her. "I love you, Mercedes", he murmured softly, running his fingers through his wife's hair.
Juliane Wallis
Juliane smiled when Nathaniel said them going to their cabin sounded like a good plan. Little did he know how many good plans she had. He would know in time, though. The first thing she needed was for him not to know anything, at least up until they finished both of their ex-lovers off.
Once they had them dealt with, she would have to deal with Nathaniel, and make sure he wouldn't be able to tell anyone she had been involved in the murders - or wouldn't be believed if he talked at all.
For now, though, all she wanted was to keep Nathaniel happy.
"Come on. I'll give you the attention you deserve", she replied to the man's words, taking a hold of his hand and leading him to their shared cabin.
As soon as they got inside, the redhead locked the door and smiled. "Tell me what to do. You're the boss", she whispered, wanting to give Nathaniel's ego a boost - not that it needed one, but it was still an easy way to keep her partner in crime happy.
Mercedes meant what she told Michael. She did want to shout to the world he was her husband. She could care less about their social standings. Money wasn't everything. She had dated a man, who socially was in her league, but Nathaniel had been a terrible person. Michael could have been a beggar on the streets and she'd still love him. He made her very happy. And he was a good person, an honest, hardworking person. That made him much better then a lot of people she knew.
She laughed when he picked her up and carried her to their cabin. When he placed her on the bed, she reached up and put her arms around his neck. Pulling Michael's face down hers.
"I love you too, Michael. Always and forever."
She replied, kissing him.
Nathaniel had no idea how dangerous his alliance with Julianne was. Not just for Mercedes and Michael, but also for himself. She was gorgeous woman and gorgeous women could be very dangerous for a man's health. But she was also good at stroking his ego and letting him think he was in charge. Just the way he preferred it.
"That's music to my ears, gorgeous."
He told Julianne, happily following her into the cabin. He laid back on the bed and told her.
"Show me, with your hands and mouth, how much happier you are you be in this cabin with me and not Michael."
He told her with a smirk as he started to take his clothes off.
Michael couldn’t be happier with the choice of a wife he had made. Mercedes was beautiful, smart, sweet and down to earth. For him, she was just perfect. When he wrapped his arms around his wife, he felt like the luckiest man alive. And he knew she didn’t care an inch about the fact that he had come from a humble background. It seemed as though she was fine, and even happy, with that. Something Julianne had never been.
Feeling Mercedes’s arms around his neck, Michael smiled, his eyes lighting up. That woman was just perfect, he thought, not for the first time.
After a long kiss, he laid on their bed and pulled Mercedes gently, letting her head rest on his chest and caressing her hair for a moment. “You know…”, he started, his voice gentle as usual, “...being here is all well and good, but our honeymoon will last a lot longer than our time here - how do you feel about the rest of our days?”, Michael suggested, not being able to remember another time in his life when he had been this happy.
Julianne had a hard time keeping a straight face around Nathaniel sometimes. He was incredibly gullible if he thought she was falling for him. Still, he was useful. He was a man, he was strong, angry, and the perfect fall guy. Heck, she might even manipulate him into committing both murders himself and keep her hands clean. Sure, killing the little bitch would be fun, but staying out of trouble might be a wiser plan. She would have to think about it.
When Nathaniel told her to show him with her hands and mouth how much happier she was to be in this cabin with him than she would have been with Michael, Julianne gave him a mischievous smile.
“Your wish is my command”, she murmured, before helping Nathaniel off his clothes - keeping her own on except for her shoes - and giving him the full treatment with her hands and mouth, as he had told her to.
Mercedes felt that Michael had been the perfect choice in a husband. He was handsome but he was also kind and smart. She felt they complimented each other perfectly and that they would have a good life together. Just like he felt he was the luckiest man alive, she felt like she was the luckiest woman. She felt like she was living a fairy tale. That Michael was her Prince Charming.If this was all a dream, she never wanted to wake up from it.
Mercedes happily cuddled with her new husband. She smiled against his chest.
"I think every day I spend with you will be wonderful. Like our honeymoon will never end."
She was so happy, she couldn't imagine that not lasting for many more years to come.
Nathaniel was an idiot. He had no idea how Julianne was just stringing him along. Using him for her own means. He thought he was in charge. He was eventually going to be in for a rude awakening. But he was a man who tended to think more with the brain in his pants, then in his head. He was far too cocky to believe anything else.
"Good girl."
He said with a grin, happily helping her undress him. Very happy with her treatment of him. Yes, he was definitely going to enjoy her company on this cruise while they got their revenge on the newlyweds.
Michael was more in love with Mercedes by the minute. The minute he had seen her, he had been lovestruck. She was so beautiful and sweet. She had not even looked down on him, and he was completely dirty after working at the garden and planting a flower bed. Still, she had been nice to him, and treated him like he mattered. After Julianne's demands, indifference and habit of never being happy about anything, Mercedes was a breath of fresh air. Now that he had her for himself, Michael felt like he had everything. All they needed now was to have their children, but he knew that would happen in time.
Seeing Mercedes's smile made Michael smile back at her.
"It won't. We'll always be this happy, for the rest of our days", Michael murmured, not knowing how right he was - and not in the way he thought.
Julianne had to try really hard not to laugh at Nathaniel sometimes. He was just incredibly gullible, and thought he was so smart. He was partially lucky she was smart, since he would get his revenge. He wasn't that lucky in the sense that he was going to take the fall, and not be able to defend himself. Julianne smiled while she undressed the man.
"I would do anything for you", she purred at his words about her being a good girl.
Julianne loved playing the lovestruck girl. It was easier to make men believe her this way. Michael had believed her, up until that bitch had shown up and taken him away. She didn't want him back, though. All she wanted now was revenge, on both of them.
"Tell me everything I should do, Nate. You're the boss", the woman whispered, before doing exactly as she was told, until she noticed she had fully pleased the man. Once she was done, Julianne smiled, keeping her adoring expression. "Are you satisfied with me?".
Mercedes had not thought the type of love between her and Michael was even possible. She felt like she was in a fairy tale. In a dream. If she was, she never wanted to wake up. He was so different from Nathaniel. Caring and sweet. A hard worker and not full of himself. He treated her the way a man should treat a woman. She felt like a better person being with him. A stronger person. He had given her the strength to finally break up with Nathaniel, who she had dated off and on for a few years. Her relationship with Nathaniel had been vastly different. Nathaniel was very controlling and demanding. Any time they broke up, it was his choice. Because he had seen a cuter girl. That he was bored of her but he expected her to wait for him. And she had, which was stupid in hindsight. She had truly believed at the time that Nathaniel was the best thing she'd ever have.
That was until Michael entered her life and she realized she deserved better. She had much better now. She still remembered how angry Nathaniel was when she broke up with him. She told him it was over and they were never getting back together. It had made her feel strong, telling him where to shove it.
Life was much better now. For the first time since she was old enough to date, she truly felt happy. She finally knew what love was supposed to be. She had it and she didn't want to ever let it go.
"You're very right. People will hate us for being so happy."
Mercedes replied back to her husband with a smile.
If Nathaniel had known what Julianne really thought of him, he would have been very angry. He was very controlling and a narcissist. He thought he was God's gift to women. And he was also a sexist. He thought that women were beneath him. He had been raised by the old thinking of what a woman's place was. Men were the superior gender. Women were there to produce babies and please men. Other then his friends, who held similar thoughts, most people who knew Nathaniel couldn't stand him. He was an asshole and they felt sympathy for Mercedes for putting up with him as long as she had.
The people who didn't like him, were happy when she finally got enough courage to kick his ass to the curb and marry a better man. But Nathaniel didn't care what those people thought. He thought they were idiots. After all, how could he do any wrong?
"I know you would."
Nathaniel replied with a stupid grin, falling for her love-struck girl act. He also very happy she was willing to do anything and everything he wanted. Julianne was a good girl, knowing her place.
When they were finished, he nodded his head.
"Very satisfied. Michael was an idiot letting a firecracker like you go."
Michael smiled again when Mercedes said people would hate them for being so happy. "Well, that's gonna be on them", he replied, leaning in for another kiss. He just couldn't get enough of his new and beautiful wife. She was even more beautiful on the inside than she was on the outside, and that meant the world to him.
"Maybe we should give the world even more of a reason to hate us", he suggested, nibbling on Mercedes's neck while a hand started slipping under her blouse suggestively. It was pretty clear what he was thinking of.
Julianne showed another adoring smile when Nathaniel had been an idiot letting her go. Oh, yes, he had been. Just like Nathaniel was an idiot for believing she was in love with him and would do whatever he wanted. Poor moron would never know what hit him.
Still, it would be fun to be with him while it lasted.
"Well, look on the bright side", she replied to him. "If he hadn't let me go, I would never have met the best man I have ever had in my life", Julianne continued. She knew adulation was the way to keep Nathaniel happy, and, for now, she needed him to be happy.
"Tell me what you want me to do now", Julianne requested humbly. "Do you want me to get you a drink?". Enjoy it while it lasts, her mind added behind her adoring expression.
Mercedes nodded her head to Michael.
"You're right. Who cares what they think?"
As long as she and Michael had good lives, that's all that matter to her. Knowing Nathaniel, he'd never be happy. He was a pretty miserable person in general. Let him hate her. She just felt sorry for the next girl who would date him. She grinned when he suggested they give the world a reason to hate them.
"Hmm....I like that idea."
She said, adjusting herself to allow him easier access.
There was a fire in Julianne that made her far more fun to him then Mercedes had been. Although Nathaniel had no idea how intelligent his new 'friend' was or what she planned to do with him. His ego was too large to realize he was going to be the fall guy in her plans. Instead, he was fine with believing that the gorgeous redhead was falling in love with him. How could she not? After all, look at him. He was handsome and rich. Women generally threw themselves at him. Which he enjoyed.
"So very true. I plan to give you the best time of your entire life on this cruise."
It would be a time to definitely remember. Especially for the newlyweds. If they survived it. Which, if things went to plan, they wouldn't. He nodded his head at her suggestion.
"A drink sounds good. Then, perhaps we should take a little tour of the ship."
Michael smiled when Mercedes said he was right. It was funny how good his wife made him feel. Before her, he had always felt inadequate. Julianne was smart, and, more than that, she was always putting him down. Sure, he wasn’t as smart as she was, but there was no need for that, Michael had always thought to himself.
“Not us, that’s for sure”, he replied to Mercedes, pushing his ex firmly away from his mind. That was his past, and should remain there. Mercedes was his future. Her and the future children they would certainly have. Michael had always wanted a big family, and he hoped Mercedes would be on board.
Sighing happily when Mercedes said she liked the idea of them giving the world a reason to hate them, Michael devoted the next minutes to slowly undressing his beautiful wife. He devoted himself fully to giving her the attention she deserved, and enjoyed every second.
When he wrapped her in his arms, satisfied and happy after some intense lovemaking, Michael kissed Mercedes’s hair and squeezed her gently. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could make our first baby during this trip?”, he murmured, feeling too happy to even think about anyone other than his lovely wife right now.
Julianne showed another adoring smile to Nathaniel when he said he planned to give her the best time of her entire life. “I’m sure you will”, she replied in that lovestruck intonation. “I will make sure your time here is to die for”, she added with a wink.
While Julianne didn’t plan on killing Nathaniel herself, she was pretty sure this cruise would be deadly for him too. At least if she played her cards right. And dead men can’t tell tales.
“I would love to. We must make sure to reserve a table as close to the happy couple as we can”, she replied, giving Nathaniel a kiss before getting up, stretching like a satisfied cat. “I’ll be right back”, she murmured, before leaving and coming back with a drink for Nathaniel.
“There you go. Made sure to make our dinner reservations. We must look our best for that. I’m sure they will be so happy to dine right next to us”.
"Damn right."
Mercedes told Michael with a smile. She understood all too well about his past. Julianne had put him down, just like Nathaniel had always put her down. Neither had been in healthy relationships. Meeting each other had gave them both the courage to move on. And Mercedes was glad she had. As long as she had Michael, she truly didn't care how much money they had. They could be dirt poor and she felt she'd still be happy. Money could not buy love. Something she knew her ex did not understand.
Mercedes cuddled close to Michael and told him.
"That would be wonderful."
She said with a smile when he mentioned making a baby on the trip. She then leaned up and kissed him.
"And even if we don't, I'll have lots of fun trying."
"I have no doubt you will."
Nathaniel replied to Julianne with a grin. He believed his time with the redhead would prove fun, in more ways then one. Not that he was smart enough to realize that she had plans for him too. He figured they'd get revenge on their exes and have lots of sex in the meantime.
When she suggested they get a table next to the newlyweds, he grinned.
"I love how your mind thinks. That will surely piss them both off."
He could just Mercedes' face. How it would be priceless and he was sure her spineless husband would do very little. When she returned with a drink, Nathaniel gave Julianne a kiss.
"Thanks, love."
Not that he loved her, he was far too selfish to love someone. He used love in terms as someone used 'dear' or 'honey'. Just as a nickname. He laughed.
"I'm sure they'll be thrilled."
Michael smiled back at Mercedes. He was just too happy with her, and, at this point, he couldn’t really remember a moment in his life when he had been happier. He had a beautiful and compassionate woman in his arms now, and she seemed to be happy with him simply being who he was. As he was happy with her being the wonderful woman she was.
When Mercedes cuddled close to him, Michael sighed. “So it would”, he agreed when she said making a baby on the trip would be wonderful.
Michael laughed softly when Mercedes said they would have fun trying even if they didn’t make a baby.
Kissing her neck after kissing Mercedes, he sighed happily and moved the kisses to her cheeks and stealing a few pecks on her lips. “Don’t tempt me. Otherwise I might want a second attempt”, he joked.
With a yawn, Michael kissed the top of Mercedes’s head. “Would you like me to get you anything, baby?”, he asked gently, squeezing her gently in his arms.
Julianne smiled when Nathaniel said he liked how her mind thought. She was sure that would last for a while, but he would surely stop liking her thought process so much when it turned against him. Of course, he wouldn’t really have the time to process her mischievous plans. Everything would be too fast for him to even have a chance to think about that. Not that thinking was Nathaniel’s forte, after all. Which made him the perfect partner in crime.
“I bet it will. We need to look as great as we can. After all, this is a special occasion”. Julianne was happy to keep Nathaniel happy. It would be easy to use him if he was happy and sure that she was in love with him.
When the time came, she had a plan to make him look guilty, but of course, she wouldn’t share it with him, at all. Surprises were fun, after all, and she needed the element of surprise to make this plan come together.
“I think we should find a way for a little… alone time with our beloved exes after dinner - what do you say?”, she suggested, her eyes taking a devilish expression.
Truth was she didn’t plan on meeting Michael at all. What she did plan was to make sure Nathaniel would be seen harassing Mercedes, while she would find a way to run interference and keep Michael away from his wife without actually having an altercation with him. She wasn’t sure how she was going to accomplish that yet. But somehow, she would.
Mercedes loved Michael and right now, everything felt perfect. Their wedding had been wonderful and now they were on an amazing cruise. She couldn't imagine life getting any better then it was right now. At least, not until they had a baby. She wanted to give Michael a baby. To have a household of kids with him.
She snuggled against her husband and giggled.
"But they say practice makes perfect."
When he asked if she wanted anything, she replied.
"Well, I am a little hungry. A sandwich would be nice. After all, I did use up a lot of energy."
She told him with wink.
The idea that a woman could be smarter then him, didn't cross Nathaniel's mind. After all, he was a man and men were superior to women in every way. He assumed all women knew that and thought it was adorable when they came up with 'ideas'. For now, he assumed that Julianne's plans aligned with his own. To make Mercedes and Michael pay for what they had done to them. And how he wanted to make them pay. How dare Mercedes dump him? He did the dumping not the other way around. And for all people to dump him for the hired help! Lord, it pissed him off to no end.
"Baby, you always look great."
Nathaniel told her. She was gorgeous, but he also knew many gorgeous women. Julianne was easy on the eyes but he wouldn't say she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Life was too short for him to just have one woman to keep his bed warm at night. When she suggested that they be alone with their exes, he nodded his head.
"Yes, I agree. I think Mercedes will need me to remind her of what she lost."
Michael couldn't think of anything more that he wanted right now. He had married a beautiful and loving woman who had never been bothered by the fact that he was just a working class man and would always be - money wouldn't change that -, her family had accepted him, and now they were having a lovely honeymoon and thinking about a future together. Life was just perfect right now.
When Mercedes giggled, Michael let out a long sigh. He was head over heels in love with this woman, and she was basically everything he had ever wanted. "Well, then, we must practice a lot, because I want everything about our marriage to be perfect", he replied to her words.
Mercedes's comment about using up a lot of energy made Michael blush a little, but he laughed and kissed her lips. "Okay, I'll get you the best sandwich you have ever eaten", he joked, taking a moment to clean up and get dressed before leaving their cabin for something to spoil his beautiful bride with.
Julianne actually loved the fact that Nathaniel was so arrogant. His high than warranted regard for himself was exactly what she needed to make sure this whole mess would end up being considered his fault. If to make sure this would happen she needed to play the dumb bimbo, it was a role she was willing to play for now. It was actually a pretty fun role to play for a while, and well, Nathaniel was decent enough in bed to sweeten this deal for her.
When he said she always looked great, Julianne looked at him with that gaze of profound adoration she knew made men feel like kings - and the kind of look men like Nathaniel believed to be sincere, since they were God's gift to women.
"Thank you, honey", she murmured humbly, doing her best not to smirk. Men were so predictable and kind of stupid. It was interesting when they thought they were smart, though.
"She'll regret losing you as soon as she sees what an idiot her new husband is. Her loss is my gain, though", Julianne added with a wink, before stretching and getting back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She knew her next question was a stupid one, and that was exactly why she was asking it. The dumber he considered her, the easier this whole thing would be.
"You do like me better than you liked her, don't you?"
"It will be, Michael. I just know it."
Mercedes replied when he said he wanted their marriage to be perfect. Since they first got together, everything had been perfect. Almost like a fairy tale. If this was all a dream, she never wanted to wake up from it. She didn't imagine should ever be so happy. She didn't care about money, money didn't buy love or happiness. Both of which they had. She felt like they were the richest people in the world.
Mercedes grinned, and after kissing him back, said.
"I'll be waiting."
She stretched out on the bed, not even bothering to get up or dressed. This honeymoon was just perfect. She hoped it would never end.
Nathaniel was an arrogant fool. It never crossed his mind that Julianne was an manipulative bitch. He thought she was taken with him, like all women should be. Like Mercedes used to be, until she realized she deserved so much more then him. He'd never forgive Mercedes for dumping him for the bloody gardener. She made him the laughing stock of all his friends. For a man with such an ego, a crime like that couldn't go unpunished.
"You're welcome, babe."
Nathaniel told her with a grin. She was good at her role, very good. She could have been an actress. Nathaniel was never going to know what hit when it was time for Julianne to drop her charade.
'Very much your gain."
And his own, she was more fun in bed then Mercedes had ever been, he thought as he kissed her neck. When she asked her question, he leaned up on his elbow and told her.
"Of course, Julianne. Mercedes was boring."
He ran his finger down the middle of her chest and asked.
"You do like me much better than that damn Michael, right?"
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Michael smiled when Mercedes said their marriage would be perfect. He didn't doubt it would be, not at all. Everything about Mercedes was perfect. He wasn't perfect at all, but he was a good man and wanted to make his wife happy, so he was sure everything would work out. And in the future, they would have lovely children to love even more, and life would be pure bliss. When they got home, he decided, he would build her a garden with her favorite flowers as a present to his wife. He knew she would appreciate it, even though other women who'd come from wealth probably wouldn't.
"Alright. I love you," he murmured before leaving the cabin. Michael stopped for a moment to think. His wife was the perfect woman, and he couldn't be happier. It was a bit scary, he thought, before shaking his head and heading to the restaurant.
He sat on a table and checked the menu, before ordering - somewhat timidly - a sandwich he knew Mercedes would like and some hot chocolate for her to drink, hoping it would be fine with her. Once he had everything, Michael made a point of taking everything back himself. He wouldn't want someone else doing it for Mercedes, and he wanted her to feel comfortable just resting and not bothering with clothes.
"There you go, love," he whispered warmly. "I hope you like everything. By the way, I love you. Just in case I have said it less than thirty times today," he joked.
Julianne was having a lot of fun with Nathaniel. She knew full well that he didn't really love her. She was sure he didn't love anyone but himself. She didn't need him to anyway. All he had to do was believe her. Believe that she was smitten with him and that she was a silly girl in love. For as long as he believed that, Nathaniel would be useful enough. When he was no longer of use, well... she could easily and quickly discard him.
When he said Mercedes was boring, the redhead laughed a bit. "Looks like it. I bet she doesn't even go down," she teased.
At Nathaniel's question, Julianne's expression softened and she nodded. "Of course I do. How could I want another man after meeting you?" Julianne asked, making her best soft and vulnerable expression. "I'm absolutely crazy about you, it's almost scary."
Since Mercedes had met Michael, it seemed like her life had been perfect. What she ever saw in Nathaniel, she had no idea. Her only regret now was not noticing how amazing Michael was sooner. Well, she had the rest of her life to enjoy being with him. She was sure they would have a happy life and hopefully lots of children. Money didn't matter to her. She had grown up with it, but she also knew money didn't buy happiness. People like Nathaniel thought it did, but she had gotten mature enough to know it really didn't. She and Michael could be dirt poor and it wouldn't matter to her. Happiness was not something that could be bought and at the end of the day, material things didn't truly matter.
"I love you too."
She replied to him with a happy smile and got dressed. The cruise was going to be lots of fun, she thought. She smiled at her husband when he returned.
"Thank you, it smells delicious."
She replied to him and grinned as she added.
"By the way, I love you too. You can tell me as many times as you like, because I love hearing it."
Love didn't matter to Nathaniel. He had never loved Mercedes. She was pretty enough and it was assumed by all their rich friends they would eventually marry. He wouldn't have, he hadn't been loyal to her, although he expected her to be. Eventually, he would have dumped her, he just couldn't believe she had the audacity to dump him first. For her family's damn gardener no less. A man from a wealthier family, he might have been able to understand, but Michael Callaghan? It felt like a joke. She made him a joke in their social circles and he wouldn't stand for that.
"No, I had to find others for that."
Nathaniel told Julianne with a wink when they insulted Mercedes together. Insulting his ex made him feel better. When Julianne fed his ego, he grinned.
"Good, I'm glad you are."
He did believe she was crazy about him. Who wouldn't be? He was a catch, good looking and from a wealthy family. Any woman should be happy to have his attention.
"So...When shall we start getting our revenge on Mr and Mrs Callaghan?"
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Caltech Home > Welcome > Speeches & Writings > Letters to Friends of Caltech > June 2018 Letter to Friends of Caltech
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Letters to Friends of Caltech
June 2018 Letter to Friends of Caltech
Dear friends of Caltech,
"Construction is the art of making a meaningful whole out of many parts."
— Peter Zumthor, Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal Award
Traversing the Caltech campus these days can be an adventure. Fenced off areas mark the sites of no fewer than four construction projects hammering away, and one has to be mindful of heavy trucks on the usually idyllic pathways. The new buildings, three slated to open this fall, will contribute powerfully to Caltech's mission of excellence in research and education.
Cranes rise in the center of campus as the steel girders and concrete pours give shape to the new Hameetman student center. This will be a gathering place for undergraduate and graduate students alike, linking the north and south of campus, with an expanded Red Door Café for necessary doses of caffeine and the acoustically designed Frautschi rehearsal and performance space for musical interludes.
The scaffolding has come down on the south side of campus, but interior work continues as Sloan Laboratory is transformed into the Linde Hall of Mathematics and Physics. Originally conceived by George Ellery Hale as a means to attract Robert Andrews Millikan to Caltech, Sloan became a high voltage laboratory with capacious rooms and bays, but it is worn now by more than a half century of use. Housing the Institute's mathematicians, the renovated three upper floors of Linde Hall will boast offices, collaboration spaces, and state-of-the-art classrooms, with architectural nods to its history.
Framing the north of campus will be the Bechtel Residence and the Chen Neuroscience Research Building. With its 211 suite-based student beds and two faculty-in-residence apartments, Bechtel will provide for the first time in generations the ability to house all our undergraduates on campus all four years. Common rooms, a shared courtyard, and a glass-walled dining facility will help foster interactions and create community among the frosh, sophomores, juniors, and seniors in residence.
In December 2016, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen provided an exceptionally generous gift to launch a campus-wide neuroscience initiative for interdisciplinary brain research. The 150,000-square-foot research building at the corner of Wilson and Del Mar will instantiate Caltech's commitment to discovery and the application of fundamental scientific insights into the workings of the brain to improve people's lives. Flexible laboratories, novel instrumentation, and, perhaps most important, bringing members of all six of Caltech's divisions together in beautiful interior space and exterior gardens will be key to realizing the Chen building's potential. Occupancy is planned for 2020.
The names Hameetman, Linde, Bechtel, and Chen testify to the important role that private philanthropy is playing in positioning Caltech to seize the future through the Break Through campaign. These buildings are a visual demonstration of profound impact, not only as necessary modern additions to the Institute's infrastructure, but as the means that permit us to attract and retain exceptional talent. As always at Caltech, it is fundamentally about people: providing fearless researchers and educators with the tools to break scientific and technological molds.
When the fences and scaffolding and cranes come down, when direct, untrammeled routes through campus again emerge, we will be able to appreciate more easily the beautiful surroundings of the Caltech campus. From the time of Caltech's modern-day founders, this beauty has been considered a necessary ingredient for successful scholarship. The completed construction projects will add to Caltech's substance and ethos. Like the elements of the periodic table, they will fit together to define new patterns in a rich and complex whole.
Thomas F. Rosenbaum
Enclosure: Periodic Table of Caltech
Caltech - Office of the President
1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena CA 91125
Unless otherwise noted, all site content © 2019 California Institute of Technology
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Journal of Membrane Science & Technology
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Open Access Articles- Top Results for Air Force Reserve Command
Air Force Reserve Command
Headquarters, Air Force Reserve Command, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia
1 August 1968 – 17 February 1997 (as: Air Force Reserve)
17 February 1997–present (as: Air Force Reserve Command)
23x15px United States
22x20px United States Air Force
Major Command
Air Reserve Component (ARC)
Nearly 70,000 personnel
Garrison/HQ
Robins Air Force Base, Georgia
Lt Gen James F. Jackson
Air Force Reserve Command Emblem
Aircraft flown
F-15E Strike Eagle
MQ-1 Predator (UAS)
B-52H Stratofortress
E-3 Sentry
F-22 Raptor
Multirole helicopter
HH-60G Pave Hawk
RQ-4 Global Hawk (UAS)
T-1 Jayhawk
T-6 Texan II
C-5 Galaxy
C-40 Clipper
HC-130P Combat King
C-130 Hercules
WC-130 Hurricane Hunter
C-145 Skytruck
KC-10 Extender
The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federally controlled Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of duly appointed commissioned officers and enlisted airmen.
AFRC supports the Air Force mission to defend the United States through the control and exploitation of air and space by supporting Global Engagement. AFRC also plays an integral role in the day-to-day Air Force mission and is not strictly a force held in reserve for possible war or contingency operations.
2 Reserve categories
3 Associate Program
5.1 Total Force concept
5.2 Cold War era
5.3 Middle East and Yugoslavian operations
5.4 Global War on Terrorism
5.5 Lineage
5.6 Assignments
5.7 Components
5.8 Stations
The federal reserve component of the United States Air Force, AFRC has approximately 450 aircraft assigned for which it has sole control, as well as access to several hundred additional active duty USAF aircraft via AFRC "Associate" wings that are collocated with active duty Air Force wings, sharing access to those aircraft. The inventory includes the latest, most capable models of aircraft that are also assigned to the active-duty U.S. Air Force. On any given day, 99 percent of AFRC's aircraft are mission-ready and able to deploy within 72 hours.[1] In addition to flying units, AFRC has numerous ground organizations ranging from medical units to civil engineers, intelligence and space operations, and security forces, just to name a few.
The purpose of the Air Force Reserve as derived from Title 10 United States Code is to:
Provide combat-ready units and individuals for active duty whenever there are not enough trained units and people in the Regular component of the Air Force to perform any national security mission.
Unlike the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve is strictly a "federal" reserve component under Title 10 of the United States Code (Title 10 USC) and operates as an independent Major Command (MAJCOM), e.g., Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). In combination with the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve comprises the other half of what is known as the Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the United States Air Force. AFRC forces are under the administrative control (ADCON) of the Commander, Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC/CC). When activated or mobilized (e.g., under 10 U.S.C. §§ 12301(a), 12302, 12304, 12304a, or 12304b), combatant command authority (COCOM) transfers to the combatant commander to which the forces are assigned/attached and operational control (OPCON) transfers to the operational chain of command established by that commander. In addition, AFRC forces are also assigned to deployable Air Expeditionary Forces (AEFs) and are subject to deployment tasking orders along with their active duty Regular Air Force and part-time Air National Guard counterparts in their assigned deployment cycle window.
Air Force Reservists are on duty across the nation and around the world, either at their home base or deployed as part of the Air Expeditionary Forces. In addition to its role as a proven and respected combat force, the Air Force Reserve is also involved in international humanitarian relief missions, from repairing roads and schools to airlifting supplies. At the request of local, state or federal agencies, the Air Force Reserve also conducts aerial spray missions as well as, in combination with the Air National Guard, forest fire and wildfire suppression missions using specially equipped C-130 Hercules [1] aircraft using the Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS).
The Air Force Reserve also contains other specialized capabilities not found in regular active duty Air Force units. For example, in addition to aerial spraying and MAFFS, the Air Force Reserve maintains the Air Force's sole remaining aerial weather reconnaissance capability, to include hurricane penetration by its own WC-130J aircraft, augmenting the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) WP-3D fleet. Like their Air National Guard counterparts, the Air Force Reserve also supports counter-narcotics detection and interdiction efforts in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard.[1][2]
Reserve categories
There are several categories of service in the Air Force Reserve. Most Air Force Reservists are part-time "Traditional Reservists" (TR) who serve in the Unit Program, in which they are required to report for duty with their parent Air Force Reserve Command unit, typically a wing, group or squadron, at least one weekend a month and an additional two weeks a year. However, many Air Force Reservists, especially those in an active flying status, serve well in excess of this minimum duty requirement, often in excess of 120 man-days a year.[3]
A smaller but equally important category of TR is the "Individual Mobilization Augmentee" (IMA). IMAs are part-time Air Force Reservists who are assigned to active duty Air Force units and organizations, combat support agencies, Unified Combatant Commands and the Joint Staff to do jobs that are essential in wartime and/or during contingency operations, but do not require full-time manning during times of peace. They report for duty a minimum of two days a month and twelve additional days a year, but like their Unit Program counterparts, many IMAs serve well in excess of the minimum military duty requirement.[3]
A small number of Reservists serve limited tours of active duty, usually at headquarters staff level, in the joint combatant commands, or in other special assignments. Their job is to bring Air Force Reserve expertise to the planning and decision-making processes at senior levels within the Air Force, other services and Unified Combatant Commands.[3]
Like the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve Command also requires two categories of full-time personnel to perform functions that require full-time manning. These full-time positions are filled via the same two programs as employed by the Air National Guard: the Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) and Air Reserve Technician (ART) programs.[3]
Air Force Reservists who become members of the "Active Guard and Reserve" (AGR) receive full active duty pay and benefits just like active duty members of any branch of the armed forces. The majority of AGRs are former TRs and they serve four-year controlled tours of special duty that can be renewed. Many AGRs serve with operational AFRC flying and non-flying wings and groups; at active and reserve numbered air forces; on the staffs of other USAF Major Commands (MAJCOMs), Field Operating Agencies (FOAs) and Direct Reporting Units (DRUs); on the Air Staff at Headquarters, U.S. Air Force (HAF); on the staffs of Unified Combatant Commands; on the Joint Staff and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). AFRC Recruiting is another fields that employs AGR personnel. AGRs also have the option with good performance to serve 20 or more years on active duty and receive a retirement after 20 or more years, just like active members of the Regular Air Force.[3]
Another category of Air Force Reservists serving full-time are those in the "Air Reserve Technician Program" (ART). ARTs are accessed from either the active duty Regular Air Force, the AGR program, Traditional Guardsmen (TG) in the Air National Guard, or TRs in the Air Force Reserve. ARTs carry a dual status, working for the Air Force as both full-time civil service employees and as uniformed military members in the same AFRC units where they work as Department of the Air Force Civilians (DAFC), performing the same job duties. Although "technically" civil servants part of the time, all ART officers must maintain a reserve commission on the Reserve Active Status List as a TR and all ART enlisted personnel must maintain a current reserve enlistment as a TR as a precondition for both hiring and continued career employment as an ART. In addition, all ART officers and ART enlisted personnel wear their uniforms and utilize their rank titles at all times when on duty, regardless if they are in a DAFC status or in a drilling or active duty military status. Most ART personnel are assigned to operational AFRC flying wings, groups and squadrons in various operational flying, aircraft maintenance and other support positions and functions, up to and including wing commander. Because ARTs are not eligible for DAFC retirement until reaching age 60, and because a condition of their employment as an ART is contingent upon their maintaining an active reserve military status until reaching age 60, ARTs are not subject to the same maximum years of service limitations by pay grade that impact non-ART personnel. As such, ART personnel are permitted to remain in uniform until age 60, typically past a point that would otherwise require their retirement from military service based on rank, pay grade and years of service.[3]
Traditional Reservists (TR) are categorized by several criteria in either the Ready Reserve, Standby Reserve, Inactive Ready Reserve or Retired Reserve:[3]
Ready Reserve
The Ready Reserve is made up of approximately 74,000 trained Reservists who may be recalled to active duty to augment active forces in time of war, contingency operations, or other national emergency. This category also includes all full-time ART personnel. These Air Force Reservists, predominantly assigned to the Unit Program or as IMAs, are combat ready and can deploy to anywhere in the world in seventy-two hours.[3]
Standby Reserve
The Standby Reserve includes Reservists whose civilian jobs are considered key to national defense or who have temporary disability or personal hardship. Most Standby Reservists do not train, are not assigned to units and are typically not eligible for promotion/advancement.[3]
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR)
These Reservists no longer train with combat ready Reserve units, but are qualified in their fields and eligible to be recalled in the event of a national emergency.[3]
There is a small group of these IRR Air Force Reservists labeled as PIRR, or Participating IRR. Personnel in the PIRR receive points toward military retirement, but not drill pay or Annual Training with pay and are under what the Air Force Reserve (and Air National Guard) designates as Category E (CAT E) status. Some PIRR members will continue to participate with existing Air Force Reserve units in a non-pay status or with active duty Air Force organizations or Unified Combatant Commands where they may be eligible to perform Active Duty for Training (ADT), Active Duty for Operational Support (ADOS), Active Duty Special Work (ADSW) ... also known as "mandays" ... or voluntary Mobilization to Active Duty (MOB) with full pay and allowances. CAT E Air Force Reservists also include over 1,000 USAF Academy Liaison Officers (ALOs) and Civil Air Patrol Reserve Liaison Officers (RLOs), as well as some Air Force chaplains and a few other positions that require military duty, but not a fixed schedule. These CAT E personnel can also earn active duty mandays with pay just like CAT A and B reservists, but on a more limited basis.[3]
Retired Reserve
The Retired Reserve is made up of retired officers and retired enlisted personnel who receive pay after retiring from active duty or from the Reserve Component, or are Reservists awaiting retirement pay at age 60, although exceptions are made for certain reservists mobilized to active duty since 11 Sep 2001 who may receive retirement pay earlier on a sliding scale between ages 58 and 60. The TRICARE Retiree Dental Care Program (TRDP) is also authorized for all Retired Reserve members and their families, however, medical care under TRICARE is still delayed for the retiree and eligible family members until the retiree reaches age 60.[3]
A USAF Associate Unit is a unit where active duty, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members combine forces and missions using "Total Force" concept integration.[4] The Air Force Reserve Command Associate Program provides trained crews and maintenance personnel for active-duty owned aircraft and space operations. This unique program pairs a Reserve unit with an active-duty unit to share a single set of aircraft and rests on the idea that there are more operational requirements than there are manpower to fulfill them. The Associate Reserve program is based on providing manpower to complement the Total Force.
Previously, an associate unit was one where the active duty (typically a wing level organization) owned the aircraft and the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard wing or group co-located with the active duty unit, providing only manpower. To take advantage of the synergies and aircraft, active duty units are now being stood up at what were previously Air Force Reserve Command or Air National Guard locations, where the Air Reserve Component organization technically "owns" the aircraft, but share them with an active duty squadron, group or wing that provides additional manning. This enables the Air Force to be more productive in meeting the global demands for primarily the Mobility Air Forces (MAF), the Air Force's cargo and aerial refueling aircraft, although the concept is now being extended to the Combat Air Forces (CAF), the Air Force's fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, rescue and special operations aircraft, as well.[4] The result is a more cost-effective way to meet increasing mission requirements.
In an active associate unit, the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard owns the aircraft, while the active duty Regular Air Force embeds a squadron, group or wing that provides air crews and maintainers who share the responsibility of flying and maintaining the AFRC or ANG aircraft.
In a traditional associate unit, Air Force Reservists fly and maintain aircraft owned by the active duty Regular Air Force. In many of these units, particularly in the MAF, the aircraft have re-marked to include both Regular Air Force and Air Force Reserve Command or Air National Guard organizational and unit markings.[3]
A corollary unit is an Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard squadron or group attached to an active duty squadron or group.
Associate unit reservists fly the largest Air Mobility Command (AMC) airlifters, the C-5 Galaxy, and the newest AMC global airlifter, the C-17 Globemaster III, with Air Force Reserve associate crews accounting for nearly 50 percent of the Air Force's C-5 and C-17 air crew capability. AFRC also provides aerial refueling capability with aircrews operating AMC KC-10 Extenders in associate units and KC-135 Stratotankers in both associate and Air Reserve Component air mobility wings, air refueling wings and air refueling groups. Associate KC-10 units provide 50 percent of the KC-10 crews and contribute 50 percent to the maintenance force. Reservists also contribute about 13 percent of the KC-135 aerial refueling requirements.[3] In another alignment with AMC, more than 9,100 Air Force Reservists train in the C-130 Hercules airlift mission in a variety of aircrew, aircraft maintenance and support skills as both stand alone AFRC units and . In wartime, AFRC provides 23 percent of Air Force's C-130 theater airlift force, with nearly half of the Air Force Reserve's airlift units flying their own unit assigned C-130 Hercules aircraft, several of which have now integrated Active Associate units from the Regular Air Force. The C-130's speed, range, load-carrying characteristics and capability to operate under difficult terrain conditions make it an invaluable and versatile aircraft, strong enough to deliver its cargo on unimproved landing strips. Other AMC-aligned AFRC missions involve aeromedical evacuation and special air support operations.[3] The Air Force Reserve also operates the WC-130 Hurricane Hunter in the weather reconnaissance mission.
Air Combat Command (ACC) F-22A Raptor air dominance fighters, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-15E Strike Eagle multipurpose fighters, and A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft are jointly operated by ACC active duty personnel and AFRC aircrews via Associate units, as well as F-16 and A-10 aircraft in stand-alone AFRC fighter wings. AFRC's HC-130 and HH-60 combat search and rescue (CSAR) are currently assigned to stand-alone flying units that are operationally aligned with ACC, but are being considered for incorporation of Active Associate units into their organizational structure. Several AFRC Air and Space Operations Centers (AOCs) also operate as stand alone units or in associate augmentation to ACC, AMC, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) and U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) AOCs operating the AN/USQ-163 Falconer AOC weapons system.
In tandem with Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), AFRC operated the MC-130E Combat Talon I aircraft until 2013 and currently operates the C-145A Skytruck and U-28, providing Formal Training Unit (FTU) functions for the active duty Air Force and the Air Force Reserve.
In associate programs with the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), AFRC support undergraduate pilot training by providing instructor pilots in the T-6 Texan II, T-38 Talon and T-1 Jayhawk.
AFRC Space Operations and Cyber Operations associate units aligned with Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) also operate Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), Defense Support Program (DSP) and Global Positioning System (GPS) Satellites as well as various cyber warfare systems.[3]
Nearly 70,000 reservists are assigned to specific Air Force Reserve units.[5] These are the people who are obligated to report for duty for a minimum one weekend each month and two weeks of annual training a year, with most performing many additional days of military duty. Reserve aircrews, for example, average more than 120 military duty days a year, often flying in support of national objectives at home and around the world. Air Reserve Technicians (ARTs), the special group of reservists who work as Air Force civil service employees during the week in the same jobs they hold as reservists on drill weekends and active duty periods, provide a degree of continuity that serves to make the Air Force Reserve a relevant combat force. ARTs are the full-time backbone of the unit training program, providing day-to-day leadership, administrative and logistical support, and operational continuity for their units. More than 9,500 reservists, over 15 percent of the force, serve full-time as ARTs.[5]
Air Force Reserve Command consists of three Numbered Air Forces:[6]
Fourth Air Force
March Air Reserve Base, California
Units are operationally gained by Air Mobility Command[6][7]
315th Airlift Wing, (C-17A)
Associate unit with 437th Airlift Wing
Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina
349th Air Mobility Wing, (C-5B/C, C-17A, KC-10A)
Associate unit with 60th Air Mobility Wing
Travis Air Force Base, California
433d Airlift Wing, (C-5A/B)
Lackland AFB / Kelly Field Annex, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas
Includes C-5 Formal Training Unit (FTU) mission under AETC
434th Air Refueling Wing, (KC-135R)
Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana
Associate unit with 62d Airlift Wing
McChord Field, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington
452d Air Mobility Wing, (C-17A, KC-135R)
1 of 2 air refueling sqdns is an Active Associate unit with the 92d Air Refueling Wing
Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington.
439th Airlift Wing, (C-5B/C)
Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts
Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma
512th Airlift Wing, (C-5A, C-17A)
Dover Air Force Base, Delaware
514th Air Mobility Wing, (C-17A, KC-10A)
Associate unit with 305th Air Mobility Wing
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey
624th Regional Support Group (PACAF)
Hickam Field, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina
Associate unit with 6th Air Mobility Wing
MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
931st Air Refueling Group, (KC-135R/RT)
Associate unit with 22d Air Refueling Wing
McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas
932d Airlift Wing, (C-40A)
Scott Air Force Base, Illinois
Tenth Air Force
Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas
Unless otherwise noted, units are operationally gained by Air Combat Command[6][8]
44th Fighter Group, (F-22A)
Associate Unit with the 325th Fighter Wing
Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida
GSU of the 301st Fighter Wing, NAS JRB Fort Worth, Texas
301st Fighter Wing, (F-16C/D)
Carswell Field, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas
307th Bomb Wing, (B-52H) (AFGSC)
Associate unit with 2d Bomb Wing
(Operationally gained by Air Force Global Strike Command)
Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana
310th Space Wing (AFSPC)
Associate unit with 50th Space Wing
(Operationally gained by Air Force Space Command)
Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado
340th Flying Training Group, (T-1A, T-6A, T-38B/C, AT-38B) (AETC)
Associate unit with 12th Flying Training Wing
(Operationally gained by Air Education and Training Command)
Randolph Field, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas
414th Fighter Group, (F-15E)
Associate unit with 4th Fighter Wing
419th Fighter Wing, (F-16C/D)
Associate unit with 388th Fighter Wing
Hill Air Force Base, Utah
442d Fighter Wing, (A-10A)
Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri
476th Fighter Group, (A-10A)
Associate unit with 23d Wing
Moody Air Force Base, Georgia
477th Fighter Group, (F-22A) (PACAF)
Associate unit with 3d Wing
(Operationally gained by Pacific Air Forces)
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska
482d Fighter Wing, (F-16C/D)
Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida
513th Air Control Group, (E-3B/C)
Associate unit with 552d Air Control Wing
919th Special Operations Wing, (MQ-1, U-28, C-145) (AFSOC)
(Operationally gained by Air Force Special Operations Command)
Associate unit with 1st Special Operations Wing
Duke Field, Florida
920th Rescue Wing, (HH-60G, HC-130P)
Patrick Air Force Base, Florida
926th Group, (F-22A, F-15B/C, F-16C/D, A-10A, MQ-1, MQ-9)
Associate unit with 57th Wing (706th Fighter Squadron)
Associate unit with the 432d Wing (78th Attack Squadron)
Creech Air Force Base, Nevada
Associate unit with the 53d Wing (84th Test and Evaluation Squadron)
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
Associate unit with the 527th Space Aggressor Squadron (26th Space Aggressor Squadron) (AFSPC)
940th Wing, (RQ-4B)
Associate unit with 9th Reconnaissance Wing
Beale Air Force Base, California
943d Rescue Group, (HH-60G)
GSU of the 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick AFB, FL
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona
944th Fighter Wing, (F-16C/D) (AETC)
Associate unit with 56th Fighter Wing
Luke Air Force Base, Arizona
GSU of the 944th Fighter Wing
610th Regional Support Group
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas[9]
Twenty-Second Air Force
Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia
Units are operationally gained by Air Mobility Command[6][10]
94th Airlift Wing, (C-130H)
302d Airlift Wing, (C-130H)
Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
403d Wing, (C-130J/WC-130J)
Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi
440th Airlift Wing, (C-130H)
Pope Field, North Carolina
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
Youngstown-Warren Air Reserve Station, Ohio
Pittsburgh IAP Air Reserve Station, Pennsylvania
Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, New York
Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station, Minnesota
Total Force concept
The Air Force Reserve (AFRES) was created as a separate operating agency (SOA) and replaced a major command – Continental Air Command – which inactivated in August 1968. Upon activation, AFRES assumed command of all personnel, equipment and aircraft previously assigned to ConAC.[6]
As the 1970s unfolded, the challenge then was to find the right mix of forces for mission effectiveness. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird adopted the Total Force concept in August 1970 with Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger declaring it policy in 1973.[11]
With the implementation of the Total Force Policy, the Air Force Reserve became a multi-mission force, flying the same modern aircraft as the active Air Force. Mobilization planning and operational evaluation were integrated with the corresponding active duty functions. With the same equipment and budget authority, the Air Force Reserve was held to the same readiness standards and inspections as regular Air Force units. Special operations, air refueling, weather reconnaissance, and, once again, fighter missions were added to the airlift, rescue, and mission support roles performed by the Air Force Reserve. The associate concept soon expanded to include the C-5 Galaxy.[11]
Air Force Reserve participation in Air Force exercises and deployments perfected its mobility capabilities as demonstrated throughout the seventies, most notably during the Israeli Airlift of 1973, some 630 crewmembers volunteered for Middle East missions to include flying into Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv while another 1,590 Reservists performed missions worldwide, freeing up more active crews for airlift.[11]
The 1980s saw the modernization and expansion of the Air Force Reserve program. KC-10 Extenders joined the associate force in 1981, expanding its air refueling capability. Fighter units obtained the more modern A-10 Thunderbolt II ground support aircraft and F-4 Phantom IIs, and in 1984, the Air Force Reserve received its first F-16A Fighting Falcon. Operationally, the Air Force Reserve participated in Operation Urgent Fury, the return of American students from Grenada in 1983, performed air refuelings of F-111 bombers during the El Dorado Canyon raid on Libyan-sponsored terrorists in 1986, and acted as a full partner in Operation Just Cause which ousted Panama's General Manuel Noriega in 1989–1990. Air Force Reservists also supported humanitarian and disaster relief efforts, including resupply and evacuation missions in the aftermath of 1989's Hurricane Hugo. The Reserve's continual volunteering allayed the concerns of those who believed the Air Force Reserve would not be available when really needed.[11]
Middle East and Yugoslavian operations
Air Force Reserve airlift and tanker crews were flying within days of Saddam Hussein's Invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. When ground operations commenced as part of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force Reserve A-10s from the New Orleans 926th Tactical Fighter Group operated close to the front lines along with Air Force Reserve special operations and rescue forces. A Reservist scored the first-ever A-10 air-to-air kill. When Operations Desert Shield/Storm ended, the air Force Reserve counted 23,500 Reservists mobilized with another 15,000 serving in a volunteer capacity.[12]
The Air Force Reserve had become indistinguishable from the active force in capability; there was no difference between an Air Force Reserve pilot and an active duty pilot, or a boom operator, or loadmaster.[12]
In the aftermath of Desert Storm, Air Force Reservists continued to serve and were heavily involved in both Operation Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch during the 1990s, enforcing the United Nations-mandated no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq as well as in humanitarian relief missions during Operation Provide Comfort to assist uprooted Iraqi Kurds. For over six years, Air Force Reserve C-130s performed these Provide Comfort missions on a rotational basis while F-16s and rescue HH-60 Pave Hawks deployed to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, for the no-fly operations. In 1993, when tensions mounted in Bosnia, Air Force Reserve tanker and fighter units participated in enforcing the Operation Deny Flight no-fly zone while airlift units ensured logistical resupply.[12]
Following Operation DESERT STORM in 1991, the Air Force increasingly relied on its Air Reserve Component, both AFRC and ANG, for a "steady state" of daily assistance, whether it was flying airlift channel; providing fighter, tanker and theater airlift support of "no fly" zone enforcement operations in Southwest Asia; aerial fire fighting; aerial spray; hurricane hunter missions; military air/sea rescue support of NASA Space Shuttle operations; or providing highly skilled medical and aeromedical personnel. As a result, Congress sought to clarify the organizational placement of the Air Force Reserve (AFRES) in the larger active duty Air Force organizational structure. Accordingly, in February 1997, the Air Force Reserve (AFRES) officially became the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), the Air Force's ninth major command.[12]
Between March and September 1999, Air Force Reservists volunteered and were also mobilized for Operation Allied Force operations over Serbia and Kosovo. The involuntary recall marked the ninth time the Air Force had requested a mobilization of Air Force Reserve units and personnel since 1950. In summary, Reservists provided 150,000 mandays of support that spanned the spectrum of Air Force missions. The Air Force Reserve once again proved itself as an adaptable and capable force, ready to perform the full range of Air Force operations on an integrated and daily basis in sync with the new Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force (AEF) concepts.[12]
Global War on Terrorism
When terrorists attacked the United States on 11 September 2001, Air Force Reservists responded in full measure. Air Force Reserve F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters flew Combat air patrols (CAPs) protecting America's cities while AFRC KC-135 Stratotankers and E-3 Sentry AWACs aircraft supported with air refuelings and security. In October 2001, the United States initiated the Global War on Terrorism as military forces entered Afghanistan to combat the Taliban in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Air Force Reserve special operations MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft became the first fixed-wing aircraft to penetrate Afghan airspace while Air Force Reserve F-16 crews, already deployed in theater for Operation Southern Watch, performed the first combat missions.[13]
Air Force Reservists made significant contributions by flying close air support, combat delivery, rescue, strategic airlift, and air refueling missions supporting operations in Afghanistan. They also provided B-52 Stratofortress, special operations, aeromedical, security forces, and civil engineering support. Air Force Reserve A-10s, HH-60s and C-130 Hercules continue to perform rotational tours in Afghanistan, and Air Force Reservists have been instrumental in building the Afghan National Army Air Corps.[13]
When Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the war against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq began in March 2003, Air Force Reserve combat-ready A-10, B-52, and F-16 aircrews flew numerous strike operations during the first hours of engagement and performed special operations and rescue missions. Air Reserve rescue personnel were among the first into Tallil Air Base as Reserve A-10s provided close air support. Part of the lead tanker force, Reserve tankers offloaded more than 21 million pounds of fuel to more than 1,000 aircraft. In late March 2003, fifteen C-17 Globemaster III Reserve associate crews supported the C-17 airdrop, which opened up the Northern Front in Iraq.[13]
Additionally, Reservists supported Air Force Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) missions and space-based operations in Southwest Asia, providing essential data to battlefield commanders. During the combat phase (19 March-1 May) of OIF, Air Force Reserve aircraft and crews flew nearly 162,000 hours and deployed 70 unit-equipped aircraft in theater while aeromedical personnel provided 45 percent of the Air Force's aeromedical crews that performed 3,108 patient movements.[13]
The Air Force Reserve continues to expand its associate construct across the mission spectrum. Specific examples are the Air Force Reserve 477th Fighter Group associating at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, flying the F-22 Raptor jointly with the PACAF 3d Wing and the active duty associating with the C-40 Clipper-equipped 932d Airlift Wing with the 375th Air Mobility Wing at Scott AFB, Illinois, and the 433d Airlift Wing C-5 Galaxy at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. On the horizon, associate units will include future weapon systems such as the F-35 Lightning II and the Next-Generation Bomber in the 2020s.[13]
The War Department established an Army Air Forces Air Reserve Program as part of the United States Army Air Forces, July 1946. With the establishment of an independent U.S. Air Force in September 1947, Air Force Reserve personnel and units were assigned to Continental Air Command (CONAC).
Established as Air Force Reserve (AFRES) and activated as an Air Force Separate Operating Agency (SOA) on 21 June 1968
Organized on 1 August 1968, assuming reserve assets of Continental Air Command (Inactivated)
Status changed from SOA to an Air Force Direct Reporting Unit (DRU) on 1 July 1978
Status changed from DRU and returned to SOA status on 1 May 1983
Status changed from SOA to an Air Force Field Operating Agency (FOA) on 5 February 1991
Re-designated as Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) and status changed from a FOA to a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force on 17 February 1997
United States Air Force, 1 August 1968 – present
Air Forces
Air Force Reserve’s entire intermediate management structure was realigned effective 8 October 1976. The Reserve Regions were inactivated and succeeded by the reactivated Fourth, Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces
Fourth (Reserve) (later, Fourth) Air Force: 8 October 1976 – present
Tenth (Reserve) (later, Tenth) Air Force: 8 October 1976 – present
Fourteenth (Reserve) (later, Fourteenth) Air Force: 8 October 1976 – 1 July 1993
Twenty-Second Air Force: 1 July 1993 – present
First Air Force Reserve Region: 1 August 1968 – 31 December 1969
Third Air Force Reserve Region: 1 August 1968 – 31 December 1969
Fourth Air Force Reserve Region: 1 August 1968 – 31 December 1969
Fifth Air Force Reserve Region: 1 August 1968 – 31 December 1969
Sixth Air Force Reserve Region: 1 August 1968 – 31 December 1969
Central Air Force Reserve Region: 31 December 1969 – 8 October 1976
(Ellington AFB, TX) Became Responsible for the Fourth and Fifth Region areas
Eastern Air Force Reserve Region: 31 December 1969 – 8 October 1976
(Dobbins AFB, GA) Became responsible for the First and Third Region areas
Western Air Force Reserve Region: 31 December 1969 – 8 October 1976
(Hamilton AFB, CA) Re-designation of the Sixth Air Force Reserve Region
Support components
Individual Mobilization Augmentee Readiness Management Group: 1 Apr 2005 – present
8600th Air Force Reserve Command Support (later, 952nd Reserve Support Squadron; Air Force Reserve Command Force Generation Center): 1 Feb 1991 – present
Air Reserve Personnel Center (ARPC): 1 Jul 1978 – 1 May 1983; 15 Sep 1997 – present
Air Force Reserve Command Recruiting Service: 1 Oct 1994 – present
581st Air Force Band (later, Command Band of the Air Force Reserve; Band of the Air Force Reserve; Band of the USAF Reserve): 1 Aug 1968 – present
2400th Reserve Advisor Squadron (later, 2400th Reserve Readiness and Mobility Squadron; 951st Reserve Support Squadron): 1 Dec 1972 – present
953d Reserve Support Squadron: 1 Jul 1997 – 1 Oct 2011
954th Reserve Support Flight (later, 954th Reserve Support Squadron): 15 Dec 1997 – 1 Oct 2011
Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 1 August 1968 – present
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Air National Guard
Civil Reserve Air Fleet
12px This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
^ a b c AFRC at globalsecurity.org
^ Air Force Reserve Command USAFHRA Factsheet
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cantwell, Gerald (1987), Citizen Airmen, A History of the Air Force Reserve, 1946–1994. Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program: GPO, 1997 ISBN 0-16049-269-6
^ a b AMC officials blend tanker units
^ a b Air Force Reserve Official Website
^ a b c d e Air Force Historical Research Agency Wings and Groups factsheets
^ Fourth Air Force website
^ Tenth Air Force website
^ About the AFR – What We Do
^ Twenty Second Air Force website
^ a b c d AFRC History 1969–1989
^ a b c d e AFRC History 1990–1999
^ a b c d e AFRC history 2000–
28px Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC)
Twenty-Second
Emblem of Air Force Reserve Command
<tr style="height:2px"><td colspan="2"></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:#DCDCDC;">Bases</th><td class="navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid;width:100%;padding:0px">
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Air Reserve Personnel Center
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Open Access Articles- Top Results for Demutualization
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Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (mutual) or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company.[1] It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, members of a mutual usually receive a "windfall" payout, in the form of shares in the successor company, a cash payment, or a mixture of both. Mutualization or mutualisation is the opposite process, wherein a shareholder-owned company is converted into a mutual organization, typically through takeover by an existing mutual organization. Furthermore, re-mutualization depicts the process of aligning or refreshing the interest and objectives of the members of the mutual society.
The mutual traditionally raises capital from its customer members in order to provide services to them (for example building societies, where members' savings enable the provision of mortgages to members). It redistributes some profits to its members. By contrast a joint stock company raises capital from its shareholders and other financial sources in order to provide services to its customers, with profits or assets distributed to equity or debt investors. In a mutual organization, therefore, the legal roles of customer and owner are united in one form ("members"), whereas in the joint stock company the roles are distinct. This allows a broader capital base if the customers cannot or will not provide sufficient financing to the organization. However, a joint stock company must also try to maximize the return for its owners instead of only maximizing the return and customer services to its customers. This can lead to a decline in customer service to the extent that customers', management's and shareholders' interests diverge.[2]
1 Types of demutualizations
2.1 Security exchanges
2.2 Life insurers
2.3 Agricultural cooperatives
2.4 Building societies
2.5 Membership associations
2.6 Retail consumers' cooperatives
2.7 Retailers' co-operatives
Types of demutualizations
20px This section requires expansion. (June 2008)
There are three general methods in which an organization might demutualize, full demutualization, sponsored demutualization, and into a mutual holding company (MHC). In any type of demutualization, insurance policies, outstanding loans, etc., are not directly affected by the organization's change of legal form.
In a full demutualization, the mutual completely converts to a stock company, and passes on its own (newly issued) stock, cash, and/or policy credits to the members or policyholders. No attempt is made to preserve mutuality in any form. However, in a full demutualization of a mutual savings bank, stock is issued to investors in the initial public offering, and the depositors, who theoretically owned the bank before demutualization, receive no stock unless they invest in the initial public offering.
A sponsored demutualization is similar; the mutual is fully demutualized and its policyholders or members are compensated. The difference is that the mutuality is essentially bought by a stock corporation. Instead of receiving stock in the formerly mutual company, stock in the new parent company is granted instead.
A mutual holding company is a hybrid concept, part stock company and part mutual company. Technically, the members still own over 50% of the company as a whole. Because of this, they are generally not significantly compensated for what would otherwise be viewed as loss of property. (This is also why many jurisdictions, including Canada,[3] disallow the formation of MHCs.) The core participants are isolated into a special segment of the company, still viewed as "mutual". The rest is a stock company. This part of the business might be publicly traded, or held as a wholly owned subsidiary until such time that the organization should choose to go public.
Mutual holding companies are not allowed in New York where attempts by mutual insurance to pass permissible legislation failed. Opponents of mutual insurance holding companies referred to the establishment of mutual holding companies in New York as "Legalized Theft".
Some MHC demutualizations have been planned as the first of a two-stage process. The second stage would be full demutualization once the transition pains into MHC status are complete. In other cases, the MHC is the final stage.
Note that some mutual companies, such as Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and the MassMutual, have owned stock companies listed on a stock exchange. Nationwide bought back its subsidiary stock company in full, on December 31, 2008.[4] These are not MHCs, however; they are simply mutual companies which have majority control over one or more stock companies. Other mutual companies may own some of another company's stock, but as simply an asset, not something they actually control. Finally, many mutual companies, including Nationwide and MassMutual, have wholly owned subsidiaries. The subsidiaries may technically be stock companies, but the mutual owns all the stock. For example, the New York Life Insurance and Annuity Corporation (NYLIAC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC). A person may purchase an insurance policy from either company, but only those who own participating policies from NYLIC are mutual members. Other policyholders are customers.
Security exchanges
The Stockholm Stock Exchange was the first exchange to demutualize in 1993, followed by Helsinki (1995), Copenhagen (1996), Amsterdam (1997), the Australian Exchange (1998) and Toronto, Hong Kong and London Stock Exchanges in 2000.[5] The Chicago Mercantile Exchange became a shareholder-owned public corporation in 2000 through a public offering. "The road to this initial public offering began in June 2000, when Exchange members voted overwhelmingly to transform the then not-for-profit, membership-owned organization into a for-profit, shareholder-owned corporation. On November 13, 2000, CME became the first U.S. exchange or commodities exchange to demutualize into a joint stock corporation.[6] The Chicago Mercantile Exchange had its IPO on December 6, 2002.
The Chicago Board of Trade similarly carried out an IPO in 2005, having previously been "... a self-governing, self-regulated Delaware not-for-profit, non-stock corporation that serves individuals and member firms."[7] The Hong Kong Exchange underwent similar process of demutualization and was publicly traded.[8]
SIX Group, a global financial service provider based in Switzerland, represents an extra ordinary form of a mutualised organisation. The owners are limited to an exclusive group of service consumers, in particular Swiss and foreign banks. This entails a closer relationship with the customer, since a customer might influence the customer-oriented behavior by the magnitude of its own equity holding of SIX Group - in this category the subsidiary SIX Swiss Exchange AG.
Life insurers
Over 200 US mutual life insurance companies have demutualized since 1930. At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century numerous large mutuals such as Prudential, MetLife, John Hancock, Mutual of New York, Manulife, Sun Life, Principal, and Phoenix Mutual decided to demutualize and return to policyowners all the profits they had accumulated as mutual life insurers. Policyowners were awarded cash, stock and policy credits exceeding $100 billion in a wave of demutualizations, which have been regarded by some as very rewarding to the new owners although the effect on customers is not discussed. Others show that the demutualization process is detrimental to customers.[2]
The boards of directors of other mutual companies, which include Northwestern Mutual, Massachusetts Mutual, New York Life, Pacific Life, Penn Mutual, Guardian Life, Minnesota Life, Ohio National Life, National Life of Vermont, Union Central Life, Acacia life, and Ameritas Life decided to either remain mutual or they decided to form mutual insurance holding companies. At the end of 2006 there were fewer than 80 mutual life insurers in the United States. Some of these mutual companies award dividends to their policyowners. For example, Northwestern Mutual expects to pay more than $5 billion in dividends to participating policyowners in 2008. Northwestern Mutual has paid its policyowners more than $65 billion in dividends, since the company was founded 151 years ago.[9] Mass Mutual Financial Group's Web site defines life insurance policy dividends.[10]
Agricultural cooperatives
Numerous agricultural supply and marketing cooperatives have demutualized. One of the largest, CF Industries, a manufacturer and distributor of fertilizers in the United States, was for 56 years a cooperative federation. CF then demutualized and made an initial public offering of equity stock in 2005.[11]
Another large example is Kerry Co-op of Ireland, a milk and meat processor that demutualized in 1986, compensating its farmer members, and became the publicly traded Kerry Group.[12]
For more details on this topic, see Building society § 1980s and 1990s.
A building society is a form of mutual mortgage provision organization that emerged in the UK in the 19th century, for personal savings and home mortgages. For much of the 20th century, building societies had a large share of the retail savings market, and they had their zenith after the deregulation under the Building Societies Act 1986. Following that Act, many of the larger societies, beginning with Abbey National, the second largest, in 1989, and including the Halifax Building Society, the largest, soon converted into joint stock banking companies, some of which were subsequently acquired by other banks. Many societies soon became targets of speculative "carpetbaggers", who opened savings accounts in order to obtain a windfall, in cash or shares, in the event of demutualization. Most of the remaining societies, such as the Nationwide Building Society, the largest remaining mutual, adopted poison pill clauses in their rules as a defense against carpetbaggers. These took the form of a charitable assignment provision that requires new members to assign any compensation from demutualization to charity.[13]
The UK motorists' organization, The Automobile Association, demutualized and was purchased by Centrica plc in 1999. The sale was completed in July 2000 for £1.1 billion.
Retail consumers' cooperatives
As well as the many agricultural supply cooperatives that demutualized, a small number of general retail consumer's cooperatives have demutualized or considered demutualization. In 1997, Andrew Regan launched an unsuccessful hostile takeover bid to demutualize the UK's giant Co-operative Wholesale Society, which, despite its name, was a large retailer in its own right. In 2007, the tiny Scottish retailer, Musselburgh and Fisherrow Co-operative Society, completed most or all of the steps necessary to demutualize. In 2008, a Swiss competition regulator recommended demutualization to Switzerland's leading supermarket chains, Coop and Migros.[14]
Retailers' co-operatives
Irish grocer-owned retailers' cooperative, ADM Londis, changed its capital structure in 2004 to an unlisted public limited company, allowing its owners to trade its stock privately at market value.
Carpetbagger (United Kingdom)
Mutual insurance
Thatcherism
^ "demutualization, n.". Oxford English Dictionary (subscription). March 2004. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
^ a b Shelagh Heffernan. "The Effect of UK Building Society Conversion on Pricing Behaviour (March 2003)" (PDF). Faculty of Finance, CASS Business School, City of London. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
^ "Demutualization Regime for Canadian Life insurance Companies, page 16 (August 1998)". Department of Finance, Canada. Archived from the original on 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
^ "Nationwide Mutual Completes Nationwide Financial Services Transaction" (Press release). January 2, 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
^ Reena Aggarwal of Georgetown University, Demutualization and Corporate Governance of Stock Exchanges, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol 15, No 1, Spring 2002, p. 105ff, accessed 16 July 2012
^ http://www.cme.com/about/ins/caag/profitcomp2799.html
^ CBOT - Organizational Profile
^ SFC Annual Report 2000-2001
^ "2007 Annual Report (2007)". Northwestern Mutual. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
^ "What Are Life Insurance Policy Dividends". Mass Mutual. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
^ "Corporate Profile – CF Industries' History". CF Industries. Retrieved 2008-09-12. [dead link]
^ "The Birth of a plc". Kerry Group. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
^ "Mutuality and Corporate Governance: the Evolution of UK Building Societies Following Deregulation" (PDF). ESRC Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge. June 2001. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
^ "Home Page - Demutualisation Watch". International Co-operative Alliance. Retrieved 2008-05-14. The advice comes from the Chairman of the Competition Commission (COMCO), Walter Stoffel. Stoffel argues that the co-operative form is not the most appropriate for the two Swiss giants of retailing.
John W. Carson, Conflicts of Interest in Self-Regulation
Andreas M. Fleckner, Stock Exchanges at the Crossroads
The Feeling's Not Mutual An Analysis of Governor Pataki’s Proposed Mutual Holding Company Legislation (New York State Assembly, 1998)
Reorganization Status of Mutual Life Insurance Companies (USA)
Co-operative Issues – Demutualisation – International Co-operative Alliance
Pollock, Ian (2008-09-29). "Not such a good idea after all?". bbc.co.uk (BBC News). 'With hindsight they raised more money than they would have done had they stayed as building societies and with the credit crunch that now looks like a mistake,' said Adrian Coles. But John Wriglesworth argues that losing their independence because of this was certainly not inevitable ... – Analysis after the last of the UK's demutualized building societies lost its independence
[1] How the nation's largest mutual life insurers - MetLife, New York Life, Principal Mutual and others - attempted to make off with $100 billion of policyholders' money by creating "Mutual Holding Companies". And how they were stopped.
This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Demutualization; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA
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Sayles on Sayles: Part Two
John Sayles on Ruth Brown, Keb Mo, Danny Glover,
and Guillermo Del Toro (click here for part one)
On Ruth Brown
We hired Ruth to play a character named Bertha Mae Spivey in the movie [Honeydripper], somebody who sings in this club that Danny Glover's character
owns. The idea is that it's as if Ma Rainey or Bessie Smith has retired to this
little town, and comes in every once in awhile because she loves performing,
and sings what is basically 1920s blues in a 1950s club, but there are not many people coming in to see her, even though she's still good at what she does. So, we did a pre-record with Ruth to figure out what the tempo would be, to give her some practice, to figure out what key she was the most comfortable in, and to record the piano because Danny Glover doesn't actually play, so when she performed it she would be performing live on film, but she would have the piano track in her ear.
It was really the last recording session Ruth did, and she was in very good
spirits, very healthy. We had met her, and asked her to do it the year before,
and she had been in such good health then, so we were really feeling good about her. And then as we were shooting the movie, she just called and said she had
to have this surgery that was not supposed to be major, and I'm afraid it's one of those things when somebody goes into the hospital, gets an infection there, and that eventually killed her. She went into a coma, and very heroically, Mable John took the part with 10 days notice, and Mable had been on our list of people who might be able play it earlier, so we at least knew she was around, and still performing.
Mable runs a ministry in Los Angeles, and sings in church every Sunday, and she used to run the Raelettes for Ray Charles, and fill in when one of the three was missing, so she's kind of an old trouper in that way, and she's one of the people touring with our Honeydripper Band that we've been doing these blues festivals with.
Click here for Sayles' tribute to Ruth Brown
On the Honeydripper All-Star Band
I'm going to be showing clips from the film. It's actually going to have its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. So, I'm going to talk a little as part of Bumbershoot. The Honeydripper Band has turned out to be just terrific. I don't play an instrument. I've written some songs in the movie and some of my past movies, but I don't read music. I make up songs, and other people make them musical, but I'm amazed that we got these musicians, most of whom had never met before.
Our piano player, Henderson Huggins, is a blind guy from Tuscaloosa, who plays Danny Glover's hands in the movie, so he actually just mimed on a piano with no workings inside of it to pre-recorded piano. He shows up. And then Eddie Shaw, who plays a character in the film and is a saxophone player-he used to play with Howlin' Wolf-he brought a drummer and a bass player, and Mable brought her son, who's
a bass player, and then Gary Clark Jr. Basically, we had a two-hour rehearsal, and the next day they were on a stage at the Chicago Blues Festival, and they sounded terrific. They just figured out about an hour and a half set, and went out and did it. It's just that thing that good musicians can do. And there are five of them that sing, so it's an unusual ensemble in that way. There's a real change of pace.
Some are songs performed in the movie, and some are songs that each of them brings from,AeP Mable had a hit-she was actually the first artist on Tamla-she had
a hit with Stax in the 1960s called "Your Good Thing Is About to End," and she does that. Eddie does some of the stuff he does with his group the Wolfmen, who are
all veterans of Howlin' Wolf's group, and Gary Clark has some of his own songs,
so it's a really nice,AeP It's been fun to listen to them. We did the Chicago Festival,
and we did the River to River Festival in New York City, and then it's going to be
in Long Beach, I think. And then up at Bumbershoot, and then a couple of other places-maybe Toronto. If we get the guys enough notice, we can usually get them all together. It's just a matter of-we don't have much money. If we can get sponsorship from somebody in the festival or some other group or whatever to help subsidize the airplane tickets and the hotels, we can usually get something together.
On Keb Mo
We're hoping that at one of these dates, if Keb Mo is around-because he's on
his own tour-he can sit in for a bit. He has a terrific show. He came through Poughkeepsie, which is near us, and we went and saw him. He actually got sponsorship from a luggage company, because he had an album called Suitcase. So, he can carry a few more instruments and a little lighting and everything, so the first half of the show is acoustic and the second half is electric, and it's just incredible.
On Danny Glover
If there was going to be a long set-up [we talked politics]. Danny can do hours
on whatever it is. We did talk about it. A lot of what we talked about is-Danny
wants to make a movie about the Haitian Revolution, which I know something
about, and now there's a timing... For awhile, it looked like he was going to make
it in South Africa, because they have a film center, and it would be good employment for people there, and he knows Nelson Mandela, but it looks nothing-no part of South Africa look anything-like Haiti. And since he's also tight with Hugo Chavez, Chavez said, 'Oh, we'll subsidize this picture if you hire a lot of Venezuelans,' so
he was thinking about making it there, but then, of course, all the Venezuelan filmmakers shouted out, 'Wait a minute-why don't you subsidize us?' It's very
hard to do anything like that without stepping on somebody, so I don't know what he's going to do now, but it's fascinating history, and Danny knows a lot about it.
He was very busy, so we got him right after doing two movies in a row. As a
matter of fact, in the five weeks we had to shoot, we only had our lead for three
and a half weeks. The scheduling was nightmarish. You know-'Can we actually have these guys in the same shot?', and that kind of thing. A couple of those movies are also [going to be] in Seattle, so we're hoping that one of the ones with a big-budget will fly him there instead of us. That's the kind of thing you have to think about.
Danny's one of those actors who-he certainly is known for his Lethal Weapon
films-but he's done a lot of really interesting, kind of very low-budget movies,
just because it was a good part. He hasn't had a lead in something for a long
time, and really, he's very good in this. And the other guy who really stands
out is Charles Dutton. It's my favorite thing he's ever done on film.
On Guillermo Del Toro
I worked with Guillermo on that [Mimic]. There were a lot of writers on it, and
I did several drafts. The funny thing about Charles [Dutton] in that is, I kept
getting-not from Guillermo-but from Miramax, [with] each draft, they would
say, 'Well, make the best friend a nerdy Jewish guy,' and then they'd say,
'Make the best friend a streetwise black guy.' And I'd say, 'Okay.' I kept
changing them. When I saw the movie, they had chosen Charles Dutton,
but half of his lines were still nerdy Jewish guy lines. He made them work.
At the time Guillermo got to make that movie, the script was confetti. They put in
a different color every time there's a change. I asked him-you know, Guillermo's
a big guy-'So, did they get their pound of flesh?' And he said, 'Well, more than that.' And he hasn't worked in that kind of movie where he didn't have control since.
That's a movie that I think does some very good things, but I would say that it's
not really a Guillermo movie. The end was never, I think, written on paper. It was one of those ends where it was by committee, and he wasn't invited to the meetings. In the end I wrote that was in the script for when, I think, he started shooting, the little autistic boy basically watches as his grandfather [get] eaten, and it's like,
'Well, my friend, there are these bugs,AeP' They didn't know who this guy was-or care.
Guillermo has that kind of Bu/+/-uel-Catholic-perversity, and that was kind
of missing from Mimic, so it had some of his style, but not much of his personality
in it, but the bugs were great. He draws, and his notebooks look like Da Vinci's notebooks. It's incredible. Much of the design of the monsters comes from Guillermo's drawings. He's just great at that stuff. He started in make-up,
and special effects in Mexican movies for years before he got to direct.
Next: On advertising, distribution, YouTube, and the UCLA Film & Television Archives
Images from Metroactive Movies, the All Music Guide and Downtown Express.
Posted by kathy fennessy at 2:15 AM
Labels: Other
Godard 101: A Girl and a Gun
A Snapshot of Musical Taste at a Suburban NJ High ...
Now I'm Home (to Stay)
Sayles on Sayles: Part Six
Sayles on Sayles: Part Five
Sayles on Sayles: Part Four
Sayles on Sayles: Part Three
Return of the Independent: Sayles on Sayles
Kehr on Gainsbourg
An Account of His Disappearance
Oh, to be in Chicago.
Talking Timbuktu
Message From Finlandia
Nilsson Schmilsson: Part Six
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Krist Announces New Political Party
BY Michael Shively | December 27, 2017
(File photo)
We need to look at it from a centrist view and say, ‘what’s good for 1.9 million people across the state?
- State Sen. Bob Krist
NORFOLK — An independent candidate for governor is putting his plan to get on the general election ballot in motion.
Dan Parsons, a consultant for State Senator Bob Krist, told News Channel Nebraska today that Krist has reserved the name “United Nebraska” and will run under that party name for governor. Krist will form a LLC and seek the 5,000 signatures necessary to be on the general election ballot.
Krist visited Norfolk in November and hosted a town hall meeting at North Star Services. He said he was running for governor as a centrist.
“We’re looking at it from a political party, political leadership perspective,” Krist said. “We need to look at it from a centrist view and say, ‘what’s good for 1.9 million people across the state?’”
Krist is a former Republican who has spent nine years in the Unicameral. He hasn’t been afraid to criticize Governor Pete Ricketts.
“(Improper budget cuts) can only happen with someone who has never had to budget and go forward,” Krist said. “This current governor has led us down a track now to defunding some of these programs and it doesn’t have to happen.”
The former Air Force lieutenant colonel said at the town hall that he did not approve of the governor’s practice of donating money to senate candidates.
“He’s bought the best legislature he can,” Krist said. “So those people would stick along those lines of the line-item vetoes and that’s the day I talked about, the darkest day. You couldn’t talk about the budget process.”
By forming a third-party, Krist cuts down on the number of signatures required to make the ballot from 120,000 as an independent, to just 5,000. Parsons said there is no timeline for the formation of the party LLC or for his signature drive.
Nebraska Game And Parks Will Have Community Fishing Night At Melham Park Lake On Friday
As The Heat Index Rises, Cattle Producers Need To Take The Proper Steps To Ensure Cattle Safety
BBPS Back To School Bash On August 12 From 5-8 PM!
Injuries Reported At Two Different Accidents That Took Place Within 30 Minutes Of Each Other
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Book Review: HBO's Game of Thrones
The Dagger of Dresnia is launched!
Swancon 2014
Interview with Jan Butterworth
Book Review: Flame of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marill...
A gorgeous cover for my book
Monday, April 28, 2014 | Posted by Satima Flavell
Inside HBO's Game of Thrones by Bryan Cogman
Gollancz September 2012: ISBN 978 0 575 09314 0
Author Bryan Cogman’s offering to fans of George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series of books (seven so far, and counting…) and the spin off TV series Game of Thrones is beautifully luxurious without going over the top. At $45 RRP it’s not cheap, but it hit the market nicely timed for the Christmas rush. If you have a nearest and dearest who is a fan of the series in either of its manifestations, look no further – any enthusiast would be delighted to receive this gorgeous tome.
Caressing the soft vinyl cover, reminiscent of the soft leather bindings of a century or more ago, we are immediately carried back in time. Not as far back, perhaps, as the pseudo-medieval world of the series, but far enough back to feel that here is something special, a message from the past. Skimming the enticing Table of Contents, we find that there are entire sections devoted to each of the families engaged in the eponymous struggle – the Game of Thrones. Histories of the houses and of individual characters invite us to dip into their world and get to know them better. Anyone coming into the HBO series without having read the books is likely to need this guide, for this is a complex tale with literally thousands of characters. Fear not – there are family trees and maps included to help you find your way around. The book also features Will Simpson's concept art and work from Gemma Jackson's design team. It also boasts previously-unpublished set photos, production and costume designs, storyboards and props.
Each section is enhanced not only by a multitude of black and white, sepia and colour pictures, but also by interviews with and comments from the actors, production staff and the Grand Old Man himself. As well as popping up regularly within the pages, GRRM also wrote the preface, explaining how the series came to be made. The production’s story is a fascinating one, involving multiple international venues and a huge cast of principals and extras, to say nothing of the vast army of production personnel and support staff.
The book, of course, only covers series one and two, and it’s likely that there will be many more, with a projected ten episodes required to cover each book in the series. Series one and two – twenty eps – are already available. If this book does well perhaps the author will be moved to cover more ‘makings-of’ in further volumes. With a steady turnover of principals (the story has a huge body count) there will be plenty of call for more fan fodder in the coming years.
American author Bryan Cogman is known for writing two episodes of the series: What Is Dead May Never Die, the third episode of the show's second season, and Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things, the fourth episode of the first season. He has written at least one episode for series #3 as well. He has also edited ten episodes. Cogman is familiar with the cast, crew and writing team of Game of Thrones, and his insider knowledge is what makes this book shine.
As a fan of the books and the HBO series, I give this one five stars!
View all my Goodreads reviews
Tuesday, April 22, 2014 | Posted by Satima Flavell
The big event of the recent Swancon (Western Australia's annual state SF convention) was for me the launch of my first novel, The Dagger of Dresnia. It's the first book of The Talismans Trilogy, which is about three kings and three talismans.
The main character, Ellyria, is an elvish princess married to an ordinary mortal king and the mother of identical triplets. On the death of the king, the kingdom, which consists of three islands, is to be split in three according to his will. But splitting the kingdom is likely to cause havoc in more ways than one - and Ellyria decides to use magic to keep things on track. As you can imagine, the main theme of the story is 'What kind of things might happen if we do the wrong thing to get a right outcome?'
The answer is Chaos. Big Time. Especially when there's a Dark Spirit involved.
Many fantasy readers are of mature years (like me!) and they will probably enjoy seeing a middle-aged woman centre stage, but The Dagger of Dresnia has plenty of romance, battle scenes, family arguments and youthful misdemeanours to keep it rocking along, so it will appeal to younger readers, too.
You can buy it in either hard copy or as an ebook from Satalyte Publishing or as an ebook from http://www.amazon.com.au/
All my stock sold at the launch, but I should have more soon, so if you live in Perth you can get the book from me to save postage.
See Carol Ryles's amazing cake in the above photo by Lee Battersby? Carol's father was a pastry cook, and she has obviously inherited his talent. Did you ever see anything as gorgeous as that cake? The little cakes, inspired by the poppies on the book's cover, were gluten-free and tasted really yummy, as did the totally indulgent Big Cake! And that lovely Dagger was the finishing touch to a beautiful display.
Three of my beloved mentors, Michèle Drouart, Glenda Larke and Juliet Marillier, kindly agreed to cut the cake. The proceedings were expedited by MC extraordinaire Lee Battersby, who kept things rocking along. Lee was the one who started me off on this trilogy. Read all about it here if you don't know the story. The pic at right shows Juliet, Glenda and Michèle debating cake-attack tactics, watched by cake maker Carol Ryles in the background. (Photo by Lee Battersby)
That's Lee and his lovely wife Lyn on the left. The picture on the right shows me and my keep-fit teacher, Renate, sharing a joke. Renate is also a pretty mean belly dancer. Both pics by courtesy of Cat Sparks.
Below left, Rivka Berger and belly dancing editor-publisher Liz Grzyb. (Pic by Cat Sparks)
On your right, me showing off my handiwork. (Pic by Keira McKenzie)
More friends: on the right, Kylie Ding and Martin Livings, and below left, Stephen Dedman and Alex Isles, and And below right, an astonished Keira McKenzie takes a pic of the cake! All these pics are by Cat Sparks.
A huge thank you to all the lovely friends who came along to the launch, and apologies for not joining you afterwards - I was busy signing books for quite a while!
Well, another Swancon has come and gone. As always, there were excellent speakers and interesting panel topics.
I was on four panels. The first was the most exciting for me as I was up there on the podium with a trio of well-known authors: Anne Bishop (The Black Jewels Trilogy) Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files series) and Dave Luckett (The Tenebran Trilogy - and writing as LS Lawrence, several YA historicals, including The Eagle of the East and Escape by Sea). We discussed worldbuilding and what pitfalls and problems can trip up the unwary writer. We had an excellent moderator in Doug Burbridge.
Swancon 2014's guests-of-honour: Isobelle Carmody, Sally Beasley, Jim Butcher and Anne Bishop. They are all excellent speakers and Jim Butcher is a very funny guy. He had the audience in stitches most of the time! (Photo: Sandra Chung)
On Saturday, I sat with Stephen Dedman, Sarah McFarlane, Ian Nichols and moderator Andy Hahn on a panel about remakes of Shakespeare. Seeing as there have been over 400 films and TV shows created from Shakespeare's life and works, I concentrated on ballets and operas. There was lively discussion from the floor and we all came away knowing a bit more about the greatest writer in English - and maybe in any other language, too.
Sunday's effort was 'How to Piss off a Publisher' with Andrew Harvey, Dave Luckett and Cat Sparks. As one who supplements her pension by mentoring and critiquing new writers, I had a lot to contribute to this one. The biggie, of course is 'READ THE F-ING GUIDELINES FOR HEAVEN"S SAKE! and the second biggest is 'DON'T JUST READ THE GUIDELINES - DO AS THEY COMMAND!'
It's amazing how many beginning writers not only don't follow the publisher's guidelines but haven't haven't even bothered to learn basic English grammar, spelling, punctuation and syntax. These are the tools of the writer's trade, and without them you'll do about as well as a plumber trying to clear a blocked toilet with a screwdiver. There were some very long faces in the audience by the time we'd explained that it's a buyer's market and less than 1% of submissions to traditional publishers ever see the light of day.
Because of being on that panel I missed Glenda Larke's launch of her new trilogy, The Forsaken Lands. Book one, The Lascar's Dagger, is a great read. I haven't finished it yet but I'm deeply impressed by Glenda's poetic descriptions that subtly set the scene and her pacy narrative that is nonetheless full of juicy prose. How about 'He pushed himself up, blinded, utterly vulnerable, dripping blood and sneezing, blowing out clouds of gold-coloured powder'. I feel really sorry for Saker, while nonetheless laughing my head off as I imagine the scene.
On Monday, my fellow-panellists were Susanne Akerman, Stephen Dedman and Gina Goddard. We discussed what libraries meant to us: how they both informed and catered to our tastes in books and fulfilled our yearning for knowledge. Once again, there were animated contributions from the audience, all of whom, understandably, appeared to be well-read bibliophiles!
But the most exciting part of Swancon for me was the launch of my first novel, The Dagger of Dresnia, book one of The Talismans Trilogy. It was such a giddy-making event that I'm going to be really self-indulgent and give it its own post!
Sunday, April 13, 2014 | Posted by Satima Flavell
A quick note - Kiwi blogger Jan Butterworth has just uploaded a nice interview with me to http://akiwisbookreviews.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/dagger-of-dresnia-the-talisman-trilogy-1-satima-flavell-interview/
Book Review: Flame of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
Saturday, April 12, 2014 | Posted by Satima Flavell
Flame of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
Pan Macmillan Australia, November 2012: ISBN 9781742611624
This is the sixth Sevenwaters book from the pen of prolific author Juliet Marillier. This author has produced fifteen books in all, and every one of them is eminently enjoyable.
For Maeve, daughter of Sean and Aisling of Sevenwaters, going home is a hard journey. Brought up by her aunt and uncle in England, she has not wanted to return to Sevenwaters, the place where, at the age of ten, she lost her beloved dog in a fire and lost the use of her hands in trying to save him.
Now twenty, Maeve has spent her formative years in quiet pursuits. She cannot even feed herself, let alone help with the household tasks. All that keeps her sane, we suspect, is her love of animals and her remarkable ability to calm them.
She is surprised when her Uncle Bran suggests that she might travel to Ireland with a valuable yearling horse that he is sending to her father’s stables. The animal will be a gift for a local chieftain, for Sevenwaters is beset by strife and local leaders need placating. With some trepidation, Maeve agrees, only to find her fears are realised – she cannot settle at Sevenwaters because of the tragic memories it holds for her. What’s more, she finds the reason for the strife – Mac Dara, ruler of the Otherworld, is causing men from surrounding estates to disappear. Most of them have turned up dead, and their families and employers are restive, blaming Maeve’s family for the troubles.
Maeve achieves a measure of equanimity, however, when she finds that her parents have planted a beautiful garden on the site of the fire, a garden containing all her favourite flowers and other plants that are meaningful to her, What’s more, she has a new young brother, Finbar, who at only seven years old already displays signs of being a seer, like his older sister Sibeal. Finbar’s tutor, the druid Luachan, also befriends Maeve. Further, she earns the respect of the household because of her way with animals. When she finds two stray dogs she quickly adopts and trains them, and this act is the start of a great adventure: one in which Maeve and her companions must face Mac Dara himself.
This book is, perhaps, a tad darker than the last one in the series, Seer of Sevenwaters. Marillier has a great gift for building tension, and we are on tenterhooks when confronted by what is surely the most duplicitous villain Marillier has created – worse, even, than Mac Dara himself. We also meet old friends – Ciaran the druid leader is one – and make new ones. Fans of the series will no doubt want little Finbar to have his own story eventually and who knows? Maybe that will come to pass, for even after six books, fans still cry out for more Sevenwaters. The stories have a charm that is usually lacking in long series, the characters draw us back again and again, and the forests and rivers of Sevenwaters continue to beckon us long after the book is closed. And in Flame of Sevenwaters we once again have a lovely cover based on a painting by Waterhouse, this time his delightful work The Soul of the Rose.
Check out www.julietmarillier.com for more on this popular author and her work. Be sure to check out the artwork, too!
Friday, April 04, 2014 | Posted by Satima Flavell
Over at the Egoboo blog, my friend and colleague Helen Venn has written a post listing links to websites that list ideas for prompting creativity in writers.
I know a lot of writers find prompt-based exercises useful triggers to spark their creativity, but by and large they don't work for me. I just finish up writing the beginning of something that could be a novel but I haven't the faintest idea where it's going, so it just fizzles out when the buzzer goes.
However, the one time a prompting exercise did work, I started the Talismans Trilogy, the first book of which, The Dagger of Dresnia, has just been released by Satalyte Publishing. It's is a classic ‘traditional’ fantasy with a medieval setting, complete with elves, battles, love scenes and the odd dragon! Isn't the cover gorgeous? It was created by the very talented Marieke Ormsby. By the way, you can read the full story of how I came to start The Dagger of Dresnia here. (It's all Lee Battersby's fault!)
Now I am planning a proper launch for my 'baby'. It will be officially launched at Swancon, Western Australia’s annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, on Easter Sunday - 20 April - at the Ibis Styles Hotel, 15 Robinson Avenue, Northbridge. It’s not necessary to be at the convention to go to the launch – you can just turn up in the hotel’s foyer at 1.30 PM. Fittingly, Lee Battersby will be MC, and many other writers from WA and interstate will be there to help me celebrate. There will be cake, and three lovely lady writers to cut it.
For more on The Dagger of Dresnia, click here. And if you want to be among the first to own a copy, you should then go to http://satalyte.com.au/book-store/page/2/
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A mix of clouds and sun. High 97F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..
Partly cloudy. Low 76F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
Fitsko: Grudges are a heavy burden to bare
Mike Fitsko Life Lessons
Recently, I learned about the death of a former colleague I worked with while I was a school administrator in Ohio. While we were never particularly close, I was somewhat overtaken with a feeling of remorse because of something I had neglected to do.
You see he had once spread a vicious rumor about me for which I never really forgave him. Although he quickly apologized for his untruthful indiscretion, I held on to a senseless grudge toward him and would not allow myself to ever forget. Sadly, I carried that corrosive feeling with me until he died unable to find it within my heart to forgive him. Now, of course, it’s too late.
During the Second World War, Leonard Wilson, then Bishop of Singapore, was captured by the Japanese. Wilson was placed in an over-crowded prison and was continually tortured. At times, the torture the enemy inflicted was dreadfully severe and painful.
Wilson tried hard not to hate his captors and instead tried to find a way to forgive their cruelty. Later after his release, he said he survived by imagining his prison guards as they were when they were children.
“It’s hard to hate little children”, he once said. As difficult as it was for him not to be angry, he found measureless self-control, patience and of course, forgiveness.
There’s no question that harboring resentment toward another person or persons is in every way destructive to the person who carries it.
I once heard of a professor who asked each of his students to bring a clear plastic bag and a full sack of potatoes to class. Then he told them for every person they had refused to forgive in their life’s experience, to choose a potato and write that person’s name on it and put it in the empty plastic bag.
As you might imagine, it didn’t take long for some of the bags to get quite heavy. He then asked the students to carry that bag around with them everywhere they went for a week — putting it beside their bed at night, in the car seat when driving and even next to their desk in class.
Certainly, the hassle of lugging the self-made sack soon made it clear the weight they were carrying was not only burdensome physically, but also spiritually.
The professor’s living metaphor helped his students understand the heavy price they paid for holding on to their psychological pain and needless negativity. Instead of thinking of forgiveness as a gift to the person who wronged them, it became abundantly clear that it is really a gift to themselves as much as it is to anyone else.
Indeed, there are those among us whose unforgiveness sack is far too heavy and literally burdening us down. Just by holding on to a grudge, we clearly make it worse for ourselves. Forgiving gives us the opportunity to break free and help us on our way to becoming our best selves.
As we learn to forgive, we, in turn, hope we can also be forgiven.
Mike Fitsko is a retired principal and longtime columnist from New Braunfels.
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Sequart News
SequartTV
» ON GRANT MORRISON WORKS
The Anatomy of Zur-en-Arrh: Understanding Grant Morrison's Batman
Curing the Postmodern Blues: Reading Grant Morrison and Chris Weston's The Filth in the 21st Century
Grant Morrison: The Early Years
Our Sentence is Up: Seeing Grant Morrison's The Invisibles
» ON WARREN ELLIS WORKS
Warren Ellis: The Captured Ghosts Interviews
Voyage in Noise: Warren Ellis and the Demise of Western Civilization
Shot in the Face: A Savage Journey to the Heart of Transmetropolitan
Keeping the World Strange: A Planetary Guide
» ON SCI-FI FRANCHISES
Somewhere Beyond the Heavens: Exploring Battlestar Galactica
The Cyberpunk Nexus: Exploring the Blade Runner Universe
A More Civilized Age: Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Bright Eyes, Ape City: Examining the Planet of the Apes Mythos
A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Exploring Star Wars Comics
A Long Time Ago: Exploring the Star Wars Cinematic Universe
The Sacred Scrolls: Comics on the Planet of the Apes
New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics
The Weirdest Sci-Fi Comic Ever Made: Understanding Jack Kirby's 2001: A Space Odyssey
» ON TV AND MOVIES
Time is a Flat Circle: Examining True Detective, Season One
Moving Panels: Translating Comics to Film
Gotham City 14 Miles: 14 Essays on Why the 1960s Batman TV Series Matters
Mutant Cinema: The X-Men Trilogy from Comics to Screen
Improving the Foundations: Batman Begins from Comics to Screen
» ON OTHER SUBJECTS
The Mignolaverse: Hellboy and the Comics Art of Mike Mignola
Moving Target: The History and Evolution of Green Arrow
Humans and Paragons: Essays on Super-Hero Justice
The Best There is at What He Does: Examining Chris Claremont’s X-Men
The British Invasion: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and the Invention of the Modern Comic Book Writer
Classics on Infinite Earths: The Justice League and DC Crossover Canon
The Future of Comics, the Future of Men: Matt Fraction's Casanova
When Manga Came to America: Super-Hero Revisionism in Mai, the Psychic Girl
The Devil is in the Details: Examining Matt Murdock and Daredevil
Minutes to Midnight: Twelve Essays on Watchmen
Teenagers from the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes
» SINGLES
Blind Dates and Broken Hearts: The Tragic Loves of Matthew Murdock
Everything and a Mini-Series for the Kitchen Sink: Understanding Infinite Crisis
Revisionism, Radical Experimentation, and Dystopia in Keith Giffen's Legion of Super-Heroes
And the Universe so Big: Understanding Batman: The Killing Joke
» FORTHCOMING
Meet the Magus: Magic in the Work of Alan Moore
This Lightning, This Madness: Understanding Alan Moore's Miracleman, Book One
Musings on Monsters: Observations on the World of Classic Horror
From Bayou to Abyss: Examining John Constantine, Hellblazer
Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously
She Makes Comics
Diagram for Delinquents
The Image Revolution
Comics in Focus: Chris Claremont's X-Men
Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts
Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods
THE CONTINUITY PAGES
The Politics of Batman, Part 1:
Batman vs. Osama bin Laden
by Marc DiPaolo | in Articles | Thu, 24 July 2014
The following is an excerpt from the book War, Politics and Superheroes:
When Frank Miller announced that he would be crafting a graphic novel in which Batman would confront real-world terrorist Osama bin Laden, journalists across the country picked up the story and reported on it with a combination of amusement and amazement. As NPR’s Morning Edition noted on Feb. 16, 2006:
The Joker and the Riddler can rest easy—“The Caped Crusader” will be taking on Osama bin Laden. The cartoonist says it’s silly for Batman to chase old villains out of Gotham City when there are real threats out there. Miller admits it’s a piece of propaganda. But hey, it worked for Superman and Captain America, who both punched out Hitler.
