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The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes
Jonathan Rose
New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 2001, ISBN: 9780300088868; 544pp.; Price: £29.95
Professor Donald MacRaild
University of Ulster
Professor Donald MacRaild, review of The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (review no. 303)
https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/303
Date accessed: 17 July, 2019
The enormously energetic working-class reading cultures occupying the core of Jonathan Rose’s magnificent study grew up from rather unpromising roots. For long periods, reading, like publishing, could be a dangerous business. In the sixteenth century, Thomas Cranmer had ‘proposed to confiscate heretical texts and prosecute bible readers’; and, as Rose informs us, ‘at least twenty people were burned for discussing heresy between 1539 to 1546’. We can see where Cranmer was coming from: just like Carlo Ginzburg’s Mennochio the Miller, in The Cheese and the Worms (Routledge & Kegan Paul; London, 1980), those who could read might develop critical, political views or levelling tendencies. Robert Darnton’s Forbidden Bestsellers of Pre-Revolutionary France (W.W. Norton; New York and London, 1995) shows that the authorities, fully in awe of the power of the word, worked themselves into frenzies about books, burning dummy tomes and imprisoning booksellers. In these early times, publishing and reading might have carried a health warning.
Nevertheless, if a vigorous reading culture could be developed and maintained in earlier times, against such zealous policing, then we might expect that those who had the tools to do so would read as much of anything as they could. Indeed, one of the themes of Rose’s massive, evocative book is the indiscipline with which the discipline of reading was developed. Learning to read required staying power. Finding time to read inevitably meant rubbing against that great monolith, work; but even so, the reading culture of the working classes, from the eighteenth century onwards, was widespread, sometimes indiscriminate, and occasionally lacking in an internal logic – except to say that reading, any sort of reading, was somehow good for mind and soul. Thus, in the 1930s, Welsh miners read Das Kapital, Jane Eyre, and Tarzan of the Apes.
Rose owes an enormous debt of gratitude to John Burnett, David Mayall and David Vincent (which he fully acknowledges), for it was their exhaustive compilation of working-class autobiographies [The Autobiography of the Working Class. An Annotated Critical Bibliography (3 vols; Harvester; Brighton, 1984-89] that provided the springboard for the Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes. Rose also follows in the tradition of Vincent’s important books, Bread, Knowledge and Freedom (Europa; London, 1981) and Literacy and Popular Culture. England 1750-1914 (Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, 1989). Rose’s study also might be seen as a development from John Carey’s The Intellectuals and the Masses. Pride and Prejudice amongst the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880-1939 (Faber and Faber; London, 1992). Although Rose's and Carey’s are different types of studies, they share at least one common theme: the impact of a working-class desire to consume a culture normally associated with those who were traditionally highly educated. Carey's and Rose’s modernist writers–notably, Shaw and Lawrence – were fearful of the impact of a wider reading culture; they were also perhaps surprised at the success of those who produced popular fiction for the masses. Perhaps the elites had seen the way things really were. After all, if a Welsh miner would read Marx and the Brontës but not Woolf and O’Neill, it might be that the latter authors, not the readers, had got it wrong. Or perhaps the miners of Wales were snobs, preferring real classics of literature to (what were then, among the middle classes, at any rate) modish books?
Whereas Carey focuses on elite grumblings about the baseness of working-class reading habits and their potentially challenging effects, Rose aims to elevate the working class from the position of unthinking consumers of ‘low’ culture. Rose also seeks to show that not everything the ordinary man or woman read was trashy and inferior. Working-class people may not have read books with an academic vision, but they still sought classics and highbrow works. Moreover, those who thirsted for reading material were not only men. There was surprise and even alarm that women accounted for eight and 13 per cent respectively of subscribers to Alexander Pope’s Iliad and Odyssey. This situation was not considered agreeable by the men of the early eighteenth century. Rose reminds us of the comment of Thomas Burnet and George Duckett: because of Pope, ‘every Country Milkmaid may understand the Illiad as well as you or I’. Not milkmaids, perhaps; but women, nevertheless. Similar fears were expressed with respect of how reading might affect men well above the social rank of the common farm servant. Francis Place, the noted nineteenth-century political activist and tailor, had orders cancelled by middle-class clients who could not stomach the idea of a needle-smith like him possessing more than 1000 books. And the pressure to conform to a particular (much narrower) reading culture than the likes of Place could countenance, also caused problems in the twentieth century. Not unlike a sketch from Monty Python, some families were worried when their kin ‘came out’ as thinkers, writers and aesthetes. An Irish labourer in Scotland, who tried to write (rather than simply read) literature was horribly scorned by his brother: ‘If you’d just been a poof the priest could have talked to you or one of us could have battered it out of you. But what the hell can anyone do about a writer?’
While Rose’s book springs from a important tradition of working-class history, this does not mean that the Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes does not stand on its own – it does, most assuredly so. It is, in fact, a brilliantly illuminating analysis of the impulses that shaped working-class reading culture, from sheer autodidactism, early education reform, revolutions in printing, working men’s clubs, the settlement movement, theatre and music hall, the Workers’ Educational Association, the Open University, and much else besides. This is a book about what people read before radio and television took over their lives (though it is also about what sort of radio they liked to listen to – and it was not all low-brow stuff). Nor was what they read merely restricted to popular fiction; at the same time as workers eschewed the modernists they were also reading H. L. Gates’ revelatory account of the Armenian massacres of 1915 [Ravished Armenia; or, "The Auction of Souls" (1919)]. Predictably, at around the same time, Robert Tressell’s Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (first published 1914) was well-thumbed by members of the same class as the heroes of the book: you did not have to be a future MP to exclaim at the tuberculosis of Owen or wince at the grisly self-slaughter of ‘Nimrod’.