Here NPR perpetuates the widely held public perception that comic books are predominantly escapist, apolitical, kids’ adventures and the least likely place to find meditations on contemporary political and military conflicts. Yet, it simultaneously establishes that comic books have been political and socially relevant all along. At the time the story aired, Miller’s mooted Batman: Holy Terror was, in fact, only the latest in a long line of political and (sometimes) socially insightful Batman stories, including a 1943 movie serial, Batman Begins (2005), Batman Returns (1992), The Cult (1988), A Death in the Family (1989), Venom (1991), No Man’s Land (1999), and Dark Detective (2005). Since announcing the project, and proudly declaring that it will “offend just about everyone,” Miller struggled to complete it, and ultimately removed Batman from the narrative, replacing him with a thinly veiled Batman stand-in confronting Osama bin Laden. In a similar vein, the Christopher Nolan film Batman Begins features Batman confronting a thinly veiled Osama bin Laden stand-in, Ra’s al Ghul.
Batman Begins reintroduced American audiences to Bruce Wayne, an orphaned billionaire philanthropist who secretly fights crime by night as Batman. The film was released after a string of Batman narratives that strove for relevance by commenting on the pressing social issues. The Batman films from the 1990s tackled issues of sexism and corporate corruption, and Frank Miller’s comic book narratives from the 1980s, Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, raised the question of whether or not Batman was himself a terrorist or quasi-fascist dictator. In examining these adventures and building on previous scholarship by Will Brooker, Geoff Klock, and Aeon J. Skoble, this chapter will demonstrate how each Batman story operates as social commentary. Each of these Batman stories can stand alone as an individual work of art or product of its time, yet each functions as a piece of the much larger narrative of Batman that exists in the collective consciousness of fans who work to reconcile inconsistencies and to decide who the definitive Batman truly is and what form of heroism he represents.
As Brooker (1999) has observed, Batman has changed much since he was created by Bob Kane in 1939, engaging in adventures that reflect the times in which they were crafted. In his first decade of adventures, Batman was equally likely to fight gangsters, vampires, and Nazis, as well as classic villains such as the Joker and Catwoman. In the 1950s, a smiling Batman faced aliens and nuclear-age menaces akin to those found on the silver screen in Them! (1954) and Forbidden Planet (1956). In the 1960s, his comic book exploits took a psychedelic turn, and the Adam West television series he inspired became an instant camp classic. The depressed 1970s were characterized by darkly Gothic, often supernatural stories drawn by Neal Adams and Marshall Rogers, who emphasized Batman’s toned musculature and newly brooding countenance.
Batman’s adventures during the 1980s were gritty, violent, and “For Mature Readers Only,” featuring critically acclaimed stories by Jim Starlin, Alan Moore, and Frank Miller that pitted him against Communists, Muslim terrorists, the Radical Christian Right, and President Reagan himself. From 1989 to the turn of the century, Batman enjoyed renewed mainstream popularity with four major feature films and a new television show, Batman: The Animated Series, which followed the 1990s movie thriller trend of glorifying their colorful villains at the expense of the hero, who was sometimes reduced to the role of boring supporting player. Significantly, as the first major live-action Batman adventure since the 9/11 attacks, Batman Begins reflects the hopes and anxieties of modern urban American culture just as closely as previous incarnations of Batman reflected their times. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is hard for some fans to embrace all of these portrayals of Batman, and readers tend to prefer the version of Batman they grew up with. However, recent comic book stories by Neil Gaiman (Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?) and Grant Morrison (The Return of Bruce Wayne) have presented all iterations of Batman as equally valid and part of the character’s rich past.
Given varied Batman portrayals over time, it seems natural that each actor who has played Batman on film and television has interpreted the character in his own way. Adam West was astonishingly straight-laced, innocent, and earnest as Batman, and his wealthy alter ego Bruce Wayne, in the 1960s television series. Michael Keaton made a strong impression as Wayne in two Tim Burton–helmed films —1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns— presenting him as a likeable, socially inept eccentric prone to brooding before his oversized fireplace like a classic Orson Welles movie character. In Batman and Robin (1997) George Clooney was a charming, Cary Grant–style Bruce Wayne, but he wasn’t a very good Batman; he seemed uncomfortable acting in the rubber superhero suit and tried too hard to be “funny.” Christian Bale, famed for playing insane, murderous yuppies, as in American Psycho and Shaft (both released in 2000) portrayed Wayne as a benevolent American prince who grows from a self-involved, vengeful young man into a mature “Feudal lord” dedicated to helping the people of Gotham instead of wallowing in his own anger and personal demons.
Just as longtime Batman aficionados draw upon decades’ worth of print and cinematic adventures to create a composite, ur–Batman in their minds, the film Batman Begins drew upon dozens of classic adventures to create an archetypal image of Batman and an original, yet recognizable story. The Bruce Wayne of Batman Begins is the sane, intelligent, moral man of the classic comic book adventures written by Steve Englehart, Mike W. Barr, Gerry Conway, and Denny O’Neil. The urban “realism” of the film derives from the Frank Miller Batman stories The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. The dramatic tone, ensemble cast, complex narrative, and the inclusion of mafia don Carmine Falcone are all inspired by Jeph Loeb’s miniseries The Long Halloween (1996–1997). The Joe Chill story and the doomed romance with Rachel Dawes have echoes in Barr’s Batman: Year Two (1987). The film also owes a debt to Batman: The Animated Series, previously regarded by many fans as the most “faithful” adaptation. The fidelity of the film to the source material owes much to the fact that the plot and the script were shaped by comic book writer David S. Goyer, and to the fact that studio executives finally began to capitulate to the fans (who were tired of seeing unfaithful and, in their view, poorly made superhero films) after the commercial and critical failure of Batman and Robin.
Faithful as the film is to Batman stories of the past, Batman Begins is obviously rooted firmly in the present and clearly reflects contemporary anxieties about the destruction of the World Trade Center, the “war on terror,” and the invasion of Iraq. The film’s signature adversary, Ra’s al Ghul, wants to destroy Gotham because its decadence personally offends him. Director and cowriter Christopher Nolan acknowledged during a 2005 interview with Scott Holleran of Box Office Mojo that the film does, indeed, reflect the troubled times we live in, but that he made these connections unconsciously, seeing them only after he had completed the film. As he explained, “[W]e wanted to allow the influences to just naturally find themselves in the story. We didn’t want to be conscious about it, because then it would be insincere. But, definitely, the broad strokes, the villain that threatens you—the things you find frightening—those are going to be influenced by what’s going on in the world. I see the parallels now, but it certainly wasn’t conscious.”
Although the Gotham City of Batman Begins derives certain significant architectural features, like its elevated train, from Chicago, its overall feel is certainly inspired, in part, by the archetypal “corrupt” New York of the 1970s, which looms large in the public consciousness thanks to films such as The French Connection (1971) and Taxi Driver (1976). But Batman Begins blends the visual feel of the dirty, overtly “immoral” New York with the more subtle corruption that infests the cleaner, tourist friendly New York of today. Even after Mayor Rudolph Giuliani helped “clean up” the city with his tough-on-crime measures, Manhattan remains a place in which the citizens fear falling victim to criminal activity, a fear that now includes the machinations of Wall Street executives and Muslim terrorists. Ever since the September 11 attacks and the Enron scandals, New Yorkers have felt a specific combination of fear, fury, and moral outrage that has been kept alive by similarly troubling events that took place over the following decade, including the global financial meltdown, the Bush-Obama bank bailouts, and the failed Times Square bomb plot of 2010. These feelings are best exemplified by a segment in the Spike Lee film The 25th Hour (2002) in which Edward Norton’s character suffers a meltdown in a New York bar and curses President Bush, Osama bin Laden, Wall Street executives, the police, minorities, and himself for destroying New York and “the American Dream.”
In Batman Begins, the title character is pitted against an amazing array of enemies, including an evil university professor, a corporate mogul, drug-dealers, a mafia don, corrupt police officers, rioting escapees from a lunatic asylum, an army of ninjas, and international terrorist Ra’s al Ghul (“Demon’s Head” in Arabic). By the end of the film, Batman foils Ra’s al Ghul’s plan to destroy Gotham City and manages to root out much of the corruption that has tainted the police department and his family business, Wayne Enterprises, but the war against crime has only just begun.
Of all the villains populating Batman Begins, Ra’s al Ghul is presented as Batman’s arch nemesis, who seeks to gas Gotham with a toxin that will cause the city to “tear itself apart through fear.” Ra’s al Ghul, the ultimate terrorist, forces Batman to fight a literal “war on terror.” The film’s villain is an amalgam of three comic book characters: Dennis O’Neil’s original “Ra’s al Ghul,” Sam Hamm’s “Ducard,” and Mike W. Barr’s “Reaper.” The comic book character’s Arab ethnicity is changed for Batman Begins. The character is played by Irish actor Liam Neeson (Michael Collins, Schindler’s List). Thus, the extent to which viewers will agree that Ra’s al Ghul is a commentary on Osama bin Laden will depend on how they view bin Laden.
In Legacy of the Prophet (2002), journalist Anthony Shadid explained how bin Laden’s message of “defending Palestinians, ending sanctions on Iraq, and curtailing near-total U.S. sway over the region” was seen as heroic and appealing to many Muslims who viewed the 9/11 attacks as a self-defense response to unjust American foreign policy (693). Leo Braudy’s From Chivalry to Terrorism: War and the Changing Nature of Masculinity (2003) notes that the 9/11 attacks were motivated by a warrior culture’s disgust with American capitalism because it fosters three philosophies a warrior despises: secularism, pacifism, and feminism (202–203). The implication here is that America inspired wrath because it is “godless.” President Bush has commonly referred to the September 11 attacks as an attack on “freedom.” On the other hand, bin Laden himself gave these reasons for orchestrating the attacks in a “Letter to the American People” released on November 24, 2002:
You attacked us in Palestine, … in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon. Under your supervision, consent, and orders, the governments of our countries, which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis. These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so. These governments give us a taste of humiliation and place us in a large prison of fear and subdual.
These words echo the motivations Ra’s al Ghul expressed in attacking Gotham City with fear gas. As he says to Batman:
The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome. Loaded trade ships with rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the peak of its decadence, we return to restore the balance…. No one can save Gotham. When a forest grows too wild a purging fire is inevitable and natural. Tomorrow the world will watch in horror as its greatest city destroys itself.
The use of words like “corruption,” “decadence,” and “injustice” reflect those used by jihadist fanatics appalled by American excesses. Ra’s al Ghul is a lunatic who is too driven by “righteous” fury and ideology to be reasoned with. This is far from the view of bin Laden as a militant revolutionary figure staunchly opposed to American imperialism, as asserted by many of the Muslims interviewed in Shadid’s book, or by bin Laden himself in his “Letter to the American People.” But it is also possible that one of the reasons Nolan muddied Ra’s al Ghul’s ethnic background was to underscore the similarity between Muslim and Christian fundamentalists who believe that sinners should be purged from the world to make society more righteous and acceptable to God.
For example, novelist Salman Rushdie has argued that the “‘clash of civilizations’ theory is an oversimplification: that most Muslims have no interest in taking part in religious wars, that the divisions in the Muslim world run as deep as the things it has in common” and that the “real wars of religion” are “the wars religions unleash against ordinary citizens within their ‘sphere of influence.’ They are the wars of the godly against the largely defenseless: American fundamentalists against pro-choice doctors, Iranian mullahs against their country’s Jewish minority, the Taliban against the people of Afghanistan, Hindu fundamentalists in Bombay against that city’s increasingly fearful Muslims.” He concludes, “the real wars of religion are also the wars religions unleash against unbelievers, whose unbearable unbelief is re-characterized as an offense, as sufficient reason for their eradication” (382). Rushdie has had personal experience with such persecution since, after publishing The Satanic Verses (1988), he was condemned for blasphemy by the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic fundamentalist leader of Iran, and condemned to death. Living in fear from the price placed on his head, the Bombay-born author lived life out of the public eye, and under guard, in England for many years.
One of several cultural critics who cited Muslim and Christian fundamentalists as equally dangerous, Rushdie has called upon like-minded progressives worldwide to stand up to their pernicious influence. Rushdie’s argument was validated to a considerable degree when, on the eve of 9/11, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Thomas Road Baptist Church and Republican Party stalwart, argued that the secularization of American culture caused God to “lift the veil of protection which has allowed no one to attack America on our soil since 1812” and allowed the 9/11 attacks to occur. “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen,’” he said, citing Proverbs 14:23 as the basis for his accusation. While Falwell eventually apologized for the assertion, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Lorri L. Jean said, “The terrible tragedy that has befallen our nation, and indeed the entire global community, is the sad byproduct of fanaticism. It has its roots in the same fanaticism that enables people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does.”
It is this kind of fanaticism, found at home and abroad, in almost every ideological tradition, that Ra’s al Ghul embodies, potentially making him as much a Timothy McVeigh figure as an Osama bin Laden figure. Of course, if Ra’s al Ghul is Batman Begins’ ultimate fundamentalist terrorist figure, that suggests Batman, the one who stands between al Ghul and Gotham City, is a commentary on the United States government. Like President George W. Bush, who made his principle concern national security, Batman is open to great praise for using a firm military hand in protecting his home from foreign threats, but he is also open to great criticism for curbing civil liberties. A critical question is, therefore, to what extent do Batman Begins and other classic Batman stories present Batman as violating civil rights? Also, to what extent do these adventures, by extension, suggest that Batman harms the very same American people he is trying to protect?
In How to Read Super Hero Comics and Why (2002), Geoff Klock observes many problematic elements built into the classic super hero narrative, not the least of which is an inherent strain of fascism. As Klock observes, Batman is depicted as a violent fascist in Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. The landmark story criticizes both Batman and then President Ronald Reagan for highly martial tactics and a too–Puritanical worldview. According to Klock, “Batman’s use of conspicuous force parallels the Reagan-era cold war politics … ‘fighting crime’ in a conspicuous display of power … to impress the population they want to control…. Batman becomes the worst sort of reactionary fascist terrorizing people into his control with cheap theatrics” (45–46). At the climax of the story, Reagan orders the American military — and Superman — into the fictional islands of Corto Maltese as a means of ending a 1980s–era Cuban Missile Crisis. Instead of backing down, the Russians respond in kind by detonating a warhead that plunges America into a nuclear winter. For his part, Batman’s own uncompromising tactics provoke a confrontation between him and Superman in which Batman is beaten near to death and is forced to go into hiding. As Batman Begins demonstrates, the parallel between Reagan and Batman drawn by Miller in The Dark Knight Returns is easily updated by substituting Bush for Reagan. Notably, in the film, Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred acts as his conscience and questions whether the allure of Batman and all of his army-issue toys is enough to cause Bruce to become lost in a crazed, martial persona and lose all connection to reality. Meanwhile, in the “real” world, presidential advisors tend to be high-ranking party members and members of the military industrial complex, often advocating doctrinaire thinking and extreme, single-minded courses of action, insulating the Oval Office from alternative perspectives represented by members of the opposing political party, international allies, journalists, and social activists. They are hardly the moderating influence that Alfred is on Batman.
Still, critic Aeon J. Skoble offers a more balanced view of Batman: “[d]espite Batman’s willingness to break rules, he has always been cautious and measured in his use of violence, he has refused to cross certain lines, and he has consistently interfered with and apprehended only criminals” (33). According to Skoble, Batman’s methods are appropriate given how crime-infested Gotham city is portrayed as being, and how operatically evil his opponents are. Therefore, when pacifist or liberal characters criticize Batman on the news or at a peace rally, the criticism rings hollow and hypocritical, as he is being attacked by the very people who would not otherwise be able to survive in Gotham City without his protection (2005, 33). The vision of Batman that Skoble presents here is ultimately the one that Batman Begins embraces. Even as the film draws parallels between Batman and President Bush, making both look heroic in the process, it distances Batman from Bush by emphasizing his greater restraint, intelligence, social liberality, wiser choice of battles, and superior tactics.
But what exactly makes Batman heroic? What would motivate a man to dress up as a bat, shirk the company of women, and take up residence in a cave surrounded by an arsenal of weapons? And can a man who chooses to do so be considered anything but a maniac? These are the key questions asked by Batman Begins. Who is Batman? What motivates him to do what he does? And is he a hero or a lunatic?
Tagged Batman, Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan, Ra's al Ghul, War on Terror. Bookmark the permalink.
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Marc DiPaolo is associate professor of English and film at Oklahoma City University. He wrote War, Politics and Superheroes (2011) and Emma Adapted (2007). He is editor of Godly Heretics and Unruly Catholics from Dante to Madonna, and coeditor (with Bryan Cardinale-Powell) of Devised and Directed by Mike Leigh (all 2013). His personal web site is here.
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Samuel Crowe says:
Very interesting. Your acknowledgment of both sides of the America/Middle East issue is very insightful and it’s interesting to hear about their relevence and exploration in a character that can seem so caught up in such a fictional and irrelevant world.
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30 March - 09 April, 2019
6th TOURNAMENT
VUGAR GASHIMOV
SHAMKIR CITY
Press-conference
Visit of FIDE president
ShamkirChess 2018
Magnus Carlsen's father: "Magnus is a boss, I am his worker"
The winner of the ShamkirChess 2018 Super Tournament in the Memory of VugarHashimov, and the World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen's father Henrich Carlsen has given an interview to the official website of the contest.
- After having the interview with Magnus Carlsen, it is very interesting to talk to his father. How is the influence of your son to your life?
- We have get accustomed always being in the spotlight of the public. Before, all the people used to see little Magnus as an ordinary chess player. After his 13, when he became a grand master, the attention grew to him. My son has always been recognized more than me. When my friends defeat me, they always say that we have beat Magnus`s father.
- Let us talk about your family. How many children do you gave?
- My wife is SigrunEen. We have a son and three daughters. Magnus`s sisters are Ellen, Ingrid and Signe. My elder daughter Ellen is also playing a chess. In his childhood, Magnus started to be interested in the chess exactly to beat her. Eventually, Magnus started to win his sister conveniently after 6 months. When he was 7 years old, he was already holding seances to the children in the yard.
- When your son started to learn the chess?
- I tried to evoke an inspiration in chess in Magnus when he was 5. Within a short time, I could memorize all the pieces. In the beginning years, his talent could not be noticed. I have never forced him. When he was 8, he already started to go to the chess school. In that age, he could beat his sisters effortlessly. Therefore, most of the time, Magnus was playing by himself at home. It is very interesting to play against yourself in the chess. Can you imagine, at the end of the game, you win yourself and you lose.
- For a long time, we see you with your son together. Is it possible to say that, you are the closest second of your son?
- I was working as an engineer in the Oil sector in Norway. A few years ago, I obliged to leave my job. Because, I am always with Magnus on all his trips after his 15. I always want to be with him. When he was a child, I was helping Magnus to make a decision about all issues. Now, the situation is different. My son has grown up already. He makes his all decisions by himself. Sometimes we go on trips with trainers, second and a cook together. I am a worker as well as them. The boss is Magnus. In our family, he listens to all my advices as a father. However, here, Magnus is the boss, I am a worker.
- How many people do include in the Magnus's team?
- It is difficult to me to tell the exact amount. Magnus has come to Shamkir with his father, second and cook. Mainly, it depends on the tournament. For instance, when we prepare to the World Chess Crown, the number of the people increases in our team.
- How do members of the team help Magnus?
-I would say, I work for 24 hours. I elaborate the dates of the contests and trips. At the same time, I run his business. I control the publication of the books. We need a cook when we are on trips. Sometimes, we are offered the Western cuisine. In that case, the cook of Magnus provides us with our accustomed food. However, when we are at the home, his mum cooks.
- How was your son's attitude when you were invited again to the tournament in the memory of VugarHashimov after two years off?
- Magnus loves Shamkir very much. Because there are all the conditions in order to play chess. Simply, we ratify all our tournaments a few months earlier. This time, the vice-president of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, FaigHasanov contacted us and said that, they will try to hold the tournament in an appropriate time to Magnus. Consequently, our participation in the Shamkir Tournament was agreed. He has been always the winner, when he comes to Shamkir. Therefore, my son accepted the invitation with a great pleasure. Simply, after he became the world champion, the invitations to the different tournament has increased. Even, we get the invitation a year before to the tournaments. It is impossible to accept all of them.
- Has Magnus Carlsen was offered to play on behalf of other country?
- This kind of thing has never happened. At least, I have never heard. He has always played on behalf of Norway in an international level. My son is not that kind of a person who always thinks money.
- Norway is known mostly with the winter sport. Meanwhile, how the achievement of Magnus welcomed in Norway?
- I agree with you. Everyone would like to see their child deals with the winter sport. However, Magnus chose a different way. His achievements are welcomed as a great success in Norway. It is a good contribution to love the chess in Norway.
- Usually, players engaging in business before terminating their career. If it is not a secret, what kind of companies does Magnus have?
We have not got that kind of big companies. Certainly, the main profit is related to the chess. I mean, the grants of the tournaments and contracts with sponsorships. Except the chess, we have an internet project called “Play Magnus”. It is possible to learn chess after downloading that program to you phone. Its specialty is that, here you can play against Magnus. You choose the age. For instance, you may play against 7 years old Magnus, or it is possible to counter with 11 years old Magnus. "Play Magnus" is free of charge. If you cannot play against Magnus, you may get the help from the computer. The help and hints are with charge- only 1 dollar. Nowadays, almost 3 million people utilize "Play Magnus".
- He has three sisters. However, mostly he is known in the family. How are the reactions of his sisters to this situation?
- Normal. They are very kind siblings. Approximately, 4-5years ago. Magnus tried himself as a model in Germany. He advertised the uniform of two different companies. In that time, his sisters were jealous about him. They used to say that, he is a grand master, when did he start to the modeling field? (He laughs)
- Your son has a lot of fans, but what about girlfriend?
- You may ask about this question, directly form himself. I do not interfere his personal life, it would be difficult for me to answer this.
- He did not answer to this question…
- I could only tell you that, nearly a year ago, he had a girlfriend. For a while it continued.
- What type of meals does he like?
- He prefers mostly Italian cuisine. In recent years, his attitudes toward the Asian cuisine has changed positively. He likes tasting different things.
- Your son is a "Real" fan. Is it real that, after his favorite football team loses the game, it is not recommended to approach to Magnus?
- Usually, he tries to keep his emotions inside of him. He does not show them to anyone.
- It is interesting us to know your opinion on the ShamkirChess Tournament in the memory of VugarHashimov…
- The competition is organized in a high level. That is why I fell obligation to tell my gratitude to the organizers for their work. On the other hand, Shamkir is a very nice place. It is quiet and has its own fascinating nature. Magnus usually likes to participate in tournaments holding in these kinds of cities. There is no traffic in the city. Most important fact is that, the competence is organized in the memory of Vugar. I am very glad that, Azerbaijan makes his name memorable. Hashimov was a great grand master. His games and behavioris an example for many others. I always remember Vugar with a smile. He never used to show his disappointment while he was losing the game. When he won the game, he used to treat his competitor with a respect. Magnus also used to say that, Vugar was an opponent who really used to make him in difficulty.
- Were you following the Candidates Tournament held in Berlin?
- I am about to tell you a secret. I hope that, Magnus will not read the interview. I do not make any mistake, the World Championship among youth were holding in 2004-2005. There, young Shahriyarperformed well and win the first place. From that time, I started to be fan of Mammadyarov. Undoubtly, afterwards, I was only the fan of Magnus. As far as the games held in Berlin are concerned, we have watched some of them. Mammadyarov had a high chance to be the winner. He lost only one final step, hence, he has a capability to gain win that final step even.
- I would like to thank you for such a detailed interview.
- I also thank you. I would like to tell you that, I always tell my regards to the God. Every day. My son has been a grand master in his 13. Now, I am the father of the World Champion. Magnus wins different tournaments in every year. I have everything to be happy. I feel myself happy indeed.
Press Service of the ShamkirChess 2018 Tournament
® copyright SHAMKIR CHESS 2019
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Materials Science in the Kitchen: Basic Bread Revisited
In many cultures, including our own, bread constitutes a significant portion of the daily diet. However, how often do we stop to think about the unique material properties of the food that we eat and how those properties influence how bread (or any other food) is made?
Bread Basics
The two basic components of bread are water and wheat flour. Most powdery ingredients used in the kitchen, like baking powder or cornstarch, form a paste when mixed with water. In contrast, bread dough made by mixing wheat flour with water, in a 5 to 3 ratio, forms a cohesive material that retains its shape and is stiff enough to be manipulated by hand, unlike a paste. If you punch down on a piece of dough, you will notice that the dough deforms to the shape of your hand. Once you remove your hand, the dough will return to its original shape. Two material properties allow bread dough to respond in this way – “plasticity” and “elasticity”. The ability of the dough to deform under the pressure of your hand is due to its plasticity, whereas the ability of the dough to move back to its original shape is due to its elasticity. Both of these properties are important characteristics that contribute to the texture of the bread.
Wheat flour contains two main proteins – glutenin and gliadin – that make up what is known as the “gluten network,” which gives flour mixed with water its unique properties. Glutenin consists of long amino acid chains that can form strong bonds with other glutenin molecules. This enables chains of hundreds of glutenin molecules to form the extensive interconnected gluten network. Gluten is elastic because the glutenin molecules have a coiled and kinked structure that allows them to act like tiny springs. When bread dough is stretched, these glutenin molecules straighten out, but when this pressure is released, the dough pulls back to its original state. Plasticity comes from another protein, gliadin, which resides among the glutenins and allows glutenins to slide past each other without bonding.
What Makes Bread Fluffy?
Kneading the dough is a critical step in the bread making process because it helps to stretch and organize the glutenin proteins into an elastic network. Adding a small amount of salt can further strengthen the gluten network; ions from the salt cluster around the charged portions of the glutenin proteins and prevent them from repelling each other, which allows glutenin molecules to cluster more closely together. Kneading the dough also introduces air bubbles that expand when heated in the oven. These air pockets can also serve as starter bubbles that will expand when gas is produced in the rising dough by yeast. In the absence of yeast, these bubbles help produce a fluffy flatbread. The more bubbles generated through kneading, the finer and more tender the final bread product.
Mechanics of Yeast
Although it is not necessary to use yeast when making bread, yeast does impart certain flavors and aromas. Humans have been eating raised breads made with yeast for 6000 years, but it wasn’t until about 150 years ago that we started to develop our scientific understanding of microbes such as yeast – thanks to researchers like Louis Pasteur. Yeast are single-celled fungi with more than 1500 different known species. One very popular type of yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is better known as “baker’s yeast” or “brewing yeast”. In the past, yeast was simply supplied from an earlier piece of dough or from the surface of beer-brewing vats; but today, yeast strains specifically selected for bread-making can be purchased commercially. Yeast produce spores that are ubiquitous in the air as well as on grain surfaces, and these can readily grow in moist materials, so it is likely that the first yeast-raised bread was probably a delicious accident!
Yeast metabolize simple sugars such as glucose, fructose, and maltose – which are produced in flour by enzymes in the wheat plant that break down complex sugars like starch. The yeast ferments these simple sugars to form alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is then released into the bread dough, where it diffuses into and enlarges the tiny air bubbles that were formed during the kneading process. Amazingly, as much as 80% of the bread’s final volume can be empty air space due to these bubbles! The expansion of the bubbles interrupts and weakens the gluten network, dividing it into millions of very thin delicate sheets that form the bubble walls. The production of carbon dioxide by yeast can be further increased by adding a small amount of additional sugar and salt and by maintaining the bread dough at 95ºF/35ºC – an optimal temperature for yeast. Yeast also release a variety of other compounds that strengthen and improve the elasticity of the gluten network, in addition to enhancing the flavor of the final product.
Raising Bread
Wheat flour consists of about 10% protein and 70% starch. Starch is necessary for bread to reach its final rigidity. During the baking process, starch granules become incorporated into the gluten network and absorb water, causing them to swell and form the rigid bulk of the walls that surround the carbon dioxide bubbles. At the same time, the rigidity limits the expansion of the bubbles due to heat and expanding gases. The gases trapped within the bubbles eventually pop through the bubble walls, thereby turning the foam of separate bubbles into a continuous spongy network of interconnected holes. This also allows for the release of water vapor from the bread – a crucial step, since if the water vapor is not released, it would condense and contract as the bread cools and cause the bread to collapse.
The unique balance of properties of the materials present within bread, the formation and expansion of gas bubbles, and the rigidity provided by starch all act together to produce the tasty marvel we call bread. So next time you bite into your light and fluffy slice or crusty and chewy loaf, consider the science of the materials that makes it possible!
Emily Gardel is a graduate student in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
McGee, John. On Food and Cooking. New York: Scribner, 2004.
Ruhlman, Michael. Ratio. New York: Scribner, 2009.
The Accidental Scientist: The Science of Cooking
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/bread_science.html
Brain, Marshall. “How Bread Works” 01 April 2000. HowStuffWorks.com.
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/bread.htm
America’s Test Kitchen: Multigrain Bread
http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=7535&extcode=M**ASCA00
October 15, 2010 August 29, 2013 Chemistry, Materials Science, Microbiology
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High Commission of Sri Lanka in India
The High Commissioner
Mission Staff
Address by H.E. Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam High Commissioner of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, on the occasion of the 55th Constitution Day of AALCO 11th November 2011
H.E. Prof. Dr. Rahmat Mohamad, Secretary-General of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization,
Your Excellencies the Ambassadors and High Commissioners of Member States of AALCO,
Liaison Officers and Officials of the Member States of AALCO,
At the outset I thank Prof. Dr. Rahmat Mohamad, Secretary-General of AALCO, for organizing this ceremony to observe the 55th Constitution Day of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation (AALCO) and for inviting me to address this august gathering.
As you all know, the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization was conceived in November 1956, as one of the outcomes of the historic Bandung Conference. This was when the leaders of 29 nations, representing over half of the world’s population, convened in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955, to deliberate and determine the path of the people of the resurging nations of Asia and Africa. Their determination at the time, to work together, with a keen sense of kinship and purpose came to be known as the “Bandung Spirit” and gave rise to the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation, AALCO, which came into existence through the visionary leadership of the Asian and African Leaders had an initial membership of 7 nations. Today, the Organisation’s membership has grown to 47 states. The activities of the Organisation have expanded as well. AALCO serves as an effective forum for Asian-African cooperation in some of the important issues in the field of international law including those before the United Nations. AALCO therefore serves as a uniting force between the countries of the Asian and African regions. So many years after the Bandung Conference, AALCO continues to provide us, the countries of Asia and Africa, an invaluable forum to work on important issues of concern in the field of international law.
President Mahinda Rakapaksa, leading the Sri Lanka delegation in his capacity as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, in April 2005, to the Asian-African Summit and Commemoration of the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Jakarta, stated in his address that,
“..the promotion of the welfare of our peoples and improvement of their quality of life within the harsh effects and challenges of globalization is one of the most vital challenges facing us today. With the advent of globalization accelerated by Information Communication Technology, the countries of the world have drawn closer together then ever before in the history of mankind. We must, therefore, unite not only in voice, but also in deed for the common good of our peoples. Our journey back to Bandung, back to our roots, to adopt the ‘New Asian-African Strategic Partnership’ seeks to do just that. This Afro-Asian Conference takes place at a time when we are engaged in a process within and beyond the UN framework, of seeking the best ways to address new and emerging threats to international peace and security.
In this task, AALCO has an important role to play by aiding our nations in the process of evolving as well as strengthening the necessary legal framework or frameworks that are required. A specific area of importance in this area is evolving legal frameworks to address and define the threats to nations arising out of ill-motivated actions by some non-state actors. For this purpose, the Member States of AALCO must make full use of this important Organisation that we have created to develop, strengthen and harmonise our domestic legal systems as well as regional and international legal regimes.
Sri Lanka takes modest pride in having broken ground for the road to Bandung which led to the establishment of AALCO. Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, was one of the five original convenors of the Asian-African Conference of 1955 in Bandung and it was Sri Lanka that hosted the Preparatory Meeting of Bandung in 1954, which brought together the leaders of India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Ever since the inception of AALCO, successive Governments in Sri Lanka have actively participated and contributed towards the activities of AALCO. We have hosted four Annual Sessions of the Organization, the most recent being the landmark 50th Annual Session this year, manifesting our continuing commitment to AALCO and to its ideals and objectives. In keeping with the importance that we attach to AALCO, the 50th Session in Colombo was inaugurated by the President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. With the support and guidance of the Secretary General and his team, the Member States of AALCO held very constructive and meaningful discussions in Colombo where several important resolutions and decisions were adopted.
AALCO plays a crucial role in the progressive development of international law and its dissemination. This includes highlighting the views of the Asian-African States on legal issues in international fora. Since its inception, AALCO has worked on a wide range of areas of international law and has made significant contributions, among others, in Law of the Sea issues, Refugee Law, Rights of Migrant Workers, the International Criminal Court, as well as Trafficking in Women and Children. AALCO, as you know, organizes meetings of Legal Experts and Workshops to ascertain the views of its Member States on legal topics of current as well as possible future concern.
In the recent past, AALCO organized three consecutive meetings relating to the International Criminal Court. A Seminar on the International Criminal Court: Emerging Issues and Future Challenges in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Government of Japan; a Round Table Meeting of Legal Experts on the Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in Putrajaya, Malaysia, with the Governments of Japan and Malaysia; and a Meeting of Legal Experts on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: issues and challenges, in Putrajaya, Malaysia in July this year in collaboration with the Government of Malaysia and the ICC.
Today, I have been tasked with officially releasing the AALCO publication arising out of the Meeting of Legal Experts held in Malaysia on 19-20 July 2011 on “the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Issues and Challenges”.
Careful perusal of the report makes it evident that the meeting was aimed at providing the Legal Experts from the Member States of AALCO, a forum, to explicitly discuss the issues and challenges relating to the Rome Statute, and ponder as well, on the reasons why some States, particularly from the Asian region, have been hesitant to ratify the Rome Statute. The meeting was also intended to look at the implementation and practical issues pertaining to the Rome Statute and enhance understanding of the issues concerned.
The discussions in the meeting were centered on the themes: (i) Preconditions for the Exercise of Jurisdiction; (ii) Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIA’s); (iii) Principle of Complementarity; (iv) Criteria for the Selection of Situations and Opening of Investigations: (v) Relationship between Peace and Justice; (vi) Post Kampala Review Conference: An Update; and (vii) Implications of Ratification of the Rome Statute.
The views expressed by the participating States, as reflected in the publication, reveals many concerns. I will set before you very briefly, some of the concerns expressed.
The Principle of Complementarity remains a grave concern, as the term itself is not defined in the Rome Statute.
The relationship between the ICC and the United Nations Security Council, in light of the referral of situations by the UNSC to the ICC, particularly in view of the fact that a few Permanent Members of United Nations Security Council are not members of the ICC.
Interpretation of Article 98 of the ICC relating to Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIAs).
The powers of the ICC Prosecutor.
Issues of sovereignty.
Additional financial burden on Governments and the difficulties of internalizing the provisions of the Rome Statute into domestic legislations.
The issue of States with constitutional monarchies or presidential immunities facing difficulty in accepting the Rome Statute had received attention as well at this Meeting. Many delegates had noted that their countries were not a Party to the Rome Statute for both legal and political reasons, the primary one being the sovereignty of the nation. The interactions during the meeting, which had been very focused, had brought out clearly the concerns of Member States of AALCO. This provided an invaluable opportunity for AALCO Member States to understand each other’s concerns while providing the ICC an opportunity to understand the concerns of States outside the ICC regime.
The publication that is released today sets out the proceedings of the meeting as well as the debate. I am sure it would be a useful and interesting document for the AALCO Member States. I congratulate the Secretary-General and his staff for regularly bringing out publications of this nature for the benefit of Member States.
I thank you all for your presence here today to mark the 55th Constitution Day and I now invite H.E. Prof. Dr. Rahmat Mohamad, Secretary-General of AALCO, for his Presentation relating to the outcome of the Fiftieth Annual Session of AALCO and Plan of Action for 2011-2012.
Joint Statements
India Sri Lanka Relations
India Sri Lanka Foundation
Pilgrims' Rest in Delhi
Tenders from Sri Lanka
Copyright © 2019 High Commission of Sri Lanka in India. All Rights Reserved.
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Tag: USS Missouri
USS Missouri Honored With Forever Stamp on 75th Anniversary
June 11, 2019 seawaves
June 11, 2019 – n the 75th anniversary of its commissioning, the famous U.S. Navy battleship USS Missouri (BB-43) set sail again with the issuance of the USS Missouri Forever stamp. The U.S. Postal Service dedicated the stamp today during a pierside ceremony on the ship’s deck at Pearl Harbor. “The USS Missouri is one of the most famous Naval battleships to ever sail the sea, and now the Postal Service is proud to add her to our roster of commemorative stamps,” said Jeffrey C. Johnson, U.S. Postal Service acting…
June 2019Pearl Harbor, stamp, USPS, USS Missouri
U.S. Postal Service Honors Battleship USS Missouri with a Forever Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service celebrated USS Missouri (BB-63) with a Forever stamp. The famed American battleship is being honored to coincide with the 75th anniversary of her commissioning on June 11, 1944 at the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The battleship was affectionately nicknamed “Mighty Mo,” and had one of the most historic roles during World War II. On Sept. 2, 1945, military officials from the Allied powers and imperial Japan convened on her deck and signed the documents confirming Japan’s surrender and ending the war. The stamp art…
May 2019Battleship Missouri Memorial, Dan Cosgrove, USPS, USS Missouri
USS Missouri Arrives in Pearl Harbor
February 2, 2018 February 2, 2018 seawaves
The Pearl Harbor submarine community welcomed the crew of 160 Sailors and officers, along with their families, of the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Missouri (SSN 780) to Pearl Harbor following a successful homeport change from Groton, Connecticut, Jan. 26. Missouri is now assigned to Submarine Squadron One, and will be the 6th Virginia-class submarine stationed in Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. “I can’t thank enough the staff of Submarine Squadron One and COMSUBPAC for facilitating this transfer,” said Cmdr. George Howell, commanding officer of Missouri. “There are so many logistical arrangements…
February 2018COMSUBPAC, Pearl Harbor, USS Missouri, Virginia Class
USS Missouri set to arrive at Pearl Harbor homeport
January 24, 2018 seawaves
USS Missouri (SSN 780) will arrive at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam this week for a permanent change of homeport. The submarine has a crew of 140 Sailors and officers. Missouri will be the 6th Virginia-class submarine homeported at Pearl Harbor and the fifth Navy ship to be named in honor of the state of Missouri. The last USS Missouri, the legendary battleship, saw action in World War II, the Korean War and the Persian Gulf War, and the battleship was also the site where Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, Gen. Douglas…
January 2018COMSUBPAC, Pearl Harbor, SSN 780, USS Missouri, Virginia Class
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“A highly qualified team with the experience to deliver in South East Europe”
Michael Beys, Chairman
Michael Beys is the Founder and Managing Partner of Beys, Stein & Mobargha LLP, a New York law firm covering a full range of corporate and real estate transactions. From 2000 to 2005, he served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York where he was the lead counsel in over 100 federal prosecutions and investigations. In 2005, he co-founded Aristone Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm which has provided over US$35 million in mezzanine financing to New York area real estate developers. In 1999, he founded Cobblestone Ventures, Inc., a real-estate development business which has since invested in, or actively managed, over 200,000 square feet of conversion and new construction projects in downtown Manhattan.
Harin Thaker, Vice Chairman
CEO of Aeriance Investments S.A., the multi-strategy debt fund platform of Aerium, an independent pan-European real estate investment manager. Former CEO of Hypo Real Estate Bank International and former Head of Real Estate Finance International at Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG (as Hypo was renamed). The bank is a specialized lender in real estate finance and under Harin’s leadership it expanded in various international markets in Europe, and Asia, including several countries in Eastern and South Eastern Europe.
Ian Domaille, Non-Executive Director
Ian Domaille is a member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. He is director and founder shareholder of Artemis Trustees Limited, a licensed fiduciary services company. He has been involved in the financial services industry for over 25 years, initially as an auditor, and, over the last fifteen years, being involved in personal and corporate planning. Mr. Domaille is a director of a number of listed and private companies in the financial services and other sectors.
Antonios Kaffas, Non-Executive Director
Antonios Kyriakou Kaffas, aged 60 is appointed as non-executive director. Antonios, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, has worked as CFO for major shipping groups and real estate companies, most recently at Gulf Marine Management S.A. and currently at Hermes Marine Management S.A.
LAMBROS ANAGNOSTOPOULOS, CEO
Founder & former CEO of LAMDA Development, a real estate developer active in SEE, listed in Athens that grew from scratch to >€1 billion market cap. Co-founded Grivalia (former Eurobank Properties) Greece’s second largest listed REIT. Founded South East Continent Unique Real Estate Management in 2006 as a private equity platform to establish and manage property investment & development vehicles in SEE with two such funds invested in development projects in Romania, Bulgaria & Serbia. Prior to that he was a strategy consultant in various European and North American countries. Degrees from the National Technical University of Athens (Naval Architecture, Marine & Mechanical Engineering), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MSc) & MIT Sloan School of Management (MBA).
Theofanis Antoniou, Finance Director
Joined SECURE Management in 2017. Previously worked as CFO in IT sector. Between 2007 and 2013 held positions in real estate sector, as CFO of Charagionis Group, a major local real estate developer, and of Assos Capital, a fund active in retail property market mainly in Bulgaria. He has also worked for a packaging industry, listed on Athens Stock Exchange. Started his career in banking sector, working between 1996 and 2002 for Bank of Cyprus and Marfin Bank. He has extensive M&A and capital raising experience, and holds degrees from London School of Economics and University of Durham.
George Dopoulos, Commercial Director
Joined SPDI in 2009. Previously a partner of Phoenix Real Estates where he supervised the development of 250K sqm of industrial/logistics centres in Romania. Held project management related positions with the publicly listed international project and construction management firm, Hill International, focusing in SEE & the Middle East leading project planning, financial structuring, team augmentation & project implementation/completion monitoring tasks. Degrees in International Business & Finance from the University of Texas at Austin.
Mihai Octavian Ghircoias, Senior Advisor Romania
A Team member since 2010. Managing partner for One Real Partner for 4 years, completing deals regarding industrial & residential projects. Previously Head of Office Agency for CB Richard Ellis & responsible for a portfolio of more than 200 clients. Degree in International Business from the Academy of Economics Studies of Bucharest & an MBA certification from the Open University (UK).
Dmitry Kichmarenko, Managing Director Ukraine
A Team member since 2011. Previously at Deloitte Kiev, acting as a manager in Financial advisory & Audit. Led buy-side & sell-side due diligence projects, IFRS & US GAAP audit engagements for local & international listed companies doing business in Ukraine & Georgia. Past managing positions in large Ukrainian industrial & trade business groups, & banks of the region. Master degrees in Banking & Finance from Kyiv National Economic University & ACCA qualification.
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Battleship Potemkin: a contemporary score
Hughes, Ed and Zuza, Aitor Antepara (2007) Battleship Potemkin: a contemporary score. [Video]
Video (QuickTime) - Other
Official URL: https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/score/battle...
A short film by Aitor Antepara Zuza with a script by Dr. Ed Hughes (University of Sussex, Department of Music). The film documents the composition and recording in 2007 of Dr Hughes's new musical score to Sergei Eisenstein's iconic film 'Battleship Potemkin' (USSR, 1925). The film records the aims of the project which were to create a score in which the musical rhythms are closely matched to the film's images and in which the principles of audiovisual montage, articulated by Eisenstein in works such as 'The Film Sense' (Harcourt, 1942) and 'Nonindifferent Nature' (Cambridge, 1987), are embodied and extended. In particular the film documents the use of extended recording techniques in the orchestral recording session in order to create an expanded spatial sense to match Eisenstein's imagery. The documentary was originally released as part of a DVD boxed set ('Sergei Eisenstein Vol. 1: Silent Classics', Tartan Video TVD3742, 2007) containing Ed Hughes's complete and original scores to Eisenstein's films 'Strike' (USSR, 1924) and 'Battleship Potemkin', as well as historical scores by Edmund Meisel, Nikolai Kryukov and Dmitri Shostakovich.
film music Ed Hughes Sergei Eisenstein Battleship Potemkin Strike Edmund Meisel Nikolai Kryukov Dmitri Shostakovich
N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR
M Music. Literature on music. Musical instruction and study > M Music
N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general
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My Desk
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Home » Temple History & King Solomon » Temple Mount yes, Mount Sinai no
Temple Mount yes, Mount Sinai no
One of the central obstacles in deliberations toward a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is the status of holy sites in Jerusalem.
Yet, the introduction of religious elements in negotiations between secular parties is like placing a bomb in the room where deliberations take place: The use of the term “holy” usually lifts debate from the realm of “rational” conduct and transfers it to a religious arena, which is occasionally mystical, and “irrational” by definition.
What is a holy site? And who defines it as such? A national or international judicial system, which commonly relies on secular, civil society as its source, or the holy scripture of any religion? Or religious and cultural tradition developed over hundreds of years? Two weeks ago, these questions were pondered in a conference at the University of Haifa attended by Jewish, Muslim and Christian researchers and religious figures. Professor Marshall Breger of the Catholic University of America, who organized the conference with Dr. Yitzhak Reiter of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and Dr. Leonard Hammer of the Hebrew University, said that the goal of the conference was to prepare fertile ground for deeper intellectual discussion of questions regarding sacred sites. Instead of engaging in battle and flinging claims of “holiness” every time such matters arise in negotiations, Breger believes that the academic community must play a role in moderating public discussion by increasing knowledge of legal, religious and political aspects of the holy sites before serious negotiations are renewed.
Jerusalem is not the sole domain of sacred sites. Throughout the world, there are cities, countries and geographic regions that are defined as “holy” and granted special judicial status. For example, the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia are defined as “holy cities,” and the Vatican is a separate state. According to Greek Orthodox tradition, Mount Athos is a “holy mountain” and has been granted the status of a semi-autonomous region within Greece.
Native populations of Australia, the United States and other nations define certain geographic sites, like mountains, forests or lakes, as holy sites, and these locations are protected by law. Thus, Ayres Rock, in Australia, now officially known as Uluru, was declared a nature preserve and handed over to Anangu, its Aboriginal owners, and then leased to the Australian government for an extended period.
However, civil law does not define sacred sites as such. In the U.S., for example, the law leaves this definition in the hands of authorized Native American figures. Israeli law adopts the language of its British predecessors, and relies on an injunction published by the Turkish government in 1852, called the “Ottoman status quo,” which lists the holy sites without defining conditions that led to this appellation. In other words, a “holy site” is simply one that appears on the list.
In protocol enacted after the Six-Day War to preserve sacred sites, only 16 locations were defined as Jewish holy sites. Among the most famous sites on this list are the Western Wall, the grave of Shimon Hatzadik in Jerusalem, Maimonides’ Tomb in Tiberias, and the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai at Mount Meron.
Dr. Amnon Ramon, of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, notes that a location “makes” the “sacred” list when at least two religious groups lay claim to the site. As long as a specific site is not the subject of controversy, national legislation is not required to settle claims and, therefore, the site is not officially considered holy.
Different definitions
The source of Ottoman law may be explained by this phenomenon: frequent feuding between Christian sects in Jerusalem – particularly the Catholic and Greek-Orthodox churches – forced the Muslim government to seal the rights of each denomination in law.
The definition of a certain site as holy differs from one religion to another, and there are sometimes even differences within a given faith. Dr. Aviad Hacohen, of the Shaarei Mishpat Law School, identifies two approaches to this issue in Jewish tradition. One is the approach of the Rambam (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides), who said, “There is no holiness in the world – only in God” (and despite that, Israel declared his tomb to be a holy site.) This leads to the conclusion that sanctity is not inherent in the earth but a function of what happens at a given site. Thus, Mount Sinai, the site of one of the most seminal events in Judaism, did not become a holy site – its holiness ended when the event did. The same is true of the first location mentioned as “holy ground” in the Torah, the site at which God revealed himself to Moses in the form of a burning bush.
The approach of the Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, or Nachmanides), which states that the “holiness of the place is binding,” opposes that of the Rambam. This approach was adopted by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook, the first chief rabbi of Israel. His influence on religious Zionism in the 20th Century probably transformed this approach into a dominant theme in modern Israeli discourse. Kook believed that holiness was inherent in the earth: Man did not make the earth holy and, therefore, man’s abandonment of the earth does not rob it of its holiness.
Judge Sheikh Ahmed Natur, head of the Sharia appellate court, presented Muslim religious law and identified two types of Muslim holy sites – graves and Waqf property – whose sanctity is eternal. Waqf property is privately owned property granted or dedicated by its owners to be used in the establishment of religious institutions, like mosques or parochial schools. According to Muslim belief, this dedication is considered to be a charitable act that entitles the donor to eternal rewards in the world to come. Since rewards are eternal, the sanctity of the property is considered to be eternal as well, and it is therefore forbidden to damage the property or transfer it to a different owner.
Christianity attributes supreme significance to three sacred sites: the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and Mary’s Tomb in Jerusalem. Many other places in Israel and the Palestinian Authority are also considered holy, because Jesus’ presence at these locations represents “evidence” of his acts. The official position of the Catholic Church is that locations protected by law, such as those on the “status quo” list, are sacred sites and their status must not be changed.
Dr. David Jaeger, the Vatican’s legal advisor in negotiations with Israel, presented an interesting fact pertaining to the status of holy sites: According to the United Nations resolution on November 29, 1947, Jerusalem is considered a “corpus separatum” that belongs neither to the Jewish or Palestinian state. Therefore, the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem after the Israeli War of Independence was considered, like the Israeli occupation after the Six-Day War, to be “illegal.”
As far as international law is concerned, the status of Jerusalem has not changed since 1947, and, therefore, according to Jaeger, Israel and the Palestinian Authority cannot achieve a bilateral agreement concerning the status of Jerusalem. Israel cannot “give” the Old City to the PA because, according to international law, Israel does not have legal authority over Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/temple-mount-yes-mount-sinai-no-1.62638
Copyright 1998, 1991, All Rights Reserved by Michael S. Young. Patents Pending: U.S. Patent Des. 423-681 Clay Cranor, AutoCad engineer.
Todd Paris, Photoshop blending artist. Britt Collins, Shekinah Glory painter & illustrator. Dewey Sevy, 3-D Studio rendering artist. Jon Kokko, website design.
U.S. Patent firm: Shlesinger, Arkwright & Garvey LP, Arlington, Virginia Israeli Patent firm: Wolff, Bregman & Goller, Jerusalem. Patent # 30656
© 2010, ↑ Solomon's Temple
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Home News Dr. Dre Puts Up $10 Million For Compton Performing Arts Center
Dr. Dre Puts Up $10 Million For Compton Performing Arts Center
It was in 2015 that Dr. Dre unleashed his Compton album, vowing to donate the royalties ,add off the album to the development of a performing arts facility in his hometown.
Now, the rapper and producerhas announced his commitment to donate $10 million to the center for the new Compton High School right where he grew up.
Set to break ground by the year 2020, the center feature a 1,200-capacity theater and the capabilities of teaching students digital media production skills.
“Dr. Dre has stepped up and partnered with the school district to make this vision a reality,” said the vice chairman of the school board, Micah Ali. “A true act of giving back to the community in a way that will directly impact the ever-resilient efforts of our students to rise-up and succeed. A true act of leading the way and standing as an example to others of how never to forget where you came from
“My goal is to provide kids with the kind of tools and learning they deserve,” stated Dre, who is also tasked with raising the remainder of the project’s funds. “The performing arts center will be a place for young people to be creative in a way that will help further their education and positively define their future.”
Read more http://thesource.com/2017/06/16/dr-dre-puts-10-million-compton-performing-arts-center/
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Narrow Band Imaging – improving bladder cancer diagnosis
Updated on April 21, 2017 By The Spectator Leave a comment
Paige Rollins
Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) is an optical image enhancement technology that is being u sed for identifying cancer in bladder mucosa. NBI takes white light from the LED bulb and only allows green and blue lightwaves to be omitted. This enhances the vasculature in the mucosa, such as blood vessels and other structures, allowing for better visualization of possibly cancerous lesions. The first launch of this process was in 2005, but of course there have been constant improvements made to the product since then.
Dan Bakis graduated with a degree in Exercise Physiology, minoring in Nutrition from the UMass Lowell. He started working in orthopedic medical device sales fresh out of college, and from there he moved onto gastrointestinal and pulmonary medical device sales. In February of 2017, he started working with urology and gynecology medical device sales through a company called Olympus.
Bakis sells the Narrow Band Imaging technology through Olympus. “This product is a source and processor built into one device. The scope plugs into this for urology and gynecology procedures in the office, such as cystoscopies,” Bakis explained. “This process is being used worldwide.”
It’s tough to say just how many hospitals are using this technology, but Bakis predicted it was about 50%. The other 50% still use an ink injection method. “A toxic solution has to sit in the patient for an hour before you can do the procedure. It makes them feel like they have to urinate, so they have to hold that feeling for an hour. With NBI, just press a button on the processor and it turns on and off.” He says it’s a much more comfortable experience for the patients.
Bakis said there was a study done with NBI and non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer where 17% more cancer was found, and 24% more tumors were found using this NBI instead of an alternate method.
This technology is improving the overall cycle of bladder cancer treatment for both patient and doctor. Although NBI only works within the bladder mucosa, this is a step in the right direction for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
By The Spectator
NESCom to Broadcast Two Husson Athletic Events
Measles cases in U.S. at second-highest level in almost two decades
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The M-16 rifle
The primary American infantry rifle used in Vietnam was the M-16. This fired a 5.56 mm (.223 inch) bullet. The rifle is fired by inserting a loaded magazine (a reloadable metal box that holds the cartridges) into the bottom of the rifle, and making sure it is locked in place. Then the bolt has to be pulled back, which is done by pulling a T-handle to the rear and letting it go. This loads the first cartridge into the weapon. The two procedures together are called "Lock and Load".
Arrow indicates
Selector Switch on
On the left side of the receiver (the receiver is the back part of the weapon, with the operating parts), there is a lever with three positions: SAFE, SEMI and AUTO. The rifle will not fire while this lever is on SAFE. Turning it to SEMI puts it on semi-automatic. Semi-auto means "self-loading". You fire a round (a "round" is one cartridge) and the weapon reloads itself for the next shot.
But you have to pull the trigger again to fire. The last position is AUTO. Automatic ("full-auto" or "rock and roll" ) here means that, as long as there is ammunition in the weapon and the trigger is held back, the weapon will fire by itself until it is empty. Troops practiced flipping the lever from SAFE to "Rock and Roll" in one quick motion. But full automatic fire with any rifle is inaccurate and usually a waste of ammunition. Your first few rounds might hit the target, but the majority would be high and your magazine will be empty in 3-4 seconds.
The M-16 was designed by the Armalite Corporation and called by that name, even after Armalite was acquired by Colt Firearms Inc. It had a very unusual appearance when it was introduced, making use of lightweight metals and high tech plastics. Some GI's called it the "Mattel rifle" after a toy company of that name.
The M-16 acquired a bad reputation, early on, for jamming in combat. Many soldiers were suspicious of them. The rifle was hurried into service for Vietnam and there were consequently a number of problems with it. The first was the magazine. The rifle held its ammunition in 20-round detachable magazines. Due to a design defect, if you actually loaded 20 cartridges into it, it would usually jam. It worked just fine with 17-18. That was one of the things you were told in-country by your unit. Soldier knowledge. JUST load eighteen rounds.
The second problem had to do with cleaning. Most military rifles are pretty forgiving of maintenance. Run a cleaning rod down the barrel and put some oil on their working parts and they work fine. The M-16 isn't like that. It has small, close-fitting parts, that need to be kept clean and brushed off of all dirt and powder residue. This was not generally understood at the time. A toothbrush was eventually issued for cleaning. Until then, GI's just purchased an extra one for their rifles.
If you took care of those two things, the rifle would work fine.
M-16 ammunition was issued in several ways. It could come either in cardboard boxes of 20 rounds each, or in cotton disposable bandoliers. Each bandolier came with 140 rounds ,in stripper clips, in seven pockets . In either case, the rounds had to be loaded into magazines, a tedious task. Smart troopers nevertheless periodically rotated (or shot up) old ammunition, disassembled and thoroughly cleaned their magazines when they could.
The CAR-15 Rifle {{{CAR15}}} {[ The CAR-15 (XM-177) Rifle]} The CAR-15 was the "carbine" (shortened) version of the M-16, also made by Colt-Armalite. The barrel was shorter and the stock telescoped, so the whole weapon was shorter overall. The CAR-15 had its own development problems as well as sharing those of the M-16. Early versions were especially unreliable. Eventually the problems were corrected , but two remained, intrinsic to the design, and its shorter barrel. The rifle had a very large muzzle flash, a handicap when shooting at night. And it was a much louder weapon to shoot. The rifle was issued to two very different groups of users. The intended recipients were the Army's elite Special Forces, especially MACV/SOG, and the LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) Teams. However, because of its short, handy size, it was often appropriated by high-ranking rear-echelon Staff Officers. Every General's Aide in Vietnam managed to get himself one too. It used the same magazines as the M-16, with the same restrictions (JUST 18), but also came with the first 30-round magazines that later became the standard for both. You could put 30 rounds in the magazine, but 28 would be best. By the way, the 5.56 round has nothing to do with the little .22 caliber bullets teens learn to shoot in Summer Camp. The M-60 Machinegun {{{M60a}}} {[Caption: M-60 Machinegun in carrying position]} The standard US machinegun in Vietnam was the M-60. It was used by ground troops, in vehicles and on helicopters. It fired the 7.62mm NATO cartridge from a disintegrating 50-round belt. Disintegrating means that the 50 round belt included 50 separate metal links, each of which held one cartridge to the next. The weapon was used like this. To load it, you first flipped a lever at the back of the receiver and the top flipped up. You then carefully positioned the belt, links up, and closed the cover. Then you pulled the bolt handle to the rear, applied the safety (a lever within easy reach of your left thumb) and you were ready. Flipping off the safety and pulling the trigger fired the weapon. When the belt fed into the gun, the links were stripped off and tossed. One belt could easily be connected to another, in theory, indefinitely. However machineguns RAPIDLY get hot in use and finally the barrel will melt. The M-60 dealt with this problem in two ways. First, the barrel was detachable by a quick-release lever, and the gunner or his assistant carried a spare. Second, the barrel was made of a VERY tough steel. It could be fired until it turned, first, red-hot, then orange, then white, then transparent, where you could actually see the individual bullets going down the barrel. At that point, however, you had BETTER change the barrel or it would melt. (A helmetful of water would accomplish the same result, but nobody usually had that much water to spare, unless there was a stream or a rice paddy nearby.) However, if removed even at that point, and thrown aside, the barrel would cool and later be as good as new. Gunners were, in any case, taught to fire short bursts. {{{M60b}}} {[Caption: M-60 Machinegun with bipod folded down]} There were some problems with the M-60 as used in Vietnam. The weapon was heavy at 23 pounds and ackward to fire unless prone, or from the hip. The belts weighed about ten pounds each. There was no way to carry it with a full belt in place. Gunners on the march usually inserted a short belt of only ten or twenty rounds. If there was time, you could put in a full belt, but in the meantime, you had SOMETHING to shoot immediately. The trouble with carrying the weapon like this was this was that the loose belt clanged against the side of the receiver as you walked. The other problem with belts was that they exposed the links and ammunition to dirt, water and grime, not conducive to optimum performance. Slung across the chest, as most gunners carried them, the ammo belts reflected light. In fairness, the military had not intended them to be carried like that. They were supposed to be carried in metal cans. But the cans were more useless weight....so. And speaking of belts, as they came from the cans, every fifth round was a tracer. The belts had to be broken down and the tracers pulled. (Remember Murphy's Law #27 "Tracers work both ways.") If there wasn't time, like on a nightime resupply, well...... OUR tracers are RED, the ENEMY's are GREEN. Soldier's knowledge! Remember it! {{{M60Feed}}} {[Caption: M-60 Machinegun in use as a helicopter door gun. Note empty C-ration can.]} There were so other problems too, with the "Sixty". The gun really required an assistant gunner, to manipulate the belt and "feed" it to the gun at the right angle. This was overcome in aircraft and vehicle guns by brazing an empty C-ration can to the side of the receiver. This brought the belt to the correct angle the gun liked. There also wasn't a real good way, with the early M-60's, to get a hot barrel off once you unfastened it. The gunner was supposed to have an asbestos mitt, but nobody I knew ever saw one of those. (They are all probably under lock and key somewhere now, waiting the outcome of an OHSA court case.) People just usually took their sweatrags off and PULLED. Gunners and assistant gunners sometimes suffered severe burns, changing hot barrels with their bare hands. (You don't notice stuff like this in combat. Only after.) Finally, the weapon was not entirely "soldier-proof" and required a well-trained operator. It was possible to assemble some of the parts incorrectly, and everything would appear to be fine. Except it wouldn't go "bang". It would then have to be disassembled to see why, which is inconvenient in combat. For all that, the M-60 was considered a powerful and reliable weapon in the field. Its heavy bullets would penetrate brush, chop down small trees and demolish a cinderblock wall in a few seconds. But remember, fire short bursts! Soldier knowledge. The M-79 Grenade Launcher {{{M79}}} {[Caption: M-79 Grenade Launcher]} After hearing about the M-16 and the M-60, everyone will be happy to hear about the M-79 Grenade Launcher. The GIs were too. It was a VERY simple and effective weapon. It fired a single 40mm projectile. A latch on top broke it open like a shotgun for loading. It had flip-up sights, but an experienced operator didn't really need them. With some practice, you could learn to fire a round into something the size of a trash can at 150 yards. You broke open the weapon, inserted a round and fired. (There was a safety lever ahead of the trigger.) The weapon had a mild recoil. It could fire a variety of rounds, including small flares. But the two most common were a high explosive and an anti-personnel round. The anti-personnel round was unique in that it fired a cluster of tiny darts, called flechettes. Their codename was "Beehive", and that was what the anti-personnel round was called. All rounds had to travel a short distance (actually they had to make a certain number of revolutions) before the grenade's impact fuse would arm. This distance depended on several factors, but was a minimum of about 50 feet. Below that distance, you are just throwing something at the enemy. The impact might knock him down, but the round wouldn't explode. Pistols {{{M-1911A1}}} {[Caption: .45 cal Pistol, M1911A1]} Officers, machinegunners and medics were also issued a pistol. It's correct designation was M1911A1, the year it was adopted, but everyone just called it a "forty-five automatic" or "forty-five" . In this case "automatic" means "self-loading", NOT that it would fire continually if the trigger was held back. It fired seven .45 caliber bullets from a detachable clip. It had been the standard US military pistol since before WW I and was considered a proven "man-stopper". US doctrine holds that a pistol is a last-ditch weapon and troops received only rudimentary training in its use. No one was very confident about hitting anything with it, but you knew if you did, it would do the job. It was a tough weapon too, and could survive all kinds of abuse. One disadvantage was that it required two hands to load the first round. It could not be carried safely "ready to fire". (If it was dropped on a hard surface, it could go off.) {{{SWVic}}} {[Caption: .38 Revolver]} The .38 Revolver. This was another kind of pistol issued to aircrews as a survival weapon. They could also take a .45 automatic if they wished, but everyone in the crew usually had to agree to carry the same weapon, so they could share ammunition if they were shot down. Although much less powerful than the .45 automatic, the .38 had a number of advantages. It was lighter, safe to carry loaded and ready to fire, totally reliable, required only one hand to shoot, and, if dropped in water, was self draining. It was also the standard weapon of virtually all American police departments, so it also had proven effectiveness. As a disadvantage, it was carried with only five rounds. The M72 Rocket Launcher {{{LAW}}} {[Caption: LAW Launcher and Rocket]} The M72 LAW (Light Anti-tank Weapon) was a disposable launcher for an anti-tank rocket. It should have been very effective, but it wasn't. The problem wasn't the weapon, but the way it was used. It held its anti-tank rocket inside a collapsible, telescoping tube. It was intended to be carried like that, collapsed, until needed, but many GI's tried to carry the weapon "ready to fire." There were some external covering caps that had to be unhooked at each end to shoot it. Then you opened it up. Once you did, however, all sorts of moisture got into the launcher. If you carried it around like that for a day or so, or even if you opened it up, carried it, and then closed it again, it mostly wouldn't fire. It quickly got a reputation as a "dud" weapon. Hand Grenades US soldiers carried several kinds of hand grenades. They all worked the same way. The most common was the M-26 fragmentation grenade, called a "frag". {{{M-26}}} {[Caption: M-26 Fragmentation Grenade]} As most of you know, the grenade works as follows. While holding the lever firmly to the grenade's body, you pull the safety pin free, using the attached ring. The lever is now retained only by the pressure of your hand against the tension of the spring-loaded striker inside the fuse. Releasing the lever (the striker throws it away with a never-to-be-forgotten fiinnnnggggg noise) the striker snaps home and ignites a four-second fuse. The M-26 can also be used as a booby trap, by fastening it to something, attaching a length of fishline to the pull-ring, then attaching the other end of the line to something else. (They issued you fishline for that purpose.) Or you could simply put something heavy on top of the grenade and remove the pin. {{{Vsmoke}}} {[Caption: M-18 Smoke Grenade]} US troops also carried Smoke Grenades. These were used in several ways. Mostly they were used to mark positions. One was usually tossed out before a helicopter landed, to indicate the wind direction and velocity to the pilot. They were also used as "break contact" devices, a sort of instant smokescreen. The smoke came in several colors, red, violet, yellow, green and black, I think. The color of the smoke was indicated on top of the grenade, as well as by lettering on the side. {{{M-26}}} {[Caption: M-26 Fragmentation Grenade]} Other types of grenades were less common. Thermite or Demolition grenades were filled with a self-igniting welding compound that would melt steel. It's primary use was to destroy abandoned equipment or weapons. CS grenades were filled with tear gas and used on tunnels. WP "Willie Peter" grenades were filled with White Phosphorus. This a hellish compound that even burns under water. If even tiny pieces got on you, they would burn right through your body. The only treatment was to QUICKLY pluck them out with the point of a knife. They were used on bunkers, primarily. They exploded with a spectacular display. Finally, there was a limited issue of defoliate grenades. Yes, Agent Orange again. They were used to destroy small VC crops or gardens. Other US Weapons The M-14 and M-21 Rifles {{{M-14}}} {[Caption: M-14 Rifle]} The M-14 was the rifle used by all US troops in training, and by support troops in Vietnam. It fired the same 7.62mm NATO cartridges as the M-60 machinegun. It's magazine held 20 rounds, but the ammunition was much heavier and you could only carry 40% the number of rounds for the same weight, compared to the M-16. However the 7.62 NATO bullets had a longer range and greater penetration. Unlike the M-16, it was regarded as completely reliable. though longer and heavier. (Fully loaded, it weighed nearly half again as much as a fully loaded M-16, 11.25 pounds versus 8.1.) {{{M-21}}} {[Caption: M-21 Sniper Rifle]} Because of its inherent accuracy, the Army fitted selected M-14's with a variable magnification (3-9X) Leatherwood telescope sight as the M-21 Sniper Rifle. Units selected experienced infantry soldiers to attend a 30 day, in-country, Training Course in the weapon, fieldcraft, and sniper techniques. Graduates were presented with their own M-21's and returned to their units after completing the course. Shotguns {{{Shotgun}}} {[Typical military shotgun]} The Army issued several kinds of shotguns in Vietnam, and GI's often supplanted them with privately purchased commercial shotguns, shipped or brought into the country. All the shotguns ended up more or less the same, 12 gauge, five shot, pump-action, firing buckshot rounds. At close range, they were devastating. At a dozen yards, each round equaled a burst from a 9mm submachinegun. Miscellaneous {{{M-2A1carb}}} {[Caption: M-2A1 Carbine with folding stock]} Other weapons GI used included WW II vintage American types, especially the M-2 and M-2A1 Carbine. Ammunition for these could still be obtained through the American supply system. After that, any sort of weapon was possible, but ammunition for it would be a problem and a weapon without bullets is a club. The Soviet-designed AK-47 was also carried, and will be covered under Communist weapons. I should mention that most units required you to carry your assigned weapon, but if you could make a case for something else, you could probably carry that instead. ("Sir, I don't like the M-16, I shot Expert with the 'Fourteen in Basic. I got this 'Fourteen now. Can I carry it? I have nine magazines for it.") Non-standard weapons were the prerogative of leaders, who were armed primarily for self-defense anyway. Of course, carrying a non-standard weapon would mark you out to enemy snipers, so there was that to consider. By the way, in combat units, nobody cared where you got any extra weapon, or other military item you hadn't been issued.
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The Children of Húrin
Tolkien fans are sure to treasure this tale of Middle-earth's First Age, which appeared in incomplete forms in the posthumously published The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. Those earlier books, also edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher, only hinted at the depth and power of the tragic story of Túrin and Niënor, the children of Húrin, the lord of Dor-lómin, who achieve Tolkien fans are sure to treasure this tale of Middle-earth's First Age, which appeared in incomplete forms in the posthumously published The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. Those earlier books, also edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher, only hinted at the depth and power of the tragic story of Túrin and Niënor, the children of Húrin, the lord of Dor-lómin, who achieved renown for having confronted Morgoth, who was the master of Sauron, the manifestation of evil in the Lord of the Rings. Six thousand years before the One Ring is destroyed, Middle-earth lies under the shadow of the Dark Lord Morgoth. The greatest warriors among elves and men have perished, and all is in darkness and despair. But a deadly new leader rises, Túrin, son of Húrin, and with his grim band of outlaws begins to turn the tide in the war for Middle-earth -- awaiting the day he confronts his destiny and the deadly curse laid upon him. Deftly balancing thrilling battles with moments of introspection, Tolkien's vivid and gripping narrative reaffirms his primacy in fantasy literature.
0 review for The Children of Húrin
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Vistara becomes Airbus’ 1st airline partner for training centre
Vistara signed a five-year agreement with Airbus Group India Private Limited to provide training services to Vistara pilots for the A320 type aircraft. The two companies inked the agreement at the launch of Airbus India Training Centre (AITC) in New Delhi, which brings state-of-the-art technology to India for the training of flight crew. Commenting on the partnership, Phee Teik Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, “This partnership underlines our uncompromising commitment to uphold the highest of safety standards and operational excellence. I am confident that our pilots will immensely benefit from Airbus’ in-depth and specialized training solutions. It will help us tread a path towards industry leadership.” Adding on, Dr. Srinivasan Dwarakanath, President, Commercial Aircraft, Airbus in India said, “We are honoured to have Vistara as the first customer for the Airbus India Training Centre. We will start training their pilots when the centre becomes operational end-2018. Our success is tied to the success of our customers and one way we contribute to that is by offering them our services like flight training.” The AITC is equipped with the latest software that accurately simulates the aircraft handling characteristics and system responses, ensuring Vistara pilots are well trained and become more proficient with global standards.
February records 13% growth in Foriegn Tourist Arrivals
The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in February 2017 was 9.56 lakh as compared to FTAs of 8.47 lakh in February, 2016 registering a growth rate of 13.0 per cent in comparison to the previous year. The highest arrival numbers were from Bangladesh (17.46%) followed by UK (12.20%), USA (11.83%), Russian Fed. (4.29%) and Canada (4.26%). Delhi Airport received the most number of FTAs (31.86%) followed by Mumbai Airport (16.10%), Haridaspur Land checkpost (9.44%), Chennai Airport (6.72%) and Goa Airport (5.58%). FTAs during the period January- February 2017 were 19.40 lakh with a growth of 14.7 per cent, as compared to the FTAs of 16.91 lakh in January- February 2016.
32.18 lakh tourists availed eTV during Jan-Feb 2017
During January-February 2017, a total of 32.18 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa (eTV) as compared to 20.54 lakh during January-February 2016, registering a growth of 56.7 per cent . A total of 1.70 lakh tourists availed the e-Tourist Visa services in February alone as compared to 1.17 lakh during the month of February 2016 registering a growth of 45.2 per cent. UK (26.1%) occupied top spot in the list of source countries followed by USA (11.0%), France (7.3%), Russian Fed (7.3%) and China (5.1%). While New Delhi Airport (42.0%) received the most number of tourists on eTV, Mumbai Airport (19.6%) was next, followed by Dabolim (Goa) Airport (13.3%), Chennai Airport (6.3%), Bengaluru Airport (4.9%).
Air Train to connect Delhi airport terminals by 2020
The Delhi International Airport (DIAL) has proposed an Automated People Mover (APM) or air train between Terminal 1, T2 and T3 at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, revealed Jayant Sinha, Minister of State, Civil Aviation. In compliance with the provisions of Operation, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA), DIAL has reviewed and updated the Master Plan of IGI Airport, New Delhi in 2016 in consultation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India and Sovereign agencies providing reserved services at the airport and with other stakeholders. The Master Plan, 2016 contains a provision for Automated People Mover (APM) for connecting all the terminals of the airport. Total length of the proposed APM alignment is 5.5 km out of which 1.5 km is underground whereas 4.0 km portion is elevated. The Master Plan recommends this facility to be available by year 2020. DIAL has already taken steps for exploring all technical possibilities for providing the APM facility in consultation with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The design, project cost and other details etc. are finalised during the finalisation of the Major Development Plan in compliance with the OMDA.
Eastin Residences Vadodara debuts with 44 rooms
Thailand-based Absolute Hotel Services has launched a boutique apartment hotel, Eastin Residences Vadodara in Gujarat. The property is located in main Alkapuri, the hub for shopping, family attractions and commercial centre. All 44 residences are classified into 3 major categories – ‘Studio Apartment – Twin & Double ’, ‘Deluxe Studio Apartment’ and ‘One Bedroom Apartment’. The hotel exudes a completely ‘Glocal’ vibe by blending global standards with local and ethnical elements that is reflected in the interiors. The hotel houses an all-day dining restaurant, ‘The Glass House’, which offers multi-cuisine dining options throughout the day, wherein guests can choose from an extensive à la carte menu comprising of local, regional and international favorites. Facilities also include gym and mini mart cum wine shop. Speaking on the launch of the hotel, Shalil Suvarna, Vice – President Operations and Pre-Opening, AHS (India), on behalf of Eastin Residences Vadodara, said, “We are extremely delighted to announce the launch of the Eastin Residences Vadodara which is part of the international Eastin Hotels and Residences. This one of a kind concept fills in the need for guests who are in the city with long or extended stays. Vadodara, Gujarat’s 3rd largest city is seen as an emerging business hub and while it gives us geographical extension, it is wonderful to be part of the city’s advancement.
Cox & Kings launches disabled friendly travel initiative
Backed by Cox & Kings, Enable Travel, an accessible holiday provider was launched on March 16 in New Delhi. It aims to make travel more inclusive and will cater to the travel aspirations of people with disabilities. Curated leisure tours will be offered to travellers with disabilities across mobility (wheelchairs), hearing, speech and vision impairment. Speaking at the launch, Debolin Sen, Head, Enable Travel said, “It is a long term commitment to make travel easy and hassle free in India and to empower every individual to celebrate their love for travel. Through this initiative we are trying to address various barriers like inaccessible travel information, lack of transportation and disabled friendly hotel rooms that prevent people from traveling.” The company is currently offering inbound and domestic holidays and will introduce quality transportation, support services including investments in specially trained manpower such as caregivers, sign language interpreters, expert guides and escorts. Karan Anand, Head-Relationships, Cox & Kings, commented, “Many tourists with disabilities within an outside India are keen on exploring different travel experiences the country has to offer. It is important to tap this largely underserved segment of travellers by providing quality assistance and services that focus on individual needs. Enabling barrier-free travel for people with disabilities will contribute to a significant increase in inbound and domestic tourism.”
La Vallée Village showcases Paris’ luxury shopping offerings
In the spirit of International Women’s Day, La Vallée Village, the luxury shopping outlet in Paris, France showcased its unique shopping offering to the Indian travel fraternity at Asilo, St. Regis Mumbai. Gracing the soirée with their presence were the Consul General of France in Mumbai, Yves Perrin and his wife Caroline Perrin, Patrick Allais, Business Development Manager, La Vallee Village, and Sheetal Munshaw, Director, Atout France, French Tourism Development Board in India. The soirée began with an interactive and candid testimonial by Caroline Perrin, a veritable supporter of La Vallée Village who has been patronizing the brand since its inception in 2000. The evening was well-attended by key stakeholders of the travel industry who raised a toast to France and its art de vivre. With French luxury brands and international brands on display, La Vallée Village is also well-located en route to the castles of Vaux le Vicomte and Fontainebleau, the famed cellars of Champagne and Disneyland. An ideal haven for shopping, the outlet offers a minimum discount of 33% in each store and up to -70% throughout the year. Add to this the brag value of having bought your merchandise truly ‘Made in France’. La Vallée Village is part of the Chic Outlet Shopping Villages by Value Retail, which has its presence across 9 European destinations a with its flagship store in Marne-la-Vallée, Paris. According to Patrick Allais, ” La Vallée Village is an invitation to “shop differently”, in the company of major brands, and in a conducive ambience like nothing else in France. First of all, the surprise of the environment. The reason behind the “Village” name soon becomes clear: the calming landscaping, the treelined pedestrian streets; …
Carlson targets 200 hotels in APAC region by 2020
Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has set a target to achieve 200 operating hotels in its Asia Pacific portfolio by 2020 and is well on track to achieve the same, informed Thorsten Kirschke, President- Asia Pacific, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. The Group announced strong 2016 results with 77 openings across the globe, the most since 2009 and signed 122 new properties marking its fourth consecutive year of signings increases. A steady growth was recorded for the Group in the Asia Pacific region with the opening of 14 hotels in 2016. In India, the Group holds a strong portfolio of 140 hotels in operation and in various stages of development. “Asia Pacific continues to be one of the most promising and energetic growth regions of the world,” said “The underlying hotel performance on a like for like basis has yielded robust improvements of 8 per cent (800 bps) GOP growth. We continue to be on track to achieving our goal of attaining 200 operating hotels in our Asia Pacific portfolio by 2020,” he added. Increased strength and alignment in branding and operations also resulted from the company’s successful integration of the master license agreement for the Country Inns & Suites By Carlson brand in India. The global portfolio now includes 1,143 hotels and 180,250 rooms in operation and the global pipeline remains strong with 303 hotels and 50,000 rooms under development.
India remains Malaysia’s 6th largest source market for tourism
Indian arrivals to Malaysia in 2016 was about 64,000 (0.64 million) and it is the sixth largest source market for the Southeast Asian country. In an effort to boost these numbers, the country has recently launched a 15-day e-visa for travellers on a short visit. Malaysia’s tourism industry is indicating signs of recovery in 2016 with latest figures showing more tourists visiting the country after the slowdown in 2015. Tourist arrivals to Malaysia for 2016 registered a hike of 4.0 per cent compared to the same period in 2015. The country received 26.8 million tourists compared to 25.7 million tourists in 2015. Correspondingly, tourist receipts rose by 18.8 per cent, contributing RM82.1 billion to the country’s revenue against RM69.1 billion in 2015, which translates to an average per capita expenditure of RM3.068.2. Total receipts in shopping also recorded positive growth, with RM26 billion in 2016 compared to RM21.6 billion in 2015, an increase of 20.3 per cent. The average length of stay of a tourist increased 0.4 per cent in 2016 to 5.9 nights. The top 10 tourist generating markets to Malaysia in 2016 were Singapore (13.3 million), Indonesia (3.1 million), China (2.1), Thailand (1.8 million), Brunei (1.4 million), India (0.64 million), South Korea (0.44 million), the Philippines (0.42 million), Japan (0.41 million) and the United Kingdom (0.40 million).
India and Fiji renew air services agreement after four decades
A new Air Services Agreement (ASA) has been signed between India and Fiji, replacing the previous ASA, which was signed between the two governments in 1974. The agreement was signed between Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Civil Aviation Minister, Government of India and Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, Attorney General and Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of Fiji. This new ASA has been negotiated to meet the conditions that exist now and will exist in the foreseeable future. According to Khaiyum, the new ASA will spur economic growth and create opportunities for trade, investment and tourism. Under the ASA and to ensure ease of travel between the two countries, Fiji Airways has already signed a code-share agreement with Jet Airways of India to allow seamless travel between Fiji and a number of Indian cities. He said, “This new agreement is good for both countries. We want to thank India’s Hon. Minister for Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, and the entire Indian government for their good faith, goodwill and respectful posture throughout these negotiations. Although Fiji is economically and geographically much smaller than India, we were at the table as equals.” Fiji is now in the process of reviewing and updating its ASA with other countries, with the goal of increasing the scope and quality of economic activity and connectivity while at the same time protecting the Fijian aviation industry.
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Who would wake up on a typical Saturday morning? What’s there to wake up to, you may ask. What about the Help University Law Olympiad? On 7 July, this competition proved to be an eye-opening experience into the world of law, so it was definitely worth to wake up for.
The morning started with a high as teams cheered gleefully through the roll call, which was definitely in the spirit of good sportsmanship. After a warm welcome by the Head of the Help University Law Faculty, the competition started without further ado.
The entire competition comprises of four games; ‘Visitors from Outer Space’, ‘Whodunnit’, ‘Trivia Quiz’ and ‘What’s Your Verdict?’ Think that one has to swallow legal textbooks to ace these? Wrong! These games test a team’s logic, common sense and reasonableness, but no knowledge of law is needed.
Firstly, we did ‘Visitors from Outer Space’. In a nutshell, it puts a team in a scenario of having alien invaders demanding us humans to surrender five out of ten rights we currently have, to ‘eliminate excessive liberties’ as the aliens claim. In ten minutes, teams were asked to arrange the surrendered rights in increasing importance in our lives and present to the adjudicators the reasons why it was surrendered in another ten minutes. Across the room, reasons from the considerably normal to the outrageously wacky were presented to the adjudicators as teams explain their preference.
Secondly, ‘Whodunnit’ followed shortly after. In this game, which lasted thirty minutes, teams read three cases being examined by Detective Mata-Mata, and extract a set of facts to identify the culprit of the crime and the evidences to support it. It proved quite thought-provoking as one has to examine every miniscule detail of the cases to collect evidence in identifying the culprit.
Thirdly, teams did the ten-minute ‘Trivia Quiz’. It comprises of four categories of ten questions each. It covered quotes of the famous, clichés, places and general knowledge. Again, no amount of textbook swallowing would help here; with prior knowledge and pure logic becoming a prized asset in allowing a team to sail smoothly through these waters.
Fourthly, minds were yet again provokes with ‘What’s Your Verdict’ as the last game of the day. We examined two cases in order to issue whether the defendant is liable or not in the first, and whether the accused is guilty or not in the second. Teams were also required to give reasons to their verdict, the evidences to support their stance.
Lastly, after lunch, we witnessed a mock trial, acted out by the faculty members. It provided a glimpse into courtroom proceedings and the nitty-gritty of the judicial branch of government. To ensure it was not desert dry, drama and gags were interspersed throughout the proceedings to spice things up. It definitely didn’t disappoint, as most of us sat at the edge of our chairs, watching on as to not miss out on the best parts.
At the end of the day, as the prizes were given away, we left empty-handed literally, but we left with a wealth of knowledge as we have gotten through this experience.
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Ellen Page deserves more recognition
January 29th, 2019 Hannah Hernes Opinion comments
Ellen Page didn’t rise to fame right away, and she deserves much more recognition than she gets.
First appearing on Canadian television as a young child, and appearing the Lifetime movie Homeless to Harvard, her first main role was in a 2005 independent thriller, “Hard Candy.” Her first big-budget film was a year later when she portrayed one of the main characters in “X-Men: The Last Stand.”
It wasn’t until 2007 when Page won America’s hearts as the character of Juno MacGuff in Jason Reitman’s film, “Juno.” With that, an Oscar Nomination for the role followed, when Page was just 20.
In “Juno”, she portrays an expecting sixteen-year-old, and it follows the story of putting the baby up for adoption, and the road to happiness for her and her unborn child. For being just four years older than her character at the time, the Oscar nomination was very well deserved.
After that, Page continued to shine as the quirky character in the films “Smart People” and “Whip It”, and in 2010, going for something on the more serious side with “Inception”. Through the years, Page has also lent her voice to television and in one instance, a video game.
In “Whip It”, she plays a small-town young Texas woman who wants to participate in the town’s roller derby team, despite her mother’s passion for beauty pageants. In this film, Page performed her own stunts at the age of 22.
The reason I bring up her story is to reiterate my belief that, even though she has many film and television credits and an Academy Award nomination under her belt, her road to fame wasn’t as quick as some stars. Page clearly has the talent, it’s just not recognized enough, and it should be.
She deserves a lot more recognition for her talent as an actress, charity work for organizations like Food Bank For New York City and The Lunchbox Fund, as well as the U.S. Campaign for Burma.
Those who take a longer road to get to where they are today seem to get less attention than those who don’t. Those who rise to fame in short periods of time gain “fifteen minutes of fame” and everyone seems to point their eyes at them. The people who rise to fame quickly tend to cause controversy, and not always in a good way. This averts people from recognizing those whose talent is more prevalent.
In just a few short weeks, Ellen Page is set to star in “The Umbrella Academy”, her second role in a Netflix original. The streaming service and its own unique content have gotten quite the buzz over the past few years, and it is my hope that with this new project, Page will get the recognition she deserves.
Hannah Hernes
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Cytoplasmic streaming
Video credit and details, from the Nikon Small World in Motion video competition, via Neatorama.
Lots of fascinating brief science videos at that second link*. This cytoplasmic streaming fascinates me. Can some reader explain what directs this motion? Are there cilia on the tubule walls?
*if/when you visit, check out the "soy sauce evaporating."
Labels: impressive, Video - science and nature
"Sipping seawater through clothing"
Most of you have probably heard the story of the Indonesia teenager who survived on a fishing raft adrift in the ocean for 49 days. This is the part that interested me:
The teenager only had a few days worth of supplies and survived by catching fish, burning wood from his hut to cook them, and sipping seawater through his clothes to minimize his salt intake.
I've heard of drinking water through cloth to remove particulates, but I can't see how it could possibly lower the salt content of seawater. Other reports indicate that he did capture some rainwater, and maybe the flesh of any fish he could catch would be less hypertonic than seawater (?). But he did survive 49 days adrift.
Labels: ephemera
Interesting clam-digging tool
Are these "clam gun" pipes new? It's been decades since I was involved in any clam-digging, but all I remember from that era were conventional shovels and frustrating chases after clams that were deep and disappeared quickly.
"Embroidered American flag on sleeve"
Apparently totally ignorant of the U.S. Flag code, which states in article 8j:
No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations.
This athletic jersey is offered for sale at the official Donald J. Trump store.
Labels: ethics, Trump
Stephen Hawking's memorial stone in Westminster Abbey
The formula represents the temperature of a black hole. Image via.
"Tongue-tied" is not just a figure of speech
The New York Times reports on a boy who was thought to have a neurologic etiology for his speech problem, until a dentist noticed that the boy's tongue was fixed to the floor of his mouth by a tight frenulum.
“My husband and I were the only ones that could understand him.” That all changed in April 2017, when Dr. Amy Luedemann-Lazar, a pediatric dentist, was performing unrelated procedures on Mason’s teeth. She noticed that his lingual frenulum, the band of tissue under his tongue, was shorter than is typical and was attached close to the tip of his tongue, keeping him from moving it freely.
Dr. Luedemann-Lazar ran out to the waiting room to ask the Motzes if she could untie Mason’s tongue using a laser. After a quick Google search, the parents gave her permission to do so. Dr. Luedemann-Lazar completed the procedure in 10 seconds, she said.
After his surgery, Mason went home. He had not eaten all day. Ms. Motz heard him say: “I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. Can we watch a movie?”
More on ankyloglossia. Image via.
Labels: medicine, TYWKIWDBI
Trump clump #5
This "collusion map" is from a longread at NYMag.
Four months have passed since the last "Trump Clump," designed to cluster Trump-related links into a single post so that Trump supporters can easily skip over one post, and even more importantly to free up the rest of the blog from this often-depressing subject matter. Time for one massive cleansing effort.
Video showing that Donald Trump doesn't know the words to "God Bless America."
Donald Trump does not know how to color a United States flag:
The photo was originally posted by Alex Alar, the health secretary, in his Twitter feed (scroll down to Aug 24).
He cannot pronounce the word "anonymous" (video - two mistakes within 5 seconds)
In this tweet Donald Trump confessed to collusion.
A Russian asbestos-manufacturing company has put Donald Trump's face on their product: “He supported the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, who stated that his agency would no longer deal with negative effects potentially derived from products containing asbestos." More here. And here. And this: On Friday, the EPA will enter the final stage of approval for a new rule that would allow manufacturers to use asbestos in new products, pending an EPA review. If implemented, this significant new use rule (SNUR) would reintroduce the use of asbestos into new building materials, reversing regulations that restricted "new uses" of asbestos.
"President Donald Trump hired hundreds of undocumented Polish immigrants to demolish a New York City building in 1980 and paid them as little as $4 an hour without providing proper safety equipment to do the job, court documents show. The workers and their contractor, William Kaszycki of Kaszycki & Sons, sued Trump for unfair labor practices in 1983. After litigation dragged on for 15 years, Trump ultimately paid $1.375 million to settle the case. The settlement was kept under seal for nearly two decades. But last week, in response to a motion filed by Time Inc. and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, U.S. District Court Judge Loretta A. Preska ordered the documents be made public."... During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump frequently boasted that, while he had been sued many times, he had “never settled.” He also campaigned extensively on calls to hire American workers while cracking down on illegal immigration. "
Trump indicated he believes that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 election because that’s what Putin told him.
At the G7 meeting he tossed two Starburst candies on the table and told Merkel, "Don’t Say I Never Gave You Anything."
Re "chain migration": Melania Trump’s parents were sworn in as US citizens on Thursday, completing a legal path to citizenship that their son-in-law has suggested eliminating.
Trump criticized the external appearance of the restaurant which refused service to Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But... "The president’s Mar-a-Lago resort has been faulted with 51 health-code violations since 2013. Health inspectors have also found an additional 30 at Mar-a-Lago’s beach club. Trump’s Doral golf club outside Miami has fared even worse: Between its main kitchen, banquet hall, café, patio grill, and bungalows, inspectors have found 524 health-code violations since 2013, including a number that resulted in fines. Among inspectors’ findings were multiple spottings of live and dead cockroaches (they noted 20-25 live ones visibly present in the main kitchen during one 2015 visit), “slimy/mold-like build-up” in coolers and freezers, and holes in kitchen walls.
When Trump visited England, the Queen intentionally trolled him by wearing a brooch that had been given to her by the Obamas.
Video of the "Trump Baby" blimp flown at various venues in England and Europe.
"...don't forget both my parents were born in EU sectors okay? I mean my mother was Scotland, my father was Germany. And -- you know I love those countries." Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump was indeed born in Scotland in 1912. But Frederick Trump Sr. was born in the Bronx in 1905. And this isn't the first time Trump has made such a claim. On July 1st in an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, he said: "My parents were born in the European Union." What the hell is happening here? Why is Trump claiming his father was born in Germany? Shouldn't a man who spent years questioning the birthplace of Barack Obama know where his own damn father was born?"
Parallel quotes from George Orwell's 1984 and from Donald Trump.
An evangelical compares Bill Clinton to Donald Trump.
Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of the 11 members of the commission formed by President Trump to investigate supposed voter fraud, issued a scathing rebuke of the disbanded panel on Friday, accusing Vice Chair Kris Kobach and the White House of making false statements and saying that he had concluded that the panel had been set up to try to validate the president’s baseless claims about fraudulent votes in the 2016 election.
This is an actual quote (video here): ??what is he saying?? (trying to say)
The spectacular dunes system picked by Donald Trump for his golf resort in Aberdeenshire has been “partially destroyed” as a result of the course’s construction, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed... Scottish Natural Heritage, which has been under pressure for years to speak out on the issue, now acknowledges that serious damage has been done to the site of special scientific interest (SSSI) at Foveran Links... “It appears that the desires of one high-profile overseas developer, who refused to compromise one inch, have been allowed to override the legal protection of this important site. And we fear this sets a precedent that will undermine the whole protected-sites network in Scotland..."
"More than two-thirds of every factual claim made by President Trump at two of his rallies turns out to be false, misleading or unsupported by evidence. In July, The Fact Checker examined every factual claim made by the president at a rally in Montana. He returned to Montana on Sept. 6, and we decided once again to put every statement of material fact to the truth test to see whether the July rally was an outlier. In July, 76 percent of his 98 statements were false, misleading or unsupported by the evidence. Last week the tally, out of 88 statements, was 70 percent. The average percentage for the two rallies was 74 percent."
Donald Trump argued with Vietnam War vets over Agent Orange because he confused it with the napalm depicted in Apocalypse Now.
A "rap sheet" on the sheriffs who supported Trump.
"At a National Security Council meeting on Jan. 19, Trump disregarded the significance of the massive U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula, including a special intelligence operation that allows the United States to detect a North Korean missile launch in seven seconds vs. 15 minutes from Alaska, according to Woodward. Trump questioned why the government was spending resources in the region at all. “We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told him. After Trump left the meeting, Woodward recounts, “Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like — and had the understanding of — ‘a fifth- or sixth-grader.’ ”"
However, "criticizing Trump in a book just isn't fair. It's like criticizing the Amish on television."
FactCheck.org demolishes Trump's false claims about wind turbines as alternative energy sources.
Retaining support from his base:
On 9/11/2001 - the day the planes hit the Twin Towers - Donald Trump was interviewed live on a radio program:
A little more than a minute later, Marcus asked whether Trump’s 40 Wall Street building had suffered any damage. Before getting into his response about his Financial District property, the businessman had something he wanted on the record.
“40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest — and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second tallest,” Trump said in the WWOR interview. “And now it’s the tallest.”
"Donald Trump is facing widespread social media backlash after he was pictured greeting supporters with a triumphant double fist pump as he arrived to a 9/11 memorial service on Tuesday, the 17th anniversary of the terror attacks." (photo at the link)
YouTube link. (whence the parody)
Here's another Randy Rainbow parody called "If You Ever Got Impeached" to the tune of the Wizard of Oz's "If I Only Had a Brain."
During a press conference Wednesday, President Donald Trump said China respects him because of his "very, very large brain."
Comments are closed for this post; I prefer to spend my time cleaning out the garage rather than curating the blog. But in all fairness I should let him speak on his own behalf (via):
"I have the best words."
"I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth."
"No one reads the Bible more than me."
"Nobody knows more about debt. I'm like the king. I love debt."
"I think nobody knows more about taxes than I do, maybe in the history of the world."
"Nobody knows banking better than I do"
"I understand money better than anybody."
"Nobody knows politicians better than Donald Trump."
"Nobody in the history of this country has ever known so much about infrastructure as Donald Trump."
"There's nobody bigger or better at the military than I am."
"I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me."
"Because nobody knows the system better than me."
“I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me.”
"I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I tell you that.”
“I will be America’s greatest defender and most loyal champion.”
“I am the least anti-Semitic person you’ve ever seen in your entire life.”
“I am the least racist person, the least racist person that you’ve ever seen, the least.”
" I have the best [golf] courses in the world"
“No one has more respect for women than me.”
“I have the best temperament or certainly one of the best temperaments of anybody that’s ever run for the office of president. Ever.”
“I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to the Secret Service.”
“No one has done more for people with disabilities than me.”
“Nobody has better toys than I do.”
“I know more about foreign policy than anybody running.”
“I’m the most successful person ever to run for the presidency, by far. Nobody’s ever been more successful than me.”
And I would totally agree with his 9 August 2014 tweet, in which he said "We need a President who isn't a laughing stock to the entire World." The United Nations general assembly would also agree.
Now to get on with my life for another 3-4 months.
Labels: linkdump, Trump
Reposted from 2016 to add this awesome marble run choreographed to music:
With a hat tip to Miss C at Neatorama.
Reposted from January to add this even better one:
There is an explanation of some of the mechanics at Neatorama.
Labels: clever, video
Immigrant recipes "make America great"
Found at our local library. Published this year - that subtitle is not a coincidence.
(red highlight added)
School doesn't allow grades of zero
Mrs. Tirado has been a teacher for more than 17 years. The 52-year-old began working at West Gate K-8 School this year as an eighth-grade social studies teacher.
She says she gave her students two weeks to complete an explorer’s notebook project but says some of them didn’t turn it in.
That’s when she says she learned about a no-zero grading policy, written in red in the school’s handbook, stating, “NO ZERO’S – LOWEST POSSIBLE GRADE IS 50%.”
Tirado says this sends the wrong message...
Her Sept. 14 termination letter doesn’t cite a specific reason, only stating she was contracted as a teacher on a probation period, and that she can be dismissed without cause.
The rest of the story is at the local ABC News affiliate. The unnecessary apostrophe in the policy isn't discussed.
Dear young people: "Don't vote"
Labels: politics, video
Post-mastectomy tattoos
In 2013 I blogged about "Medical nipple tattoos," and two years ago featured an elaborate floral breast tattoo ("Because there's no nipple, I can blast it everywhere all over Facebook and Instagram, and they can't censor it, which I think is really funny," Alison says.)
This week The Guardian explored the subject in a little more depth, featuring photos and brief self-stories by seven women who have chosen breast tattoos after surgery. For each of them the acquisition of the tattoo was an empowering act that enhanced their self-esteem, allowing them to become more comfortable with and more in control of their body transformation.
The biggest revelation was that I had been avoiding looking at myself in the mirror. I had been averting my eyes from my chest and scar, without realising it. A weight was lifted, and suddenly I had this beautiful piece of art.
More at the link, including some contact information for artists.
Labels: medicine
Postulating Alzheimer's as an infectious disease
It's not totally fanciful. Here are some excerpts from an NPR article:
Norins is quick to cite sources and studies supporting his claim, among them a 2010 study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery showing that neurosurgeons die from Alzheimer's at a nearly 2 1/2 times higher rate than the general population.
Another study from that same year, published in The Journal of the American Geriatric Society, found that people whose spouses have dementia are at a 1.6 times greater risk for the condition themselves.
Contagion does come to mind. And Norins isn't alone in his thinking. In 2016, 32 researchers from universities around the world signed an editorial in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease calling for "further research on the role of infectious agents in [Alzheimer's] causation." Based on much of the same evidence Norins encountered, the authors concluded that clinical trials with antimicrobial drugs in Alzheimer's are now justified...
Tanzi believes that in many cases of Alzheimer's, microbes are probably the initial seed that sets off a toxic tumble of molecular dominoes. Early in the disease amyloid protein builds up to fight infection, yet too much of the protein begins to impair function of neurons in the brain. The excess amyloid then causes another protein, called tau, to form tangles, which further harm brain cells.
But as Tanzi explains, the ultimate neurological insult in Alzheimer's is the body's reaction to this neurotoxic mess. All the excess protein revs up the immune system, causing inflammation — and it's this inflammation that does the most damage to the Alzheimer's-afflicted brain...
Remember when we thought ulcers were caused by stress?" Ulcers, we now know, are caused by a germ.
Best political advertisement ever
The first 40 seconds are pretty conventional. But the last 20 seconds are brutal. Cold. Effective. Awesome.
More re Paul Gosar. FWIW, the 538 website projects a 99% chance that he will win reelection (with 64% of the vote). The advertisement is recent - we'll see if the odds change.
Labels: impressive, politics, video
"Pocket lint" screwed up my iPhone
Wherein an English major confronts a problem with modern technology and shares the solution with his readers.
I selected the iPhone SE for its smaller and more convenient size and (relative) affordability. I was totally pleased with it until the phone began developing battery problems, about the same time in 2017 that Apple announced the implementation of a discounted battery replacement program that included the SE.
What I noticed was that my phone occasionally had problems charging. Sometimes when I plugged in the lightning-to-USB cable I would return to find the battery charge level unchanged (or lower). I switched from charging it off the iMac USB port to charging it off a wall outlet via an adapter. Sometimes the phone charged, sometimes it didn't.
So in I went to the Apple store earlier this summer, where the a staff member ran full diagnostics on the battery. "Nothing wrong with your battery." All of the diagnostics accessible via the Settings>Battery>Battery Health menu (maximum capacity, peak performance capability) were within normal limits - as were all of the additional parameters that the technician was able to measure with their in-house proprietary program.
I thought perhaps my charging cable was defective, so I bought another one. Sometimes when I charged the phone in an upright position, with its weight on the connector the charging "took," which made the cable-port connection more suspicious. Also, sometimes when I plugged it in, the phone would blink "on" with the icon, then go quiet, then blink "on" again in a repeating cycle. This would stop if I wiggled the cable just right.
So back I went this week, taking the charging cable with me. The young lady who helped me solved the problem in five minutes. First she checked the metrics, which were all normal. Then when I suggested maybe the port needed to be replaced, she said looked at my cable-phone connection and announced "it's much easier than that." She pointed out that the plastic "collar" at the end of the cable was not flush with the body of the phone when it was plugged in.
That was the key observation. I had noticed some "play" in that connection and had wondered if the port was damaged. The solution was way simpler than that. She reached in her pocket, pulled out what looked like an otoscope, and peered into the port. "It's pocket lint. We'll fix it right here." She then took out a short handled, soft-bristled brush and began poking away at the port, stopping at intervals to blow dust off the bristles.
The problem of course was that lint from my pants pocket had slowly accumulated in the port. Each time I plugged the lightning-to-USB cable into the phone, I was gradually packing that lint into the base of the port, eventually disrupting the electrical connection. Two minutes of vigorous brushing solved the problem: the cable connected with click, totally flush with the phone.
I decided to write this up for the blog because I suspect some readers may encounter a similar situation (and this probably goes cross-platform to phones other than iPhones.) To prepare the post I searched for "pocket lint" plus iPhone and immediately found an article that describes the problem and the solution.
On my iPhone 5, I noticed it “chirped” that it was plugged in while already plugged in. After narrowing down the possible maneuver to cause this to happen, I noticed that my Lightning cable had a bit of play in it, but only going to the right. If pushed right, it would stop charging, pushed back it would resume charging...
In the past with my iPods and iPhones, there was a bit of lint build up, but it often fell out. It seems with the Lightning Connector, plugging a cable in smashes the lint even deeper in the phone and I had some nasty buildup. I’ve used compressed air before, but it didn’t seem to really remove much. I used an unbent small paperclip to carefully scrape the inside of the port, avoiding the actual pins (do this at your own risk), and was amazed the amount of things that I was able to pull out.
I had asked the Apple tech about using compressed air at home, as I do with the keyboard, but she suggested a brush tends to work better. My search also revealed that "dust plugs" are available.
In retrospect, the reason I didn't find the solution the many times I searched for "battery problems" is that this wasn't a battery problem. So I thought I'd post the problem and solution here today for the benefit of those readers who may also be non-techy English majors.
Labels: cyberspace
"Are You Going With Me?" (Pat Metheny Group)
Filmed at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, but the audio is obviously from a studio recording. This video has just the music.
"At the time of the song's recording, Latin American and especially Brazilian music had begun to influence jazz in the United States, and when Brazilian musicians such as Nana Vasconcelos came to play with American artists, this influence, in the case of the Pat Metheny Group, became overt. The "Brazilian" quality of "Are You Going With Me?" is frequently noted; and it has been considered by some to be "obviously samba-based"."
Interesting story about Pat Metheny: "While playing at a club in Kansas City, he was approached by Bill Lee, a dean at the University of Miami, and offered a scholarship. After less than a week at college, Metheny realized that playing guitar all day during his teens had left him unprepared for classes. He admitted this to Lee, who offered him a job to teach instead, as the school had recently introduced electric guitar as a course of study."
He is apparently the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards in ten different categories.
A more recent performance, with the Metropole Orkest (Netherlands jazz/pop orchestra):
Labels: Video - music
A "rat king", three "squirrel kings" -- and three bucks
"Rat kings are cryptozoological phenomena said to arise when a number of rats become intertwined at their tails, which become stuck together with blood, dirt, and excrement. The animals consequently grow together while joined at the tails, which are often broken. The phenomenon is particularly associated with Germany, where the majority of instances have been reported...
Most researchers presume the creatures are legendary and that all supposed physical evidence is hoaxed, such as mummified groups of dead rats with their tails tied together. Reports of living specimens remain unsubstantiated…
Specimens of purported rat kings are kept in some museums. The museum Mauritianum in Altenburg (Thuringia) shows the largest well-known mummified "rat king", which was found in 1828 in a miller's fireplace at Buchheim [above]. It consists of 32 rats. Alcohol-preserved rat kings are shown in museums in Hamburg, Hamelin, Göttingen, and Stuttgart. A rat king found in 1930 in New Zealand, displayed in the Otago Museum in Dunedin, was composed of immature Rattus rattus whose tails were entangled by horse hair.
The term rat king has often led to the misconception of a king of rats... The Nutcracker, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, adapts a tale by E. T. A. Hoffmann that features a seven-headed Mouse King as the villain..."
Image and text from Wikipedia. Credit to Neatorama.
Addendum #1: Reposted to add this example of a "squirrel king" -
The Animal Clinic of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, got a surprise this week when a city worker brought in six squirrels fused together by their tails...
This particular group of six were nesting near a pine tree and sap fused their tails together. A city of Regina worker found the young squirrels and brought them to the clinic. The animals were sedated and the veterinarian team worked to untangle the mess of tails. Their tails were then shaved of the matted fur and they were given antibiotics to prevent infection. (Via Nothing to do with Arbroath)
Addendum #2: Reposted in order to add this related interesting phenomenon found by my wife at the Buck Manager website:
[T]hese three white-tailed bucks were found locked during the rut. The bucks were located on a ranch in east-central Texas and, from the information that I received, one of the bucks was still alive when the trio was found. Apparently, the antlers were cut from the dead deer and one very tired buck was lucky enough to run back off into the woods.
There are lots of comments at the site, some opining that the event was faked and arguing the method of death, and one who reported seeing a buck attack a pair that was already locked. My wife found another example at the same website:
"...there is nothing worse than finding a dead buck that you did not shoot, but how would you feel if you found not one, but three dead bucks on your property? Okay, it gets worse. What if those three bucks totaled 450 inches of antler? That is exactly what a hunter in the mid-West found on his Ohio farm..."
"They had the bank of this creek all tore up."
Addendum #3: And reader Lisa knew of a ancient example of the phenomenon involving Ice Age mammoths.
Addendum #4: Reposted from 2013 to add this image found by an anonymous reader -
- of a squirrel king in Nebraska, with the victims, as in the example cited above, fused at their tails by pine tree sap.
Addendum #5: Reposted yet again to add this "squirrel king" found locally here in central Wisconsin:
Their tails had become entwined with "long-stemmed grasses and strips of plastic their mother used as nest material," the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center wrote on Facebook... "It was impossible to tell whose tail was whose, and we were increasingly concerned because all of them had suffered from varying degrees of tissue damage to their tails caused by circulatory impairment," the post read.
Labels: nature, oddities, TYWKIWDBI
"Acne positivity movement"
[Kali] Kushner, 23, from Cincinnati, Ohio, began documenting her struggle with acne on the Instagram account @myfacestory – her experience with the drug Accutane, dermarolling, makeup, scarring, hyperpigmentation, alongside all the ways people have responded to her acne, from her husband, who has been steadfastly supportive, to the traffic police officer who assumed she was a junkie. To her surprise, people began following. Today, with more than 50,000 followers, she makes up part of the growing acne positivity movement.
After years of oppressive aesthetic perfection, acne positivity is a drive for people to be more open about their skin problems, from the occasional spot to full-blown cystic acne. It joins recent moves to celebrate the many and varied appearances of our skin – from vitiligo to freckles and stretch marks – but also seeks to educate those who still believe that acne is a problem for the unwashed and unhealthy...
He tells of a US study in which participants were shown a selection of photographs of high-school students with skin problems, as well as photographs of the same students with their acne airbrushed out, and asked for their impressions. The results, Shergill says, showed that “as soon as you have any disfigurement on your face, you get viewed as an introverted nerd."
While many regard acne as a teenage affliction, it can evolve into adulthood. An estimated 25% of all women over 30 still have the condition.
The story continues at The Guardian.
Labels: medicine, sociology
Every positive integer can be written as a sum of three palindromes
An engine here allows you to test the validity of the statement. Via Boing Boing.
Labels: mathematics, TYWKIWDBI
Pontevedra, Spain, has banned automobiles
Not just on a boulevard or two, but for all of the central city.
Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores has been mayor of the Galician city since 1999. His philosophy is simple: owning a car doesn’t give you the right to occupy the public space.
“How can it be that the elderly or children aren’t able to use the street because of cars?” asks César Mosquera, the city’s head of infrastructures. “How can it be that private property – the car – occupies the public space?”
Lores became mayor after 12 years in opposition, and within a month had pedestrianised all 300,000 sq m of the medieval centre, paving the streets with granite flagstones. “The historical centre was dead,” he says. “There were a lot of drugs, it was full of cars – it was a marginal zone. It was a city in decline, polluted, and there were a lot of traffic accidents. It was stagnant. Most people who had a chance to leave did so. At first we thought of improving traffic conditions but couldn’t come up with a workable plan. Instead we decided to take back the public space for the residents and to do this we decided to get rid of cars.”
They stopped cars crossing the city and got rid of street parking, as people looking for a place to park is what causes the most congestion. They closed all surface car parks in the city centre and opened underground ones and others on the periphery, with 1,686 free places. They got rid of traffic lights in favour of roundabouts, extended the car-free zone from the old city to the 18th-century area, and used traffic calming in the outer zones to bring the speed limit down to 30km/h.
Details at The Guardian.
Labels: sociology
'Tis the season for Black Swallowtail caterpillars
The rather unimpressive greenery around our mailbox is a confluent group of rue (Ruta graveolens). Most homeowners opt for mailbox plantings that are a bit more colorful and showy. We like the rue because this shrubby perennial tolerates poor soil in hot dry conditions (next to an asphalt road and concrete driveway) and because it is a primary food plant for the caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes).
Earlier in the season the plants are covered with tiny yellow blossoms...
... which, while unspectacular to the human eye, are complex clusters of five-petaled flowers that are very attractive to bees. We seldom see Black Swallowtail butterflies on the rue (they tend to nectar on larger flowers elsewhere in the garden), but we know females have visited the rue and oviposited there because in September the caterpillars start appearing on the upper outer branches.
What we see are the late-stage instars, mature caterpillars that are starting to look for a place to form a chrysalis. They seem to know that the greenery of the rue will die back in the winter, leaving only the woody central stems, and they need a secure place for the chrysalis if they are to live through a Wisconsin winter.
When we find the caterpillars, we bring them to our screen porch, which offers them protection from predatory wasps, ants, spiders, etc., and we give them some clippings of the rue for a final snack, and more importantly a variety of sticks they can use for pupation. In the above photo the two caterpillars have chosen a stick from a birch tree, and the one on the right has already formed its "J", with a silk harness going from the stick around behind its "shoulders."
Several days later (the larger cat having moved on), the caterpillar is now fully pupated, attached at the bottom with some glued adhesive [higher on the stick is a remnant from a prior year's successful sequence], and supported by that amazing little silk sling.
We have eight of these now on the screen porch. The terrarium will be placed where the chrysalises can be snowed on (I think they might need some moisture in the winter to avoid desiccation), and they will live through sub-zero temperatures, will freeze and thaw (perhaps several times), and in the spring...
... magic.
I've seen metamorphosis countless times, and it never fails to fascinate me. And the beauty of these creatures up close in just incredible. Here's a view of the underside of the wings -
And then follows the to-me-incredible event when a creature that in its entire previous life crawled around in a small plant, now lets go of a stick and "knows" how to fly. And eyes that have never before focused more than millimeters away can now locate food and mates at dozens of meters.
You don't have to be a child to retain a sense of wonder with regard to the natural world.
Labels: butterflies
When you purchase a stock photo but forget to write your own caption
Credit (??) to the StarTribune.
Divertimento #155
Yet another gif-fest (plus some short videos that seem better linked here rather than in separate posts)
Demonstration of a drone being used to extinguish a fire in a high-rise building.
Surprisingly, nobody was killed in this accident
Clever book cover
Creating art with an ink-soaked string
A girl riding a horse
Lightness and darkness are relative terms
A "draw hitch knot" is a quick-release knot
How to serve a Korean dinner with a lot of side dishes
Dinner served with shovels
California fire tornado
Woman dries underpants during an airplane flight
A Congreve clock uses a ball rolling on a zig-zag track rather than a pendulum
Playing around with a skid-steer loader
Nutation illustrated
"Trashy" people filmed in reverse at an Ohio wildlife preserve.
Taxi driver has had it up to here with a drunk who litters
Hi-rising dough
Building a Leonardo daVinci bridge (example)
Butterflies puddling on a turtle
Newfoundland dogs are natural water rescuers
Deer freed from a fence
Two fish in an aquarium have a territorial dispute
Elephants in Kenya eating birds' nests with chicks and eggs
Wading bird hitches a ride
Turtles on a log
Two-headed turtle
Aerial view of a dog herding sheep
Four-legged hay spreader
Owl intimidates woodpecker
Snow leopard mom teaching her cub
Cat escapes from a well by climbing a vertical wall
How to fillet an avocado
Power-washing a rug
Launching a remote-controlled glider
Break dancing (perhaps it has another name?)
Leigh Holland-Keen lifts Scotland’s legendary Dinnie Stones (733 pounds)
Surfer riding a massive wave
Splitting rock (smart to have the pegs tied together)
Carving a watermelon
Saving a sea turtle
Animatronic triceratops
Lake Superior "yooperlites"
Lavender kunzite
Nope. Nope. Nope.
When the ground is lava
Just to clarify, this athlete is not wearing a bra (it's a tracker)
When your older sister is a better athlete
Incredible ping-pong shot
Punt returned for a touchdown in one second
Driving a car on a carpeted stage
Jumping off a dock in the rain
Ballerina top goes bye-bye
Volvo collision prevention system doesn't
Man tries to rob a store
Watch me dive into the pool
Dad surprises his daughter
Little girl tries a claw machine
Wait for me !
He finally made it ! Whew !
Toddler putting on his leg
Elderly man still enjoys jazz
Fun (?) in a tire swing
All of the embedded images come from a remarkable gallery of 24 award-winning photos in the 2017 Nikon Small World competition. Please visit the link to learn what the depicted subjects are, and to enjoy the rest of the gallery.
Labels: linkdump, photography
Fjaðrárgljúfur
Fjaðrárgljúfur (pronounced [ˈfjaːðraurˌkljuːvʏr̥]) is a canyon in south east Iceland which is up to 100 m deep and about 2 kilometers long, with the Fjaðrá river flowing through it. The canyon has steep walls and winding water. Its origins dates back to the cold periods of the Ice Age, about two million years ago. It is located near the Ring Road, not far from the village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The canyon was created by progressive erosion by flowing water from glaciers through the rocks and palagonite over millennia.
Via the EarthPorn subreddit. I quite enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek clarification: "For those confused, it's pronounced 'flglhlhaldhslflr.'"
Labels: geography, photography
Found under the floorboards of an old house
A vintage eggshell cutter for serving soft-boiled eggs. Not to be confused with one of these.
Image cropped and improved from the original posted at the WhatIsThisThing subreddit.
Labels: curiosities, food
Alma Deutscher - musical prodigy (updated)
As reported in The Telegraph:
Deutscher's father said she could name the notes on a piano by the age of two. She was given her first violin for her third birthday, and was playing Handel sonatas within a year.
Earlier this year, Deutscher composed a short opera called The Sweeper of Dreams, which narrowly missed out on making the final of a contest run by the English National Opera to unearth young, talented classical musicians.
Reposted from 2012 (the embed above shows her performing at age 6) to add this incredible video:
Scott Pelley selects four notes, and the now-12-year-old young lady takes less than a minute to compose and play a piano sonata based on those notes.
Via Neatorama. Her Wikipedia page.
Labels: impressive, Video - music
Bridezilla is angry...
The social media entry embedded above will serve as an appropriate introduction for anyone not familiar with the portmanteau term "bridezilla." And don't get her started on the registry...
Labels: nature
The story of a Confederate flag and a heart attack
I liked Ike
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first U.S. president I knew of (I was an infant during the Truman administration), and I liked him. He was Pennsylvania Dutch, like my father, and seemed to my youthful mind to be a proper President. Growing up in a household with one parent a Republican and the other a Democrat, I wound up with zero interest in politics per se until my collegiate years, when the events of the late 60s commanded my attention.
As a blogger, I've posted a smattering of information about him - most remarkably the fact that during his tenure as a conservative Republican, the top marginal income tax rate was 91%, and most memorably his televised "farewell warning" to the nation.
I learned more about him yesterday [2012] from an article in The New Republic, which mused about why today's Republicans seldom mention him:
Conservatives had expected that Eisenhower, as the first Republican president since 1932, would repeal the New Deal; instead he augmented and expanded programs like Social Security, thereby giving them bipartisan legitimacy as well as added effectiveness. Conservatives had expected that the president would support Senator Joseph McCarthy’s crusade to tar all liberals as pro-Communist; instead he denied McCarthy the authority to subpoena federal witnesses and receive classified documents, thereby precipitating the red-baiter’s overreach and fall.
Eisenhower governed as a moderate Republican. While he failed to take bold action against Southern segregation as Democratic liberals and Republican progressives urged him to do, he helped to cool the overheated partisan rhetoric of the preceding two decades and built a middle-of-the-road consensus that marginalized extremists of left and right. He was well aware that his moderation earned him the implacable enmity of GOP conservatives. As he put it, “There is a certain reactionary fringe of the Republican Party that hates and despises everything for which I stand.” But this did not greatly bother him, since he also believed that “their number is negligible and they are stupid.”
The conservative movement’s tablet-keepers have long memories, so it’s unsurprising that Ike has remained a devil figure for the right. What may seem more surprising is that at a moment when Republicans are posing as stalwart defenders of a balanced federal budget, they dismiss the example of the most fiscally conservative president of the past eighty years. Eisenhower balanced the budget three times in his eight years in office, a feat that neither Ronald Reagan nor George W. Bush came close to achieving. Ike cut federal civilian employment by 274,000 and reduced the ratio of the national debt to GNP, though not the absolute level of debt. The economy bloomed under his watch, with high growth, low inflation, and low unemployment.
But Eisenhower’s economic success matters little to today’s Republicans given his deviations from conservative orthodoxy. Ike disdained partisanship, praised compromise and cooperation, and pitched his appeals to independent voters. He approved anti-recessionary stimulus spending, extended unemployment compensation, and raised the minimum wage. He pioneered federal aid to education and created the largest public-works program in history in the form of the interstate highway system. He levied gasoline taxes to pay for the highway construction, and believed that cutting income taxes when the federal government was running a deficit would be an act of gross fiscal irresponsibility. The Republican presidential candidates who are beating the drum to bomb Iran are in stark contrast with Eisenhower’s refusal to intervene in Vietnam. And conservative hawks find something vaguely pinko about Ike’s drive to restrain the pace of the arms race and his famous warning about the dangers of the “military-industrial complex.”
In fairness to today’s Republicans, Eisenhower’s values—prudence, pragmatism, reasonableness, frugality, and respect for the past—find little resonance on either side of our present partisan divide, or in American culture as a whole.
Some day I should read a full biography of him; I'm open to suggestions as to which one to choose.
There's more at The New Republic, via The Dish.
Reposted from 2012 to add some new information.
In 2016 I posted Eisenhower, LeMay, Nimitz: "Hiroshima bombing unnecessary." Some interesting information there, especially in several comments by readers in the discussion thread.
But what prompted my repost this morning is an article in the April issue of The Atlantic about Eisenhower's views on civil rights. Herewith some excerpts.
At a White House stag dinner in February 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower shocked the new chief justice of the United States. Earl Warren was Eisenhower’s first appointment to the Supreme Court and had been sworn in just four months earlier. Only two months into his tenure, Warren had presided over oral arguments in the blockbuster school-segregation case Brown v. Board of Education. As of the dinner, the case was still under advisement. Yet Eisenhower seated Warren near one of the attorneys who had argued the case for the southern states, John W. Davis, and went out of his way to praise Davis as a great man. That alone would have made for an awkward evening. What happened next made it fateful. Over coffee, Eisenhower took Warren by the arm and asked him to consider the perspective of white parents in the Deep South. “These are not bad people,” the president said. “All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big black bucks.”
It was an appalling moment. Here was the president leaning on the chief justice about a pending case while using the racist terms of an overseer. Several of Eisenhower’s admirers have attempted to downplay the encounter, but reports confirm that he used racially charged language in private. The incident left such an impression that Warren recounted it in his memoirs some 20 years later. Ever decorous, he sanitized the slur from “black bucks” to “overgrown Negroes,” but in his biography, Super Chief, Bernard Schwartz, one of Warren’s confidants, recorded the actual phrase in all its rotten vinegar. Warren had been a prosecutor and a governor, and was no choirboy; he had heard bigoted language before. Yet as the chief justice, he embodied the impartiality of the entire federal judiciary. He was a man who believed in fairness and dignity. The president’s words had shaken him...
[after the Brown decision] Eisenhower pointedly refused to endorse it. Instead he delivered this bafflingly terse answer to a reporter’s question: “The Supreme Court has spoken, and I am sworn to uphold the constitutional process in the country. And I will obey.” There endeth the statement. Eisenhower offered no comment in support of racial equality, no expression of solidarity with African Americans, and no sign of agreement with the Court’s opinion...
...Eisenhower freely praised the Court’s decisions in other contexts, including, as a candidate, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), which invalidated President Harry Truman’s attempt to seize control of the steel mills during the Korean War. And Eisenhower abandoned restraint and threw himself into causes that seemed closer to his heart than civil rights, such as the fight for a balanced budget. During violent melees in protest of Brown, Eisenhower temporized, speaking in private of the need to “understand the southerners as well as the Negroes,” and denouncing “extremists on both sides”—a familiar equivalence that elevated racist mobs to the status of civil-rights marchers...
Sadly, if every president forfeits all civil-rights recognition by using racist language in the ugly spirit of his age, then Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson must go as well. Eisenhower acted to desegregate the armed forces and took strong steps to desegregate Washington, D.C. After procrastinating, he decisively enforced Brown by sending federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to face down Governor Orval Faubus. The president lent his support, with mixed success, to the effort to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957...
Eisenhower believed in incremental change, driven by social progress rather than law. He demanded intolerable levels of patience from African Americans, who had already waited centuries for equality. Warren, by contrast, recognized that America’s formative pathology—its racism—was a terminal cancer that must be dealt with urgently. He engineered the boldest stroke against segregation since Reconstruction.
Labels: history, politics, sociology
Facial recognition technology reconsidered
Its capabilities go way past catching terrorists.
Dystopia starts with 23.6 inches of toilet paper. That’s how much the dispensers at the entrance of the public restrooms at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven dole out in a program involving facial-recognition scanners—part of the president’s “Toilet Revolution,” which seeks to modernize public toilets. Want more? Forget it. If you go back to the scanner before nine minutes are up, it will recognize you and issue this terse refusal: “Please try again later.”
China is rife with face-scanning technology... When a camera mounted above one of 50 of the city’s busiest intersections detects a jaywalker, it snaps several photos and records a video of the violation. The photos appear on an overhead screen so the offender can see that he or she has been busted, then are cross-checked with the images in a regional police database. Within 20 minutes, snippets of the perp’s ID number and home address are displayed on the crosswalk screen... The system seems to be working: Since last May, the number of jaywalking violations at one of Jinan’s major intersections has plummeted from 200 a day to 20...
... in Beijing, customers stand in front of a screen, have their face scanned, and receive menu suggestions based on their age, sex, and facial expression...
The technology’s veneer of convenience conceals a dark truth: Quietly and very rapidly, facial recognition has enabled China to become the world’s most advanced surveillance state. A hugely ambitious new government program called the “social credit system” aims to compile unprecedented data sets, including everything from bank-account numbers to court records to internet-search histories, for all Chinese citizens. Based on this information, each person could be assigned a numerical score, to which points might be added for good behavior like winning a community award, and deducted for bad actions like failure to pay a traffic fine. The goal of the program, as stated in government documents, is to “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step.”..
“People in China don’t know 99.99 percent of what’s going on in terms of state surveillance,” she says. “Most people think they can say what they want and live freely without being monitored, but that’s largely an illusion.”
More at The Atlantic.
Stephen Hawking's memorial stone in Westminster Ab...
A "rat king", three "squirrel kings" -- and three ...
Every positive integer can be written as a sum of ...
'Tis the season for Black Swallowtail caterpillars...
When you purchase a stock photo but forget to writ...
The story of a Confederate flag and a heart attack...
So you'd like to visit Mars ?
North Carolina passed a law banning climate-change...
Best detailed analysis of Hurricane Florence
"Earth pyramids" in the South Tyrol
Tennis ball hoodoo
Do you need this ?
How to open a lock with a paper clip
Hurricane risks: wind, flooding, toxic waste, pig ...
Can you find the goats ?
Clever logo
Here's that controversial Nike ad with Colin Kaepe...
"Water From Air" is the best applied science I've ...
Ibex found a comfy place to rest
Swedish "plate money"
"Reading away" library fines
An "all-natural baby"
The "Temple burn" is not an ordinary bonfire
Anti-populism cartoon
Is overpopulation a self-correcting problem?
So, does this egg have varicose veins ?
A list of notable Norwegian Americans
Calling a spade a shovel
Too clever by half
Social unrest and xenophobia in Sweden
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Current Search: biography (x) » Description and travel (x)
Life of Capt. Joseph Fry, the Cuban martyr: being a faithful record of his remarkable career from childhood to the time of his heroic death at the hands of Spanish executioners.
Walker, Jeanie Mort, PALMM (Project)
Intended as a memorial to Captain Joseph Fry (born Tampa Bay, Fl., June 14,1826), this volume begins with his biography, tracing his life and career during and after the American Civil War. It then details the confiscation of Fry's ship, the Virginius, in 1873, for running arms to Cuba during its insurrection against Spain, an event which brought about Captain Fry's subsequent execution. The narrative continues with an account of the U.S. reaction to Spain's seizure of the ship, and its...
Show moreIntended as a memorial to Captain Joseph Fry (born Tampa Bay, Fl., June 14,1826), this volume begins with his biography, tracing his life and career during and after the American Civil War. It then details the confiscation of Fry's ship, the Virginius, in 1873, for running arms to Cuba during its insurrection against Spain, an event which brought about Captain Fry's subsequent execution. The narrative continues with an account of the U.S. reaction to Spain's seizure of the ship, and its eventual return to the United States. Includes the text of letters and articles written during the events, as well as those written in tribute to Captain Fry after his death.
AAA3371QF00012/20/200108/04/200516166BfamIa D0QF, FHP P CF 2001-12-20, FCLA url 20020724xOCLC, 51048687, CF00001583, 2565464, ucf:10761
Narratives of the career of Hernando de Soto in the conquest of Florida: as told by a knight of Elvas and in a relation by Luys Hernandez de Biedma.
Hernández de Biedma, Luys., Smith, Buckingham, PALMM (Project)
Describes Hernando de Soto's march of conquest in Florida and other parts of southeastern North America.
AAA7992QF00010/16/200311/23/200416197BfamIa D0QF, ONICF145- 3, FHP C CF 2003-10-16, FCLA url 20040613xOCLC, 55695696, CF00001641, 2573028, ucf:15284
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/tc/fhp/CF00001641.jpg
Persons (2) + -
Discovery and exploration (1) + -
Economics and Society: Post-Civil War Florida, 1865-1913 (1) + -
European Discovery and Settlement in Florida, 1492-1821 (1) + -
Explorers and Travelers, 1492-1700 (1) + -
Military history (1) + -
Reconstruction Era, 1865-1877 (1) + -
UCF Florida Heritage (2) + -
PALMM (Project) (2) + -
Hernández de Biedma, Luys. (1) + -
Smith, Buckingham (1) + -
Walker, Jeanie Mort (1) + -
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Labour’s first majority government
Seventy years on we remember the fearless radicals who swept to power
Mark Metcalf, Sunday, July 26th, 2015
Trade unionists belonging to one of Unite’s predecessor union’s were the bedrock of a radical post war Labour government that swept to power at the 1945 General Election exactly 70 years today (Sunday July 26).
Led by Clement Atlee, Labour, having demonstrated their economic competence in a coalition government during the war, won many of the returning armed forces votes.
By capturing 48 per cent of the vote Labour brushed aside Winston Churchill’s Tories to win a 145 seat majority.
For Labour it was its first majority government and, unlike the Tories in the 1930s – who had put extra taxes on food and forced cuts in wages, unemployment benefit and housing – used it to introduce urgently needed reforms.
“Pre-war methods are useless as they will lead back to unemployment,” said Ernest Bevin, who served as minister of labour between May 1940 and May 1945, and who the day after the election resigned the post he had held for 23 years as general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) one of Unite’s predecessor unions.
Ernest Bevin (left) with Clement Atlee, 1945
By July 26, 1945, Bevin had been an MP for over five years. The former docker recaptured his Central Wandsworth seat with a majority of 5,174. He was to be appointed foreign secretary, where he oversaw a speedy withdrawal from India two years later before disappointing some people by working to produce a British atomic bomb.
Joining Bevin at Westminster were 35 other members of the TGWU including Arthur Greenwood in Wakefield and who also became a member of the new cabinet that included as education minister the radical Jarrow MP Ellen Wilkinson who 10 years prior had argued Labour had lost the 1935 General Election because it was “not socialist enough.” Nine other MPs who were members of the TGWU were also appointed to positions in the new government.
Nationalised
Labour nationalised around a fifth of the economy including the Bank of England, coal mines, electricity, gas and the railways. The National Health Service was also created to provide a comprehensive range of free health services that are being currently being destroyed by the current government.
However in 1947 when Britain faced an economic crisis, Labour introduced an unpopular wage freeze. Despite this the early radicalism meant Labour remained popular and the party won a five seat majority at the 1950 general election.
Labour then increased its share of the vote to a record level ever for the party of 48.8 per cent at the 1951 general election. However under Britain’s first past the post system it was the Churchill’s Tories, backed by the National Liberals, who took power with a slim majority.
It was a sure sign of the popularity of Labour’s policies that the new government retained the NHS and the nationalised industries before embarking on a popular public house building programme.
Harold Wilson had been appointed as the youngest member of the Atlee government in 1947 and the Huddersfield MP was to be the Labour leader the next time the party returned to power in 1964.
Seventy years on there is much we can all learn from their fearless, radical approach.
← Pregnant mums are still losing jobs
End two-tier pay policy →
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Robert Leleux
Robert Leleux is the author of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy.
After Kathi Appelt praised his book here on the blog earlier this month, I got in touch and asked him what he was reading. His reply:
Right now, I'm racing through the last chapter of Zoe Heller's marvelous new book, The Believers. It's a novel of ideas, centering around a lefty family in Greenwich Village, whose belief systems and presumptions are set into a tailspin during the first, lousy years of this century. Really entertaining, really smart and thoughtful. Of course, I adore Zoe Heller--who seems such an interesting person. Her father was a famous screenwriter, who wrote Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and others. She was, for many years, considered a lightweight writer by the British press, before coming out with... What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal which I just read last week, and LOVED. Oh, my. What a marvelous, satisfying novel. I don't care if you've seen the movie, or not, you MUST read this. The awful fate of the thoughtless Bathsheba is absolutely delicious and haunting. What a morality tale! And not in the least pedantic, or heavy-handed. Just perfect and wicked.
Then, I'm also working on an article about the late, genius playwright Horton Foote, who comes from the same part of Texas I do. I've been rereading a lot of his plays, including the completely terrific Dividing the Estate, which just had a revival on Broadway with the divine Elizabeth Ashley. Dividing the Estate is THE play that talks about what's happening in America right now. Prescient and wise, and very very FUNNY.
ALSO, speaking of funny, I just finished Charlotte Mosley's The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters. And oh, how I loved that book. Such a brilliant idea, to collect the correspondence of an entire family, over fifty years, into one book. Charlotte Mosley is a genius, first-rate editor, and this collection is so moving, and surprising. So filled with the twentieth century; in the best and worst possible ways. Completely enlightening and touching.
Oh, oh, I also just finished Simone de Beauvoir's A Very Easy Death, a very short, very moving book about the final weeks of her mother's life. Filled with remarkable writing and ideas.
AND, I'm looking forward to reading Rebecca Miller's new novel, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Do you know Rebecca Miller? She wrote a really top class collection of short stories several years ago called Personal Velocity, and has now come out with her first novel. She's the daughter of Arthur Miller and Inge Morath, and is married to Daniel Day-Lewis. Poor thing! But she's also a terrific talent, and very interesting. So, I'm looking forward to the next few days. It's so pitiful, but I'm always a bit uneasy when I don't have some terrific new book to look forward to--I never want to be out here by myself, if you know what I mean!
Read an excerpt from The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy and visit Robert Leleux's website and blog.
Nicholas Syrett
Nicholas L. Syrett is an assistant professor of history at the University of Northern Colorado and author of the newly released The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities.
Let me say, first off, that I’m flattered to be asked what I’m reading in such a forum, in part because I think of myself most of the time as a historian and professor and not so much as a writer, so it’s nice to be included in the ranks of the writers. More than any of the three, however – and for a much longer time – I have been a reader, and I love to talk about books.
A good friend of mine, the writer Malena Watrous – whose first novel, If You Follow Me, comes out next winter, and who would love to answer the very question you’ve just asked me, because we ask each other this very question every time we speak – was just filling out a questionnaire about her favorite books for the back pages of her book and posed all the same questions to me. It was daunting. Your question – what I am reading now, as opposed to what my favorite books of all time happen to be – comes with significantly less pressure. And after that long-winded introduction, let me answer it:
David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife combines a fictionalized memoir of Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young’s infamous nineteenth wife (who herself wrote such a memoir called Wife #19) with the story of a gay teenager expelled from his polygamous Mormon off-shoot community who finds out that his mother (herself a nineteenth wife) is accused of murdering his father. I started out being more intrigued by the contemporary plot line and ended up switching my preference. Regardless, I read all 500 pages in 48 hours. It was addictive. Ebershoff is adept at moving back and forth between the nineteenth and the twenty-first centuries; his research on women, gender, marriage, and Mormons is great; and he writes about faith and Mormonism in ways that are sympathetic, questioning, but never condemning. I’ve already leant it two people, given it to one, and recommended it to many others.
I assigned Tiya Miles’ Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and in Freedom for a class I’m teaching on the history of slavery in America and just finished it. It is the story of Shoe Boots, a Cherokee warrior, who, in the late eighteenth century, bought a slave named Doll. Shoe Boots and Doll had five children and lived together as husband and wife; Ties That Bind recounts the complicated lives that Doll and her children led in slavery and in freedom. More than that, however, it is the story of the many Afro-Cherokees born of such unions as a result of Cherokee slaveholding, their lives before and after removal to Indian Territory, and their ambiguous place in the Cherokee Nation. Starting with limited sources, Miles successfully uses what she is able to find about Shoe Boots, Doll, and their children to present a narrative that is both about them and about many others like them: micro-history at its best.
Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell), The Birthday Present. Ruth Rendell, whether publishing under her own name or as Barbara Vine, can do no wrong. Period. The Vine novels, like this one, tend to be less murder mysteries and more what publishers call “psychological thrillers.” In Vine’s case this means that the reader generally knows who the murderer is at the outset or there is no murder at all, but rather an accident, a suicide, or a long-hidden secret. Vine then takes the reader on a journey to see how her characters’ actions have led to the horror. What I love about Rendell is not just that her stories are meticulously plotted, or that her characters are perfectly detailed (and sometimes ridiculously funny), or that her observations about life and human beings are so spot-on, though all of these things are also true, but that she is brilliant at describing just how mundane, how everyday, how banal real wickedness can be. She makes evil identifiable as human in ways I rarely encounter in novels. And that’s because she is not a “mystery novelist” or a “crime novelist,” she’s just a fantastic (and remarkably prolific) novelist.
I have just begun Peggy Pascoe’s What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America. I have read her earlier work, Relations of Rescue, and her essay on miscegenation court cases and the making of race, published in the Journal of American History in 1996, is standard reading in women’s and gender (and African-American) history reading lists. This book looks at miscegenation law from the Civil War through the twentieth century and explores not just black-white marriages but also prohibitions against intermarriage between whites and Asians and Native Americans. She makes the case that miscegenation law was crucial to the establishment and maintenance of white supremacy. I like that she – with a host of others of late – have been using marriage as a lens to look at other issues, taking marriage seriously as not just the union of two people who (might) love each other, but as a tool of social control and disenfranchisement.
Read more about The Company He Keeps.
Learn more about Nicholas Syrett's teaching and scholarship at his faculty webpage.
Rosie Molinary
Rosie Molinary, M.F.A., is a freelance writer, editor, author, and teacher. Her award-winning poetry and nonfiction have been published in various literary magazines and books, including The Circle, Caketrain, Snake Nation Press, Coloring Book, and Waking Up American. She writes for various magazines and web-sites including Teen Vogue, Latina, Lifetimetv.com, Health, Women’s Health, and North Carolina Signature.
Her book, Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina, was inspired by her graduate manuscript of non-fiction essays and linked poetry entitled Giving Up Beauty.
A few days ago I asked her what she was reading. Her response:
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan is the kind of well-told memoir that breaks you open and, because of Corrigan’s gifted writing, puts you back together again. The book made me ache, because it was beautifully written, because of Corrigan’s good humor, honesty, and vulnerability, because of the awful fates that give a young mother of two stage 3 breast cancer and at the even worse fates that give that young mother’s beloved father his own grave cancer diagnosis just months after her own. It’s a book that I couldn’t read fast enough while simultaneously feeling sad that it was ending, and I have searched out Corrigan’s essays and other writings ever since finishing The Middle Place.
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld is a novel loosely inspired by Laura Bush. Sittenfeld’s book is provocative and interesting. There were times when I felt like I was a voyeur into the presidency and the marriage behind a presidency.
And I am cracking open A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green by Thomas Cahill this week after hearing Cahill on NPR’s Tell Me More last week. A Saint on Death Row looks at the life and death of Dominique Green but it also looks at poverty and the way poverty—not guilt— can play a role in death sentence convictions.
Read an excerpt from Hijas Americanas, and visit Rosie Molinary's website, blog, and MySpace page.
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Cynthia Leitich Smith's books include Jingle Dancer (Morrow, 2000), Rain Is Not My Indian Name (HarperCollins, 2001), Indian Shoes (HarperCollins, 2002), and two YA gothic fantasy novels, Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007, 2008) and Eternal (Candlewick, 2009).
Earlier this week I asked her what she was reading. Her reply:
Ellen Jensen Abbott's debut novel Watersmeet (Marshall Cavendish) is the story of an outcast on the road with a rather cranky dwarf, looking for her lost past and a better future. This is fast-paced journey to the self is gorgeously written, set in a violent and diverse fantasy world, and filled with prejudice and hope.
What girl hasn't hated how she looks? At first glance, you'd never imagine that of Terra Cooper, what with her long legs and lovely blonde hair. But a "flaw" on her face breaks that image of perfection and, worst of all, damages the way she sees herself. Author Justina Chen Headley's books are infused with heart, substance, and, with subtly, social conscience. In this latest, North of Beautiful (Little, Brown), her many starred reviews come as no surprise.
Elizabeth Scott is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers, possessing great range and a willingness to lead readers into even the most heart-wrenching of stories. In Love You, Hate You, Miss You (Harper), Amy blames herself for her best friend Julia's death. To begin healing, she must discover who she is on her own and come to terms with what really happened. This spring, the talented author also offers a lighter love story, Something Maybe (Simon Pulse).
Kathi Appelt on Eternal:
I am so glad that I read this book, told in alternating voices: a teenaged vampiress and her fallen guardian angel. Romance, sorrow, longing ... lots of longing ... all lead up to a story of redemption in the darkest place imaginable, the soul. The writing here is compelling, scary, sexy, making for a read that cannot be put down.
Read an excerpt from Eternal and view the trailer.
Visit Cynthia Leitich Smith's website and blog.
Jan Clausen
Jan Clausen’s writing has spanned numerous genres. In the 1980’s, she focused heavily on fiction, publishing a story collection and two novels with the Crossing Press (U.S.) and The Women’s Press Ltd. (U.K.). Her memoir Apples and Oranges: My Journey through Sexual Identity was issued by Houghton Mifflin in 1999. Two new poetry collections, From a Glass House (IKON) and If You Like Difficulty (Harbor Mountain Press) appeared in 2007. The recipient of writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts, Clausen has published her creative work in Bloom, Fence, Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time, Hanging Loose, The Kenyon Review, North American Review, Ploughshares, and many other periodicals and anthologies. Her essays, book reviews, and literary journalism appear in Boston Review, Ms., The Nation, Poets and Writers, and The Women’s Review of Books. Since 1989, Clausen has taught creative writing at Eugene Lang College, Manhattan, and in the Goddard College MFA Writing Program.
Darktown Strutters, by Wesley Brown (Cane Hill Press 1994), offers a mordant and moving vision of 19th century African-American life, straddling the horrors of slavery and post-Emancipation turmoil. Among the things I love about this book are its gritty humor, its deft embrace of several sorts of American vernacular, and its re-creation of a moment when popular theater had an umbilical connection to grassroots politics, both for good and for ill (minstrel programs featuring white performers in blackface alongside an African-American dancing genius named Jim Crow are dramatized as volatile occasions that might spark a slave rebellion or a lynching, depending on audience and mood). Wesley and I exchanged copies of our books in February, after a coffee date prompted by a short conversation we had at a benefit reading for Gazans in the wake of the latest Israeli attack.
Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan (Arcade Publishing 2006, translated by Howard Goldblatt). Brilliantly combining elements of traditional mythology with a satire of recent Chinese history, Mo Yan takes as his premise the idea that a “rich peasant” executed for his sins against the revolution is reincarnated as a farm animal in his old village. We then get a slow lope through the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the transition to a profit-based economy in the 1990’s, told from a combination of animal and human perspectives. There’s a lot of sadness here, but little clear-cut victimization, as people work the system to make the best of some very bad bargains. The reader is invited to laugh at human folly as seen through the eyes of (successively) a donkey, an ox, a pig, and a dog; but the laughter is cut short when one reflects that the human dramas—for instance, that of a boy torn between his father’s noble refusal to join the farm collective and his own adolescent attraction to the “mainstream” of his rural society, with its tractors and perks for the collectivized—are versions of a reality experienced by millions of Chinese people over the last half century.
Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963 by Susan Sontag (Farrar Straus Giroux 2008, edited by David Rieff). I’m reviewing this first of three projected volumes of Sontag’s diaries and notebooks for The Women’s Review of Books. I was completely enthralled by this highly self-conscious, tantalizingly fragmentary record of the adventures of a young Jewish lesbian intellectual in mid-20th century America. Mainstream reviewers seem to have been floored by the revelation of a passionate body attached to Sontag’s celebrated mind. I read the book as a thrilling lesbian novel, strikingly devoid of any interest in “curing” a “deviant” condition such as one frequently finds in accounts of gay and lesbian experience in the period. Sontag did undertake a brief and mostly miserable marriage to Philip Rieff, the father of her only child. Editor David Rieff’s posthumous “collaboration” with his mother allows a fascinating oedipal sub-plot to be superimposed on the text by the reader who’s so inclined.
A Susan Sontag Reader (Farrar Straus Giroux 1982, Introduction by Elizabeth Hardwick). I’m skipping around in this one, collecting my thoughts for the Reborn review. Favorite bits include the essay “Against Interpretation,” a brilliant polemic against the reduction of literary texts to a single determinate “meaning,” and “The Aesthetics of Silence,” on 20th century writers’ preoccupation with the limits of articulation as a theme and structuring principle.
Big Sky/ Little Bullet by Maurice Paterson (apparently self-published 1992). This is a Grenadian journalist’s account of the political cross-currents surrounding the 1983 killing of beloved revolutionary leader Maurice Bishop and comrades by members of an opposing faction within the People’s Revolutionary Government, an event that gave the Reagan Administration the excuse it wanted to invade the country. The book is poorly copy-edited and frustratingly sourced, but its home-grown flavor and reliance on eye-witness accounts provide an eloquent complement to more distanced official histories (which, in any event, largely remain to be written). I discovered Big Sky on a shelf in NYU’s Bobst library while looking for a novel by the Grenadian poet and novelist Merle Collins, whose Angel I read and admired many years ago, particularly for its wonderful use of Grenadian vernacular and its depiction of women’s networks; Collins’s more recent The Colour of Forgetting was missing from the shelf, but I hope to read it soon.
Small Axe, Vol. 11, #1 (February 2007) issue on Grenada. After reading most of this issue on line, I’ve ordered my own copy from the distributor, Indiana University Press. It contains important articles on the situation of Grenada many years post-invasion and only a couple of years post-hurricane disaster, including “The Silence People Keeping” by David Scott (about the ambivalent, fearful response to historical trauma on the part of Grenadians who have not forgotten their grievances but feel powerless to express them safely or effectively) and a personal/political narrative of Grenada from the 1950’s to the present entitled “Tout Moun Ka Pléwé by Merle Collins (the title means “Everybody Crying”).
Paterson by William Carlos Williams (New Directions 1963). I’m in love with the humble hubris of the poet’s effort not so much to describe as to lay down language alongside the incredibly complex physical and social reality of a place. To do this, Williams fearlessly interweaves found texts, lyrical inventions, moments that invite questioning about the autobiographical content of the work, and public documents; he addresses geology and hydrology, working-class movements, popular culture, “the beautiful,” in a work that holds up a particular, loved place “like the Eleusinian hierophant holding up a single ear of grain” (Adrienne Rich).
I’m revisiting three amazing books for this semester’s writing classes. The opportunity to keep re-reading such gorgeous texts, discovering new dimensions each time, is one of the big treats of teaching:
Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson (Alfred A. Knopf 1998). This “novel in verse” plays gutsily with form but never gets so carried away with its own cleverness that it forgets to be deeply serious about the contemporary coming-of-age story it fashions from fragments of Greek classical poetry about a red winged “monster” named Geryon, whom the heroic Herakles supposedly killed in the course of his celebrated labors. In the updated story, Geryon and Herakles are two boys in love, “two superior eels/at the bottom of the tank [who recognize] each other like italics.” Then Herakles moves on, leaving Geryon with a broken heart and the task of fashioning an artist’s sensibility from his penchant for “confusing subject and object.”
Call It Sleep by Henry Roth (originally published 1934; Picador edition 1990). Originally published in 1934 and rediscovered in the early 1960’s, this beautifully wrought novel explores the complexity of coming to full consciousness as a sentient, searching being in a brash, utilitarian world that has no time for metaphysical depth. It is also a classic of New York immigrant experience—for that reason newly relevant now, in a city that has just seen the biggest wave of immigration in a hundred years—and a prodigy of the “dialogic imagination,” with its amazing and unique handling of the Jewish immigrants’ language-worlds, as they navigate between their native Yiddish and heavily accented street vernacular. Using repeated images and dramatic psychological plotting—the plot centering on the oedipal triangle—Roth managed to create a unified work with an astonishing range of narrative approaches, incorporating lyrical prose, realistic dialogue, and stream-of-consciousness.
Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata (North Point Press 1998, translated by Lane Dunlop and J. Martin Holman). These brief stories by the first Japanese writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature were composed intermittently over the course of his long creative life (he died in 1972). The pieces are extremely various, some based on dream imagery, some in epistolary formats and depicting the raffish popular culture of Tokyo between the world wars, some thrillingly “plotted,” and others more dependent on lyrical devices that make them feel like prose poems. One late piece even “condenses” the text of Kawabata’s famous novel Snow Country into an elliptical, image-driven narrative.
Read excerpts from Clausen’s recently completed novel, The Company of Cannibals, and learn more about the author and her work at ablationsite.org.
Paul Rivlin
Paul Rivlin is a Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University. He is the author of The Dynamics of Economic Policy Making in Egypt (1985), The Israel Economy (1992), Economic Policy and Performance in the Arab World (2001), and papers on defense economics and Arab economies.
His new book is Arab Economies in the Twenty-First Century.
I am reading Peter Hennessy’s Having it So Good: Britain in the Fifties. This is the second volume of his history of Britain after the Second World War and takes up the story from Never Again: Britain 1945-1951. These books are encyclopedic covering many aspects of life including sport, diet, religion, dress, politics and economics and have a long historical sweep. In the late 1940s and early 1950s some of Britain’s leaders were Edwardians, with experience in and before the First World War. Understanding them means understanding the world they were formed in and this is included. The remarkable achievement of these books is that the reader is never lost in the detail. The author steers through many subjects and then brings the reader back to the main road and the main point.
For someone born and brought up in the Britain of the 1950s, Hennessy conveys the details of a world that I was too young to see. Britain in the early 1950s was an interesting mixture. It had undergone the massive transformation that the Second World War and the post-war Labour government had generated through social policy and nationalization. It was losing its technological edge because of the burden of military spending and its unwillingness to engage in activist industrial policies that were successfully introduced in France and West Germany. Britain’s difficulties in contemplating closer relations with Europe are one of the most important sections of Having it So Good. In the 1970s, when I studied economics at Cambridge, Europe and industrial policies were hardly mentioned: legacies last although they have changed since then.
In the 1950s some leading members of the British establishment were more liberal on key social issues, than the public. It took until the 1960s for the country to move forward on these issues and for the primacy of social class to begin to fade and so the Britain in the 1950s was a repressive place that provoked the anger so brilliantly characterized in London theatre by John Osborne's Look Back in Anger.
The differences between right and left were not so clear cut as was once thought: Bevin was one of the toughest on the Soviets in the early cold war; Churchill favored negotiations. Eden was an old imperialist; Macmillan understood the winds of change. Churchill, Butler and Macmillan all were or became what have been called ‘One Nation’ politicians favoring high or full employment to limit social and economic deprivation.
These volumes help us understand not only what happened in the past but also what is happening today. As I write these lines, Britain is being buffeted by the massive financial crisis affecting the world economy. For twelve years it has had a Labour government that embraced financial deregulation that its Conservative predecessors began, with disastrous results. One of many interesting sequences is a discussion with Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England since 2003. His perspectives on the long term development of the economy are significant partly because of their insight but also because of the office which he has held during a period in which the British banking system has collapsed. He demonstrates a deep understanding of social and political context that affects the economy. It will be interesting to see if, in one of his promised later volumes, Hennessy finds out what King thinks about the financial crisis that Britain experienced while he was governor.
A study of how reluctant Atlee’s government was to interfere in the economy - despite it willingness to nationalize and revolutionize social policy- helps make the course of British economic policy more comprehensible. There is a profound conservatism about British economic policy than is true of both the major political parties. This contrasts to social liberalism that has been prevalent since the swinging Sixties when major social reforms were enacted. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher reversed One Nation economic policies and began to deregulate financial and other markets, but was unable repeal the social reforms of the 1960s.
Hennessy demonstrates the value of studying, reading and writing good history: it throws light on the past and helps us understand the present.
Read an excerpt from Paul Rivlin's Arab Economies in the Twenty-First Century, and learn more about the book at the Cambridge University Press website.
Kathi Appelt
Kathi Appelt is a member of the faculty at Vermont College's Master of Fine Arts program and occasionally teaches creative writing at Texas A&M University.
She writes childrens books as well as books suited for teenagers.
The Underneath, her debut novel, is a National Book Award finalist, an ALA Newbery Medal winner, and an ALA Newbery Honor Book.
Recently, I asked her what she was reading. Her reply:
The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, by Robert Leleux.
The title of this funny, bittersweet, and ultimately heartwarming book tells it all. Leleux looks at beauty from the outside in and inside out, not only physical beauty, but inner beauty as well. In the process, he exposes both beauty and ugliness in all their various forms. He begins his story with the departure of his father, who leaves him with his very southern and gentrified mother. How the two of them manage to survive without the resources to which they've become accustomed is a tale filled with tension, loss, self-discovery and laughter. Robert Leleux is beautiful. No doubt about it. I loved this book.
Eternal, by Cynthia Leitich Smith
I'm not usually one to read gothic horror. But I am so glad that I read this book, told in alternating voices: a teenaged vampiress and her fallen guardian angel. Romance, sorrow, longing ... lots of longing ... all lead up to a story of redemption in the darkest place imaginable, the soul. The writing here is compelling, scary, sexy, making for a read that cannot be put down. Yes. I may become a reader of gothic horror after all, thanks to this book and this author.
The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams
Scarier than gothic horror is the religious cult in which Williams places her hero, a fourteen year old girl who is betrothed to be her elderly uncle's seventh bride. The writing here is so exquisite that it begs to be read out loud, just to savor the sheer beauty of the language. And the story itself is so riveting and heartbreaking that it begs to be shared and shared and shared. This is one of those books that makes you a different person for having read it. Beautiful.
Dessert First, by Hallie Durand
Once in a while a book needs to be read just for the good time that is had by reading it. This is one of those books. I love this story for the middle grades that provides a character who grows and at the same time provides delight in the overall experience of meeting her. I predict that Dessert is going to find her place next to Amber Brown, Fudge, and Julia Gillian. This is one for the taste buds. Read it out loud to your nearest elementary child.
Church of the Dog, by Kaya McLaren
Finding home is the premise behind this book. But finding heart might be truer. Kaya McLaren's first novel is testimony to the power of love, both new and old. There is magic here in the character of Mara and her ability to mend fences and hearts too. McLaren's second book is due out this spring, On the Divinity of Second Chances. I can hardly wait.
Visit Kathi Appelt's website.
Andrew Hudgins
Andrew Hudgins's poetry collections include Ecstatic in the Poison and Saints & Strangers, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry; After the Lost War, which received the Poetry Prize; and The Never-Ending, a finalist for the National Book Award.
His latest book is Shut Up, You’re Fine!: Instructive Poetry for Very, Very Bad Children. Illustrated by the distinguished artist and graphic designer Barry Moser, Shut Up, You’re Fine! includes such heart-warming titles as “Playing Houth,” “The Thumping of the Bed,” “Two Starving Kids in Africa,” and “Daddy, Are We Meat?”
A few days ago I asked Hudgins what he was reading. His reply:
I’ve just finished Charles Sweetman’s Enterprise, Inc, a very funny book that satirizing white-color jobs. Imagine Dilbert as poetry, with more pathos in the humor. Betty Adcock’s Slantwise moves, slantwise, from Texas and back--through the rest of the South, into New York City after the bombing of the twin towers, and drops in on the Greek isles and the Andes. In one poem, Adcock meditates on being called “Betty” instead of “Elizabeth,” her given name:
what could be odder than a woman poet from Texas?
Give her a trash name too and there’s no telling
what she might do, aiming for Parnassus
and the solar plexus.
James Allen Hall, in Now You’re the Enemy, embraces not just Texas but the concept of Texas in a startling and fascinating poem “Portrait of My Mother as the Republic of Texas.” Now You’re the Enemy abounds with an energy of imagination and driven wit. “Portrait of My Mother as the Republic of Texas” begins this way:
After my mother won independence in 1836,
she dysfunctioned as her own nation, passed laws,
erected monuments to men who would never again
be slaves to order and pain.
Remember the Alamo? That was my mother.
And it ends, tellingly, in the present moment:
Currently the Republic is facing lean times.
The former treasurer neglected May’s utilities,
refuses to return the funds. Pledge your support today.
My motherland is standing by
the rotary phone, waiting for your call.
Love her or leave her.
Mark Jarman’s Epistles (lively prose poems on theological issues, with St. Paul’s letters in the background) and Linda Gregerson’s Magnetic North (hard even to characterize a book this varied and smart) are absolutely terrific books that are both open on my chair right now. And I have to mention Maurice Manning’s Bucolics, which I’ve just reread. Every poem in the book is addressed to Boss with a God-like capital B. The book explores the relationship between perceived creature and perceived creator in terms of the symbiotic relationship between boss and worker. The worker depends on the boss and the work. But like any subordinate, even one who loves the work and wants to love his Boss, he is inclined toward insubordination and a studied and cagey irony when confronted by the boss’s whims, harshness, and infuriating silences.
In, uh, the bathroom, I’m reading Trying Times: Alabama Photographs, 1917-1945. It really brings back a sense of my parents’ and grandparents’ lives, and, more surprisingly, some of the pictures of schoolrooms, very like ones in which I served time, bring back a part of my life that I’d forgotten. And I just purely love the photo, taken in downtown Gadsden, of a man in shirtsleeves and tie, in midair on a pogo stick.
After dragging it out for a long time, luxuriating in having a terrific book to dip into at night before I fall asleep, I just finished R. F. Foster’s W. B. Yeats: A Life, Volume II: The Arch Poet, 1915-1939. I loved the first volume, which does the best job of any book I know of putting Yeats into his own time and making sense out of his psychic beliefs, which I still struggle to grasp. Like some of the reviewers of volume one, I’d wished for more detailed discussions of the poems. Foster clearly took the criticism to heart, and the second volume includes wonderful, perceptive critiques of the poems. Deeply researched and beautifully written, this is a book to cherish. I want to follow it up with Helen Vendler’s Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and Lyric Form, which is lying by the bed, smiling enticingly.
True Crime: An American Anthology by Harold Schechter. I’d meant to linger over this as a before-bed book to replace the Yeats biography, but I got so caught up in these brilliantly selected true stories that I raced through it. It’s a tough call as to whether this book is better than W. N. Roughead’s Classic Crimes, which I was enthralled by last year. But as a patriot, I have to say that American murders are better than Scottish murders. And I’m not just talking quantity over quality. When it comes to homicide, America offers a wider range of style and substance. Before reading this book, I did not realize that the Great Depression had brought on a fad of murderers lopping off legs, feet, and heads and leaving torsos around to be discovered.
Speaking of Scotland, I’m about three-quarters of the way through Ian Rankin’s Exit Music, a more than serviceable entry in Rankin’s Rebus series. With DI Rebus facing retirement, Exit Music purports to be the last in the series. It’s hard to imagine that such a popular and compelling character won’t find a way to resist retirement, as Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch did. Bosch is on my dresser, waiting for me inside The Brass Verdict. Or I may go with Jo Nesbø’s The Redbreast, which is also on the dresser. About a month ago I read Nesbø’s complex and thoughtful Nemesis, one of the best plotted thrillers I’ve read in years. He’s not quite as good at evoking Oslo as Rankin is Edinburgh or Connelly is L.A. but I have great hopes for him.
Read more about Shut Up, You’re Fine!: Instructive Poetry for Very, Very Bad Children at the publisher's website.
Andrew Hudgins's poems available online include "Walking a True Line," "Blur," "Day Job and Night Job," "In," and a zombie haiku.
Roy Peter Clark
Roy Peter Clark has taught writing at the Poynter Institute in Florida for 30 years. His most recent book is Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, and he is at work on a sequel, The Glamour of Grammar.
I am reading more than usual lately – which makes me happy. My gigantic new high definition television set is a powerful magnet away from reading, but I’ve discovered that I can get quite a bit read while watching certain television programs, such as American Idol. I watch the performances, but read in between them. If you could see my book shelves you would probably laugh. I have everything from the autobiography of a professional wrestler to The Confessions of St. Augustine, and everything in between. I believe greatly in eclectic reading. When writers ask me to list my favorite authors, I usually won’t do it, or can’t do it. I only have one favorite author, and that’s Shakespeare, but I know to pick the Bard is kind of cheating.
I have also become, at the age of 60, a more impatient reader. You’d probably say that I’ve become more of a book taster than a book reader. If I buy a book and get a good chapter out of it, that’s sometimes enough. Like most people in the culture, I get distracted by all the temptations around to move away from the book. I am trying to rebel against some of these distractions. So I’ve intentionally picked up some books that are hard to read. Such a book is After Bakhtin: Essays on Fiction and Criticism by David Lodge, the British novelist and critic. Lodge is in love with the Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin, and this series of literary essays offers brilliant alternatives to the nihilistic attitudes towards authorship that have clogged up the literary world in recent decades. Here’s a taste: “That is why the novelist…cannot afford to cut himself off from low, vulgar, debased language; why nothing linguistic is alien to him, from theological treatises to the backs of cornflakes packets, from the language of the barrack room to the language of, say, academic conferences.”
In the same vein, I’ve discovered A Choice of Shakespeare’s Verse, selected by the late British poet Ted Hughes. The selections are inspirational, of course, but a critical essay by Hughes at the end is one of the most brilliant descriptions of the Bard’s poetry that I’ve ever encountered. It turns out that Shakespeare’s writing vocabulary was something like 25,000 words, which is twice as many words as his nearest rival.
Get that? Shakespeare used twice as many words! Not only that, but many of these words Shakespeare introduced into the language for the first time. Hughes describes a typical poetic line in which Willy would introduce a new Italianate adjective, for example, and link it to an Anglo-Saxon synonym. In other words, he was building a bridge of common language between the aristocrats in the expensive seats and the groundlings in the cheap seats.
When my head begins to swim with these ideas, I always enjoy dipping into a good collection of golf advice, like Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, or John Capouya’s brilliant biography of the great professional wrestling icon Gorgeous George. Who would have guessed that George, known as the Living Orchid, influenced the likes of Cassius Clay, James Brown, and Bob Dylan, and that the Toast of the Coast may have even been America’s first “gay” hero?
Check out Roy Peter Clark's "Writing Tools -- The Blog" and read an excerpt from Writing Tools.
Julie A. Mertus
Julie A. Mertus is Associate Professor and Co-Director of the MA program in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs at American University. Her publications include The United Nations and Human Rights and Bait and Switch: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy, which was named Human Rights Book of the Year by the American Political Science Association Human Rights Section.
Her new book is Human Rights Matters: Local Politics and National Human Rights Institutions.
A few days ago I asked her what she was reading. Her reply:
I’m reading three books at the same time. First, I am reading Lynn Hunt’s Inventing Human Rights, a brilliant intimate history of the origins of the idea of human rights. The part of the book that had a big impact on me was its excruciating detail about various forms of torture – including “breaking them on the wheel” (describing it as turning someone into a pretzel by strapping them to a wheel and contorting them in different directions).
Second, I am reading my own book Bait and Switch: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy to prepare for a speech. I’m trying to imagine what it would be like to add Obama – or if I should write a new book.
Finally, I have one of my son’s Hardy Boys mysteries in my bag, just in case I get stuck in traffic or a long line. I’m trying to see why he loves the entire 60-plus Hardy Boys that have made their way into my house.
Read an excerpt from Human Rights Matter, and learn more about the book at the Stanford University Press website.
Read more about Bait and Switch: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy.
Learn more about Julie A. Mertus' scholarship and teaching at her American University webpage.
Amanda Ashby
Melissa Hotchkiss
Cynthia M. Bulik
David Schloss
Kristina Riggle
C. Keith Conners
James L. Powell
Darrin Doyle
Abraham Verghese
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Traditional Midsummer Celebrations in Europe
Traditional Midsummer Celebrations in Europe Jun 19, 2015 13:00:15 GMT -5
Post by Joanna on Jun 19, 2015 13:00:15 GMT -5
Midsummer is a time when myth and reality converge, when deities dance in woodlands and fiery festivities mark the advent of Midsummer’s Day. Primarily a European tradition, different countries have their own unique and often colorful take on this festival. While the Summer Solstice falls on or near June 21, celebrations are often set on Midsummer’s Day (June 24th) – the solstice during Roman times. Midsummer’s Eve (June 23) has long been connected to magical beings such as fairies (popularized in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), while stone circles are said to come alive with ancient folk who melt into the dawn of Midsummer’s Day. Originally a pagan holiday, the Church June 24 the feast of John the Baptist and the resulting celebrations are often an odd cocktail of Christianity and paganism, dedicated to St. John through the use of pre-Christian rites and imagery.
Jani (Latvia). When it comes to Midsummer, the Latvians know how to party! Known as Jani (meaning John), the festival is celebrated on a grand scale by almost everyone in Latvia and people of Latvian origin around the world. People eat, drink and make merry with traditional Janu cheese, beer and traditional folk songs. Latvians also keep a bonfire burning all night and jump over it, the women wearing wreaths of flowers and the mean wearing leaves (above). Even cars and trucks are adorned with oak branches and leaves during.
Noc Swietojanska (Poland). Midsummer in Poland is usually celebrated on Midsummer’s Eve (June 23). Known as Noc Swietojanska (St John’s Night), festivities begin around 8 o’clock and locals dance ’til dawn. Polka dress is the traditional garb and flower wreaths are thrown into the Baltic Sea, lakes and rivers. Organized events abound in major Polish cities, with Wianki (meaning wreaths) a traditional favorite in Kraków.
juhannus (Finland). Midsummer was called Ukon juhla, for the Finnish god Ukko, before 1316. Bonfires burned side by side, the biggest known as the “bonfire of Ukko.” When Christianity came, Midsummer was renamed juhannus for John the Baptist. The holiday has been held on Saturday since 1955 and many workplaces close at noon. Bonfires commonly burn at lake sides, while two young birch trees (koivu) sit at either side of front doors to welcome visitors. Swedish-speaking Finns often celebrate by erecting a Midsummer pole. The midnight sun is also an important feature of Midsummer in Finland because of its location within the Arctic Circle where nights near Midsummer are short or non-existent, contrasting with the darkness of winter.
Chester Midsummer Watch Festival (England). Midsummer’s Eve in Britain has commonly been a time of fairies and other otherworldly beings, which never sat well with the Christian elite. But other Midsummer festivities – even those based on biblical events, such as the Chester Mystery Plays – were unpopular with the Reformed establishment because of their roots in Catholicism, and were duly banned. Beginning in 1498, the Chester Midsummer Watch Parade was held every Summer Solstice when the mystery plays weren’t performed. Key characters in the parade included giants (above) and unicorns, however, in 1675, the parade was banned and the costumes destroyed. Today the festivities are back and enjoying a healthy rejuvenation.
Golowan (Cornwall, England). Traditional Midsummer bonfires burn on high hills such as Carn Brea and Castle an Dinas, St. Columb Major. The Old Cornwall Society revived the tradition in the early 20th century. Bonfires in Cornwall were once common as a part of Golowan, now celebrated at Penzance. The week-long festival normally starts on the Friday nearest St John’s Day and culminates in Mazey Day – a revival of the Feast of St John (Gol-Jowan) with fireworks and bonfires.
Midsummer Carnivals (Ireland). Many towns and cities in Ireland celebrate Midsummer with fairs, concerts and fireworks. Festivities are usually held on Midsummer’s Day or the closest weekend – a good idea considering that Irish propensity for merrymaking. In rural locales, bonfires are occasionally lit on hilltops, similar to those in Cornwall. This tradition has its roots in pagan times and in County Limerick, there are traditional offerings to deities such Áine, a Celtic goddess whose name means “light.”
Ivan’s Day (Russia and Ukraine). The Russian Midsummer Night is known as Ivan’s Day – Ivan Kupala being the old Russian name for John the Baptist – and one of the most flamboyant folk holidays in Russia and the Ukraine. It is a pagan fertility rite that has been accepted by the Orthodox Christian calendar. Midsummer rites are often connected to water, with girls floating flower garlands in rivers and observing their movement as a means of telling their fortunes. Skinny dipping is common as is jumping over bonfires (above). Some practices once suppressed by the Russian Empire, Russian Orthodox Church and later the Communist Party have since been resurrected.
Source: Tom, Urban Ghosts.
“Things You May Not Have Known about the Summer Solstice”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/edit/3896
“Summer Solstice: Its Significance and How it’s Celebrated around the World”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/edit/1888
Last Edit: Jun 21, 2019 6:05:13 GMT -5 by JoannaB
landish
Traditional Midsummer Celebrations in Europe Mar 22, 2017 4:19:54 GMT -5
Post by landish on Mar 22, 2017 4:19:54 GMT -5
I can say that Russians have a lot of holidays in Spring. Especially they have lot of holidays in may. People wait for it very much because they have almost a week and a half off.
Traditional Midsummer Celebrations in Europe Mar 22, 2017 18:37:11 GMT -5 natalie likes this
Post by pat on Mar 22, 2017 18:37:11 GMT -5
Mar 22, 2017 4:19:54 GMT -5 landish said:
What is spring like in Russia? I've always thought that it didn't start getting warm there until around June. What is the holiday in May that they get so much time off for?
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The 1975's Matty Healy Apologizes for Insinuating Misogyny Is a Hip-Hop Problem
"I was simplifying a complex issue without the right amount of education on the subject"
Photo: Sharon Steele
The 1975's frontman Matty Healy has apologized for comments he made about misogyny in rock'n'roll and hip-hop.
Speaking to The Fader in a recent interview, Healy compared the past glorification of drug use in rock'n'roll and the current glorification of drugs in hip-hop, claiming that "those things get weeded out the longer those things exist."
He went on to conflate drug use with misogyny in both genres, explaining that "misogyny doesn't happen in rock'n'roll anymore" because the longer the genre has been around, the more it has been "weeded out."
"It still exists in hip-hop because the genre's so young, but it'll stop," Healy continued.
Now, Healy has taken to Twitter to apologize for insinuating that there isn't still misogyny in rock music, as well as for sounding condescending towards hip-hop.
In a string of tweets, Healy explained that what he had said was not correct, nor was it entirely a misquote, though the singer did clarify that he had meant that "misogyny wasn't ALLOWED in rock and roll now days in a way it is in hip-hop."
Healy went on to acknowledge that there has been rampant misogyny in the rock music world since its inception and admitted he is not educated or experienced enough to speak expertly on the subject, and as such, ended up "trivialising the complexities of such enormous, experienced issues."
Read his full apology below.
The 1975's new album A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships is out now.
This bit of me talking in an interview reads as patronising, uninformed and reductive. And to be fair it is. And I'd like to apologise....(thread) pic.twitter.com/UMO62lzVgn
— matty (@Truman_Black) December 5, 2018
What I said isn't correct. And it's not all a misquote. Just for clarity I said that misogyny wasn't ALLOWED in rock and roll now days in a way it is in hip hop - not that it doesn't exist, that's maybe a misquote as I'm aware of the misogyny in rocknroll...
I would never deny the RAMPANT misogyny that exists in Rock n Roll. It's everywhere and has been a weirdly accepted part of it since it's inception.
. BUT now looking at what I said - I was simplifying a complex issue without the right amount of education on the subject
think cos I'm so actively trying to support women(not a brag but with the record label etc)I kinda forget that im not very educated on feminism and misogyny and I cant just 'figure stuff out' in public and end up trivialising the complexities of such enormous, experienced issues
So basically, I'm sorry for saying that as I was wrong. And thanks for pointing it out cos if I'm gonna do this I have to keep learning.
Just to clarify I'm not apologising for saying 'rock music is void of misogyny'. I didn't say that. Any body who says that is not only thick as fuck they most probably don't have physical eyes. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard
I'm apologising for the fact my words could INSINUATE that misogyny in culture and music is an exclusively hip hop (black) issue. I do not believe that. What I believe is that I'm not educated enough to speak on THAT properly and a big part of that is this white dick that I have
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You are here: ADF&G Home » News & Events » Alaska Fish and Wildlife News
Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
Collaring Wildlife
Tracking Devices Revolutionized Wildlife Biology
By Riley Woodford
A mountain goat equipped with a GPS collar. These devices allow researchers to map the daily movements of goats, and learn how they use their habitat throughout the year. Photo by Kevin White.
North of Berners Bay in Southeast Alaska, 20 brown bears are hibernating with GPS collars.
About 60 mountain goats with similar collars have descended from wind-swept alpine ridges overlooking Lynn Canal to the shelter of lower-elevation forests. Gustavus Moose, Admiralty Island toads and Petersburg owls have been equipped with telemetry devices.
Why do biologists put these things on animals, and what do they do?
In the mid-1960s, VHF (Very High Frequency) radio telemetry devices began a revolution in wildlife research and management by vastly improving biologists’ ability to locate animals. Repeatedly locating an animal creates a picture of its movements over time, and new GPS (Global Positioning System) units have made this much easier.
Learning where animals have their young, how young animals disperse as they mature, and where animals hibernate or overwinter is valuable to managing wildlife. “The collars help us understand how they use their habitat,” said Kevin White, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
An animal may use a small part of its overall habitat for just a short period each year, but that may be a critically important time. An animal may be particularly vulnerable to predation at certain times. Logging, mining, road construction, hunting, helicopter flight seeing, or recreational activities may have an adverse affect on wildlife – or not – depending on when it occurs.
These days, biologists have a variety of devices at their disposal. Lightweight backpack harnesses attach transmitters to birds. Fish swallow tiny waterproof units that work inside their bodies. Slim belts strap transmitters to toads.
The first step is to safely equip an animal with the device. Generally animals are captured and released, but there are exceptions. Researchers in small boats speed up to whales and tag them with transmitters as they surface.
An animal wearing a VHF radio transmitter can be tracked by a person on the ground or in the air using a receiver and directional antenna. Early units were heavy and suited for large animals such as bears, moose and elk – the rule of thumb is that a device can’t exceed three percent of the animal’s weight. It can’t interfere with the animal’s normal lifestyle.
Researchers generally listen to a series of “beeps” from the transmitter, and changes in the tone and volume (signal strength) indicate proximity and direction. It takes practice to interpret the signal.
VHF can also provide information on activity. The pulse rate of the signal can be set to change if the animal doesn’t move for a certain length of time, indicating the animal may be dead, or the collar has come off.
Wildlife biologist Neil Barten prepares to collar a mountain goat north of Juneau. Photo by Kevin White
The device can be programmed to turn on and off or signal less frequently. Shutting down at night when an animal is sleeping, or in winter when a bear is hibernating, can stretch the batteries for years. The devices can be configured in a variety of ways to meet the needs of the particular study.
Improvements in batteries and transmitter efficiency have radically reduced size. Transmitters are now so small they can be glued on to bats – and the weight of the glue exceeds the weight of the device.
It stands to reason that a tiny device has limited range. That may be fine for tracking toads around a few square acres of Admiralty Island over the course of the summer, if the researcher is nearby in a field camp. It wouldn’t make sense to put a transmitter on a little brown bat in Fairbanks before the fall migration. When the bat leaves, the signal won’t carry far enough to be useful.
A powerful transmitter on a caribou, however, can help biologists follow the entire herd as it migrates.
There are some amazing modifications to the basic technology that have other applications. Vaginal transmitters in caribou or moose that pop out and begin transmitting when the calf is born are helping researchers better understand birth timing, location and predation on newborn animals.
VHF devices require that someone physically locates the animal. That’s time consuming. Weather may ground aircraft and prevent scientists from collecting data.
“An animal’s behavior changes depending on weather, and we see that,” said White. “So if we’re flying only on nice days, then we’re getting a picture of an animal that may not be as representational. Our interpretation is limited to what they are doing on daylight hours during good weather, and the overall goal is often to learn what animal is doing all the time.”
GPS offers the ability to log an animal’s location virtually all the time – every 15 minutes, every hour, once or twice a day – whatever suits the needs of the project. GPS units are heavier than VHF transmitters, suitable for animals larger than about 30 pounds.
Generally speaking, GPS is the opposite of VHF. It’s a receiver, not a transmitter. The GPS unit connects with an array of satellites and calculates the animal’s location, then stores that information. In most cases, the collar must be retrieved for the researcher to get the data. The trusty VHF device is part of this system, and signals the location of the collar.
Biologist Michelle Kissling puts a tiny backpack-style transmitter on a western screech owl. Photo by Riley Woodford.
A useful accessory to this is a programmable fastener release mechanism. The collar will drop off at a specific, predetermined time so the researcher does not need to recapture the animal to retrieve the data. Once the data are downloaded, the collar can be refurbished and reused.
The main disadvantage of a stores-data-onboard GPS unit is data loss. There are no intermediate data reports. If the release mechanism fails, the collar and data are lost unless the animal can be recaptured.
White has GPS collars on moose and mountain goats. The mountain goat collars periodically transmit the data. White must be near the animal to receive the broadcast. He uses the collar’s VHF transmitter to locate the animal from the air, and flies into range to receive the transmission. If he’s not there, he misses his chance.
“The moose collars I have now will last almost four years, getting a location every three hours, every day of the year,” White said. “I must retrieve the collar to get it, but I’m pretty confident we can. With the goats, in remote, almost inaccessible areas, it could be a lot harder to get the collar back. That’s the reason for the more expensive, remote-download system.”
The additional hardware to transmit information adds considerable expense and weight to the collar. These are useful for mountain goats and possibly deer, but not smaller animals.
With another system, the manufacturer receives the data and sends it to the researcher via e-mail (an additional cost). The researcher gets the data more or less immediately and without having to go into the field.
One new system uses a cell phone modem in the collar to send and receive text messages. Every day, the researcher can receive eight GPS points indicating the animal’s location. In addition, temperature, altitude, activity and a “mortality message” can be sent as well. It is also possible to send a message to the collar to change the GPS positioning or the VHF beaconing schedule.
VHF devices are cheaper than GPS systems, and are well-suited to many researchers or wildlife managers’ needs. They can be much smaller and can get years of life from batteries.
“GPS collars for goats are about $4,400, moose collars about $2,700, and that’s bare bones,” said White. “A VHF collar for a moose is about $330. And now these new VHF collars can last eight or 10 years – a significant part of the lifespan of the animal.”
Riley Woodford is a writer with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation.
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Bullying the South China Sea
In the second half of the month of July 2011, an Indian warship, INS Airawat, made a call at the Vietnamese port of Nha Trang in south-central Vietnam for a friendly visit. The ship moved out of this port on July 22 and was proceeding to the port of Hai Phong in Northern Vietnam. About 45 nautical miles off the Vietnamese coast, on the South China Sea, INS Airawat was called on an open radio channel by someone identifying himself as the “Chinese Navy. ” The radio caller said, “You are entering Chinese waters, move out of here.”
According to a report in the London based Financial Times, about this incident, an unidentified Chinese warship demanded that an Indian naval vessel identify itself and explain its presence in South China Sea waters off Vietnam in July. Ministry of foreign affairs, Government of India, as well as Indian navy, have confirmed the radio call, but insist that there was no confrontation as no ship or aircraft was visible from the Indian warship. INS Airawat, a 5,650 ton vessel carrying 206 officers and soldiers, did not respond to the message or identify itself as demanded and continued on its way to Hai Phong as scheduled. Vietnam’s foreign ministry said it has no information about the incident. China’ foreign ministry says that they have contacted the defense ministry but have not received any reply so far.
As expected, Vietnam has come out in support of India. Vietnam Ambassador to India, Nguyen Thanh Tan has issued a statement , “Indian ships are welcome in our seas.” This is seen as direct rebut to aggressive bluster of the Chinese.
China has taken an official stance that it has sovereignty over all of the South China Sea, which happens to be an important sea lane for global commercial traffic. This claim has been contested by both, Vietnam and Philippines. China also claims sovereignty over North Paracels archipelago. This claim is disputed by Vietnam. Similarly, it claims that Oil-rich Spartly archipelago to be Chinese territory. A claim again disputed by Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. Vietnam’s support to Indian naval ships, should be seen in light of these disputes.
In a typical Chinese approach, China has started asserting its claim by announcing to ships in that region that they are in Chinese territory and should leave immediately. INS Airawat incident is the latest, in a series of actions this year, taken by Chinese to show maritime assertiveness and has caused concern among regional nations, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines. In recent months, cables connecting Vietnamese oil exploration vessels were found cut by Chinese ships. Philippines and Vietnam have objected to what they said was Chinese harassment of oil exploration vessels and fishermen in the South China Sea. In short Chinese assertiveness is being felt by other countries of the region like presence of a bully in a crowded scenario.
To counter this Chinese assertiveness on the seas, Vietnam has been playing the Indian Navy cards rather well. There was much fanfare during the visit of INS Airawat and the programme included a meet of the captain and crew of the ship with leaders of Khanh Hoa Province government and offer flowers at the statute of Tran Hung Dao , the Supreme Commander who led Vietnam to victory in the Battle of Bach Dang in 1288 over the naval fleet of China’s Yuan Dynasty. Earlier this year, two Indian warships, Indian Navy destroyer INS Delhi and the missile escort vessel INS Kirch, had docked at the Nha Rong Port in Ho Chi Minh City for a friendly visit.
Nha Trong Port Vietnam
A communique from the Government of India, makes Indian position very clear. It says that “India supports freedom of navigation in international waters, including in the South China Sea, and the right of passage in accordance with accepted principles of international law. These principles should be respected by all.” It is obvious that the visits of Indian warships to Vietnam would therefore continue in future also. Vietnam considers these visits as part of exchange activities between the Vietnamese and Indian Naval forces, which aims to strengthen the long-standing ties of friendship and strategic partnership between the two countries.
For last few years India has been trying to work out a broad security partnership with Vietnam, offering to supply advanced weapons, including anti-ship missiles, and training for its navy and air force. It has been now reported by international press that this partnership may now be coming to an advanced status as Vietnam has agreed to give India rights to use the small port of Nha Trang. INS Airawat was the first ship to visit this port under new agreement.
What are India’s strategic interests in South China Sea? India is developing a major naval base at the Nicobar islands effectively controlling the mouth of the Malacca Straits. Establishment of this base and co-operation with Malaysian and Indonesian Navies, have made this sea lane safer for Indian shipping. Extending this arrangement to South China Sea would therefore seem to be a logical step. Yet, what seems to be the more important aspect of this security alliance with Vietnam is that it establishes a small presence to India in the back yard of China and would be an effective reply to China’s hobnobbing with Pakistan, which has been creating trouble for India over it’s Northern borders.
China has been watching this partnership with Vietnam grow over the years with some unease. A recent analysis carried out by an official Chinese news agency says that Indian navy’s goodwill visit to Vietnam is a clear indication that Vietnam is attempting to include a third country in the South Sea dispute. This report says further that India’s move shows that it hopes to have a presence in the Asia Pacific region.
Indian Navy seems to have made a great new move augmenting the look east policy of the Indian Government. The waters ahead are however uncharted and deep. It is essential that India makes right moves in future, to establish a permanent naval presence in South China Sea. This would be beneficial not only to India and Vietnam but to the entire ASIAN group of countries too.
Labels: China, India, Indian navy, INS Airawat, Nha Trang Port, shipping, South China Sea, Vietnam
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Netflix Acquires Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog" from Cross City Films Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elisabeth Moss
Netflix will be the worldwide distributor of the film, with Transmission Films releasing theatrically in Australia and New Zealand.
[via press release from Netflix]
A SEE-SAW FILMS AND BIG SHELL FILMS/MAX FILMS PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH BRIGHTSTAR AND BBC FILMS
Netflix has acquired worldwide rights (excluding UK free TV rights which are retained by BBC Films) to The Power of the Dog from See-Saw Films' in house sales arm Cross City Films
Netflix will release the film in 2021 on Netflix and in theaters
Netflix will be the worldwide distributor of the film, with Transmission Films releasing theatrically in Australia and New Zealand. Netflix to work with its other local partners worldwide on the theatrical release.
Director: Academy Award Winner Jane Campion
Cast: Academy Award Nominee Benedict Cumberbatch, Golden Globe and Emmy Award Winner Elisabeth Moss
Production Companies: See-Saw Films and Big Shell Films/Max Films Production in association with Brightstar and BBC Films. The project has been developed with BBC Films who are also backing production.
Producers: See-Saw Films' Emile Sherman and Iain Canning, Max Films' Roger Frappier, Big Shell's Jane Campion and Brightstar's Tanya Seghatchian.
Executive Producers: BBC Films' Rose Garnett, See-Saw's Simon Gillis and Brightstar's John Woodward
Screenwriter: Campion is adapting the Thomas Savage 1967 novel of the same name
Synopsis: Wealthy Montana brothers Phil (Cumberbatch) and George Burbank are two sides of one coin. Phil is graceful, brilliant and cruel where George is stolid, fastidious and gentle. Together they are joint owners of the biggest ranch in the Montana valley. It is a place where men are still men, the rapidly modernizing 20th century is kept at bay and where the figure of Bronco Henry, the greatest cowboy Phil ever knew, is revered. When George secretly marries local widow Rose (Moss), a shocked and angry Phil wages a sadistic, relentless war to destroy her entirely using her effeminate son Peter as a pawn.
The deal was negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers and Cross City Films by Simon Gillis, COO of See-Saw Films, and attorney Craig Emanuel of Paul Hastings.
ABOUT SEE-SAW FILMS
Academy Award(R) winning producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman founded See-Saw Films in 2008. With offices in London, Sydney and Los Angeles, See-Saw specializes in international film and television production. See-Saw's television division is run by COO TV Hakan Kousetta and Head of TV Jamie Laurenson. In 2018 company expanded its UK and Australian operations to include a US office in addition to signing a three-year first look development, financing and production deal for film with New Regency. The deal follows the success of six-time Academy Award(R) nominated Lion, starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara as well as The King's Speech which swept up four Academy Awards(R) in 2011 including Best Motion Picture, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Colin Firth and a Best Director nod for Tom Hooper. See-Saw's latest film projects include Widows directed by Steve McQueen and starring Viola Davis. See-Saw is currently in post-production on Ammonite, written and directed by Francis Lee and starring Kate Winslet and Saorise Ronan. See-Saw's television division formally started in 2012 and kicked off with the multi-award winning first season of Jane Campion's 'Top of the Lake'. Campion returned with 'Top of The Lake: China Girl' starring Elisabeth Moss, Nicole Kidman and Gwendoline Christie which premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe. 'State of the Union', written by Nick Hornby, directed by Stephen Frears and starring Rosamund Pike and Chris O'Dowd had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2019 and launched on Sundance TV in May 2019. See-Saw is currently in development on 'The North Water' to be written and directed by Andrew Haigh (45 Years), adapted from the novel by Ian McGuire.
ABOUT MAX FILMS
Presided over and founded by Roger Frappier, Max Films is among the elite of Canadian Production Companies. Frappier is the only Canadian producer to have won three Golden Reel Awards for the highest box-office receipts and four Genie Awards for Best Canadian Film. Two of his films have been nominated for the best Oscar for foreign film, one of which Jesus Of Montreal by Denys Arcand won the Cannes Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. In 1998, the 51St Cannes Film Festival honored eleven film producers from across the world, Roger Frappier was among them. Cosmos, a Max Films production, directed by six young and upcoming filmmakers, amongst them Denis Villeneuve, was selected at the 1997 Cannes Festival's Directors' Fornight and won the International Art and Experimental Cinéma award. Denis Villeneuve signed also August 32 on Earth which was selected at the Un Certain Regard section and was also the Canadian entry for the Academy Award. Villeneuve following film Maelstr�m was a Max Films production and again the Canadian Entry for the Academy Award. His most recent film Hochelaga, Land Of Souls, directed by Fran�ois Girard (The Red Violin, Silk) was Canada's official selection for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.
ABOUT BRIGHTSTAR
Brightstar is Tanya Seghatchian and John Woodward's Film and Television production company.
ABOUT BBC FILMS
BBC Films is at the forefront of independent filmmaking in the UK, developing and co-producing around 12 films a year. In 2015 BBC Films was awarded the BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Rose Garnett is the Director of BBC Films. BBC Films had two titles in Official Competition at the 2019 Cannes Festival: Jessica Hausner's English language debut, Little Joe (for which Emily Beecham scooped the Best Actress award) and Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You, written by Paul Laverty. BBC Films had three films in Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival in January, including Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir which won the International Grand Jury Prize; Sacha Polak's Dirty God, and Chiwetel Ejiofor's directorial debut The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Upcoming BBC Films titles inlcude Sean Durkin's highly anticipated The Nest, starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon; Judy, directed by Rupert Goold and starring Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland; Blue Story, the debut feature from Andrew 'Rapman' Onwubolu; Ammonite, written and directed by Francis Lee, starring Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet; Mughal Mowgli directed by Bassam Tariq and co-written, produced by and starring Riz Ahmed; The Souvenir II, Joanna Hogg's sequel to her Sundance award-winner; Misbehaviour from Philippa Lowthorpe starring Keira Knightley, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Jessie Buckley; Herself directed by Phyllida Lloyd from a script by Clare Dunne and Malcolm Campbell; His House by first-time UK writer/director, Remi Weekes; Lynn and Lucy, the debut feature from Fyzal Boulifa; Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always from acclaimed director, Eliza Hittman and produced by PASTEL; Monsoon written and directed by Hong Khaou and starring Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians); Horrible Histories: The Movie directed by Dominic Brigstocke and written by Jessica Swale; Perfect 10, the feature debut from Eva Riley; Molly from Sally Potter, starring Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock and Laura Linney; and Make Up, the debut feature from Claire Oakley. bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms @BBCFilms
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Visual novel fans hopes to bring “Tsuihou Senkyo” (Exile Election) to the West with the help of a petition
by Robin Ek> in General news - 07/16/17 at 8:23 PM
Even though I’m more than aware of who Nippon Ichi Software is (they are the developers behind awesome series such as “Disgaea“, “Criminal Girls” and “Danganronpa”), I still had no idea about the existence of their visual novel game “Tsuihou Senkyo” (aka “Exile Election”). However, all of that came to change when I was informed that fans of games like “Zero Escape” and “Danganronpa” (or just visual novel games in general) would like to bring “Tsuihou Senkyo” to the West (the game was originally released for the Japanese market back in April for PS4 and PS Vita).
Will we ever get to play a localized version of “Exile-election” in the West? And if so, will it be uncensored on release? Time will tell.
So, how do they intend to achieve that goal? Well, a person named Master of Alchemy has started a petition called “Localize Exile Election!” via gopetition.com (the petition has over 250 signatures at the moment). So the goal would be to get enough signatures to get either NISAmerica, PQube, Aksys Games, Rising Star Games or ATLUS USA to localize “Tsuihou Senkyo” in the West (I guess that something like that would require at least 10,000 signatures?). Anyways, this is Master of Alchemy’s statement about the said petition:
“Hello everyone! Tsuihou Senkyo[Exile Election] is a Japanese game developed by NIS(Nippon Ichi Software). It is categorized as a Death Adventure Game with the style of a Visual Novel but with noticeable gameplay elements for the PS4 and PS VITA. The story follows a group of 12 participants forced to play a “death game” by a murderous mechanical doll going by the name Alice. The story takes place in an abandoned amusement park which is a shelter is an apocalyptic world invaded by monsters. Every week, one of the characters is nominated for exile to go to the outside world and face its hardships. As you may probably tell, this game is heavily inspired by the Danganronpa series and the Zero Escape series, both of which sold very well in the NA/EU region. The game raises many questions in the players’ heads. Why is Alice doing this? What is the purpose of this game? Why us 12? etc…
Now, unlike many recent games, you take on the role of an “anti-hero”, a protagonist whom bares a grudge against the remaining players for allowing the exile of his little sister. The protagonist is named Ichijou Kaname, a young man who possess the ability to see sound in the form of colour, and he sees falsehoods in the colour red.
I am starting this petition in hopes of raising awareness to the fact that a good group of people want this game localized in the US/EU regions, and I wish to garner as much support as possible from you all. Should the project garner a significant amount of signatures, I will immediately inform the target. Thank you very much for taking the time to read!
I will be asking you all to sign this petition on the following basis: “Localizing Exile Election from Japan to the NA/EU with no scenes cut.”
The main targets are NISAmerica and NISAmerica in Europe, the NIS(game developer) branches in NA/EU, PQube, and Aksys Games.” – Master of Alchemy
“Tsuihou Senkyo” (“Exile Election” in the West) was released back in April on the Japanese market for PS4 and PS Vita.
Well, it’s a nice goal for sure, but I don’t know how good or bad the odds are for making something like this happen. So I wish Master of Alchemy and everyone else that has signed his (or her) petition the best of luck =) (I have sent a message to Master of Alchemy that the petition is in much need of a grammar and spelling cleanup). Especially since Famitsu gave “Tsuihou Senkyo” a 31/40 score! And for those who have no idea what the story of “Tsuihou Senkyo” is all about, here’s a short summary for you:
“The game takes places in an abandoned amusement park. The game’s characters are trapped within the park, with the outside world being in a post-apocalyptic wasteland infested with murderous monsters. Within the park, the game’s thirteen main characters are held captive by a mysterious mechanical doll named “Alice”, who holds the “death games”, which basically force the characters against each other for survival – the losers being exiled back out into the world. Alice refuses to stop the games until only two characters are alive and present. The game’s protagonist is Kaname Ichijou, a young man who has the ability to see sound as colors, and sees spoken falsehoods in the color of red. He also harbors a grudge against most of the rest of the characters of the game for allowing the exile of his little sister” – Wikipedia
So there you have it folks, and with that said. What’s your take on this matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!
GO petition
Tsuihou
Tsuihou Senkyo for PS4 via Play-Asia (Jap version)
Tsuihou Senkyo for PS Vita via Play-Asia (Jap version)
Robin “V-Act” Ek
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Tags: Exile Election, Petition, Playstation, PS Vita, PS4, Tsuihou Senkyo, Visual novel
HandyGames has just announced their Gamescom 2019 line-up
Press release: Giebelstadt, Germany, July 17th 2019: Gamescom 2019 will be the biggest festival for [...]
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Turkey’s Erdogan Begins New Term With Expanded Powers
ANKARA 9 JULY 2018: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in for his second term as head of state today, taking on greater powers than any Turkish leader for decades under a new system condemned by opponents as a one-man regime.
Erdogan, who has transformed Turkey in 15 years of rule by allowing Islam a greater role in public life and boosting its international stature, took his oath in parliament for a five-year term after his June election victory.
“I swear upon my honour before the great Turkish nation that I will work impartially to fulfil the duty I have taken on,” Erdogan said in his oath.
The inauguration was to be followed by a lavish ceremony at his palace today evening attended by dozens of world leaders marking the transition to the new executive presidency system.
Erdogan will face immediate challenges posed by an imbalanced if fast-growing economy and foreign policy tensions between the West and Turkey, a NATO member.
He has also pledged to end the state of emergency that has been in place since the failed July 2016 coup and which has seen the biggest purge in the history of modern Turkey.
In what appeared to be the final emergency decree issued just one day before the inauguration, 18,632 public sector employees were ordered dismissed including thousands of soldiers and police officers.
Erdogan will this week immediately turn to foreign policy, visiting northern Cyprus and Azerbaijan followed by more challenging encounters at a NATO summit in Brussels where he will meet his US counterpart Donald Trump and other leaders.
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The new system, which dispenses with the office of prime minister, was agreed in a bitterly fought 2017 referendum narrowly won by the “Yes” camp. The issue is still polarising in Turkey.
“A partisan one-man regime starts officially today,” said the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper.
Its commentator Asli Aydintasbas wrote: “I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that we entered a ‘second republic’ era,” after the republic set up by Turkey’s secular founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
But the pro-government daily Yeni Safak wrote under the headline “historic day”: “One page is closing in Turkish history and a new page is opening.” The president now sits at the top of a vertical power structure marked by a slimmed-down government with 16 ministries instead of 26 and multiple bodies reporting to him.
In one of the most significant changes, the EU affairs ministry, set up in 2011 to oversee Turkey’s faltering bid to join the bloc, is being subsumed into the foreign ministry.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim now goes down in history as the 27th and final holder of the post in Turkey. He is expected to become speaker of the new parliament.
The transition ceremony later today, to be attended by some 10,000 guests and marked by dozens of gun salutes, has been overshadowed by a deadly train derailment in northwest Turkey on Sunday that left 24 dead.
Those attending will include Ankara’s top allies from Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union but relatively few European figures.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will attend, in a new sign of the warm ties between Ankara and Moscow, as will Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, regarded with disdain by Washington but an ally of Erdogan.
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Tweeting a video apparently showing himself driving to the airport, Maduro hailed Erdogan as a “friend of Venezuela and leader of the new multi-polar world.”
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir is on the guest list as is Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar, Turkey’s closest ally in the Middle East. The only EU leaders are set to be Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and Hungary’s strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The new cabinet, due to be announced at 1830 GMT, is expected to have a different look, with pro-government Hurriyet daily columnist Abdulkadir Selvi saying that it was set to “surprise” with figures from outside the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Current Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu could in theory continue in his job but reports have said Erdogan may choose his spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, or even spy chief Hakan Fidan to succeed him.
The markets will keep a close eye on economic appointments, keen to see a steady hand at the helm in a fast-growing economy dogged by double-digit inflation and a widening current account deficit.
Erdogan, who first came to power as premier in 2003, won an outright victory in June 24 polls, defeating his closest rival, Muharrem Ince of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) which is now locked in internal battles over its future direction.
The AKP failed to win a majority in legislative elections and will need support from its allies in the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) who could push it into more hardline policies. (AFP) DIP
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Simon Ibrahim Awad
As a young boy, Simon Awad spent his days outside, observing the natural environment. One day, he was hunting with friends and took interest in a bird’s nest in a nearby olive tree. The boys reached for the birds and discovered a snake attempting to ingest one of the chicks. The power of the natural environment amazed young Simon. He continued to explore, fostering a connection with the land. This connection would lead him to a life of environmental advocacy that has enabled thousands of others to discover a similar connection to their natural environment.
For the last two decades, Simon has served as the executive director of the Environmental Education Center (EEC/ELCJHL). He holds a bachelor’s degree in science, though much of his passion comes from life experience. At 18, Simon was already involved in community service. During his volunteer work, he was impressed by an old couple picking olives and singing traditional songs. Sixteen years later, he launched the first Annual Olive Harvest Festival. For Simon, the festival is an extension of the joy that radiated from the couple. He values the importance of community in creating environmental change.
Simon began his career at the Palestinian Human Rights Information Center where he documented house demolitions and the uprooting of trees. He recognized the importance of environmental protection, not only from occupation violations but also from societal practices. Years later, he started the Palestinian Conference for Awareness and Environmental Education which encourages continuous research and planning for environmental conservation. The 10th edition will be held in the fall of this year.
Simon still possesses his sense of wonder and finds new inspiration for change each day. He developed the EEC’s botanical garden and continues to explore capacity-building opportunities for the center. EEC has carried out initiatives that focus on tree planting (A Tree for Every Student), Nature’s Classroom, green schools, Palestinian identity, eco-justice, and peace building.
Simon was the first Arab researcher to receive the international bird classification license. He launched bird-monitoring and ringing stations in Beit Jala and Jericho, the first of their kinds in the Arab world. He co-authored The Checklist of the Birds of Palestine, which has been adopted as an official reference. He also authored Birds of Palestine and has contributed to several scientific papers and articles in international books and journals. He is a member of several national and international organizations and was recently appointed chairman of the Palestine National Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He has been honored by several institutions, including receiving the Saudi Arabia Award for Environmental Management in the Islamic World.
Simon dreams of a green Palestine and works hard each day to find sustainable solutions to change the attitude and behavior of society toward the environment. He is supported by his wife and three children, all of whom work in arenas that focus on the betterment of society. In all aspects of his life, Simon continues to proceed vigilantly toward his goals.
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CogBlog – A Cognitive Psychology Blog
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About the CogBlog
Home > Attention, Cognitive Bias, Memory, Pattern Recognition > Own-race Bias: Why Some People Might Look The Same to You
Own-race Bias: Why Some People Might Look The Same to You
April 16th, 2017 Vianny Lugo Aracena Leave a comment Go to comments
As someone who is a fan of true crime podcasts, I couldn’t help but to binge-listen to the episodes of Wrongful Convictions–a podcast by the Innocence Project detailing stories of people who were convicted for crimes they did not commit. In one of the stories, a person was convicted due to the misidentification by one of the victims of the crime. This eyewitness testimony was enough to carry a 30-year-old sentence in prison.
Pattern recognition of faces of other races can vary according to the cross-race bias.
PC: The Guardian
There are several cognitive errors that could make of this eyewitness testimony (and others) unreliable. Daniel Schacter described in the Seven Sins of Memory (2001) different cognitive errors that the memory is sensitive to, including memory biases. In the case of the person wrongfully convicted, a cross-race or own-race bias could have influenced the misidentification. An own-race bias refers to the tendency of being more accurate at recognizing faces of your own race than faces of another race (Malpass & Kravits, 1969). The bias is not exclusive to the context of eyewitness testimonies and the criminal justice system, however; you can stumble upon the own-race bias during a trivial day. For example, have you ever had a feeling that people who don’t belong to your racial category look “all the same” to you? Or have you wondered why you are very good at recognizing faces of your own racial profile yet can’t make the same accurate distinctions cross-racially? Or maybe, have you ever confused two people from outside your race because you couldn’t distinguish certain individual characteristics to make them apart? Then you’re in the right place to learn about this cross-race phenomenon! In this blog, we discuss possible mechanisms behind the cross-race bias.
Recognizing faces analytically rather than holistically by looking at individual features.
PC: Wrongful Convictions Blog
Previous studies have reported that the cross-race bias has a strong effect on eyewitness testimony (Meissner and Brigham, 2001). Pattern recognition and selective attention play a role in the categorization of these faces (Hugenberg et al., 2010; Ho & Pezdeck, 2015; Rossion & Michel, 2011), and they play an active role when making recognition mistakes. The own-race bias suggests that when exposed to faces from outside our race, we are not as efficient at recognizing the features that individualize them.
Pattern Recognition and Own Race Bias
Pattern recognition is the process of assigning meaning to information once it is perceived. When we pattern recognize faces, we do so holistically rather than analytically. This means that when we look at faces we look at them as a whole (holistically) rather than looking at individual facial features such as a nose, eyes, and eyelashes (analytically). Evidence from Michel, Corneille, & Rossion (2010) suggests that the holistic processing of faces varies depending on the race of the face we are trying to pattern recognize. In their study, White participants were asked to identify faces of White individuals, Asian individuals, and racially ambiguous individuals. Faces that looked the most similar to faces with White individuals were processed more holistically when compared to the identification of faces categorized as belonging to another race. The results from Michel et al. suggest that pattern recognition differs depending on whether we are looking at faces of our own or different race, because we fail to process the information holistically. So… we are not that good at recognizing face from another race due to failure to recognize a face as a whole.
But not everything is pattern recognition’s fault
PC: Keenetrial.com. Motivation to recognize faces from other races can vary.
Processing stages also play a role in the cross-race bias. Processing stages are the different steps involved in remembering information. They are divided into storage (transference of information to long-term memory), retrieval (the search of information previously stored), and encoding (information is converted into a mental representation). The most relevant processing stage to the cross-race bias is encoding: when we see a face, we need to convert it into a mental representation of the face in order to assign meaning to it (pattern recognize) later on. When we think that a particular face is important or relevant to encode, then selective attention is paid to the individualizing facial structure of the individual. According to Hugenberg et al. (2010), this process involved in the discrimination of faces is applied to faces of the same race of people making observations. Conversively, when the identity of the face is perceived as less relevant to encode, selective attention is directed toward category-diagnostic facial features such as race, and less directed toward individualizing facial features. Due to the different ways of encoding the information, the Categorization Individuation Model (Hugenberg et al., 2010) proposes that same-race faces are better recognized than other-race faces, because the motivation to attend to a face might differ.
Motivation to recognize faces
Yes, pattern recognition matters when recognizing faces, as well as the initial encoding of the faces. But motivation matters too! Findings by Michel, Corneille & Rossion (2010) suggest that there is a social aspect in the bias that is important to incorporate when talking about it. In response to the need of the incorporation of social aspects, Hugenberg et al. (2010) proposed the Categorization Individuation Model (2010) as previously mentioned, which provides theoretical insights that can explain the cross-race bias. This model proposes that face processing involves an attention component, in the sense that when we are processing a face, we categorize whether the identity of the face is important to encode or not. But the model also considers a more social aspect: the motivation to attend to a particular face. Situational cues can influence the motivation to redirect attention to a face of the other-race. This idea is related to the contact hypothesis described by Allport (1954), which refers to the idea that constant exposure to an outside group can decrease prejudice. In the context of the own-race bias, exposure to people from outside our race can facilitate holistic pattern recognition of faces, and allow us to recognize faces from outside our race more efficiently (Chiroro, 1995).
Eyewitnesses and other blues
To illustrate how the CIM and the results from Michel, Corneille & Rossion play a role in the cross-race bias, let’s revisit an eyewitness example. In the case of misidentification during an eyewitness testimony, if the eyewitness is a white person who witnessed a black person committing a crime, then there is a chance of the cross-race bias influencing the accuracy of the testimony. When given the opportunity to identify the perpetrator of the crime, the witness might not be able to accurately identify the person and someone else could be mistakenly identified as the perpetrator.
…to recognize faces from other races.
PC: Memegenerator
According to the results from Michel (2010)’s study, for example, the eyewitness could have seen the face of the perpetrator and looked at their face in a less holistic way which is uncharacteristic of the way we pattern recognize faces. Similarly, the CIM can expand on this idea of deficits during the encoding stage, by suggesting that at the moment of the crime scene, the identity of the face wasn’t considered very relevant (for example, attention could have been redirected to what was actually happening during the scene), and attention was directed toward race rather than toward individualizing features of the face, such as shape of nose, eye color, and mouth shape. In this case, the situational cue makes the motivation to direct attention toward the face of the perpetuator less likely.
The cross race bias is an example of how powerful cognition can be, and how cognitive biases affect the way we interact with the world. It’s not only seen in the context of true crime. For example, think back of the last time you confused two or three members of another race with each other. In a place like Colby, a predominantly white institution, being surrounded by people of your own race is not hard if you’re a white person. So as a white person, when someone sees a face of the same race, they are more likely to pattern recognize it holistically, and to pay attention to individualizing features besides race, than when they see a person of another race. Just encoding a face differently can determine how we pattern recognize faces and how we interact and identify other individuals. Hence contributing to the idea that this outgroup “looks the same.”
Arnold, M. M. (2013). Monitoring and meta-metacognition in the own-race bias. Acta Psychologica,144(2), 380-389. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.07.007
Chiroro, P., & Valentine, T. (1995). An Investigation of the Contact Hypothesis of the Own-race Bias in Face Recognition. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A,48(4), 879-894. doi:10.1080/146407495084014
Ho, M. R., & Pezdek, K. (2015). Postencoding cognitive processes in the cross-race effect: Categorization and individuation during face recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,23(3), 771-780. doi:10.3758/s13423-015-0945-x
Hugenberg, K., Young, S. G., Bernstein, M. J., & Sacco, D. F. (2010). The categorization-individuation model: An integrative account of the other-race recognition deficit. Psychological Review,117(4), 1168-1187. doi:10.1037/a0020463
Malpass, R. S., & Kravitz, J. (1969). Recognition for faces of own and other race. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,13(4), 330-334. doi:10.1037/h0028434
Meissner, C. A., & Brigham, J. C. (2001). Thirty years of investigating the own-race bias in memory for faces: A meta-analytic review. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law,7(1), 3-35. doi:10.1037/1076-8971.7.1.3
Michel, C., Corneille, O., & Rossion, B. (2010). Categorization of face race modulates holistic face processing. Journal of Vision,6(6), 435-435. doi:10.1167/6.6.435
Categories: Attention, Cognitive Bias, Memory, Pattern Recognition Tags: Cross-Race Effect, Encoding
Comments (4) Leave a comment
Mollie Rich
May 1st, 2017 at 21:45 | #1
Thank you for writing such a great blog! I really enjoyed learning more about own-race bias, and especially liked how you connected this bias to the Colby community. I agree that it is really important to remember that, while many Colby students would like to think otherwise, the fact that we are surrounded by mostly white people makes us inherently better at recognizing the faces of other white people. Your blog post reminded me of the study we read in class by Payne (2005), which found that when quickly flashed a person’s face (either white or black) and a picture of a weapon or a tool, that people were more likely to see a tool as a weapon when flashed a picture of a black person’s face than a white person’s face. I thought of this when you were talking about pattern recognition, because this study shows the role top-down processing plays. As you mentioned, and was talked about in class, this is a major reason in why eyewitness testimonies can often not be trusted: what we see is not completely veridical and can be influenced by our stereotypes.
Vianny Lugo Aracena
May 6th, 2017 at 08:12 | #2
@Mollie Rich
Thanks for reading the post!
And yes, what you’re saying about how the fact that we are mostly surrounded by white people makes us better at recognizing better, it ties back to the contact effect that we talked about during class. Being more exposed to, or having more contact to a particular race will facilitate pattern recognition. It’s interesting to look at this bias from the perspective of a person of color attending to a place like Colby, the bias is usually less strong since they are constantly surrounded by and in touch with non-poc.
yipeilo
I really enjoyed reading this post! Own-race bias is truly an issue in eyewitness testimony that involves lots of cognitive errors. I have learned the seven sins of memory in the context of the eyewitness testimony, but I did not know about the Categorization individual Model before I read the post. It is interesting that people use different ways, analytically and holistically, while encoding the information.
As an Asian international student, I experienced this own-race bias for the first few weeks after I arrived Colby, but the bias decreases significantly as time passes and as I interact with more people with various race background. The own-race bias makes me think of one article we read in our cognitive class, in which the author discusses several explanations for own-age bias in face recognition (Harrison & Hole, 2009). Similar explanations might also work here. For example, people usually have more exposure with others who have the same race as them, the more practice makes them face experts on their own race. The paper also talks about how motivation can influence the accuracy of face recognition, for example, trainee teachers are better at recognizing children’s’ faces because they are more interested in and paying more attention to children. I wonder if interacting and practicing recognizing faces in different races could reduce this own-race bias.
Harrison, V., & Hole, G. J. (2009). Evidence for a contact-based explanation of the own-age bias in face recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,16(2), 264-269. doi:10.3758/pbr.16.2.264
This was a very interesting post, and will change my approach to the way I look at people.
While reading your post, I started thinking about the difference between holistic and distributed models and how they relate to your post. The holistic model says that knowledge is represented holistically, which means that you have concepts for objects. On the other hand, the distributed model says that instead of having a concept for an object, we instead represent it as a bundle of features. Applying these models to how we recognize faces helped me make sense of why certain types of facial recognition techniques lead to the highest errors. You talked about how, with individuals of our own race, we process them by using the distributed model, which involves representing them as a bundle of features. We can then combine these features so that each individual will be more recognizable. You noted that, when viewing faces of individuals of different races, you talked about how we would use holistic ways of recognizing the face. This would lead us to process the face more holistically, which means we assign it as a concept (for example, Asian) and not as an individual. This helps explain why we have higher errors when viewing different races. It makes me wonder if people raised in multi-racial families are better at recognizing individual features in different races.
Please DON’T read this article, but… How Well do You Really Know Your Acquaintances? The Illusion of Asymmetric Insight
Memory and Language Lab
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Cognitive Bias (65)
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Rule #1: Always Travel in a Pack, Rule #2: Pick the Friends You Go Out with Wisely April 30, 2018
“Want to try something new?””Nah, let’s just go to McDonald’s.” — How mere exposure affect decision making. April 27, 2018
Elude the Illusion: Understand The Illusion of Validity So You Don’t Fall Victim To This Common Decision Making Bias April 27, 2018
“I Swear It Happened!” But It Never Did… April 27, 2018
Is there truth to the Hot-Hand Fallacy? April 27, 2018
Cognitive Bias
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aghadi20 on Aging and Metamemory
Myriam Skodock on Rule #1: Always Travel in a Pack, Rule #2: Pick the Friends You Go Out with Wisely
Taylor Lundberg on “I Swear It Happened!” But It Never Did…
Taylor Lundberg on Rule #1: Always Travel in a Pack, Rule #2: Pick the Friends You Go Out with Wisely
Ashlee Guevara on That Perfect Person Isn’t Quite So Perfect: The Halo Effect
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Two Pregnant Ladies
Passage: Luke 1:39-45, 56
In preparing for the sermon this week, I came across a delightful sonnet about this Bible story. It's called “The Visitation” by Malcolm Guite. As you hear these words, picture older pregnant Elizabeth greeting the young and pregnant Mary.
Here is a meeting made of hidden joys
Of lightenings cloistered in a narrow place
From quiet hearts the sudden flame of praise
And in the womb the quickening kick of grace.
Two women on the very edge of things
Unnoticed (unknown to men of power)
But in their flesh the hidden Spirit sings
And in their lives the buds of blessing flower.
And Mary stands with all we call “too young,”
Elizabeth with all called “past their prime,”
They sing today for all the great unsung
Women who turned eternity to time.
Favoured of heaven, outcast on the earth
Prophets who bring the best in us to birth.
(from Sounding the Seasons)
This little scene is one I used to skip over as I prepared for Christmas. I was much more interested in Mary and her song, in Mary and Joseph, in the angels and the shepherds. But as I’ve gotten older, and as one who had what OB/GYN slovingly call a “geriatric pregnancy,” and as I watch my own daughter’s relationships with her kinswomen, her aunties, this story has become rather dear to me.
This story has become dear to me especially this week, with prominent man after prominent man after prominent man experiencing the repercussions of their harassing behavior; I am grateful for this story about these two women. They had no power to exploit and no fame to hide behind. Elizabeth had no children, and in her world that gave her no status. She was, as females were accounted for in those days, a failure. She had not been able to do the one thing that would validate her. She was of no account.
Mary was unwed and pregnant, which did not give her power but which did give her notoriety. She was vulnerable, as all pregnant women were in those days before prenatal medical care, and she was endangered, as the laws of her faith allowed for her to be killed for being unwed and pregnant.
And yet. And yet! Though powerless and in peril, shamed and vulnerable, there is still so much joy in their greeting, and as it turns out, all the power of the universe is contained within them. Because while there is one kind of power in violence and in coercion and in threat, there is another better power in life, in miracle, and in love. I will take Mary and Elizabeth over Matt Lauer, John Conyers, Roy Moore, and the lot of them any day.
This story has become dear to me as I become more and more aware how much our children and youth need Elizabeths in their lives. Two weekends ago the three Neels went to a wedding on Bainbridge Island. It was the wedding of our daughter Sarah’s first babysitter, a Presbyterian minister named Staci who provided love and safe space to our infant then toddler. One of the guests was our friend Heidi, who had been our next-door neighbor in Wisconsin, and who is truly one of the best people in the world. On Saturday morning, Heidi and Sarah went off for a hike by themselves, and I was so grateful that our daughter had time with this amazing adult who loves her without condition, this amazing adult who is not her parent.
You know what I mean. We need those people in our lives, be they older or younger than we are. We need those people like Elizabeth, who welcome us with open arms, with empathy, who are delighted when we show up unannounced on their doorstep. Do you have those people in your life, the ones with whom you can be completely honest, knowing you will not be met with judgment?
In her marvelous book Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott devotes a chapter to why she makes her son Sam go to church. I'm going to excerpt parts of the chapter, but it’s worth picking the book up again to read the whole thing. But here’s more or less what she says.
“Sam is the only kid he knows who goes to church – who is made to go to church two or three times a month. He rarely wants to go. This is not exactly true: the truth is he never wants to go.… you might wonder why I make this strapping, exuberant boy come with me most weeks, and if you were to ask, this is what I would say.
“I make him because I can. I outweigh him by nearly seventy-five pounds.
“But that is only part of it. The main reason is that I want to give him what I found in the world, which is to say a path and a little light to see by.…When I was at the end of my rope, the people at St. Andrew [her church] tied a knot in it for me and helped me hold on. The church became my home in the old meaning of home – that it’s where, when you show up, they have to let you in. They let me in. They even said, ‘You come back now.’
“Sam was welcomed and prayed for at St. Andrew seven months before he was born. When I announced during worship that I was pregnant, people cheered. All these old people, raised in the Bible-thumping homes in the Deep South, clapped. Even the women whose grown-up boys had been or were doing time in jails or prisons rejoiced for me. And then almost immediately they set about providing for us. They brought clothes, they brought me casseroles to keep in the freezer, they brought me assurance that this baby was going to be part of the family.”
I like to think that Elizabeth said something along those lines to Mary when she showed up, that the child she carried would be part of the family. Little did she know that we would become part of his family one day.
Which leads me to the third reason this story is dear to me: it reminds me of the kinship we have with one another because of Jesus. So we have to get theological for a minute or two.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes a section about how sin came into the world through one man – Adam – and redemption from that sin came from another man – Jesus. That has led to a certain strain of religious thought in which Jesus is described as the New Adam, the new father of humanity. You may quibble with that if you’d like, or think about, but I believe that both Paul and Luke are trying to make the same point, which is that in Christ, we are connected to one another.
In today’s story, the child in Elizabeth’s womb, who would grow up to be John the Baptist, recognizes the life of the one in Mary’s womb. Elizabeth calls Mary’s child “Lord” but I think it’s even simpler than that. Near the heart of the story is the truth that all these things about Jesus’ birth are about a family. It's about the family of Mary and Joseph, and the extended family that includes Zechariah and Elizabeth and John. But the angels of the story remind those people and us that this is a story about the family of humanity, a family that began with two people in a garden, that extends to us and beyond us.
We are kin of Mary and Elizabeth, which makes us kin with Christ and with each other.Ancestry.com and 23 and Me will not show that we’re related by blood, but our hearts and souls tell us that we are related through grace. Elizabeth lives that out – family takes you in, family reminds you of the joy of your life, family listens to you pour out your woes and hopes.
And so if, through Christ, we are family to each other, then – what?
Let me ask you this: what would you do if a Mary in your life showed up on your doorstep, afraid and excited and in need of something she couldn’t name? How would you respond, given your faith, your understanding of the way God calls you to live, and your identity as kin of Christ?
Or what if a new family shows up at church, as Anne Lamott did one day at her church, and they show up pretty regularly and you watch their kids grow and scuff the backs of the pews and rustle during worship and you watch the parents’ hair get grayer and you watch all the struggles and joys that families have – how would you continue to make this place home to them?
These days we face the same basic struggles that Mary and Elizabeth faced. People live in dire poverty, then and now. People face humiliation and shame, then and now. People are the victims of abuse of power, then and now. People know the real fear of violence and sudden death, then and now. The story has not changed all that much.
But in the last two thousand years, our kin have also known hope and comfort. Our kin have known friendship and consolation, then and now. Our kin have known love and reconciliation, then and now. Our kin have known life and joy, then and now. And that is because God has been present, then and now, to turn our surprises into miracles and to turn our powerlessness into joy.
A joyous Advent to you.
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Geo-Cultures
CREATIVE SLOGANS DEMANDING CHANGE IN ALGERIA
Djamila Ould Khettab / Algeria
AT THE MORNAGUIA PRISON IN TUNISIA, CINEMA BREAKS THE BARS
Rim Benrjeb / Tunisia
Comics are booming in Cairo
Martin Roux / Egypt
In her own words. Womanhood in Egypt and on the web
Cristiana Scoppa / Egypt
Dossier: Giulio Regeni’s murder. How to obscure information and social research in Egypt
Babelmed / Egypt
Zoo Project – Wild Homage
Camille Soler / France
Art as a sanctuary. Voices from Palestine
Priyanka Sacheti / Palestine
The Arab Spring and the Academy: Studying North Africa in the Wake of the Protest
Geolocate citizen and artistic initiatives in the Mediterranean
Contemporary dance in Egypt, looking for its right place
Océane Besombes / Egypt
While still emerging in the country, contemporary dance is starting to generate a real interest in Egypt - especially in Cairo. Despite insufficiencies in training meeting an uninformed public and a lack of dedicated spaces, several initiatives are developing at different scales.
This morning of June in the Mohandessin district, not far from the city center of Cairo, a few words are exchanged as the bodies are warming up. We are at the Cairo Contemporary Dance Center, and every day in these studios, students are getting ready for the many hours of classes, with one goal on sight: becoming professional dancers or choreographers. A new generation of dancers who are expanding the circle of contemporary Egyptian dance, still very young.
In Egypt, the birth of contemporary dance dates back to the mid-1990s, thanks to the initiative of personalities such as Mohamed Shafik or Karima Mansour, who share their careers between Egypt and abroad. But, fifteen years later, something is still missing. The country suffers from a cruel lack of places of performance, almost no formation center and an institutional indifference. This is not surprising, given that arts and culture are often relegated to the background in the country - and even behind the background when it comes to contemporary art.
Unlike classical dance or modern dance, benefiting from official institutions under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture through the Academy of Arts or the Cairo Opera House, contemporary dance has to develop through more independent initiatives.
With its two studios in which the street frenzy of Cairo discreetly intrudes through the windows, the Cairo Contemporary Dance Center (CCDC) is a very unique independent venue unlike anything else in the region. It is the only institution dedicated to contemporary dance in Egypt offering full-time professional training. Also the first in the Arab world and the African continent. In addition to a 3-year professional training program, the center offers artistic residences, open courses and workshops in various disciplines, and organizes or participates in shows and festivals.
This epicentrum of contemporary Egyptian dance was founded by the dancer and choreographer Karima Mansour. Mostly formed in Europe, at the London School of Contemporary Dance and at the Renato Greco School in Rome, she is against the idea of “nationalism in dance” - an idea that would constrain her style into bounds, and force her to fit certain movements to claim or prove where she comes from.
When she returned to Cairo in 1999, she launched MA’AT (Movement for Egyptian Contemporary Art), the first independent contemporary dance company established in Egypt. An initiative born from an observation. “When I came back to Egypt, there was nothing” she explains, “After spending 7 years in Europe, dancing 8 hours a week, coming back to Egypt was a shock. There was no festival, no company, nothing”. Indeed, contemporary dance didn’t have any dedicated center in the country. And is was almost impossible to find students to teach dance to, dancers to practice with, or places where to rehearse.
Karima Mansour, choreographer and dancer
Then, after spending some time working at the Cairo Opera, she decided to launch the CCDC, operating under the aegis of her MA’AT company, and recognized by the International Dance Council of UNESCO. For Karima Mansour, the CDDC’s goal is not only to train dancers, but also to enable them to develop their careers, and to allow one day a real ecosystem to exist in Egypt, fostering the development of the practice in the country.
Creating and maintaining the center wasn’t a long quiet river. For example, as a result of administrative disturbances, authorities suspended the activities of the center for several months in 2013. But it is clear that the 2011 revolution opened a gap in which Karima Mansour did not hesitate to jump by opening her center. Five years later, while a second generation of students in training is almost half-way in the program, she considers the CCDC to be “a major success given the rather hostile environment and the many difficulties to face”.
Contemporary dance still has a hard time finding acceptance in a society with a complex relationship with the body. Choreographer Mohammad Shafik, for example, says that a man who dances in Egypt is not considered to be a real man. The status of artists and dancers in general is also in a struggle to find its place. “Okay, you’re taking classes five hours a day, but what do you do in life?”. A question often faced by Hanin, one of the CCDC students who found out that the answer “I work and train to become a professional dancer” is often insufficient or even unintelligible in the society he lives in.
In spite of these difficulties, the organization of workshops, festivals and even the establishment of new dance centers such as Ezzat Ezzat for Contemporary Dance founded by Ezzat Ismail Ezzat in Cairo or Rezodance by Lucien Arino in Alexandria testify the ambition to encourage the practice of contemporary dance and its visibility in the country.
Initiatives supported by an increasing number of participants, but also by an enthusiastic audience although still limited. In Alexandria, the Nassim el Raqs festival, created at the initiative of the Rezodance school, even goes so far as putting contemporary dance on display in the streets. Organized every year since the last 7 years, this festival allows dance to go directly meet a new audience by putting itself directly on its way into the public space. Well-received by the locals, this festival is also a first step to move from the Cairoist centralism that often affects culture in the country.
A scene still very young
Far from the exotic clichés of oriental dance, contemporary dance in Egypt is not looking for folklore galore. There is no strictly identifiable movement in contemporary Egyptian dance, but rather a mosaic. According to the choreographer Mirette Mechail, "there must be fifteen choreographers currently recognized in Egypt and none of them have the same style, nor do they speak about the same thing. Everyone has their own style and is instantly recognizable. We do not have a structured style. It may come, but as we are still few in number and it is a recent movement, it is difficult to find a mutual language. "
With her company No Point Perspective founded in 2002, her performances are mainly the result of improvisations around personal and intimate problems, and human relationships. A process that leads to productions with a language both lively, intense and humorous, such as the last piece of the company called "Ma3lish". This word, which resonates in the streets of Cairo almost as much as the sound of the car engines, can be translated, depending on the context, by a multitude of things: sorry, it will be all right, it does not matter, maybe next time... A term set in motion by the bodies of the dancers in this Mirette Mechail play, illustrating with finesse and not without humor the social interactions in the Egyptian society.
For Karima Mansour, the terms "resistance" and "resilience" best describe the most recurring themes of her choreographic work. For her latest solo "Solitary" the dancer Aly Khamees chose to tap into the characteristic movements of the shaabi dancers. This dance, very present in the streets and in the marriages, borrows movements of the traditional dance of the knives. A style particularly popular in the districts and disadvantaged areas of the country where Aly is from. This type of dance simulating street fights is made of fast movements requiring great agility, although in its modern version, it is not uncommon for dancers to simply use their fists instead of a real knife. Movements which, from his point of view, are a true metaphor for present-day Egyptian society.
Aly Khamees, dancer
The number of dancers, choreographers and companies is constantly increasing in Egypt. But this enthusiasm of the younger generations leads to a desire to do, a desire to be fast — too fast, sometimes to the detriment of quality. This is what many dancers and choreographers in the country like Mirette Mechail or Karima Mansour regret. For the latter, the still small size of the contemporary Egyptian scene quickly limits the prospects for young performers. Some choose to go abroad, while others burn the steps. "Ambition is pushing some to want everything too quickly and too early," she says. "It is not possible to become a dancer, choreographer and teacher in a few months without real training or experience. "
Many young dancers and choreographers perform very early, before they’re ready, and are galvanized by an enthusiastic audience generally not very alert. Indeed, contemporary dance is still a discovery for the Egyptian public, which thus tends to be charmed by novelty rather than quality.
In spite of everything, between the faux pas of some novices and the talent of the most passionate, whether behind the walls of a building of Mohandessin in Cairo or in the streets of Alexandria, contemporary Egyptian dance is making its place. At his pace but with enthusiasm, no matter what society thinks.
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Artist Management
Consulting/Entertainment
Media Publishing Company
HomeRafael Barata
Rafael Mendes Barata, was born in September 26th, 1980, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started playing drums at the age of five. Throughout his childhood he was dedicated to Brazilian Popular Music, specially the Bossa Nova, whose influence came from his family members Roberto Mendes, his father and musician, and his brother and pianist Beto. Self-taught on drums, he recorded his first CD at the age of 14. He has won two International Brazilian Drums Festivals: 1st Batuka – At the age of 15, and the Batuka Masters 2000 at the age of 20.
Since then, Rafael has recorded with several internationally acclaimed artists including Rosa Passos, Eliane Elias, Kenny Barron, Edu Lobo, Leny Andrade, Lisa Ono, Angela Ro Ro, Paula Morelenbaum, Carol Sabóia, Amanda Brecker, Maúcha and Muiza Adnet, Andréa Dutra, Mônica Salmaso, Joyce, Alcione, Luís Melodia, Zizi Possi, Flávio Venturini, Leila Pinheiro, Ivan Lins, Antonio Adolfo, João Donato, JT Meirelles, Jaques Morelenbaum, Lula Galvão, Maurício Einhorn, Mario Adnet, Moacir Santos, Hélio Celso, Idriss Boudrioua, Osmar Milito, Durval Ferreira, Marcos Amorim, Daniel Garcia, Dave Liebman, Claudio Roditi, Guilherme Dias Gomes, Turi Collura, Spok Frevo, Hamilton de Hollanda, Marcos Valle, Raul de Souza, Mika Mori, Oscar Castro Neves, Dario Galante and others.
Rafael has also performed with such notable vocalists as Zezé Motta, Emilio Santiago, Zé Renato, Roberta Sá, Paula Santoro, Maúcha Adnet, Ney Matogrosso, the Singer/drummer Wilson das Neves, Leny Andrade, Alma Thomas, Chiara Civello (Italy), Jenny Robson (Finland), Esperanza Spalding and Milton Nascimento. … read more… http://www.rafaelbarata.com/biography.html
Copyright © 2012 Asuos Productions, Inc.
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You are here: Home › News & Press › News
April 23, 2013 - Group, Innovation, Regional News
Arval Smart Experience: A new key project in 2013
2012 was a year of stability for Arval, backed by its presence in Brazil, India and Turkey. It was also the year in which “One Arval” was launched, a strategic transformation programme for the company that aims to deliver unparalleled…
April 22, 2013 - Group, Regional News
BNP Paribas Cardif adjusts organization to engage new challenges
BNP Paribas Cardif is entering a new phase in its development and preparing for the challenges of tomorrow’s insurance sector, with a resolute focus on becoming the global benchmark in insurance partnership and a leader in personal insurance solutions. To…
March 27, 2013 - Group, Regional News
Ace Manager: Registration for the 5th edition is now closed
Ace Manager is the online business game designed by finance professors and BNP Paribas experts for students around the world. Registration for the 5th edition is now closed: 18 880 players from 136 countries (vs. 4 14 205 for the…
BNP Paribas named “Best Bank in Western Europe” by Global Finance magazine
Global Finance has announced its annual awards for the World’s Best Banks in Developed and Emerging Markets. BNP Paribas was named “Best Bank in Western Europe” in the regional category. Moreover, both BNP Paribas and BNP Paribas Fortis were recognized…
March 21, 2013 - Group
The European Press underlines the stability of BNP Paribas
Jean-Laurent Bonnafé has been ranked Top Banking CEO in Europe by the financial magazine Institutional Investor. For this in-depth ranking, the magazine polled 858 portfolio managers across 460 buy-side institutions towards the end of 2012: portfolio managers were asked to…
February 21, 2013 - Human Resources, Regional News
Ace Manager, only 5 weeks left to register
Ace Manager is the online business game designed by finance professors and BNP Paribas experts for students around the world. Hurry, only 5 weeks left to register! More than 8 400 students worldwide have already signed up to participate in…
February 20, 2013 - Group, Press Release
BNP Paribas maintains its leading position in the Aviation Finance industry throughout 2012
In 2012 BNP Paribas confirmed its leading position in Aviation Finance and remained strongly committed to the global industry. During 2012, BNP Paribas acted as Arranger, Underwriter or Bookrunner of some 35 aircraft finance related facilities on behalf of global…
February 14, 2013 - Finance, Group, Press Release
BNP Paribas Group: Results as at 31 December 2012
The Board of Directors of BNP Paribas met on 13 February 2013. The meeting was chaired by Baudouin Prot and the Board examined the Group’s results for the fourth quarter and approved the 2012 financial statements. ADAPTATION PLAN COMPLETED AND…
December 17, 2012 - Group, Press Release
IFR names BNP Paribas ‘Bank of the Year’ 2012
International Financing Review (“IFR”), Thomson Reuters’ leading financial industry publication, has today named BNP Paribas its 2012 Bank of the Year. The IFR awards are a key industry benchmark of global excellence and Bank of the Year is the top…
December 14, 2012 - Group
Awards and Recognition for BNP Paribas in 2012
BNP Paribas named “Bank of the Year” by the IFR Awards 2012 The IFR Awards are part of the Thomson Reuters Awards for Excellence, recognizing corporate and individual success in the global financial industry. Today, on 14 December 2012, IFR…
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2008 American League Championship Series Preview
American League Championship Series (ALCS)
The Boston Red Sox (95-67) will meet the Tampa Bay Rays (97-65) Friday night for the first of a best-of-seven series to decide the Junior Circuit pennant winner. Despite the fact that the Red Sox finished two games behind the Rays in the AL East, the odds are considered to be slightly in the Red Sox favor, for a number of reasons.
First of all, the Red Sox finished best in the American League in Run Differential, scoring 151 more runs than they allowed over the course of the season. Tampa Bay was only +103, and therefore would have been expected to win only 92 games rather than 97, based on the Pythagenport expectations. It's worth noting, however, that the best run differential in MLB belonged to the Chicago Cubs, who were swept by the lowly Dodgers. Things can happen.
The Rays have the best Relative Power Index, an indication of how well they did and how strong their opponents were, but they just barely edge out the Red Sox, so that's probably a moot point. Besides that, nobody on the Tampa team is an MVP or Cy Young candidate, so there's really nobody that you'd have to single out as an opponent to focus on beating.
Baseball Prospectus' Secret Sauce would suggest that the Red Sox, ranking 1st overall, should win this series, as the rays ranked just 6th in the majors, slightly ahead of the (ick) Royals. Secret Sauce is a metric that incorporates teams' adjusted strikeout rate, defense and the strength of their closer into a single number, which is the sum of the ranks of those three, so lower = better. Boston's total of 16 (6th in defense, 1st in K rate, 9th in closer strength) is the lowest in MLB, while Tampa (1+10+21, respectively) didn't rate nearly as well.
It's an interesting thought, though somewhat limited in its usefulness, as you might expect. You see, Secret Sauce adds up dissimilar items into a single number, without giving priority to one or the other. While it makes sense that teams that play good defense, strike out more batters and have a good closer will win more in October than other teams, the Secret Sauce number doesn't acknowledge the impact of these separate skills. having the best closer in the league, for example, doesn't do you much good if you never have a late lead to protect, as the Dodgers found out in 2004.
Last year's World Series winner, the Red Sox, ranked first overall in Secret Sauce, and by a healthy margin. Meanwhile, the NL representative in the October Dance, the Rockies, ranked 20th overall, but first in fielding. That defense, perhaps, got them all the way to the World Series, but wasn't enough against a team that could hit and field and pitch like the Red Sox. Since 1993, only three teams that have led MLB in Secret Sauce wound up winning the World Series, but two of them were the Red Sox, in 2004 and 2007. The other was Arizona in 2001, and it's worth mentioning that the 1998 and 1999 Yankees finished a very close second each time.
At least one if not both World Series teams has been ranked in the top four in Secret Sauce every year since 1988 except 2003 and 2006, that is, nearly 90% of the time, and Boston's the only team left from that quartet.
Tampa Bay won 10 of 18 contests between the two teams in 2008, but curiously enough, both teams showed significant home field advantages in the season series. In their nine games at The Trop, the Rays went 8-1 against Boston, scoring a total of 42 runs and allowing 33. By comparison, Boston went 7-2 at Fenway Park against the upstart Rays, and they dominated in those contests, 54-25.
Thanks to their record, the Rays have home field advantage in this series, but that's only one game's difference. Therefore, I think, if the Red Sox can win one game in St. Petersburg, the series will never make it back there. They'll finish off the Rays in Boston, 4-1.
Posted by Travis M. Nelson at 10/08/2008
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2008 National League Championship Series Preview
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Français Alberta and Northwest Territories
You are here: About us / Our research / Our researchers / Dr Daniel Durocher
Dr Daniel Durocher
Generous donors in Alberta/NWT
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Believe magazine
Dr Durocher is a senior investigator at the Centre for Systems Biology at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. His discoveries have included the finding of a critical switch for ending a DNA repair response, the biology of chromosome rearrangements and the regulation of chromosome caps or ‘telomeres’ in cells. All these findings have shed important light on the process by which normal cells become cancerous.
Dr Durocher obtained his PhD in 1998 from McGill University and joined the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in 2001 as an investigator with the Centre for Systems Biology. In 2007, he was promoted to associate professor at the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. Dr Durocher is the Thomas Kierans Research Chair in Mechanisms of Cancer Development. He frequently acts as a mentor for scientific trainees and junior faculty.
Dr Durocher has won numerous awards, including a “Canada’s Top 40 Under 40” award in 2010. He has published 47 papers, most often as the senior/corresponding author. His invitations to international meetings indicate he is internationally respected in this highly competitive field. He has also been recognized at home by a Tier-2 Canada Research Chair which was successfully renewed in 2006.
The Canadian Cancer Trials Group is improving glioblastoma survival in the elderly.
Cancer affects all Canadians
Nearly 1 in 2 Canadians is expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
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September 19, 2017 312-286-9036
CANDANCE CHOW RUNNING FOR 17th DISTRICT STATE REP.
Long-time progressive leader and Evanston/Skokie District 65 School Board Member Candance Chow announced today that she is running for the Democratic nomination for the 17th District State Representative seat in the March Primary. The seat is currently held by State Rep. Laura Fine, who is running for State Senate in the 9th Legislative District to replace Daniel Biss, who is running for Governor. Chow is currently serving her second term on the District 65 school board, where, as Finance Chair and Board President, she recently guided the District through a period of significant financial uncertainty, helping pass a referendum to support the schools with an overwhelming 80% approval.
“I am inspired to run for State Representative because of my lifelong desire to ensure that every child has the best chance possible to fulfill her dreams,” Chow stated. “I am not a career politician. I am a working mom and a progressive Democrat who believes strongly that we all have an important role to play in supporting those who need it the most.”
Raised by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills, Candance has spent her career focused on helping families like hers succeed through access to high quality education and well-resourced social services. She strongly believes that Illinois can and should do better by its residents.
“Here we are in some of the most resource rich communities in the country, while the Trump/Rauner agenda ignores working families who are struggling, and politicians entrenched in Springfield wage personal battles against each other at our expense,” Chow said. “We cannot allow right-wing ideologies and political agendas to erode the institutions that made it possible for families like mine to succeed. We must work together to find common sense and compassionate solutions.”
Candance is currently serving her second term on the District 65 school board representing the needs of 7,800 children in Evanston and Skokie. In addition to her board service, Candance sits on the board of Community Partners for Affordable Housing and is currently working with Connections for the Homeless to create a stability fund for families at risk of losing stable housing after the state dramatically cut funding over the last year.
Because of her effective leadership in our community, Candance was recently named as a McCormick Foundation Executive Fellow in Early Childhood Policy Leadership. Candance holds an MBA with distinction from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in strategy and nonprofit management. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Public Communications and International Studies from American University in Washington, D.C. As president of InSight Consulting Group, she serves nonprofits and emerging businesses in helping them grow and improve services to clients.
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England yesterday and today...
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Stone handaxe
THIS small handaxe is one of the most beautiful in the British Museum. It is made from quartz with attractive amethyst banding, a difficult material from which to make tools because it is extremely hard. The toolmaker would have had to hit with considerable force and accuracy to remove flakes. Such a high degree of difficulty makes the thin, symmetrical shape of this piece a masterpiece of the toolmakers’ art.
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"K" for kiosk (part fifth)
Английская версия » Telephone boxes |
It was soon pointed out that, contrary to what the new crown implied (and letter boxes announced in the cipher E II R), Her Majesty was not the second Queen Elizabeth of Scotland and that the new Post Office crest did not apply north of the border. The solution was introduced in 1955. Henceforth, K6 fascias were to be cast with slots, into which either the Queen's Crown of Scotland or the St Edward's Crown would be inserted before the roof was fitted, depending on where the box was destined to be used.
Between 1950 and 1955 about 25,000 new K6s were erected, an even greater rate than before 1939. The pace slowed thereafter, but they were still being installed at the rate of about a thousand a year in the mid 1960s.
The GPO again considered the possibility of a new design of kiosk and in 1958 invited designs from three noted designers and architects, Neville Conder, Misha Black and Jack Howe. All three proposed to use aluminium. The GPO eventually selected Conder's design for a field trial. It was designated the K7, and the first versions were erected in 1962. The K7 was innovative in many ways. It was determinedly modern and was intended to be erected in groups, by then an increasingly likely need. It used windows fixed in rubber gaskets, much like those used for many years for car windscreens. Six prototypes were made, five of which entered public service. These were in aluminium, as Conder had intended, but they lacked some of the machined surface finishes that would be possible with mass-production. Most of these were designed to combat the effect of weathering on aluminium and, in their absence, the Post Office was soon criticising the material as unsuitable for the British climate. It is also very possible that Post Office engineers were reluctant to adopt a new material. Without telling Conder what they were doing, they commissioned a further half dozen K7s in cast iron. What happened to this second batch is not known. It is reported that some were erected in Glasgow, but this remains unconfirmed. Whatever happened to them, the K7 was not adopted for general use and most of the aluminium prototypes went on to provide perfectly satisfactory service for twenty years.
The Post Office preference for cast iron continued in the design that eventually superseded the K6. It was not that the K6 needed to be replaced, but there was a need for a more modern design that was suitable for use in the many new town centres and housing estates being built, and that was cheaper to produce, easier to maintain and resistant to the greatly increased levels of vandalism.
Consequently, in 1965, a new competition was held for what was to become the K8. Three designers were asked to submit proposals - Neville Conder, Bruce Martin and Douglas Scott. In the end, only Martin and Scott produced complete designs. Martin's was to be made in aluminium. Scott's was to use cast iron. Martin's design was preferred, but the Post Office was concerned that it might not be strong enough, so they made it of cast iron but with a cast aluminium door. It first appeared on the streets in July 1968.
The K8 was a fundamentally different design to the K6 and it also incorporated a more subtle change: it was not quite the same shade of red. The K8 was 'poppy red' (BS381C - red 539, to be precise), a slightly more orange shade than the old Post Office red (BS381С-red 538). Over the following years the new livery was applied to all kiosks.
A post-1955 Кб in the alternative grey and red livery, in the Cathedral Close at Salis-bury.
Neither red, nor grey, nor carrying a crown motif, the white kiosks in Hull have always had their own unique style.
By the end of the 1950s, as demand grew, kiosks were frequently grouped, often by the addition of boxes to an existing site. This elegant group in Stafford is of three pre-1953 units and one that is post-1955.
Five aluminium K7s were put on trial in 1962. One was in Coventry, another in the City of London. These three were in Grosvenor Gardens, near Victoria station, London.
The main material for Douglas Scott's submission was cast iron. Stainless steel was used for the corner cappings and for the glazing frames.
One of the very first K8s, photographed on the day of its public launch in 1968. Notice the new plain lettering and the lack of any crown motif.
This group of К8s sports the early 1980s experimental and controversial yellow livery of the newly established British Telecom.
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Tag: ray manzarek
“Mother…I want to f*ck you!”: The Doors (The Doors)
[singlepic id=4 w=320 h=240 float=left]
Genre: Acid Rock
Preceded by: –
Followed by: Strange Days (1967)
1967 was a crucial year in pop music history, looking at all the highly acclaimed albums released in this year. 1967 was also a crucial year for American rock band The Doors, as they released their first two albums. Both of them were a big success, but let’s have a closer look on their debut here: The Doors.
When you say Doors, you say Jim Morrison. Although Morrison might have been the face of the band, rather accentuated by the album cover, this album got his strength from the synergy of all four Doors. That’s prolly why all credits go to the band as a whole, although Morrison and guitarist Robbie Krieger were the primary writers.
The beauty of this album in my opinion is created by the way the Doors were looking to develop their own distinct sound, and doing so they were blending different styles together on one album. For example, you’ve got the uptempo songs like ‘Break on Trough’, a call to the new generation of that time, and the ultimate hitsingle ‘Light My Fire’. This was originally an unfinished song by Krieger as an ode to sexual desire, later on expanded with its epic organ and guitar solos. It became world famous thanks to the intro of keyboard player Ray Manzarek.
The album also contains some covers, ‘Backdoor Man’ and ‘Alabama Song’, but they were given such a typical Doors sound that they sound like original songs. And there are the darker songs like ‘The Crystal Ship’ and ‘The End’. With the first one, considered as a love song to Morrison’s first love (Mary Werbelow), Morrison shows his abilities as crooner (being a big fan of Frank Sinatra).
‘The End’ to the contrary, was originally about Morrison breaking up with this Miss Werbelow. However, thanks to the mystic instrumental parts and Morrison’s narrative vocals, the song became a theatrical masterpiece about lust and death. When the group performed this song live for the first time at the Whiskey A Go Go, they were thrown out because Morrison screamed the original line “Mother…I want to fuck you!” during the climax of the song… Enjoy one of the best debut albums of all time.
1. The End
2. The Crystal Ship
3. I Looked At You
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Jews, Napoleon and the Ottoman Empire: the 1797-9 Proclamations to the Jews
While campaigning in Israel in 1799 did Napoleon write one or more proclamations to the Jews? In our own century, historians are evenly divided. But, the deeper story is not simply whether he did so while in Israel, but also his earlier proclamations to the Jews, similarly issued as propaganda to destroy the Ottoman Empire. Thus, a neglected Ottoman-Turkish source says there was already in the Muslim year 1212 (1797-1798) a revolutionary proclamation inviting Jews to "establish a Jewish government in Jerusalem" (قدس شريفده بر يهود حكومتى تشكيل). Based on April 1799 reports from Constantinople, at least sixteen European newspapers in May 1799 described a Napoleon proclamation inviting Jews to return to Jerusalem. This astonishing news was universally believed in 1799. Napoleon's evocation of aboriginal restoration echoed for decades in relation to an age-old People that for millennia always kept demographic and cultural ties to the Holy Land. There is also much to suggest that Napoleon perhaps wrote the 1798 "Letter from a Jew to His Brothers" calling on world Jewry to organize itself in order to ask France to negotiate with Turkey, so that the Jews could return to their native land. Finally, first revealed in 1940 was a 1799 German-language translation of an alleged Napoleon letter recognizing the hereditary right of the "Israelites" to "Palestine."
Allen Z. Hertz was senior advisor in the Privy Council Office serving Canada's Prime Minister and the federal cabinet. He formerly worked in Canada's Foreign Affairs Department and earlier taught history and law at universities in New York, Montreal, Toronto and Hong Kong. He studied European history and languages at McGill University (B.A.) and then East European and Ottoman history at Columbia University (M.A., Ph.D.). He also has international law degrees from Cambridge University (LL.B.) and the University of Toronto (LL.M.).
[This text current to July 14, 2019.]
A. Sovereignty and self-determination of Peoples
Jacques Godechot's important book, La grande nation, l'expansion révolutionnaire de la France dans le monde 1789-1799 (The Great Nation: The Revolutionary Expansion of France in the World) was first published in 1956. In a thoughtful review, University of Paris, Professor of French History, Marcel Reinhard observed with regard to the August 26, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1958):
The rights defined in 1789 were those of every man, of every citizen, and they were, despite some opposition, also recognized as applying to Jews and Blacks. And as such, they also passed onto the world stage. Thus, the concept of national sovereignty wasn't simply the privilege of the French nation, but was a natural and imprescriptible right recognized for every nation.
Reinhard's international assessment was not just an ex post facto judgment, but was often expressed in the 1790s. Then, it was integral to the key notion of la grande nation. This referred to the great French People which was literally big, because numbering 27 million at a time when the USA had only 5.3 million and the British Isles 15.7 million.
Ideologically, la grande nation was deemed to be, spiritually and materially, older brother to other fraternal Peoples, including the Jewish People. And, the Revolutionary French Republic was imagined as entitled to senior status in relation to other actual or imminent sister republics. These satellite States might potentially include a Jewish Republic (République judaïque or hébraïque) in the Holy Land, and maybe also revolutionary regimes in Ireland and Canada.
The modern comparison would be to the global leadership once claimed by Soviet Russia among Communist countries. Moreover, the Soviet Marxists judged the eventual global triumph of communism to be an historical necessity. So too, the 18th-century French revolutionaries believed that, both domestically and internationally, the march of history was inevitably in their preferred direction. According to Minister of External Relations, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (February 14, 1798): "It is the spirit of liberty that spreads itself happily in all the States of Europe, and which, it seems to me, must entirely conquer them in a few years."
Consider the example of the Corsican-born Greek Maniote, Dimo Stephanopoulos whom Napoleon sent as revolutionary emissary to the Morea (Peloponnese), then under Turkish rule. There, Dimo expounded at a late 1797 secret meeting, at Marathonissi in the Mani, with patriots from several parts of Greece. According to Dimo, the French Revolution had universal meaning (1799):
Learn what has happened in the new Athens. The French People has destroyed its tyrants and has given itself laws. These laws propagate themselves with regard to all the Peoples. Man, they say, was born and must live in freedom (libre). We [the Peoples] are all equal and must constitute nothing less than a single family of brothers. [...] Buonaparte will come all the way to Constantinople to plant the tree of liberty.
B. 1799 Revolution ends; Roman Catholicism returns
Just as China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping (邓小平) brought an end to the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1978, so in November 1799 Napoleon terminated the decade-long French Revolution which had been bitterly anti-Roman Catholic. In France, some Catholics had stubbornly sustained regional insurrections against the revolutionary regime, throughout the period of the Directory (1795-9). For both Deng and Napoleon, ending the revolution meant an astonishing ideological evolution over a relatively short period of time.
In this context, Napoleon's views of Jews, Judaism and the Jewish People were significantly different during and after the French Revolution. As a revolutionary, Napoleon naturally recognized the peoplehood of the Jews, just as he did that of the Greeks. But once the French Revolution was over, he mostly lost interest in Jews as a sovereign People with an ancient homeland, inter alia, because ending the revolution famously meant reconciling with Roman Catholics. Certainly, Napoleon understood that the Roman-Catholic Church theologically despised Jews and has historically always wanted Jerusalem for itself. To the point, Catholics have for many centuries claimed that, by virtue of Jesus, they had become the real "people Israel," and thus there was no longer any divine covenant with Jews for the Holy Land (supersessionism).
C. Destruction of documents about Jews
Napoleon personally generated around 33,000 letters and myriad other papers. Although a great mass of his product survives, many items were lost in the normal course of events. In addition, for political and/or personal reasons, Napoleon was in the habit of purposely destroying or even falsifying documents. For example, First Consul Bonaparte ordered a great number of records removed from the archives in 1802. While he was Emperor (1804-1815), these and other documents were burned at his command, as in September 1807. Many of those disappeared pieces related to the 1798-9 Mideast campaign. Such destruction of historical material is directly pertinent, because his earlier expressions of sympathy for Jewish peoplehood and homeland became for the "Emperor of the French" an embarrassment to be cleverly spun, or even better, concealed and forgotten.
During the reign (1852-1870) of his nephew Napoleon III, some more of the uncle's documents were intentionally destroyed, including because they were judged to be strongly offensive to Roman-Catholic feeling. A Catholic (perhaps even ultramontane) perspective was consistently championed by the devout Empress Eugénie who regularly attended cabinet meetings. She would probably have seen any archival confirmation of Napoleon the Great's revolutionary proclamations promising Jews Jerusalem, as seriously damaging the Bonaparte dynasty's brand among Catholics in France, Europe and the Mideast. If so, such a political calculation would have been rational. At that time, many Catholics worldwide still strongly believed that Jewish emancipation domestically and Jewish peoplehood internationally were subversive revolutionary principles attacking Christianity.
The very same logic had already been adopted by the Greek-Orthodox Church -- not only with respect to Jewish emancipation, peoplehood and homeland -- but also with regard to the popular rights of the Greeks themselves. Thus, as early as 1798, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople was energetically backing the Turks against pro-French, Hellenic revolutionaries like Rigas Feraios (Ρήγας Φεραίος). Let it be remembered that the reactionary Austrians (the Habsburg Monarchy) arrested Rigas for "serious political crimes" and then heartlessly extradited him to Ottoman Belgrade, where the Turks killed him in June 1798.
Under the revolutionary slogan "liberty, equality and fraternity," the historic, inflammatory Rigas proclamation was printed in Vienna in Greek (1797) by the thousands, and then widely read in the Ottoman Balkans. But, not a single one of this original printing can be found today. Several thousand of these proclamations were destroyed by the Habsburg authorities. And, the Orthodox Church systematically collected and burned the printed Rigas proclamations found in the Ottoman Empire. All that is now left to us of the text of the famous Rigas proclamation stems from one handwritten document. This is the police/judicial translation into German that is preserved in the Austrian State Archives. Can we be surprised if, as explained below, the text of Napoleon's proclamations to the Jews met a similar fate in the grim struggle between revolution and reaction?
Here our answer must also be informed by the Habsburg intelligence service, the Polizeihofstelle in Vienna. On October 7, 1806, the Imperial Court Chamberlain and Police Minister, the arch-conservative Baron Joseph Thaddäus von Sumerau, ordered local officials throughout the Habsburg lands to gather for eventual burning, all materials relating to the invitations to the synagogues of Europe, to send delegates to Paris for Napoleon's Grand Sanhedrin (February 9, 1807). Did this special Austrian police operation perhaps also net some copies of Napoleon's earlier proclamations to the Jews? Or is this 1806 police effort just a contemporary example proving that, in those days, the Habsburg security services did in fact set about systematically collecting and destroying Napoleon documents addressed to the Jews?
The early 19th century generally accepted that Napoleon had indeed issued a proclamation inviting the Jews to return to their ancestral homeland. But during last one hundred years, the astonishing progress of practical, political Zionism has given opponents incentive to reject the historicity of the one or more messages which the 29-year-old revolutionary general is said to have sent to the Jewish People, during his 1799 campaign in the Holy Land. This territory was then included within the 18th-century French understanding of Greater or Ottoman Syria, where Napoleon himself judged "Jews were quite numerous."
Napoleon was hungry for glory. From youth invoking the names of the great men of ancient history, he regularly included the storied Achaemenid ruler Cyrus the Great (d. 530 BCE) who famously sent Jews back to their homeland and authorized the building of the Second Temple. "I am Cyrus," said former USA President Harry Truman in 1953 when, five years after the fact, he was trying to take full credit for creating the State of Israel. Exactly like Truman, the Napoleon of 1797-9 felt the weight of both history and posterity.
This probably made it easy for him to grasp that helping the Jews return to their ancestral homeland would be the kind of deed likely to win him lasting fame. Pertinently, Napoleon claimed to have (December 19, 1798): "respect for Moses and the Jewish People, the cosmogony of which takes us back to the earliest times" (respect pour Moïse et la nation juive, dont la cosmogonie nous retrace les âges les plus reculés).
Such deference to biblical Jews was exact counterpart to his respect for the ancient Greeks. In exile on Saint Helena (1815-1821), he reminisced about his revolutionary enthusiasm for freeing the Greeks: "What glory to him who will liberate Greece! His name will be engraved beside that of Homer, Plato and Epaminondas. I nourished such a hope when [in 1796-7] I was fighting in Italy."
Significantly, the two different territories that had once been ancient Greece and the biblical "Land of Israel" (Heb: אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל Eretz Yisrael) were then both part of the Ottoman Empire, with its capital in Constantinople. Also called Turkey, this State then dominated most of the Near and Mideast. It was ruled by the Ottoman Sultan who was importantly also the Sunnite Muslim caliph. Though ultimately mistaken, Napoleon was (August 16, 1797) dead certain that the Ottoman Empire would fall during his lifetime.
Posthumous portrait of Napoleon's father Carlo Buonaparte.
He graduated as a Doctor in Law from the University of Pisa.
The Buonapartes were a cosmopolitan, noble family that spoke
proper Italian and always kept ties with their ancestral Tuscany.
Man of the Mediterranean
Napoleon was born a subject of France's King Louis XV, because just before Napoleon's birth (August 15, 1769) in Ajaccio, the French took control of the island of Corsica that for centuries had been linked with Genoa. But by origin, little "Napoleone" was ethnically 100% Italian, though eventually he became the most prominent French revolutionary. He was son of a noble Tuscan family that always kept ties to the Italian mainland. For example, his politically talented father Carlo and his older brother Giuseppe both graduated from the University of Pisa, where some Jewish students were also studying.
The circumstance that the Buonapartes were generally sophisticated and cosmopolitan matches the role of Italian as the main Mediterranean language of diplomacy from the 15th to the 17th century. In the 18th-century, Italian plays somewhat less of a role in diplomacy, but nonetheless remains the Mediterranean's principal, international language of navigation, coastal business, and translation; and even more so, immediately after 1789, when France's trade, merchant marine, and naval power are diminished due to prolonged revolutionary turmoil. From the late Middle Ages until the early 19th century, Italian is the "foreign" tongue most widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean, where it was also one of the languages commonly used by Jews.
Napoleon's first language is Italian. Into his tenth year, his primary-school education is also in Italian. After seven years of nothing but French, he regains fluency in his mother tongue from 1787, during successive periods of leave on Corsica. There, he speaks and writes, also partly in Italian, during the revolutionary unrest of 1792. He spends 1796-7 fighting in Italy, where he has ample opportunity to use Italian. For example, probably originally written in Italian is his order appointing the members of the new Ancona municipality (February 10, 1797). By contrast, likely just for the official record is the later French translation (February 12, 1797) which carelessly omits two of the names. By 1798, Napoleon is at the very least virtually bilingual, as in Egypt, where he stipulates that secretary-interpreters can write to him in French or Italian (July 30, 1798).
The important point is that Napoleon grew up knowing much about the many different Peoples, languages and religions of the Mediterranean. He was also able to use Italian to speak directly to Mediterranean Jews. Thus, he understood Jews and Greeks to be similar as storied, age-old Peoples, then living partly under Ottoman rule and partly in broader diaspora. From his revolutionary perspective, he was confident that, whether with regard to Greeks or Jews, the "spirit of liberty" ensured that national awakening was already on the horizon.
"All the religions are equal"
The French Revolution (1789-1799) was all about rejecting the heritage of the Middle Ages. Then, Western civilization had been literally synonymous with the Roman-Catholic Church. A true son of the Revolution, Napoleon in the 1790s was resolutely anticlerical. This mostly means that he strongly opposed the universalist pretensions of the Catholic Church. Thus, he vigorously championed the new idea that all the religions are equal, both internationally and domestically. This "equality" principle is cosmetic, but logically accommodates the three fundamental, revolutionary propositions that all the particular, historical religions are equally: subject to the civil power; mistaken; and destined to be canceled by progressive enlightenment.
As First Consul, Emperor, and then in exile, Napoleon became markedly more respectful of Catholicism. But, the younger, revolutionary Napoleon ideologically imagined that growing international enthusiasm for the "spirit of liberty" would eventually sweep away the prejudice of longstanding religious attachments (August 16, 1797):
The fanaticism for freedom, which has already started to spread in [Orthodox] Greece, will be more powerful there than the fanaticism of religion. There, le grand peuple [the Revolutionary French Nation] will find more friends than will the [Orthodox] Russian people.
But, this younger Napoleon had underestimated the endurance and hostility of Greek Orthodoxy. For example, consider the Republic's brief occupation and annexation (1797-9) of the (formerly Venetian) Ionian Islands, off the coast of Greece. There, French revolutionaries openly scorned the illiteracy and superstitious, religious fanaticism of the mostly Orthodox population. And for their part, the Orthodox islanders were profoundly alienated by the sudden intrusion of revolutionary secularism. For example, they were scandalized that the French revolutionaries regularly refused last rites and were buried without crosses.
Sincere outrage was also sparked by revolutionary emancipation of the islands' Jews who were deeply despised by the local Christians, whether Orthodox or Catholic. Sent to the Ionian Islands to craft anti-Ottoman propaganda and to organize the provisional government, Antoine-Vincent Arnault reported back to Napoleon that antisemitism was exploited to spark reactionary resistance to French rule (September 16, 1797): "On Corfu, hatred for the Jews was used as a way to encourage the people to revolt" (à Corfou on avait tenté de porter le peuple à la révolte, en profitant de sa haine contre les juifs).
As General-in-Chief of France's Army of Italy, l'armée d'Italie (1796-7), Napoleon repeatedly pointed to the need for the Revolutionary French Republic to take control of Egypt. According to the London Evening Mail (July 15-18, 1798), Napoleon in 1797 borrowed all the Mideast books from the Milan Public Library. Despite such extensive study in both Italian and French, he was gravely mistaken in optimistically anticipating that France would be able to win the loyalty of Muslims, via enlightened, revolutionary government. Consequently, he was also wrong to think that he would easily find large numbers of Muslim recruits for his future Army of the East, l'armée d'Orient (September 13, 1797):
With [revolutionary] armies like ours, for which all the religions are equal -- Muslims, Copts, Arabs, idolators, etc. -- all of that is completely irrelevant; we would respect the one just like the others.
"All the religions are equal" was still his principle aboard his flagship sailing from Malta to Alexandria. Then, he instructed his troops to be tolerant and respectful of Islam, with significant comparisons that by design thrice referred to Judaism ahead of Christianity (June 22, 1798):
Act toward them [the Muslims] as we have acted toward the Jews and the [Roman-Catholic] Italians; respect their muftis and their imams as you have the rabbis and the bishops. Have for the rites required by the Koran, for the mosques, the same tolerance that you have had for the convents, for the synagogues, for the religion of Moses and for that of Jesus Christ. The [ancient] Roman legions protected all the religions.
Just as in Greece, so too in the Mideast, Napoleon was eventually to learn some practical lessons about the stubborn staying power of religion. In July 1798, he arrived in Egypt thinking that it would be easy to co-opt Muslims with philo-Islamic proclamations and letters, and public ceremonies celebrating the Prophet Muhammad. But hard experience soon proved otherwise -- even though Napoleon: recognized a special role for Islam in the government of Egypt; repeatedly denied the divinity of Christ; and tried hard to convince Mideast Muslims that he was not just another Catholic Crusader.
Later, on Saint Helena, his Italian-speaking, Irish physician, Barry Edward O'Meara significantly asked him about "his reasons for having encouraged the Jews so much." Napoleon replied in Italian, "There were a great many Jews in the countries I reigned over." As First Consul of the Republic, he had already told the Council of State (June 1801): "Quant aux juifs, c'est une nation à part" (as for the Jews, they are a nation apart). On Saint Helena, he replied to O'Meara in Italian, using the word "nation" (and also "tribe") to describe the Jews. But, Napoleon simultaneously saw them as fellow citizens practicing the religion of Judaism.
Such shared citizenship allowed Napoleon to segue to the topic of laïcisme, his revolutionary ideas about the separation of Church and State. Thus, O'Meara was privileged to listen to Napoleon, speaking in Italian, describe the secularist thoughts that best matched his anticlerical stance, with regard to Italy from 1796 to 1798 (first published 1822):
I wanted to establish a universal liberty of conscience. My system was to have no predominant religion, but to allow perfect liberty of conscience and of thought, to make all men equal, whether Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Deists or others. [...] My intention was to render everything belonging to the state and the constitution, purely civil, without reference to any religion. I wished to deprive the [Catholic] priests of all influence and power in civil affairs, and to oblige them to confine themselves to their own spiritual matters, and meddle with nothing else.
Napoleon's own propaganda organ, Le Courrier de l'Armée d'Italie, in August and September 1797, repeatedly opposed exclusive, dominant or special privileges for the Catholic Church which was tarred as fanatical and intolerant. In the same vein, Talleyrand (formerly a Bishop) explained to the Directory (November 5, 1797): "The disfavor in which the Catholic religion (le culte catholique) finds itself in [public] opinion is a natural consequence of the opposition which has always existed between it and the republican system."
Le Courrier de l'Armée d'Italie regularly advocated equality of all the particular "cults" (including Judaism) under the required supremacy of the secular law, as authorized by a republican constitution. This equality principle was also the cumulative effect of specific provisions that Napoleon had recently inserted in the Constitution of the Cisalpine Republic, with its capital in Milan. He signed the Cisalpine constitution on July 8, 1797, as "Bonaparte, in the name of the French Republic."
Therein, everybody had a new constitutional right to practice the religion of his own free choice. Compulsory financial contributions (tithing) to support any faith were prohibited. Religious ministers of all the cults were excluded from government, whether as legislators or officials. Nor could ministers of any faith exercise their religious functions, if by "demerit" they had lost the confidence of the revolutionary government. Ecclesiastical censorship was abolished. This last provision was extremely important in Italy, where the Catholic Inquisition was, during the 18th century, still arbitrarily banning, expurgating and revising Hebrew books and manuscripts.
Especially in the Italian context, these constitutional measures were breathtaking. Certainly, they provoked deep dismay and hot anger among many hundreds of thousands of reactionaries in Italy. These 1797 revolutionary reforms literally disempowered Italian Catholicism and thus suddenly enhanced the rights of Jews and Judaism; but only for a short time, until the widespread pogroms (1798-9) of the triumphant counter-revolution in Italy.
Jews in the late revolutionary period
A renewed focus on Jewish rights emerged several years after revolutionaries had executed (January 21, 1793) Louis XVI, King of France. The contemporary context was the eve of the War of the Second Coalition (1798-1802), pitting several European monarchies and the Ottoman Empire against the Revolutionary French Republic (la grande nation) and its satellite republics. Then, revolutionary and republican rhetoric still trumpeted the new political principle of the self-determination of Peoples. Later we shall see abundant evidence that in 1798-9 prominent revolutionaries, exactly because they were doctrinally so hostile to the Catholic Church, were all the readier to see the Jews as an age-old and famous People "bent under the yoke of princes."
While other French generals were doing likewise in parts of Germany, Napoleon implemented key revolutionary ideology by emancipating the Jews of Italy. Specifically, he abolished the ghettos (1796-7) during his spectacular conquest of the Italian peninsula and the Venetian islands of the Ionian Sea, close to Greece. Suddenly, Jews in Italy and on the Ionian Islands got equal rights of citizenship and immediately began participating in the new order as soldiers, sailors, officials, envoys, emissaries, agents and spies.
The revolutionary human-rights agenda was also international. Thus, the Minister of External Relations, Charles Delacroix wrote to Napoleon and General Henry Jacques Clarke about their ongoing negotiations with the reactionary Austrians in Italy. Specifically, Delacroix says the Executive Directory wants them to seek release from Austrian jails of two political prisoners, neither Jewish. The first is prominent Polish revolutionary "Hugues Kolloutay" (Hugo Kołłątaj), held in Olmütz. According to Delacroix (July 6, 1797): "The second is [Scipione] Piattoli, a distinguished Italian man of letters, for six years imprisoned in Prague, for having written about the necessity to accord civil rights to the Jews and to the third-estate."
In the late 1790s, the revolutionary press was mostly philosemitic. The tendency was to portray Jews positively, including as soldiers and sailors fighting for the Revolutionary French Republic. This aspect was confirmed by Napoleon on Saint Helena. There, speaking Italian, he told O'Meara that emancipating the Jews had provided him with "many soldiers." For better or worse, Jews were then perceived as partisans of the Revolution which was, at the same time, characteristically anti-Catholic.
France marches east!
Legislator and diplomat, François Barbé-Marbois, on June 26, 1797, spoke to the Republic's upper chamber, le Conseil des Anciens about secret agents and the conduct of France's foreign relations, as reported in Le Moniteur (July 2, 1797):
The most important operations are consummated, not in his [Minister of External Relations] offices, but rather under the tent of the generals of the Republic. That is to say, it is the bayonet that cuts the quills of our policies, and it is the War Department that picks up the expense of our negotiations.
From mid 1797, General Bonaparte became the Ottoman Empire's next-door neighbor in the region of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas -- pertinently including Ancona (Italy); the Ionian Islands; and enclaves on the Balkan coast at Butrinto, Parga, Preveza and Vonizza. There, la division française du Levant (French division of the Levant) was under the command of Napoleon as General-in-Chief of the Army of Italy. Napoleon shared his strategic insight with the Directory (August 16, 1797):
The islands of Corfu, Zante and Cephalonia are of greater interest for us than all of Italy combined. I believe that, if we were forced to choose, it would be better to restore Italy to the [Habsburg] Emperor and keep the four islands which are a source of wealth and prosperity for our commerce. The empire of the Turks is crumbling day by day; the possession of these islands will put us in a position to support it as long as that will be possible, or to take our share of it.
Napoleon's mouthpiece Le Courrier de l'Armée d'Italie described his signature (October 18, 1797) of the Treaty of Campo-Formio with Austria (November 4, 1797):
It is said that the French Republic also acquires Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Cerigo and several parts of the territory of Venetian Albania, adjacent to these islands. This new situation opens more than a hope for the future.
Revolutionaries target Ottomans
Soon, the Ottoman Near East was swarming with French agents and awash in revolutionary propaganda, as 1797-8 reports to Constantinople from Turkish regional officials repeatedly indicated. The Sultan's worst fears were confirmed by the Directory's mouthpiece, the Paris daily newspaper Le Moniteur (February 13, 1798): "Sudden revolution [in the Ottoman Empire] will be the fruit of Greek-language writings which arrive in profusion and which are distributed among the People to prepare them for a great change."
In 1797-8, Livorno, Rome, Pisa and Venice had Hebrew-language presses and Jewish typesetters ready to meet the needs of the new revolutionary order. Moreover, Napoleon was then personally directing the positioning of presses, equipped with characters for printing propaganda in French; Italian; Greek; Arabic; and also in Ottoman-Turkish, which notably was then the predominant language of government across the Near and Mideast.
From Mombello, Napoleon orders his fellow Corsican, the Italian-speaking, General Antoine Gentili to mount a secret expedition to quickly seize the Venetian island of Corfu. He also suggests that Gentili take along five or six Corsican officers, also able to speak the local language of government (Italian) and accustomed to dealing with Mediterranean islanders (May 26, 1797):
If the inhabitants of the country are well disposed to independence [from Venice], you are to flatter their taste. Do not fail to speak of [ancient] Greece, Athens and Sparta in the various proclamations which you will make.
Napoleon adds that he is sending "distinguished man of letters" Arnault to Corfu to: provide Napoleon with detailed reports about the situation of the Ionian Islands and the adjacent Balkan coast; help organize the civil administration; and assist Gentili in "the production of manifestos." The aim of these proclamations is to stir revolutionary feeling in the Ottoman Balkans. To the point, Napoleon wrote from Milan to Arnault (July 30, 1797):
I want you to start Greek-language printing on Corfu, from where you will establish your communications with the Maniotes, and with Albania via the enclaves that we possess there. In this way, we can from time to time circulate there, some writings that might enlighten the Greeks and prepare the renaissance of freedom (la liberté) in this most interesting part of Europe.
Thus, a press dispatched to Corfu printed a proclamation in Greek and Italian, announcing that "with the establishment of a press, those kings still sitting on their shaky thrones tremble, their iron yoke has been lifted from off the necks of the people by revolution." That same press was soon used to print, pertinently in Italian, the lectures (discorsi) delivered in the synagogue on Corfu. Italian was one of the languages commonly used by Italian and Adriatic Jews, and also easily read by many Jews of Salonika, the Aegean Islands, and other places of the Eastern Mediterranean.
For sure, Greeks are not the only target of such revolutionary propaganda. This is clear from careful reading of an October 25, 1797 letter from Constantinople, printed at Wesel (Prussia) in the newspaper, Courrier du Bas-Rhin, as cited in Frankfurt am Main, in the French-language, Journal de Francfort (December 15, 1797):
The warnings which the Sublime Porte continues to get from the Pashas, commanding in Albania and in its Western possessions, absolutely contradict the assurances which the ambassador of France has again given to it recently, on the subject of the spread of revolutionary principles. Their reports in this regard are very alarming for the government. They positively announce that it is sought to incite the peoples (soulever les peuples) by means of propagandists whose number and audacity increase more and more. [...] Some of the Sultan's ministers appear to be persuaded by the protests of the ambassador, but others claim to know that the French are trying to ignite Greece (soulever la Grèce), in order to get for themselves considerable support in the Archipelago, in the event of war. Whatever it might be, it is most certain and even proven by the fact that the French principles are already spread in the capital of the Sultans, and even much closer to the walls of the palace (Sérail) than the Ottoman ministers imagine. They are propagated among all the classes of the inhabitants (parmi toutes les classes des habitans), and their progress, although silent, cannot fail to become deadly for a government as despotic as that of the Turks. Most of the Greeks, among others (entre autres), are so imbued with these new principles, that when they compare their present state to freedom (la liberté) and equality, they are practically ecstatic, and even ready to pass from ecstasy to frenzy.
To radicalize the Peoples of the Ottoman Empire, Napoleon and his agents were regularly using proclamations, pamphlets, leaflets, letters, poems, songs, music, pictures; and also symbols like red caps, tricolor cockades and liberty trees.
Propaganda to justify attacking Egypt
During early 1798, Napoleon was mostly in Paris. On February 23rd, he suggested that "an expedition to the Levant to threaten the trade of the Indies" might perhaps be more feasible than an invasion of England. On March 5th, the Directory agreed that he would undertake the campaign in Egypt. On April 12th, he was officially appointed General in Chief of "the Army of the East," l'armée d'Orient. This, the official name of his command, was initially a secret, in order to keep everyone guessing about his final destination. Thus, from late winter into spring, he was already in charge of every aspect of the great Egypt project, likely including preparation of pertinent propaganda. This communications effort was simultaneously aimed at advancing both his own political career and the foreign-policy goals of the Revolutionary French Republic.
Under the government of the Revolutionary Directory, the influential Paris weekly La Décade philosophique was, ideologically, France's premier periodical. It was religiously read by the Republic's leadership and most certainly by Napoleon, who for a time carefully cultivated close relations with its editors and writers. Many of them were identified as among the outstanding intellectuals dubbed "les idéologues." They were also prominently represented in the new Institut National, where Napoleon was proudly a member from 1797.
Formerly a Roman-Catholic monk, Joachim Le Breton
was one of the editors of the highly influential journal
La Décade philosophique.
Likely party to the great secret that the French army would soon set sail for Alexandria was the former Catholic monk, Joachim Le Breton. He was a senior official of the Ministry of the Interior, a member of the Institut National, and one of the editors of La Décade philosophique. He was then playing a prominent part in government handling of the abundant art treasures that Napoleon had looted during his first campaigns in Italy (1796-7). Le Breton later supported Napoleon's coup d'État that ended the French Revolution (November 1799). With the fall of Napoleon's regime, Le Breton fled to Brazil, where he died in 1819.
Maybe at Napoleon's request, Le Breton hastened to write "Considerations on Egypt and Syria and the Power of the English in India." In the normal course, Napoleon might perhaps have first tried to entrust this task to his revered mentor, the famed Mideast expert and philosopher of history, Constantin Volney who was also a member of the Institut National. However, Volney had not yet returned from a three-year stay in the United States.
"Considerations on Egypt and Syria"
"Considerations on Egypt and Syria and the Power of the English in India" is a two-part article (signed "L.B." for Le Breton) published in April 1798, both in La Décade philosophique on the 9th and the 19th, and in the Paris daily newspaper La Clef du Cabinet des Souverains on the 16th and the 30th. This lengthy essay is based on geopolitical ideas that had long been discussed by 18th-century French diplomats.
In "Considerations," Le Breton offers nothing less than a strategic and moral justification (la mission civilisatrice) for the intended French invasion and colonization of Egypt and Greater Syria. Those two regions are specifically identified as new venues for large-scale European settlement, instead of the Americas. Napoleon too then thought that those two Mideast places ought to be extensively colonized by Europeans. In this colonial connection, Le Breton believes that Jews have special attributes that could significantly help France in its global struggle against England (April 19, 1798):
Everywhere, they [Jews] display sobriety, persistence, industry, activity. They have capital and commercial connections. These qualities and these means are not utilized as efficiently as they might be for their own benefit and for the broader society. It is therefore worthy of the attention of an enlightened government to consider whether it would be easy to do better in this regard, and thereby get for itself both advantage and glory.
Le Breton fantasizes that Jews are so rich that they are capable of underwriting the cost of regenerating not only Syria but Egypt too: "Their fortunes are easy to transport; men and gold will flow; they will supply enough, not only to make industry flourish, but to meet the expenses of the revolution in Syria and Egypt."
With greater accuracy, Le Breton highlights the Jewish People's longevity; and its enduring love for its aboriginal homeland, the city of Jerusalem and the site of the Temple. Indicting Christian bigotry, he portrays the Jews as a long-persecuted People of perhaps three million. Referring to "the destiny of this people," Le Breton judges Jews capable of forming "the body of a nation" in "Palestine." To that place, "they would rush from the four corners of the globe if given the signal." They will be won over to "our Revolution" and forever grateful to France. Here, Le Breton is clearly inspired by the then prominent idea of la grande nation, though that particular phrase does not appear in the text.
Le Breton is perhaps following the playbook of the French philosopher Voltaire. On July 6, 1771, Voltaire had written a letter (published 1784) to the Empress Catherine of Russia who was waging war (1768-1774) against the Ottomans. Therein, Voltaire suggests that she use her influence with her Egyptian partner, the Mamluk potentate Ali Bey, "to have the temple of Jerusalem rebuilt, and there to recall all the Jews." Normally, Voltaire is sharply critical of both Jews and Judaism. Thus, in his letter to Catherine the Great, his real intention is more likely to spite the Catholic Church, his usual target. Though Le Breton does not refer to Voltaire, he mentions Ali Bey's alleged offer to sell Jerusalem to the Jews of Livorno.
As an ex-monk, Le Breton had to have known that, in returning devout Jews to their aboriginal homeland, the Revolutionary French Republic would (apart from anything else) be joining the revered Voltaire in mocking Catholic doctrine. This stipulated that mass conversion to Christianity was the prerequisite to the restoration of the Jews. For revolutionaries, it was a bonus that sending hundreds of thousands of authentic, unconverted Jews back to Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל) would outrage Catholics, by contradicting key Christian prophecy about the end of days.
The Paris daily l'Ami des Lois (June 8, 1798).
This newspaper was reputed to express the views of the
Revolutionary-French Government and to be
sometimes financed by the Ministry of the General Police.
Lettre d'un Juif à ses frères
The anonymous "Letter from a Jew to His Brothers" attracted much attention in both France and beyond, partly because it occupied (June 8, 1798) the whole front page of the daily newspaper l'Ami des Lois, known to be especially close to the Directory, and sometimes financed by the Ministry of the General Police. For example, l'Ami des Lois was recognized as "halb-offizielle" (semi-official) by the Allgemeine Zeitung of Munich (May 13, 1799).
World Jewry is encouraged to organize itself to ask France to negotiate with Turkey for establishing a Jewish government in Jerusalem. That is the crux of this rather strange article, which is most probably government propaganda, principally designed to prepare the public for eventual receipt of the astonishing news of the French invasion of Egypt. Able to write in Italian, the unknown author is a clever, lateral thinker, who is skillfully able to kill four birds with one stone. Namely, the rhetoric here speaks to the dreams of France, revolutionaries, Christians and Jews.
We shall see that revolutionaries are the primary audience. However, Lettre d'un Juif is designed to simultaneously appeal to Jews and Christians, both of whom are expected to enjoy the reference to Jerusalem as "this sacred city" (cette cité sacrée). Also with some resonance among Jews is the mostly Christian concept, "l'empire de Jérusalem" (the empire of Jerusalem). This millenarian expression is exploited to ensure that the imminent news of the French landing in Alexandria will spark thoughts, among Jews about return to Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל), and among Christians about the onset of the end of days.
Lettre d'un Juif could not have been completed before March 1798, because it refers to the birth of the Revolutionary Roman Republic (February 15th) and too perfectly dovetails with the new (March 5th) secret plan for the military occupation of Ottoman Egypt. To the point, Lettre d'un Juif is likely companion to this great official secret.
Napoleon had been writing and publishing propaganda since the age of 21, as in his Letter to Buttafoco (1791) and the Supper at Beaucaire (1793). Le Courrier de l’armée d’Italie and La France vue de l’armée d’Italie were two newspapers which Napoleon had created, in summer 1797, to spread his own ideas and advance his political ambitions.
The long history of Napoleon's propaganda reveals that he liked experimenting with various literary genres and voices. To the point, he relished role playing, including writing both for and from the parochial viewpoint of particular religions or nationalities. He occasionally penned anonymous items for insertion in various newspapers. Based on the generous personal attention that Napoleon had given to such anonymous newspaper propaganda in Italy, we can guess that a key, strategic, government item like Lettre d'un Juif is maybe from his pen or perhaps prepared under his control, at some time before he sailed from Toulon on May 19th.
Readers of l'Ami des Lois are specifically told: "Be assured that the philosophy which guides the leaders of this sublime nation [the Revolutionary French Republic] would cause them to welcome our request." If not Napoleon, who is Anonymous that he can so authoritatively promise that France's rulers would approve the plan for Jewish return to the ancestral homeland?
Lettre d'un Juif highlights both "Israelites" and "Jews." Shifting terminology as to the name of this People does not distance us from Napoleon. To be noted is a March 1789 workbook where, in the space of a single page, young Napoleon uses all three of the terms Hebrews, Israelites and Jews.
Lettre d'un Juif specifically says that it is "translated from the Italian" (traduite de l'italien). But, this explicit translation claim has been dismissed as a device for concealing the supposed fact that the original version is the French text, just as published. A possible motive for falsely alleging a translation from a foreign language might perhaps be to suggest that the writer is truly at arm's length from the French government. But if so, why arbitrarily choose Italian, when Hebrew would so obviously be a cover story more plausible and also more distant from the Directory and Napoleon? By contrast to such linguistic speculation, there is fair certainty that Napoleon was by 1798 practically bilingual, and therefore capable of writing Lettre d'un Juif, whether in French or Italian.
So, why would Napoleon opt to write the original version of Lettre d'un Juif in Italian? Firstly, he was unable to write in Hebrew. Secondly, he knew from personal experience that many Mediterranean Jews were able to read Italian which, in the 18th century, was still the commercial, coastal language of international business, all the way from Gibraltar to Constantinople. Thirdly, it is clear that Lettre d'un Juif was never intended to be exclusively for Jews, which also explains its prominent publication in French translation.
Starting no later than 1797, Napoleon was aiming revolutionary propaganda at all the subject Peoples of the Ottoman Empire. In this clear communications context, revolutionary agents in mid-1798 were perhaps also circulating printed leaflets of the Italian original of Lettre d'un Juif, including to Jews of Italy, the Adriatic and the Ottoman Empire. Was this really so? With such ephemera, it is (by definition) seldom possible to know. In any event, Lettre d'un Juif 's Italian pedigree remains key, including because Napoleon's conquest of Italy has to play a big part in any attempt to solve the related riddle of his invitations to the Jews to return to their ancestral homeland.
When Lettre d'un Juif was published in Paris on June 8th, it was widely known that Napoleon's invasion fleet was already at sea. But, its final destination was still a puzzle, with European speculation intense. Thus, the general public did not then know that Napoleon's ships were poised to take Malta, and thereafter destined for Alexandria. This news blackout was confirmed by the Neueste Weltkunde of Tübingen (July 24, 1798):
Two months have passed since Buonaparte set sail: and the world's expectation, the lack of knowledge about his real plan, is now just as great as at the moment of his departure. All that we can say to date, and even this only partially, is where he is not going -- not to Portugal, not to the British Isles: but the real target of his undertaking, which should astonish Europe, is still the best kept mystery.
Understanding Lettre d'un Juif requires sharp focus on the precise extent of the territory at issue in the text. Remarkably, this is not just a part of the "Holy Land" (la Terre sainte), but notably also "lower Egypt" (la basse Égypte). The latter country was then ruled by Mamluk Beys who paid lip service to Ottoman suzerainty. According to Lettre d'un Juif:
The territory which we [Jews] propose to occupy will include, subject to arrangements that will be agreeable to France, lower Egypt (la basse Égypte), with the territory bounded by a line that will depart from Ptolémaïde or Saint-Jean d'Acre to the Lake of Asphalt, or the Dead Sea, and from the southern point of this lake as far as the Red Sea.
Lettre d'un Juif 's striking inclusion of two key elements, namely "la basse Égypte" and proposed Franco-Ottoman negotiations reveals an underlying truth. Anonymous is probably a powerful, regime insider who writes Lettre d'un Juif inspired by the top secret knowledge that the Nile Delta is the French fleet's final destination, and that the invasion is expected to trigger early Constantinople talks for Ottoman approval of France's rule in Egypt.
At that time, Talleyrand was already secretly telling the Directory that, in return, France could promise to help the Turks reconquer the Crimea from Russia. Before leaving France (May 19, 1798), Napoleon sincerely believed that Talleyrand would soon go to Constantinople to convince the Turks that the French role in Egypt served the true interests of the Ottoman Empire.
Maybe written by Napoleon himself, Lettre d'un Juif is fully auxiliary to a complex French plan of attack, and subsequent diplomacy. Its ostensible purpose is to revolutionize Jews generally, and to get them to financially support France's Mideast project. But, the urgent subtext is finding some added revolutionary justification for what would otherwise be nothing more than a cynical scenario for French gain in Egypt. Such additional revolutionary pretext would help make France's Mideast expansion morally praiseworthy.
Further moral justification was all the more necessary, because there had been some sharp criticism of the ruthless Realpolitik in the October 1797 Treaty of Campo-Formio. There, Napoleon had bought peace with France's hereditary enemy, the Habsburgs, via extinction of the age-old Republic of Venice and the partitioning with Austria of the various Venetian territories.
However, this time Realpolitik would not be buying peace, but rather mounting an unprovoked French attack on distant Egypt. Thus, additional revolutionary pretext was urgently needed to paint this imminent aggression as something other than a reprehensible land grab. Certainly to be avoided at all costs was comparison with the infamous partitions of Poland, the last of which had occurred as recently as 1795.
The shocking extinction of Poland still featured as blameworthy in Talleyrand's arguments for the Directory (February 13, 1798). This must have occurred to Napoleon too, because thousands of veterans of the failed Polish revolution had joined his Army of Italy. In Milan, there had been "a gathering of Poles around Buonaparte," wrote the Paris daily newspaper, Le Conservateur (September 28, 1797). Therein articulated was the sacred, revolutionary goal, "Poland rendered free and a republic." In Lettre d'un Juif, Anonymous wants readers to view his plan for return of the Jews, as a laudable revolutionary aim, just like the idea of restoring Polish independence. Poland does not feature in the text but is key revolutionary context.
Chock full of judaica is the April 19th article in La Décade philosophique, by ex-monk Le Breton. By contrast, Lettre d'un Juif boldly doubles world Jewish population to an improbable six million, and suspiciously lacks much convincing information about Jews, Judaism and Jewish history. For example, the period from mid 1795 until early 1798 is mostly an emancipating moment for many of the Jews of Western Europe. But, adhering to the contemporary revolutionary ideology, Lettre d'un Juif purposely portrays Jews as little more than a cardboard caricature of unrelenting victimhood.
Moreover, what 1799 Jew would write an appeal to world Jewry in Italian instead of Hebrew; pen a document bisecting the sacred, historic territory of Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל), with a straight line running from Acre to the Dead Sea; and describe Jews as possessing "immense riches," but outwardly pretending to be poor and miserable in order to guard their wealth? Thus, we have to seriously doubt that Lettre d'un Juif is really written by a Jew.
Like Napoleon, Anonymous has a passion for antiquity that prompts him to thrice salute the "courage" of the ancient Jews (66-73 CE) who were finally forced to yield the "Holy Land" to the Romans. This reiterated compliment matches Napoleon's penchant for publicly praising classical heroes. "This courage is only dormant, the hour of awakening has arrived." Here, Anonymous shares Napoleon's firm belief that the Peoples of the world are now being roused from sleep by the spirit of liberty, which revolutionaries regard as the great force of the age.
Also invoked is the "horrific memory" of the grim siege of Jerusalem (70 CE). For this remark, did Anonymous rely on History of the Jewish War, by the first-century commander and historian, Yosef ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus)? If so, take note that Napoleon was certainly familiar with this famous Jewish work.
Napoleon's writing frequently invokes classical antiquity as a companion to expressions of patriotic and revolutionary enthusiasm. In the same way, Lettre d'un Juif segues to fervent commitment to the notion of France as la grande nation, though that specific phrase is lacking. "Generous", "sublime" and "loyal" are adjectives which Anonymous selects to flatter France. He sees global relations, with France as the "invincible nation which now fills the world with its glory."
Anonymous suggests that, to its great financial and commercial advantage, France should mediate between Turks and Jews and, via smart diplomacy, win the consent of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III for the return of the "Israelites." Based in both Egypt and the Holy Land, "Jews" are expected to play a great role in international trade, and to importantly help France blunt England's worldwide economic advantage. We shall soon see some proof (in connection with Ancona, Alexandria and France) that Napoleon too thought Jews to be an important stimulus to international trade.
In this three-party transaction, Anonymous imagines world Jewry to be represented by a proposed council of fifteen Jews who would meet in Paris. They would be deputies selected by the various Jewish communities "in Europe, in Asia, in Africa." Such rythmic invocation of the continents recalls Napoleon whose writing repeatedly has such exciting references to expansive geography. Identically with fifteen members is the Ancona municipal council that Napoleon had invented in February 1797. Moreover, Anonymous's plan for a Paris-based Jewish council, empowered to make binding decisions, is so strikingly similar to Napoleon's blueprint for the Grand Sanhedrin, which he initially (August 23, 1806) wanted open to Jews of all countries. On February 9, 1807, the Sanhedrin began with a service in Hebrew, French and Italian.
Just like Le Breton and Napoleon too, Anonymous prejudicially presumes that Jews possess "immense riches" and the ability to generate still more wealth to share with France and its traders:
Situated in the center of the world, our [Jewish] country will become the entrepot for all that is rich and precious. If France furnishes us with the help that will be necessary for us to return to and remain in our homeland, the [Jewish] council will offer the French government, firstly, financial compensation, etc. And, secondly, to share only with French merchants the trade of the Indies.
Mediating in Constantinople for control of Egypt and creation of a Jewish government in Jerusalem made some sense when Lettre d'un Juif was published. Then, both Napoleon and Talleyrand were still calculating that the imminent seizure of Mamluk Egypt could be achieved, without the Ottomans declaring war against France. Who before August 1, 1798 could foresee that on that day British Admiral Horatio Nelson would almost completely annihilate the French Fleet in Aboukir Bay?
Nelson's naval victory was a staggering blow not only to France's prestige but also to its capability in the Mediterranean. The Sultan's strategic calculus was dramatically altered. After Aboukir Bay, Turkey dared to actively wage war against France, with the aid of Russia and Britain. But, in the first half of 1798, Napoleon and Talleyrand were arguably rational in judging that Selim III would avoid fighting. They knew that the Ottoman ruler feared France's ability to project power all the way to Constantinople, and that he was too busy trying to suppress the great Balkan rebellion of the Pasha of Vidin, Osman Pasvanoğlu.
Lettre d'un Juif has an underlying agenda more focused on Egypt than the Holy Land. Napoleon and Anonymous both think geopolitically. Just like Napoleon, Anonymous understands the Holy Land as, strategically and commercially, part of the larger land bridge between the Red and Mediterranean Seas, and between the Asian and African continents. This means that the Holy Land is also the key eastern gateway to Egypt. Though France had long coveted Egypt, Lettre d'un Juif slyly reverses everything by cleverly subordinating Egypt to the Holy Land.
Readers are thoroughly distracted with the striking, apocalyptic term l'empire de Jérusalem. This millenarian expression is eminently convenient, because no such entity ever existed. Thus, there are no historic boundaries. This particular aspect of borderlessness is key for Anonymous, who spectacularly includes Egypt within l'empire de Jérusalem. He thereby associates his plan for restoration of the Jews with the main underlying idea -- namely, France will negotiate with the Ottomans about the future of Egypt. This crucial point about subsequent negotiation in Constantinople dovetails with the great State secret of the spring of 1798. Just like Napoleon, Anonymous seems to already know that France will negotiate, after first seizing Egypt by force of arms, with firm intent to colonize it, and hold it permanently as a revolutionary republic, satellite to la grande nation.
Anonymous shrewdly senses that Egypt also has heavy prophetic weight. To the point are the portentous events generally seen to herald the Redemption of the Jews and/or the Second Coming of Christ. The first prophetic sign is France's toppling of the Papal power. This Rome story is probably the single biggest news item of the first half of 1798. Octogenarian Pope Pius VI is carried away from the Vatican. Anonymous thus cleverly presumes that many across Europe are ready to receive news of the French invasion of Egypt as the second prophetic sign, the end of Muslim rule in the Mideast. For rabbis, these two omens are harbingers of Redemption; and for Protestant theologians, of the Second Coming. For example, see what "X" writes to the editor of the Gentlemen's Magazine of London about Egypt (September 1799):
It seems of little consequence whether we look for the rivers of Cush to the East or West of Judea, if the nation, by whose instrumentality the Jews are to be restored to the land of their forefathers, ... shall, at the time of the fulfilling of this prophecy, have the dominion over Egypt, and all those countries where Mahometanism is at present established.
Calling for l'empire de Jérusalem, Anonymous is probably savvy about Christian eschatology. He is likely aware that l'empire de Jérusalem features mostly in Christian millenarian discussion about the end of days. Thus, he purposely uses l'empire de Jérusalem to suggest to Christians everywhere that France would be doing God's work, by realizing famous prophecies about the restoration of the Jews. In Christian doctrine, the conversion and return of the Jews is prelude to the Second Coming of Christ, the parousia (παρουσία).
In a discreet bow to Christianity, Anonymous skillfully uses four dots to avoid having to reveal that an appreciable number of observant Jews are already living in Jerusalem and the other Jewish communities in the Holy Land: "14. Tribu Asiatique. Ceux qui habitent la Turquie d'Asie ...." (14. Asian Tribe. Those who inhabit Turkey in Asia ....). Significantly, no such dots for omission, mark the sometimes detailed descriptions of the fourteen other constituencies for electing the proposed Jewish deputies.
Anonymous is confident that revolutionaries do not care whether or not some practicing Jews are already living in Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל). He also knows that Jews themselves will automatically fill in the dots, with their own knowledge of the Holy Land Jews who for centuries were supported by the halukka (Heb: חלוקה) regularly paid by diaspora Jews, almost everywhere.
The author of Lettre d'un Juif is sure that Jews will devour his text with minds firmly focused on their millennial dream of return to "la patrie" (the homeland), Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל). Thus, he declaims: "We are going to return to our homeland. We are going to live under our own laws. We are going to see the sacred sites that our ancestors made famous by their courage and their virtues."
As for revolutionaries, they are expected to see l'empire de Jérusalem, as birth of a new republican jurisdiction -- the inauguration of some sort of local Jewish rule, dominion or government. Anonymous relies on revolutionaries to faithfully interpret l'empire de Jérusalem as a sister Jewish Republic, la République judaïque. This startling term "Jewish Republic" does not appear in Lettre d'un Juif, but features in Le Moniteur (August 3, 1798). Such a République judaïque would invariably follow the lead of la grande nation, because entirely dependent on France.
And, the Egyptian and Jewish Republics would not be the only French satellites in the Mideast. Below we shall see that, when Lettre d'un Juif was published, efforts were already underway to exploit the strong ethno-religious feelings of Maronites and Druze in the Lebanon, in order to further enhance France's future security in Egypt. In this connection, the famous mathematician and revolutionary statesman, Gaspard Monge sent Napoleon a letter covering a petition from Rome-based Maronite monks (March 28, 1798):
You will see, Citizen General, just how useful it may be for the interests of the French Republic to keep friends in Mount Lebanon, and whether the Directory might now do for them more than we thought permitted to us in the past.
At that time, Napoleon was a well-known opponent of the Catholic Church. However, Mideast Catholics like the Maronites were practically an exception, because still regionally useful as traditional protégés of France.
By contrast, the rigorous anti-Catholicism required by revolutionaries is expressed in Lettre d'un Juif 's relatively tactful indictment of "barbarous and intolerant religions" for preaching hatred towards Jews. The revolutionary response to such persistent persecution is, for Anonymous, a national program of liberty that would see the Jewish People return to its ancestral homeland:
The generous constancy with which we have preserved the faith of our ancestors, far from attracting to us the admiration which was our due, only increased the unjust hatred which all the nations hold against us. [...] It is finally time to shake off such an unbearable yoke, it is time to resume our rank among the nations. [...] The hour of awakening has come. Oh my brothers! Let us reestablish the empire of Jerusalem (l'empire de Jérusalem).
"Lettre d'un Juif" seen from abroad
In 1798, Lettre d'un Juif is generally taken seriously and understood as linked to Napoleon and the Directory. For example, pointing to nothing more than Lettre d'un Juif, the Paris newspaper Le Propagateur concludes (June 9): "The Jews regard Bonaparte as their Messiah."
By contrast, a faulty summary in the Paris newspaper La Feuille Universelle (June 9) creatively attributes authorship of Lettre d'un Juif to an unknown Italian Jew called "Mathéo." Such misinformation causes the Journal de Francfort (June 16) to write that "a Jew named Mathéo has just published in Italian a letter addressed to his brothers." The same flawed Paris résumé about Mathéo prompts the London Evening Mail (June 15-18) to initially miss the key aspects of the Directory, Napoleon, and Egypt.
However, the Hamburgische Neue Zeitung (June 20, 1798), via juxtaposition, implies that Jews financed Napoleon's Toulon expedition. Lettre d'un Juif is understood as detailing "a new, great project to be undertaken by the Jews." Those particular words, plus a detailed account of Lettre d'un Juif, suggestively follow directly after a few lines describing a boast by Napoleon in Paris that enough money for the Toulon expedition is available five times over.
The Paris press was regularly scrutinized in London, where the Lloyd's Evening-Post offers some canny analysis that directs a prescient eye to Egypt (June 25-27, 1798):
A report has lately circulated, with some degree of credit, that the intention of the French, in the late expedition from Toulon, is to attempt the restoration of the Jews. The idea has probably originated in a curious article contained in one of the last Paris Journals, purporting to be a plan for the re-establishment of the Empire of Jerusalem, under the aid and protection of the French. [...] The Jews are to receive their country from the Great Nation, and to become its tributaries. The conquest of Egypt was always a favourite idea, even under the old Government of France; it was at one time actually debated in Council, and was only negatived by the Count de Vergennes.
There is no doubt about Lettre d'un Juif 's official character in the Morning Chronicle and the Evening Mail, both of which (July 16, 1798) reprint verbatim the following paragraph from the St. James's Chronicle of London (July 12-14, 1798):
The French project of a Jewish Republic, however absurd and impracticable it may appear at the first blush, requires the utmost vigilance of the European Governments. The wealth and numbers of the Jews in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and England, if put into political motion, would be felt throughout Europe. It fortunately happens that the Jews are too sagacious a people to place their property under French protection.
Lettre d'un Juif is translated as "Restoration of the Jews: Letter from a Jew to his Brethren" in the St. James's Chronicle (July 14-17, 1798). This integral text convinces the astute Anglican preacher Henry Kett that "re-establishing the Jews in their own land" is well and truly a French government project. Therefore, he writes, History, the Interpreter of Prophecy. This three-volume bestseller, from Oxford University Press, wrestles with the possibility that the Revolutionary French Republic might unwittingly be God's instrument for "the restoration of the ancient chosen people of God to the land which He gave to their fathers" (1799):
Granting therefore that the Power of France should execute this project, instead of invalidating, it will confirm the truth of Prophecy, and afford another signal example of the over-ruling providence of God. The wicked and blaspheming Assyrian was the rod of His anger and executed [721 BCE] His judgments upon His people. The tremendous Anti-Christian Northern Power [France] which has been raised up to be the scourge of nations, shall "fulfill His will, though in his heart he means not so." The restoration of the Jews may be a part of their commission; and there are some reasons which make this not a very improbable supposition...
Ignoring Egypt but indicting the Directory, the following paragraph is printed verbatim in both the Evening Mail (July 18-20, 1798) and the St. James's Chronicle (July 19-21, 1798):
The project of the French to assemble the Jews in Palestine, with a view of restoring their ancient Republic, and of re-building Jerusalem, is not quite so absurd as it may appear at first sight. It will supply the Directory with many a specious pretense for extorting money, not only from those of that Nation, who believe in the re-establishment of the ancient Republic of the Jews, but also from those who, more attached to their private interest, or less credulous than the former, do not wish to quit their establishments in the land of the infidels. For who knows whether France does not intend to force all the Jews resident in her vast dominions, to proceed to Palestine, or to sell them the permission of remaining where they are. This measure would be perfectly analogous to the whole Directorial system of plunder.
Such sharp critique prompts the Neueste Weltkunde (August 11, 1798) to astonishment that "the English ministerial press" takes Lettre d'un Juif so seriously (für vollen Ernst). By contrast, the Neueste Weltkunde judges that Lettre d'un Juif is nothing more than banter (Persiflage). But, in London, the Morning Post and Gazetteer dissents (September 26, 1798): "Who will now treat the idea of restoring the Jews with ridicule? Buonaparte has already conquered Egypt and Palestine, and the slightest effort would reduce Palestine under his power."
Hopes high till French fleet sunk in Aboukir Bay
Shortly after publication of Lettre d'un Juif, Napoleon astonished the Mediterranean world by taking the mighty island fortress of Malta from the Roman-Catholic Order of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem (June 10, 1798). The impact was all the greater because, for centuries, the Knights had been infamous slavers capturing Muslims, Orthodox Greeks, and Jews. These unfortunates were sold, ransomed or kept to row the Maltese galleys.
Erfolgte Kapitulation zwischen dem General Bonaparte und dem Groß Meister
von Maltha, Vor der Hauptstadt Waletta zu Maltha, am 10. Juni 1798.
[Successful surrender between General Bonaparte and the Grand Master
of Malta, in front of the capital Valletta on Malta, on June 10, 1798.]
"May its name be wiped out!" was the accustomed rabbinic malediction for the Malta of the Knights of Saint John. From the 17th century, there was a Jewish prophecy that the final defeat of these Knights would be the first sign of Redemption. Such messianic thoughts were naturally stimulated by Napoleon's quick victory; his expulsion of the Knights from Malta; his dramatic freeing of the slaves, Jews too; and his establishment of Jewish civic rights. However, Maltese Catholics were dead certain that Jewish emancipation was a revolutionary attack on Christianity. To the point, they took deep umbrage at Napoleon's order (June 17, 1798): "Protection will be accorded to Jews wishing to establish a synagogue" (Il sera accordé protection aux Juifs qui voudraient établir une synagogue).
From Malta, Napoleon wrote in French to the commissary of the Revolutionary Republic in the newly annexed, and so provocatively named, French Département de la Mer-Égée (Department of the Aegean Sea). This French official was specifically ordered to inform the population of his département about the great victory of the Republic (June 14, 1798): "Also don't forget any means to publicize it to the Greeks of the Morea and the other [Ottoman provinces]."
An identical June 14th order from Napoleon on Malta took exactly four days to reach the central administration on Corfu. There, it provoked immediate issuance of a proclamation, as described in the French-language, Journal Politique de l'Europe of Mannheim (August 11, 1798):
The genius of victory, the hero of liberty has led the republican army to Malta, where he has hoisted the tricolor flag. The Order of the Knights of Malta is destroyed. This event is announced in General Bonaparte's letter which arrived today [June 20] at the central administration [of the Ionian Islands]. The Republic will cover the Mediterranean with victories. Also among us, we will see the hero who has established the happiness of these départements. French Greeks, Greeks of the Morea, descendants of the heroes of antiquity! Answer freedom's call which rings out along your shores! Bonaparte is in the Mediterranean: What is it that you cannot hope and obtain? Long live the Republic!
A month later, the French Embassy in Constantinople noted a directly-related conversation with the Phanariote Dragoman of the Porte, who held the second most important post in Ottoman foreign affairs (July 25, 1798):
Prince [Constantine] Ypsilanti showed to Citizen [Michel Ange Louis] Dantan [the French Dragoman] an Italian letter which this general [Napoleon] wrote from Malta to the Greeks of the Département of the Aegean Sea, and in which he invites them to announce the freedom (la liberté) of the Maltese, to the Greeks of the Peloponnese as a prelude to their own. "As dragoman of the divan," he added, "I cannot approve of the ambitious views of Citizen Bonaparte regarding Ottoman territory; but as a Greek, I curse a boastfulness that will cost the lives of more than 10,000 Greeks, ready to be massacred by the Turks."
Among Mediterranean Jews and Greeks, Napoleon's string of stunning victories increasingly triggered a soaring expectation that only climbed still further with his conquest of Ottoman Egypt from the local Mamluks (July 1798). National dreams of the early arrival of "liberty and equality" were fast rising until news spread of the virtual annihilation of Napoleon's fleet at Aboukir Bay (August 1, 1798). For example, Le Moniteur carried a July 21st report from London (August 3, 1798):
The Jews see the French Republic as the veritable messiah that was promised to them. In this regard, they cite Isaiah who revealed that, upon appearance of such and such signs, there would be rebirth of the Jewish Republic (République judaïque) and of the new architecture of the city of truth [Jerusalem], as the solemn meeting place of all the oppressed beings of the universe.
The French naval disaster in Egypt ended an exceptional period of growing anticipation when Napoleon was seen by many Jews as Messiah and by many Greeks as a second Alexander, destined to soon conquer Constantinople and liberate Turkey's subject Peoples. During that interval of heightened excitement, keen revolutionary hopes were purposely fed by Le Moniteur which persistently published reports of real or imagined rebellions, and several times predicted the imminent fall of the Ottoman Empire.
George Arnald (1827), end of the great French flagship L'Orient
at the Battle of Aboukir Bay, August 1, 1798.
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.
Close ties between Italian and Ottoman Jewry
The nature of the link between Jews of Italy and those of the Ottoman Empire was specifically described by Le Breton in La Décade philosophique (April 19, 1798):
I take it from a citizen who was employed with distinction in the ports and cities of the Levant, and who merits full trust, that the Jews of Livorno, having recognized in the detachment of the Army of Italy which occupied that city, a child of the synagogue honored with the rank of French officer, were so taken with it to the point of enthusiasm that they expressed their joy to the Jews of the [Greek] Archipelago and that this little circumstance caused the latter to love our revolution.
In 1797-8, Napoleon did not trumpet his dramatic liberation of the Jews of Italy. Thus, in explaining the important links between Italian and Ottoman Jewry, Le Breton missed the far more powerful example provided by Napoleon's conquest (February 9, 1797) of the city of Ancona on the Adriatic coast of Italy. This is described in detail in the contemporary Sepher Ma'ase Nissim (ספר מעשה נסים) of Rabbi Jacob Cohen. The English title is Hebrew Chronicle About the Jews of Ancona During the Years 1793-1797, published in the Hebrew language in 1982 by Daniel Carpi.
Rabbi Cohen writes that, when Napoleon arrived, Jewish soldiers of the French Revolutionary Army were immediately sent to protect the local Jews, and to abolish the curfew and all the other demeaning restrictions of the ghetto, which was home to around 1,600 Jews. Established were Jewish freedom of movement at all hours and the valuable right to site a business outside the ghetto. Furthermore, these proud Jewish soldiers of France's Army of Italy got local Jews to wear the tricolor revolutionary cocarde, instead of the yellow "badge of disgrace" that had recently been rigorously reimposed by the reactionary Roman-Catholic Church. Encouraged by Brigadier-General Louis Emmanuel Rey, the Jews of Ancona planted a liberty tree.
To govern Ancona and the surrounding villages, Napoleon replaced oppressive papal rule with a new 15-member municipal government (municipalità), to which he spectacularly appointed three local Jews from distinguished families (February 10, 1797). Like the other members of the municipalità, Sanson Costantini, and David and Ezzacchia Morpurgo had to swear allegiance to the Revolutionary French Republic. This they did at noon on February 11, 1797, in the presence of General Jean-Jacques Bernardin Colaud-de-la-Salcette.
Rabbi Cohen also records that, in the local synagogue, grateful Jews celebrated with the biblical "Song of the Sea," which thanks God for saving the Israelites from the Egyptians. "For the glory of the French army" a light was placed in the window of every Jewish home in Ancona. In early July 1797, General Claude Dallemagne, the town commandant, ordered the municipalità to admit young Jewish men to serve in the civil guard (guardia civica). For the first time, the children of Ancona Jews studied alongside those of the Christians.
In 1797, Napoleon repeatedly testified that Ancona was key in terms of strategy, logistics, and trade. For example, he wrote from Ancona to the Directory (February 10, 1797):
The city of Ancona is the only port along the Adriatic coast after Venice. From all viewpoints, it is very essential for our communications with Constantinople. Within 24 hours one can go from here to Macedonia. Even though they obeyed it, no government was so despised by the Peoples (les Peuples) as this [papal] one here. After the first emotion of fright that was caused by entry of an enemy army, there followed the joy of being delivered from the most ridiculous of governments.
Prominent among the various "Peoples" that Napoleon found in Ancona were the Jews. They were especially well-connected. Culturally and commercially, they were significant in 18th-century Italian and Mediterranean Jewry.
Revolutionary Jews of Corfu
Actively trading with Ancona to the west and with the Ottoman Empire to the east, Corfu's Jews numbered 1,500 to 2,000 out of the total urban population of circa 12,000. From June 28, 1797, these Jews were immediate beneficiaries of the new revolutionary regime. For example, the island's two principal rabbis were (July 10, 1797) appointed to the municipality, which was the newly created, French provisional government of the island of Corfu.
Aware that Napoleon was a great champion of Jewish emancipation, Arnault reported (July 11, 1797) to him that the right of the two rabbis to sit as council members was aggressively challenged by 18 Orthodox Greek councillors who hit the two Jews and shouted "Vivent les Français. Point d'Hébreux!" (Long live the French! No Jews!) Troops were called to control this display of violent prejudice, which also came from a mob of five hundred ruffians, outside on the square. "The Jews are dogs," shouted the rioters, who demanded that Jews be excluded from the municipal body and prevented from sporting the revolutionary tricolor cockade on their hats. But Arnault stood firm, with the words: "The freedom (la liberté) brought by the French is the common property of all; a Jew is no longer to be a dog for a Greek, just as much as a Greek is no longer to be one for a Latin." Years later, Arnault reflected that the Greeks then mostly understood "freedom (la liberté) as the right to oppress anybody who was not of their communion."
The revolutionary principle, "all the religions are equal," had to be strictly enforced by Gentili, as commissary-general of the Ionian Islands. For example, officer of the Levant Division, J.P. Bellaire recalled (1805) that Gentili in 1797-8 made sure that children from some of the poorer Jewish families on Corfu were able to attend Mr. Vivotte's public, primary school together with the Catholic and Orthodox students. There they studied "writing, arithmetic and the French language."
In 1797-8, Gentili also guarded the right to equality of the Jews on the islands of the neighboring Department of the Aegean Sea. The former commissary on Zante, Cerigo, Cerigotto and the Strophades, Charles Rulhière wrote that, during the long period of Venetian rule, the "fanatic" Orthodox Greeks had been violently hostile to the Jewish islanders. However, Rulhière proudly affirmed (1799): "During our stay, the peace was well kept, due to the measures taken by the civil and military authorities."
Around September 1798, the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople issued a proclamation that favored the Russians and the Turks, and condemned the French as "atheists." So, when a Russo-Turkish fleet neared Corfu, seven to eight thousand angry Orthodox Greek peasants came to town for a savage pogrom (October 24, 1798). Alongside the French garrison, the Corfiote Jews valiantly fought as soldiers trying to defend the fortress against combined attacks by reactionary Russians and Ottomans (1798-9). The Augsburgische Ordinari Postzeitung printed an Ancona report describing the March 2, 1799 victory of the counter-revolution on Corfu (May 3, 1799): "The most zealous Democrats, who are mostly Jews, were exiled."
The 1797 events recorded by Rabbi Cohen in Ancona and by Arnault on Corfu ranked as sensational news for Jews everywhere. Just as suggested by Le Breton, tidings of such extraordinary happenings would have spread, within days, to the Jewish communities of the adjacent Balkan coast, and thereafter to Jews throughout the Ottoman Near and Mideast.
Napoleon targeted all the Ottoman Peoples
Despite more than two hundred years of friendship between France and the Ottomans, Napoleon had scant respect for the Sultan's sovereignty. Napoleon imagined the Ottoman Empire to be already collapsing, so he wanted to give it a bit of a push himself. Naturally, he presumed that France would always keep supremacy as la grande nation. But beyond that, he regarded the Ottoman corpse as big enough to satisfy the national dreams of a long list of fraternal Peoples -- including Jews, Greeks, Maronites, Armenians, Druze; and also Muslim Albanians, Turks, and Arabs. This kind of thinking explains his planning to occupy Ottoman Egypt. It also accounts for his policy of encouraging the separatist ambitions of the Sultan's actual or potential Muslim rivals like Osman Pasvanoğlu in Vidin and Tepedelenli Ali Pasha in Yanina.
But closer to Napoleon's revolutionary ethos were his concerted efforts to spread the "spirit of liberty" among the Sultan's non-Muslim, tribute-paying subjects, the raya (Ottoman: رعايا). Starting no later than 1797, he repeatedly aimed propaganda at the subject Peoples of the entire Ottoman Empire. French, Italian, Greek, Ottoman-Turkish, and Arabic were certainly all used. However, there was perhaps some of his product available in Hebrew; and maybe in Syriac, because he had at least one translator expert in that language. Conceivably, there might also have been some Napoleon ephemera in Armenian or Armeno-Turkish. To be sure, exactly such a wide-ranging campaign of sedition had been specifically commanded by the Directory, via a letter to Napoleon from Talleyrand (August 23, 1797):
Nothing is more important than that we put ourselves on a good footing with Albania, Greece, Macedonia and other provinces of the Turkish empire in Europe and even with all those that are bathed by the waters of the Mediterranean, notably Egypt which one day could become of great utility to us. The Directory, in approving the ties which you have established with Ibrahim Pasha and the Albanian nation, desires that you make the French people known to the remainder of the Turkish provinces, in a way that sooner or later could turn out to their benefit and to ours, and to the disadvantage of our common enemies.
Meeting his old friend in Passariano, at the eastern extremity of Italy, General Louis Desaix described in his diary what he had then learned from Napoleon about the French plan to bring down the Ottoman Empire (September 1797):
The general has a great and skillful policy: it is to give to all of these folks there a grand idea of the French nation. He has received the Directory's command to spread that idea throughout all of Africa, Greece, via printing presses, proclamations. He wins the hearts of all these nations; he reminds them of their ancient glory, their ancient name; he instructs them about the astonishing and prodigious feats of the French. And, they are all surprised to find out what they learn; they are very thirsty for news; they come in great numbers to Ancona to equip themselves with merchandise and one of their greatest pleasures is to take these proclamations to read and to carry them back to their country.
Compelling Sept. 1797 testimony about Napoleon's proclamations to
the various Peoples of the Ottoman Empire is provided in the
Journal de voyage du Général Desaix, Suisse et Italie, 1797
(Paris, 1907), p. 256.
Jewish traders traveled to Ancona
Desaix refers to proclamations picked up by foreign merchants trading to Ancona. Like Napoleon, those familiar with 18th-century Adriatic trade would immediately know that Jews played an important role in the commerce between Ancona and the Ottoman east. Napoleon's native understanding of the Mediterranean included awareness that Jews were often part of transnational, commercial networks, based on kinship; shared religion, languages, culture; and strong economic synergy. On this Jewish point, the Directory received a pertinent report from Napoleon in Macerata (February 15, 1797):
Ancona is a very good port. From there, you can reach Macedonia within twenty-four hours and Constantinople within ten days. My intention is to collect there as many Jews as possible. (Mon projet est d'y ramasser tous les juifs possibles.) I will have the fortress there put into the best state of defense. In the general peace, we must keep the port of Ancona, and make sure that it always belongs to France. This will enable us to have a great influence on the Ottoman Porte and make us masters of the Adriatic Sea.
Further examples? Two months after Napoleon withdrew his army from the Holy Land, his Memoire on Internal Administration (August 1799) similarly recommended using all means to attract a large Jewish population to Alexandria, which he thought ought to be the Egyptian capital instead of Cairo. Later, on Saint Helena, Napoleon in Italian told O'Meara that heavy Jewish immigration would likewise be a way to make France wealthy. Thus, Napoleon clearly shared a contemporary view that had already been described by Le Breton in La Décade (April 19, 1798):
The Jews locate themselves in stages all the way from the Batavian Republic [the Netherlands] to the Indies; just as it would be necessary to establish them, if one wished to make use of them to revive the trade of yesteryear. They are in the ports of Italy, on the islands of the Archipelago, at Salonika, at Constantinople, in Cairo, at Alexandria, at Damascus, at Aleppo, and at Basra. They are rich and numerous in [North] Africa. They administer the finances, the coinage and the customs in the regencies of Algiers, of Tunis, of Tripoli and in the Empire of Morocco.
On Saint Helena, Napoleon prepared a history of his first Italian campaigns. Therein, he offers the specific phrase "droits de l'hospitalité" (laws of hospitality). This suggests that, in his view, some of the Jews at Ancona are merchants visiting from the Balkan lands, exactly like the Muslim traders there, who also come from the Ottoman Empire (circa 1819):
The Jews, numerous at Ancona, along with the Muslims of Albania and Greece, were there subjected to longstanding practices which were both humiliating and contrary to the laws of hospitality (contraire aux droits de l'hospitalité). One of the first cares of Napoleon was to emancipate them.
On this particular topic, the Journal de Francfort (September 4, 1797) prints the full text of an August 16th decree favoring subjects of the Ottoman Empire. This legal category most certainly includes East-Mediterranean Jewish merchants heading to Ancona. From Milan, "Buonaparte" orders "the generals commanding the various places of commerce occupied by the French in Italy to accord special protection to Ottoman subjects." He also stipulates that henceforth Ottoman subjects have the right to rent residential premises as they see fit, without any requirement to live together in the same house or to go home at a fixed hour.
General Desaix unequivocally tells us that Napoleon was in 1797 already running a major, anti-Ottoman propaganda operation out of Ancona. This specific revolutionary activity was later entrusted (November 14, 1798) to the Republic's agence d'Ancône, officially tasked with secretly preparing popular insurrections in the Ottoman Empire.
Make no mistake, Desaix's revealing passage cannot reasonably be read so as to exclude the many Jewish merchants who regularly went to trade in Ancona, where there was also a vibrant Jewish community, wild for the revolution and Napoleon. Nor can Desaix's quote be reasonably read so as to exclude the Jewish People from the phrase "all these nations," as used by Desaix to describe the various Peoples of the Ottoman Empire, which then stretched all the way from North Africa through Western Asia into the Balkan lands.
This spacious Ottoman geography is important for understanding Desaix's shorthand reference to "all of Africa, Greece." Looking at the map of the Ottoman Empire is also helpful for grasping the meaning of several subsequent citations that will speak of "Africa and Asia" or "Asia and Africa." In the pertinent 18th-century context, this continental couplet clearly points to the territory of the Ottoman Empire, including Turkey in Europe.
The Ottoman Empire in 1801 (Cambridge University Press, 1913).
During the 18th century, Turkey stretched from Algiers, eastward along the coast
of North Africa, via Western Asia, to include almost all of the Balkan Peninsula.
Thus, the contemporary Habsburg diplomat and statesman Klemens von
Metternich quipped, "Asia begins at the Landstraße" in Vienna.
"Inventing" a revolutionary prophecy
A popular prophecy foretelling the 1799 fall of the Ottoman Empire is mentioned in the widely read, Le Propagateur (June 9, 1798). Simultaneous to the printing of Lettre d'un Juif, this same theme is laid out at length in an article published verbatim in the Paris daily newspapers La Clef du Cabinet des Souverains (June 8) and Le Moniteur (June 10, 1798).
The "prophecy" story is alleged to be a report from Frankfurt (May 31, 1798). This commonly means copied from the pages of the Journal de Francfort. But, no such news item appears in the Journal de Francfort, during the first half of 1798. Including the alleged Frankfurt publication date, there is absolutely nothing in the material that could not have been written earlier in 1798, as part of Napoleon's advance preparation of propaganda, for use on the eve of the French attack on Egypt.
The subtlety and skill of political argument powerfully point to Napoleon. The text showcases revolutionary Greeks, while smartly avoiding explicit confirmation that France has turned against the Ottoman Empire. For example, savor the mastery of the smooth evasion here (June 8, 1798):
Until recently, the Greeks did not like the French because of France's ties to the Turks, their oppressors. But now that the Latin clerics no longer have any influence on French policy, this aversion ought to easily disappear, to be replaced by the affection that arises for those that are seen and awaited as their liberators.
Exactly as in this "prophecy" tale, Napoleon is characteristically attracted to the theme of "destiny." This topic notably features, along with false prophecies, in some of his 1798-9 Mideast propaganda, aimed at Muslims. One way or another, his fingerprints are all over this carefully written "prophecy" piece. It is designed: firstly, to advance his own political career; secondly, to encourage rebellion against the Sultan; and, thirdly, like Lettre d'un Juif, to help prepare public opinion for imminent receipt of the news of the French attack on Ottoman Egypt (June 8, 1798):
Some Greeks who have recently traversed several provinces of the Ottoman Empire have observed that in Macedonia there has circulated for a few years a prophecy to the effect that: in 1799 a great empire will be overthrown. The Greeks claim that this prophecy announces their manumission (affranchissement).
From this arises the respect, approaching adoration, which they feel towards Bonaparte, whom they regard as the instrument designated by destiny for this great operation. They have already composed several songs about this general; and almost two years ago a single Greek merchant at the Leipzig fair bought 300 engravings of Bonaparte's portrait for distribution in the county of Larissa, one of the most enlightened regions of Macedonia. [...]
We know what we are supposed to think about prophecies, even when it is well attested that they have not been concocted, after the fact. But sometimes, it is by inventing them (en les inventant), and in adding belief in them, that they are prepared and assured of fulfillment.
The Lloyd's Evening-Post offers a fascinating, brief news item that is key for understanding the authorship, meaning, and pan-Ottoman scope of this fake prophecy, about early fall of the Sultan's empire (August 7-9, 1799):
From Smyrna [İzmir] it appears that, among some suspected goods lately stopped near Adrianople [Edirne], consigned to some Jews at Constantinople, a vast number of printed copies of prophecies, in Arabic, Turkish, and the language of the Franks, were found, all portending the immediate downfall of the Turkish Empire -- the manifest fabrication of some French agents at Widdin or Wallachia.
The rich information in this short London passage: firstly, seems to derive from an Ottoman account, by reason of the striking reference to "the language of the Franks"; secondly, links Constantinople Jews to the diffusion of this revolutionary propaganda; and, thirdly, confirms that the printings were not just in Greek (as would be presumed from the Paris reports above), but importantly in Arabic and Ottoman-Turkish, and also in "the language of the Franks."
This 1799 English noun "Franks" here probably points to the Ottoman-Turkish word Firenkler (فرنكلر) which means "Europeans." Thus, "the language of the Franks" can easily refer to Italian, which was the "foreign" language then most widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean. The pertinent linguistic logic is exactly as in the case of "franco" in the famous Mediterranean term lingua franca. This was the name for an international, maritime and port patois that was mostly drawn from the dialects of Genoa and Venice. In the same way, "the language of the Franks" can be understood as proper Italian or rather "Levant Italian" (italiano levantino). This conclusion is entirely consistent with the circumstance that the 18th-century Ottoman-Turkish expression for "Frenchmen" is not "Franks" (Firenklerفرنكلر), but rather Fransızlar (فرانسزلر). And, for the "French language," the Ottomans then say Fransızca (فرانسزجه) or Fransız lisanı (فرانسز لسانى).
The likelihood of such "prophecy" printings in Italian invites return to the topic of the linguistic range of the Jews of the 18th-century Eastern Mediterranean. Many of them were probably unable to read Greek, and perhaps had difficulty understanding much French. By contrast, many Jews of the Eastern Mediterranean would then have been able to quickly read the fake prophecy in Italian.
Here we are dealing with ephemera. Thus, there should be no surprise that no authentic copy of these printed prophecies from "Widdin or Wallachia" survives into the 21st century. Nonetheless, taken together, the cited Paris and London newspapers prove that such propaganda printings were indeed circulating, perhaps as early as 1797. Not just aimed at Greeks, these fake prophecies were most definitely designed to subvert all the Ottoman Peoples, including the Jews.
Inflaming the Mideast: a royalist view
A pioneer of modern political journalism, the Huguenot Jacques Mallet du Pan was a protégé of Voltaire. Mallet du Pan was first a professor of classics, but ultimately a well-connected and influential anti-revolutionary publicist, with ties to the British Foreign Office. In London, he produced the French-language Mercure Britannique, where in Volume 3 (1799), there is a remarkable essay on "Turkey."
Therein, his treatment of the Jews seems to reflect both Lettre d'un Juif (June 8, 1798) and the recent (May 17, 1799) London news that Napoleon had issued a proclamation inviting return to the ancient homeland. More to the point, Mallet du Pan's broader analysis is thoroughly consistent with: the September 1797 entry in Desaix's diary; the 1798-9 story about the fake prophecies; and what the Ottomans already knew about revolutionary subversion, starting with Napoleon's 1797 arrival on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Mallet du Pan's account is perhaps in some places inaccurate. However, it is impossible to ignore his astute general assessment of the French Republic's Mideast intentions and tactics (May 25, 1799):
Buonaparte is sure to strengthen the force of arms with all that can be added by the refinements of politics; the tricks of charlatanism; and the arts of division, flattery, and corruption. He implements a plan that has been considered and prepared for a long time. He has been provided with helpers who are only awaiting his success in order to declare themselves.
He will re-establish the Jews in Palestine. This aim was agreed in Paris between the Directory and a yet standing committee of Israelites, deputies of the various countries of Europe and Asia. The plan for their République hébraïque (Hebrew Republic) is ready. They will restore the Tabernacle in Jerusalem. There, their numbers and financial resources will assist the restorer of their political existence (le restaurateur de leur existence politique).
Also sitting in Paris is another committee made up of Christian schismatics, belonging to the principal sects of the Archipelago and Asia. This Christian committee receives and transmits information; serves to facilitate communications; designates the emissaries to be employed; dispatches orders; and directs preliminary operations, translations and printing. It is the workshop of revolutionary measures.
The loss of the Mediterranean and Corfu, the awakening of the Ottoman Porte, and the appearance of the Russians have slowed and embarrassed these pestilential connections. But, their authors manage to surmount these obstacles via still more ardor, activity and perseverance that the Turkish police are unable to fight.
Work of the same order has born fruit among the Peoples of the Lebanon and Mount Carmel. Well known is the impatience with which the Druze and the Christians of these valleys have always suffered Muslim domination. There is no need for me to remind you of their frequent revolts or the harshness with which they have been treated. The Consuls of France at Aleppo and Tripoli in Syria have for three years been exchanging information with these restive tribes which are always ready to unite with the first leader who promises to free them from the Turks.
Their country has been inundated with hymns, poems, writings of all kinds, in which they are called to freedom (la liberté). Thus we can consider the revolution as secretly organized from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean, and from Suez to the borders of Karamania [south-central Anatolia].
The émigré Jacques Mallet du Pan, 1749-1800.
As editor of the Mercure Britannique of London, he produced
an astonishing May 25, 1799 analysis of Bonaparte's
intentions and tactics in the Ottoman east.
A proclamation to the Jews before 1799
News of an undated revolutionary proclamation to the Jews reached the Ottoman Turks certainly before Selim III declared war against France (September 10, 1798); and probably during the Muslim year 1212, which began on June 26, 1797 and ended at sundown on June 14, 1798. That is what we learn from the Ottoman Empire's chosen historiographer, Ahmet Cevdet Pasha who intellectually was a towering figure. To the point, the high quality of Cevdet's historical writing has been praised by Bernard Lewis (1953).
In the mid-19th century, Cevdet began producing in the Ottoman-Turkish language, for the period 1774-1826, an authoritative twelve volumes, based mainly on documents in the imperial archives in Constantinople. As the Ottoman Empire's officially-appointed chronicler (Ottoman: vakanüvis وقائع نوىس), Cevdet had to be very careful about sequence and chronology. He was neither ambiguous nor confused in clearly pointing to the several months before the September 1798 Ottoman declaration of war against France.
Written in the Ottoman-Turkish language,
Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, Tarih-i Cevdet, Vol. 6, p. 282,
New Edition, 2nd Printing (H. 1309).
Professionally scrupulous about identifying his various sources, Cevdet specifically writes that it was then heard, "from the mouth of a Jew" (بر يهودى آغزندن), that as "understood from a printed and published official declaration" (بر بياننامه قالمه آلنه رق طبع و نشر ايله), Jews from all over had been invited to agree on "establishing a Jewish government in Jerusalem" (قدس شريفده بر يهود حكومتى تشكيل).
Jews as secret agents
Who was this Jew who told the Ottomans about the official declaration for a Jewish government in Jerusalem? It is impossible to say. However, we should bear in mind that Napoleon certainly had Jewish spies, agents or emissaries in the Balkans. For example, Le Moniteur published a Constantinople report (May 13, 1799):
On the 16th of this month [April 5, 1799] in the Bostanji-Bashi prison, the Porte had strangled to death a Jewish physician, lately come from Rushcuk [Ruse on the Danube] with the Kapudan Pasha [November 1798]. Definite proof had been acquired that he was a secret emissary of the French.
More Jewish secret emissaries? The Turks certainly thought so. After the first week of September 1798, they would not let young Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav (Ukraine) disembark in Jaffa, because they thought he was a French spy. And, it seems that they perhaps had some reason to be concerned about Jews, many of whom were then dazzled by Napoleon.
Until the Dey of Algiers (January 9, 1799) followed the lead of his Ottoman suzerain in declaring war against France, Marseilles members of the prominent Algerian Jewish merchant families Bacri and Abucaya were used by the Directory for transmitting secret dispatches to Napoleon in Egypt. The Directory appointed two Jewish secret emissaries for the same purpose in 1799. Twenty-one years of age, the Jewish soldier Samson Cerfberr de Medelsheim was sent out from Paris with dispatches in April, but captured by the British Navy off Sardinia. Forty-eight years of age, the Polish Jew Zalkind Hourvitz was a prize-winning essayist, veteran revolutionary, and ex-employee of the Bibliothèque Nationale. He was just about to begin his journey from Paris to Egypt, when news arrived of Napoleon's return to France (October 1799).
Another example of a Jewish secret agent was the radical English publicist Lewis Goldsmith. Throughout the 1790s, he openly championed the cause of the French Revolution. No later than 1800, he was secretly on Talleyrand's payroll to produce London propaganda against the policies of Prime Minister William Pitt, the Younger. In January 1801, Goldsmith published The Crimes of Cabinets, subtitled "a review of their plans and aggressions for the annihilation of the liberties of France and the dismemberment of her territories." He was later a Paris editor and propagandist, and also a spy for Napoleon in Europe. Eventually, Goldsmith turned against Napoleon. In fact, Goldsmith became so famous as a vitriolic critic of the French Emperor that, after the Bourbon restoration, Goldsmith earned a pension from King Louis XVIII of France.
Napoleon's propaganda resented by Turkey
From 1797 the Turks were fully alive to the modern political meaning of all those French references to the glories of ancient Greece. In retrospective analysis, Cevdet Pasha understood the revolutionary evocations of ancient Greece and biblical Jerusalem to be identical in terms of source, time, and anti-Ottoman motive. On either side, contemporary diplomatic correspondence and other evidence show that the Turks then knew that Napoleon and his local commanders were publishing inflammatory proclamations and dispatching letters and subversive emissaries to spark revolt against the Sultan on the Aegean islands, and in Morea and Rumelia.
Such efforts were certainly aimed at revolutionizing Greeks. But, there were also important Jewish communities on the islands of Crete and Rhodes. And, Rumelia included the heavily-Jewish city of Salonika, as well as Edirne and Larissa where there were also many thousands of Jews. In the Morea, there was a major Jewish presence in Tripolis, but also Jewish communities at Mystras, Kalamata and Patras. Large numbers of Jews lived in Constantinople, Bursa, Izmir, Aleppo, Damascus, Safed, Jerusalem, Alexandria; as well as in so many other places of the Ottoman Empire.
The Foreign Minister (Ottoman: reis-ül-küttab رئيس الكتاب) and the Dragoman of the Porte repeatedly protested to the French Embassy in Constantinople, as in late 1797 and again in June and July 1798. These Ottoman grievances were embodied in a long memorandum shared with the diplomatic corps simultaneous to Turkey's declaration of war against France (September 10, 1798).
The Ottomans were astute in articulating the French strategic conception of la grande nation: "Everywhere weak republics would be created which France would keep under its tutelage, so that everything everywhere would go according to its arbitrary will." The foregoing and other generous excerpts from the Ottoman memorandum appeared one month later in the Wiener Zeitung (October 10, 1798):
One knows about Bonaparte's letter [July 30, 1797] to the Maniotes and of other distributed writings of his deceitful genius. When the Sublime Porte in the strongest terms complained about this, the French government downplayed the matter and undertook to stop it immediately, saying that it wished nothing else than to strengthen the old friendship. But, the [French] generals did not in the least change their behavior. To the contrary, they were even more enterprising and cunning than before.
Napoleon was not just contacting the Maniotes. There were most certainly other recipients of the "distributed writings of his deceitful genius." This is proven by: the entry in General Desaix's diary; Mallet du Pan's description of France's propaganda in the Near and Mideast; and Cevdet Pasha's specific reference to a revolutionary proclamation issued to the Jews, in 1797-8.
Maniotes but not Jews?
Napoleon himself recruited his own spies and emissaries, even paying them personally or signing their bank drafts. His modus operandi and rationale relating to the oppressed Peoples of the Ottoman Empire is exemplified by his efforts aimed at the Maniotes. They then numbered no more than 40,000 (or perhaps even as few as eight to ten thousand, according to an 1803 Ottoman estimate). From Milan, Napoleon wrote to the Chief of the Maniotes (July 30, 1797): "The French value the small, but brave Maniote People who alone of ancient Greece has known how to preserve its liberty." On that same day, Napoleon wrote to Arnault on Corfu that he wished to know more about "the situation and forces of this small People" and "what could be expected from them if ever the Ottoman Empire experiences a convulsion." He then informed the Directory (August 1, 1797):
The Chief of the Maniotes, a people who trace genuine descent from the Spartiatae, and who occupy the peninsula on which Cape Matapan is situated, has sent one of his principal men to express to me his wish to see French vessels in his port, and to be of some service to the Great Nation.
Already known to Napoleon were Dimo Stephanopoulos and his nephew Nicolo, both born and raised in Corsica. Napoleon first checked to make sure that the two were really fluent in their ancestral Maniote dialect of Greek, and then sent them in September 1797 to sow "seeds of true liberty" in Mani. The diplomatic letter that the Stephanopouli carried to Mani explicitly recognized the peoplehood of the Maniote "nation" which was celebrated as descending from ancient Sparta. According to Napoleon, the Revolutionary French Republic and the Maniotes were "two nations equally friends of liberty."
Napoleon specifically saluted Maniote peoplehood and tried to subvert the few Maniotes. Therefore, why would anyone doubt Cevdet Pasha's official account of a 1797-8 revolutionary appeal to the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire? True, the Maniotes were famous as fierce warriors. But, in the Ottoman Empire, Jews were certainly more numerous than Maniotes, not to mention the millions of Jews across Europe. Moreover, revolutionary Jews had already shown that they too could fight. Finally, there can be no doubt that Napoleon believed that Jews could offer special advantages in connection with international trade.
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1863), Bonaparte in the Mideast, 1798-1799.
The Revolutionary French Republic and Bonaparte then
strongly championed the new political principles of
popular sovereignty and the self-determination of Peoples.
Propaganda for niche markets
Napoleon always placed exceptional emphasis on communications and public relations, including revolutionary propaganda custom-made for niche audiences, in various places. For example, from late 1796, he was promising to "revolutionize" Hungary. His proclamation to the Army of Italy rhapsodized (March 10, 1797): "It is freedom (la liberté) that you will bring to the brave Hungarian nation." With evident understanding of the distinct propaganda utility of each of French, Hungarian, German and Italian, Napoleon wrote to General Charles-François-Joseph Dugua who was then in Trieste (March 26, 1797):
You will find attached a copy of my proclamation to the army that you will arrange to translate into German, Hungarian, Italian; that you will arrange to print and seek to distribute in Hungary to the greatest extent that you are able. You will send me five hundred copies of them in Hungarian, five hundred in German, and two hundred in Italian.
Additional "pamphlet" propaganda, perhaps also printed in Latin, aimed at sparking insurrection in Hungary. To the point, the Austrian intelligence agency, the Polizeihofstelle, told the Habsburg Emperor Francis II, who was also King of Hungary (December 27, 1797):
Although one is already accustomed to Bonaparte's boastful tone, it is still very noteworthy that he says, via published pamphlets that have come straight from Hungary, that this kingdom's transformation into a republic depends on him.
As General-in-Chief of the Army of Italy (1796-7), Napoleon had always been specially concerned about the availability of both printing presses and foreign-language typeface. For example, he repeatedly signaled urgent need for Greek and Arabic characters, the latter also useful for printing in Ottoman-Turkish.
Mideast propaganda 1798
Less than a week after his Army of the Orient disembarked in Ottoman Egypt, Napoleon ordered (July 7, 1798) French, Arabic and Greek printing to begin within twenty-four hours. He wanted four thousand Arabic-language proclamations pronto. He frequently wrote to ensure that his proclamations were distributed to the inhabitants of Egypt.
Napoleon was also astute and proactive in finding imaginative ways to spread his proclamations in Greater Syria, to which regular travel was still possible during July and August 1798. For example, the French invasion fleet had carried from Malta some of the prisoners freed from slavery, imposed by the Knights of Saint John. Napoleon made sure that the former prisoners heading home to "Syria" were equipped with copies of his proclamations, which were probably also made available to ordinary travelers heading eastward. From July 1798, Napoleon was trying to send as many spies as possible from Egypt to Ottoman Syria. Such spies, emissaries and agents carried secret letters and Napoleon's various proclamations. For example, before the end of 1798, he authorized production of an Arabic-language proclamation "to the inhabitants of Syria," which is discussed below.
There is no reason to presume that Jews were lacking among the Malta prisoners, other travelers, and the many spies that Napoleon sent to "Syria." These Jews likely packed the printed proclamations for "the inhabitants of Syria." And just as suggested by Mallet du Pan, they perhaps also carried seditious hymns, poetry, pamphlets, leaflets, and secret letters; maybe including one or more texts, specially crafted for the Jewish communities of Ottoman Syria.
Grands prêtres de la nation juive
Any special messages from Napoleon for Jews could have been handwritten, or possibly even printed in Hebrew, because 18th-century Cairo already had presses working with Hebrew characters. Such postulated propaganda for Jews would probably have contained revolutionary exhortations, and also religious references to soon rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. Included would have been the astonishing news that, for the first time in 1,728 years, there were once again high priests of the Jewish People, "grands prêtres de la nation juive."
Napoleon was intelligent; highly educated; and always extremely interested in details of the various religions, which he exploited politically. As First Consul of the Republic, he told the Council of State (August 16, 1800):
It is by making myself Catholic that I brought an end to the war in the Vendée; by making myself Muslim that I established myself in Egypt; by making myself ultramontane that I won over minds in Italy. If I governed a nation of Jews, I would rebuild the Temple of Solomon.
His diverse writings and occasional conversations show that he probably well understood the historical and theological distinction between a modern rabbi (rabbin) and a biblical Jewish priest (prêtre), and between an ordinary synagogue and the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Thus, there was likely lateral thinking, strategy, and shrewd propaganda in his Cairo order (September 7, 1798) authorizing Jewish community organization. The pertinent point is his naming of two "grands prêtres de la nation juive." The issue is his choice of striking "grand prêtre" terminology, which harkens back to the Temple. He probably did so deliberately, in order to appeal to millennial Jewish hopes for rebuilding the Temple.
News of the appointment of such high priests would solo suffice to explain the excitement and enhanced messianic expectation that arose among Mideast Jews upon Napoleon's entry into the Holy Land (February 1799). The rumor that he would then go to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple was recorded by Napoleon himself around 1819, in his own historical account of the "Syrian" campaign.
1798 proclamation to inhabitants of Syria
This little known Napoleon document deserves special attention, including because it does not appear in the principal, standard collections of his product. On February 19, 1799, The True Briton of London published the English translation of this undated, Arabic proclamation that Napoleon had preemptively addressed to "the inhabitants of Syria." (Editorially dated December 1798, a somewhat shorter French-language translation was published by Christian August Fischer, in Leipzig in 1808.)
We can be dead certain that this proclamation "to the inhabitants of Syria" originated before 1799, due to the average slow speed of late 18th-century communications from Egypt to Constantinople, and then onward to Vienna and London. Thus, Napoleon drafted this propaganda proleptically, i.e. written as a "flash forward" into the future. Specifically, he must have arranged for preparation of this Arabic document, at a minimum, fifty days before he left Cairo (February 10, 1799) to cross the Sinai Desert.
As late as December 15, 1798, Napoleon's local organ Le Courrier de l'Égypte was still stubbornly sticking to his original propaganda line that the French were in Egypt as allies of the Ottoman sultan. Moreover, a later edition of the same paper says the Ottoman flag was still flying (June 13, 1799) over the French garrison in the fort at Qusayr, on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea. Thus, the timing, tenor and contents of the "proclamation to the inhabitants of Syria" suggest that it was probably not intended for immediate release to the general public in Egypt. Rather, it was likely designed for secret infiltration into "Syria," for circulation before and during Napoleon's campaign there. Consistent with revolutionary doctrine, the divinity of Christ is denied, and the populace invited to rally to Napoleon's banner (1798):
Cairo the Great, Alexandria the Powerful, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Ptolemaïs [Acre], and Damaïs [Damascus], the plains and the ancient monuments which surround those Cities, have witnessed the approach of our Armies [carefully note and remember the foregoing "fast forward" prolepsis], whose power is infinite, and incomprehensible even to the wise. Protection to every City which shall open its gates to us! But woe to those Cities and their inhabitants, which shall reject our beneficence! It is to declare this truth to all Syria that we have issued this Proclamation which is irrevocable. If you repair to our standard, you will never be forsaken -- if not, the sword of vengeance shall reach your heads.
London, The True Briton, Number 1922,
Tuesday, February 19, 1799.
This piece is noteworthy as absent from the main,
standard, printed collections of Napoleon's documents.
The Ottomans derided such proclamations as lying "sweet talk." Nonetheless, after Napoleon's army took Gaza (February 25, 1799), there were more proclamations for Muslims and also a series of individual messages for Christians in the Lebanon, Nazareth and Jerusalem.
On March 7, 1799, Napoleon conquered Jaffa. First the town was sacked. Then, after the initial slaughter, there were some premeditated mass killings of civilians and prisoners of war. Specifically, the extermination of the Ottoman prisoners of war continued until March 10th. Napoleon exploited this horror to send four separate proclamations to threaten the Muslims of Acre; Jerusalem; Nablus; and Gaza, Ramle and Jaffa. In each case, he asked them to choose between submission and the terrors of war. In the letter to the latter three towns of the coastal strip, he characteristically invoked the notion of destiny (March 9, 1799):
It is good for you to know that all human efforts are useless against me, because everything that I undertake must succeed. Those who declare themselves to be my friends prosper. Those who declare themselves to be my enemies perish. The example which has just happened at Gaza and Jaffa ought to make you know that, if I can be terrible to my enemies, I am good to my friends and above all mild and merciful to the poor people.
Later, from his siege camp near Acre, he also wrote a private letter to court Bashir Shihab II, the Emir of the Druze (March 20, 1799): "My intention is to make the Druze nation independent, to lighten the tribute which it pays, and to deliver to it the port of Beirut and other towns necessary for the outflow of its commerce."
Jewish history weighed heavily
Despite revolutionary secularism, Napoleon took ancient Jewish history very seriously. He had read Jacques Basnage's History of the Jews and made some notes on Jewish topics. Before sailing for Egypt (May 19, 1798), Napoleon had prepared a list of around 550 military and other books that he wanted on board. Likely among the military titles there was the famous eyewitness account of Roman generalship in first-century Judea, in The Jewish War by Josephus. This was a book that Napoleon knew well. Moreover, what has survived of Napoleon's list of books classified the Catholic "Old Testament" under the heading of "politics," along with some other titles like the Koran and Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws (De l'esprit des lois). An hour before Napoleon left Cairo for the "Syrian" campaign, he wrote to the Directory (February 10, 1799): "When you read this letter, it is possible that I might be on the ruins of the city of Solomon."
Regarding the "Syrian" campaign, Napoleon reminisced (January 1813): "I constantly read Genesis when visiting the places it describes and was amazed beyond measure that they were still exactly as Moses had described them." During his exile on Saint Helena, Napoleon personally completed (circa 1819) a careful account of the campaign. He again recalled that he and his entourage were struck by the accuracy of the descriptions in the Catholic Old Testament, which Monge read aloud to them in the evenings, in the tent of the General-in-Chief.
Napoleon's soldiers came very close to Jerusalem. But he was careful not to take the Holy City, because he wanted to move fast to first capture the fortified ports at Jaffa and Acre. Moreover, for political reasons, he wished to parry any Muslim perception that he might be yet another Roman-Catholic Crusader. But despite their revolutionary scorn for Christianity, his troops were still "burning to see" sacred sites like the "plateau of the Temple of Solomon," as Napoleon specifically recollected.
Why not the Jews?
Just as Napoleon knew the Jews to be the aboriginal People of the Land of Israel (Heb: אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל Eretz Yisrael), so too he was aware that the Christian Copts were the aboriginal People of Egypt. It is often forgotten that Napoleon wrote a reply to a letter he had received from the Copts, who then (as today) were a persecuted minority in Egypt (December 7, 1798):
Citizen, I have received the letter from the Copt People (la nation copte). It will always be a pleasure for me to protect it. Henceforth, it will no longer be degraded, and, when circumstances will permit, which I perceive to be not too far in the future, I will accord it the right to publicly exercise its religion; just as is the practice in Europe, where each person is entitled to follow his own belief. I will severely punish those villages which killed Copts in the different rebellions. As of today, you can announce to them that I permit them to bear arms; to ride on either donkeys or horses; and to wear turbans and clothing, as they themselves see fit.
So, in 1798, Napoleon had troubled to write a letter to the aboriginal Copts; and in 1799, to the Emir of the Druze, and also a special proclamation to the Sheikh of Nablus. But nothing either for the Jews of Ottoman Syria or for the great Jewish People of world history? Before and during his "Syrian" campaign, Napoleon certainly sought to derive advantage from every other significant component of the local population. Thus, it would have been exceedingly peculiar for Napoleon to have omitted communications or approaches to Jews.
However, most Jews in "Syria" were wisely far too afraid of the prospect of brutal Ottoman retaliation to have much to do with the French invaders. Nonetheless, several accounts say that Napoleon met with a group of Jews, at some time during the week immediately following the conquest of Jaffa (March 7th). This meeting likely occurred shortly after he had written (March 9th), in eight to ten copies, inviting the inhabitants of Jerusalem to send representatives to his camp, in order to promise that they would do nothing to harm him.
Such a Napoleon meeting with Jews is credible, if only because one of the accounts includes the exceedingly rare, but well-substantiated detail, that Napoleon was then residing in the requisitioned, seaside home of the consular agent Antonio Damiani, who was a Christian. Damiani represented Britain and various other parties, including the Constantinople rabbinate in helping disembarking Jewish pilgrims find lodging in Jaffa. There, in Damiani's home, the Jews told Napoleon that he was the savior of the Jewish People. Speaking in Italian, he questioned them about the present situation of the Jews in the country, their expectations for the future, and some pertinent points of Jewish history.
Without reference to the meeting in Damiani's home, it has been suggested that Napoleon, at some time during his first week in Jaffa, probably wrote an appeal to the Jews. Despite the slow speed of 18th-century travel from Jaffa to Europe, news of such a postulated document could conceivably have reached West European cities soon enough to trigger the "proclamation" stories that can still be read in at least eighteen European publications, printed from mid to late May, 1799. If so, any office copy of the Jaffa document that Napoleon would have kept for the record, was likely purposely destroyed in the 19th century, exactly as explained in the preface.
Secret agents & "legitimate heirs of Palestine"
Around 1819, Napoleon remembered that the French Revolutionary Army had in early 1799 sent Jewish agents to Damascus and Aleppo. The implication was that their mission was to secretly gather intelligence and discreetly stimulate local Jewish support. If so, did they confidentially invoke revolutionary doctrines of "liberty, equality and fraternity"? Did their discreet propaganda portray Napoleon as ready to sponsor restoration of the Jerusalem Temple?
Perhaps linked to one or more of these Jewish agents in the Mideast is a pitch-perfect document that (without payment or other financial incentive) first surfaced in 1940 London. This discovery was a modern trace of Napoleonic ephemera. Originating from Nazi Vienna (August 1939), it was an elderly Jewish refugee's last-minute, German-language typescript. He used a typewriter to transcribe a handwritten document which he and his Fleckeles ancestors in Habsburg Prague had secretly treasured for four generations.
Without specifying source language, the text speaks for itself in saying that it is a 1799 translation into German from an original Napoleon document, dated April 20, 1799. Here, let us recall both the precedent of the police/judicial translation from Greek into German of the 1797 Rigas proclamation and the rigors of the reactionary regime in the Habsburg Monarchy. In this context, we can reasonably guess that this 1799 translation was probably from Hebrew. This hypothesis partly rests on the probability that the German text reached the Fleckeles family via Karl Fischer who was the Imperial and Royal Censor, Reviser and Translator in Hebrew. Fischer likely made the German translation for the Polizeihofstelle. More details about Karl Fischer and the Fleckeles family appear in later paragraphs on "the proclamation in Prague."
http://www.archive.org/stream/lbi_kobler_mf760_reel20#page/414/mode/1up
Likely translator, Karl Fischer invents the title, "Letter to the Jewish Nation from the French General-in-Chief Buonaparte." This is probable because, throughout the letter itself, the reference is to "Israelites," with no mention of "Jews" or "Jewish." After the bureaucratic title affixed by the translator, the body of the actual letter begins with the alleged place of origin, "Hauptquartier Jerusalem" (Headquarters Jerusalem); and the date, according to the revolutionary calendar, "1. Floreal im Jahre 7 der französischen Republik" (1 Floréal, Year VII of the French Republic).
Thereafter follows the name of sender and addressees: "Buonaparte, General-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic in Africa and Asia, to the legitimate heirs of Palestine!" But even in 1798-9, exceedingly well known as the formal name for Napoleon's military command was the exotic and compelling phrase, "l'armée d'Orient" (army of the East). For this reason, any rational forger aiming at credibility via verisimilitude, would most likely have made sure to use the correct, official designation for Napoleon's army.
By contrast, as a skilled propagandist, Napoleon himself had other priorities for his writing. Thus, weighing in favor of the letter's authenticity is that here, as elsewhere, Napoleon likes the glamour of a border between two famous continents. Whether in 1798-9 or around 1819, his pen offers us several other grandiose references to Africa and Asia. Specifically here, as elsewhere in the pertinent context, the continental couplet refers to Ottoman territory; just as l'armée d'Orient clearly denotes the French Army operating in the Ottoman Empire.
Absolutely no inference can be drawn from the Italianate spelling of Napoleon's family name. This is notably inconsistent, even within the short text that is his baptismal certificate, which is written in Italian (July 21, 1771). In any event, at issue here is a self-declared translation into German. The translator, likely Karl Fischer, might have himself opted for the family-name spelling most familiar in contemporary German usage. In 1799 both variants were commonly used in the European press, sometimes even in Le Moniteur.
In that specific year, April 20th was notably the first day of Passover, which is pertinently a Jewish holiday celebrating the theme of the liberation of the Jewish People. Close to that time, Napoleon repeatedly wrote that he expected the early capture of Ottoman Acre which he was sure would make a big impression on the local populations. The contemporary documents tell us that he was then confident that Acre's imminent fall would trigger the voluntary submission of Damascus and Jerusalem. His proven expectation about soon conquering Acre perhaps explains why, for added political force, the alleged Napoleon letter falsely (or rather proleptically) identifies Jerusalem as the site of his headquarters. This "prolepsis" possibility is not to be dismissed lightly. We have already seen similar "flash forward" prolepsis in the aforementioned 1798 proclamation to the inhabitants of Syria.
The factually incorrect location of Napoleon's headquarters seems to discount the possibility of a European forgery made at any time after August 1799. From September 1799, it was too easily known in Europe that Napoleon had in fact never captured the Holy City. Moreover, a rapidly growing body of published accounts of the "Syrian" campaign conclusively confirmed that Napoleon had never been in Jerusalem. Thus, what are the odds that (an otherwise astute) forger would so carelessly site Napoleon's headquarters there? This particular aspect powerfully argues that the alleged Napoleon letter is unlikely to be a counterfeit confected at any time after August 1799.
Given late 18th-century logistics, it is absolutely impossible for a communication that had been issued in or near Jerusalem on April 20, 1799, to feature in one or more West European newspapers as early as May 13-14th to 22nd of that same year. For this reason, the letter's April 20th date is in itself one of the main objections to any theory alleging a forgery made after mid-May 1799. From then to the present day, it has always been too well known that one or more West European newspapers had already carried reports of an undated Napoleon proclamation. Thus, any rational forger would have tried to piggyback on the substantial credibility of those newspaper items. Namely, he would have opted to count backwards from the earliest known day of European newspaper publication, in order to cleverly date his own Napoleon fabrication no later than mid-March 1799. Such antedating would have been logically necessary to accommodate the more-or-less two months then normally required for Holy Land news to wend its way to Western Europe.
Napoleon's 1798-9 proclamations for Muslims were intentionally drafted with something of an Islamic flavor. In the same vein, this letter to "Israelites" is peppered with biblical personalities and citations. But these were drawn, not from the Jewish Bible, but rather from the Catholic Old Testament, known to be among the tomes in Napoleon's personal library in Ottoman Syria. To the point, the alleged Napoleon letter specifically cites the Book of Maccabees. This features in the Catholic Old Testament, but in neither the Jewish Bible nor the Protestant versions. Thus, this letter was not from a Jewish pen. No matter what the sect or stripe, no Jew in his right mind would in 1799 have tried to influence other Jews generally, with a citation from the Catholic Old Testament.
Rather, the letter's authorship is suggested by its celebration of Israelites as descendants of the Maccabees, who are honored as heroes worthy of their "fraternal alliance" with Sparta and Rome. This obscure diplomatic detail, taken straight from the Book of Maccabees, is exactly the kind of classical reference that fascinated Napoleon. Here, the rhetoric regarding Rome and Sparta matches his usual perorations elsewhere.
For sure, this letter dovetails with the formula so authoritatively described by General Desaix (September 1797): "He reminds them of their ancient glory, their ancient name; he instructs them about the astonishing and prodigious feats of the French." France is here portrayed as fighting in self-defense to guard her own territory against the theft of foreign Cabinets. Thus, hers is a just war that also helps fulfill a revolutionary duty to avenge the disgrace of "forgotten nations long under the yoke of slavery." Here ringing authentic are these legal and moral justifications for the Revolutionary French Republic, which is highlighted as la grande nation, in the German text "die große Nation." This was a prominent foreign-relations concept that certainly featured frequently in Napoleon's public writing during the late 1790s.
With the German words, Erben (heirs), Erbteil (inheritance), Erbländer (hereditrary lands) and Erbreich (hereditary dominion), heavy emphasis is placed on the notion of hereditary or aboriginal right which is logically companion to an ancient name. Such onomastic pedigree is something that we have already seen to be often emphasized in Napoleon's rhetoric. "Israelites" are twice addressed as "the lawful heirs of Palestine" and encouraged to hasten home to reclaim their patrimony. Similarly, the expression "Israels Erbteil" points to the millennial legacy of "the people Israel."
In the context of the new political doctrine of self-determination, the alleged Napoleon letter places great emphasis on Israelite peoplehood. The word "Volksexistenz" (existence as a People) notably appears twice. In the first instance, it is stressed that: "Tyranny and lust for conquest have been able to deprive the Israelites of their hereditary lands but unable to take away, not even in millennia, their name and their existence as a People (Volksexistenz)."
In the second place, the letter concludes with an exhortation to Israelites to seize the opportunity to reclaim their "political existence as a People among the nations" (politische Volksexistenz der Nationen). As already seen above, "restorer of their political existence" was the almost identical language Mallet du Pan (May 1799) uses to refer to Napoleon. More to the point, "resume our rank among the nations" is the strikingly similar phrase in Lettre d'un Juif, which is perhaps from Napoleon's pen. Whether or not that is so, such expressions came easily to Napoleon. For example, see his proclamation to the Hungarians (May 15, 1809): "You have national customs; a national language: You take pride in an illustrious and ancient origin. Therefore, take up again your existence as a nation!"
This reference to Volksexistenz has been discussed by some scholars with insufficient awareness of the stark modernity of the 1796-9 revolutionary rhetoric surrounding peoplehood and the political right to self-determination. Thus, a few historians mistakenly imagine that, in the alleged Napoleon letter, they can spot an anachronism that seeks to import later Zionist concepts into 1799. This "anachronism" theory is highly improbable for at least four reasons:
The letter was unlikely to have been written by a Jew. (Jewish authorship is further discounted in later paragraphs on the Jews of Prague.)
Almost all the scholars who have carefully studied its contents believe that, whether a forgery or not, the letter really dates from 1799.
The "anachronism" claim irrationally focuses on what Theodor Herzl was saying in the late 1890s, while illogically ignoring what revolutionaries were already saying one hundred years earlier (1796-9).
The revolutionary precepts about peoplehood and self-determination were both fundamental and universal, as already discussed in the preface.
Thus, the question remains: Were Jews specifically excluded from the benefits of the pertinent revolutionary doctrines, as then understood? "Yes, excluded!" quickly replies that persistent bias against Jews which even today still encourages dogmatic adherence to an unproven historical presumption -- namely, the stubborn belief that Jews could not possibly have then been seen as qualified for peoplehood and self-determination in their ancestral homeland. But, that highly discriminatory premise is roundly refuted by the rich record of revolutionary theory and practice from 1796 to 1799, as detailed above and below.
If we see this letter as genuine, it could perhaps have been written after the Battle of Mount Tabor (April 16, 1799), where Napoleon decisively defeated a regional Ottoman army led by the Pasha of Damascus. Judged from the sometimes trivial subject matter of his contemporary correspondence, Napoleon then had lots of time on his hands. Perhaps he used some hours in further efforts to spark rebellion among the disparate elements of the population. At that time, he wanted to get all "Syria" to revolt against the Ottomans, as confirmed by his then private secretary Louis de Bourrienne. The latter recorded verbatim Napoleon's conception of what was to have followed the expected (but ultimately unrealized) French conquest of Ottoman Acre. There, Napoleon counted on capturing a great pile of cash and a large store of arms and ammunition (May 8, 1799):
I march on Damascus and Aleppo. While advancing into the country, I grow my army with all the discontented; I announce to the people the abolition of servitude and of the tyrannical governments of the pashas.
Initially, Napoleon's grand strategy was to take Egypt as a base for attacking British India. But, French dreams of the Indies were cancelled by Nelson's victory in Aboukir Bay. This naval triumph not only reaffirmed Britain's global maritime might, but also ensured that the Turks would fight France. This brand-new constellation naturally invited Napoleon to ponder further possibilities. Thus, in spring 1799, he harbored hopes of perhaps toppling the Ottoman Empire via war and revolution, and then returning to European battlefields overland via the Balkans. Utter disappointment came only toward the end of May, when his surprising failure to take Acre seemed to him a turning point in world history. And, he still keenly felt so twenty years later.
Rabbi Aaron's covering letter
The 1799 official translation also includes a covering letter which the translator's common heading bureaucratically describes as written by a certain "Rabbi Aron [Aaron] in Jerusalem." In origin and authorship this covering letter is perhaps closely related to the Napoleon letter, or maybe entirely independent.
A hint of possible independence is that the two letters stipulate an overlapping, but not identical audience. To the point, the Napoleon letter addresses Israelites everywhere, with the words "legitimate heirs of Palestine." By contrast, the covering letter specifically addresses "the children of captivity." This slight focal shift means that the covering letter is specifically aimed at, more or less distant, diaspora Jews, whether living in the Mideast or Europe. It is also entirely possible that the covering letter was tacked on to the principal letter at a different time and place, maybe a few weeks after the Napoleon letter had already left Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל).
The source language is unspecified, but can easily be presumed to be Hebrew, inter alia, because the official German translation likely comes from Karl Fischer, in his normal capacity as, per page paid, Imperial and Royal Censor, Reviser and Translator in Hebrew. His job regularly includes translating letters and other Hebrew documents into German, including for the Polizeihofstelle in Vienna. Both of the 1799 originals are probably in Hebrew, because there is no need for the Polizeihofstelle to send the Hebrew Censor documents in other languages. Moreover, the translator bureaucratically joins the two letters together under the common heading "translated from the original 1799." Were there more than one source language, that peculiarity would most likely be stipulated, in the brief bureaucratic opening.
Just as in the Napoleon letter, so here too, the words "Jews" and "Jewish" do not appear in the body of the letter itself. Claiming to originate from Jerusalem, the rabbinic letter is dated, according to the Hebrew calendar, Nisan 5559. In 1799, this Hebrew month begins on April 6th and ends at sunset on May 5th. This companion letter calls for rebuilding both the city walls and a Temple in Jerusalem; and significantly summons to arms all the able-bodied men of Israel, no matter where they live. The Revolutionary French Republic is twice saluted as la grande nation (die große Nation). Pointing to Gideon in the Book of Judges, the covering letter ends with a shout: "Hier Schwerdt des Herrn und Buonaparte!" (Here the sword of the Lord and Buonaparte!)
Aaron, the brother of Moses?
Who was this "Aaron, Levi's son, from the tribe of Levi" (Aaron, Levis Sohn, aus dem Stamm Levi) who describes himself as "after countless generations again here in the Holy City first rabbi and priest"? Nobody knows. And, perhaps there never was such a real historical person in the 18th century. To the point, Judaism has famously had no "priests" since the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE). Following this logic, Aaron's puzzling self-description as "first rabbi and priest" must therefore be understood as prolepsis. Via this rhetorical device, the writer flashes forward into the future. His purpose is to dramatize the promise that (with the imminent rebuilding of the Temple) a direct descendant of the biblical Aaron the Levite will once again function as high priest. Thus, "Aaron, Levi's son" is probably intended to be a generic reference to any canonically-qualified "Kohen."
This no-name hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that Napoleon had already (September 7, 1798) appointed Cairo Rabbis Sabbato Adda and Telebi di Figura as "high priests of the Jewish People" (grands prêtres de la nation juive). But, Adda and Figura were far away in French-occupied Egypt. So, who else would be willing to lend rabbinical authority to the covering letter? Signing such a seditious text with an actual person's name would have been exceedingly perilous, whether in the Ottoman Empire or the several European countries of the counter-revolution. Thus, in the Holy Land, as in so many of the other places where Jews lived, no important rabbi would have dared to sign such an inflammatory document.
In 1799, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem was Haim ben Asher Yom Tov Algazy. Like the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Rabbi Algazy then prudently advertised his opposition to the French revolutionaries and publicly demonstrated loyalty to the Sultan. Algazy clung all the tighter to the Ottomans, because -- as so many times in the past -- the various other elements of the local population were trying to incriminate Jews, in this instance by charging complicity with Napoleon. To the point, a Jew wrote a Hebrew letter from Jerusalem (summer 1799):
Since Egypt and the neighboring provinces have been occupied [July-August 1798], a great misfortune has befallen us through the wickedness of the non-Jewish population. They have slandered us by saying that, among the [French] army, twelve thousand military volunteers are serving who are children of Israel. This has done us harm beyond measure. We are being attacked daily, and they threaten to kill us and to destroy all Jews, the inhabitants of Zion, God forbid!
Since 1944, there has been conjecture that the mysterious Rabbi Aaron might perhaps be the Moshe Aharon Halevi, who in 1799 is president of one of Jerusalem's four rabbincal courts. As such, he is no "priest," but entitled to be called "first rabbi," only when presiding. However, to exert his due influence, such an eminent rabbi would probably use his full name for the covering letter. Even more peculiar is omission of his first name, because "Moshe" famously symbolizes leadership of the Jewish People. In 1799, Moshe Aharon Halevi temporarily returns to his hometown Salonika to tend to the printing of a book of his writings. But, by summer 1799, he reappears in Jerusalem, where he cosigns, with some other local rabbis, a letter to Italian Jews that will be discussed below. This means that he felt safe enough to return to Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל) even after Napoleon's early June 1799 withdrawal to Egypt. Therefore, Moshe Aharon Halevi is unlikely to have been the radical rabbi of the covering letter.
Sabbateans, Frankists and Kabbalists
Studying the covering letter, commentators are struck by a flowery melitzah epistolary style; a very particular choice of biblical quotes; and special significance in the expressions "Jehova Zebaoth" (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת Lord of Hosts) and "der Samen Jakobs" (the seed of Jacob). Such proof has led some to conclude that the original of the covering letter was indeed written in Hebrew by a Jew who must also have been one or more of Sabbatean, Frankist and Kabbalist. Sabbateans were Jewish followers of the 17th-century false Messiah Sabbatai Zevi (d. 1676), just as Frankists followed the 18th-century false Messiah Jacob Frank (d. 1791). Kabbalism is a significant current of Jewish belief, mysticism and philosophy that informed Sabbateans, Frankists and some other important expressions of Judaism.
If the covering letter truly suggests one or more of Sabbateanism, Frankism and Kabbalism, that would logically be no evidence against a companion hypothesis that the Jewish writer was perhaps simultaneously a revolutionary agent, whether working near Napoleon or further afield. It has been said that Sabbateans, Frankists and Kabbalists were strongly attracted to Napoleon because they thought him to be one or more of anti-Catholic, victorious, and radical. Moreover, we shall later see that the Directory, at that time, already knew that many Jews believed Napoleon to be the Messiah. The same assessment of such Jewish belief was also made by experienced Austrian diplomat Count Johann Philipp Stadion. Later as Foreign Minister (1805-1809), Stadion remained obsessed with the idea that "in all of Europe the Jews consider the Emperor Napoleon as their Messiah and proclaim it openly."
If so, we cannot just leave it at that, as some have done, but rather must also examine Napoleon as he was before the November 1799 coup d'état. In those years, he was most certainly a true revolutionary and a famous opponent of both Royalists and the Roman-Catholic Church. He was a former Jacobin, close to Maximilien Robespierre's brother Augustin. In both 1795 and 1797, he played a principal part in frustrating actual or imminent right-wing coups against the Directory.
Starting from 1796, he exported the French Revolution to Roman-Catholic Italy. In February 1797, he forced the papacy to pay heavy contributions in cash, cede part of its territories, surrender several hundred ancient manuscripts, and deliver famous works of art. By authority of the Directory, Napoleon from Paris issued the orders (January 11, 1798) for the military occupation of Rome and indigenous creation of a revolutionary Roman Republic. This new sister Republic would replace the pontifical government of Pius VI who was derisively called "Citizen Pope" by the troops of the French Revolutionary Army. Napoleon wanted Pius VI to be scared enough to flee Rome. Moreover, during his Mideast campaign, Napoleon's proclamations and letters to Muslims repeatedly boasted that the French had destroyed both the papal throne and the reviled Roman-Catholic Order of the Knights of Saint John.
Like other revolutionaries, Napoleon persistently denied the divinity of Christ. Consider the theology atop the Arabic version of his proclamation to the people of Egypt (July 1798): "In the name of God, the clement and the merciful. There is no divinity save Allah; He has no son and shares His power with no one." The aforementioned proleptic proclamation "to the inhabitants of Syria" also begins with a similar denial of Christ's divinity.
Napoleon went even further by claiming that, by virtue of the Revolution, the French themselves had become Muslims. For example, the Arabic version of the proclamation to the people of Egypt says (July 1798): "Kadis, sheiks, imams, tchorbadjis! Tell the people that the French are also true Muslims." There is this same astonishing Muslim assertion in Napoleon's letter to Ahmet Cezzar Pasha, based in Acre (September 12, 1798):
We are no longer like the infidels of those barbarous times who were coming to fight your faith. [To the contrary, now] we recognize it to be sublime, we adhere to it, and the moment has arrived when all regenerated Frenchmen will also become your believers.
Napoleon was irreverent, skeptical, opportunistic and inventive. These qualities were expertly assessed by the Austrian Ambassador in Paris, Klemens von Metternich. In September and October 1806, he reported to Vienna his shrewd observation that Napoleon was quick to spot potential political advantage in Jewish messianic belief. In that same vein, in Egypt in his proclamations to Muslims, Napoleon had purposely portrayed himself in the light of the closely-related Islamic concept of the Mahdi (Arabic: مهدي), preordained by God to conquer that country. Thus, it is certain that, from time to time, Napoleon was eager to create the impression that he might be the Muslim or the Jewish Messiah.
Napoleon was fully in step with the pointedly anti-Catholic championing of the Jews that marked revolutionaries in the years from 1796 to 1799. In recruiting Jews to serve as spies, agents and emissaries, Napoleon would likely have specially sought out Sabbatean, Frankist and Kabbalist sectaries. Such Jews were then said to be particularly numerous in Italy, where Jewish attachment to Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל) remained especially strong, even in the 1790s. Who better than they to revolutionize the Jewish People for Napoleon's effort to destroy the Ottoman Empire? Sabbateans, Frankists and Kabbalists will reappear in later discussion of the Jews of Prague.
Proclamation or letter?
The official 1799 German translation nowhere contains the word "proclamation." To the point, Rabbi Aaron himself describes the companion Napoleon piece as a "letter" or Zuschrift. This is also the common label that the translator, likely Karl Fischer, bureaucratically applies to both items.
By contrast to "proclamation" which intrinsically has a public character, "letter" preserves the possibility of confidentiality. Even so, after the French retreat, local Muslims launched pogroms, including the execution of two Jewish students. Moreover, the Jews of Jerusalem and Tiberias were falsely accused of collaboration with the enemy, as an Ottoman pretext for extorting huge bribes.
In summer 1799, Moshe Aharon Halevi and other Jerusalem Rabbis prepared a Hebrew letter for dispatch to Jewish communities in Italy. Therein, they described the negative effects of Napoleon's campaign on the Jews of Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל):
Since the conquest of Egypt, we are having problems with the local populations, which accuse us of having furnished twelve thousand soldiers to Bonaparte. This charge has caused us much trouble, starting from the summer of 1798 to this present summer. Our Jews materially and morally suffered losses from the fighting at Jaffa and Acre. Now, in addition, they have had to sell all their jewels and luxury items in order to raise money to appease the anger of their neighbors.
All this underlines that Mideast Jews were a vulnerable aboriginal minority. Evidently, considerable discretion was needed for conducting relations with them. After his Islamic experience in Egypt (1798), Napoleon would likely have known that a public announcement favoring Jews would enrage both Muslims and Mideast Christians, and endanger Jews throughout the Ottoman Empire. Thus, in 1799, he would probably have opted for secretly sending a series of confidential letters rather than openly publishing proclamations to the Jews.
The "proclamation" in the European press
The world seems to have known little or nothing about Napoleon's appeal to the "Israelites" in the letter of April 20, 1799. But most certainly way too soon to have then originated from distant Ottoman Syria came May 1799 European tidings about an apparently earlier, undated, and likely unrelated, Napoleon "proclamation to the Jews."
To be sure, it was then impossible for an account of an April 20th Napoleon letter in Ottoman Syria to reach European cities quickly enough to appear in their newspapers before June of that same year. For example, consider the speedy reporting about the first French assault (March 28, 1799) on Acre, where fast British warships were exceptionally present. This Acre topic featured in an April 19th Constantinople report, first published in the Wiener Zeitung on May 7th, and in Mannheim's Journal Politique de l'Europe on May 19th. Inclusive of dates of occurrence and European printing, it took no fewer than 41 days for this Acre story to hit the streets of Vienna, and a total of 53 days for Mannheim. About 51 days were needed for London to print similar Acre news, as in the Lloyd's Evening-Post (May 17, 1799).
The story about a Napoleon proclamation to the Jews features in the May 1799 Lady's Magazine of London; and in at least sixteen newspapers in Germany, England and France, printed from around May 13th until the 22nd. The slow speed of contemporary travel dictates that these European articles cannot possibly reflect reports of Holy Land events occurring after March 1799. Thus, there has been informed speculation that Napoleon perhaps wrote such a document, some time in the week after his conquest of Jaffa (March 7, 1799). If then Napoleon indeed wrote something specifically for Jews, the office copy kept for the record was probably purposely destroyed in the 19th century, exactly as described in the preface.
It is also possible that one or more of the May 1799 articles in the European press were triggered, not by news of a 1799 document written by Napoleon in the Holy Land, but rather by deferred disclosure in Constantinople of information about the proclamation (beyanname بياننامه) that, according to Cevdet Pasha, the Turks had first heard about in the period before the Sultan's declaration of war against France (September 10, 1798).
With regard to the stipulated source for the May 1799 European articles telling the proclamation story, most of the contemporary newspapers refer to an April 1799 report, whether dated the 10th, 12th, 17th or 22nd. Each one of these reports is specifically described as from Constantinople. This April 1799 news from Turkey seems to have been initially published, circa Monday, May 13th, most likely in the French-language Gazette de Hambourg, a city that was neutral during the War of the Second Coalition. If so, verification can only be indirect, because the spring 1799 numbers of the Gazette de Hambourg are extremely rare or no longer exist. I have been unable to find them.
But, let us turn our attention to the press of Berlin, the capital of another neutral power, Prussia. An alleged April 22nd Constantinople report features as the very last foreign-news item on page five of the Vossische Zeitung, Number 58 (May 14, 1799):
Konstantinopel, den 22. April. Buonaparte hat, wie es heißt, eine Proklamation an die Juden in mehreren Afrikanischen und Asiatischen Gegenden erlassen, um das Reich von Jerusalem wieder herzustellen. Auch soll er eine beträchtliche Anzahl Juden bewaffnet, in Bataillons formirt haben, und jetzt Aleppo bedrohen. Die Einwohner in der Gegend von Damascus sollen gegen die Pforte in Insurrektion zu seyn. -- Mit der Großvezier sollen auch viele Janitscharen nach Syrien abgehen. Der Großherr hatte erst selbst nach Syrien abgehen wollen, wogegen aber die nachdrücklichstens Vorstellungen gemacht wurden. Unter den Französ. Truppen in Aegypten sollen fortdauernd ansteckende Krankheiten herrschen. Man erwartet hier ehestens aus der Krimm eine zweite nach dem Mittelländischen Meere bestimmte Russische Flotte. -- Der Bruder des hiesigen Französischen Schiffbaumeisters, Le Brun, der sich sehr demokratisch zeigte, ist aus dem Türkischen Dienste entlassen worden. Für den Schiffbaumeister selbst besorgt man noch ein schlimmeres Schicksal.
[Constantinople, April 22nd. Buonaparte has reportedly issued a proclamation to the Jews in several African and Asian places, to rebuild the Empire of Jerusalem. He is also said to have armed a considerable number of Jews, formed them into battalions, and to be now threatening Aleppo. The inhabitants in the area of Damascus are said to be in rebellion against the Sublime Porte. -- Many janissaries are expected to go to Syria with the Grand Vizier. The Sultan at first wanted to go to Syria himself, but the most emphatic representations were made against this idea. Persistently contagious diseases are said to prevail among the French troops in Egypt. Expected here any time now, from the Crimea, is a second Russian fleet bound for the Mediterranean Sea. -- The brother of the local French shipwright, Le Brun, who showed himself to be very democratic, has been dismissed from the Turkish service. For the shipwright himself, an even worse fate is feared.]
Berlin, Vossische Zeitung, Number 58,
Tuesday, May 14, 1799, page 5.
Only 23 days for Constantinople news to get printed in Berlin? The distance was 1,364 miles, over mostly bad roads. Given the slow pace of 18th-century travel, is it likely that a Constantinople report sent out on April 22nd could arrive in Berlin soon enough for the May 14th edition? Physically possible, but for those days impressively fast transmission. Thus, the question arises: Is the initial digit in the April 22nd date perhaps a typographical or similar error? If so, the true Berlin source could perhaps be: an April 12th letter directly from Constantinople; or even a published report about an April 12th letter, for example, drawn from the Gazette de Hambourg, if previously printed. Such a postulated prior publication in Hamburg could conceivably have reached Berlin by stagecoach within 48 hours.
The phrase "several African and Asian places" in the first sentence of the German-language text of the Vossische Zeitung can conceivably be understood as referring either to the sites of issuance of the Napoleon proclamation or to the places of residence of the recipient Jews. But, no matter which translation option is chosen, those "places" are likely intended to refer to the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
The hypothesis that the Vossische Zeitung's story about the Napoleon proclamation to the Jews might have originated from an issuance, perhaps made before 1799, is supported by careful analysis of the background of each one of the seven other news items in the alleged April 22nd Constantinople report. External evidence suggests that, of the seven companion topics, no fewer than five describe events that can be shown to have occurred, in whole or in part, before 1799:
The tale that Napoleon had "armed a considerable number of Jews" was already, in the summer of 1798, a persistent rumor in Ottoman Syria, as specifically affirmed by the aforementioned two Hebrew letters from Jerusalem.
Dovetailing with 1798 events was news that inhabitants of Damascus region were in revolt against the Sublime Porte.
Epidemics among French soldiers in Alexandria, Damietta and Mansoura began in December 1798.
As early as October 24, 1798, the Wiener Zeitung announced that a second Russian fleet would be coming from the Crimea to the Mediterranean.
Long gone were fears for the fate of the Le Brun brothers in Constantinople, because those two French shipwrights were, by January 1, 1799, safe in Saint Petersburg, where they soon agreed to serve the Imperial Russian Navy.
Thus, there is no reason to reject the possibility that the Vossische Zeitung story about the proclamation to the Jews perhaps reflects a document issued by Napoleon before 1799, and maybe even in the period before the Sultan's declaration of war against France (September 10, 1798), exactly as presented in the official Ottoman history by Ahmet Cevdet Pasha.
Friday, May 17, 1799.
Too soon to be copied from the Vossische Zeitung, but most likely derived from prior publication in the Gazette de Hambourg, is the same story in London's The True Briton, Friday, May 17th. This alleges an April 12th Constantinople report, news of which had arrived late on Thursday evening, in the mails from Hamburg. That same Friday, London articles identical to the one in The True Briton, appear verbatim in The Star and the Lloyd's Evening-Post (May 17, 1799):
Buonaparte, it is said, has published a Proclamation to the Jews dispersed in Africa and Asia, inviting them to restore the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He has armed a great number of Jews, and formed them into Battalions; and now threatens Aleppo. The Pacha of that district has received from the Porte 220,000 piasters for extraordinary expenses. The Inhabitants in the vicinity of Damascus are in Insurrection against the Porte. A second Russian fleet is soon expected here from the Crimea, destined for the Mediterranean. The Grand Signior has declared his intention of leading the Army in Syria; but strong remonstrances have been made against this measure. An epidemic sickness still prevails among the French troops in Egypt.
Also relying on news from "the Hamburgh Mail" are two London articles that allege as source an April 10th Constantinople report, wherein Napoleon's proclamation is limited to "the Jews in Africa." This is an identical text which appears verbatim in both The Times (May 17, 1799) and the Evening Mail (May 15-17, 1799):
Constantinople, April 10. --- Buonaparte, it is said, has published a Proclamation to the Jews in Africa, inviting them to restore the kingdom of Jerusalem. He has armed a great number of Jews, and formed them into battalions; and now threatens Aleppo. The Pacha of that district has received from the Porte 220,000 piastres for extraordinary expenses. The inhabitants in the vicinity of Damascus are in insurrection against the Porte. A second Russian fleet is soon expected here from the Crimea, destined for the Mediterranean. The Grand Signior has declared his intention of heading himself the army in Syria; but strong remonstrances have been made against this measure. An epidemic sickness still prevails among the French troops in Egypt.
Virtually the same text as the foregoing appears once again in London in The Selector or Say's Sunday Reporter (Sunday, May 19, 1799). But, The Selector says this news is "From the Hamburgh Mails"; the source is the April 12th Constantinople report; and "the Jews dispersed in Africa and Asia" are named as the recipients of the proclamation published by "Buonaparte."
London, Evening Mail, Postscript,
Friday Afternoon, May 17th, page 4,
Wednesday, May 15 to Friday, May 17, 1799.
Based on a number of the Gazette de Hambourg that had reached the "Banks of the Main" river on May 16th, the Journal de Francfort ran the proclamation story as a direct quotation (May 17, 1799):
La gazette de Hambourg rapporte une lettre de Constantinople du 12 avril, où il est dit: "Buonaparte a adressé une proclamation aux juifs de l'Afrique & de l'Asie, dans laquelle il annonce le projet de rétablir le royaume de Jérusalem, & les invite à y concourir. Ce général a déjà armé, dit-on, un nombre considérable de juifs, & les a organisés en bataillons. L'on attend incessamment ici (à Constantinople) de la Crimée, une seconde flotte Russe, destinée pour la Méditerranée."
[The gazette of Hambourg reports from Constantinople a letter of April 12th, wherein it is said: "Buonaparte has addressed a proclamation to the Jews of Africa and Asia, in which he announces the plan to reestablish the kingdom of Jerusalem, and invites them to rush there together. This general has already armed a considerable number of Jews, and has organized them into battalions. Here (in Constantinople) we await any time now the arrival of a second Russian fleet, bound for the Mediterranean."]
Frankfurt am Main, Journal de Francfort, Number 137,
Friday, May 17, 1799, page 4.
In the quotation printed in Frankfurt, the issuance of the proclamation is presented without any qualification such as "reportedly" or "it was said." Here as elsewhere, "juifs de l'Afrique et de l'Asie" most likely means the Jews of the entire Ottoman Empire, including Turkey in Europe. This Frankfurt text also refers to armed Jewish battalions, but says nothing about Aleppo. Moreover, applicable here too is the earlier analysis of the similar story in Berlin's Vossische Zeitung. Thus, in the Journal de Francfort, the April 12th Constantinople letter (as quoted from the Gazette de Hambourg) might conceivably be referring to a proclamation to the Jews, perhaps made before 1799. If so, nothing in the April 12th Constantinople letter prevents linking this proclamation with the one that Cevdet Pasha assigns to the period before September 10, 1798.
A proclamation to all world Jewry to come to Jerusalem to help "Buonaparte" rebuild the Temple is the striking version in the Augsburgische Ordinari Postzeitung. This also alleges an April 12th report from Constantinople, but reveals nothing about how this remarkable news arrived in Augsburg. Perhaps the story here is less likely to be copied from the Berlin Vossische Zeitung which explicitly claims an April 22nd source. The Postzeitung item was published on May 18, 1799:
Konstantinopel, den 12. April. Buonaparte hat an die Juden in allen Welttheilen eine Proklamation erlassen, durch die er sie einladet, nach Jerusalem zu kommen, weil er ihr Reich und ihren Tempel wieder aufrichten wolle. Er hat auch bereits unter seiner Armee einige Bataillons Juden. -- Der Großsultan war anfänglich entschlossen, die türkische Armee gegen Buonaparte selbst anzuführen. Der Diwan aber war dagegen. Unter den französischen Truppen in Aegypten soll die Pest herrschen.
[Constantinople, April 12th. Buonaparte has issued to the Jews in all parts of the world a proclamation, whereby he invites them to come to Jerusalem, because he wants to restore their realm and their temple. He already has several Jewish battalions in his army. -- The great sultan had initially decided to himself lead the Turkish army against Buonaparte, but the divan was against it. The plague is said to be ravaging the French troops in Egypt.]
Augsburg, Augsburgische Ordinari Postzeitung, Number 118,
Saturday, May 18, 1799, page 2.
The London, Sunday newspaper, Bell's Weekly Messenger publishes its own "Turkey" news referring to entirely Jewish battalions in the French Army of the Orient. Highlighted is a proclamation from "Buonaparte" calling upon "the Jews dispersed over Asia and Africa" (i.e. the Jews of the Ottoman Empire) to restore "the kingdom of Jerusalem." This account is derived from an April 12th Constantinople report, taken "from the Hamburgh Mails" (May 19, 1799):
Turkey. Constantinople, April 12. --- A proclamation is said to have been published by Buonaparte inviting the Jews dispersed over Asia and Africa, to restore the kingdom of Jerusalem. He has already formed whole battalions of that nation; and now threatens Aleppo. The country about Damascus is in insurrection against the Porte.
London, Bell's Weekly Messenger,
Sunday, May 19, 1799, page 155.
Under "Foreign Intelligence," the Observer of London covers familiar ground with slightly different language that specifically clarifies that it was Napoleon who was preparing to attack Aleppo, not Jewish battalions (May 19, 1799):
Constantinople, April 12. --- Buonaparte is said to have formed some battalions of Jews, the whole of which race in Asia and Africa he has invited to restore the Kingdom of Jerusalem: The people near Damascus, the account adds, are in insurrection against the Porte, and Buonaparte preparing to attack Aleppo. A second Russian fleet is expected to shortly arrive, on their way to the Mediterranean. An epidemic sickness still prevails amongst the French troops in Egypt.
London, The Observer, Number 386,
Sunday, May 19, 1799, p. 4.
Mannheim's Journal Politique de l'Europe relies on a number of the Journal de Francfort, that arrived in Mannheim on May 18th, to requote verbatim an undated recent number of the Gazette de Hambourg. However, the Journal Politique changes the spelling of Napoleon's family name and adds a Vienna news report about the siege of Acre (May 19, 1799):
La gazette de Hambourg rapporte une lettre de Constantinople du 12 avril, où il est dit: "Bonaparte a adressé une proclamation aux juifs de l'Afrique & de l'Asie, dans laquelle il annonce le projet de rétablir le royaume de Jérusalem, & les invite à y concourir. Ce général a déjà armé, dit-on, un nombre considérable de juifs, & les a organisés en bataillons. L'on attend incessamment ici (à Constantinople) de la Crimée, une seconde flotte Russe, destinée pour la Méditerranée."
-- La gazette de Vienne [Die Wiener Zeitung] du 7 [May 1799] rapporte une lettre de Constantinople du 19 avril, qui dit que l'armée françoise en Syrie a été repousée dans sa première attaque [March 28, 1799] contre St. Jean-d'Acre.
[The gazette of Hambourg reports from Constantinople a letter of April 12th, wherein it is said: "Bonaparte has addressed a proclamation to the Jews of Africa and Asia, in which he announces the plan to reestablish the kingdom of Jerusalem, and invites them to rush there together. This general has already armed a considerable number of Jews, and has organized them into battalions. Here (in Constantinople) we await any time now the arrival of a second Russian fleet, bound for the Mediterranean."
--The gazette of Vienna {Die Wiener Zeitung} of the 7th {May 1799} reports a letter from Constantinople of April 19th, which says that the French army in Syria has been rebuffed in its first attack {March 28, 1799} against Acre.]
Mannheim, Journal Politique de l'Europe, Number 138,
Sunday, May 19, 1799, page 4.
Taken from the May 7th Wiener Zeitung, the Journal Politique's account of the first French assault on Acre (March 28, 1799) is definitely fresh news from the spring of 1799. By contrast, the proclamation story drawn from the Gazette de Hambourg might perhaps have occurred before 1799.
The same is true of the proclamation tale in the Allgemeine Zeitung of Munich. Moreover, the Munich newspaper item has no dated source, and notably lacks any reference to armed Jewish battalions (May 22, 1799):
Türkei. Nachrichten aus Konstantinopel sprechen von einer Proklamation, welche Bonaparte an die Juden von Afrika und Asien erlassen habe, um ihnen anzukündigen, daß er das Königreich von Jerusalem wiederherzustellen gedenke, und ihren Beistand hiezu erwarte. -- Man erwartete, daß eine zweite, nach dem Mittel-Meer bestimmte, russische Flotte noch im April zu Konstantinopel eintreffen würde.
[Turkey. News reports from Constantinople speak of a proclamation which Bonaparte has issued to the Jews of Africa and Asia in order to inform them that he is thinking about restoring the Kingdom of Jerusalem and expects their assistance therewith. -- A second Russian fleet bound for the Mediterranean Sea was expected to have arrived in Constantinople before the end of April.]
Munich, Allgemeine Zeitung, Number 142,
Wednesday, May 22, 1799, page 606.
Le Moniteur, May 22, 1799
The proclamation story is the first item on the front page of Le Moniteur. There, it appears perhaps too soon to have been copied from Frankfurt, London, Augsburg, Mannheim, or Munich. From internal evidence, we can guess that the story in Le Moniteur perhaps comes, not directly from the French-language Gazette de Hambourg, but rather from the German-language text in the May 14th Vossische Zeitung.
Such Paris plagiarism is hardly surprising, because the French government generally lacked much own-source information as to what was really transpiring in the Mideast, just as Napoleon was then getting very little news from Europe. Nonetheless, the article in Le Moniteur is politically significant, because that newspaper was known to regularly publish news, as provided by the Directory. Clearly, the editors would wait for an official green light before rushing to print front-page news about Napoleon, who was of key concern to the Directors.
At least the first paragraph from Le Moniteur (below) also appears, on that same day, verbatim in Le Propagateur. Although late in the publication chain, both of these Paris papers are distinct in citing as source an alleged 28 germinal (April 17) report from Constantinople. Despite this claim of an independent source, they curiously offer next to nothing new that is credible (May 22, 1799):
Constantinople, le 28 germinal. Bonaparte a fait publier une proclamation dans laquelle il invite tous les juifs de l'Asie et de l'Afrique à venir se ranger sous ses drapeaux pour rétablir l'ancienne Jérusalem. Il en a déjà armé un grand nombre, et leurs bataillons menacent Alep.
Les habitans des environs de Damas sont en insurrection contre la Porte. Le grand-seigneur doit partir incessament pour la Syrie, afin de commander, en personne, contre Bonaparte. Le grand-visir, à la tête d'un corps considérable de janissaires, doit aussi se mettre en route au commencement de floréal.
[Constantinople, the 28th of germinal {April 17}. Bonaparte arranged for the publication of a proclamation in which he invites all the Jews of Asia and Africa to come line up under his banners in order to reestablish ancient Jerusalem. He has already armed a great number of them, and their battalions are threatening Aleppo.
In the Damascus area, the inhabitants are in rebellion against the Sublime Porte. In order to personally command against Bonaparte, the Sultan is expected to leave for Syria any time now. At the head of a considerable body of janissaries, the Grand Vizier too ought to be setting out around the 20th of April.]
(prominent as first item on the front page)
Paris, Le Moniteur, No. 243, Tridi, 3 prairial an VII
(Wednesday, May 22, 1799).
"All the Jews of Asia and Africa" (tous les juifs de l'Asie et de l'Afrique) most probably means the Jews of the entire Ottoman Empire, including most of the Balkan lands. The pertinent geopolitical perspective is likely that of the contemporary Habsburg diplomat and statesman Klemens von Metternich, who famously quipped, "Asia begins at the Landstraße," in Vienna. Only in Bell's Weekly Messenger, The Observer, Le Moniteur and Le Propagateur does the reference to Asia precede Africa.
"L'ancienne Jérusalem" (ancient or old Jerusalem) appears only in the version in Le Moniteur and Le Propagateur. This particular expression is invented, perhaps because the editors, as revolutionaries revered classical antiquity and respected biblical Jews. By contrast, their revolutionary perspective required disdain for anything smacking of the medieval Catholic Church. Perhaps interpreting from the German text in the Vossische Zeitung, they purposely mistranslate the millenarian phrase "Reich von Jerusalem" ("empire" or "realm" of Jerusalem). This matter gets more attention below.
The version of the proclamation story in Le Moniteur and Le Propagateur is also unique in specifically including a call to the colors. Namely, only in those two newspapers are Jews explicitly summoned to line up in ranks under Napoleon's banner. This specifically martial element is significantly absent from the other May 1799 articles, and also notably missing from Cevdet Pasha's account of a Jewish proclamation, made at some time before September 10, 1798.
Jewish battalions threatening Aleppo?
The account in Le Moniteur contains little that could not be derived (more or less accurately) from the German-language text in Berlin's Vossische Zeitung, which covers more ground. However, the incredible claim that armed Jewish battalions are threatening Aleppo is notably absent from the Frankfurt and Mannheim quotations from the Gazette de Hambourg, and also missing from the Berlin, London, Augsburg, and Munich versions.
In 1797-9, Le Moniteur sometimes likes to highlight revolutionary Jews as soldiers, as in the aforementioned addition of a call to the colors. But, this strange Aleppo story is otherwise to be explained as perhaps mistranslation from the German-language text in the Vossische Zeitung. The latter grammatically states that it is Bonaparte who is threatening Aleppo, not the Jewish battalions. This particular point is confirmed by careful reading of the words and punctuation of the English-language version of the same Aleppo story in The True Briton, The Star, the Lloyd's Evening-Post, The Times, the Evening Mail, The Selector, and Bell's Weekly Messenger.
Furthermore, the London Observer (Sunday, May 19, 1799), while discussing Jewish battalions elsewhere, specifically speaks of "Buonaparte preparing to attack Aleppo." Referring to the May 14th item in the Vossische Zeitung, the Allgemeine Zeitung (Thursday, May 23, 1799) unwittingly concurs with the Observer. While saying nothing about Jewish battalions, the Allgemeine Zeitung reads the Berlin account of the April 22nd Constantinople report, as indicating that it is the French who are threatening Aleppo.
What can we learn from the several May 1799 newspapers that (directly or indirectly) rely on a recent number of the Gazette de Hambourg? It is fairly clear that this missing number of the Gazette de Hambourg must offer news about a variety of Mideast events, probably including grammatically separate references to both Jewish battalions and Aleppo. But, this lost number of the Gazette de Hambourg is unlikely to make the startling claim that Jewish battalions are threatening Aleppo. We have already seen that this bizarre news is perhaps invented (accidentally or purposefully) by the editors of Le Moniteur. And, to preserve the Directory's dignity, Le Moniteur perhaps intentionally concocts the reference to a Constantinople report of 28 germinal (April 17, 1799).
"The Kingdom of Jerusalem"
This is a curious (even apocalyptic) phrase that merits our attention. We have already seen similar millenarian language in the 1798 Lettre d'un Juif as "l'empire de Jérusalem." Then, there are the May 1799 newspapers -- namely, the Vossische Zeitung speaks of "das Reich von Jerusalem"; The True Briton, The Star, the Lloyd's Evening-Post, The Times, the Evening Mail, The Observer, The Selector, and Bell's Weekly Messenger all talk of "the Kingdom of Jerusalem"; in the Allgemeine Zeitung, the word is "das Königreich von Jerusalem"; and the Gazette de Hambourg (as quoted in the Journal de Francfort and the Journal Politique de l'Europe) refers to "le royaume de Jérusalem."
This is a Christian rather than a Jewish term. In the Jewish Bible, there is no Israelite or Jewish "kingdom of Jerusalem." The Jewish Bible has many reverential references to the city of Jerusalem, but for geopolitical taxonomy famously focuses on the kingdoms of Israel and Judah and on the persistent idea of the "Land of Israel" (Heb: אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל Eretz Yisrael).
By contrast, some Christian Bibles mention the "kingdom of Jerusalem" at least once in the supersessionist Book of Esdras: "Thus saith the Lord unto Esdras, Tell My people that I will give them the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which I would have given unto Israel." Historically, that passage sufficed for naming the medieval, Catholic Crusader state, the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Thus, the millenarian phrase "empire" or "kingdom" of Jerusalem was in Le Moniteur and Le Propagateur (May 22, 1799) purposely suppressed and replaced by "l'ancienne Jérusalem."
Jerusalem or "David's City" is juridically just an historic, municipal toponym in the alleged Napoleon letter of April 20, 1799. There, "Israelites" are twice saluted as "rightful heirs of Palestine." By contrast, there in no "Palestine" in Lettre d'un Juif, where "Jews" and "Israelites" are to be restored to "the homeland" (la patrie). Anonymous also incidentally mentions "the Holy Land" (la Terre sainte). But more to the point, Lettre d'un Juif specifically points to Jerusalem as "this sacred city" (cette cité sacrée) and showcases the extraordinary millenarian expression, l'empire de Jérusalem.
Is it merely coincidental that l'empire de Jérusalem, as a clearly-political term in Lettre d'un Juif, so closely matches Cevdet Pasha's account of a contemporary revolutionary proclamation calling on Jews everywhere to come together to agree on "establishing a Jewish government in Jerusalem" (قدس شريفده بر يهود حكومتى تشكيل)? Also striking is the use of such markedly-political "Jerusalem" nomenclature across Lettre d'un Juif and fifteen out of our eighteen May 1799 publications, reporting the Napoleon proclamation to the Jews.
We have seen that Napoleon, already in 1797, was using agents in the Ottoman lands to secretly distribute revolutionary proclamations, pamphlets, poems, letters, leaflets, songs, engravings, etc. This wide-ranging communications program probably included one or more proclamations referring specifically to both Jews and a Jewish kingdom or government in Jerusalem. The circulation of these Jewish proclamations perhaps began earlier than September 1797, just as suggested in the account by General Desaix. Such a propaganda initiative was importantly corroborated by Mallet du Pan; and then explicitly confirmed by Cevdet Pasha, based on the Ottoman sources available to him in Constantinople.
Napoleon never disavowed
During more than five years as an exile on Saint Helena, Napoleon persistently combed through the back issues of Le Moniteur. He would thus have been reminded of the amazing story of the proclamation to the Jews, published there on May 22, 1799. Nonetheless, he notably never disavowed this particular news item. To the point, around 1819, his own account of the "Syrian" campaign repeatedly refers to Jews, but most carefully says nothing about issuance to them of any "proclamation."
Before his May 1821 death, Napoleon had more than two decades, during which he could easily have denounced as fake news, the May 1799 newspaper reports about his proclamation to the Jews. And, he had incentive to do so. The end of the French Revolution (November 1799) coincided with more open expression of hatred towards Jews, across Europe. Such antisemitism became even stronger in the reactionary era, immediately after Napoleon's final fall (1815). Then, repudiating the proclamation story would have flattered Catholic opinion. Arguably, a specific denial of authorship would have been advantageous to Napoleon, both while he was in power and after he left office. Then, disavowal might perhaps have enhanced restoration odds for himself or his son.
Thus, we must ask: Why did Napoleon refrain from tarring these May 1799 reports as fake news? Maybe he remained silent from a reasonable fear that, despite having deliberately burned the official papers, perhaps there might still survive some other evidence, proving that he had indeed issued one or more invitations to the Jews to return to their ancestral homeland.
Age-old messianism stimulated
Faithfully repeating from Le Moniteur, a fanciful figure that multiplies by eight the troop numbers under Napoleon, La Décade philosophique salutes "invincible Bonaparte" as "master of Syria" and revisits the proclamation story (May 29, 1799):
At the head of an army of one hundred thousand men, [Bonaparte] has proclaimed the delivery of Jerusalem and Judea, and calls back to their ancient homeland the Hebrews dispersed on the planet. Who knows? Perhaps they are going to see in him the Messiah, and soon twenty prophecies will have predicted the happening, the epoch, even unto the circumstance of his coming. It is at the least very probable that the Jewish People will reconstitute itself as the body of a nation, that the Temple of Solomon will be rebuilt.
The invitation to the Jews is also sincerely believed by The True Briton. For this reason, Napoleon is mocked with the wry suggestion that the revolutionary general has just sent a message to longtime, millenarian enthusiast Richard Brothers, then confined in a private insane asylum in Islington (May 30, 1799):
Buonaparte, we hear, has sent a pressing invitation to Brothers, to come and assist him in the re-establishment of the Jewish Kingdom; but to this invitation the Prophet has given a peremptory refusal, declaring that the restoration of the Jews, and the rebuilding of the Temple, can never be the work of so ungodly a Philistine.
By contrast, there is no hint of humor in a report from Bell's Weekly Messenger (June 9, 1799):
Private advices from Syria, by way of Italy, state, that such hath been the enthusiasm of the Jews, on Buonaparte's inviting them to their promised Restoration, that numbers from all parts flock to his standard, and that he has whole regiments of them training to war in his armies.
From Hamburg, Berlin, London, Frankfurt, Augsburg, Mannheim, Munich, and Paris -- this blockbuster news spreads across Europe and beyond. Thus, Director Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès gets a pertinent letter from a revolutionary called Desgranges (June 14, 1799):
Is it true that Bonaparte is now master of the Asiatic provinces of the sultan? Is it true that he has recalled the Jews of Asia and Africa back to Jerusalem? Would it not be possible to send the Jews of Europe there too? Great and dangerous [Christian] prejudices would fall with the rebuilding of the Temple of the Israelites. They are no more than brokers, so their emigration would not do any harm to our industry. Commerce would not suffer.
Desgranges urges the Revolutionary French Republic to collect three hundred million francs as a service charge for returning the Jews to Jerusalem. He is sure that Jews there would then fight for France with full enthusiasm. "This People would be an ally for us in that part of the world. The navigation of the Red Sea would be guaranteed to us."
The "restoration of the Jews" is also a recurring topic in the 1799 Gentlemen's Magazine of London. Thus, we can better understand a London report in the Wiener Zeitung (July 17, 1799). This says the British House of Lords (June 20th) heard "Lord Radner" (more likely Lord Radnor) condemn secret clubs, free masons and Jacobin societies for propagating the subversive idea of inviting the Jews to gather themselves together to restore "their chimerical Jerusalem."
In Le Moniteur, the proclamation story is credited by "David" who offers a lengthy, informative, and speculative article about "Bonaparte's Probable Conquest of the Ottoman Empire" (De la conquête probable de l'empire ottoman par Bonaparte). Could this possibly be painter and revolutionary, Jacques-Louis David, who then idolized Napoleon? In any event, "David" of Le Moniteur imagines Napoleon fighting his way back to Europe overland, by taking Constantinople, and freeing all the subject Peoples of the Ottoman Empire (June 27, 1799): "It wasn't only to deliver to the Jews their Jerusalem that Bonaparte has conquered Syria." (Ce n'est pas seulement pour rendre aux juifs leur Jérusalem que Bonaparte a conquis la Syrie.)
A contemporary Berlin pamphlet portrays a debate between a Christian theologian and a Jew. The latter is presented as saying (1799): "All the newspapers speak as one about Bonaparte's conquest of this holy place and add, almost seriously, that he conquered it for the Jews."
The proclamation news is also well known to German philosopher, theologian, poet and playwright Johann Gottfried von Herder whose command of Hebrew language and literature is solid. His essay Die Bekehrung der Juden (The Conversion of the Jews) is first printed in 1802, but originally written perhaps as early as 1800. Herder begins by briefly referring to the pertinent 1799 written debate among David Friedländer, Friedrich Schleiermacher and Wilhelm Abraham Teller. Thereafter, Herder reviews some secular, practical arguments for either toleration or the return of the Jewish People to its aboriginal homeland. With regard to the latter possibility, he writes sardonically: "Good luck to them if a Messiah-Bonaparte may victoriously lead them there; good luck to them in Palestine!" These words mock both the Jews and Napoleon. But, there is absolutely nothing in Herder's remarks that doubts the truth of the proclamation story, which is universally believed in 1799.
Portrait of Pope Pius VI by Pompeo Batoni (1775).
Revolutionary hatred for the Roman-Catholic Church
led to creation of the Roman Republic (February 15, 1798).
Pope Pius VI was forcibly exiled to France where he died in August 1799.
The proclamation in Prague
Orthodox Jew, anonymous "B" addresses a long letter to the head of Prague public security, the Stadthauptmann Joseph, Count Wratislaw von Mitrowitz. B denounces Prague members of the schismatic sect of Jacob Frank for constituting a secret society with dangerous sympathies for "freedom," as advocated by the French Revolution (June 27, 1799):
The overthrow of the papal throne [February 1798] has given their [Frankist] daydreams plenty of nourishment. They say openly, this is the sign of the coming of the Messiah, since their chief belief consists of this: Sabbatai Zevi was savior, will always remain the savior, but always under a different shape. General Bonaparte's conquests gave nourishment to their superstitious teachings. His conquests in the Orient, especially the conquest of Palestine, of Jerusalem, his appeal to the Israelites is oil on their fire (sein Aufruf an die Israeliten ist Öhl auf ihrem Feuer).
Here, the specific reference to "Palestine" and Bonaparte's "appeal to the Israelites" prompts a question: Is B perhaps specifically pointing to the alleged Napoleon letter of April 20th instead of (or in addition to) the at least sixteen May 1799 newspaper reports of a "proclamation" to the Jews? No definite answer, because B elsewhere freely oscillates between the terms "Jews" and "Israelites."
What does B's testimony actually prove? It shows firstly that, by summer 1799, Prague Jews certainly know about Napoleon's appeal and/or proclamation; and secondly, that informer B presumes that Count Wratislaw too is already aware of this amazing story. But, B never alleges that local Frankists are circulating copies of Bonaparte's appeal to the Israelites. Nor does B suggest that they have themselves forged such a document. Furthermore, B twice over specifically says he does not think local Frankists capable of treason.
Pertinently, forging such fake letters in the Habsburg Empire at that time would indeed have amounted to the crime of treason, given the "state of war" with France, the particularly belligerent biblical quotes attributed to Napoleon, and the purported Jerusalem rabbi's explicit call to arms. Emperor Francis II was then afraid of revolutionary subversion and always anxious about the loyalty of his close to half-million Jewish subjects. Nonetheless, some writers of the last few decades have missed the mark in postulating an improbable scenario involving no more than the local police in Prague. Why improbable? Because these Hebrew letters were an important national-security matter that, in the Habsburg Monarchy, fell squarely within the purview of the Polizeihofstelle in Vienna.
Nor can we possibly ignore the mega-fact that, in 1799, the Austrian police did not arrest the Prague Frankists, for either serious political crimes or lesser offenses. This last circumstance weighs heavily due to the tragic precedent of the Hellenic patriot Rigas. We have already seen that Rigas was sent to his death in Ottoman Belgrade, because he had been caught in Habsburg Trieste (December 1797) with three wooden chests full of revolutionary proclamations.
However, B did advise Count Wratislaw to regularly read Frankist mail and to search their leader's home for seditious papers on a Saturday afternoon. For this reason, these last eighty years, there has been speculation about the possibility of some sort of a link joining all three of the local Frankists; the Prague police; and the Orthodox-Jewish Fleckeles family, whose handwritten document yields the text for the 1939 German-language typescript.
If so, we must also take into account the realities of 18th-century communications. Specifically, Napoleonic propaganda leaving Ottoman Syria on April 20th most definitely has enough time (75 days) to reach any point in Central Europe by July 4th. That is the first day that Count Wratislaw can receive B's advice, because B adds a postscript saying he held back mailing until July 4th.
With this in mind, let us provisionally accept the entirely unproven hypothesis that, aimed at local Frankists, was a subsequent Prague police raid or postal interception that netted the original letters said to be from Napoleon and the Jerusalem rabbi. Even in that purely imaginary scenario, there is still no logical reason to presume forgery rather than faithful Frankist transmission of an authentic text, truly from Napoleon in the Mideast. To the point, Kabbalists, Sabbateans and Frankists in the Ottoman Empire then focused on Napoleon, and always had contacts with Jews in Italy and other parts of Europe.
Also consistent with authenticity is the conduct of the Prague Fleckeles family which treasured the document for four generations. The text of the 1799 German-language translation reached the 20th century among the papers of Jewish community leader (Gemeindevorsteher) Wolf Fleckeles (1774-1849). Perhaps he got the document from his older brother, the distinguished Orthodox Rabbi Eleazar Fleckeles (1754-1826). If so, access to this highly-sensitive, official German translation probably came via Eleazar's longtime, close Christian friend, Karl Fischer (1757-1844). The strong ties between Karl and Eleazar are historically well substantiated.
As Imperial and Royal Censor, Reviser and Translator in Hebrew, Karl's jurisdiction was not limited to Prague. He also approved Hebrew books for printing in other parts of the Habsburg Monarchy. For the Polizeihofstelle, he regularly translated, secretly intercepted Hebrew-language letters that had been addressed to Prague or elsewhere. Thus, Karl likely translated into German, the Hebrew letters of April 1799. These, the Austrian police had somehow discovered, perhaps elsewhere in the Habsburg lands. Maybe, the sole connection to Prague was just as Karl's home base, and also where he had his warm ties to Eleazar.
The Fleckeles brothers, Eleazar and Wolf, certainly never had the Hebrew-language originals. To the point, if ever they had those originals in Hebrew, they would certainly never have translated them into German, which would have been counterproductive. Pertinently, they could read Hebrew fluently, and German was too accessible to the Austrian police. Thus, we can reasonably suppose that, at some time from 1799 until Eleazar's death in 1826, Karl gave his trusted companion Eleazar an illicit opportunity to secretly hand copy the official German translation.
But Karl would have been unlikely to ever share the Hebrew-language originals: firstly, because such texts in Hebrew were too great a threat to Austrian security; and secondly, because the originals probably had to be returned to the Polizeihofstelle for burning. We have already seen that such destruction was the fate of the Greek original of the 1797 Rigas proclamation, and also of any foreign materials relating to the 1806 invitation to Austrian synagogues to attend Napoleon's Grand Sanhedrin.
The Fleckeles family always believed the text to be truly from Napoleon. Otherwise, they would never have risked retaining such an inflammatory paper. They would have made no such dangerous effort to keep anything they thought to be just a Frankist fabrication. To the point, they could have had no illusions about a harsh reactionary regime that had already jailed Eleazar for several days in 1799, for causing unrest among Prague Jews, due to his strong Orthodox opposition to Frankism. For decades, the Fleckeles family also knew that the Austrian police would severely punish possession of such a seditious screed, whether genuine or a Frankist forgery.
Moreover, a 1799 Frankist forgery is unlikely, because broader 18th-century Frankism is very different: on the one hand, from B's highly colored characterization of local Frankists as stubborn Sabbateans; and, on the other hand, from the mainline revolutionary concepts in the handwritten text, so reverentially preserved by the Fleckeles family. This conclusion is clear from a glance at the principal messages then dispatched from Frankist headquarters at Offenbach, near Frankfurt.
Handwritten in Hebrew (often in red ink), the infamous "red letters" of 1798-1800: say nothing about either Sabbatai Zevi or Napoleon, as Messiah or otherwise; contradict the French Revolution's strong anti-Catholic animus, by repeatedly urging Jews to convert to Roman Catholicism; include just one incidental reference to Jerusalem, but not as destination; and spectacularly lack emphasis on return to Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל). According to the Frankists, ancient Jerusalem would only be rebuilt at the very end of time. By sharp contrast to Sabbatai Zevi, Jacob Frank and most of his followers were cool to the idea of the Jewish People going back to the Mideast. For Frank, Poland was the Promised Land.
Highlighting Jews & the "Temple of Solomon"
Months before the April 20th letter (Zuschrift) and the at least sixteen May 1799 newspaper items about the "proclamation," the dignified phrase "la nation juive" (the Jewish People) came easily to Napoleon's pen. For example, from his Cairo headquarters, he ordained (September 7, 1798): "Sabbato Adda and Telebi di Figura are named high priests of the Jewish People" (grands prêtres de la nation juive). As the object of respect, "la nation juive" featured again in his December 19, 1798 order confirming the privileges of the Orthodox Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai.
In 1798, he showed respect for the Jewish People, partly in conformity with revolutionary ideology and partly because he could reasonably imagine that he might soon need some help from Mideast Jews. For example, urgently required cash might perhaps come from famously rich Jewish families like the Picciotto (Aleppo) and the Farhi (Damascus). Such a supposition rests squarely on Napoleon's track record in Italy. In spring 1796, his impoverished army there had been bankrolled with three million francs in discreet loans from Jewish financiers in Genoa. In 1797-8, part of the money for the French Army of Italy was provided by longtime papal banker, Moses Vita Coen, a Jew from Ferrara.
احمد جزار پاشا
The Bosnian Ahmet Cezzar Pasha
won great fame in Europe and the Mideast
as the local Ottoman commander who stubbornly
withstood Napoleon's 1799 siege of Acre.
In his own account of the "Syrian" campaign, Napoleon chose to refer to the Jewish agents sent to Damascus and Aleppo and to "a vague hope" that was "animating" local Jews when spring arrived in 1799. In the third person, he wrote (around 1819): "News was circulating among them that, after taking Acre, Napoleon would present himself in Jerusalem where he would reestablish the temple of Solomon." This recollection seems to be Napoleon's admission that, during the "Syrian" campaign, he already knew that some Jews regarded him to be the Messiah.
What Napoleon himself had probably been thinking back in 1799 was perhaps revealed more clearly in Paris in the year following his return from the Mideast. As First Consul of the Republic, he told the Council of State (August 16, 1800): "If I governed a nation of Jews, I would reestablish the temple of Solomon." Napoleon had there been making a broader point about governing to please the majority as "the way to recognize the sovereignty of the people." Thus, in this important democratic context, he chose to rhetorically offer posterity (alongside three other examples) the startling hypothesis of a majority Jewish country centered on the Temple in Jerusalem.
1798 Jewish peoplehood in vogue
As we have seen above, there were public-policy precedents for the initiative for the Jews which Napoleon is alleged to have made in Ottoman Syria. Along with the fascinating 1798 news of Napoleon's Mideast invasion, then widely discussed across Europe was the hypothesis of a return of the Jews to their aboriginal homeland, just as proposed by Le Breton in the April 19th number of La Décade philosophique and by Anonymous in Lettre d'un Juif (June 8th). This "Letter from a Jew to his Brethren" was also widely read in English translation, after first publication in the St. James's Chronicle of London (July 14-17, 1798). Moreover, both pieces were soon reprinted in French in London, in Paris Pendant L'Année 1798 (Paris During the Year 1798). Therein, the anti-revolutionary editor Jean-Gabriel Peltier reflected (December 1798):
Re-establishment of Jerusalem: Among the extraordinary events which have occurred in the political world at the end of the 18th century, the return of the Jews to their former homeland would not be the least marvelous. Just a short time ago, the idea would have appeared chimerical, though throughout the centuries the Jews never stopped religiously keeping that hope. Today, the possibility of this happening attracts attention, and it does not seem distant from coming to pass.
Thus, both before and after Napoleon's fleet sailed for Egypt (May 19, 1798), prominently published were some semi-official strategic points and propaganda particularly sympathetic to the idea of Jewish peoplehood and explaining how the Revolutionary French Republic could richly gain by sponsoring the return of Jews to their ancestral homeland. This same calculation appeared in Bonaparte in Cairo, a rapidly written, anonymous "current affairs" book rushed into print in Paris close to the end of 1798 or the start of 1799. There, France's intention to colonize Egypt was reaffirmed. Regarding restoration to the Jewish People (la nation juive) of "their land of origin," it was argued: "The conqueror of Egypt is too good a judge of men to misunderstand the advantages which could be derived from this people in the execution of his vast plans."
Two February 1799 letters to the Directory
The seasoned Irish revolutionary Thomas Corbet sent from Lorient in Brittany (February 17, 1799) to the principal Republican leader, Director Paul Barras, a plan for return of the Jewish People to "Palestine," after initial settlement in French Egypt. Pointing to Napoleon in Egypt and also to the wider war against England and its allies, Corbet compared the long-suffering Jewish People to the oppressed Irish and Poles. Also hoping to be free, the Jews were said to be waiting "with impatience for the time of their rebirth as a Nation" (Ils attendent avec impatience l'époque de leur rétablissement comme une Nation). Like Napoleon, Corbet was alive to the military value of Jews. Thus, he suggested enlisting Jews into French shipbuilding, the navy and the army, so that they could learn the skills needed "to repress the Syrian" (pour réprimer le Syrien). Firstly, Corbet thought that a large number of Jews in Egypt would help France by serving as "a barrier against the Arabs and the other barbarians" (une barrière contre les arabes et les autres barbares). Secondly, Corbet argued that, from this first step into French Egypt, the Jews could make a second step to Palestine. There, they might be for France "a solid pillar" (une colonne solide) of a new revolutionary order that would regenerate the Mideast in the period after the "decrepit and fallen empire of the Ottomans." Moreover, from a Protestant family, Corbet would have naturally understood the French Revolution's principled fight against the reactionary Catholic Church, for centuries prime vector for the bacillus of antisemitism.
Another reflection of the public's fascination with the Egyptian campaign was information which fellow Director Merlin de Douai got from Commissioner François, a senior official in northern France. François troubled to report a conversation with a Jew from Germany (probably meaning a French citizen who was an Ashkenaz, rather than a Sepharad). According to this Jew, Europe's Jews viewed Napoleon as the Messiah whose coming would trigger the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple. The Jew also said that 1.5 million Jews were awaiting Napoleon's signal to leave for the Mideast. The counsel from Commissioner François was simultaneously strategic and skeptical (February 28, 1799):
One can derive a great deal from these people by flattering their religious prejudices. I leave it to your wisdom either to work to develop this idea if you think it of some value, or to just laugh it off as a joke.
Time, distance and Britain's Royal Navy combined to ensure that the letters from Corbet and François were then most probably unknown to Napoleon who for months on end received very little wartime news from France. But those two letters could well have been among the contemporary factors inspiring the Directory to permit Le Moniteur to authoritatively spread the extraordinary news that Napoleon had issued a proclamation to the Jews of Asia and Africa, i.e. to the Jews of the Ottoman Empire.
Tactics for wartime advantage?
The stunted imagination of antisemites automatically sees Jews as either negligible or some sort of a "problem." By contrast, as thoroughgoing opportunists, the Directors were more likely to ask themselves how they could benefit. La Décade philosophique's elite readership had already received (April 19, 1798) the impressive statistic that worldwide there were close to three million Jews, of whom up to 130,000 were said to be in the Mideast. For sure, the Directors knew that those "close to three million" Jews lived mostly in countries hostile to France. For example, there were then close to half a million Jews in the Habsburg Monarchy, which was a particularly stubborn opponent of the Revolution. Thus, publishing striking propaganda to win Jewish support for the Revolutionary French Republic was for the Directory a shrewd tactic to gain wartime advantage.
Such secularism, cynicism, and readiness to exploit were also Napoleon's hallmark. To the point, Bourrienne wrote that Napoleon was only interested in religion to the extent that it had some political utility. For his 1798 invasion of Egypt, Napoleon repeatedly told local Muslims that the French were now similar to them in religion, because the Revolution had rejected the Holy Trinity, retaining belief in just the one God, exactly as required by Islam. Less than a week before Napoleon left Cairo for France, the same theological gambit featured in his letter of peace overtures to Grand Vizier Kör Yusuf Ziyaüddin Pasha, then with the Ottoman army in Syria (August 17, 1799): "The Sublime Porte, which was the friend of France as long as that Power was Christian, waged war against her the moment that France by her religion drew herself closer to Islamic belief."
Role for a Jewish Republic?
Potential help from Jewish bankers (as noted above) was not the only practical reason that Napoleon might have had for discreetly wooing Jews, including during the 1799 "Syrian" expedition. In his own history of his war in the Mideast, the strategic importance of the Holy Land was linked to Egypt. For example, Napoleon judged that Cyrus had "protected the Jews and had their Temple rebuilt," because he was thinking about conquering Egypt from the east. Around 1819, Napoleon also wrote that Alexander the Great, similarly attacking from the east, "sought to please the Jews so that they might serve him for his crossing of the [Sinai] desert." This important strategic perspective is that of a general who in early 1799 had to mount an offensive into the Holy Land, inter alia, because it was then emerging as a staging ground for a Turkish attack on the French in Egypt.
It does not stretch the truth to say that the geopolitical logic, which Napoleon articulated around 1819, tacitly includes the converse proposition -- namely, that a sister Jewish Republic in the Holy Land could have served to guard the eastern gateway to an Egypt permanently dominated by France. Thus, during 1797, his gradually increasing intent to invade Egypt was probably the first stimulus for his early propaganda efforts aimed at the Jews of the Ottoman Empire.
Make no mistake, the Napoleon of 1796-9 famously practiced raison d'état pragmatism that was essentially non-discriminatory in its opportunistic exploitation of national feeling. Then, his overall stance towards the Jews was arguably consistent with his characteristic modus operandi towards other Peoples. This was well put by Eduard von Wertheimer who was a distinguished Austro-Hungarian diplomatic historian (1883):
Napoleon had a system of politics. He used, as a powerful weapon against the States that he wanted to fight, those of their subject nations which he thought had not yet entirely gotten over the memory of their erstwhile independence. Himself a son of the revolution, he knew better than anyone else the power and influence which the idea of freedom exercises upon mankind. Accordingly, he never missed a moment, as soon as his own aims required it, to advertise to those nations that he came to restore their freedom and independence. But for sure, little did he care about the later disappointment that he prepared for these Peoples whom he dazzled and misguided with his promises. He just dropped them as soon as they had served their purpose.
After the coup of November 1799, Napoleon was no longer a revolutionary general. As First Consul, he famously made the French Republic's peace with the Roman-Catholic Church (1801). As Emperor of the French (from 1804) and King of Italy (from 1805), he similarly sought to regulate the situation of the Jews in France and parts of Italy. For example, in May 1806, he convoked an Assembly of Jewish Notables to meet in Paris as prelude to hosting a Grand Sanhedrin in February 1807.
This extraordinary exercise was aimed at Jews, not so much as a People internationally, but rather mostly as a religious confession domestically. By 1806-7, Napoleon's principal pertinent concern was no longer Jewish self-determination in the biblical homeland, but rather how Jews, as practitioners of a distinct faith, could better fit into French State and society.
Nonetheless, accounts of Napoleon's alleged invitation to the Jews to return to Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל) continued to echo. For example, Count Procop Lažanský, the Habsburg Governor (Statthalter) of Moravia, received from Nikolsburg a local police report claiming that some Orthodox Jews there imagined that the real reason Napoleon had called the Sanhedrin was to harness worldwide Jewish talent to stimulate France's flagging international trade (October 9, 1806):
France, therefore, wished to favor the Jews and for that reason to demand from the Turkish empire the city of Jerusalem together with the surrounding territories, in order to set up and restore the seat of the Israelite People there.
Around the same time, the county administrator (Kreishauptmann) of Časlau (Čáslav) in Bohemia reported the views of Orthodox Jews in his district. They felt that Napoleon's Sanhedrin would not be able to restore the biblical purity of Judaism, without first satisfying the essential requirement of rebirth of the Jewish Commonwealth in the Promised Land.
If not from the Ottoman Empire then most certainly from a variety of European publications, the astonishing 1799 story that Napoleon had issued a proclamation to the Jews was widely believed at that time, and thus made its own way through history. Then rapidly rippling through Christendom and also across world Jewry, this exciting tale powerfully stimulated ancient messianic dreams. Whether factually accurate or not, the dramatic news of the proclamation permanently strengthened belief in the practical political possibility of Jewish restoration and renewal in the aboriginal homeland.
Very little historical evidence would be required to convince those who warmly welcome the idea that Napoleon issued one or more proclamations to the Jews. By contrast, those who viscerally reject the notion are unlikely to be convinced, even by a very substantial amount of evidence. The persistent reality of psychological bias is a powerful fact of life.
For the writing of history, there is no professional requirement that there must always be one completely-conclusive document, directly derived from an official archive. Historians are obliged to consider all sorts of evidence, from a wide variety of sources. Moreover, it is well known that government archives are by definition especially subject to the possibility of official censorship and manipulation, as for example already set out in the preface.
Nor are historians normally required to provide 100% ironclad proof. Rather, the minimum standard for the writing of history regularly demands carefully weighing all the evidence to determine the balance of the probabilities. Dictated by commonsense, this is the same minimum standard of proof normally employed in everyday life, journalism, politics, government, and civil litigation in common law jurisdictions.
By contrast, in a criminal trial, the prosecution is normally required to prove the accused guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." But, that very rigorous, minimum requirement of the criminal law does not regularly apply to the writing of history, where the preponderance of the evidence normally suffices. Nonetheless, it is a well-known trick of rhetoric to try to shift to some higher, minimum standard of proof for arguing against the establishment of a proposition that is strongly disliked.
Does the preponderance of the evidence objectively suggest that Napoleon likely issued one or more proclamations inviting Jews to return to their aboriginal homeland? I think so. However, the final judgment is yours to make, if you too have patiently weighed all the pertinent evidence.
Jews, Napoleon and the Ottoman Empire: the 1797-9 ...
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On Mackenzie’s Portrait of the War in Vietnam
Regarding Professor Cal Mackenzie’s photo essay, (“Vietnam: Then and Now,” winter 2013 Colby), I remember asking Cal something along the lines of “What was Vietnam like?” during my senior year in 1978, and was struck by his response: “It’s a beautiful country with too many holes.”
Of course, he meant bomb craters. We never discussed much more about his Vietnam experience, although I recall an anecdote or two about the incomprehensible bureaucracy of the Army. Like so many young men, he went to fight a war he did not support, against a people he did not hate, for a “cause” that was never fully explained, if it was explained at all. Our nation’s “goal” in Vietnam was never so much about Vietnam as it was about China and the Soviet Union, and the domino effect of Communism in Southeast Asia. That a free-market democracy like ours believed that the only effective way to stem the alleged “tide” of communism was with guns, bombs and lives—instead of with the strength of our ideas, trade, and good will—remains, to me, one of the great tragedies in our lives.
It’s remarkable to witness what even a limited free market and trade have done to Vietnam and our other “enemies” of the time. I’m not sure we’ve learned our lessons from this awful time; too often I’ve seen the use of force trump the strength of ideas and dialogue. I am grateful to Cal for his service in Vietnam, but more grateful for his service to our college and his country as a teacher. I hope by his return to Vietnam, and what he learned about himself, and us, we as a country will have learned a bit more, and will think hard about how we can and must engage with other peoples around the world. I note that the vast majority of his pictures from Vietnam are of its beautiful and resourceful people. It’s people that matter more than places. If we see other people in the light in which we view ourselves, perhaps we can reshape the world in positive ways.
Bob Kinney ’79
Doylestown, Penn.
I read with interest Professor Cal Mackenzie’s essay, “Vietnam: Then and Now.”
For the purpose of full disclosure, my Colby graduating class (1964) was in the perfect “sweet spot” for Vietnam duty. The class—according to my unofficial count—had a very high Vietnam participation rate. Sixty percent of the male graduates were directly or indirectly involved in the war—me included.
I have been in touch with many of these Colby guys, along with a bunch of non-Colby Vietnam veterans. Most of these vets were military officers who had, in one way or another, volunteered for Vietnam.
One fellow is more or less typical. He volunteered for three combat tours and was wounded three times. He laughs at my combat experience, such as it was; huddling in sandbagged bunkers while the base was being shelled or infiltrated. I was, after all, a U.S. Air Force 1st Lieutenant stationed at the key ground support base of Pleiku AB in the strategic Central Highlands of Vietnam. I often felt like I was being watched by a vulture, sitting on a rail waiting for dinner.
On my way home ink was thrown on my uniform. My parents were spat upon. By now, that kind of stuff is just old news. That’s all changed.
As Max Cleland, decorated and severely wounded Vietnam hero and former U.S. senator, wrote: “Within the soul of each Vietnam veteran there is probably something that says, ‘Bad war, good soldier.’”
After reading Professor Mackenzie’s piece, I was not sure of his point. He writes that he didn’t meet a “single person who had gone to war because he believed in the administration’s policy.”
In all fairness to the professor, his Bien Hoa tour in Vietnam (1970-71), was during a “withdrawal phase” (70,000 veterans were ready to be sent home). “Scraping the bottom of the soldier-barrel” is an apt description.
But here’s the rub. Does Professor Mackenzie feel that, through his conversations with fellow draftees, we, along with all American Vietnam veterans, were misinformed or misled? (2.75 million served.) Is he disparaging American servicemen and women, even those killed (58,000), wounded (303,700), or awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (245)? Is he ashamed of what he did in Vietnam? Is he ashamed of all Vietnam vets? Is he ashamed of the United States?
The professor writes eloquently about the “ingenuity and endurance” of the Vietnamese people. Let’s be clear on this. As a professor of international business, I’ve had about 150 Vietnamese students. Through my teaching, research, and discussions with Vietnamese citizens, I’ve concluded that the southern population—around Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)—is, in general, honest and diligent.
Conversely, I learned the people from northern Vietnam—around Hanoi—have proven to be corrupt, operating under a socialist, foreign exchange-driven (primarily U.S. dollars) economic system.
In fact, after the war the Hanoi government orchestrated severe reprisals against former U.S. allies in Saigon. Those who did not escape via boat (85,000 out of more than 200,000 “Boat People” settled in the U.S.) were sent to “re-education camps”—released decades later or never heard from again.
So what’s the upshot of all of this? When all is said and done, the Vietnamese people are wonderful, but that depends where you look.
And lastly, no one is arguing with the professor that Vietnam is now a beautiful country. Professor Mackenzie’s keen photographic eye captures much of that. Most countries in that region, of course (Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong/China, Korea) are beautiful, too. As a matter of fact, Bali, part of Indonesia, is one of the most beautiful spots on earth.
John Brassem ’64
Torrington, Conn.
With Colby in Spirit
I was very pleased to read Dean Kurt Nelson’s essay (“The Spiritual Life of Colby College: Then, Now, Next,” winter 2013 Colby). I was glad to have the summary and attention given to this incredibly basic human need and expression. Anyone involved in ministry knows that there are many “new normals” and yet there are still basic, continuing universal needs, themes, and spiritual principles.
Lorimer Chapel was busy when I attended Colby and it actually sounds even more thriving now. That is good, healthy, and brings balance to any community.
I have fond memories of my four years on Mayflower Hill. I received my call to ministry in November 1977 (after I had delivered a student sermon) at the end of a morning Protestant worship service in Lorimer Chapel. The freedom and choices we students were given were empowering and the Chapel Service Committee, the student preaching, the many conversations and classes with sage Chaplain Roland Thorwaldsen (“Thor”) as well as the attention and mentoring from the Religion Department professors meant that I was getting the support, training, and pre-professional feedback that would impact the rest of my life and ministry.
Not only was I empowered as a Colby student, I was well prepared as a woman entering into ministry! I received a great deal of caring from that segment of the College that is spiritual and am heartily glad that the vehicles are set up so that others may further their spiritual journeys as well. By the way, being in the minority just made me stronger.
Rev. Jane E. Dibden ’80
Johnson, Vermont
Remembering Miss Runnals
I read with great interest the article about Samantha Eddy ’13 and her research on Dean Ninetta Runnals 1908 (“Discovering Miss Runnals,” Winter 2013 Colby). Dean Runnals was responsible for my going to Colby, thus changing my life.
I visited my sister Jean [MacDonald Peterson ’51] who was attending Colby during my senior year of high school, class of 1948. I enjoyed myself immensely and decided to visit Dean Runnals. I had pretty much decided to attend another college, but she changed my mind. I remember her as energetic and devoted to Colby. After listening to me, she thought I should apply. Obviously, I did, and had four wonderful years there, the perfect college for me. Dean Runnalls retired the next year so I was lucky to have met her. I attended Colby, Class of 1952, during an historic transitional time, two years on the old campus and two on Mayflower Hill. I am now a GOLDEN MULE and plan to attend the 200th birthday reunion in June.
Perhaps this note would interest Samantha and I’d appreciate you forwarding it to her. I’m living history!
Nancy MacDonald Cultrera ’52
Eliot, Maine
I was so glad to see the article on Dean Ninetta Runnals in your last issue. Where I grew up, in Dover-Foxcroft during the 1950s and 1960s, everyone knew that she lived with her sister Katherine Danforth in a lovely home on Lawrence Street. Her other sister, Lila Atherton, lived up the street. My mother served with Dean Runnals on the board of trustees of Foxcroft Academy and often spoke of her quiet, but very forceful and perceptive presence. As a student at Colby from 1965 to 1969, I would often visit her for tea when I returned home for visits. One always addressed her as “Dean Runnals.”
In 1972 I became engaged to her great-great nephew, Robert White. I still have the letter that she wrote me. “As the oldest representative of the Runnals branch of the family, I want to extend a cordial welcome to our family group. I do this very sincerely and hope you will now exchange ‘Dean Runnals’ for ‘Aunt Nettie.’”
My mother-in-law, Priscilla Hathorn White ’42, told the story of how Dean Runnals was involved in the building of the Mary Low dormitory. She kept insisting that the closets the architect had planned were too small. He did not agree. So she had him make a sample closet in the cellar of her office building. She then asked a female coed to bring her clothes down and put them in the closet. They did not fit. The architect agreed to enlarge the closets. I don’t imagine Dean Runnals told him that she hand selected a student that she knew had a very extensive wardrobe.
One of her favorite places was her camp on Sebec Lake. This was a family spot that her father had built in 1935. My husband and I spent several summers living next door to her in his family camp when we were first married. She was a lovely lady. It was a Runnals family tradition that Aunt Nettie knit the “coming home” bonnet for each new baby. I still have the last one she made for my daughter, Dillen, in 1978.
Again, thank you for highlighting a woman who had such a great influence in women’s affairs at Colby.
Cheryl Stitham White ’69
No Poker Face Here
My mother, Carrie McConnell, age 97, has been a resident at Gray Birch Rehab in Augusta for many months. The days have mostly been long and boring. Last Sunday afternoon, when I went in to visit, she was missing from her room. The aide told me she was in the dining room playing poker! What? Being an old-school Baptist she never did that in her life, let alone on Sunday. But there she was.
Seems the Colby football team was doing some community service and they were there playing poker with all those old ladies. The guys were helping the ladies as none of them had a clue. Didn’t matter. They were eating it right up. Using sugar packets for chips. My mother was trying to get rid of me, I think, as she was having a ball.
So after telling all these nice guys that I was having my 50th reunion (they cheered) and a funny story Dale Ackley ’63 used to tell about her grandmother saying that you should never play cards on Sunday—unless the blinds were drawn—I left my mother and went to chat with her roommate. After a while, in came my mother saying she had lost everything. I told her that she would just have to go get a job.
She has talked of nothing else but that game all week, telling me over and over how nice the guys were and also handsome. True. They did look pretty good.
I hope they all know how much that afternoon was appreciated and what fun it was for the oldsters to have those young people around.
Catharine Webber ’63
Hallowell, Maine
That’s Our Own Albert F. Drummond
We got our copy of Colby in the mail, and lo and behold my great-grandfather’s picture was on the front cover. His name was Albert F. Drummond, from the Class of 1888. He was born May 26,1866, and died March 1966, almost 100 years old. He lived at 66 Burleigh Street in Waterville for most all of his life. He held the title of the oldest living Colby alumnus for a few years.
I remember him well. I was 16 years old when he died. We would visit him on a weekly basis. He was a great man, the grandnephew of Josiah Hayden Drummond, Class of 1846. Drummond Dormitory was named after Josiah.
Waterville, Maine
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Classical Mechanics: an Experiment You Can Try at Home
Classical mechanics is the branch of physics that deals with bodies in motion: velocity, momentum, forces, acceleration. And it can be pretty boring. Let's face it -- none of us went into physics because we fell in love with blocks sliding down inclined planes, with or without friction. We went into physics to learn about black holes, quantum mechanics, or the fate of the universe. But classical mechanics is the basis of all of the rest of physics, so it's what everyone studies first. And, unfortunately, for many people it ends up being their only formal contact with physics.
But even in classical mechanics there are interesting byways and surprising results that most people are unaware of. Here's a cute experiment you can easily do at home that illustrates one of these unexpected results.
To do this experiment, you need a rectangular block of some kind. It can be a piece of wood, a brick, or anything with a similar shape. The important thing is that the three dimensions of the block all have to be of different lengths -- you can't use a cube! If nothing is readily available, just get a book and tape the pages shut.
Your rectangular block has three different "axes" corresponding to the three different dimensions of the block. Pick out the shortest of these, and toss the block into the air, spinning it around this axis. (If you are using a brick, I suggest you do this outside, away from children and pets). The block should spin very stably in the air before it falls to the ground. Now pick out the longest axis, and do the same thing -- spin it around this axis as you toss it into the air. You should see the same thing -- the block will spin around this axis until it falls down. Now there's only one other possibility -- spinning it around the middle-sized axis (maybe we should call this the Goldilocks experiment). But if you do this, you'll get a surprise. Instead of spinning stably, the block will twist all around in the air. So the bottom line is that a block can spin in the air around its longest axis or its shortest axis, but not its middle one!
What causes this? The mathematics is too complicated even for a first-year college physics course -- it involves things called inertia tensors and other mathematical monstrosities. But the short answer is actually pretty simple. When the block is spinning around its long or short axis, any slight change in the direction of the spin produces a force in the opposite direction, which pushes the block back to its original direction of spin. So the block happily keeps spinning in the same direction -- this is what's known as a "stable equilibrium." But when the block is spinning around its middle axis, a change in the direction of spin causes a force in the same direction as this change, so that the spin gets more and more out of alignment. The block just topples randomly instead of spinning smoothly. This is an "unstable equilibrium." These ideas of stable and unstable equilibrium are extraordinarily important -- they're found throughout all of physics. And you can demonstrate them with a simple block of wood.
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Chelsea In Pole Position for Premier League Title
Chelsea are now in pole position in the race for the Premier League title this season following their 3-1 win over Manchester City at the...
Latest, Opinion, Premier League
http://www.chelseadaft.org/2016/12/chelsea-in-pole-position-for-premier.html
Chelsea are now in pole position in the race for the Premier League title this season following their 3-1 win over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and with Liverpool losing to Bournemouth to drop points when they were expected to come out on top.
The victory in Manchester brought up Chelsea’s eight consecutive wins in the league and it came with a stunning performance from Antonio Conte’s side who have been on this run ever since the Blues boss switched to a 3-4-3 formation.
Chelsea FC midfielder Cesc Fabregas" (CC BY 2.0) by Ben Sutherland
Although the result against City won’t decide the title race, it certainly gives the West London club a real boost, winning in their rivals’ backyard, while at the same time it helps them to extend their lead at the top of the standings to three points.
The bookmakers were quick to react to the weekend’s results as they now make Chelsea the 6/5 favourites in the bet365 Premier League betting for the title this season, where they top the market ahead of Manchester City who have drifted out to 3/1, while Liverpool can be backed at 4/1.
Diego Costa proved why he is so important to Chelsea with his performance against City. Not only did he level the scoreline after Gary Cahill’s own goal in the first-half, the Spain international was a real handful all afternoon. He had a big hand in the Blues’ second goal as he played a perfectly weighted ball for Willian to run onto before the Brazilian beat Claudio Bravo in the hosts’ goal.
Chelsea FC (and Spain) striker Diego Cos" (CC BY 2.0) by Ben Sutherland
Costa now has 11 goals for the campaign in the Premier League and is on course for his best ever tally for the club since signing from Atletico Madrid in 2014. Conte will need his striker to stay fit and avoid any suspensions this season as he does not have too many options to lead the line in the way his leading talisman does.
The return to form of Eden Hazard has also been a key part of Chelsea’s success this season. The Belgian was criticised for a number of lacklustre displays last season, particularly in the opening half of the campaign when the Blues were struggling in the bottom half of the table.
There was even talk of the player leaving the club last summer, however, Conte was keen to retain his services and he is now reaping the rewards.
Liverpool will be very disappointed to throw away a 3-1 advantage on Sunday against Bournemouth. The Reds were in complete control of the game with less than half an hour to play before goals from Ryan Fraser, Callum Wilson and Nathan Ake gave the home side an unlikely 4-3 victory.
The Merseyside club have just picked up four points from their last three games to hand over the advantage to Chelsea. Jurgen Klopp’s men are now third in the table as Arsenal have overtaken them following the Gunners’ 5-1 win in the London derby against West Ham.
Arsenal have qualified into the last 16 of the Champions League, however, Chelsea have no European football to worry about this season therefore they can concentrate on the Premier League and the FA Cup where they have been drawn to face either Peterborough or Notts County in the third round.
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/ New thimerosal study finds no link to autism but questions remain
New thimerosal study finds no link to autism but questions remain
Written by Matthew Hogg
Created on Friday, 28 September 2007 12:48
Last Updated on Saturday, 19 April 2014 13:21
Researchers say there is no link between mercury containing preservative thimerosal used in children's vaccines and autism, but is this the right question to ask?
The new research published in The New England Journal of Medicine does not investigate the effects of thimerosal on the developing brain drirectly but instead looks for an association between early exposure to the preservative in vaccines and how children have developed at ages 7 to 10.
A seperate study being carried out by the CDC is looking for more direct links between thimerosal and autism but results aren't expected to be releaed until next year. The current research was also conducted by CDC researchers in association with several managed-care organizations.
Researchers assessed a total of 1,047 children with varying degrees of exposure to thimerosal. Exposure was assessed by taking a thorough medical history for each child for their first 7 months of life. Levels of exposure to the mercury containing preservative ranged from 0 to nearly 200 micrograms, which is the most any child would receive if they took all of the thimerosal-containing vaccines according to the standard vaccination schedule. The possibility that the children's mothers may have been exposed to thimerosal during pregnancy was also looked at.
All of the children in the study were then assessed using 42 neurological and psychological examinations. These included I.Q. tests and assessments of how well the children recalled a list of names and whether they could repeat the names backward. Researchers also looked at their manual dexterity and whether they suffered from they stuttering or had tics.
The results will no doubt be hard for frustrated parents and advocacy groups to stomach. After the data collected was subjected to a battery of almost 400 different statistical measures, the researchers found 19 different possible associations between thimerosal and various mental outcomes. What may confuse many is that around half of these associations actually suggested that exposure to thimerosal actually improved the children's performance in certain tests.
The only result that raised concern amongst the researchers was the finding of an association between thimerosal and tics amongst boys. Tics are involuntary movements or sounds and this is not the first study to have made this association. Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, confirmed that this finding will certainly be investigated further.
This study was the third since 2004 to investigate the thimerosal and autism connection. Previous studies have come to similar conclusions.
Although these results seem to rule out a role for thimerosal in causing autism, studies such as this won't convince many. Instead parents and autism groups want to see biological studies showing directly that thimerosal at the levels these children were exposed to does not harm living cells or the development of the brain.
The problem with studies such as the one published this week is that they take too narrow a view of the situation. For example, take 2 children in the study, one exposed to 50 micrograms of thimerosal from vaccines and the other exposed to 200 micrograms. Researchers could look at the results of the testing they did on these 2 children and if no differences are seen could conclude that the child who received 200 micrograms of thimerosal was at no more risk of health problems than the other child. This may be a correct conclusion for thimerosal alone but thimerosal is only one of many sources of mercury.
If we consider the reality of the entire mercury situation, the children will have been exposed to mercury through many other routes than just thimerosal. Mercury is present in the air we breathe and in the food we eat, especially in the form of fish such as tuna. Mercury is also present in most electrical appliances and can easily be spread throughout the home.
When we look at total mercury exposure it may be that children who were exposed to low amounts of thimerosal were exposed to large amounts of mercury in other forms thus making their total mercury exposure equal or greater than those children in the study exposed to 200 micrograms of thimerosal from vaccines. As such, although the study seems to rule out a link between thimerosal alone and autism it certainly does nothing to clear up the debate over whether mercury itself is linked to autism.
Many experts now recognise the probablity that it is combinations of exposures acting synergistically that are at the root of many chronic illnesses. So rather than one toxin such as thimerosal causing a condition it is the cumulative effects of thimerosal and other sources of mercury, as well as completely different toxins, that are the problem. Surely it is obvious that research now needs to be conducted along these lines? Groups such as The Autism Society of America (ASA) have launched campaigns in recent months aimed at increasing awareness of the role of environmental toxins, individually and as a whole, in the development of autism.
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ALEXFERT
AlexFert was established in 2003 by EKH as a greenfield project with an authorized capital of USD 500 million and paid-in capital of USD 249 million. AlexFert commenced operations in 2006 and has since positioned itself as a leading Egyptian producer of fertilizers and urea.
AlexFert enjoys an optimal plant location in Alexandria with access to export markets in Europe and the U.S., and utilizes a strong distribution strategy with limited reliance on offtake agreements (c. 80% of the company’s production is exported to Europe and the U.S., with c. 20% of production directed to the domestic market). The company enjoys a competitive advantage through its access to low cash cost production per ton (at current natural gas prices of USD 4.5 per MBTU).
AlexFert’s 452 employees operate out of a 101,000 square meter factory in Alexandria that is ISO 9001/2008 and ISO 14001/2004 certified. In 2013, AlexFert established a new ammonium sulphate production line as part of a major push for operational expansions. The new line has an annual capacity of roughly 165,000 tons per year.
EKH directly and indirectly holds c. 38% of AlexFert through its majority shareholding stake (42%) in Bawabet Al Kuwait Holding, which allows EKH to exert management control in AlexFert.
A subsidiary of AlexFert, the International Petrochemical Investments Company (IPIC) is an Egyptian joint-stock company established in 2012 with authorized capital of USD 1 billion and paid-in capital of USD 100 million. IPIC seeks to invest and acquire promising companies in the fertilizer and petrochemical industry, both within Egypt and abroad
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Meet Bonnie and Tony. This dynamic duo has been successfully working together for over 30 years. Bonnie has been part of Tony’s life in different ways and currently supports him as his provider. During a time when Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) are in high demand, it is rare to hear of a provider being with one person for such a long period of time. So what has kept these two together for so long? Bonnie said it’s because, “he accepts me and I accept him. The good days outweigh the bad for both of us.”
It’s hard to miss the sparkle in Bonnie’s eyes as she talks about her relationship with Tony. “My kids have grown up with him, he knows my animals and I can tell he likes to be with me,” Bonnie shared. When talking about what Bonnie and Tony enjoy doing, it is clear that Bonnie knows everything Tony likes and dislikes. Bonnie knows what Tony needs to have a good day and just what to do when challenges appear.
Marty, Tony’s mom, shared that Tony would never be where he is today without the support of his two dedicated providers Bonnie and Kathy. “If you know Tony, we have been good advocates for him,” explained Bonnie. Tony has been living in his own apartment for eight years, something his mom never thought would have been possible. “We were concerned about how [Tony] would do living on his own, but he did just fine,” Bonnie proudly exclaimed.
“People forget about their own lives when they have a child with a disability,” shared Marty. “It’s important to keep your interests and be your child’s advocate. Finding a balance is the key.” Bonnie commended Marty for the job she and her husband have done in supporting Tony in his transition to adulthood.
We asked Bonnie what advice she would offer to people interested in becoming a DSP and she said, “You must have a lot of respect for the people you work with.” Tony and Bonnie’s mutual respect for one another is definitely a key contributing factor in their longtime relationship.
Tony is fortunate to have such wonderful support in his life. But more importantly, many others are fortunate to have Tony as a part of their lives.
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How democratic is the UK’s participation in the European Union?
As part of the 2017 Audit of UK Democracy, Stuart Brown examines the extent to which the UK’s participation in European and international institutions affects the quality of UK democracy. Overall, while some positive reforms have taken place at the European level since 2012, the UK’s uncertain relationship with the European Union and a general lack of transparency in international organisations remain key areas of concern.
Credit: Bobby Hidy CC BY-SA 2.0
What does democracy require for participation in cross-national or international organisations?
Cross-national or international organisations are very rarely controlled via directly democratic procedures (e.g. population-proportional representation in decision-making bodies). Most such bodies rely on reaching relatively high levels of agreement amongst member states, plus an ethos of respecting the fundamental interests and autonomy of states.
Still, so far as possible, cross-national bodies should allow for citizens’ views and interests to be gauged and represented directly, not just indirectly by their member state government.
Cross-national and international organisations should be fully transparent so as to enable proper scrutiny of their decision-making processes by citizens in the member states covered by a treaty or international institution.
A country’s participation in international organisations should not serve to undermine or weaken democratic processes operating at the level of national politics. Changes of major policies, treaties or how supra-national institutions operate should require an appropriate level of active consent of citizens in the member states.
National elites dealing in cross-national bodies inevitably must play a ‘two-level game’, negotiating for the best feasible deal at the international level in one way, and justifying their actions to their national electorates in a somewhat different fashion. However, it is vital that elites listen to their public, and that effective (truthful) accountability is maintained.
The managers and staffs of cross-national and international organisations should be held accountable for their actions in detail, with effective mechanisms in place to ensure that they uphold legal and ethical responsibilities.
The UK is a member of many important international organisations and alliances, especially the European Union, NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), the World Trade Organisation, and so on. These external links have long been recognised as having relevant potential impacts on the quality of British democracy. This impact can be both positive, where joining an international organisation may allow the UK to exert influence over global decisions that affect British citizens. Alternatively, they may be negative, should participation in international decision-making processes weaken the UK’s democratic framework, e.g. by narrowing the range of policy debates or options, or by leading to elite collusion to exclude ‘unwise’ or ‘infeasible’ choices from the electorate’s consideration.
The 2012 Democratic Audit noted that a lack of transparency and accountability in the decision-making processes used in organisations such as the European Union and the World Trade Organization posed a tangible threat from a democratic perspective. The audit also drew attention to the possibility that reductions in the budget of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) could undermine the country’s capacity to secure influence over international decisions that affect the UK. Despite some key developments and reforms which have taken place since 2012, these threats continue to be relevant.
The most significant developments have occurred in relation to the UK’s membership of the European Union. David Cameron announced in January 2013 that he would pursue a renegotiation and submit a new settlement to the public as an ‘in/out’ referendum should the Conservatives win a majority at the 2015 general election. Following the election, negotiations took place, with a final agreement reached in the European Council in February 2016.
There were two key elements of the Cameron renegotiation for British democracy. First was the provision of a ‘red card’ procedure, under which national parliaments would be able to challenge EU proposals if 55 per cent of parliamentary chambers registered opposition. Second, there were reforms aimed at safeguarding the UK’s position from further integration into ‘ever closer union’, and especially not into the Eurozone. While in principle the red card offers an extra element of accountability, previous research has demonstrated that the system would likely be in play in only a very small number of cases. Similarly, with regard to the Eurozone, the deal would allow the UK to delay, but not to block, certain proposals stemming from Eurozone states.
Beyond the renegotiation, other EU-wide reforms have also taken place since the previous audit. The 2014 round of European Parliament elections included, for the first time, provisions to ‘elect’ the President of the European Commission (the EU’s central bureaucracy, with powers to initiate new policy proposals) via the so called Spitzenkandidaten process. This entailed each of the main European party families nominating a presidential candidate prior to the election. The candidate from the parliamentary group that then received the most support from voters would be appointed as the next President. There were some doubts as to whether the process would be accepted by national governments. But in the end the nominee from the European People’s Party (EPP), Jean-Claude Juncker, was duly appointed as Commission President following the EPP getting the most votes in the election.
The Spitzenkandidaten process had the potential to address two of the most commonly cited arguments in the context of the EU’s democratic deficit: the indirect appointment of the European Commission, and the lack of engagement or low turnout in European Parliament elections. Judged by these standards, the impact on UK democracy was fairly low. Turnout in the election in the UK was marginally higher than it had been in the previous election in 2009 (35.6 per cent in 2014 as opposed to 34.7 per cent in 2009), but still well below UK general elections. British press or broadcast coverage of the candidates for President was minimal, unlike that in some other EU countries. Moreover, the winning candidate was nominated by a European party (the EPP) that has no British affiliated member (since the Conservatives left it). Alongside Hungary, the UK was also one of only two states to vote against Juncker’s appointment following the election.
The public vote in the European Council on Juncker’s appointment was, however, a positive development for transparency at the European level, given that EU appointment processes have previously been criticised for taking place in negotiations behind closed doors. Previous research has demonstrated a general increase in transparency in the EU’s Council of Ministers over the last two decades (its main executive body), albeit primarily in areas that attract low levels of political controversy.
Some concerns over transparency and accountability raised in our 2012 audit continue to be relevant. While transparency in the Council of Ministers may have increased, there has been a substantial increase in the number of key decisions made through closed-door negotiations amongst heads-of-government during summits in the confusingly named European Council – for example, this was the main way that decisions were made during the 2008-13 Eurozone crisis, the subsequent Greek debt crisis, and the 2015-16 migration crisis.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
The UK is a member state of the European Union, electing a population -proportional number of MEPs to the European Parliament via a well-working proportional representation system. The UK also has the second largest number of votes in the Council of Ministers when it is using the EU’s QMV (qualified majority voting = 64% majority rule) procedure. On many issues decided by unanimity the UK has a complete veto on proposals (like all other member states).
Britain also participates in a number of multinational institutions which, in principle, put the country in a strong position to influence decisions that affect British interests. These include central roles in the World Bank (including the right to appoint an Executive Director), the International Monetary Fund, the Bank for International Settlements (where the UK is one of only six states that can appoint an ex-officio Director), and the United Nations (the UK is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council). The UK is also a full member of the World Trade Organization, although the EU conducts WTO negotiations on behalf of all its member states.
The UK clearly has considerable ‘soft power’ on the international stage. It has consistently sat near the top of the Institute for Government’s ‘soft power index’ (covering cultural, social and economic influences, and how much a country is looked to as an exemplar by other countries). The 2012 index gave the UK the highest level of soft power of all the countries included in the study.
The European Union continues to be widely seen as suffering from a democratic deficit. Only just over a third of UK citizens vote for MEPs, who remain little known. European party names are also unknown to almost all voters. Numerous UK interest groups argue that Britain does not have enough influence in EU decisions. UKIP secured nearly a quarter of votes at the 2014 European elections, and many Conservative MPs are Euro-sceptics.
The 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum campaign has highlighted a deep public distrust of the EU. UK institutions command the loyalties of British voters, but not EU ones. Only around one in six Britons feel strongly European, and it is very rare to see EU flags displayed in the UK (unlike the rest of western Europe).
There is, however, no guarantee that leaving the European Union would improve British democracy if it reduces the country’s influence over key areas with an impact on British citizens – such as the legislation that governs the EU’s single market.
Despite strong representation in international organisations, the UK’s influence also depends on its bilateral relationship with individual states. In some cases, as outlined in the previous audit, there are reasons to question the country’s record in influencing key partners such as the United States.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has experienced budget cuts in recent years. A Foreign Affairs Committee report in 2015 concluded that these cuts have damaged the FCO’s operations and questioned whether further cuts would be sustainable.
Opportunities for positive change Future Threats
The 2016 referendum campaign on whether the UK should leave the EU has greatly increased citizen engagement with and knowledge of European issues. If ‘Remain’ wins, the democratic basis on which UK governments seek to influence outcomes within Europe should be strengthened, with renewed legitimacy for EU participation.
Should the UK leave the European Union, there could be some potential to drastically reshape the country’s participation in international organisations in a positive way.
Should the UK remain within the European Union, it will hold the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 2017, which offers a platform for the UK to influence the ongoing processes of reform taking place at the European level.
The Brexit referendum could have long-term negative consequences for the UK’s position within the EU, if there is only a narrow or unconvincing majority for Remain.
If the Leave side wins, Britain’s capacity to shape international outcomes may be impaired if it leads to a long period of uncertainty about the UK’s status.
Should the UK remain within the European Union, and some further integration within the Eurozone goes ahead, the commanding position of the Eurozone countries in the Council of Ministers may pose a potential issue for the UK’s ability to influence QMV votes, since the Eurozone countries acting as one bloc have (just) over 65% of votes there. This issue has only been partially addressed by Cameron’s renegotiation completed in February 2016.
Should the UK leave the European Union, the country’s capacity to shape outcomes at the European level may be undermined, despite these decisions still having a tangible impact on the lives of UK citizens.
Uncertainty over the UK’s referendum on EU membership
Taken at face value, the fact that the British electorate will be able to cast a vote on the country’s relationship with the European Union might be regarded as a positive development for UK democracy. The referendum allowed for a clear articulation of the arguments for and against the European Union. It has also potentially facilitated greater engagement from academia, think tanks, and other organisations in communicating the effects of European integration to British citizens.
However, plebiscites of this kind are inherently highly coercive, with no compromises or deliberative softening of issues possible. Thus they are highly imperfect instruments of democracy. Citizens who feel intense support for either side of the issue will see their long-term futures and established rights shaped (perhaps irreversibly) by the decision of a (possibly narrow) majority.
The lasting consequences of the referendum for democracy are more difficult to ascertain. It is easier to envisage the kind of relationship that the UK would have with Europe if citizens choose to remain in the European Union. But ongoing reforms at the European level may still adversely affect the UK’s present terms of membership.
A vote to leave the European Union would also generate uncertainty. Currently, no single model for an alternative relationship with the European Union has widespread support among those actors campaigning to leave. A number of possible options exist, including the negotiation of a ‘Norwegian’ or ‘Swiss’ style agreement that allows the UK to continue to participate in the single market; the negotiation of a less comprehensive free trade agreement such as that concluded between the EU and Canada; or simply relying on World Trade Organization rules to gain trade access to European markets. We also do not know whether the remaining EU countries would wish to impose either a harsh or a soft secession process on the UK.
The open-ended nature of the campaign therefore allows for both a positive and a negative interpretation of how a leave vote could impact on UK democracy. Leave campaigners have argued that by restoring full national autonomy, and re-localizing issues currently fixed in Brussels, leaving the EU would improve British democracy. The danger in this context would be if the UK’s alternative relationship following a leave vote resulted in having to accept many EU rules and requirements while having no voice in what these are. The Norwegian model has long been criticised on this basis, for instance, due to the country implementing EU legislation despite lacking full representation in the EU’s institutions.
The EU’s ‘democratic deficit’
If the UK stays in the EU, there is little consensus on the nature of the ‘democratic deficit’ alleged by Eurosceptics. At least five different critiques of EU democracy can be identified, shown in Table 1. We assesses how each issue has developed since 2012 using this rating system: if steps have been taken to remedy the problem since 2012, but without eliminating the issue entirely, a rating of ‘some improvement’ is assigned; or there could be ‘no improvement’ since 2012; and finally if the situation has deteriorated since the last audit, a rating of ‘problem has increased’ is given.
Table 1: The EU’s democratic deficit and changes since 2012
Note: The five diagnoses of the democratic deficit are adapted from Follesdal and Hix (2006)
On point 1 there has been some tangible improvement since our 2012 audit. The powers of the European Parliament have significantly increased as a result of the Lisbon Treaty entering into force. In the 2009-14 Parliament, no less than 89 per cent of legislative proposals were adopted using the so called ‘co-decision’ procedure (now called the ‘ordinary legislative procedure’). Under this rule legislation must be jointly agreed between national governments in the Council and MEPs in the Parliament. As Chart 1 below shows, this is a marked increase on previous parliamentary periods, where the bulk of legislation was determined using other procedures, chiefly the ‘consultation’ procedure, in which the Council is not legally obliged to take account of the Parliament’s opinion.
Chart 1: Percentage of legislative proposals adopted using the co-decision (ordinary legislative) procedure
Source: European Parliament
This increase in power has not been matched, however, by an increase in turnout in European elections. Indeed, in the 2014 elections, turnout across Europe fell again, with 17 out of 28 member states experiencing a drop from the previous elections in 2009, although there was a small increase in the UK’s turnout.
On point 2, the power of national executives in relation to parliaments, there has been some modest change for the better. The Lisbon Treaty introduced a ‘yellow card’ procedure (the forerunner to the ‘red card’ that formed part of David Cameron’s renegotiation) which allows for an objection to be issued to an EU proposal by one third of EU parliaments acting in unison. Although initially treated with scepticism, the procedure was successfully used for the first time in May 2012 in response to the so called ‘Monti II Regulation’. It was again used in relation to the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and has been used most recently in May 2016 in relation to a revision of the Posted Workers Directive.
Finally, the effects of the Eurozone and migration crises seem to have had adverse effects on EU democracy. In both cases, European Council and Eurogroup meetings have become the focus for decisions of substantial importance for all European citizens. The UK is perhaps less involved on these issues (because it is outside both the Eurozone and Schengen free movement area). But this much greater reliance on closed-door intergovernmental negotiations to produce solutions to crises nevertheless represents a potentially worrying development for EU democracy, if the European Parliament remains less involved and citizens are not given adequate representation.
Whatever the result of the UK’s referendum on EU membership, the country’s participation in cross-national and international organisations will remain an important external factor in shaping the quality of British democracy. Should the UK decide to stay within the European Union, developing greater transparency in decision-making and strengthening the role of national parliaments in the EU’s legislative process offer two obvious routes for alleviating the existing democratic problems at the European level. Alternatively, if the UK opts to leave the European Union, it will be vital to establish a relationship with Europe where British citizens continue to have representation in key international decisions that affect their interests, and can still gain from key rights (for example, to move between EU countries).
This post does not represent the views of the London School of Economics or the LSE Public Policy Group.
Stuart Brown is a Research Associate at LSE Public Policy Group, and a Senior Research Associate at the University of East Anglia. He is the Managing Editor of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy and the author of The European Commission and Europe’s Democratic Process (Palgrave, 2016). He is on Twitter @StuartABrown01
Book Review | Europe and Northern Ireland’s Future: Negotiating Brexit’s Unique Case by Mary C. Murphy
The EU is extraordinarily complex. But do we want to simplify it?
How the EU shapes and hones its identity through the language of its treaties
If you believe Brexit is a mistake, you have a democratic duty to oppose it
Book review: Slippery Slope: Europe’s Troubled Future, by Giles Merritt
Posted in: Achieving accountable government, EU politics, Informing and engaging citizens, The 2017 Audit of UK Democracy
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Hindu temple vandalized in US on Shivratri eve
This attack comes days after the assault of a middle-aged Indian by a policeman in Alabama
GN Bureau | February 17, 2015
#us #seattle #madison #indian #temple #hindu
A week after assault on an Indian by a police officer in Alabama, a Hindu temple has been vandalized on the eve of Mahashivratri in the US.
Miscreants sprayed swastika and painted 'Get Out' on one of the walls of the temple in the Seattle Metropolitan area. It is one of the largest Hindu temples in the entire North West, constructed nearly 20 years back.
The incident comes a little more than a week after the assault of Sureshbhai Patel, a 57-year-old man in Madison, Alabama on Feb. 6 resulting in partial paralysis. The latest incident took place at the Bothell Hindu Temple, as someone spray painted “GET OUT” and a Swastika on a wall in red paint. Swastika is a holy symbol of the Hindus and was used by Hitler’s Nazi party.
A probe has been launched into the matter by the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department. "A temple member showed the deputy where a swastika and the words “GET OUT” had been painted on the outside temple wall," said Snohomish County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Shari L. Ireton. "There are no identified suspects in this crime at this time, although the incident is under investigation."
Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism spoke to local media and pointed out that per a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey, as compared to any other religious group in US; Hindus topped in education, had second highest income levels, topped in marriage rates and had lowest divorce rates. Another Pew Forum survey says, the US was the world’s second-leading destination for Hindu migrants, after India. There were about three million Hindus in the US.
#seattle
#madison
#indian
#temple
#hindu
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Have Breakfast With A Giraffe
Mar 26 2012 Explore
Though we all have our Into The Wild fantasies, not everyone is built for living out of a van. Sure, it's awfully romantic to leave town with nothing but the clothes on your back, but when it comes down to it, we want to bring along our luggage—swim suit, sandals, and all. Want to experience the best of both worlds, in a completely wild, utterly luxurious setting? Book a trip to Giraffe Manor, where the animals are friendly and the digs are to die for.
Why We Love It!
Giraffe Manor is set on 12 acres of private land just 20 kilometers from Nairobi city center. The hotel is shielded by the indigenous forest, which stretches far beyond the grounds and is home to many different species, including warthogs, bushbuck, dik dik and (of course!) giraffes. It's a safari-like setting, with state-of-the-art accommodations.
Built in 1932, the manor retains much of its vintage charm. The building, which was modeled after a Scottish hunting lodge, has six double bedrooms, complete with four poster beds, antique furnishing, and cozy (yet chic) decor. But you know what makes it even better? The rare Rothschild Giraffes feel just at home at the Manor as you do, and are prone to wandering into the dining room and sitting areas. Say hi to your fellow travelers!
The Good News...
Giraffe Manor is part of the Tamimi hotel group, which has time and again shown their commitment to preserving African wildlife and offering sustainable travel destinations. When you stay at the eco-friendly Giraffe Manor, a percentage of your accommodation charge is automatically donated to the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife, which has set up a Giraffe Centre as a breeding place for the endanger (and beloved) Rothschild Giraffe. The Centre also operates programs for Kenyan school children, ensuring that the next generation cares every bit as much about these majestic creatures as they do.
Rooms at Giraffe Manor run around $360 per person per night. Find out more—or book your stay—by clicking here.
ExploreAll Finds
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Warner Bros Studio Tour, Part III
Last Fall, my wife and I took our teenage kids, and their two cousins, to the Warner Brothers Studios tour. Here's a couple of links to Part I and Part II of our time there.
Half way through the tour, we stopped for 30 minutes or so at an on-site studio museum, featuring costumes, set design and models from the 2017 film Wonder Woman.
Concept art from the 2017 Warner Bros film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Warner Brothers has been involved in bringing Batman to the big screen since the Michael Keaton / Jack Nicholson film in 1989. Actually, the earliest screen version of Batman dates back to the 1943 black and white 15 part serial, released by Columbia Pictures.
Warner Brothers has been producing Superman films ever since the 1978 version starting Christopher Reeves and Gene Hackman.
My wife and I with our kids and their cousins in from early comic book versions of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the DC Comic gang. Apparently, a near perfect version of the orignal 1938 Superman Comic book sold in 2014 for $3.2 million.
Back in the studio van: my son (left) now at San Diego State, and his cousin, now at Belmont University in Nashville.
Passing by another studio tour. The 15 passenger electric car was similar to ours.
The side of a building doubles for an outdoor set - featuring painted backdrops along with metal balcony and railings.
Headed towards the outdoor New York Street sets - with the "backside" of the Hollywood Hills in the distance. The otherside of that hill is Hollywood proper. Warners Bros - along with Disney and Universal - are located in the San Fernando Valley, a few miles north of Hollywood.
Brownstones on the left, theater on the right: New York Street.
A better view of the theater.
Another theater to the left. The metal railings along the tops of the buildings are for lighting and sound equipment - and a reminder that these building are false fronts.
Above, the facade used as the hotel where character Leon Kowalski lived in the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner.
A couple of trailers in front of the theater set.
The front - and back - of the New York Street sets.
The grey building, the pillars, in the distance was used for numerous films and movies - including Gotham City Hall in the 1960's Batman TV series. Tight angles allowed for the Hollywood Hills to be blocked out.
Movies and television shows that were filmed here include:
- Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942
- The Big Sleep 1946
- Hotel 1983-1988
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1990
- Batman Returns 1992
- Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman 1993-1997
- E.R. 1994-2009
- Annie 1999
- Cloverfield 2008
- Argo 2012
- Jersey Boys 2014
Another tour rolling past us, with the faux "El" train track used in shows like ER.
Another view of the "El" tracks. In the center of this photo, slightly obscured steel girder, was the entrance to Chicago General Hospital, from the ER television show.
When my wife and I were at Warner Bros the first time back in 2008 (above), our tour included a lot of time walking around and exploring these ER sets. Here's a link to a previous post from time there.
Warner Bros version of a Chicago Police Car, under the faux "El" tracks.
The diner across the street. According to the website DiscoverLosAngeles.com:
"In the mid-1990s, a large Chicago-themed set consisting of a hospital façade, an ambulance bay, and “L” tracks was constructed on the eastern edge of the WB’s New York Street for the filming of the television series ER. A diner façade was later built directly across from the hospital facade to mask as Doc Magoo’s, the after-work hangout of Doug, Mark and the rest of the Cook County General gang. Doc Magoo’s, which later became the Jumbo Mart, is a practical set and filming took place both outside and inside the structure. During ER’s 15-season run, emergency room and train station signage were posted on the various façades, making them instantly recognizable to tour-goers. Though those signs are no longer in place and despite some alterations, the edifices should still be familiar to fans of the series. Since ER went off the air in 2009, the Chicago sets have gone on to star in many other productions, including Pretty Little Liars. The Jumbo Mart most notably got a second life as both Kash and Grab and Patsy’s Pies on the Showtime hit Shameless."
More next time.
Warner Bros Studio Tour, Part IV
Warner Bros Studio Tour, Part II
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Font Manager Redux
Characters: Bud Tribble, Steve Jobs, Jerome Coonen, Bill Atkinson, Bruce Horn, Larry Kenyon, Burrell Smith, Steve Capps
Topics: Software Design, Technical, Personality, Allnighters, QuickDraw
Summary: I continued to work on the Font Manager even after I left Apple
Innovation often requires discarding finished work when a better solution comes along. Each new improvement may impact prior work, so you have to be willing to retool the older parts of a design to better integrate the newer parts as they emerge. One example of this for the Macintosh was the development of font manager, which had to be rewritten a few different times as the system evolved.
Bill Atkinson's QuickDraw graphics package did all the work of measuring and drawing text, but it didn't want to deal with system-dependent details like reading from the file system. The font manager's main job was to load fonts for QuickDraw, given a font family, a size and a style, so Quickdraw could just blast out characters without having to worry about how fonts are stored and loaded.
The initial implementation of the font manager simply included a few built-in fonts that were linked with the system, and it returned the system font if you requested one that wasn't built-in. The initial system font that we used through most of 1981 was one that we borrowed from Smalltalk called "Cream".
In the spring of 1982, the first implementation of our user interface software was beginning to come together. We wanted to allow application writers to use a variety of fonts, so we had to provide a way to load fonts from disk and cache them in memory. We also had to load hunks of code called "drivers" in a similar fashion, so Larry Kenyon and I collaborated on some code to load and cache objects from disk that we called the "object manager" that was used by the font manager.
Bill Atkinson had recently given Quickdraw the ability to scale bitmaps, including text, so we added support in the font manager for scaled fonts, which included heuristics to find the font that best satisfied a given request, if none were perfect. If we didn't have a font at the requested size, we could make one by scaling. But scaled text looked kind of lumpy, so we added a way for an application to choose if it wanted it or not.
Meanwhile, Bruce Horn was busy implementing the resource manager. I should have realized it sooner, but by the fall of 1982, it was becoming obvious that there would be lots of benefits if fonts and drivers became resources. We'd save space by discarding our "object manager" code, and simplify the system by eliminating lots of separate files; applications could even transparently contain their own fonts if they wanted to. I devised a simple scheme to encode the font family and size into a resource ID, and rewrote the font manager to be based on resources. Resource IDs were 16 bits long, with the high bit reserved, so the font manager ended up supporting a universe of 128 font families in 128 different sizes, which seemed like plenty at the time.
We added a number of refinements to the font manager in 1983, like a routine to make it easy to build the font menu, but the basic design didn't change very much, and that's what we ended up shipping with in January 1984. The software team was exhausted from the final push, and not all that much development happened during 1984, as some of the old-timers like myself left the company (I went on leave of absence in March 1984) and new hires like Burt Sloan and Ernie Beernick got up to speed. I certainly didn't think I'd be working on the font manager anymore.
In early 1985, Jerome Coonen was getting the software team revved up to do a 128K version of the ROM, that would eventually ship with the Mac Plus in January 1986. It incorporated lots of bug fixes, and some newer subsystems like Appletalk and a better, hierarchical file system. There was so much extra space available that it even incorporated a ROM-based resource file for system resources, to speed up booting and save memory. Jerome solicited my suggestions for improvements, and I responded with a pretty long list.
Among other things, I suggested a major overhaul of the font manager. The LaserWriter, with its superb Postscript imaging system, had made the font situation on the Macintosh pretty complicated, with different subsystems for the screen and printing, and the limitations of the font manager made it hard to get things right. We needed to support fractional pixel widths so the screen could better match the printer, and provide a better scheme for mapping fonts to resources that wasn't limited to 128 fonts. But I was disappointed that the team didn't decide to implement any of my font manager suggestions because development time was growing short and it seemed like too much work.
Even though I was no longer an Apple employee (see Things Are Better Than Ever), I was still in close touch with the company, since Burrell Smith was my best friend and next door neighbor (we had bought two houses on the same lot in Palo Alto in April 1983). Bud Tribble had finished medical school and returned to Apple in his old role of software manager in August 1984, and was living in a spare room at Burrell's house, so I saw him frequently as well. And every once in a while, without advance warning, Steve Jobs would show up at my doorstep for an impromptu visit on a weekend afternoon.
On one such visit, in late February 1985, Steve asked me what I thought of the 128K ROM effort. I complained that it wasn't ambitious enough, and mentioned the font manager changes when Steve asked for an example. But I didn't expect his response.
"If you think that's so important, why don't you go ahead and do it yourself", Steve told me. "There would be time to get it done if you pitched in. Maybe we could give you a few Macs in exchange for doing it."
I told him I'd think about. Bud Tribble came by the next day to discuss it with me, and I agreed to develop a new font manager for the 128K ROM in exchange for three 512K Macintoshes, which I had Apple ship directly to my brothers and sister as gifts. All the code for the new ROM was supposed to be completed within a month, so I'd have to drop what I was doing to get the font manager done in time.
Pretty soon, I had the new font manager going, which used a new resource type called "FOND" to describe all of the properties of a font family, including the resource IDs of the font bitmaps. This allowed us to support tens of thousands of font families instead of a mere 128 like the old design. I also got the fractional width support going, but I needed some changes in QuickDraw to make it so applications could actually use it.
I talked with Bill about implementing the required changes and was surprised to find that he was reluctant to do it. In fact, even though we had identified a number of bugs, Bill didn't want to change QuickDraw at all, arguing that any sort of change at all would mess up existing applications. Finally, while I was down at Apple to attend a coordination meeting, Bud, Steve Capps and I all ganged up on Bill, telling him that if he didn't want to maintain QuickDraw, he'd have to let one of us do it. Bill said he'd think about it overnight, and we planned to meet again the next afternoon to decide what to do.
We were all surprised when Bill showed up at Apple the next day, excited to give us a demo of ovals drawing almost twice as fast as they used to. Apparently, when he started looking at the code yesterday evening he got excited about working on QuickDraw again. He started to fix the bugs we identified, and one thing led to another, and he soon he saw a half dozen ways to improve things. I was happy that Bill was excited about QuickDraw again, but a little bit afraid that he had swung too far in the opposite direction.
At this point, there was only around a week left before code freeze, but it seemed like the font manager was just about finished. Bill implemented measuring with the fractional widths, and it seemed to work great. But then, the evening before we were going to freeze the code, I got a call from Bill at around 8pm.
"Hey, Andy, I've got some great news. I can speed up text drawing by more than 40%! But I need a little help from the font manager."
It turns out that Bill had realized that, on the average, since most text was lower case, characters only used around half of the total height of the strike bitmap - only a few characters had descenders, and most didn't go all the way to the top, either. QuickDraw usually could just skip the blank parts in the characters, saving lots of time.
QuickDraw didn't have time to measure the tops and bottoms of the characters on the fly, but it was a perfect job for the font manager, which could do it once, right after it loaded a new font into memory. For each character, it calculated an offset and a length, telling Bill where to start and stop the drawing. Bill told me the format of the table that he'd like the font manager to supply, and asked me if I thought I could do it.
I thought that it was crazy to attempt something like this with the freeze scheduled in less than 16 hours, but it was such a cool idea that I told Bill that I'd give it a try. I went out for dinner, bought two six packs of Diet Coke, and started implementing the font measuring code around 10pm. I came up with a nice, efficient way to do it, iterating through the strike bitmap a longword at a time, and, eight diet Cokes later, I thought I had it working just about the time the sun was rising; I even had enough time to sleep for a few hours before meeting Bill at Apple at 10am.
We crossed our fingers when we tried it out, but luckily both of our parts worked the first time, with Bill's tests showing that we achieved the projected 40% speed-up. Of course, the code freeze ended up slipping for other reasons, so we didn't really have to rush like we did, but the urgency made it a little bit more fun, I guess.
Are You Gonna Do It?
• Leave Of Absence
• Real Artists Ship
from Jessie Hershey on January 20, 2017 06:42:41
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July 2014 (Volume xxxv Issue 7)
E20 ... one of the new mini-excavators.
Bobcat raises curtains on latest innovations
BOBCAT’S global partnership network and new investments were highlighted at a recent meeting of its top brass and dealers, where the curtains were also raised on the latest product innovations from this leading Doosan Infracore brand.
The event also marked the production of Bobcat’s one-millionth loader – a very important milestone for the company, representing its leadership, commitment and innovation in the compact equipment sector.
The Bobcat Convention, held in Prague, the Czech Republic (May 22 to 23), also revealed plans for an innovation centre that will play a key role in Bobcat product development. It was attended by more than 500 invitees including VIPs, dealers, the press and Doosan/Bobcat executives.
The event also included a visit to the nearby factory and training centre at Dobris, where Bobcat provided a sneak preview of its new E20 mini-excavator.
At the meeting, Martin Knoetgen, head of Doosan Benelux and Bobcat’s EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) president, emphasised the strength of brand Bobcat and its growing presence in the region. “The Bobcat brand has a tremendous potential for growth.
“Products like MEX and telehandlers can leverage the reputation of skid-steer loaders, as they are now equal in performance and endurance. We are continuously upgrading our existing product portfolio and improving our after-market service performance,” said Knoetgen.
“We’re also considering expanding into new segments and applications with Bobcat products. The Bobcat brand will become even stronger and confirm its premium position,” he added.
Doosan’s EMEA operation is responsible for the sales and marketing of Bobcat machines and attachments in Europe including CIS, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Doosan sales in Europe, while also taking care of the manufacture and global distribution of the special attachments branded as Montabert (breakers and drifters) and Geith (buckets and couplers).
Knoetgen indicated that Bobcat represents about one-third share of Doosan’s global construction equipment sales.
In the EMEA, Bobcat contributes more than 50 per cent to Doosan’s revenues, with its skid-steer and compact track loaders enjoying the highest market share – nearly 50 per cent – of the global Doosan family. Some 192,000 loaders have been sold in this region, with the S130 having been the all-time favourite.
Commenting on the performance of each type of machine in the markets, he says: “The market dynamics are very different depending on region and country, segment and application. Skids are strong in MEA, MEX in Europe, and telehandlers are shared equally between construction and agricultural applications. So we are well-balanced concerning the regional mix.”
Doosan, which is poised to break the €1-billion ($1.35 billion) mark in revenues, aims to continue to invest in new products and production equipment, as well as in infrastructure and capabilities to develop advanced products and services, said Knoetgen, citing the example of the new R&D (research and development) campus in Dobris, which manufactures products not only for the EMEA market but also for the North American and Asian markets.
Jose Cuadrado, Bobcat’s vice-president for its compact business, said the Dobris campus is much more than a manufacturing site. “It’s a place for innovation, research and development and continuous learning, and the company has continued to invest in the future.
“We manufacture more than 7,000 machines a year at this site. These include six models of mini-excavators and nine loader models. All factory processes are engineered to improve safety, product quality and delivery, using automotive quality principles.
“Our design centre is based at the Dobris campus, which is responsible worldwide for the design and product development of MEX from 0 to 3 tonnes and loaders up to the (newly launched) S450 size class,” said Cuadrado.
He also revealed plans to build a new innovation centre in front of the factory, which is expected to serve as a catalyst for product development.
Another important milestone for Bobcat is the introduction of its new Bobcat diesel engine which is EU Stage IIIB and Tier IV compliant. “This is a strategic initiative for us – it required large investments, but we are also confident that it will bring long-term benefits to us and our partners.
“Being part of the Doosan group allowed us to leverage the expertise that Doosan has gained over the years in the world of engines. Doosan’s expertise in engines was combined with Bobcat’s extensive expertise in compact machinery.
“The new Bobcat engines have been developed with the input of Bobcat customers – and very importantly, they’ve been tested and validated by the Bobcat standards under very demanding climate conditions at our testing facilities in the US and Europe,” Cuadrado said.
Meanwhile, Doosan has continued to invest in its telescopic handler factory located in Ponchateau, France, which serves the world. “We recently invested in new welding robots for our structures and arms and this year we will install a state-of-the-art shot blasting tunnel,” said Norbert Donaberger, vice-president for the company’s global business unit that comprises Montabert, Geith and Bobcat telehandler businesses.
Bobcat has also recently launched its T40140 and T40180, which are the new advanced versions of the company’s two largest rigid frame telescopic handlers.
The company is now aiming for new product launches every two months starting at end of this year.
The event culminated with a preview of Bobcat’s new-generation one to two-tonne mini-excavators (the first units of which are expected to be delivered in the last quarter of this year) – the details of which will be released shortly.
“The new E17, E19 and E20 models are the last pieces to complete the Bobcat mini-excavator product line,” said Jarry Fiser, product line director for Bobcat’s mini-excavators.
Bagnodesign reveals its expertise to dealers
Smart Living City sets expo date
8,000 visit expo
Airport Construction Building Finishes Steel Air Control & Ventilation Lifts & Escalators Legally Bound Regional News Saudi Focus UAE Focus Events Diary of Events Tenders Interiors Real Estate Contractors Manufacturers & Procurement
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Uppsala University Department of History News
New light cast on Scandinavia’s most important Bronze Age site
Håga, with its dominant burial mound, is Scandinavia’s most significant Bronze Age site. The burial mound is about 3,000 years old.
Photograph: Anders Berndt
Håga, Scandinavia's most significant Bronze Age site, is relatively unknown. But in a new book, archaeologists at Uppsala University have brought together what is known and placed Håga in a larger context.
Håga is situated approximately three kilometres west of central Uppsala and is dominated by a large burial mound from the Bronze Age dating back to about 1000 BCE. Around the burial mound there are several burial grounds, cultic buildings and remnants of settlements from different epochs.
So far only a small portion of Håga has been excavated, although it is clear that Håga is the most significant Bronze Age site in Scandinavia. The largest excavation of the burial mound took place in 1902–1903, when more than a third of all gold discoveries from Sweden’s Bronze Age were found.
Excavation of the large burial mound in Håga in
1902–1903 was led by Oscar Almgren. In the
photo Almgren stands in the middle of the mound
when it is being excavated. In 1914 Almgren
became the first Professor of Northern European
Archaeology at Uppsala University.
Photo: ATA (Antikvarisk-Topografiska Arkivet).
“Håga and the burial mound are not just any old place. This is an incredibly exclusive grave that points to what an important site Håga was during the Bronze Age,” says Anders Kaliff, Professor of Archaeology at Uppsala University.
Kaliff and Terje Østigård, Associate Professor in Archaeology, have written the book Bronze Age Håga and the Viking King Björn: A History of Interpretation and Documentation from AD 818 to 2018. The book translates to English for the first time documentation from the large 1902–1903 excavation of Håga Mound, also commonly known as King Björn’s Mound.
“Although Håga and Håga Mound are one of Scandinavia’s most significant Bronze Age sites, a methodical survey of the state of knowledge has been lacking, and much of the material has been available only in Swedish. In the book we review what we know about the site and put it into a larger international perspective, with a focus on sacrificial and burial rituals.”
Animal and human sacrifices
The way the grave was constructed points to remote contacts and influences from distant lands, including Denmark and Germany.
Excavation of Håga Mound has yielded some of the
most spectacular findings of gold and bronze. The
gold double clasp in the photo is the most famous
discovery. The photo also shows a razor, sword,
buttons, rivets and tweezers.
Photo: Sören Hallgren ATA
(Antikvarisk-Topografiska Arkivet)
“A lot was happening on the Continent at this time, and the grave at Håga is unique for this part of Scandinavia. It is influenced by the burial customs on the Continent to a greater extent than those of the immediate surroundings.”
The burial mound is made up of different layers, with rituals performed at various levels. The body was first cremated; then the bones were buried in an oak chest in a burial chamber. Finally, the burial chamber was covered by soil, and at that stage animals and people were sacrificed. The burial mound contains the remains of at least three individuals who have been sacrificed as part of the burial ceremony.
Moreover, clear evidence of ritual cannibalism has been found in the form of a split femur from a woman with the same marks as the animal sacrifices.
“It’s one of the most discernible findings of ritual cannibalism that we have from Scandinavia.”
Håga’s strategic location
For 3,000 years Håga was a headland protruding into the sea, giving it a very strategic position.
“Håga was very centrally located. The main maritime route northward in the Baltic Sea went via Södertälje past Birka and Håga. People generally preferred to sail through Lake Mälaren rather than sail northward through the archipelago.”
About three kilometres south of Håga is Predikstolen, one of Uppland province’s largest ancient castles. The oldest phases of Predikstolen are about 200 years older than Håga Mound, but it was probably used while the mound was being built and also later.
At the top of the Predikstolen cliff west of Uppsala
stood one of Uppland province’s largest ancient
castles. The castle served as a lock securing the
water way northward in the Baltic Sea. The channel
passed below the cliff where there are woods in
the photo.
Photo: Anders Berndt
“The ancient castle served as a lock securing the water way that ran right next to the castle.”
Håga’s historical importance also is demonstrated through one of the oldest traces of iron production in Sweden, which has been unearthed at Håga.
“The remains date back to about 900 BC – in other words, quite a while before the Iron Age begins in earnest in Sweden.”
Håga has been a significant burial and ritual site over a long period, a significance that continues into the Viking Age and then was assumed by Gamla Uppsala. In Håga there are two cultic buildings, or cultic enclosures, as researchers prefer to call them. Cultic enclosures are symbolic buildings. There are no entrances. They are shaped like buildings, but researchers have not found any post holes for poles that can support a ceiling.
The large cultic building is contemporaneous with Håga Mound and had been in use for several hundred years. There is also a smaller, older cultic building from the early Bronze Age.
“It is clear that Håga as a cultic site served as a precursor to Gamla Uppsala that was emerging and becoming an important centre during the Viking Age.”
The book Bronze Age Håga and the Viking King Björn: A History of Interpretation and Documentation from AD 818 to 2018 can be downloaded as a PDF file.
Anders Berndt
Sustainable urbanisation requires collaboration 10 juni 2019
On Sunday, 30 June, six seminars on sustainability and urbanisation focusing on India and Sweden will take place in Almedalen. To find out more, we talked to Swaminathan Ramanathan, visiting research fellow, and Owe Ronström, professor of ethnolog...
Races for women play an important role 06 maj 2019
Participating in a race for women plays an important role for women and increases self-confidence among participants. Women aim to perform as well as they can, and they place most emphasis on their physical performance, despite the organisers’ oft...
Award for research and teaching on the Holocaust 11 april 2019
Tomislav Dulić, Senior Lecturer in History and Director of the Hugo Valentin Centre, has been awarded the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award 2019.
Diplomatic wives’ political clout often overlooked 07 mars 2019
Many 20th-century accounts of international relations and diplomacy often leave out the role of women. Diplomats’ wives were not officially employed, but diplomacy was frequently based on couples working together.
Ola Larsmo awarded Martin Henriksson Holmdahl Prize 16 november 2018
The Martin Henriksson Holmdahl Prize is Uppsala University’s foremost award for efforts to promote human rights and liberty. This year’s prize is awarded to author and honorary doctor Ola Larsmo.
New light cast on Scandinavia’s most important Bronze Age site 09 oktober 2018
New study shows virus traces in historical skeletal material 06 september 2018
A new international study shows the importance of studying historical skeletal material to increase knowledge about how viruses develop.
Large-scale whaling in north Scandinavia may date back to 6th century 13 juni 2018
The intensive whaling that has pushed many species to the brink of extinction today may be several centuries older than previously assumed. This view is held by archaeologists from Uppsala and York whose findings are presented in the European Jour...
Vice-Chancellor Eva Åkesson to receive King’s Medal 08 juni 2018
H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf has decided to award Uppsala University’s Vice-Chancellor Eva Åkesson and Johan Svedjedal, Professor of Literature, H.M. The King’s Medal.
This year’s Distinguished Teaching Award winners chosen 04 juni 2018
The 2018 Distinguished Teaching Award winners at Uppsala University teach subjects related to art history, informatics and media, pharmaceutical biosciences and information technology. The free Distinguished Teaching Award was presented to Senior ...
Human diversity as a research area 29 maj 2018
Human diversity abounds in language, culture and biology. An understanding of this diversity is central to a lot of research, but it is important to address the ethical issues raised by this research. The Human Diversity Research Network takes an ...
Shared meals important for wellbeing 29 maj 2018
How, where and when we eat are key issues for human health and wellbeing. A multidisciplinary research network at Uppsala University aims to deepen knowledge about the significance of meals.
Is citizenship necessary for being part of a democracy? 26 april 2018
Nowadays, civil rights are usually connected with citizenship of a country. But how do growing globalisation and more mobility affect this?
Mobilising for research on higher education 26 april 2018
Remarkably little research is conducted on higher education in Sweden, but a large share of existing research on the subject is at Uppsala University. Through a research network for research on higher education, researchers are now mobilising to d...
Two Uppsala researchers elected at American Academy 25 april 2018
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences recently elected new members. Two Uppsala researchers were elected as international honorary members.
The Well-Laden Ship: Viking exhibition soon to reach America 11 april 2018
In late April, a ship will reach New York bringing the exhibition “The Vikings Begin” which will embark on a two-year tour of the US. On display will be a selection of 1,300-year-old items from the pre-Viking Age. Usually in storage at Gustavianum...
Art historian receives award from Vitterhetsakademien 09 april 2018
Every year, Vitterhetsakademien (The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities) confers prizes for outstanding scholarly achievements. PhD Hedvig Mårdh at Uppsala University was one of the 2017 prizewinners.
New Oscar Prize winners announced 21 december 2017
Uppsala University’s Oscar Prize for young researchers has been awarded to Eric Cullhed, Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Linguistics and Philology and Oskar Karlsson, Doctor of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences.
New thesis on 21st-century Swedish crime fiction: A Market of Murders 20 december 2017
Why have Swedish detective stories become so immensely popular in our century? What murder motives and weapons are most common in the genre, and why? And is it true that Swedish crime fiction is characterised by social criticism? A new thesis from...
Collaboration for new knowledge in culture and society 09 december 2017
Uppsala University is aiming to develop new research collaborations spanning different research subjects. The newly created Centre for Integrated Research on Culture and Society at the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences will fac...
Historiska institutionen/Department of History
Map over campus Engelska parken
Find your way to the department (Google maps)
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The Fulkerson and Vigne descendants entered into almost every occupation available in colonial America and following the Revolution. We've been carpenters and lawmen, dirt farmers and judges, mechanics and ministers. And at least FOUR people connected to our family were involved in a common form of PIRACY as "privateers" -- they committed acts of piracy to capture foreign ships and the treasures they held.
· Cornelius HENDRICKSEN Van Dort -- son-in-law of Dirck VOLCKERTSZEN, he married Dirck's high-flying daughter Magdelena on 24 October 1652 and was killed in an Indian attack on Manhattan Island on 15 September 1655. When Magdalena remarried, she was listed in the church records as the widow of "Cornelis Caper." Caper was the Dutch term for pirate.
· Adrienne (Ariantje) VIGNE -- grandmother to us all, Dirck VOLCKERTSZEN's mother-in-law and her second husband Jan Jansen DAMEN were among the partners owning the privateer ship 'La Garce' ('The Wench') that operated against Spanish galleons in the Caribbean from 1643 to 1646.
· Joseph FULKERSON -- served on a privateer during the American Revolution, but ran into the Royal Navy and spent time as a British POW on the infamous prison ship 'Jersey' in the New York harbor.
· Jacob THOMPSON -- descendant of Adrienne VIGNE's daughter Rachel and her notorious husband Cornelius VAN TIENHOVEN. As an agent and spy for the Confederates during the Civil War, he organized a band of pirates on the Great Lakes. One group under his command captured two passenger vessels on Lake Erie in September 1864 and then began an attack on the US warship 'Michigan.' As the 'Michigan' had 14 cannons, the Confederates soon thought better of their plan and made an escape. Thompson then purchased a Canadian ship named the 'Georgian' - and the anxious mayor of Buffalo, New York quickly telegraphed military authorities that Thompson's ship would be "be armed on the Canada shore for the purpose of encountering the USS MICHIGAN and for piratical and predatory purposes." However, Thompson's plan and ship were just too big to hide. The 'Georgian' was forced to steam along the Canadian portions of lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron, never able to venture into American waters without drawing spectacular attention from the crowds on the American shores. The Canadian government finally seized the 'Georgian' in April 1865 and Thompson fled to Europe, because at war's end his name had been linked to the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. (Ironically, Thompson had been the United States Secretary of the Interior prior to the war, and at the time the war started there was a 60-foot United States revenue cutter named the 'Jacob Thompson' operating on the Great Lakes.)
The term "privateer" referred to both the men and the ships engaged in the freebooting trade. Perhaps the most famous privateer was Captain Kidd, who lived on Pearl Street near the house that our Fulkerson ancestors once occupied. Many well-known pirates of the 1600s and 1700s began as privateers or received commissions as privateers at some point in their pirate careers.
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Tecumseh's Fire Chief Calling It a Career
Rob Hindi
Courtesy of Tecumseh Fire
The chief of the Tecumseh Fire Department is retiring.
Doug Pitre, chief since 2011, has been on the job for 39 years.
He says it's time to step aside.
"What happen is my contract was done last year at the end of December and the mayor asked me if I would stay one more year and I said yes. Probably by the end of March, I kind of knew maybe I was pushing it too long , you know you know when your times to go," says Pitre.
He started his fire fighting career as a volunteer.
"In those days it was not as it is now, When we post for jobs now, we get 100 applicants. When I wanted to start on the fire department, I went to the chief's house and said I would like to be a fireman, he said okay come on out, if you get along with the guys you're on," says Pitre. "I was fortunate, I grew up in Tecumseh so it was just a matter of guys, I went to school with now, was now on the fire department with."
During his 39-years on the job, he says he'll always remember the Bouduelle fire in Tecumseh 2014 and an 87-vehicle crash on the 401 between Windsor and Tilbury in 1999, which killed eight people and left dozens injured.
"One that really made me decide that I wanted to move to the management end was the 401," says Pitre. "When we had the 401, I was just a fire fighter 10-years and I saw my mentor how he spoke with his captains and decided how things were going to get done and I thought I wanted to be there. I want to be in there to make some decisions and that really drove me at looking to move up."
Pitre also served as the town's Director of Fire Services.
His last day on the job is July 12th.
The town posted the fire chief position on its website on Monday.
Tecumseh Fire and Rescue
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ATTORNEYS FOR ILLINOIS
OUTREACH PROJECT
Attorneys for Illinois Outreach Project (Project) is an effort to bring quality attorneys from Howard University School of Law to the State of Illinois. The Project has established a consortium of public and private employers that have committed to interviewing law students from Howard law, recommended by Project members. The Project’s founding members, Senator James F. Clayborne Jr., Illinois Senate Assistant Minority Leader (D-East St. Louis), Senator Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) and Howard alum Peter Baroni have traveled to Washington D.C. for the past several years to interview Howard University School of Law students on campus. After interviewing law students, Project members deliberate and recommend a small group of highly qualified law students to Project consortium member employers for further interviews in Illinois.
The Project was conceived by its co-founders to allow legal employers in Illinois to supplement their existing diversity recruitment efforts by providing Howard law student prospects vetted by the experience and perspective of the collective Project team. Project members, all licensed Illinois attorneys, have over 50 years of experience practicing law in Illinois as public and private sector lawyers. The Project is committed to recommending the highest quality candidates from Howard University School of Law through this innovative, cooperative recruiting initiative. Based on the success of the Project, there will be an expansion of employer participation as well as law school campus recruiting in the future.
Project consortium member employers are committed to considering the candidate recommendations made by the Project team for further interviews in Illinois at the employer’s expense. Project members are engaged in this recruiting process on a pro bono basis.
The Project is hosted by the law firm of Leinenweber Baroni & Daffada LLC at their Chicago office located at 203 North LaSalle Street, Suite 1620, Chicago, Illinois 60601, telephone 866-786-3705.
For inquiries, contact Peter Baroni.
The following is a list of public and private sector employees that have participated in the Outreach Project.
DuPage County State's Attorney's Office
Lake County State's Attorney's Office
St. Clair County State's Attorney's Office
Cook County State's Attorney's Office
Office of the Cook County Public Defender
City Colleges of Chicago (Law Department)
Chicago Public Schools (Law Department)
Hinshaw & Culberson
Illinois Office of the State Appellate DefenderIllinois Office of the State's Attorney's Appellate Prosecutor
203 North LaSalle Street | Suite 1620 | Chicago, Illinois 60601
WHEATON OFFICE
330 South Naperville Road | Suite 210 | Wheaton, Illinois 60817
WILMETTE OFFICE
1150 Wilmette Avenue | Suite E | Wilmette, Illinois 60091
310 East Monroe Street | Springfield, Illinois 62701
ILESQ.COM
P. 866.786.3705 F. 800.896.2193
120 North LaSalle Street| Suite 2000| Chicago, Illinois 60602
1150 Wilmette Avenue| Suite 5| Wilmette, Illinois 60091
422 East Monroe Street| Springfield, Illinois 62701
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Home » Nintendo » 3DS F1 2011
3DS F1 2011
Product Code: 3DS F1 2011
Price in reward points: 4000
F1 2011 for Nintendo 3DS features all the official teams, drivers and circuits from the 2011 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. Players can compete for motorsport's ultimate prize across a full season, including practice and qualifying sessions, enter an individual GRAND PRIX or jump into Time Trial mode. An additional and extensive Challenge mode is perfect for portable play, with gamers completing a wide range of objectives including checkpoint, gate and overtaking challenges. Players are also invited to compete on the go with a range of multiplayer modes. Gamers can race wheel-to-wheel in four player GRAND PRIX races, go head-to-head in Time Trials or team up with a friend in F1 2011's two-on-two co-operative career mode. Gamers can tailor their experience across solo and multiplayer modes by adjusting race distance, tuning their car, choosing from a range of driving aids and selecting tire, fuel and weather options.
F1 2011 for Nintendo 3DS is the world's first FORMULA ONE game in 3D from Codemasters, the publisher of the BAFTA-winning F1 2010 videogame. Developed by Sumo Digital under Codemasters' exclusive worldwide agreement with Formula One World Championship Limited, F1 2011 will come complete with all the official drivers, teams and circuits from the 2011 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. In F1 2011 players will experience the world of FORMULA ONE in full 3D for the first time. Developed to take advantage of Nintendo 3DS' unique hardware and tuned for portable play, gamers can compete for motorsport's ultimate prize across a full season, enter an individual GRAND PRIX™ or jump into Time Trial mode. An additional and extensive Challenge mode is perfect for portable racing, with gamers taking on a wide range of objectives including checkpoint, gate and overtaking challenges. Players will compete on the go across a range of multiplayer modes. Gamers can race wheel-to-wheel in four-player GRAND PRIX, go head-to-head in Time Trials or team up with a friend with F1 2011's two-on-two co-operative career mode. Players can tailor their experience across solo and multiplayer modes by adjusting race distance, tuning their car, choosing from a range of driving aids and selecting tyre, fuel and weather options. Whether players are looking for a quick FORMULA ONE fix or want to build their own career from rookie to FIA FORMULA ONE DRIVERS' WORLD CHAMPION, F1 2011 for Nintendo 3DS immerses players in the world's fastest sport like never before.
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AUGUSTUS (called later Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus):
By: Richard Gottheil, H. G. Enelow
His Edicts.
Friendship with Herod.
Judea During His Reign.
Augustus Banishes Archelaus.
The first Roman emperor that bore the honorary title of "Augustus"; born Sept. 23, 63 B.C.; died at Nola, Campania, Aug. 19, 14 C.E. He was the son of Caius Octavius. In his attitude toward the Jews he continued the friendly policy of his uncle, Julius Cæsar, who had made him his sole heir. With a great anxiety to arouse and to further at Rome interest in the national religion, he combined a broad tolerance for other faiths. Though he sanctioned the course of his nephew Claudius, who, while touring the Orient, had neglected to sacrifice at the Temple of Jerusalem, he showed his sympathy clearly on other occasions, both by sending gifts to the Jewish sanctuary and by causing the daily sacrifice to be offered up in his name.
Augustus renewed the edicts which Julius Cæsar had promulgated in behalf of the Jews living at Cyrene and in Asia Minor, granting them perfect freedom of worship, sanctioning the collection of money for the Temple, and proclaiming as inviolable their sacred books and synagogues (Josephus, "Ant." xvi. 6, §§ 1-7). Particular regard was paid to their Sabbath; neither on that day, nor on its eve after the ninth hour, could the Jews be required to appear in court; while in Rome, if a public distribution of corn occurred on a Sabbath, needy Jews were entitled to claim their share on the day following. The contemporary Jewish population of Rome was quite considerable, as appears beyond question from the several synagogues the origin of which may be traced to the Augustan age. To one synagogue the name "of the Augustesians" (συναγὼγ Aὐγνστησίων) was given, in honor of the emperor.
The friendship between Augustus and Herod the Great began after the victory at Actium (Sept. 2, 31 B.C.), which rendered the former sole ruler of the Roman domain. Herod lost no time in passing over to the side of the victor, to whom he proffered allthe homage and loyalty which thitherto he had yielded to Antony. Augustus, accepting the offer, confirmed the royal position of Herod and bestowed upon him, after the suicide of Antony and Cleopatra, all the provinces of which he had been bereft through the influence of the latter (Josephus, "Ant." xv. 6, § 7). He tried also to aid the harassed Jewish king in his domestic troubles, by effecting a temporary reconciliation between him and the two sons of Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus (ib. xvi. 4, § 4). Herod showed his appreciation of his patron's favors by naming his new capital, built up out of Samaria, "Sebastè" (Greek for "Augustus," which title the emperor had just then assumed), in honor of the emperor, and its magnificent seaport, which occupied twelve years in the building, "Cæsarea" (ib. xv. 8, § 5; 9, § 6).
Under Augustus, moreover, Judea forfeited the actual or nominal independence it had possessed for a century and a half, and was made a Roman province. After the death of Herod (3 C.E.), an embassy of fifty prominent men from Jerusalem betook itself to Rome to protest against the continuance of the tyrannical rule of the Herodian dynasty, and to plead with Augustus for the annexation of Judea to Syria, and the appointment of a mild magistracy which would leave to Judea internal autonomy. About 8,000 Roman Jews joined the delegation, which was received by the emperor at the Temple of Apollo. The preliminary result of this movement was that Augustus divided Herod's realm between Archelaus—whom he appointed ethnarch, promising him the kingly title if good conduct should warrant such reward—and Philip and Antipas; making liberal provisions, also, for Salome, Herod's sister, and for his two daughters (ib. xvii. 11, § 5). At this juncture Augustus rendered another good service to Judea by unmasking and punishing a pretender to Herod's throne, who, emerging from Sidon, had passed for Alexander, one of Mariamne's slain sons, and who, on his triumphal journey from Puteoli to Rome, had gained many a follower among the credulous Jews (ib. xvii. 12).
The rule of Archelaus, however, was tyrannous; and about ten years after his accession another embassy of leading Jews appeared before Augustus with an arraignment of his cruel despotism. The emperor thereupon summoned him to Rome, and banished him and his wife, Glaphyra, to Vienne, a city of Gaul, now in the lsère department, France. His wealth was confiscated, while Quirinius, a prominent senator, accompanied by Coponius, was delegated to Syria and Judea (6-7 C.E.) for the purpose of taking a census of those provinces and of introducing the Roman system of poll and property taxation, as well as of making the proper disposal of the belongings of Archelaus.
The census proved highly unpopular, particularly among the Zealots, a band of resolute republicans led by Judas the Galilean, or the Gaulanite, and by Zadok, who saw in this innovation a menace to national and personal liberty, and opposed it accordingly, though without permanent success. In some places open resistance even may have occurred (Josephus, "Ant." xviii. 1, § 1; xx. 5, § 2; idem, "B. J." ii. 8, § 1; 17, § 8; Luke ii. 1-3; Acts v. 37). Judea thus became wholly a Roman province of the second order, not incorporated into Syria, as Josephus says, but having an imperial representative in the person of a procurator, who resided at Cæsarea.
New marks of loyalty were shown to Augustus by his Herodian protégés. Antipas fortified Sepphoris, the chief city of Galilee, dedicating it to the emperor; while the new fortress at Betharamptha he named "Julias," after the emperor's wife. Similarly, Philip built an important city at the head of the Jordan valley, styling it "Cæsarea Philippi," in distinction from its namesake built by Herod the Great; while he enlarged and embellished Bethsaida, near the Lake of Gennesaret, and called it also "Julias," after the daughter of Augustus (Josephus, "Ant." xviii. 2, § 1).
Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, 4th ed., iii. 229 et seq.,
Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 11-14;
Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 21, 62;
Mommsen, Römische Gesch. v. 504 et seq.;
Schürer, Gesch. der Juden, i. index, s.v. Octavianus Augustus.
G. H. G. E.
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Justin Bieber's Girlfriend
About JBG
Celebrity News and Plastic Surgery Gossip
9 Male Celebs Who’ve Had Hair Transplants
by Ruby 21. May 2018 Celebrity Gossip 0
Millions of men suffer from male pattern baldness and celebrities are of course no exception.
Some of the rich and famous aren’t afraid to admit they’ve had hair transplant surgery while others are considerably less candid about it, leaving their fans to only guess if they’ve had work done to their scalps or not.
Are you wondering if your favorite celebrity might have had a hair transplant? Read on.
1. Gordon Ramsay
British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is famous for his hot temper in the kitchen. He’s also known for his trademark blonde hairdo.
Over the course of the first decade of the new millennium Ramsay’s hair was visibly starting to thin. In 2011, no longer able to conceal his balding dome (at least not without a lot of help from hats and strategic combing), he was spotted leaving a trendy surgical center in Beverly Hills with a surgical cap on his head.
A post shared by Gordon Ramsay (@gordongram) on Mar 14, 2018 at 12:30am PDT
Ramsey remained very tight-lipped about the whole affair, admitting nothing. Until, that is, the paparazzi managed to photograph the visible and unmistakable allergic reaction the culinary master allegedly suffered from the procedure.
Once the photos were published, the cat was out of the bag and Ramsey had no choice but to admit that he had, horror of all horrors, undergone hair transplant surgery. To date, this admission hasn’t appeared to have affected his career or stature in any significant way.
2. John Travolta
John Travolta is Hollywood royalty. Perhaps best known for his leading roles in such blockbuster films as Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Pulp Fiction, Travolta has recently been photographed while out and about in Hollywood with a much lusher hairline than we remember.
A post shared by John Travolta (@johntravolta) on May 21, 2018 at 9:30am PDT
In recent years, we’d gotten used to seeing his hairline move closer and closer to the top of his scalp. But today, his hair suddenly looks great. We have no way of knowing whether or not he had a transplant, but he’s certainly done something. Based on Travolta’s net worth, it’s pretty safe to say he can easily afford transplant surgery.
3. Nicholas Cage
Nicholas Cage is a talented actor, noted for his spirited performances in action movies like Con Air and Face Off and dramas such as The Family Man. For years, Nicholas Cage’s receding hairline has been his personal trademark. When fans recently saw the drastic transformation of his hairline, they were shocked.
A post shared by @nicolascagestagram on Jul 15, 2017 at 11:35pm PDT
Cage has never gone public and announced to the world that he underwent hair transplant surgery, preferring instead to just let his hairline do the talking.
4. Matthew McConaughey
In 2005, People magazine voted Matthew McConaughey the sexiest man alive, this despite the fact that he was already scoring a solid III on the Norwood Scale, proving yet again that hair does not necessarily make the man. But then, only a few years later, McConaughey’s hair was back in a big way.
A post shared by Matthew McConaughey (@matthewmacconaughey) on Sep 17, 2016 at 5:48pm PDT
So what happened? He may be wearing a hairpiece or he may have had hair transplant surgery, he still hasn’t opened up about the change, but one thing is certain: Matthew McConaughey still looks sexier than ever.
5. Elton John
Elton John is one of the most famous musical artists in the world. Sir Elton’s hairline had already started thinning back in the early 70’s, just as his career was really taking off.
A post shared by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on May 14, 2018 at 8:48am PDT
By the mid-70s, when the superstar’s hair was suddenly thicker and lusher, there was no denying he’d had a hair transplant. Elton, however, has always been comfortable in his own skin and wasn’t shy about admitting to his fans that he’d had the procedure done.
6. Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson’s gorgeous eyes and rugged features have made him one of Hollywood’s hottest men for decades. Back in 1985, he was voted the sexiest man alive by People magazine. He’s also made their 50 Most Beautiful People list several times.
A post shared by Mel Gibson (@official_mel_gibson) on Feb 14, 2016 at 1:28pm PST
Over the years, fans witnessed Mel’s hair thin out on top while his hairline slowly started to creep toward the top of his head. In 2006, Gibson’s hairline started creeping forward again, only this time, it wasn’t long before his thin hair was suddenly thick. He hasn’t opened up about having hair transplant surgery, however, inside sources have confirmed that he did, in fact, elect to have the procedure done.
7. Wayne Rooney
English footballer Wayne Rooney is one of the few celebrities to not only admit to having hair transplant surgery but to also tweet about it. His Twitter followers found out about the surgery right after he had it done.
A post shared by Wayne Rooney (@waynerooney) on Dec 10, 2017 at 9:15am PST
Rooney started going bald when he was only 25 years old and has even joked about it, once asking his Twitter audience if they could recommend a good hair gel. Since having the procedure, few would deny the man now looks at least 20 years younger.
8. James Nesbitt
Irish actor James Nesbitt is famous for many roles, including the curly-haired Adam in Cold Feet and a gruff detective in Murphy’s Law. Over the years we’ve literally watched Nesbitt’s hairline move further and further up his head while thinning out rather dramatically on top.
A post shared by James Nesbitt (@jnesbitttv) on Mar 23, 2018 at 3:45pm PDT
When Nesbitt finally had hair transplant surgery, he had no problem admitting it. He even claimed to be somewhat amused about how much time the public and paparazzi had devoted to talking about his having the procedure done.
9. Louis Walsh
Louis Walsh is best known for his role as a judge on the British television show, The X Factor. In 2011 many fans noticed that Walsh’s hairline was seriously receding, but then the next thing they knew he had a thick, lush head of hair.
A post shared by Louis Walsh (@louiswalsh_official) on Jan 23, 2017 at 3:42pm PST
Walsh has had no issues talking about his surgery or his alleged use of spironolactone, however, saying he decided to go ahead with it after being urged to do so by his pal, Simon Cowell. He offers that the transplant was simply “maintenance” and that he’s very happy with how natural it looks. In fact, he was so impressed by the procedure he’s apparently recommended his surgeon to friends who are also losing their hair. Walsh has even admitted to spending £30,000 on his hair transplant and still openly talks about it today.
Celebrity Nose Jobs: 6 Stars Who’ve Confirmed They Underwent Rhinoplasty
by Ruby 12. June 2017 rhinoplasty 0
1. Ashley Tisdale’s Rhinoplasty: Deviated Septum
Ashley Tisdale had a nose job because she had a deviated septum that caused her to have some problems breathing out of the right side of her nose. When she got older, the problem got even worse. She also found out that she had two small fractures on her nose.
She did not have a nose job because she wanted plastic surgery, she did it because she wanted to be healthier. Since she had the surgery, she is now able to properly breathe out of her right nostril.
2. Heidi Montag’s Nosejob: One of Many Plastic Surgeries
Heidi Montag is one of the celebrities who is known for having several different plastic surgeries besides the nose job like the fat injections in her face and the breast implants. She said she did all of these things to help boost her confidence so that she could be more secure about herself.
But now she regrets it so she would not recommend that anyone else have all of those plastic surgeries done, and to be aware of the risks and recovery time involved – especially with rhinoplasty. She feels like that she learned a lot from the surgeries and now she wants to move on with her life.
3. Dianna Agron’s Rhinoplasty: Don’t Tell Mom
Dianna Agron had a nose job because she broke her nose while she was in high school and one time as an adult. The first time it did not get fixed because she did not want her mom to know what she had done and the second time, she was on tour and did not have time to go to the doctor.
Therefore, when she let things go for a long time, she ended up needing to have the nose job instead of simply fixing the broken nose.
4. Melissa Gorga’s Nose Job: Can’t Keep a Secret
Melissa Gorga. She was trying to keep it a big secret but it was revealed to the public by another one of the housewives that did not like it very well.
She feels that it is a personal matter that she should have been able to reveal if she wanted to. But instead that privilege was taken away from her.
5. Jennifer Grey’s Nose Job: Not the Best Decision
She had the nose job in 1989 and now admits that she regrets that she had it done. She feels that before her surgery everyone would recognize her but after the surgery no one knew who she was. The nose job was definitely not the best decision for her career.
6. Kathy Griffin’s Nose Job: Subtle Change
She has the nose job in 2003 and she thinks that it really did not change anything for her career or her life. She had the nose job because she thought that her nose was too big for her face. But now she thinks that it looks like it did before she even had the surgery.
Why Do You Need To Read Celebrity Gossip?
by Ruby 11. February 2017 Celebrity Gossip 0
You get bored, don’t you? This is why people are looking for something interesting to fill up their days with interesting things in their life. Usually, they will watch a funny movie or watch some hilarious videos on Youtube, whatever it is that can get you entertained and distracted. In the end,this entertainment had branched out and is slowly spread out around the world. Eventually, people who are behind this started to reach out and touch the spotlight. They’ve become idols, comedians, actors, and actresses. They are an idea, a symbol, and trend, to the point the media are starting to make some interesting stories to entertain the masses.
There are many points when it comes to reading or learning some celebrity gossip stories. Not only is it good to use it for social gatherings and forming interesting bonds with other people who might share the same interest as you, but it can also be a good way to distract yourself from constant boredom. Humans get bored easily and when they do they will get frustrated and desperate to do some activity. That is why they are willing enough to do something atrocious to spice up their life to amuse themselves. So, reading some gossip material is like a balm soothing a burning wound. Most likely the boredom that is crushing you.
Usually using celebrity gossip as an interesting conversation starter can help you socialize with other people and it is useful to have when you meet some people that are outside from a group circle of friends. There are times they view this material as a source of information to update themselves about life and the world in general. After all the celebrities have become a symbol of some sort that labels them as a product of some company that produces interesting movies. Actors and actresses who fit the description of some specific movie have become a stuck just like how Daniel Radcliffe will always be Harry Potter. Eventually, the media will soon find some way to change the course of the story to make it look new and attractive for readers to pick up their magazine and read.
This type of style will most like to get a mixed reaction. It could be positive or negative; it will make you happy or downright pissed off. Either way, a reaction is a reaction, and the media will get what they can have. Bottomline is that soon people will be curious to learn more about what’s hip or what’s new, why this person is so popular and why they are well loved by the fans. It’s like an itch that you wanted to scratch, and you can’t get it as long as you read something that will satiate your curiosity. In the end, there is an appeal about reading a celebrity gossip news. You cannot deny that it brought an amused smile on your face or an angry scowl.
Celebrity Gossips Are Used For Outlets To Express Your Emotions
It is amusing to learn that there are a lot of people who will watch other people do the things that you don’t normally do. These people will always make you laugh, cry and just plain angry. These people are masters in bringing out the best and the worst within you. This is why there are a lot of people who don’t like to follow celebrity gossip and others follow the news religiously. It could be their boredom or just genuine fans. But either way, there will always be mixed signals. You will always find reasons to support someone, and there will always be other reasons where you will abandon that person because it goes against your views or morale.
In the end, celebrity gossip is all in between. They are all black and white, and sometimes with a hint of gray. You cannot tell which are they right or are they wrong. For sure it upsets a lot of people to see their idol be treated this way, but there are other people who support their favorite actors and actress for doing what they love best. There’s going to be two sides from this, but the saddest thing is that anger is much easier to ignite than happiness. There will always be some violent news that will trigger a lot of people. And if there’s a positive story in it it will always be passed by and be ignored or brushed off from the readers.
It’s all about the human instinct. Where humans desire blood and carnage. Humans, after all, are violent nature, and it is this nature that you all react so strongly when it comes to negative feedback and information. The reason why people are tamed it’s that of the culture, society and the ways your parents raised you to be. Proper adults. A proper human being with social cues. In the celebrity gossip has become an outlet to express the human nature of your emotions. You can feel outraged, or upset, sad and then happy, either way, it has become a tool for you to feel all these emotions and feel righteous. You can feel good too, knowing that some ideas match your own. In the end, this is what people normally do whenever they get to hear some tidbit information.
You either agree or disagree. You will always find some information that you like and agreed upon, and there will always be the other half where you will forcibly decline and not accepting because you don’t like it. Everybody is entitled totheir opinions, but in the end, this what the media is striving for. Celebrity gossip has become a tool to be used to gain many sells. Who’s to deny the business strategy that they’ve concocted? In the end, you get to hear your story and your entertainment is delivered to you on a silver platter. People will either like it or hate, it doesn’t matter, because in the end, it is a way to vent out your emotions.
Celebrity Gossip Is Used For News
by Ruby 28. January 2017 Celebrity Gossip 0
People get bored easily, and sometimes boredom can be a pain. This is why you all lead to entertainment, something funny that can spice up your life once and awhile. Entertainment is what keeps your life interesting. They offer you comedy, love action, horror and adventure; this genre makes life so much more interesting because fiction is fiction and you get the chance to explore the uncharted island where no man has gone before. You can be a princess, a beast, a villain, and a killer in one story. And the people behind these characters make sure they got it right.
This is why actors and actresses are born. They are born to entertain you; they exist to amuse you. To make you smile and to make you laugh. Eventually, they reach fame; they reach popularity and people admired their work, their professional as an actor. In time, their popularity had reached a certain number they are soon well known across the globe. The newsis starting to add to their achievements, and eventually, the media will soon be looking for a different angle after their success has reached a certain point. This is where gossip came in.
Women tend to talk a lot with each other. Swapping stories and sharing interesting tales interacting with the other people and just simply socialize. Celebrity gossips are a good topic to discuss and just chat. They are a good icebreaker if you’re trying to meet new people. And the media will surely provide a lot of topics for people to discuss with. There’s no shortage of topic for everybody to talk about. After all, there are benefits in using celebrity gossip. Here are some of the few reasons as to why that is:
It’s a chance to laugh. Naturally, there are some stories in the gossip world that will make you laugh and eventually it will be the best story that you heard all day.
A chance to talk to new people and form new bonds. The good thing about having this kind of gossip is for you to go out and meet new interesting people and if you want to interact with them you can always use this type of topic as an excuse to talk to other people.
Gives you the opportunity to vent your emotions. Not only it amuses, but it also helps you vent out some suppressed jealousy and bitterness that you’ve been harboring.
Provides you a distraction. And eventually reading your idol doing the tango with the president brings you a great distraction from a stressful day at work.
There are times that the gossip has become news to you as well. Just like Facebook, you will learn new things about the people that you call idols and actors, especially how they live their lives in amazing bliss or a walking messy disaster. In the end, it always keeps you up to date in the going ons of the world. You won’t be out of the loop when you are also updated.
Reasons Why People Like Celebrity Gossip So Much
People these days watch the news or watch some interesting video on Youtube. The people that they wanted to see will always show up giving an interesting material for them to learn and be amused. These people are your entertainers, and they are here to entertain you with amazing material that will blow off your feet. Comedy, drama, and love, this is what you want. Action and adventure is all you wanted to see. The people who wanted to see something new and something strange that you’ve never seen before actors and actress are strived to make it happened. Directors and writers are determined to make the best for the sake of their audience.
Eventually, these people will become famous thanks to their efforts, their achievements. And soon, the media will soon be telling their stories and eventually those stories are going to be gossips. What does celebrity gossip entail? Well, it goes to show whatever the media has added and post those “news” online people will be wondering about the Britney Spear’s latest hobby or the failing marriage between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. It has become more personal instead of something concrete, and the surprising thing is that they like it. People love to read about it.
Why? These are the reasons as to why people love to read celebrity gossips:
They have interesting lives. The thing about learning and reading more about the gossip stories is that these people have interesting lives that some stories aren’t the same the next day and the next. You will never get bored learning their adventures, and you will always be entertained by their endeavors.
They meet cool and popular people. Not only that, if you are a fan, you wanted to know about the activities of your idol and why not learn about their activities by reading about some gossip magazine. For you will learn that your idol has met the Queen of England or the president of the united states. That’s some connections they got there.
It is easy to socialize. If you’re into reading some celebrity gossip, then there is a high chance someone shares the same interest with you. The good thing about gossip is that it is a good way to start a conversation where you can socialize with other people who share the same news just like you.
Common ground. Eventually, it will become a common ground between a group people who wanted to interact and connect. At some point, people will use this excuse to approach one another and start to form bonds with different people who are strangers to you.
Despite the fact that there is some information can be exaggerating especially when it’s gossip, but eventually it does have some use for you to take. You get to follow your idols movements and their activity, update yourself about their lives and share your interest with other people who is the same fan just like you.
Why People Are So Into Celebrity Gossip These Days?
Ever wonder why people always into watching some hot idol, or a sexy actress on screen? Why do people love to know more about their lives than focusing on their own? Simple enough, because you are bored. You are living in your life, day after day, the same day over and over again with nothing exciting to do. Unlike the celebrities, there are a lot of awesome things that happened to them. They can travel around the world, act in some big hot shot movie or TV. And they can even go to wild parties till the crack of dawn. This is why people love to follow them. This is why the media want to keep track of their activities because their lives are much more interesting. They are living a life of excitement and fun, which you all lack.
Women these days wanted to learn more about the lives of popularwomen, especially how they look or how they dress. They want to be like them one day, and they want to have what they have because to the public eye it’s already been acceptable. Popularity is key. People with who are talented, beautiful and skillful use this as their advantage to climb to the top of fame. They are viewed as special because they are not ordinary nor normal, they are viewed as idols to be worshiped, not religiously so, but they do have a gang of followers that follow them now and then.
Celebrity gossip is where you as an audience find it aninteresting bit of information to know. You want to know about your favorite actress dating this strange but hot guy, or how you want to know about their first meeting between two talented actors and actress as they started their engagement this coming January. You want to learn more and more about them because for the simple fact that you are a fan. You want to get into the loop; you don’t want to miss anything important for this is important to you, as a fan.
There are other people, who aren’t a fan, find these people amusing and predictable. These people who have the mindset that they are better than them. They are not a mindless sheep, unlike some people who mindlessly follow them and love them, these people only see this celebrity gossip like that, gossip. They know that these reports, this news are nothing but lies that the media comes up with for the sake of having a clickbait. These people are too smart to be fooled, but nonetheless, they do end up get into the know. They eventually learned what’s the fuss is all about in time and eventually, they read the gossip rags that they viewed as trash.
Either way, people have their opinions and view in regards to the gossip that revolves around the celebrities and idols. In the end, people just love to talk about it them.
Hot Topic: Want To Learn More About Some Celebrity Gossip?
by Ruby 03. August 2016 Celebrity Gossip 0
People tend to be curious about other people’s habits and how they spend their time with their lives, especially when people are obsessed with some celebrity wondering how they managed to make their life interesting. There are some people who wanted to know their secret so that they can live their lives just like them; fun, exciting and awesome. After all ordinary people are living boring lives day after day, work after work, sleep and then sleep. Nothing interesting happened, unlike the people who are viewed as idols.
Idols and celebrities are different. They constantly party, they always meet with interesting people, power people and visit different places that not even ordinary people could go without punching a dent into their wallet. This is why media loves hounding them. They wanted to know more about the gossips that have been going on their lives. They want to know who’s cheating who, and who’s messing someone up.
Everybody wants to learn more, and that’s why people love to gossip over people. They want to follow their style, their way of living because they make it so natural they wanted to see if they can do what they can do. People would love to become the idols and celebrities. They want to be loved and admired. They want to be acknowledged. There is so many gossips it’s hard to keep track of them. Most popular people get to the top liners because of some achievement that they managed to win through thelove of the fans or the popularity poll. This keeps other people stick through the news. They want to keep up to thedate of their success, their projects that sometimes they missed the point of it. In time people will get bored with the same story all over again, and so the media painted an ugly picture that will startle the crowd. Usually, it is anger that ignites this person to thereaction.
Some feel defensive others find the idols bland and boring or manipulative and petty, whatever the reasons it is people still follow the trend. Because who could deny celebrity gossip? Who doesn’t want to know more about them and tell your friends on what you learn? The question of privacy always brought it up, and there are some media who cannot respect,especially when they are determined to know the “truth” of the matter. In the end, there are a lot of people who wanted to learn about their idols because they admire them and at some point, they want to be them. They are an idea, where people who’ve never step out from the comfort zone take comfort that there are other people who can take the risk. But not everyone who views them as an idea, they find celebrities as washed up entertainment. Where they keep trying so hard to impress the crowd that in the end, it gets boring. It is harsh, and it is sad, but that’s show biz. You can’t dodge that one bullet, and it will always hit you where it hurts the most.
Bottom-line is that people will always look for more news in regards to their idols lives and the celebrities success. Because in short, they’ve got nothing better to do. Celebrity gossip is just an excuse to talk bad things about other people for the sake of one’s ego, thinking that they you are better than them. If one idol messed something up, you eat it because it fuels you that what you say are right. It is sad that that’s how it’s been used these days
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ELY BARTAL, M.D.,
Appellant,
LEANN BROWER, BRUCE BROWER,
BRADLEY J. PROCHASKA, and GERARD C. SCOTT,
Appellees.
The record is examined in a malicious prosecution action resulting from a medical malpractice action filed against the plaintiff, and it is held under the facts of this case that the district court did not err in (1) finding the defendants clients relied upon the advice of counsel in filing the medical malpractice action, (2) finding that the defendants attorneys acted with probable cause in filing the medical malpractice action, and (3) granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants.
Appeal from Sedgwick district court; DAVID W. KENNEDY, judge. Opinion filed November 12, 1999. Affirmed.
Brian G. Grace , of Grace, Unruh & Pratt, of Wichita, argued the cause, and Gilbert L. Guthrie and Sharon A. Werner, of the same firm, were with him on the briefs for appellant.
Nicholas S. Daily, of Depew and Gillen, L.L.C., of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellees Leann and Bruce Brower.
Darrell L. Warta, of Foulston & Siefkin, LLP, of Wichita, argued the cause, and Mark A. Biberstein, of the same firm, was with him on the brief for appellee Bradley J. Prochaska.
Lynn R. Johnson, of Shamberg, Johnson & Bergman, Chartered, of Overland Park, argued the cause, and Steven G. Brown, of the same firm, was with him on the brief for appellee Gerard C. Scott.
ALLEGRUCCI, J.: Ely Bartal, M.D., brought this malicious prosecution action against Leann and Bruce Brower, the parents of a young patient who sued him for medical negligence, and the attorneys who represented the plaintiffs in that action, Bradley J. Prochaska and Gerard C. Scott. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of defendants, and Bartal appealed. The case was transferred by this court from the Court of Appeals pursuant to K.S.A. 20-3018.
Dr. Bartal alleged that Prochaska and Scott represented the Browers in filing a malpractice suit against him in which it was alleged that as a result of his negligent surgery, Maria Brower suffered paralysis. Bartal further alleged that at the time the suit was filed against him, "[i]t was known that Dr. Bartal did not perform the neurosurgical procedure that allegedly caused injury to Maria." Moreover, defendants knew or should have known "that Dr. Shapiro performed the neurosurgical procedures at issue." Thus, according to Bartal's pleading, "[t]he defendants instituted the malpractice suit against Dr. Bartal without probable cause, and with malice."
All defendants denied knowing that Dr. Bartal did not cause the injury to Maria.
In July 1997, the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the Browers. In the journal entry, the trial court made findings of "the following uncontroverted facts":
"1. On October 28, 1987, Dr. Ely Bartal and Dr. William Shapiro performed back surgery on Maria E. Brower, a minor.
"2. During the course of this surgery, Maria was rendered paraplegic, necessitating the constant use of leg braces for ambulation. She is incontinent of both bowel and bladder.
"3. When Maria's condition did not improve subsequent to surgery, Mr. and Mrs. Brower sought legal advice as to whether a claim should be made on behalf of their daughter against any doctors who were involved in their daughter's surgery.
"4. The Browers were referred to Brad Prochaska, an attorney whose practice is concentrated in medical malpractice.
"5. Mr. Prochaska has practiced law in Kansas for sixteen years. For the past few years, Mr. Prochaska's practice has had a special concentration in handling medical malpractice cases. At present, 80%-90% of his practice consists of medical malpractice. In conjunction with his colleague, Mr. Scott, Mr. Prochaska has handled to a conclusion over fifty medical malpractice cases. He has had some notable successes, including a six million dollar medical malpractice verdict.
"6. Mr. Prochaska told the Browers about his experience and success in the medical malpractice field.
"7. The Browers had no medical training and no experience with medical malpractice cases. Mrs. Brower is a housewife. Mr. Brower works as a corrections officer at the Hutchinson Correctional Institute.
"8. During the course of oral argument, plaintiff's counsel acknowledged that prior to filing suit against Dr. Bartal, Mr. Prochaska and Mr. Scott obtained copies of all of Maria Brower's medical records pertaining to the particular procedure at issue.
"9. In deciding to file the lawsuit against Dr. Bartal, Mr. Prochaska relied primarily on the medical records and what his experts had to say. What he learned from the Browers simply confirmed what he learned from the records and the experts.
"10. Subsequently, the Browers relied on Mr. Prochaska's advice in dismissing the claim against Dr. Bartal. The decision to dismiss Dr. Bartal was based on litigation strategy which Mr. Prochaska had successfully utilized in prior medical negligence litigation. The Browers had reservations about Mr. Prochaska's recommendation to dismiss Bartal, but followed his advice. Despite occasional differences of opinion, Mr. Prochaska could think of no instance in the handling of the Brower suit where the Browers did not rely upon and follow his advice.
"11. The Browers relied on Mr. Prochaska's advice that a lawsuit should be filed against Dr. Bartal. If Mr. Prochaska had informed the Browers that there was no claim to be made against Dr. Bartal, then no claim would have been filed."
Based on these uncontroverted facts, the trial court concluded that the Browers were entitled to judgment as a matter of law in that they relied upon the advice of counsel in filing the medical malpractice action against Bartal. The trial court denied Bartal's motion for reconsideration. Bartal first contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the Browers.
For the Browers, as litigants, the advice of counsel in initiating a civil action is a complete defense to malicious prosecution. The defense is conditioned on the litigants' having fully disclosed to the attorney all material facts within their knowledge and which could have been learned with diligent effort. Hunt v. Dresie, 241 Kan. 647, Syl. ª 7, 740 P.2d 1046 (1987).
In ruling on the Browers' motion for summary judgment, the district court made findings of fact. As noted by Bartal's counsel at the time of the ruling and in a motion to reconsider it, the district court did not make a finding that the Browers fully disclosed all material facts. Bartal contends that the trial court's failure to make a finding on this essential element of the defense of advice of counsel led to an erroneous entry of summary judgment. He contends that the Browers did not disclose to the attorneys all they knew about their daughter's medical treatment. What Bartal contends was not disclosed is that the Browers had a conversation with Dr. Ronald Williams, the resident physician, about the upcoming surgery in which they learned that Shapiro would have an active part in the surgery.
"A material fact is one on which the controversy may be determined." Ebert v. Mussett, 214 Kan. 62, 65, 519 P.2d 687 (1974). It is undisputed and the district court made a finding that Prochaska and Scott obtained copies of all pertinent medical records before filing suit. The surgery report identifies the surgeons as "Dr. E. Bartal/Dr. W. Shapiro." Even if Prochaska and Scott had not learned from the Browers about Shapiro's involvement in the surgery, they would have become aware of that fact from the medical records. Thus, if the Browers failed to tell their attorneys about a conversation with Williams in which they learned that Dr. Shapiro would be involved in the surgery, the omission is immaterial to the outcome of this controversy. Moreover, it reasonably could be inferred from Prochaska's testimony that what he learned from the medical records confirmed what the Browers had told him of Shapiro's involvement.
Bartal is vague about how the information in question might be material to the Browers' action against him. What he seems to imply is that knowing of Shapiro's involvement in the surgery would cause the attorneys to advise the Browers against suing Bartal. It does not appear from the record, however, that Prochaska and Scott were unaware of Shapiro's role when they filed suit against Bartal, nor would it be material to their decision to file the suit against Bartal.
In conjunction with the disclosure question, Bartal maintains that the Browers failed to conduct the investigation required of them. He seems to have in mind additional questions the Browers could or should have asked when they tape recorded telephone conversations with the surgeons. According to Bartal, the Browers should have asked which doctor performed what parts of the surgical procedure, but they failed to do so. Knowing what questions to ask about serious medical conditions and remedies requires greater knowledge and sophistication than a layperson possesses. For this reason, we conclude that Bartal would require more of the litigants than the court's phrase "diligent effort" was meant to encompass. We find no error in the trial court's entry of summary judgment for the Browers.
Bartal next argues the trial court improperly granted summary judgment to Prochaska and Scott in January 1998. The ruling made on the record was incorporated by reference into the journal entry. In pertinent part, the trial court stated on the record:
"With respect to lack of informed consent, although I agree that Dr. Bartal should not give or could not--I shouldn't say could not--should not have given the information and talked with the parents, the Browers, about the LL--LMM surgery, he has an affirmative obligation to see that it gets done or had an affirmative obligation to see that it got done and he didn't. He made an assumption that was incorrect. And, therefore, there was probable cause to file suit against him on that basis.
"And I--just for clarification--I'm--this case really gets murky because everybody--and, when I say everybody, I mean everybody talks about the reports and the depositions that were taken after suit was filed and after suit was dismissed and after this suit was filed, but the real point on probable cause to file the suit exists at the time it was filed and what was known and in that--at that point in time, it's undisputed that Mr. Prochaska--and I'm gonna say Prochaska, when technically it's really Prochaska and Scott--had the medical records, he had reports from a number of doctors, and in particular Dr. Boggan, . . . Dr. van Dam, the third one--
"MR. WARTA: Lubicky.
"THE COURT: Thank you. Those would give any reasonably prudent plaintiff's medical negligence attorney basis to believe that there was a cause of action against Dr. Bartal based on what's in those reports and what's in those records, for medical negligence in addition to no informed consent.
"And I know there's a lot of other stuff that--well, I'm not gonna get into whether he should have been sued or not and whether they could have prevailed against him if they hadn't dismissed. But there's certainly probable cause to file the lawsuits, and I'll sustain the motion for summary judgment on that basis."
The trial court denied Bartal's motion for reconsideration, which was based on the trial court's failure to make the findings of fact and conclusions of law required by statute and Supreme Court rules. The journal entry on the motion for reconsideration incorporates by reference the ruling made by the trial court on the record. On the record, the trial judge addressed the plaintiff's complaint that the court had not made findings of fact:
"I don't think it was necessary to make detailed findings of facts under the facts of this particular case. I think the findings of fact the court made at the time I ruled on the motion are sufficient. . . . [I]f I were to have made additional findings of fact, detailed findings of fact, I would have adopted Mr. Warta's proposed findings of fact as the findings of fact of the court, but I didn't [d]o that, and I don't think it's necessary to do that . . . ."
The trial court's ruling was made on October 23, 1997. In preliminary remarks, the trial judge observed that he thought the malicious prosecution action was premature because the Browers still could appeal the conditions imposed on refiling. The trial judge was referring to the medical malpractice action in which conditions were imposed on the Browers' voluntary dismissal of Bartal without prejudice. With regard to the issue of informed consent, the trial judge concluded that the Browers had probable cause to sue Bartal on that ground. In the judge's opinion, Bartal had an affirmative duty to see that Maria's parents had all the relevant information about the surgical procedures that were to be used on Maria, and Bartal breached the duty. With regard to medical negligence other than lack of informed consent, the trial judge concluded that any reasonably prudent plaintiffs' medical malpractice attorney would have found probable cause to sue Bartal in the reports of Drs. James E. Boggan, Bruce van Dam, and John P. Lubicky, which were obtained by Prochaska and Scott before suit was initiated.
In Nelson v. Miller, 227 Kan. 271, 276, 607 P.2d 438 (1980), this court set out the elements necessary to maintain an action for malicious prosecution in a civil case:
"(a) That the defendant initiated, continued, or procured civil procedures against the plaintiff.
"(b) That the defendant in so doing acted without probable cause.
"(c) That the defendant acted with malice, that is he acted primarily for a purpose other than that of securing the proper adjudication of the claim upon which the proceedings are based.
"(d) That the proceeding terminated in favor of the plaintiff.
"(e) That the plaintiff sustained damages."
The element of malice is present where a civil action was initiated primarily for a purpose other than that of securing proper adjudication of the claim on which the action is based. Nelson v. Miller, 227 Kan. at 278. Probable cause for instituting a civil action "exists when there is a reasonable ground for suspicion, supported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a cautious, or prudent, man in the belief that the party committed the act of which he is complaining." Hunt v. Dresie, 241 Kan. 647, Syl. ª 5. Here, since the district court found that there was probable cause to file the suit against Bartal, it did not consider if Prochaska and Scott acted with malice. Thus, only the finding of probable cause is before us in this appeal.
Bartal contends that the entry of summary judgment against him was improper because there are genuine issues of material fact that precluded summary judgment. On the subject of the trial court's failure to make findings of fact, Bartal complains that "the court refused to clarify its rulings and refused to address the 130-odd pages of individualized facts set forth by the parties. Accordingly, plaintiff requests appellate review of that ruling." Bartal continues: "However, plaintiff does not wish this matter to be remanded for further trial court rulings on this issue." It seems to be Bartal's contention that despite the volume of factual material that the parties believed to be necessary for submission on the motion for summary judgment, this court can decide the matter on the briefs and the record. We will proceed to do so.
Bartal urges the court to look beyond the date the medical malpractice action was filed to determine whether Prochaska and Scott had probable cause to continue prosecuting the action after they had discovered additional facts. The trial court's inquiry did not go beyond the filing of the action. In the case underlying the present one, the cause of action against Bartal was dismissed prior to trial. No one suggests that there is some identifiable point during discovery when previously unearthed facts would have annulled probable cause. Thus, our inquiry on appeal is limited to the time when the action was filed.
The trial court determined that Prochaska and Scott had probable cause to file suit against Bartal for failure to obtain informed consent and for medical negligence. Principles of liability for failure to obtain informed consent to a medical procedure were stated in Funke v. Fieldman, 212 Kan. 524, 512 P.2d 539 (1973):
"For there to be liability of a physician for nondisclosure, the unrevealed risk must materialize, and there must be harm to the patient; there must be a causal relationship between the physician's failure to adequately divulge information and damage to the patient." Syl. ¶ 6.
"A causal connection exists between the physician's nondisclosure to the patient and the patient's damage when, but only when, disclosure of significant risks incidental to treatment would have resulted in a decision against it." Syl. ¶ 7.
"Whether the patient would have refused the treatment or medical procedure had the physician made adequate disclosure is to be determined objectively. If adequate disclosure could reasonably be expected to have caused the patient to decline the treatment or medical procedure had the patient been informed of the kind of risk or danger which resulted in her harm, causation is shown but otherwise not, and the patient's testimony is relevant on such issue, but should not be controlling." Syl. ¶ 8.
Kansas law requires the consent of a parent to a surgical procedure on a young child. Younts v. St. Francis Hospital & School of Nursing, 205 Kan. 292, Syl. ª 6, 469 P.2d 330 (1970). Consent must be informed, which necessitates the physician to make a reasonable disclosure to the patient of the nature and probable consequences of the recommended surgery and a reasonable disclosure of the possible dangers. Natanson v. Kline, 186 Kan. 393, 410, 350 P.2d 1093 (1960). Where the parent of the minor patient fully appreciates the danger involved, the physician's failure to obtain informed consent would have no causal relation to the injury. See Younts, 205 Kan. at 299.
In the present case, with regard to the question of informed consent, this court's attention has been directed to two authorization documents in the record. One consent form, which appears to be from Dr. Bartal's office, names Bartal as the physician and describes the proposed procedure as "posterior spinal fusion, L4 - S1, auto bone graft." That form is dated October 15, 1987, and signed by Maria's mother. The other consent form, which bears the hospital logo, names Bartal and Shapiro as the physicians and describes the procedure as "posterior spinal fusion L4 - S1 with autogenous bone graft from extra iliac crest." It is dated October 28, 1987, the day of the surgery, and signed by Maria's mother. Both forms include authorization for additional procedures considered necessary based on findings during the course of the operation.
Bartal asserts that the orthopedic resident, Williams, obtained oral consent for surgery on the LMM or tethered cord. He does not specify who consented. Prochaska asserts that Williams testified that he had a conversation with Mrs. Brower but denied that it was for the purpose of obtaining consent. Prochaska further asserts that Mrs. Brower denies that the conversation took place, but does not give a reference to the record. Based on the record references given in the parties' briefs, this court can state the following: Williams testified that he told Mrs. Brower that any operation around the spinal cord or nerve roots involves the risks of loss of function of the nerves, paralysis, muscle weakness, loss of bowel or bladder control, bleeding, infection, and blood clots. There is nothing in writing about his talking to Mrs. Brower. His testimony had not been given at the time Prochaska filed suit against Bartal on behalf of the Browers. In other words, at the time the decision to file suit was reached, the information available to Prochaska and Scott consisted of the two forms dated October 15 and 28, 1987. As we have seen, the LMM procedure was not alluded to in either consent form.
With regard to reasonable disclosure, the question is whether the materials available to plaintiff's counsel before filing, i.e., the written authorization forms, would support a reasonable belief in a prudent person that Bartal had failed to make a reasonable disclosure to Maria's parents of the nature and probable consequences of the surgery as well as possible dangers. This court has stated: "What is a reasonable disclosure upon which an informed consent may rest must depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case." Younts, 205 Kan. 292, Syl. ¶ 5. Only if reasonable minds could not differ as to the conclusion drawn from the evidence would summary judgment be appropriate. The consent forms, the evidence in the present case, do not mention the LMM procedure. Thus, there are unanswered questions about what information was provided to Maria's parents as well as what surgical procedures were anticipated by Dr. Bartal and/or Dr. Shapiro.
Dr. Bartal contends that he could have no liability for lack of informed consent because the parents gave written authorizations for the surgical procedures he performed. Central to Bartal's position is the "fact" that the LMM procedure was performed exclusively by Shapiro. The report of the surgery does not reflect a strict division of labor. For this critical fact, Bartal directed the trial court's attention to notes that he identified as Shapiro's records. The notes contain the following entry: "10-28-87 Surgery - Removal of lipofibroma of spinal cord[.] Dr. Bartal did fusion." If the court accepts that the notes are Shapiro's and that they establish that he alone performed the LMM procedure, the questions remain whether that procedure caused Maria's paralysis and whether it was the sole cause. In this regard, Bartal directed the trial court's attention to a July 1989 letter written by Shapiro to a physical therapist about Maria's disability. It states, in part: "She is profoundly weak as you know in the distal musculature of her lower extremities, left worse than right. This was due to nerve involvement from the tumor which was removed on 10-28-89 [sic]." As noted earlier, we do not know whether the documents relied on by Bartal were known to Prochaska and Scott before suit was filed.
These documents did not affect the trial court's ruling because it was based on the principle that the law placed the burden for obtaining informed consent on the treating or principal physician. Bartal argues that K.S.A. 40-3403(h) prohibits his being held vicariously liable for Shapiro's breach of his duty to inform the Browers of Shapiro's part of the surgery. The argument does not counter the ruling. The trial court concluded that it was Bartal's duty to inform the Browers of all aspects of the surgery. Contrary to the trial court's ruling, Bartal assumes that it was Shapiro's duty to inform the Browers and argues that he cannot be held liable for Shapiro's breach of duty. No authorities supporting either position have been brought to this court's attention.
In Funke, 212 Kan. at 533, this court posed the question of whether the obstetrical surgeon, the physician in charge, or Dr. Fieldman, the anesthesiologist, had the duty to make a reasonable disclosure of the dangers of the proposed spinal anesthetic. The court, however, found it unnecessary to answer the question because the record showed that Fieldman took it upon himself to visit Mrs. Funke in her hospital room on the eve of the scheduled surgery and advise her that a headache was the only risk of the spinal anesthetic. 212 Kan. at 533-34.
In Funke, the court cited Williams v. Menehan, 191 Kan. 6, 379 P.2d 292 (1963). In that case, a 3-year-old boy died as a team of physicians performed a cardiac catheterization for the purpose of diagnosing his heart condition. The issue on appeal was whether the defendant doctors disclosed to the parents sufficient information about the diagnostic procedure to constitute informed consent. The boy's treating physician referred him to a Wichita pediatrician, defendant Dr. Frank Menehan, who recommended the cardiac catheterization and arranged for it to be performed by the team of Dr. C.T. Hagan, heart specialist, and Dr. Ray T. Parmley, anesthesiologist. Menehan explained the procedure to the boy's mother and to the treating physician, who talked to both parents about it. In addition, Hagan talked to the boy's father. The trial court had sustained the defendant doctors' demurrers, and this court affirmed: "The evidence clearly shows that plaintiffs were informed of the nature of the procedure and of the things the doctors were undertaking to do. They had the facts upon which to base their decision, and we are of the opinion the parents were fully informed." 191 Kan. at 10. There is no discussion of which of the doctors was responsible for advising the parents about the procedure.
Here, Bartal had been regularly treating Maria since shortly after she was born. He recommended the surgical procedure to Maria's parents and he asked Shapiro to assist on the surgery. Shapiro never talked to the Browers or examined Maria prior to the surgery. Bartal was the treating physician and, under these circumstances, had a duty to either fully advise the Browers of the surgical procedure and, if he was incapable of doing so, introduce them to Shapiro and see that he explained the surgical procedure he would be performing.
In entering summary judgment in favor of Prochaska and Scott as to negligence causing paralysis, the trial court placed full reliance on the reports of consulting Drs. Boggan, van Dam, and Lubicky. Those reports were obtained by Prochaska and Scott before suit was initiated. In the trial court's opinion, any reasonably prudent plaintiffs' medical malpractice attorney would have found probable cause in the reports to sue Bartal. Bearing in mind that the medical records furnished to the consultants do not reflect who performed what parts of the surgery, a review of those reports confirms the trial court's view.
Dr. James E. Boggan reviewed the medical records for Maria's hospital admission in October 1987. Boggan is an associate professor of neurological surgery at the University of California, Davis. He stated, in part:
"[A] lumbosacral fusion was not indicated as the first surgical procedure. The operative description of the management of the lipomyelomeningocele indicates that the surgeons' understanding of the neuropathology was inadequate and the surgical techniques utilized were inappropriate. This was the primary cause of [Maria's] loss of neurological function. . . . The post-operative complication is likely to have added to the neurological injury, particularly when one considers the significant delay in reoperating after recognizing the presence of a decline in her neurological condition from the preoperative state . . . ."
Dr. Bruce van Dam is on the staff at the San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders. After reviewing Maria's records, he wrote: "[T]here was no indication to perform surgery for the lipomeningocele/tethered cord. . . . As a consequence of the surgery on the lipomeningocele it appears the patient sustained a permanent neurological deficit . . . ."
Dr. John P. Lubicky of the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in Chicago was critical of the preoperative decision to fuse a portion of Maria's spine in that "the radiographs available to me do not clearly show the actual type of congenital deformity at the lower end of the spine." In addition, he stated that "the records made available to me do not really explain all the reasoning with regard to the decisions made to proceed with the fusion, nor are there any records indicating that special imaging studies such as tomography was done to better elucidate the congenital anomaly at the lumbosacral junction." In closing, he suggested that Bartal misdiagnosed Maria's condition. Dr. Lubicky also was critical of the failure to document the reasons for removing the lipomeningocele and questioned the decision as well as the technique used in removing it:
"[T]he reasons for surgical intervention on the lipomeningocele are not stated anywhere in the record, and based on the fact that this child was apparently neurologically intact and had normal bowel and bladder function preoperately, this would seem to make intervention unjustified, given the potential risks of neurologic deficit after such intervention. . . . [T]he operative technique with regard to the lipomeningocele, from my knowledge of it, seems improper. Again, the issue of why the lipomeningocele was addressed was completely unanswered, as from the records available there is no indication that this girl had clinical cord tethering, and from the records it appears that the increase in the scoliosis that was addressed was the congenital part of the curve, which would increase whether or not cord tethering was present."
In the face of this evidence of probable cause, Bartal argues that the consulting physicians' letters are open to construction and that they are not evidence of a reasonable prefiling investigation. He presents nothing to this court, however, that gives weight to his contentions.
"Probable cause for instituting a proceeding exists when there is a reasonable ground for suspicion, supported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a cautious or prudent man in the belief that the party committed the act of which he is complaining." Nelson v. Miller, 227 Kan. at 277. In the present case, we conclude that a reasonable person would be warranted in believing that Bartal's medical care of Maria was negligent and that she suffered consequent injury. We find no error in the district court's finding that Prochaska and Scott had probable cause to file the action against Dr. Bartal.
DAVID S. KNUDSON, J., assigned.1
1REPORTER'S NOTE: Judge Knudson, Judge of the Kansas Court of Appeals, was appointed to hear case No. 81,197 vice Justice Six pursuant to the authority vested in the Supreme Court by K.S.A. 20-3002(c).
Updated: November 12, 1999.
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After Promontory
One Hundred and Fifty Years of Transcontinental Railroading
Edited by Center for Railroad Photography & Art
Celebrating the sesquicentennial anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States, After Promontory: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Transcontinental Railroading profiles the history and heritage of this historic event. Starting with the original Union Pacific—Central Pacific lines that met at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869, the book expands the narrative by considering all of the transcontinental routes in the United States and examining their impact on building this great nation. Exquisitely illustrated with full color photographs, After Promontory divides the western United States into three regions—central, southern, and northern—and offers a deep look at the transcontinental routes of each one. Renowned railroad historians Maury Klein, Keith Bryant, and Don Hofsommer offer their perspectives on these regions along with contributors H. Roger Grant and Rob Krebs.
The Center for Railroad Photography & Art, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts and education organization, achieves its mission through exhibitions, conferences, and publications that spring from its core commitment to collect, preserve, and make widely available imagery that portrays the nearly 200-year history of railroads. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, the Center collaborates on its many projects with individuals and institutions ranging from museums and universities to libraries and historical societies, focusing on railroad imagery and the profound and moving stories it can tell.
“[Scott Lothes] has enlisted some of the most accomplished scholars of railroad history . . . to tell the story of these enterprises which totally re-shaped the western landscape, and the lives of those people who then occupied it, as well as those seeking to occupy it.”
— The Michigan Railfan
Foreword, Scott Lothes
Introduction, H. Roger Grant
Chapter 1, Maury Klein
Chapter 2, Keith Bryant
Chapter 3, Don L. Hofsommer
Conclusion, Drake Hokanson
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Dragon Ball Super: Broly is top-grossing film in the franchise!!
SCIENCE!!!! 2019 Astronomer’s Guide to the Night Sky!
Boruto and Dragon Quest’s Dai highlight the latest Jump Force trailer!!
By BrianM in Anime, Gaming, Manga
Even with just two weeks remaining until the launch of their massive crossover title, Bandai Namco is still punching out trailers announcing new characters. This latest trailer features Boruto Uzumaki, son of Naruto Uzumaki, and Dai from Dragon Quest. However, they aren’t the only ones to show their stuff. Kakashi Hatake, Gaara of the Desert and more also join the fight.
Jump Force launches February 15 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
anime, Bandai Namco, black clover, Bleach, boruto, crossover, Dragon Ball, dragon quest, fighting game, Fist Of The North Star, hunter x hunter, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, jump force, manga, my hero academia, naruto, One Piece, PC gaming, Playstation 4, Rurouni Kenshin, shonen jump, Xbox One, yugioh, yuyu hakusho
BrianM
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Community Groups, Activities & Events »
Exhibit inpired by Panorama of the city of NY, opening Dec. 14 7pm
Author Topic: Exhibit inpired by Panorama of the city of NY, opening Dec. 14 7pm (Read 1763 times)
Shelby2
Where: Flux Factory, Long Island City http://www.fluxfactory.org
Opens: Dec. 14 at 7pm
See a preview of one of the pieces in the show here : http://www.marialevitsky.com/pages.php?content=news.php&navGallID=News
Imagine Coney Island's Dreamland, Steeplechase, and Luna Park reborn. Imagine a sea monster in the East River, a volcano erupting in Manhattan, Midtown in ruins. The contemporary brownstones of Cobble Hill buried beneath its original namesake hill, a big whale in the place of the Museum of Natural History, and The New York Crystal Palace returned to 42nd Street.
In short, a New York City that is the forgotten past and the fantastic future all at once. A New York City where anything is possible.
New York, New York, New York is an interactive, multimedia installation. It is a continuation of Flux Factory's interest in urban landscapes and takes inspiration from the Panorama, Robert Moses’ scale model of New York City in the Queens Museum of Art. Members of the Flux Factory art collective will work in collaboration with over 100 artists from all five boroughs and around the world to re-imagine the public and private spaces of New York.
Each artist will contribute a building, a landmark, a street, an avenue, a block, a park, a neighborhood, an expressway, a bridge, an island, an airport—one or several elements of the urban environment. All of these individual works will be combined to produce a cohesive yet chaotic installation, a multimedia, scale-model of the city. Instead of being an exact replica to scale of the city of New York, this project offers a mental map, a replica of an imaginary New York. The goal of the show is to explore the architectural and conceptual elements of everyday space. It is an investigation into the collective unconscious of the cultural capital of the planet: The sum of all of New York's potential exposed in a great experiment in psychogeography.
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Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 11 March 2011 - 17 March 2011
Last week was fun at the movies! This week can be fun, too, if only because so many of the same movies from last week are still playing!
I kid, a little. It's a good week at the multiplex if you like fantasies of various stripes. Battle: Los Angeles looks like it could be a sci-fi action movie with all the obligatory set-up and predictable story arc bits that such things usually stumble over cut out, just skipping straight to the action. Granted, if its alien-invasion scenario were a little more well thought-out, this might be a very short movie as any alien force capable of crossing the stars to attack the Earth would obliterate us from orbit instead of jumping straight to a ground war, but, hey, that wouldn't be quite so much fun.
There's also no intelligent life on Mars, but I suspect that's not very important for Mars Needs Moms. It looks like it could be a fair amount of fun, though, and as a fan of Bloom County, anything that gets Berke Breathed paid is okay by me. It's one of those motion-captured animated films build for 3D, and is also moving into the IMAX screens at Jordan's.
And, finally, there's Red Riding Hood. Honestly, I don't have much trouble with the basic idea behind this, but the execution just looks... not very good. And, geez, what is it going to take for Amanda Seyfried to show up in something I want to see again?
One thing that I am looking forward to seeing is Elektra Luxx, which opens at Landmark Kendall Square. I enjoyed the heck out of Women In Trouble, the previous film with the title character - a porn star who has to rearrange her life after becoming pregnant - when I saw it at SXSW two years ago, so I'm happy to see the follow-up. The first is streaming on Amazon and Netflix right now if you want to check it out before seeing Elektra Luxx, but by all appearances it should stand alone pretty well. It's got a great cast, and anything that gives us Carla Gugino in a lead role is OK with me.
Also opening at the Kendall is Heartbeats, the second film from French-Canadian writer/director/actor Xavier Dolan. I didn't love his first, I Killed My Mother, quite so much as some friends did, but he's got some talent and he's ridiculously young (he turns 22 in a week or so), so even if this is only decent, it will make me feel like I've done very little with my life. It's the movie officially tagged "One Week Only!" at Kendall Square this week, although I wouldn't assume Elektra Luxx or last week's held-over one-week booking, Poetry, are in for a longer haul.
The same goes for The Last Lions, which opens on the big screen at the Coolidge theater after having been at the Kendall for a week already. It's majestic and beautiful jungle cats, narrated by Jeremy Irons, and maybe a bit more pointed than the upcoming Disney doc on the same subject. Jane Eyre is on the schedule for next week, and there are some special engagements using the big screen on Monday and Thursday, so see it while you can. Also opening this week (in the video rooms) is Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune, a documentary on the passionate but troubled musician.
The Monday special is Breakfast at Tiffany's, which absolutely earns its designation as a "Big Screen Classic". There will be a Holly Golightly costume contest before the screening. Thursday's special is a live broadcast of Frankenstein as directed by Danny Boyle. It's sadly sold out, although it's worth following @coolidgecorner to see if any more tickets will become available. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the Creature and Jonny Lee Miller plays the monster, although the roles will be switched when they do this again on April 4th.
The midnight movie this weekend is Gone with the Pope, in which a gangster plots to kidnap the pope and ransom him for "a dollar from every Catholic in the world". Goofy premise, and the execution should be interesting, as it was shot in 1975 but apparently didn't finish post-production until last year (15 years after Bob Murawski started trying to put the pieces together). The monthly screening of The Room is at midnight on Friday (isn't it usually Saturday). There's also a Talk Cinema screening of Win Win on Sunday morning at 10am, and early birds can also bring their kids to 10:30am screenings of Looney Tunes on both Saturday and Sunday.
There are a number of live events at the Brattle this weekend - a conversation about "Death and the Powers" Friday evening, the Women in Comedy Festival on Saturday, and a premiere screening of FIddles, Fiddlers, and a Fiddlemaker: Childsplay Live, a concert documentary about a group that plays violins by the same instrument builder (Bob Childs, hence the name). There will be a reception afterward. Tuesday night, three may or may not be guests for the DocYard presentation of David Wants to Fly, in which a German director comes to America to meet David Lynch and learn about Transcendental Meditation.
Around those, the Mental Machines series finishes up over the weekend, with a screening of the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries on Friday night and Steven Spielberg's A.I.: Artificial Intelligence on Sunday (note: Minority Report has been canceled due to a distribution issue). I'm particularly excited to see A.I. on-screen again, as I tend to feel it got a bum rap because the real and excellent Spielberg movie couldn't possibly compete with the imaginary Kubrick movie it was constantly compared to.
On Wednesday, the Brattle starts their next repatory series - Belle Toujours: The Films of Caterine Denueve with a double feature of The Last Metro and Mississippi Mermaid. It continues Thursday with Le Sauvage, and then through the next week.
Over at Fresh Pond, the Hindi movie of the week is Tanu Weds Manu, which looks like a straight-up romantic comedy. Well, with songs, of course. This is India.
The Harvard Film Archive gives us The Murderous Art of Claude Chabrol. The late French filmmaker made entertaining "nouvelle vague" films in part because he never forgot that a murder mystery can be about anything. This tribute runs for the next three weekends; the first set features Les Bonnes Femmes and La Cérémonie (Friday the 11th), La Femme Infidèle and À Double Tour (Saturday the 12th), Les Cousins (Sunday the 13th), and Le Beau Serge (Monday the 14th).
ArtsEmerson pays tribute to another famed European filmmaker, Roberto Rossellini, this weekend at the Paramount Theater. Friday and Sunday night, they play Rome, Open City; Saturday night is Europe'51 (aka The Greatest Love), featuring Ingrid Bergman. The latter, according to ArtsEmerson's site, is not on video and seldom-seen; they will be running a rare 16mm print.
The family program is 1979's The Black Stallion, playing Saturday afternoon.
Over at the MFA, the Jewishfilm.2011 series wraps up tonight (11 March) with Mahler on the Couch, a comedy inspired by the idea of the famed composer being driven to visit Sigmund Freud because of his wife's infidelity. Immediately after, they begin a series of New Films From Quebec.
The Somerville Theatre busts out an archival print of The Friends of Eddie Coyle for the weekend; this small-time crime picture by Peter Yates is widely considered one of the best movies ever made in Boston. It's only running through the weekend (127 Hours takes the screen back on Monday), and word is that the print is beautiful.
Somerville also picks up Blue Valentine, which had been playing at Stuart Street. Stuart Street, in turn, fills that vacated space with Inside Job
Plans? Most likely Battle: Los Angeles and Elektra Luxx, maybe saving Mars Needs Moms for some time on the way home from work. A.I. at least, and most likely Minority Report, even if I do have the Blu-ray on order (benefit of being an usher-level Brattle member: You've already spent the money, so why not check something out on the big screen even if you can watch it any time?). And, depending what fits, hopefully some Chabrol, or getting lucky with Frankenstein.
Labels: Next Week In Tickets, preview
Boston Underground Film Festival 2011 Day 2: Mache...
Boston Underground Film Festival Opening Night: Ho...
Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 24 Marc...
This Week In Tickets: 14 March 2011 to 20 March 2...
Asian exodus: The Butcher, the Chef, and the Sword...
This Week In Tickets: 7 March 2011 to 13 March 20...
Cinemath - Multiplex Loyalty and Indie Films Progr...
This Week In Tickets: 28 February 2011 to 6 March...
The Man from Nowhere
Mooz-lum
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 4 March...
This Week In Tickets: 21 February 2011 to 27 Febr...
A Somewhat Gentle Man
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LEGAL PEOPLE
Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Carrie Leahy has been appointed chair-elect of the firm's executive management committee.
She will succeed Larry R. Shulman as chair of the executive management committee effective January 1, 2020. Shulman has served as Bodman's chair on two separate occasions, most recently since October 2018. After the transition, he will remain a member of the firm and will continue his active practice representing commercial lenders.
Leahy has been involved in firm management for years. She is the administrative member of Bodman's Ann Arbor office and serves on the firm's executive management committee and finance committee.
Leahy joined Bodman in 2004 after beginning her career in the Chicago office of DLA Piper. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology. Leahy concentrates her practice in corporate and business law. She counsels both established and emerging businesses on general corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, compliance with securities regulations, and issues involving venture capital funding.
"I am honored to have been appointed to the chair role and look forward to leading the firm," Leahy stated. "I am grateful to both Larry Shulman and Ralph McDowell, as recent chairs of the firm, for their strong and stable leadership."
Leahy is listed in IFLR1000 under M&A, in Chambers USA 2018 under Corporate/M&A, and in DBusiness magazine "Top Lawyers" 2019 under Corporate Law.
Leahy serves as a board member and treasurer for the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti SmartZone Local Development Finance Authority and as a member of the United Way of Washtenaw County Campaign Cabinet.
Leahy will become only the fourth chair and first female chair to lead Bodman since the firm established the position in 1975.
In addition, the journal IFLR1000 has ranked Bodman PLC at the highest level for Banking and for M&A work in Michigan and has ranked seven Bodman Banking and M&A attorneys as "Highly Regarded Practitioners."
Bodman is the sole Michigan law firm to have received the most favorable rating from IFLR1000 for both Banking and M&A, which are only practice areas it currently evaluates in the state. Bodman also has more individual attorneys listed in IFLR1000 than any other Michigan firm.
In the newly released 2019 rankings, IFLR1000 placed Bodman in "Tier 1" for Banking and in the "Recommended" class for M&A. The seven individual Bodman lawyers recognized as leaders, with area of legal specialty, are:
• Timothy R. Damschroder (M&A)
• Laurence B. Deitch (M&A)
• Robert J. Diehl Jr. (Banking, Restructuring)
• Kathleen O'Callaghan Hickey (Banking)
• Carrie Leahy (M&A)
• Larry R. Shulman (Banking)
• Wendy L. Zabriskie (Banking)
Plunkett Cooney recently added two attorneys, Danny C. Allen and Aleasha Hester, to its Transportation Law Practice Group.
A member of the firm's Bloomfield Hills office, Allen focuses his practice in the areas of first-party no-fault and third-party motor vehicle negligence. As former house counsel for a major American insurance provider, he has experience handling personal injury protection, uninsured/underinsured motorist premises liability and bodily injury claims.
A member of the State Bar of Michigan since 2007, Allen received his law degree from Wayne State University Law School. He received his master's degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago in 2000 and his undergraduate degree from Albion College in 1996.
Hester is a member of the firm's Detroit office who focuses her litigation practice in the areas of motor vehicle liability and no-fault law. Her clients include insurance companies and businesses in first-party, third-party and uninsured and underinsured no-fault law cases with an emphasis on fraud investigation. This work includes experience with special investigative units in matters involving fraud in the procurement, fraudulent claims, policy rescission and coverage disputes. Hester also has experience handling premises liability, commercial litigation and trust and estate planning matters.
A member of the State Bar of Michigan since 2016, Hester received her law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School and her undergraduate degree from Northwood University in 2006.
Butzel Long attorney Beth S. Gotthelf was a featured panelist on Government Roles in Commercial Space at the Michigan Space Forum in Traverse City. She discussed a variety of issues including freedom of use and exploration; protection of the space and Earth environments; liability for damages caused by space objects; rescue and return of astronauts and space objects; licensing of satellite launches; compliance with ITAR; and, the export of defense items, to name a few.
Gotthelf is Butzel Long's director of Innovation and External Relations. She also is an executive-in-residence at the Macomb-OU INCubator and serves on the Macomb-OU INCubator Advisory Council.
She has helped auto suppliers diversify into alternative energy and defense, which have been lifelines to those companies.
Gotthelf brings a pragmatic and holistic approach to clients' issues, assisting them in reaching their business goals, often matchmaking clients' needs and acting as an outside general counsel. Her assistance in diversifying automotive suppliers into the aerospace & defense arena during the economic downturn is just one example of her holistic approach. She now counsels clients in governmental contracting, ITAR, EAR, and Foreign Military Sales. Gotthelf also is a leader in environmental law, bringing creative solutions to remediation, redevelopment, tax incentives, and waste management.
She represents and counsels a diverse mix of clients in numerous matters throughout the country. These matters include compliance and permitting; alternative energy issues; responding to an emergency; siting new facilities; civil and criminal enforcement; compliance audits; brownfields; tax incentives; remediation of contaminated sites; insurance claims; administrative procedures; solid and hazardous waste; landfills; composting; and occupational safety and health.
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law alumnus Nick Hawatmeh has been named to the "40 Under 40" list by Maverick PAC (MavPAC), a political action committee aimed at supporting and electing Republican candidates for federal office.
Hawatmeh, who earned his undergraduate degree from Wayne State University, is Counsel to U.S. Sen. John Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee, serving as legal and policy advisor on issues including nominations, immigration, national security, foreign affairs, criminal justice, and intellectual property.
Previously, Hawatmeh served as Counsel for the Committee on House Administration in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he advised Members of Congress and staff on the regulations and laws pertaining to the use of official resources. He has also worked on election law related issues and served as parliamentarian for the Committee on House Administration.
Hawatmeh has a combined 18 years of political and legal experience working in local, state, and national politics and most recently served as vice chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and as an appointee of the governor of Michigan to two boards.
Currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Defense and Strategic Studies degree program at the Naval War College, Hawatmeh has experience in international affairs and has participated in delegations to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. He recently came back from Jordan and Bahrain, where he trained and presented on parliament, democracy building, political campaigns and elections.
The Macomb County native also is featured in the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn as one of the youngest Arab Americans to be involved in politics.
Business and real estate litigators Jonathan B. Frank and Jan Goldstein Frank, husband and wife, announce the formation of a new law firm, Frank & Frank Law, located in Bloomfield Hills.
The firm will focus on creative, cost-effective litigation solutions. Their goals: Obtain great results. Minimize the intrusiveness of lawsuits. Allow clients to prioritize their business and personal lives.
"Our practice leads with the business and personal needs of our clients, not the relentless and often tedious demands of the legal system. Our clients count on our intelligent and practical approach to shrink the litigation process and allow them to focus on what they do best - run their businesses," said Jon Frank.
"Together, we will approach litigation in a way that produces great results, minimizes costs and also relieves the stress and anxiety of our clients," said Jan Frank.
Frank & Frank Law has been a dream of the couple since their marriage in 1984, before their third year of law school. "If we can successfully study for the bar exam together, surely we can practice law together," said Jon.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently announced the following appointments to the Michigan Appellate Defender Commission and the Board of Law Examiners:
Michigan Appellate Defender Commission
Thomas W. Cranmer is the senior principal of Miller, Canfield, Paddock, and Stone PLC in Troy and the co-chair of their litigation and dispute resolution group. He earned his law degree from Ohio Northern University. Cranmer is reappointed to represent a member recommended by the Michigan Supreme Court for a term expiring May 24, 2023.
Judith S. Gracey is an attorney for The Gracey Law Firm PLLC in Keego Harbor. She earned her law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Gracey is reappointed to represent a member recommended by the State Bar of Michigan for a term expiring May 24, 2023.
Douglas Mains is a partner at Honigman LLP in Lansing. He earned his law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law and Master of Laws degree from the University of Alabama School of Law. Mains is reappointed to represent a member recommended by the State Bar of Michigan for a term expiring May 24, 2023.
Thomas G. McNeill is the director of litigation for Dickinson Wright PLLC in Detroit. He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. McNeill is reappointed to represent a member recommended by the Michigan Supreme Court for a term expiring May 24, 2023.
The Michigan Appellate Defender Commission is responsible for the development of a system of indigent appellate defense services which shall include services provided by the office of the state appellate defender and locally appointed private counsel. The commission will be responsible for the development of minimum standards to which all indigent criminal defense appellate services shall conform and compile and keep current a statewide roster of private attorneys willing to accept criminal appellate appointments.
These appointments are not subject to advice and consent of the Senate.
Board of Law Examiners
Candice C. Moore is a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Jones Day Law Firm in Detroit. She earned her law degree from Wayne State University Law School. Moore is appointed to succeed Judge Donna Robinson Milhouse whose term expires June 30, 2019, as the nominee of the Michigan Supreme Court for a term commencing July 1, 2019 and expiring June 30, 2024.
The Board of Law Examiners has charge of the investigation and examination of all persons who initially apply for admission to the bar of this state. The Board may adopt suitable regulations, subject to approval by the Supreme Court, concerning the performance of its functions and duties.
This appointment is not subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
Alicia Schehr, partner at Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC, was named practice group leader of the firm's Financial Services Practice Group. Jaffe CEO Jeffrey Weiss made the announcement. In her new role, Schehr will manage the firm's professionals and resources with the goal of providing clients with high-quality and insightful legal counsel in all aspects of their financing matters.
Schehr focuses her practice on providing strategic legal advice and business consultation services to clients on all of their finance matters. She is also a member of the firm's recruiting committee and previously served as co-chair of the firm's Women's Caucus Group, which was established to help women at the firm manage work-life balance, participate in community outreach and gain valuable self-marketing and business skills.
Schehr has been named to the DBusiness 30 in their Thirties list and has been repeatedly included in the Michigan Rising Stars list.
Schehr earned a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University. Schehr joined Jaffe in September 1998, following her law school graduation.
Jeffrey S. Segal has joined the law firm of Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP as an associate.
Segal concentrates his practice in health law and tax law with an emphasis on contracts, litigation, regulatory compliance and related areas. He will practice in the firm's Southfield office.
Segal joins the firm after spending four years in-house at MidMichigan Health in Midland, where he provided legal support during two hospital acquisitions, served as lead attorney on the system-wide claims committee, provided guidance regarding complex healthcare regulatory and compliance issues and reviewed numerous issues related to tax-exempt healthcare organizations.
He previously practiced at Kitch, Drutchas, Wagner, Valitutti, & Sherbrook litigating medical malpractice claims and drafting physician and health care contracts.
In 2013, Segal served as an intern with U.S. District Court Judge David M. Larson, Eastern District of Michigan.
Segal earned his bachelor degree from Eastern Michigan University. He earned his law degrees from Western Michigan Cooley Law School. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan.
Published: Mon, Jun 17, 2019
You are here: HomeOakland County > LEGAL PEOPLE
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by Fiona Williams Hulbert | 23 Feb, 2016 | Children on the edge | 0 comments
The “Renewal of Hope” playground for refugee children in Georgia has now been set up on the edge of the small town of Sagarejo. It has brought joy to those displaced by war and, like the special events organised by Lydia Project partners, has renewed hope after traumas and in spite of deprivation.
Georgia now has an estimated 300,000 people displaced by recent wars (UNICEF), many of them children, living in disused buildings such as former schools or colleges, with families unable to get work or to move or return to their villages. They receive £12 per person per month for survival.
Women of the Lydia Project have run several projects to give pleasure to some of the most deprived children through summer and winter camps. The hope of setting up a playground for one group of refugees has now become a reality.
Donors generously supported this playground complex: the Rotary club in North Berwick, the Pollock Trust in Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, plus several churches and private donors .
We hope supporters will be pleased to know that the playground turns out to be the only one of its kind in the whole region! Families are coming to enjoy this new facility and children are mixing with refugee children as they did not do before. Tamara, the mother of six who fled their prosperous fruit farm in Ossetia to save her family from bombs, is delighted. She and her friends of the Lydia Project are only too glad to have made her dream come true.
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Please note all Council Meetings will be held at 7.30pm every 1st & 3rd Tuesday at St Mary's Community Centre, Church Lane, Mirfield.
FULL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA TUESDAY 16th JULY
Mirfield Town Council is a Parish Council that has, like many of the large urban parishes, resolved to be known as a Town Council, which carries the right to a Town Mayor instead of a Chairman. Mirfield Town Council was created in 1988 as successor to the former Mirfield Urban District Council.
Mirfield is one of 5 parishes within the Kirklees Council area, which includes Meltham, Denby Dale, Kirkburton & Holme Valley. The Town Council has 16 members (Councillors) with Councillors representing each of the five wards in the town, Battyeford, Hopton, Crossly, Northorpe & Eastthorpe. (See Ward Maps in Documents)
Elections to Mirfield Town Council are keenly contested by all major political parties as well as by Independents. There are sixteen Town Councillors who are elected to serve for a four-year term of office: the most recent elections taking place in May 2019. The Councillors appoint one of their members to serve as Mayor for a one-year term of office. The Town Mayor is both the political leader of the Council (chairing Council meetings) and the Civic head (representing the Town at public events). The current Mayor is Councillor Martyn Bolt having been elected at the Annual Town Council Meeting 14th May 2019, Councillor Vivien Lees-Hamilton elected as Deputy at the same meeting.
None of our Town Councillors receive an income from their role as Town Councillors.
The Council currently has one part-time employee: The Town Clerk. Town Council staff is expected to be completely politically neutral.
Town and Parish Councils have a limited range of powers but are consulted about, and can influence decisions on, a wide range of functions and services outside their control. The Council presently owns allotment land at Lowlands, Bankfield & Nab Lane.
The Town Council meets in St Mary's Community Centre every two weeks. At present, meetings are held every 1st & 3rd Tuesday evening commencing at 7.30pm.
Mirfield Town Council is funded by its Parish Precept which forms part of the Council Tax. This income is used to fund the running of the office, community projects and also provides small grants to local community groups.
The Town Council is consulted by Kirklees Council on every planning application for the Town/Parish.
Kirklees Council is the planning authority and manages the whole process of planning. Mirfield Town Council can make observations or objections which Kirklees then considers. Mirfield has its own Village Design Statement and this has been accepted by Kirklees as a recognised planning document. Please note that Kirklees Council makes the final decision on all planning applications within Mirfield.
Please click the link for access to the Planning Section of Kirklees Council's website.
Kirklees Planning
All planning applications to be considered by Mirfield Town Council are included in the Agenda for each Council meeting. If you have any comments or queries regarding planning applications please contact the Town Clerk on administrator@mirfieldtowncouncil.gov.uk or your ward councillor.
Please see link below to Kirklees Council's website.
Meetings take place on the first and third Tuesday of every month apart from August when the council is in recess.
They start at 7.30pm and members of the public are encouraged to attend. Anyone wishing to speak should notify the Clerk 7 days prior by post or email, with details of their comments including approximate wording. A period of 15 minutes will be allowed during the meeting for questions and comments from members of the public on matters relevant to the Town council. There should only be one speaker per topic, each member is allowed three minutes in which to speak (approximately).
SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS 2018/2019
Lisa Staggs
mirfieldtowncouncil@gmail.com
www.gov.uk
www.mycommunityrights.org.uk
www.kirkleescouncil.gov.uk
www.jobcentrenearme.com
Kirklees Local Plan
Copyright @ Mirfield Town Council. All rights reserved.
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Since 1974, The Looking Glass Studio Of Performing Arts has provided effective, affordable Drama and Dance classes for the Inland Empire.
The Looking Glass Studio of Performing Arts opens its doors for the first time on E Street in San Bernardino. Only two classes are offered on the first day: Jazz and Acting.
The first "Looking Good" recital is held at the historic California Theater in San Bernardino. The recital showcases students progress while allowing them to work with a real stage crew in a professional environment.
The Studio has outgrown the small strip mall it occupies on E Street. Operations are moved to a two story building on Highland Ave. The massive building contained six dance studios, locker rooms, a theater, a recording studio, a scene shop, and an observation deck on the second floor for parents to watch classes.
Ten years after the move, studio is the busiest its ever been. A student body of over 600 students is taking classes at the studio at this time. Over 4000 students have been enrolled at the studio since opening day.
The Looking Glass Studio holds its last "Looking Good" recital at the California Theater in San Bernardino. All future recitals are held at San Manuel Theater at Aquinas High School.
43 years, 7 months, and 26 days after opening, the Looking Glass ends operation in San Bernardino. All classes are transferred to the new location in neighboring Redlands.
Much more to come
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The Philippine War, 1899-1902
by Brian McAllister Linn
Series: Modern War Studies (2002)
110 None 165,468 (4.17) 1
Recently added by evalentin25, drsean17, RobNoB, uscalibrary, rosswarren19, JacksonBarracks, Mardi_Veiluva, StockdaleLG, chris2086
» See also 1 mention
Modern War Studies (2002)
Philippine-American War (1899|1902)
Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award (2001)
Wikipedia in English (21)
Battle of Caloocan
Battle of Makahambus Hill
Battle of Manila (1899)
Battle of Marilao River
Battle of Pagsanjan
Battle of Paye
Battle of Pulang Lupa
Battle of Quingua
Battle of San Jacinto (1899)
Battle of Santa Cruz (1899)
Battle of Zapote River
Campaigns of the Philippine–American War
Edward A. Batchelor
Filipino nationalism
First Philippine Republic
Port of Iloilo
Second Battle of Caloocan
Siege of Catubig
Taft Commission
Timeline of the Philippine–American War
» Show 4 more
1999 began the centennial of the Philippine War, one of the most controversial and poorly understood events in American history. The war thrust the U.S. into the center of Pacific and Asian politics, with important and sometimes tragic consequences. It kept the Filipinos under colonial overlordship for another five decades and subjected them to American political, cultural, and economic domination.
In the first comprehensive study in over six decades, Linn provides a definitive treatment of military operations in the Philippines. From the pitched battles of the early war to the final campaigns against guerrillas, Linn traces the entire course of the conflict. More than an overview of Filipino resistance and American pacification, this is a detailed study of the fighting in the "boondocks."
In addition to presenting a detailed military history of the war, Linn challenges previous interpretations. Rather than being a clash of armies or societies, the war was a series of regional struggles that differed greatly from island to island. By shifting away from the narrow focus on one or two provinces to encompass the entire archipelago, Linn offers a more thorough understanding of the entire war.
Linn also dispels many of the misunderstandings and historical inaccuracies surrounding the Philippine War. He repudiates the commonly held view of American soldiers "civilizing with a Krag" and clarifies such controversial incidents as the Balangiga Massacre and the Waller Affair.
Exhaustively researched and engagingly written, The Philippine War will become the standard reference on America's forgotten conflict and a major contribution to the study of guerrilla warfare.
This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
This year begins the centennial of the Philippine War, one of the most controversial and poorly understood events in American history. The war thrust the U.S. into the center of Pacific and Asian politics, with important and sometimes tragic consequences. It kept the Filipinos under colonial overlordship for another five decades and subjected them to American political, cultural, and economic domination. In the first comprehensive study in over six decades, Linn provides a definitive treatment of military operations in the Philippines. From the pitched battles of the early war to the final campaigns against guerrillas, Linn traces the entire course of the conflict. More than an overview of Filipino resistance and American pacification, this is a detailed study of the fighting in the "boondocks." In addition to presenting a detailed military history of the war, Linn challenges previous interpretations. Rather than being a clash of armies or societies, the war was a series of regional struggles that differed greatly from island to island. By shifting away from the narrow focus on one or two provinces to encompass the entire archipelago, Linn offers a more thorough understanding of the entire war. Linn also dispels many of the misunderstandings and historical inaccuracies surrounding the Philippine War. He repudiates the commonly held view of American soldiers "civilizing with a Krag" and clarifies such controversial incidents as the Balangiga Massacre and the Waller Affair. Exhaustively researched and engagingly written, The Philippine War will become the standard reference on America's forgotten conflict and a major contribution to the study of guerrilla warfare.… (more)
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Search around my position
Oak Harbor Downtown & Waterfront
On: August 6, 2013 By: oakharbor Posted in Oak Harbor
Oak Harbor Downtown/Waterfront
Pioneer Way & Bayshore Drive
Settlement - Oak Harbor was settled in the early 1850s by CW Sumner from New England, Martin Tafton, a shoemaker from Norway, and Ulrich Freund, a Swiss army officer. Freund retained part of his claim – some of which are still occupied by members of his family and a portion of which has been dedicated on the waterfront as Freund Marsh.
The town was named after the extensive stands of oak trees that covered the lands surrounding the harbor. The oak trees were Garry Oaks (quiercus garryana) – a northwestern oak species that grows from Oregon to southern Canada. Most of the oak stands have been cut down – but remnants remain in the downtown district, on the Post Office site, and adjacent to the NAS Whidbey family housing area. The few remaining trees may be over 500 years old.
The town developed about the waterfront since the water was the only means of transportation with the mainland. Between 1900 and the 1930s, early Mosquito Fleet steamers transported passengers and freight between Oak Harbor and the rest of Puget Sound.
Harborside Shops - the historical downtown district is centered on the blocks fronting Pioneer Way between City Beach Street and Midway Boulevard. The 5-block area retains the original streets and most of the building areas that prevailed during the days of the Mosquito Fleet steamers – though some buildings have been replaced or remodeled into Main Street architectural storefronts during the 1930s and 1950s.
The downtown district is undergoing a major revitalization with the addition of new independent shops providing boutiques, restaurants, gourmet food and wine shops, coffee and dessert cafes, and other specialty destination retail and entertainment outlets. Major mixed use retail, office, and residential projects are under development on the vacant lands located along Pioneer Way and Fidalgo Avenue and are a sign of market interest in the district.
The Harborside Shop Association and the Chamber of Commerce sponsor a number of annual events within the district and between the district and Windjammer Park on the waterfront.
© 2013 Copyright by OakHarborComeAshore.com.
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National Institute of Oceanography
Goa's first steam engine shipwreck found
By treasures | On 27/10/2010 | In Underwater Archeology
By Paul Fernandes - TNN
In a find that may prove important for research into the state's maritime trade, marine archaeologists of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) have found a steel-hulled steam engine shipwreck off the Mormugao coast.
The wreck could be of a British merchant vessel, the marine archaeologists have told TOI.
"This is the first discovery of a steam engine shipwreck in Goan waters," A S Gaur, marine archaeologist, NIO, said.
"As far as the time frame and technology is concerned, this is a specimen of a steam engine ship and could be of British origin of 1880s vintage," he added.
Scattered over a wide area in a shallow region called Amee Shoals, the four-decade research and more recent explorations of NIO's marine archaeologists bore fruit as they found the heavily salvaged vessel after two years of continuous research.
Elsewhere in the country, preliminary explorations of only two such shipwrecks were carried out in and around Minicoy in Lakshadweep islands, sources said.
"The stamps on the flanges and the name on the firebricks found on the site (off Mormugao) suggest British origin," Gaur said.
As naval vessels used water-tube boilers from 1880s onwards, the archaeologists aver that three Scotch boilers, almost 100 metres long, in this vessel make it evident that it was a large merchant ship.
Later, the oil-fired boilers were replaced by diesel engines.
The NIO archaeologists found three boilers made of wrought iron lying in a north-south direction, with the rear side pointing south. The triple-expansion type engine is still in fairly good condition, but the hull frames are severely corroded.
Was the vessel used by the British during the late 1880s for transporting steel? As an indication, the Portuguese had entrusted the task of laying the railway line from Mormugao to Castle Rock in 1887 to the British.
"No datable finds are on hand at the site to say when and how the wreck occurred though," Sila Tripathi, another NIO marine archaeologist who worked on the site off Goan waters said.
The preliminary report of the find was compiled by NIO's Gaur, Tripathi and Sundaresh. It was recently published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, released twice a year from UK and USA.
Though studies by Lisbon-based Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Nautica e Subaquatica (CNANS) and by Boxer (1959) and Mathew (1988) have drawn up a list of Portuguese shipwrecks in Indian waters between 1497 and 1612, details of not a single site have been specified.
The studies merely said that the vessels had wrecked in shallow waters due to storms, sand bars and other hidden obstacles.
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OECD Home InvestmentInvestment policyLatest Documents
Guidelines for multinational enterprises
Bribery in international business
English, Excel, 749kb
International Investment Agreements: A survey of Environmental, Labour and Anti-corruption Issues
This paper surveys the societal dimension of 296 international investment agreements (IIAs) signed by the 30 member countries and of by the 9 non-member countries that participate formally in OECD investment work.
English, , 107kb
Seventh Roundtable on Freedom of Investment, National Security and “Strategic” Industries: Progress Report
This progress report was issued following the 7th Roundtable on Freedom of Investment, National Security and ‘Strategic’ Industries which took place in Paris on 26 March 2008. Since early 2006, OECD has provided a forum for intergovernmental dialogue on how governments can reconcile the need to preserve and expand an open international investment environment with their duty to safeguard the essential security interests of their people.
Investment Newsletter, March 2008, Issue 6
Investment Newsletter, No. 6 puts the spotlight on China's outward foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as reporting on recent developments in foreign direct investment in OECD countries. It also reviews the effect of taxation on FDI, efforts to mobilise private investment in Africa's water infrastructure, and examines services trade and FDI in regional trade agreements.
28-February-2008
OECD Codes of Liberalisation of Capital Movements and of Current Invisible Operations: User's Guide 2008
The purpose of this User's Guide is to contribute to a better understanding of the principles and procedures of the OECD Codes. It also provides detailed explanations of the coverage of the Codes and may therefore serve as a manual for Code users. First published in 2003, the 2008 version has been adjusted to take recent developments into account, specifically, revised insurance and private pensions provisions of the Code of
Policy Brief: Tax Effects on Foreign Direct Investment
Virtually all governments are keen to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). It can generate new jobs, bring in new technologies and, more generally, promote growth and employment. The resulting net increase in domestic income is shared with government through taxation of wages and profits of foreign-owned companies, and possibly other taxes on business (e.g. property tax). FDI may also positively affect domestic income through
Seventh Examination of Members’ Reservations to the Insurance and Private Pensions Provisions of the Code of Liberalisation of Current Invisible Operations
This report on the Seventh Examination of Members’ Reservations to the Insurance and Private Pensions Provisions of the Code of Liberalisation of Current Invisible Operations was approved by the OECD Council on 19 February 2008. The main results and conclusions relating to the seventh examination process are given in a Note by the Secretary-General. The full set of findings is presented in the accompanying report.
OECD countries agree on further liberalisation commitments in insurance and private pensions
OECD countries have agreed on further liberalisation commitments in the areas of insurance and private pensions. The OECD Code of Liberalisation of Current Invisible Operations has been amended to broaden the insurance obligations of the Code and introduce new obligations on private pensions, thereby establishing a new, high standard for cross-border trade in insurance and private pensions services.
OECD Codes of Liberalisation of Capital Movements and of Current Invisible Operations
Investment for Development: 2005, 2006, 2007
These reports provide a record of the main achievements of the OECD Investment Committee within its investment policy work programme with non-member economies and make available to a wider audience some of the background analytical work developed under the aegis of this programme.
Sixth OECD Roundtable on Freedom of Investment, National Security and “Strategic” Industries: Summary of Findings
Organised in Paris on 13 December 2007, discussions covered recent policy developments; the transparency and predictability of investment policies addressing essential security concerns; and the benefits of open investment markets for energy security. In addition, a consultation was held in which business and trade union partners discussed the policy issues raised by investments of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs).
English, , 70kb
Competition, international investment and energy security
This report focuses on the role of competition policy in promoting energy security. It does not attempt to establish a precise definition of energy security, but notes that it is mainly about managing vulnerability to supply disruptions and associated price spikes. This report by the OECD Competition Committee Secretariat was presented to participants at the 6th OECD Roundtable on Freedom of Investment held on 13 December 2007.
OECD work on preventing investment protectionism
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Kurt Woerpel/MTV
MTV News Social Justice Forecast June 2–10
Make a difference by supporting equality
Marcus Patrick Ellsworth 06/02/2017
It's Pride Month! Alongside the many upcoming festivals and parades, folks will honor the history of the queer community and work to further the cause of LGBTQ equality. Let's kick off the month by looking at some of the ways that people are showing their pride from coast to coast.
If there’s something on the horizon in your area that you’d like to see featured in the MTV News Social Justice Forecast, email us at mtvnews.sjf@gmail.com
All Month Long:
Everywhere: Celebrate the full spectrum of pride.
The queer community consists of a variety of identities across all genders and sexual orientations, yet Pride Month celebrations have often been centered around cisgender gay people. You can broaden your perspective on the diversity of LGBTQ identities by connecting with organizations that cater to various facets of the community.
BiNet USA is a national network of bisexual organizations that raises awareness and provides support and resources for bi and pansexual folks. The BiNet website and Facebook group are great sources of information and can help affirm bisexual people's place in the queer community.
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) organizes around public policy that addresses the needs of trans and gender nonconforming people. NCTE can help you find ways to take action for trans rights.
The Intersex Campaign for Equality advocates for the rights of intersex people, or people who are born with atypical reproductive organs. (It should be noted that people who are intersex are not necessarily also trans, though some people who are born intersex may also happen to be trans.) The organization centers concerns about nonconsensual sexual assignment surgeries performed on intersex children, ending intersex oppression, and support for everyone's right to bodily autonomy and acceptance.
The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) is an international asexual advocacy organization that also hosts the largest online asexual community in the world. The work of groups like AVEN has been instrumental in making it more common for communities to embrace asexual folks as part of the pride movement.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of organizations that support LGBTQ identities, as there are nuanced identities under every part of the LGBTQ umbrella and plenty other organizations that focus on them. As we learn more ways to better identify ourselves and support each other, we find even more reasons to be proud of our diverse community.
Getty/MTV News
There will be a series of community discussions about being queer in Baltimore, Maryland; a training for LGBTQ allies in Covington, Kentucky; a trans and queer POC artist teach-in for folks in Washington, D.C.; and we're looking ahead to a conference on gender identity in Seattle, Washington.
Baltimore, Maryland: Join a serious discussion about queer health at the Baltimore in Conversation Weekend.
Thursday, 5:30–8:30 p.m.
Friday, 5:30–8:30 p.m.
BBOX, The Gateway Building at MICA
1601 West Mt. Royal Ave.
Baltimore in Conversation, a queer sexual-health advocacy organization, is hosting two complementary events about the personal experiences of queer people in the city. Thursday night will feature a photo exhibit exploring the lives of six people from Baltimore's LGBTQ community. On Friday, several black queer people will share their personal stories of triumph over struggle. Both events will include a conversation with the audience to foster a culture of empathetic support for marginalized people. Due to the intense and possibly triggering subject matter, there will be social workers on hand and space for folks to step away from the presentations if they feel the need to. The event is free, but registration is recommended.
Covington, Kentucky: Learn about allyship and safe spaces at the Y'all Means All training.
The Center for Great Neighborhoods of Covington
Northern Kentucky Fairness, the pride organization for that part of the state, is hosting a training session to help friends and family of LGBTQ folks become allies for equality. This workshop will help attendees better understand the struggles of queer folks and how heterosexual and cisgender support can make a difference. It is free to register for the event.
Washington, D.C.: Get creative at the awQward Camp artist teach-in.
Saturday, 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
Sunday, 1–5 p.m.
1742 Church St. NW
AwQward, a specifically trans and queer POC talent agency, and the Capturing Fire International Queer Poetry Slam have teamed up to present a weekend of workshops for LGBTQ artists of color. There will be sessions on refining slam poetry, overcoming writer's block, comedy writing, and how to sustain a life as an artist. This event is free and is explicitly for trans and queer people of color, so they can work together in a safe and supportive space. Registering in advance is encouraged.
Looking Ahead:
Thursday, August 24 – Sunday, August 27
Seattle, Washington: Register for the Gender Odyssey conference.
Every year since 2007, Gender Odyssey has held annual conferences in Seattle for trans people of all ages and their families. This conference helps parents of gender-diverse children find resources and connects trans folks with information about health care and advocacy, and ultimately aims to improve participants' quality of life. The conference even features programming that focuses on specific issues for families, teens, and people of color. Registration is required and starts at $75 for teens, but there are conference scholarships for those who can't afford the registration fees.
Pride Month is about more than survival. It's about celebrating the fact that every year brings us closer to a day when everyone is able to live and love without fear. Whether that means bringing out the sun or calling down a storm, we need you!
Social Justice Forecast
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Institutional Award: Cable News Network (CNN) for Significant News and Information Programming
1983 | Cable News Network
In the view of the Peabody Board, CNN has become an integral part of the lives of millions of Americans by providing significant, reliable, up-to-the-minute news coverage on a 24-hour basis. The true value of CNN has been in its extended coverage of breaking stories, including the attempted assassination of President Reagan; the crash of Air Florida Flight 90; and more recently, the bombing of the American Marine barracks in Beirut. The Board also recognizes that CNN is one of the few remaining television outlets for important political discussion and debate, from Daniel Schorr’s Ask CNN and Newsmaker programs to Crossfire and Freeman Reports. In addition, its regularly scheduled feature, sports, and weather segments are exceptionally well done. For making the concept of continuous television news an influential and respected reality, a Peabody to the Cable News Network.
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Erie Real Estate
Erie, CO Real Estate
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Erie, CO Homes For Sale
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Erie is a diverse, dynamic community offering a contemporary pace to life that appeals to all age groups. With majestic mountain views and a progressive civic vision, Erie provides a genuine small-town feel with all the reassuring qualities that implies a sense of community, neighbors who care, modern amenities and comforting closeness.
Erie showcases scenic trails, championship golf courses, recreational activities, and more than 300 days of sunshine each year. Premier educational facilities include several new schools, and the Erie Community Center is an award-winning 63,000-square-foot facility.
Erie’s civic leaders are committed to maintaining the city as a great place to live, work and play. The town has become a model for eco-friendly civic development with environmentally sound “green” practices that include a town-wide interconnecting trail system, a water-saving irrigation system in public parks, and a thermal solar system installation at the Erie Community Center.
Residents enjoy numerous community events throughout the year, including the Erie Town Fair and Hot Air Balloon Festival each May.
In June, hundreds bring their furry friends to join in the fun at Bark in the Park and the World’s Shortest Pet Parade. There are many summer concerts, plus a fun Halloween event for the entire family.
Erie has a colorful history dating to the northern coal fields of the 1800’s.
Today, there is an active group of artists in Erie, the spacious High Plains Library, and a robust population that truly appreciates the great outdoors and all that Erie has to offer.
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Announcements for Sept. 1, 2013
Labor Day - The parish office is closed on Monday, Sept. 2 for Labor Day. Regular office hours begin again on Wednesday, Sept. 4. Nativity Parish wishes everyone a refreshing, safe and blessed Labor Day.
Food Pantry - Thank you for your generous support of the Five Loaves and Two Fishes Food Pantry on this first weekend of the month.
Religion Class - Most catechism groups start in just 2 weeks! Register NOW for 1st Communion, Nativity Tweens, Confirmation Prep or Theology for Young Catholics. Call the office for a registration form, scan the QR Code in this week's bulletin to register online, or click here.
Blood Drive - Urgent! McIntosh County is badly in need of blood. Please support the McIntosh County Blood Hound Unit's blood drive on Tuesday, September 3 from 1:30 - 6:30 p.m. at the Eulonia Multipurpose Center. For more information or to reserve a time for giving blood, please click on this link. Thank you!
Sister Death has called Hank Sowa
Please pray for the repose of the soul of parishioner Henry (Hank) Sowa, who was called from this life to the next on the morning of Monday, August 26, 2013. Funeral arrangements are as follows:
Visitation - Wednesday, August 28 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Brunswick Memorial Park Funeral Home, 4407 US Hwy 17 North in Glynco. The Rosary will be recited at 6:30.
Funeral Mass - Thursday, August 29 at 11:00 a.m. at Nativity Catholic Church, 1000 North Way (Hwy 17) in Darien.
Burial will be in Albany, Georgia on Friday, August 30.
Full obituary: see here
May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
Announcements for August 25, 2013
FIVE LOAVES & TWO FISHES FOOD PANTRY - Next week is the first weekend of the month, our usual collection for the 5 Loaves and 2 Fishes Food Pantry. We received a very nice thank you note from them, which is printed in the bulletin.
TYC - The next Theology for Young Catholics is this Friday, the 30th of August at 6:00 p.m. in the parish hall. There is more information online and in the e-mail we sent. If you do not get the e-mails about TYC and would like to, please let Fr. Bob (me) know.
CATECHISM - We sent out invitations this week to families with children of school age inviting them to First Communion, Nativity Tweens and/or Confirmation class. If you think you should get a letter but do not receive one, please let us know. Nor do you have to wait for the letter in order to register your child. You can do it right now by clicking here: Register for Catechism
· A Thank You from Dr. Mermann - Your response to the Apple Tree was overwhelming! On Behalf of the SFX School community, I wish to extend my sincere thanks for the support we received with this year's Apple Tree from Nativity parish. Our children and teachers are blessed in many ways through your generosity and caring. May God bless you always. - Dr. Terry Mermann, Principal
· We are now getting ready for this year's religion classes. Please see the bulletin for important information about First Communion, Nativity Tweens and Confirmation Preparation.
Sin of Sodom, part 2
Here is Fr. Bob's answer to the last quiz!
The Bible presents us with a double answer: there was the sin of the men of Sodom as described in Genesis 19:1-11. But there are also all the previous sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, as the Lord said to Abraham: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave ..." (Genesis 18:20).
The prophet Ezekiel makes clear what the sin of Sodom was: They did not give any help to the poor and needy, especially foreigners. Ezekiel 16:49-50: "Now look at the guilt of your sister Sodom. It is this: she was proud, had plenty to eat, was prosperous enough. But they did not give any help to the poor and needy. Instead they were arrogant, and this was an abomination to me, and I removed them." The Book of Wisdom 19:14 confirms this: "For these [people of Sodom] would not receive foreigners." We can also see this in the prophet Isaiah, chapter 1: (9) The people of Israel have become like Sodom, we resemble Gomorrah ... (17) This is what I want [says the Lord}: learn to do good, make justice your aim, redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow. ... (23) But the fatherless they do not defend, the widow's plea does not reach them."
The New Testament continues this theme. For example, in Matthew 10:5-15, Jesus says that the people who would give hospitality to his disciples are "worse than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah", implying again that the sin here is a refusal to be welcoming.
This is the main tradition of the Bible: the sin of Sodom was refusing to give hospitality, refusal to welcome foreigners, failure to help the poor, the needy, the widow and the orphan.
But there is a secondary tradition. Isaiah chapter one goes on to describe how Israel, "the new Sodom and Gomorrah" worshipped false gods. The prophet Jeremiah also combines these two sins: cheating the poor and worshiping false gods. They go together, say the prophets.
What about adultery? The prophets speak of the adultery of Sodom and Gomorrah, but they make it clear that this is a metaphor for worshipping false gods. What about rape? In Genesis chap. 19, the people of Sodom wanted to use rape as a violent crime against the three foreigners, as a way of murdering them. The Book of Judges chapter 19 tells a parallel story and makes it clear: the men wanted to rape someone to death, it was murder they desired, not any kind of sexual pleasure. What about homosexuality? The story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis - and the whole Biblical tradition around it in both the Old and New Testaments - make no mention of homosexuality at all. In both Genesis and in Judges, the violent men just wanted to kill someone, anyone, male or female, thy didn't care - they just wanted to kill. In the Bible, the sin of sodomy is violence against foreigners and strangers.
So where does this "tradition" come from of equating sodomy with homosexuality? This is a very late tradition from modern times, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theology from patristic times and from the Middle Ages knows nothing of it. In fact, the whole idea of equating "morality" with "sex" is a late modern and post-modern innovation of fundamentalist Protestants. I would go so far as to say that anyone who tries to reduce Catholic moral teaching to questions of sex is helping to eliminate the whole tradition of the Catholic Church.
So here are the results of our poll! 116 people answered at three Masses, online and by e-mail:
Adultery - 32
All of the above - 28
Worshiping false gods - 26 - the Biblical answer
Homosexuality - 25
Sinning against the Holy Spirit - 25
Greed - 22
Not feeding the poor and hungry - 19 - the Biblical answer
Refusing to accept foreigners - 15 - the Biblical answer
Rape - 14
Working on the sabbath - 9
Eating forbidden foods - 7
Abortion - 7
Cruelty to animals - 3
Special Collection: Church in Latin America
Over the weekend of August 10/11, Nativity parish will take up a special collection to help the Church in Latin America, in solidarity with the US Bishops' Conference.
A large portion of this year's collection will help defray the costs of World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, which benefited all the world's Catholic youth but left the Catholic Church in Brazil deeply in debt. Another large portion of the collection will be sent to Haiti, which continues to rebuild after repeated disasters.
Of course, there are many other projects all over Latin America. Thank you for your generosity!
For more information about this collection, click here.
Carmelite Sisters of Savannah praying for us
The Discalced Carmelite Nuns came to Savannah, Georgia in June of 1958 at the invitation of Bishop Thomas McDonough. They were asked to establish a contemplative monastery for the express purpose "to pray for all the needs of the diocese, the priests and all the faithful".
The nuns of Our Lady of Confidence have been doing that faithfully - every single day - for 55 years now. A wonderful witness of fidelity and humble service!
The sisters would like all Catholics in the diocese of Savannah to know that they are very happy to receive your special prayer requests. Your requests are taken very seriously, and the sisters intercede for us every single day. You can send your requests to:
Our Lady of Confidence Monastery
11 West Back St.
If you prefer to write to the sisters online, they have a website with a PRAYER REQUEST page: click here
The sisters sent a letter to all priests and parishes in June of 2013. We reprint it here in slightly shortened form.
Don't forget: Nativity parish also has a prayer list in the weekly bulletin, as well as daily prayer requests on our Twitter feed @Nativitydarien under hashtag #NativityAtPrayer
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“WANTED – Tribute to Bon Jovi,” The Everly Set and “DSB – An American Journey” Perform at Suncoast in January
'WANTED - Tribute to Bon Jovi,' The Everly Set and 'DSB - An American Journey' Perform at Suncoast in January
LAS VEGAS-Suncoast Showroom will bring celebrated tribute bands to the Suncoast Hotel and Casino in January, including 'WANTED - Tribute to Bon Jovi,'The Everly Set and 'DSB - An American Journey.' Guests can also enjoy free dance parties and live entertainment throughout the month.
For a full lineup of entertainment acts at Boyd Gaming citywide properties, visit: www.boydgaming.com/headliner-event-calendar.
Wanted - Tribute to Bon Jovi
'WANTED: A Tribute to Bon Jovi' will replicate the music of the legendary rock band, Bon Jovi, recreating the group's high-energy performances and performing their classic rock 'n' roll hits.
Based out of Los Angeles, Calif., WANTED consists of some of the city's top musicians, bringing audiences a memorable Bon Jovi concert experience as they perform the songs 'It's My Life,' 'Livin' on a Prayer,' 'Always,' 'Runaway' and more.
Showtime is 8:30 p.m. Tickets start at $18 plus taxes and fees, and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000; online at www.suncoastcasino.com; or in-person at Suncoast, The Orleans, Gold Coast, Sam's Town, Aliante, Cannery and Eastside Cannery. Tickets may also be purchased the day of the show (depending upon availability) at the venue box office.
The Everly Set
The Everly brothers Phil and Don rose to fame in 1957 with the release of their mega-hits 'Bye Bye Love' and 'Wake Up Little Susie,' showcasing their signature harmony that would later influence legendary bands like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, the Bee Gees and the Eagles. Six decades later, the two highly-acclaimed singer-songwriters have joined forces with award-winning songwriter Sean Altman and winner of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame's Holly Prize Jack Skuller, to form The Everly Set.
Audiences will enjoy The Everly Set's performances of the Everly Brothers' classic hits, including 'Cathy's Clown,' 'All I Have to Do Is Dream,' 'When Will I Be Loved,' 'Crying in the Rain,' 'Love Hurts,' 'Bird Dog,' 'Claudette,' 'Let It Be Me' and more.
Showtime is 8:30 p.m. Tickets start at $19.95 plus taxes and fees, and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000; online at www.suncoastcasino.com; or in-person at Suncoast, The Orleans, Gold Coast, Sam's Town, Aliante, Cannery and Eastside Cannery. Tickets may also be purchased the day of the show (depending upon availability) at the venue box office.
DSB - An American Journey
Formed in 2009, Journey tribute band DSB continues to deliver a nostalgic concert experience for fans, recreating Journey's classic hits, including 'Don't Stop Believin,'' 'Faithfully,' 'Any Way You Want It,' 'Open Arms' and 'Wheel in the Sky.' Complete with a band of world-class musicians, DSB strives to remain true to Journey's musical legacy by capturing the lush and signature sound of the band and its renowned lead vocalist Steve Perry.
DSB has been recognized by public figures Mark Cuban and Ryan Seacrest as one of the top Journey tribute bands. The group has been featured on AXS TV's hit show 'The World's Greatest Tribute Bands,' and has become a fixture at the annual 'Sounds Like Summer' concert series at Walt Disney World's Epcot. Additionally, DSB's recent 12,000-mile U.S. tour was featured on the FOX television network and Hallmark Channel's talk show 'Home & Family.'
Throughout the month of January, country fans can grab a partner and enjoy free line dancing classes inside the Suncoast Showroom. Schedule is subject to change.
Mondays in January Line Dancing 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Tuesdays in January Line Dancing 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Thursdays in January Line Dancing 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 2, 16 and 30 Line Dancing 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Suncoast's Variety Show offers high-energy entertainment, featuring outstanding acts and great amusement. Guests can swipe their B Connected card at any kiosk to redeem a free ticket. Schedule is subject to change.
Wednesday, Jan. 9 Variety Show 2 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 23 Variety Show 2 p.m.
Suncoast Sock Hop
Sock Hops at Suncoast will bring guests back to the 1950s with free live entertainment and dancing, happening on Fridays in January from 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. Schedule is subject to change.
Friday, Jan. 4 Déjà Vu 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 11 Rockin' Rebels 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 18 Kenny Dee Band 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 25 The NiteKings 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Super Saturday Dance Party
Suncoast's Super Saturday Dance Parties feature free live performances of the greatest hits of the '80s, '90s, 2000s and today, happening on the first Saturday of each month from 8 p.m. - 12 a.m. Schedule is subject to change.
Saturday, Jan. 5 Absolute 8 p.m. - 12 a.m.
90 NINETY Bar + Grill
90 NINETY Bar + Grill at Suncoast is an all-new contemporary yet casual American restaurant, delivering modern cuisine, an expansive brew and cocktail selection and free live music, all in a stylish and lively atmosphere. The January entertainment schedule is as follows (schedule is subject to change):
Jan. 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 David K. Butler 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Jan. 4, 11, 18 and 25 Pat Genovese 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Jan. 5, 12, 19 and 26 Zac Winningham 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.
About Suncoast Hotel and Casino
Located at the corner of Alta Drive and South Rampart Boulevard, Suncoast Hotel and Casino features eleven restaurants, a 16-screen movie theater, a 600-seat bingo room, a 500-seat state-of-the-art showroom and an 80,000-square-foot casino. For further information, visit www.suncoastcasino.com, on Facebook, and Twitter. Suncoast Hotel and Casino is a property of Boyd Gaming. Founded in 1975, Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) is a leading geographically diversified operator of 29 gaming entertainment properties in 10 states. With one of the most experienced leadership teams in the casino industry, Boyd Gaming prides itself on offering its guests an outstanding entertainment experience, delivered with unwavering attention to customer service. For additional Company information and press releases, visit www.boydgaming.com.
For more information about Boyd Gaming citywide entertainment, please visit www.boydgaming.com/headliner-event-calendar.
Smartlinks | Boyd Gaming Corporation | Local News | Finance | Stock Markets | Security Markets | Stock Markets | Security Markets | Company News | Arts and Culture | Entertainment | Lifestyle and Leisure | Travel | Casinos | New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) | Börse Frankfurt | Börse Berlin | Börse München | Börse Stuttgart | Tradegate Exchange | NYSE American | NYSE ARCA | Russell 2000 | BZX Exchange | BYX Exchange | EDGA Exchange | EDGX Exchange | NYSE National | Nasdaq BX | Nasdaq PSX | Nasdaq Intermarket | Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) | Investors Exchange (IEX)
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3.8.2019. – Gülsin Onay
4.8.2019. – Luiz Gustavo Carvalho
5.8.2019. – Nino Gurevich
06|08|2016 • Concert Hall• 20h
MIHAJLO ZURKOVIĆ • MILAN MILETIĆ SERBIA
BACH Das alte Jahr vergangen ist
SCHNITTKE Sonata No.1 for Cello and Piano (1978)
MILOJEVIĆ Legend of Yefimia
SCRIABIN Two poems op.32 for Piano
DEBUSSY Sonata for Cello and Piano D Minor (1915)
Mihajlo Zurković was born in Sombor, Serbia where he started playing piano. At the age of 14, being given a full scholarship, he became a student of the “Zero Year” (for outstanding young talents) at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, in the class of Jokuthon Mihailović. He graduated and later obtained a master’s degree at the Academy of Arts in the same class. At present, Zurković is on doctoral studying program at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade under Jokuthon Mihailović’s mentoring and also employed as a docent lecturer for piano at the Academy of Arts in Novi
He won numerous awards at national and international competitions and among them the most important are: Top Prize at the International Competition “Petar Konjović” (Belgrade, 1995), First Prize at the European Piano Competition (Moncalieri – Italy, 1995), Third Prize at the International Competition “Frederic Chopin” (Novi Sad, 1997), Finalist of the Dinu Lipatti Competition (Bucharest – Romania, 2002), First Prize at the International Forum (Kiev – Ukraine, 2009).
He had his first solo concert at the age of 12 and since then he has played over 500 recitals, chamber music concerts and appeared many times as a soloist with different orchestras. His performances have led him round Europe (Italy, France, Romania, Hungary, Russia, France, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia), Japan and USA.
He participated in the project “Operation 40 Fingers” within he had a concert tour in Italy in the concert season 2007/08.
In December 2009, he had debut recitals in prestigious halls of New York : two concerts in Bechstein Concert Hall and a concert in Symphony Space. In March 2010, he proceeded his concert activity with the recitals in Russia, playing in very important halls of St. Petersburg such as: Small Hall of Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, The Great Hall of Mussorgsky College (within the festival dedicated to Frederic Chopin) and in one of the most prestigious halls in St. Petersburg – Sheremetev Castle.
He has recorded for Swiss Radio, Radio Vaticana, Radio Television of Montenegro, MTV2-Hungarian National Television and Serbian National Television.
In 2009, Zurkovic recorded LIVE CD produced by “Laza Kostic” Cultural Centre (Sombor) and the Academy of Arts (Novi Sad) with pieces by Schubert, Scriabin, Brahms and Chopin.
In 2012, he refounded “SOMUS” music festival in his home town and became its artistic director.
Marko Miletić, cellist, completed his undergraduate and master studies at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, in the class of prof. Imre Kalman and achieved “Artist Diploma of Performance” in the Schwob School of Music at Columbus University (USA) in the class of prof. Wendy Warner, one of the leading cellists of her generation. During his studies, Mr. Miletić won prizes at competitions and festivals as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles. He attended master classes with renowned soloists from around the world, including: Arto Noras (Finland), John Kucer (Ukraine), Orfeo Mandoci (Austria), Dmitry Levin (Germany) Mark Kosower(USA), Mark Copey(France), Alexander Kobrin (Russia / USA), Sergio Schwartz (USA), the quartet ‘Fine Arts’.
Mr. Miletić is known as one of the leading cello soloists in Serbia but also as a valuable chamber musician and leader of the cello section and as such he performed in Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, Slovenia, USA, Croatia, Montenegro, etc. As a soloist, he performed with various orchestras, including the “St George Strings”, Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Voïvodina Symphony Orchestra, Subotica chamber orchestra, string orchestra “Camerata Academica” Novi Sad. He performed with renowned soloists: Wendy Warner, Alexander Kobrin, Stefan Milenkovich, Gerard Causse, Sergio Schwartz. Marko plays in numerous chamber ensembles, and since 2013. he is a member of the piano trio “Valmaro” with pianist Valentina Nenasheva and violinist Robert Lakatos. In 2007. Mr. Miletić succeeded in renewing the famous chamber orchestra “Camerata Academica“ in Novi Sad, with whom he performs as a solo cellist and acts as artistic director and co-operates with numerous renowned artists . He was the leading cellist in the Symphony Orchestra “LaGrange” and Vojvodina simphony orchestra.
During studies, Mr. Miletić discovered a great passion and talent for teaching and hence was engaged in working with students and talented children.
He has also performed at major international festivals: “Belgrade Cello Fest”, “Nomus”, “SOMUS” “OKTOIH”, International Review of Composers in Belgrade, Transeuropean Festival in Rouen.
Mr. Miletić made numerous recordings for radio and television stations in Serbia and abroad.
He works as docent lecturer of cello at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad and as a guest professor at the Faculty of Arts in Niš and frequently gives master classes in Serbia- some of his students have already won several international awards.
Copyright © 2014 – 2019 Piano Summer Vranje – All rights reserved.
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Category Archives: Music
Top 10 Best Beatles Songs of All Time
Seriously though, how do you pick the top 10 best songs from a band as illustrious and prolific as the Beatles? The short answer is that it is hard, very hard. Well, we’ve done our best to narrow down their amazing list of songs. Below we present you with our take on the top 10 best Beatles songs of all time.
1. A Day in the Life
“A Day in the Life” is the Beatles at their very best. And that is saying a lot. The monumental ballad tackles everything from life to death and all of the little bits in between. Read more →
Top 10 Best Rock Songs of All Time (As of 2015)
The discussion on the top rock songs is a continuous debate. There are many greats from over the decades which endure and that have been remade into audible covers. If you’re looking for some of the best rock songs of all time, here’s a look at a few contenders.
The shelter is that from a storm of political and social unrest, making this one relevant in numerous ways. Just about anything from the group can be a top rock tune. This song’s driving groove puts it up there. Read more →
Top 10 Best Pink Floyd Songs of All Time
One of the biggest groups of the 1970s, Pink Floyd had a career stretching over three decades. Their style varied from psychedelic to progressive rock. The talents of Syd Barrett and Roger Waters helped make some distinguishable songs. Here are Pink Floyd’s best songs of all time. Let us know what you think of the song list in the comments.
Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts I-V (1975)
The band pays tribute to lead guitarist Syd Barrett, who left the band due to mental illness. It was played live frequently before finally being recorded. Roger Waters sings lead vocals. Read more →
Top 10 Best Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time
Led Zeppelin built a fiery blues style and contributed some of the most recognizable songs in music. The sounds of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant transcends heavy metal, blues, or folk. From their formation in 1968 on, their guitar riffs continue to echo in the airwaves. Here is our take on Led Zeppelin’s top 10 song list. Let’s see if you agree.
Ramble On (1969)
The song demonstrates Jimmy Page’s ability to draw the listener in with an acoustic intro, then kick it into overdrive. It embodies the idea of moving from one place to another and constantly moving forward. This one goes back to Zeppelin’s early days. Read more →
Top 10 Best Johnny Cash Songs of All Time
Johnny Cash had a huge list of songs from 1955 on. His styles ranged from classic western to rockabilly country tunes. “The Man in Back” wasn’t shy about humor, although he had many serious and socially topical songs. Below you will find our favorite Johnny Cash songs of all time – let us know what you think of the songs list in the comments.
Cry, Cry, Cry (1955)
This was Johnny Cash’s first hit song. He wrote the song overnight at the request of the owner of Sun Records, Sam Philips. It’s mentioned several times in the film “Walk the Line”, but never performed in the movie. Read more →
Top 10 Best Fleetwood Mac Songs of All Time
Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967 and were joined by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1975. Their push of songs lasted through the late 1970s and well into the 1980s. These represent the songwriting might of Buckingham, Nicks, and Christine McVie. These are our favorite Fleetwood Mac songs. Let us know what you think of the song list in the comments.
The Chain (1977)
The driving lead vocals are by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in this song about their troubled relationship. It also represents the resilience of the band Read more →
Top 10 Best Elvis Presley Songs of All Time
Elvis Presley is a pop music revolutionary and cultural icon. The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis built a large catalog of song recordings and choosing just 10 is difficult. Here is a list of some of Elvis’s standout songs that represent his unmistakable vocal presence and charisma. Let us know what you think of this song list in the comments.
Don’t Be Cruel (1956)
Released in conjunction with “Hound Dog”, it is still the only single in the U.S. to ever have both sides top the charts. It has a great swing, backing vocals and, of course, Elvis himself. The song was written by famed songwriter Otis Blackwell. Read more →
Top 10 Best Bob Marley Songs of All Time
Bob Marley’s recording career didn’t go past 1980, but the Jamaican reggae singer’s timeless love, protest, and peace songs live on. His chart-topping songs are heard on the radio and jukeboxes around the world. It may be hard to label the best. Most will agree these songs are as relevant today as when they were written. Below are our song list for the best Bob Marley songs of all time. Let us know what you think in the comments. Read more →
Posted in: Music, Reggae
Top 10 Best Nicki Minaj Songs of All Time
Nicki Minaj has had 56 Billboard Hot 100 hits, the most of any female rapper. She’s released three albums so far – Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, and The Pinkprint. Between her top hits and fan favorites, there’s no shortage of opinions on best songs, whether solo are when collaborating. Here’s what we think represents Nicki’s best songs. Read more →
Posted in: Pop
Top 10 Best Katy Perry Songs of All Time (As of 2015)
Katy Perry has made a name for herself as one of the biggest pop stars of her generation. During the course of her career she has already sold over 30 million albums and 100 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best selling artists of all time. And she doesn’t look to be letting up anytime soon.
Below are our picks for the top 10 best Katy Perry songs of all time. When you’re in the mood to groove to this pop music legend, use these songs are your go-to choices. Read more →
Top 10 Best Beyonce Songs of All Time
There is simply no getting around it – Beyonce is one of the most talented and popular singers of our time. But she is more than that. She is a symbol of female empowerment, uniting girls from all over the world and urging them to pursue their dreams. In honor of her illustrious career, we have assembled our version of the top 10 best Beyonce songs of all time below.
1. Crazy in Love feat. Jay Z
“Crazy in Love” is classic Beyonce. Featuring a towering beat and her unstoppably powerful voice, this song highlights the singer’s overall persona like no other. Her future husband Jay Z is also featured on the track.
2. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Female empowerment is the name of the game in “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” In this song, Beyonce encourages women to get out of any relationship in which they are not getting the respect that they deserve.
3. Countdown
“Countdown” is one of the most ecstatic love songs of all time. In it, Beyonce belts out a number of mind-melting hooks, molding singing, shouting, and rapping into one.
4. Get Me Bodied
Beyonce is known for her dance music – and “Get Me Bodied” is undoubtedly one of her best songs to groove to.
5. Check On It feat. Bun B and Slim Thug
You can never go wrong with a little old school Beyonce. And with an unusual melody of booming beats, synth hums, and bass pulses, “Check On It” gets the job done just fine.
6. Bootylicious (Destiny’s Child)
Before Beyonce was, well, Beyonce, she was a member of the popular girl group Destiny’s Child. Sure, it’s not exactly a Beyonce song, per se, but it’s hard to leave “Bootylicious” off a list of the best songs this singer has ever belted out.
7. Work It Out
“Work It Out” is Beyonce’s first major hit as a solo artist after the breakup of Destiny’s Child. The funky, old school song is so good that it was used in the film Austin Power’s in Goldmember.
8. End of Time
One of her most ambitious songs of all time, “End of Time” showcases strong Michael Jackson influences combined with bits and pieces of Afrobeat, jazz-funk fusion, EDM, and even marching bands.
9. Irreplaceable
If you haven’t heard “Irreplaceable” before, then you need to stop whatever you’re doing and hit play. The quintessentially Beyonce song brings every ounce of her talent to the table alongside a solid message.
10. Yes
Growing up in Houston, Texas, Beyonce is no stranger to old-school chopped-and-screwed beats. Her hit song “Yes” plays homage to this type of music. On top of a slowed down beat, the singer belts out a series of sharp and pointed lyrics.
Nearly every Beyonce song is excellent. There are probably at least a dozen or two more that could easily be on a top 10 list. However, the ten Beyonce songs discussed above are truly the best of the best of all time.
Top 10 Best Taylor Swift Songs of All Time (As of 2015)
Taylor Swift has long been one of the biggest names in music. Beginning her career as a country musician, she has ventured more and more into pop territory as time goes on. Below are the top 10 best Taylor Swift songs of all time. If you love T-Swift, then you’ll adore these top songs. Read more →
Top 10 Best One Direction Songs of All Time
One Direction first broke onto the scene of superstardom after winning the UK version of X Factor. With the release of several albums, that stardom has grown even more, catapulting them into one of the top pop bands in the world. Whether you’re a tween, teen, or an adult, here are the top 10 best One Direction songs of all time that you are sure to love. Read more →
Top 10 Best Bruno Mars Songs of All Time (As of 2015)
Bruno Mars hasn’t been in the limelight for long, but he has already gained worldwide recognition while earning the love of fans worldwide. And his success didn’t come by accident. It came on the back of hard work and a generous amount of talent.
Below are the top 10 Bruno Mars songs of all time. Whether you’re a long-time fan or interested in exploring this artist for the first time, these top jams are sure to give you a taste of what his music is all about. Read more →
Top 10 Best Michael Jackson Songs of All Time
It’s no secret that Michael Jackson is one of the most famous musicians in history. In a career spanning almost 50 years, 13 of his singles went to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with an additional four songs topping the chart. Here are 10 of the very best Michael Jackson songs of all time. Read more →
Posted in: Music, Pop
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Such a Boar
Wild boar are very present in the area where I live, but it's not often we see them strolling down the road in a suburban zone. They are on the list of 'birds and beasts to be hunted and slaughtered' by blokes in many-pocketed khaki jackets who disturb weekends by firing off shot guns in pretty places.
I was thus delighted to see evidence of a ruse in the boar who had realised that hunters do not fire guns near houses. We have a small pine wood opposite the house, and it was minding its own business in a protected area. NG was telling me that when boar visit certain houses on the outskirts of the village, especially those with a beautiful lawn (at vast expense) they ravage the garden by digging it all up in search of roots and worms. This does not make them popular.
When my eldest tried to tell his pals about the boar sighting, they didn't believe him and insisted they set off and track it. He was worried about this because boar can weigh up to 200kg but I told him that they would be making so much the noise, the boar would be long gone. However, if by some miracle they did come across it, under no circumstances should they approach it as they can be very dangerous. I made sure the pals understood this too, which cooled their ardour somewhat, and they saw that my eldest had not been making up his story. Off they went for the sake of form but saw nothing - no surprise.
The last time I saw wild boar in the wild was several years ago on a trip back from Bordeaux along the main road, avoiding the autoroute. It was around midnight and we were in the middle of nowhere. Woods and fields shone beneath a full moon, deserted and isolated. We turned one corner whereupon my ex-h slammed on the brakes because there, in the middle of the road, dozing peacefully was a family of boar, lying on the warm tarmac. They were not in a hurry to get up and let us pass, so when the car approached, they had to get their skates on, their hoofs slithering on the slippery road surface.
On that same journey - it was quite a surreal one - we came across a mass of frogs crossing the road. There must have been thousands of them. My ex-h did what he could to avoid them but it was impossible to avoid a little carnage. I think we somewhat regretted not taking the autoroute. The journey took something like seven hours instead of four, we would have avoided needless deaths, but we wouldn't have seen the boars. Hmm, tricky one.
Published at 10:16 am
Tags : Boys, Life, Wild boar
Gigi 11/02/2007, 12:56
I think I would be terrified if I saw a boar face to face - or snout to snout, or whatever you're supposed to say. They caused an awful lot of damage in my parents-in-law's orchard, so much so that they had to abandon it.
My husband's uncle hunts and last Christmas (during a brief reunion with said husband :-)) he made us a civet with a boar he had shot. I don't eat meat but I tasted it to be polite and as meat goes, it was very nice.
As for the squashed frogs...yuk!
Louise 11/02/2007, 17:25
Mind you, it depends if they are two or four-legged frogs!
(???)
ng 11/02/2007, 21:37
Well it depaneds what kind of boar too...as a two legged frog may say!
angela 13/02/2007, 16:55
I see wild boars from time to time when walking my dogs. They look scary and I'm always worried the dogs will provoke them and leave me to face the music.
ColinB 13/02/2007, 18:10
Obélix had the right approach to boars - use them as neck-scarves while still warm, and then onto the spit.....
roger 19/02/2007, 22:31
irritating the boar syndrome - everyone else near us has seen entire families of boar (babies as well) - the closest we came was black blur in the trees.
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Band of Skulls – Sweet Sour
Reviewed By Evelyn Miska Krieger
With a name like Band of Skulls it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the uninitiated expected something much more, well, metal. The reality of the situation couldn’t be much further from the truth. The group which hails from Southampton, England is every inch garage and indie rock and while their sound swings from almost delicate to reminiscent of the White Stripes, it never quite achieves what one might expect from their moniker. That said, once listeners get past the incongruous epithet they’ll find an intriguing and well-crafted collection of songs for the band’s sophomore effort.
While the comparison to The White Stripes isn’t terrifically unusual, it is impossible to ignore the similarities between Band of Skulls and one of the most well-known of garage bands. Songs like “Sweet Sour” and “The Devil Takes Care of His Own” are perfect examples of how well this sound works for Band of Skulls. There’s just the right amount of grit to keep the songs from feeling too slick for the genre and, besides that, they’re simply well-written songs that will keep listeners interested. It may not seem like much of a compliment, but considering the state of some music today, that’s high praise.
However, Band of Skulls isn’t simply a one trick pony. While they could have recorded 10 tracks that all had that energetic but rough feel, instead, they mixed in some Indie influences like on songs such as “Hometowns.” The song comes off as so simple when compared to the relatively complex other tracks, but that’s part of its beauty. Keeping it stripped down to a pretty guitar melody and strong harmonizing vocals by Emma Richardson and Russell Marsden was a wise approach and allows one to really get a good understanding of their range. “Lay My Head Down” is similar in nature, but has a tiny bit of a psychedelic rock feel, just enough to keep it different but there’s enough continuity that it isn’t a shocking shift.
While Sweet Sour doesn’t exactly have any one track that leaps out at listeners on the first run through, it has a great deal going for it. There’s nothing frantic about the album; it is methodical and clearly carefully considered but maintains enough of that garage style to keep it from being too polished. Even if their name and style don’t seem to go together, their songs clearly come from a united vision.
Feb 28, 2012 | CdReviews
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Home / New Hampshire Motor Speedway / Rebecca Kivak / TV Schedule / TV Schedule: July 15-17
TV Schedule: July 15-17
Rebecca Kivak
New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Credit: Todd Warshaw/NASCAR via Getty Images
NASCAR heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for close-quarters racing at the Magic Mile.
The Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series converge on the one-mile oval track.
The Camping World Truck Series is on a break and will return next Wednesday at Eldora Speedway.
The following is a handy guide to track events at New Hampshire. All times are in Eastern Standard Time.
Friday, July 15:
11:30 a.m. Sprint Cup Series practice, NBCSN
1 p.m. XFINITY Series practice, NBCSN
2 p.m. K&N Pro Series Race: Stateline Speedway (taped), NBCSN
3 p.m. XFINITY Series final practice, NBCSN
4:30 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, NBCSN
10 a.m. Sprint Cup Series practice, CNBC
11:15 a.m. XFINITY Series Qualifying, NBCSN
12:30 p.m. Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN
3:30 p.m. XFINITY Series Countdown, NBCSN
4 p.m. XFINITY Series AutoLotto 200, NBCSN
6:30 p.m. XFINITY Series Post-Race Show, NBCSN
Sunday, July 17:
10:30 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
1 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Countdown, NBCSN
1:30 p.m. Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire 301, NBCSN
5 p.m. Sprint Cup Series Post-Race Show, NBCSN
11:30 p.m. NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
TV Schedule: July 15-17 Reviewed by Rebecca Kivak on Friday, July 15, 2016 Rating: 5
Tags New Hampshire Motor Speedway X Rebecca Kivak X TV Schedule
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Home Kansas News Home Economics Hall Center announces its 2015-2016 Humanities Lecture Series
Hall Center announces its 2015-2016 Humanities Lecture Series
Posted By: Editoron: May 11, 2015 In: Home Economics, News EventsNo Comments
LAWRENCE — The Hall Center for the Humanities announced its Humanities Lecture Series for 2015-2016, which will feature prize-winning historians, sociologists, explorers and podcast hosts. All events are free and open to the public.
Lectures in the upcoming academic year will focus on topics ranging from the rise of political conservatism to ways humans interact with the Great Barrier Reef.
The first speaker in the series is Rick Perlstein, “chronicler extraordinaire of American conservatism” and The New York Times best-selling author. His lecture, “The Invisible Bridge: From Nixon to Reagan to Palin and Beyond,” explores the rise of modern American conservatism, beginning with Reagan and still reverberating today in how America’s politicians make decisions about global warming, the financial crisis and the war in Iraq.
Next in the series is University of Wisconsin sociologist Alice Goffman. She will examine the largely hidden world of police beatings, court fees, sentencing hearings, and low-level warrants that pervade daily life for young people in one poor black neighborhood in Philadelphia. By Goffman’s sophomore year in college, she had moved into the neighborhood she calls Sixth Street and befriended the young men caught up in court cases, probation and parole supervision, and low-level warrants.
Krista Tippett, journalist, entrepreneur and winner of the National Humanities medal, will focus on the central question of being alive: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live? Her Civil Conversations Project has focused these questions on public life, in practical terms, for communities from the Deep South to Harvard Law School. She will speak about how we can all begin to create the conversations we want to be hearing, where we live.
The Series will feature Iain McCalman’s “The Great Barrier Reef: How Human Stories Matter.” The acclaimed historian and explorer will take audiences on a new adventure into the Great Barrier Reef to reveal how our shifting perceptions of the natural world have shaped this extraordinary seascape.
Hannah Britton is KU associate professor of political science and women, gender & sexuality studies as well as director of the Center for the Study of Injustice. In this role, she coordinates KU’s Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Initiative, which is a working group of faculty and students engaged in teaching and research about slavery and trafficking. Her talk will focus on human trafficking in the heartland.
Robin D.G. Kelley is one of the most distinguished experts on African-American studies and a celebrated professor who has lectured at some of America’s highest learning institutions. His talk focuses on the killing of Mike Brown and the wave of anti-police protests, and he suggests that the struggle for justice for Brown and other victims is not new, but is a casualty of a war originating more than 500 years ago, a war to colonize, dispossess, enslave and deny rights of citizenship to African-Americans.
“Each year we invite six renowned speakers to campus to promote engaged discussion of fundamental themes in the humanities and social sciences,” said Victor Bailey, Hall Center director. “Next year’s lecture series offers an exciting and diverse roster of public commentators on themes that define and challenge our times.”
Founded in 1947, the Humanities Lecture Series is the oldest continuing series at KU. More than 150 eminent scholars from around the world have participated in the program, including author Junot Diaz, actress and playwright Natasha Trethewey, and political analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
The full schedule is below.
Rick Perlstein, “The Invisible Bridge: From Nixon to Reagan to Palin and Beyond,” 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16, Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Union
Alice Goffman, “On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21, The Commons, Spooner Hall
Krista Tippett, “The Adventure of Civility,” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17, Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Union
Iain McCalman, “The Great Barrier Reef: How Human Stories Matter,” Feb. 10, The Commons, Spooner Hall
Hannah Britton, “Human Trafficking in the Heartland,” March 22, The Commons, Spooner Hall
Robin D.G. Kelley, “Mike Brown’s Body: A Meditation on War, Race and Democracy,” April 14, Lied Center Pavilion.
Contact: Samantha Bishop Simmons, Hall Center for the Humanities, 785-864-1205, [email protected]
Tags: hall centerhumanitieslectureNational Humantitiesspeaker
OneEighty Classic Golf Tournament
July Freedom Run/Walk
Summer Shopping Carnival
These KU Students Are Helping Revive Journalism In Eudora, Kansas
Riverfest Car Show, June 8th at Century II.
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‘Roma’ Review
HomeReviews‘Roma’ Review
02/04/2019 Travis Burgess Alfonso Cuáron, Marina de Tavira, Netflix, Reviews, Roma, Yalitza Aparicio 0 Comments
I do not exaggerate when I say there hasn’t been a film like Roma in almost seventy years. Not since the days of Orson Welles and Yasujirō Ozu has there been a film as rich, alive, subtle, grandiose, and honest as what Alfonso Cuarón has accomplished. It’s a stunning work of the littlest and grandest of details, of rich themes told in the most modest of ways; it’s an intimate self-portrait that is unselfish and unflattering in its execution, and that tells a story with the clarity and surrounding details of Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo. It’ll stick with you long after viewing, and will slowly grow as you take the time to unpack its vastness. In short, Roma is art.
Cleo Gutiérrez (Yalitza Aparicio) is a maid and a nanny for the upper-middle-class household of Antonio (Fernando Grediaga), a doctor, and Sofia (Marina de Tavira) in a suburb in Mexico. She splits her time cleaning the house, caring for the four children, and going out with her friends, including her handsome young boyfriend Fermín (Jorge Antonio Guerrero). The film follows Cleo and the family over the tumultuous period of 1970-1971, as political upheavals shake the country, personal hardships shake the household, and Cleo discovers that she is pregnant.
What’s incredible about Roma is the sheer depth of its storytelling while slyly avoiding turning it into a message movie. Much like Charles Dickens disguised A Tale of Two Cities as an epic love story and Frank Capra disguised his critique/appraisal of 1940s America in a series of upbeat dramedies, so too has Cuarón woven in issues of class, family, indoctrination, political upheaval, and the loss of innocence into a story that, at the end of the day, never leaves the inner workings of one house and one family. Occasionally, you hear at the dinner table about some poor child being shot in the streets by the military, or of a student protest that is being organized, or of some distant land grab by the Mexican government, but it very rarely has a direct effect on the family themselves. You know that important things are happening, but it is only a part of the tapestry when Cleo wills it to be. No, instead Cuarón corrals these themes inside the daily activities of Cleo and mother Sofia, in a way that keeps his messages and ideas ever-present, but never overwhelming. The most important of these themes, undeniably, is class, and its effects on the family dynamic. Cuarón is interested in exploring the class relations, the power dynamics, and the question of equality existing inside the system, be it in 1970 or now. He makes this clear early on with some obvious metaphors – there’s a juxtaposition between an “upper-class” and “lower-class” party involving walking down a flight of stairs, an analogy that has been put to good use in Titanic and Downton Abbey. However, it goes beyond just the usual representations of class – there’s several layers being explored all at once. For one, there’s the unspoken commentary of Cleo’s race – while the family is clearly of Spanish heritage, Cleo is Mixtec, indigenous to the continent and therefore seen as lesser in Mexican society. There’s also the repeated motif of water, which represents Cleo’s place in society. Just as water if always seen as the intermediary between the earth and the sky, never fitting into either plane of existence (the very first shot is of water cast across linoleum, placing the sky on display), Cleo is the intermediary between worlds; she’s a part of the family, but not quite. Each character expresses their love for her, whether in words or in actions (like buying the best crib possible for her unborn child), but they can never see her as more than a servant. “Thanks for saving my life, Cleo. Can you get me an ice cream sandwich?” It is this divide that makes it so ironic, and yet so poignant when a drunk Sofia tells her that, “We are alone. No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone.” While Sofia means well, and offers her warning as a sign of camaraderie between two women f*cked over by assh*lish men, the irony is that they never really will be a “we” – they will always have that divide between them. And the class divide isn’t only prevalent inside the immediate family. A large portion of the film takes place at a cousin’s estate, which strikes a divide between even the middle class family’s wealth and that of the land-owning rich. While few characters in the film are portrayed as reprehensible, the image of the richer, snobbier, more obnoxious cousins, indifferent to government land-grabs and murders happening in the area and living in a house adorned with the heads of their deceased dogs, draws a contrast to even that of Sofia and Antonio, the latter of whom buys a too-big car in the hopes of fitting in. And speaking of the car, Cuarón isn’t afraid to explore his themes with a bit of humor. There’s a great running joke in he film involving the father parking the family car and the mother. When we first meet the father, he spends almost five minutes meticulously fitting the vehicle into their too-small garage, perfectly maneuvering it to avoid dog sh*t and prevent scratches. After Antonio disappears from the film, we see Sofia drive – and she is obscenely reckless, crashing and destroying it at all costs. This, of course, works on a joke level – she’s a bad driver, ha ha – but it works so much better as you peel away the layers. There’s Sofia’s quest for revenge on the man who left her, the critique of Antonio as a materialist who treats items better than he treats his loved ones, and there’s the fact that the car is too big for their space, criticizing Antonio’s desire to become a part of the wealthy ruling class. All of this from a little joke about a car.
Of course, the film dives into more than just class. As the film takes place in Mexico, 1970-1971, there is also an exploration of politics and history. However, Roma refuses to explore these ideas in the traditional way, and it overwhelmingly refuses to do it in the ham-fisted way of other films, from the average Vice to even the excellent The Shape of Water (made by Cuarón’s friend and contemporary Guillermo del Toro). A quick history lesson: in 1970, Mexico elected Luis Echeverría Álvarez president, considered a major boon for the nation. Elected on the backs of student protests and on the promise of reforms to a broken education and economic system, Álvarez soon reneged on the promises, prompting more uprisings amongst the students of the nation. In retaliation, Álvarez began training groups of young, idealistically patriotic men to infiltrate and quash the protesters. These actions resulted in the June 10th Corpus Christi Massacre, when the paramilitary group, Los Halcones, murdered 120 men, women, and children with bamboo rods and guns as the Mexican army stood idly by. Cuarón carefully explores and dutifully demonstrates all of this, but not in the usual over-the-top method you might expect in a Hollywood film, like those directed by Oliver Stone. Instead, Cuarón slowly lets this story play out in front of us in the form of Cleo’s beau, Fermín. When we first meet Fermín, we are shown that he has a love of martial arts, and that he has been trained to fight and protect himself with a rod. As the film goes on, we see more and more of his “training,” and we slowly see large groups of twentysomethings becoming indoctrinated into a paramilitary organization. By letting this story play out subtly and quietly, it allows the eventual gut-punch – a stunning recreation of the massacre filled with twists, turns, and a meticulous one-shot (more on that in a minute) – to feel deeper, realer, and sharper than if the film had obnoxiously shoehorned in an important moment in modern history. The film even makes note of the fact that Álvarez had backing and training from Richard Nixon and the CIA (revealed later in Freedom of Information documents) in order to crush the rebellions, as a half-second shot and a throwaway line reveal a strange American overseeing the training and effective brainwashing of Los Halcones. That’s right, the film deals with major political scandal and history in a shot lasting .00006 of the film’s runtime. However, in spite of all this, the political and class upheaval, Cleo remains stoic and centered through it all. For her place in the world, that existence in the in-between mentioned above, allows her to find true grace. My favorite moment in the film comes at the martial arts camp, when Cleo watches television personality Professor Zovek teach the trainees that the hardest action in the world is to find “true balance” by closing ones eyes and lifting their legs. All of Los Halcones fail to achieve this balance, as do the wives and girlfriends watching. Only Cleo manages to succeed, without even trying, and without even caring, because that is who she is – she’s a woman who does not worry about her placement in class, or in politics, or in any of the nightmares of everyday life. She gets by with grace, transcending two worlds and being the best person she can be. All of this is clearly and beautifully laid out by Cuarón, and yet he never has to overtly state it – it exists only in subtext, like a fog lifting to reveal a beautiful sunset.
Meanwhile, it’s not just the thematic material that makes this film a true stunner – in terms of sheer technicality, Cuarón has made a film unrivaled by any others in modern history. Every frame is rich in detail, be it narratively, metaphorically, or literally. Because this is a Cuarón film, you can bet there are multiple long shots, but it’s still pretty breathtaking to see him pull it off, whether it’s the riot, the birth of Cleo’s daughter, the car parking sequence, a morning run through the city, a forest fire, or a climactic disaster on the beach (which was famously done in one take). However, it’s not just the long takes that make this film so special – there’s something inherently remarkable about this cinematography that stands tall with the remarkable, vital works of Gregg Toland. The vivid use of black and white reflects the sense of memory permeating the film, but it goes beyond that, drawing from and giving new life to that famous Orson Welles/Peter Bogdanovich quote, “You can’t shoot faces in color the same way you can in black and white.” When the camera lingers on Aparicio’s face, or finds the love and passion in the eyes of a idealistic young man, or captures the anguish on a dying man’s face, every emotion stands out, crisp and clear. And while we’re discussing Welles’ use of cinematography, let’s talk about Roma’s revival of deep focus. Like Welles and Toland, Roma keeps us constantly searching the frame, discovering new details with each viewing and always keeping us guessing at what exactly we should be focused on. Like the legends of old, the deep focus here mimics the many layers of life – while the story rarely expands beyond the borders of the house and the eight people who inhabit it, the deep focus forces us to look deeper, and to notice the dynamics going on both inside the family and out in the world around them. We see that Cleo is incredibly beloved by the family while simultaneously never forgotten as Other; we see small details on the street that would be but a passing moment to others but convey deep meaning to both the characters and the viewer, and so on. Perhaps the most important example of this type of filmmaking comes during a sequence where a character discusses a fraught family situation while a wedding takes place in the background. It is this level of detail that Roma draws from films like Citizen Kane and Tokyo Story, and it is made all the more impressive by Cuarón’s decision to forego his usual cinematographer and shoot the film himself (Cuarón also participated in editing the film). Of course, it makes sense that Cuarón had a hand in every aspect of the filmmaking – this film is so personal, he needed to be as hands-on as possible. And quite frankly, that’s a good thing: the fact that there are so many little overly-specific details permeating the film that it truly feels like a slice of life. It’s not easy to make moments as crazy and as random as naked karate, random and excessively violent fights among family, and a singing Krampus (I assume that’s what he’s supposed to be) illuminated by a forest fire feel natural and slice-of-life – and greater men than Cuarón have tried. However, due to his deft hand as a director, writer, and cinematographer, the scenes feel completely natural and totally honest. In fact, they may be more honest than even Cuarón may want to admit – by utilizing images of childbirth, water, space, beaches, and more, the film clearly draws from the auteur’s previous works, implying that these events early in life help shape you into the person you become. This is a film that works as a visual feast, a metaphorical lesson, and a straightforward story, and like the best films of old, it keeps you guessing when you’re going to be sucked in right up until the point you realize you were invested from the very beginning.
When it comes to the acting, Roma delivers a world-class lesson on minimalistic, natural performances. At the center of it all is Aparicio, a twenty four-year-old teacher making one of the most stunning debuts as an actor since Gabourey Sidibe in Precious, and perhaps even since Harold Russell in 1946. Aparicio has a naturally reactive face, allowing the story to unfold naturally and letting the revelations wash over her quietly and collectively. Her love and her heart carry the film, and they are expressed in the rare instances where she is allowed to express emotion. If you are just starting out as an actor, I would study what Aparicio does during the Hospital scene – it’s truly striking. Meanwhile, de Tavira is a marvel in and of herself. While she certainly is allowed to demonstrate emotions more outwardly than Aparicio, de Tavira also has to constantly hide things – as her life falls apart and her emotions are wrought and abused, she must keep a straight face for the rest of the world – for her children, for her employees, and for those in her social circles. Having to be both outwardly and inwardly emotional is a difficult act to balance, and she does it with absolute grace. And before exploring any other performances, I want to give a quick shout out to Verónica García as Teresa, the children’s grandmother and Sofía’s mother, who imbibes a seemingly small role with loads of gravitas, humor, and naturalism – she not just feels like a grandmother, she feels like she could be your grandmother. The children are surprisingly and smartly interchangeable – I couldn’t tell you a single thing about any of the kids, with the exception of one or two small facts about Paco, Sofi and Pepe (sorry Toño), but that’s kind of the point. They aren’t supposed to be the focus, we’re meant to see the women who raised them to become upstanding human beings. I suppose Carlos Peralta, Diego Cortina Autrey, Daniel Demesa, and Marco Graf do an admirable job, just know that they’re not shaking the child actor game with these performances, and they’re not trying to. Meanwhile, Guerrero and Grediaga give appropriately sleazy performances filled with humor, obnoxiousness, and on occasion, menace (sticking with the first of the three, one of my favorite moments involves Grediaga in his final scene in the film, inside a hospital elevator. I won’t spoil it here). And finally, I want to shout out The Latin Lover as Professor Zovek. It’s a weird, toned-down performance that’s hilarious, emotional, and only a dash terrifying (at least in its end result).
Roma is a film that tricks you into feeling. You’re so busy wondering what each detail means, and why Cuarón chose each shot, you don’t realize that you’ve begun to care for the characters, and you worry about what will happen to them. It’s the perfect blend of emotion and artistic expression, reaching for heights that haven’t been achieved a long time – perhaps only matched by Moonlight in the past three decades. If you can, do try to see Roma on the big screen, without the distractions of modern-day society to drag you down. But if you have the opportunity to watch it on Netflix, do not hesitate: show Netflix that investing in art is worthwhile, and watch an achievement unlike any other this year.
Tags: Alfonso Cuáron, Marina de Tavira, Netflix, Reviews, Roma, Yalitza Aparicio
About Travis Burgess
Travis Burgess is the Founder, Writer and Chief Editor at Sacred Wall. Graduating in 2016 from the College of Wooster with a Degree in English and a Minor in Film Studies, Travis decided to use his encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture to inform the world, and turn his critical eye towards his true passions.
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» Commencement
Johns Hopkins SAIS Commencement
Welcome Schedule Important Dates for Graduates Information for Out of Town Guests Map and Parking Information Frequently Asked Questions Disability Accommodations Commencement Archives SAIS Europe Commencement
Important Dates for Graduates
Information for Out of Town Guests
Map and Parking Information
Commencement Archives
SAIS Europe Commencement
Commencement When and Where:
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019 – 11 a.m.
DAR Constitution Hall, 1776 D Street, NW, Washington D.C., 20006
Doors to the hall open at 10 am to all guests and students.
Tickets are required for family and guests of graduates.
The doors will close to all guests and students at 10:50 a.m. and will remain closed until 11:25 a.m. – no exceptions. Do not be late. Plan for traffic and weather.
Reception: A reception will be held at approximately 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004).
Upon entering the Ronald Reagan Building for the reception, you will need to proceed through a security checkpoint where you will pass through a metal detector. Please allow extra time for this process.
Please mark your calendars for these important dates
SAIS Commencement (Washington D.C.)
11:00 a.m
All SAIS students are invited to attend the The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) commencement ceremony in Washington D.C. The ceremony will take place in DAR Constitution Hall, 1776 D Street, NW, Washington D.C., 20006.
JHU Commencement (Baltimore):
All SAIS students are invited to attend The Johns Hopkins University-wide commencement ceremony in Baltimore (Royal Farms Arena). Please indicate that you plan to attend this ceremony when you submit your Application to Graduate. The JHU graduation ceremony begins at 1.30 p.m. Directions, maps and parking information can be found on the University's graduation site. Contact the events team confirm your attendance and receive further instructions.
Graduates or guests requiring special accommodations for disabilities should contact the events team by Monday, May 6, 2019. Please describe the accommodation you are requesting.
SAIS Student Grad Fair (Washington D.C.)
Tuesday and Wednesday, April 23 & 24, 2019 in Kenney Auditorium
Tuesday, April 23, 2019 from 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
All SAIS students are invited to attend the The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Grad Fair in Washington D.C. The Grad Fair will take place in Kenney Herter Auditorium of the Nitze Building.
Below is a list of links that may be helpful to SAIS graduation guests who are visiting from out of town.
2019 Special Hotel Rates for Johns Hopkins SAIS Families
Courtyard by Marriott Washington, DC/Foggy Bottom
515 20th Street NW, Washington, DC 20006
Located within 0.3 miles from DAR Constitution Hall.
$279 per night*
*Rates offered until Monday, April 29, 2019 pending room availability and does not include tax.
Washington, D.C., Transportation:
Metro Trip Planner: Access time-specific rail and bus schedules for your chosen journey.
Google Maps: Get driving and walking directions, or type in an address to locate nearby restaurants, shops, Metro stops and other landmarks.
Local Dining, Sightseeing and Entertainment Information and Tips:
Washington Post City Guide
Lonely Planet Travel Guide
Transportation to and from the Commencement Ceremony
Parking in Washington, D.C. is limited. SAIS and DAR Constitution Hall cannot provide parking spaces for graduation attendees. SAIS suggests guests use the DC Metro system or a taxi. Washington is also a pedestrian-friendly city. The walking distance between SAIS and Constitution Hall is approximately 20-25 minutes.
For guests who need to bring cars, there are public parking garages in the vicinity that may be of use. Near SAIS, for example, there is a limited amount of parking at Park America at 1776 Massachusetts Avenue NW and Colonial Parking at 1625 Massachusetts Avenue NW. In addition, Colonial Parking offers reservable parking near DAR Constitution Hall. See the Visitor Information page for Parking and Directions.
The 2019 SAIS Ceremony will be held on May 22nd at 11 a.m. at DAR Constitution Hall (1776 D St NW, Washington, DC 20006).
A reception will follow from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004).
Baltimore Commencement
The university-wide commencement ceremony in Baltimore will be held Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 1:30 p.m., Royal Farms Arena (201 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201). Doors to the arena open at 12 p.m. and all SAIS graduates are welcome to walk in that ceremony as well. SAIS graduates will ask to stand to be recognized. The SAIS graduates will not process across the stage. For more information, please monitor the JHU commencement website.
What is the Grad Fair?
All SAIS students are invited to attend the Grad Fair in the Kenney Herter Auditorium in the Nitze Building. We will be distributing caps & gowns, invitations and tickets, and there will be a demonstration on how to wear your cap & gown. Our team will be available to answer questions about the ceremony and the reception.
Where is the Graduation Reception?
The reception will be held from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004).
Who should I contact with questions?
Email saiscommencement@jhu.edu or call 202.999.3332
How do I apply to graduate?
All graduates must apply for graduation, regardless of whether they are attending the ceremony in May. The deadline for the Application for Graduation is Friday, February 8, 2019. To access and complete the application complete the below steps.
1. SIS self-service (https://sis.jhu.edu).
2. Select the “Registration” menu.
3. Choose “Program of Study” from the drop down.
4. Click “Graduation Application and Verification.”
5. Complete all required fields* and click “Submit.”
6. Print a copy of the application for your record and/or advisor.
*Please use the most current mailing and email address as this will be where you receive all commencement information. Your diploma will be mailed to this address do not attend the ceremony. The registrar will confirm your mailing address closer to commencement.
How do I order my cap and gown?
Caps and gowns are purchased through the Oak Hall Site https://jhu.shopoakhalli.com for $90 to participate in the ceremony no later than March 15, 2019. If you do not order by the March 15 deadline, you can purchase your cap and gown during the SAIS Grad Fair. Please note that you will be charged a $30 late fee and must pay with cash or check.
All students participating in the ceremony must have an approved cap, gown, and hood and tassel to be able to walk in the ceremony. The only exception will be made for those individuals wearing their military dress uniform. Graduate students will be able to keep their caps, gowns and hoods. Ph.D. candidates must purchase or rent gowns.
Caps and gowns will be shipped directly to SAIS and will be available for pickup at the grad fair from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 23 and 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 24, 2019 in Kenney Herter Auditorium. All students who are walking in the graduation ceremony procession must pick up their caps and gowns during this time.
Doctoral students renting regalia must return tam and gown following the last ceremony attended. All rental items are coded. An Oak Hall representative will be there to verify the return of all items. Students will be charged $900 for items not returned by May 24th.
How many tickets can I have for my family and friends?
Graduates may receive an unlimited number of tickets for their guests to enter the graduation ceremony at DAR Constitution Hall. Tickets are free of charge. On your application to graduate, you can indicate the number of tickets that you would like to receive. This number can be updated when you pick up the tickets at the grad fair. Each guest must have to have a ticket to enter the ceremony. This year we will distribute color coded tickets; regular tickets for guests, family members, and friends, tickets for persons with physical disabilities, and VIP’s.
What does my color-coded ticket mean?
White ticket – guest access through the doors on 18th street
Blue ticket – VIP access through the doors on C street
Purple ticket – persons who need physical accommodations enter on D street
All graduates enter through the D street entrance
Is there accessible seating for people who need physical accommodations?
The venue will have designated seating areas for those who require accessible seating options. Color coded tickets, requested by your graduate will be distributed during or after the grad fair. seating is available for the person requiring accessible seating and up to three companions. Once you enter through the D street entrance ushers will escort you to your seats. Please contact saiscommencement@jhu.edu if you need additional assistance. Please email us at saiscommencment@jhu.edu as soon as possible if you need a ticket/s for disability seating.
Where can I get invitations to the ceremony to send out?
SAIS prints generic invitations with envelopes that contain information about the ceremony and commencement speaker. Students may receive up to six invitations when they come to pick up their tickets at the grad fair.
Who is the commencement speaker at this year’s commencement ceremony?
Johns Hopkins SAIS is pleased to announce the 2019 commencement speaker, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.
HRH Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2014–2018). Recognized as a leading and outspoken defender and promoter of universal human rights, he was awarded the Stockholm Human Rights Award in 2015 and the Human Rights Tulip prize in 2018.
Will the graduation ceremony be live streamed/webcast for viewing?
Yes, the graduation ceremony will be live streamed at the time of the event for viewing. The link will be available one week prior to the event.
Are wheelchairs available at the venue?
Wheelchairs are not available at DAR but if you believe you need a wheelchair please contact us two weeks prior to the ceremony.
Should I be worried about the possibility of rain?
DAR will not let anyone in the venue before 10:00 am. Please ensure you have adequate protection from the elements if you arrive before 10:00 am.
Are there any restrictions on what can be brought into the ceremony?
No Balloons, posters, and flowers are permitted into DAR Constitution Hall. All bags and purses could be searched upon entering the arena. Backpacks are not permitted in the arena. Bags and purses larger than 13 5/8″ x 15 1/4″ are also not permitted. Diaper bags are permitted. Please do not bring wrapped gifts into the arena. Re-entry to the arena will not be permitted. Food and drinks may not be brought into the arena unless medically necessary or for small children.
Is there accessible parking available near DAR?
Directions to DAR - by Metro
From the Orange and Blue lines (A 10-15 minute walk):
Take the Farragut West metro stop.
Exit the station on 17th Street and walk south on 17th Street towards Constitution. Turn right on D Street. Look for signs directing you to the entrance that matched the color of your ticket.
The main entrance is in the middle of the block. Go up the stairs to enter the museum.
From the Red Line (A 10-15 minute walk):
Take the Farragut North metro stop.
Exit the station on 17th Street, and walk south on 17th Street towards Constitution. Turn right on D Street.
You should go to 18th street entrance not enter the museum
Metered street parking is available but very limited. Do not rely on this option. Monday through Saturday, two hour parking is enforced from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM for most meters. Colonial Parking offers reservable parking near DAR Constitution Hall.
How will I receive my photo from the ceremony?
Graduates will receive a live proof of a photo of them walking across the stage at the ceremony through email. Once received, orders can be placed online through gradimages.com
What method of transportation do I take to get to the reception?
We recommend you walk over or contact Uber/Lyft to pre-schedule a ride prior to the event. There are also numerous car services in the DC area, and we will be alerting cab companies of the ceremony end time (approximately 1:30).
Patrons with Disability Accommodations
Please contact SAIScommencement@jhu.edu to request accommodations. In all situations, a good faith effort (up until the time of the event) will be made to provide accommodations. The ceremony venue will have designated seating areas for persons needing physical accommodations. Seating is available for the individual and up to three companions on a first-come, first-served basis.
Below are past Commencement that have been archived
2018 Commencement Ceremony Video
2018 Photo Highlights
2018 Commencement Program
Commencement Ceremony Program
SAIS Commencement Ceremony Video
SAIS Commencement Ceremony Program
SAIS Commencement Ceremony Slideshow
To view the Commencement that took place at SAIS Europe, on May 16, 2014. Please click here: SAIS Europe Commencement
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The US in Brazil’s Foreign Policy (ARI)
Carlos Malamud and Carola García-Calvo. ARI 31/2010 (Translated from Spanish) - 3/3/2010
Theme: Brazil has opted for its own foreign policy in Latin America and clashed at times with the new US Administration. What is the state of relations between Brazil and the US? Can Brazil become the leader of South America and take a place on the world stage?
Summary: ‘The search for peace and stability’, as well as respect for human rights and the defence of diversity and freedom of choice, are some of the principles espoused by Brazil in the domestic and foreign elements of its policies. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has thereby won the respect of the international community, as well as credibility. After the initial good impression made by President Barack Obama after promising at the 5th Summit of the Americas in April 2009 to forge an ‘alliance of equals’ with his Latin American neighbours, and despite the admiration that he and Lula have expressed for each other, relations between Brazil and the US have suffered some setbacks on key issues, some of them not limited to the regional sphere. These include the coup d’etat in Honduras, military bases in Colombia, the Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadineyad’s tour of Latin America and the climate talks in Copenhagen. Furthermore, Lula seems to feel more comfortable with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy than with Obama when it comes to sealing strategic alliances in a variety of areas. In recent times Brazil has projected itself as a global player with an independent foreign policy that seeks to achieve ever greater influence, at both the regional and international levels. But many of its decisions have been controversial and compromised its credibility. This ARI reviews Brazilian foreign policy with regard to the US in light of the most important events of the past year. The paper’s goal is to clarify the state of the countries’ bilateral relations and their repercussions both in the region and on Brazil’s drive to be a prominent world player.
Analysis: When Lula da Silva won Brazil's presidential elections in 2002, his US counterpart George W. Bush was caught up in the ‘global war on terror’ following the September 11 attacks and Latin America was no longer a priority for US foreign policy. Despite this, the Bush Administration knew it needed a trustworthy regional partner in order to, as Mónica Hirst has put it, ‘intervene in turbulent, radicalized scenarios or ones characterized by institutional debacle’. Brazil, thanks to its continuity-minded economic management under the Cardoso government, emerged as the partner that Washington was looking for. In this way, Brazil met the White House’s expectations, although making no concessions on its autonomy or ability to take initiatives, as seen in its launching of the ‘global war on poverty’, which was to some extent a counterpoint to the US counter-terror programme. Furthermore, Brazil defended multilateral solutions in response to 9/11 and, in a parallel fashion, made a major effort to globalise its foreign policy, strengthening dialogue with other mid-range powers (India, South Africa and Russia) and some African countries.
At the bilateral level, the Brazilian and US agendas clashed on four key points: (1) the failure of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA); (2) the tariffs imposed on imports of Brazilian ethanol, which is made from sugar cane and much cheaper than the US product, which is made from corn; (3) the Brazilian stance in the Doha Round of world trade talks, in favour of cutting US and EU farm subsidies; and (4) reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. After the 4th Summit of the Americas, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 2005, once the proposed FTAA was definitively buried, both governments came to find bio-fuels as the element that would give their relationship a ‘strategic’ dimension. This meant that both sides would accept the existence in practice of areas in which their national interests converged. Aside from ideological questions, relations between Brazil and the US under George Bush can be considered cordial.
In January 2009, after Lula was re-elected, Obama took over as US President. Although the Obama Administration’s relations with its Latin American neighbours were formally established at the 5th Summit of the Americas in Trinidad & Tobago, in which Obama met the 34 regional leaders (from all countries except Cuba), Lula had met Obama previously. This occurred at a bilateral meeting that the US leader had arranged shortly after his term in office started. Obama had also had a bilateral meeting with the Mexican President Felipe Calderón, suggesting he had singled out Brazil and Mexico as strategic regional allies.
Along with Spain, and eventually Canada and China, the US was the only country with an overall agenda for the region. However, political differences –mainly with the countries of the ALBA grouping– and confrontations –such as Colombia’s with its neighbours– will complicate this vision. This explains the US interest in Brazil and Mexico, which it considers ‘trustworthy’ partners of unquestionable value. In the case of Mexico, the war on drug trafficking, immigration issues and economic interdependence between the two countries are fundamental in the relationship. As for Brazil, the bilateral agenda centres on energy, trade and Brazilian leadership in South America.
At the G-20 summit in London and at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad & Tobago, Brazil took on the role of regional leader, so it avoided addressing bilateral issues. It seems clear, in the framework of the ‘independence’ Brazil insists on touting in its foreign policy, that Lula chose to use his privileged position with the US to shore up his regional leadership, which, for a variety of reasons, is not quite taking root. In part this is because Brazil’s South America policy, in the opinion of María Regina Soares de Lima, has raised fears among its neighbours of Brazilian expansionism, as well as excessive expectations over Brazil’s ability and willingness to provide collective value at the regional or bilateral level. But it is also because the current government’s drive for regional leadership depends on ‘the willingness of Brazil’s elite and society to acknowledge that the current investment in regional cooperation is in Brazil’s long-term interest’. As a result, the US and Brazil set out on a honeymoon that would soon go sour, giving rise to a series of disappointments and fallouts between them.
On one hand, Lula was disappointed by what he feels is the scant attention Obama pays to Latin America: ‘worries over Iraq, or Afghanistan, or health care, are preventing Obama from devoting more attention to Latin America’. After the Summit of the Americas, the new policy that Obama announced for Latin America got kicked off with old and respected faces: Tom Shannon, appointed ambassador to Brazil, had to remain in charge of relations with Latin America until November 2009 because Arturo Valenzuela, designated Under-Secretary of State for Latin America, could not take up his post any sooner; his nomination and that of Shannon were held up in the Senate. Relations were also disrupted at the regional level by tensions between Colombia and Venezuela over the US military’s use of Colombian military bases, the crisis in Honduras and the Iranian President’s ninth tour of Latin America –with a stopover in Brasilia for the first time–. At the global level, US-Brazil ties were strained by the deadlock at the Doha Round of trade talks and the countries’ opposing positions on climate change.
The Regional Agenda
The first friction arose with the announcement in of the accord reached in October between Colombia and the US, under which US Army soldiers would use Colombian military bases in the war on guerrillas and drug trafficking. Brazil’s position was summed up by Lula, who echoed the generalised sense of discontent in South America over the deal reached by President Alvaro Uribe and Obama: ‘We do not need American bases in Colombia to fight drug trafficking in South America. We are going to take it upon ourselves to fight drug trafficking within our borders’. In the same line, Lula’s main adviser for international affairs, Marco Aurelio García, told Arturo Valenzuela in December that it was ‘Brazil’s impression that the presence of outside troops in the region is not a positive factor’. He stressed that Latin American countries reject any hint of US interference in their internal affairs. Again, and setting aside doubts over how serious South America is about fighting drugs, Brazil became a sort of authorised middleman for dealings between the US and Latin America.
The two governments clashed again over the resolution of the political crisis in Honduras. A few days before the Honduran presidential election in November, the US Administration said it would recognise both the results and the new President even if ousted President Manuel Zelaya were not restored to power before the voting. This was a key condition that Brazil and most Latin American countries had set for recognising the elections as legitimate. When he heard news of the US stance, Marco Aurelio García expressed the opinion shared by most of Latin America: ‘we find it regrettable that there could be an attempt to wipe away a coup d’etat with an electoral process in a country that has lived in a virtual state of siege for the past few months’.
It was the Iranian President’s visit to Brazil in late November that raised questions about the pragmatism or underlying ideology of Brazil’s foreign policy. Leaving commercial interests aside –Brazil is Iran’s largest trading partner in Latin America, with trade in 2008 totalling US$1,263 million (88% more than in 2007, according to IMF figures)– Lula’s receiving Ahmadineyad with honours was criticised by Brazil’s opposition and its media, as well as by the international media. As the Iranian leader arrived in Brazil, the United Nations announced new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
The US position on this issue was contradictory. On one hand, the US was cautious about Brazil’s statement that it defended Iran’s right to have a ‘nuclear programme for peaceful ends’, similar to the one Brazil is developing. Brazil said ‘what we defend for Brazil we defend for other countries as well’. In fact, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton subsequently warned about the consequences of strategic alliances with Iran, which she called the ‘the greatest assistant, promoter and exporter of terrorism’ in today’s world. But on the other hand, days before Ahmadineyad landed in Brasilia, Obama sent Lula a letter in which he praised Brazil’s initiative to encourage and mediate in dialogue between the Iranians and the West on the nuclear issue and Brazil’s possible role as an intermediary in the Mid-East conflict (something for which Brazil already has the support of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority). Obama also asked Brazil to intercede on behalf of three Americans being held by Iran. Obama thus suggested that an internationally active Brazil favoured cooperation with the US. Despite the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s attempts to capitalise on the Brazil stopover by Ahmadineyad as boosting the ‘anti-imperialist’ cause, the Iranian leader’s trip to Brazil can, from several standpoints, be considered different from those he made to Venezuela and Bolivia, starting with the speeches that were made. While Lula left no room for improvisation and in a carefully planned address defended his model of democracy, avoiding any anti-imperialist rhetoric, Chávez and the Bolivian President Evo Morales did so time and time again in the days after the visit and at the 8th Summit of the ALBA countries, held in Cuba in December.
Another crucial issue on the regional agenda is Cuba, the same one with which Obama opened his Latin America agenda. In December 2008, before Obama took power, Brazil hosted four simultaneous summits that served to reinforce its regional leadership.[1] Some of the most significant achievements at those meetings were Cuba’s full incorporation into the Latin American system through its joining the Rio Group and statements by Latin American Presidents in favour of Cuba being readmitted to the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the holding of a similar summit without the US or the EU. These statements enhanced Brazil’s leadership in South America. Taking advantage of his success in hosting the four summits, Lula warned that Obama’s victory would be historic if, among other things ‘he actually ends the embargo against Cuba, which has no economic or political explanation’.
Obama did not keep people waiting, and, dodging the confrontation that the Cuba issue might raise at the 5th Summit of the Americas, where he met for the first time with most of Latin America’s Presidents, on 13 April 2009 he announced the lifting of all restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba. This complemented an earlier measure that eased the limitations on trips by Cuban-Americans and the money they can spend in Cuba. However, neither of these gestures served to loosen up the positions of Raúl Castro and his brother Fidel. To date, they have not taken effective steps to show a will for ‘open dialogue’ with the US. There is no doubt that Cuba has become ‘the yardstick on which many regional governments want to make their relations with the US depend’. However, and despite the fact that all the countries of the region support letting Cuba rejoin the OAS, there are different positions, which range from the most vehement of ALBA countries to those which are less ideological, such as Mexico. Brazil’s position is somewhat more lukewarm: while it does not support the views of Chávez, it does not condemn them either. In other areas Brazil and Cuba maintain good trade relations: Brazil is Cuba’s second-largest trading partner in Latin America, after Venezuela, and its sixth overall. Last year trade with the island totalled US$481 million. Brazil and Cuba have also signed important energy accords.
In any case, a bilateral relationship is a two-way street, and although Brazil has criticised some US decisions and positions in the region, and said repeatedly that Obama has done virtually nothing to create a new relationship with Latin America, the Brazilian government has not taken any firm steps either to strengthen its ties with Washington. Therefore, it is worth asking if its position on Cuba is the best way to do that, or if its constant concessions to Chávez are. The last one came from Dilma Rousseuf, Minister of the Presidency and candidate of the Workers Party in the next presidential election, when she refrained from criticising nationalisations in Venezuela or Chávez’s treatment of the Venezuelan news media. It would seem that Brazil is willing to demand and receive things from the US without giving anything in return.
In mid-December, after the Republican veto was overcome, and despite the emergence of some discrepancies after the Summit of the Americas, Arturo Valenzuela made his first official tour of Latin America. It was no coincidence that his first stop was Brazil. In a reaffirmation of Brazilian autonomy, understood as ‘affirmation of national interests’, Valenzuela was not received by either the President or Foreign Minister, but rather by Marco Aurelio García. This was a way of protesting against comments by Hillary Clinton on the Iranian issue. Still, the meeting was cordial and the two countries addressed all the issues on their bilateral agenda, although they only managed to narrow differences somewhat on the crisis in Honduras. Thus, the US Government felt that Zelaya was the legitimate President and that the triumph of Porfirio Lobo in the elections in December had not settled the crisis. The Americans argued that several steps would be needed to resolve the crisis, starting with the formation of a ‘national unity’ government run by Lobo and the defining of Zelaya’s status. On this point, Valenzuela and García agreed on the importance of Zelaya obtaining safe passage to leave the Brazilian Embassy, where he had taken refuge since September. The successful diplomacy of the Dominican President Leonel Fernández managed to get Zelaya out of Honduras and, after the beginning of Lobo’s term in office, conditions are now in place for Latin America to recognise his government. The narrowing of differences between Brazil and the US can be considered a success for Brazilian diplomacy, whose position in this case represented that of most Latin American countries. On the other hand, where there was dialogue but no coming together was on the other two points on the regional agenda: Iran’s role in Latin America and the US use of Colombian bases. This is evidence that the future of the relationship is not going to be easy.
The Global Agenda
As for its global agenda, it seems that Brazil has not chosen to enhance cooperation with the US but rather to improve that which it already had with France. In this way Lula’s government hopes to consolidate its presence on the world stage and achieve its main goal in this area: a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Before the climate change summit in Copenhagen, Lula met President Nicolás Sarkozy in Paris on 14 November. Then the Manaos Summit was convened, for the 27th of that month, for all the countries of the Amazon region to decide on a common position at the climate change summit. Meanwhile, Obama met Hu Jintao on 17 November. Climate change was one of the key issues at that bilateral meeting between China and the US. However, once the summit was underway, and faced with the threat of its failure, Obama telephoned Lula as part of US efforts to seek a positive result. In that conversation Obama stressed the ‘the importance of the two countries continuing to work together closely to achieve a firm agreement’ and said ‘the role that Brazil plays is key’.
Brazil is the world’s fifth-worst polluter as a result of the deforestation of the Amazon basin. According to official data from 2000, in the 15 previous years emissions of greenhouse gases in Brazil rose by 62%. After the disappointing Copenhagen talks, Lula sanctioned the new national law on climate, which commits the country to cutting emissions by 38.9% while increasing and encouraging production of clean sources of energy. This initiative could turn Lula into the ‘world’s key climate change broker during his last year in office’.[2]
The G-20 meeting in London also showed how warm the ties are between Brasilia and Paris, leaving Washington on the sidelines. Although at their first bilateral meeting Lula and Obama addressed common positions for overcoming the crisis, in the end it was Sarkozy, at a meeting in Paris, who agreed with Lula on an agenda for the G-20, just a few days before that meeting in London. On 15 June, Lula said Brazil and France ‘are on the same wavelength, and this is seen in the G-14, the G-20 and other international forums, as well as in the UN Security Council’. One month later, in July 2009, days before the G-8 summit, Lula and Sarkozy published an editorial simultaneously in Liberátion and A Folha de Sâo Paulo in which they called for creating an ‘alliance for change’. Its mission would be to restructure and monitor international financial institutions, broaden representation on the Security Council and give priority to the fight against climate change so as to ‘rise to meet the challenges of our century’. They also said their countries shared a common vision ‘of a new multilateralism adapted to a multi-polar world’.
These shared visions culminated in the recent sale of 36 French fighter-bombers to Brazil, in a deal the Swedish company Saab and Boeing of the US were also interested in. As proof of the US interest, the Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Ellen Tauscher, said on 2 November 2009, referring to the Boeing F-18s: ‘They are the best planes with the best technology and a complete transfer of technology. President Barack Obama is personally involved in the deal, and it would be a great opportunity to deepen the US-Brazil relationship’. However, the Brazilian government had already shown preference for the Rafale planes built by the French company Dassault. Although they are more expensive than their US competitors –the initial investment is estimated at US$6 billion– they would allow technology transfers that are less rigid than those of the US, leaving Brazil with its hands free to sell the planes it makes to other countries of Latin America. According to Brazilian sources, the French accepted not only technology transfer but also gave Brazil ‘unrestricted sovereignty’ in the use and marketing of the planes, as well as a last-minute discount. Aside from the military alliance between France and Brazil, the Brasilia government has not forgotten that in 2005 the US vetoed a planned sale of Brazil’s Super Tucano planes to Venezuela on the grounds that the aircraft featured sensitive US-made components. To this one should add the recent political disputes between the US and Brazil on the US use of military bases in Colombia and the crisis in Honduras.
Finally, one should note the stalemate in the Doha Round of world trade talks, which began in 2001 and deadlocked in July 2008, and disputes at the WTO. As for the Doha Round, in September 2009 the Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorín and the US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said they believed the talks could conclude in 2010 although ‘it is going to require a major effort’. With regard to the bilateral relationship, the WTO gave Brazil authorisation to slap trade sanctions on the US over its cotton subsidies, a decision which the US accepted. However, more recently the Brazilian government has expressed concern over its trade relationship with the US. According to official statistics, Brazilian exports to the US fell by 42.2% in 2009. That meant a 32.7% decrease in Brazil’s trade balance, with volumes below the US$53,400 million in trade in 2008. Despite these figures, the US was still Brazil’s largest trading partner in 2009. Brazil’s Ministry for Development and Industry said, ‘We have to work harder to retake the US market’. More recently, on 11 January 2010 Valor reported that Brazil’s government feels that one of the priorities of its foreign policy is to sign a trade and investment deal with the US.
Brazil’s strategic alliance with France in the areas mentioned earlier not only competes with US interests in Latin America but also with those of Spain. Although Spain signed a strategic partnership agreement with Brazil in 2003, it has not been used or given specific content. Rivalry between Brazil and Spain has prevented, as Susanne Gratius said in a recent study, the two countries from launching ‘joint proposals and developing common positions in the global arena’. A country like Spain, which aspires to having its own agenda in Latin America and wants to serve as a bridge between it and the EU, should take better care of its relationship with Brazil. Here, up to a point, it would seem Sarkozy is doing a better job.
Conclusions: Brazil is trying to take its place on the world stage as a key player but to do this it needs to assert itself robustly at the regional level. Despite Lula’s warm words for Obama, stressing the hopes that the US leader has raised in Latin America and the rest of the world, it seems the Brazilian President is not quite comfortable with the US when it comes to achieving his goal. This can be interpreted as reflecting Lula’s drive to innovate and strike new political alliances in a multi-polar world or as a reaffirmation of independence from the all-powerful US with an eye to regional leadership. In any case, in both scenarios it seems difficult for Brazil not to work with the US, as seen in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. Although Brazil was one of the countries most involved in helping Latin America’s poorest nation, the Haitian catastrophe showed the limits that some countries face and the power wielded by others. Still, Brazil has done much of what it needs to do to assert itself as the region’s leader. But at the same time Brazil needs to be more precise in its positions; the paradigmatic case is Cuba, the thermometer for continental alliances. What seems clear is that a relationship is a two-way street. And despite the US’s clearly stated interest in having a closer relationship with Brazil, the latter has not yet given signs that it wants to take part in such a plan, instead seeking other allies such as Sarkozy.
Senior Analyst for Latin America, Elcano Royal Institute
Carola García-Calvo
Elcano Royal Institute
[1] See Carlos Malamud (2009), ‘Four Latin American Summits and Brazil’s Leadership’, Working Paper 3/2009, Elcano Royal Institute.
[2] Paul Isbell (2009), “Lula could become key climate change broker in 2010”, The Interamerican Dialogue, 4/I/2010.
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Collaroy Beach
JOHN CHUBIK
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa Missions | California, USA
John Chubik served for 18 years as a Christian educator and church planter in Eastern Europe. He currently serves as an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa where he helps lead the church’s International outreach and also oversees the So-Loved Cross-Cultural Fellowship.
PETE NELSON
One Love Church, Thousand Oaks | California, USA
As a pastor, musician, and evangelist, Pete Nelson's worldwide travels have given him a unique perspective on the church as well as the global need for the Gospel. Pete received Christ as a senior in high school. By age 19, Pete was leading evangelism efforts and teaching Bible studies. As a youth pastor, Pete formed a band, The Kry. The success of The Kry launched Pete into evangelism on a global level, traveling worldwide, preaching the Gospel, and planting churches throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia. Pete's previous pastoral experience includes: senior pastor at Calvary of Albuquerque, founding pastor of White Fields Community Church in Longmont, Colorado, and teaching pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Pete recently planted One Love Church in Sydney, Australia, and is now currently planting One Love Church in Thousand Oaks, California. Pete is married to Angie and has three children and two grandchildren.
DAVE SYLVESTER
Calvary Chapel York | York, England
Pastor, Calvary Chapel Bible College York director, missionary, worship leader, husband, father, grandfather, lover and follower of Jesus. Dave, his wife Nancy, and their 3 children moved to England in 1994, planted Calvary Chapel York in 1996, and now have 4 children, 6 grandchildren, a beautiful growing church family, and Bible College.
Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord - Acts 3:19
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