Rose’s task of recording, reporting and explaining is made more difficult by his subjects’ refusal to be bound by simple or uniform ideals. A singular theory thus escapes us. We might have expected to be able to chart working-class reading culture according to a simple model or two: but this cannot happen. Individual choices as well as common moods and shared fashions rest at the heart of Rose’s book – as a result, his thesis is complicated and multi-layered. Autodidactic culture did not simply die out with the education reforms of the mid-nineteenth century: neither Forster nor Mundella fundamentally changed the way many people thought about the world of their reading. Increasing literacy levels simply opened up new possibilities. Far from producing a dull, conformist intellectual gruel, schooling provided ordinary men and women with further filters to apply to their vision of the world; and the skills in reading which might otherwise have been more difficult to achieve, were instead instilled by the state. Interestingly, then, few of the autobiographers and diarists used by Rose express loathing of school; most, in fact, seem to have been content there. This might simply be because school appeared easy next to work – I remember this as a genuinely and wistfully expressed view among my own father’s peers as they trudged off to work in the local shipyard. Schooldays were indeed the happiest days when much of the rest of adult life would be spent sweating inside torpedo tubes and the like with red-hot and dangerous welding all around. Such approval for school undoubtedly also developed among those who wrote of their lives because, without the core elements of education, no such task could have been undertaken. Whatever the cause of this obsession with the written word, visitors to Britain from overseas continued to be amazed about how much the working classes read. Elsewhere, according to Carl Moritz (1782), reading was restricted to the higher order; in Britain, it was pervasive and crossed the lines of class.
Equally, the independence of thought and action which is implied in the miraculous tales of weavers or miners skimming the pages during (or between) bouts of work does not lead to the emergence of a simple, teleological relationship between literacy and politics. True, weavers could be (and were) radical; true, they also had prodigiously high literacy levels (as noted in the west Lowlands of Scotland). This was because a book could be propped up on the weaving frame and read as the shuttle flew. We know of the weavers’ literacy rates because of the levels at which they subscribed to magazines and periodicals. And it is also true that they were early to organise in protection of their craft (though technological change meant they had to). But reading did not lead straight into Chartism or the Labour Party. It could also lead towards a conservative disposition on the part of some; it also created that curious breed the working-class Tory, all imperial loyalty and Primrose League. What reading mainly did, which cut across political affiliations, was to create a questioning mind. As well as that, it also caused the welling up of a generalised appreciation of the brilliance of the book and a worship of culture as a thing to consume.
Less surprising than the complicated class position of reading, however, is the fact that women were less well represented than men, as poets, writers or indeed as known consumers of texts. This remained the case until probably the later nineteenth century. In even more general terms, Rose subscribes to the view that the dictum ‘knowledge is power’ really meant something to the pre-twentieth-century worker. We might also add that the power ran in numerous different ways. There can be no doubt that reading bonded people into social groups; and when it did this, it also held out the chance of creating political linkages. Thus, Rose rightly highlights the miners’ institutes of South Wales as ‘one of the greatest networks of cultural institutions created by working people anywhere in the world.’ By the Second World War, for instance, the Tredegar Workmen’s Institute had a library that circulated 100,000 volumes per year, a cinema that could seat 800, celebrity concerts, a film society and other events to demonstrate the cultural homogeneity of that community.
The list of what these people read is bewildering. The working man and woman were always more likely to consume yellow press and penny dreadful productions than were the middle classes; but they, too, knew and loved their classics. Few of them went on to become great scholars of the texts they admired; but few were without a critical sense of where their appreciation of Shakespeare or Milton sat in relation to that of others. Among readers, the lunchtime break from work or an evening at the CIU club with ale in hand, could become a competitive journey around critical views as to the meaning of this or that text. Working-class people also appear (at least from my reading of Rose’s book) to have been adept at implying social relevance and political metaphor in the works they read. Perhaps everyone reads literature with the present in mind. If so, it is no surprise that the horny-handed fustian-jacketed reader saw worlds of unequal privilege upended (or else endorsed) in works of literature.
Perhaps the most controversial of Rose’s chapters is the one in which he lays down further reasons why Britain developed no mass Marxist tradition. Some of his arguments are convincing; others less so. Of the latter, it is controversial to claim, as well as difficult to prove, that a mass engagement with Marxist politics was in some way stymied by alienation from individual British Marxists. (Support for Labour was never permanently compromised by the lack of appeal or over-bearing zealousness of many of Britain’s socialists.) Where Rose is on firmer ground is in explaining how Marxists – foolishly, we might argue – strove to undermine many of the writers upon whom Britain’s prodigiously broad-based autodidactic and/or working-class educational culture had been based. Declaring the classics of English literature to be bourgeois was bound to remove a broad swathe of opinion from the Marxist cause, just as the limited availability in English of writings by European Marxists must have created something of a vacuum. Rose points to the difficulty of Marxist writings to explain the low rates of take-up. He is also right to imply that the goings-on in Stalin’s Soviet Union were known to ordinary men and women and must have put them off. The war may have led to a temporary cessation of dislike for Stalinism, but it could not last.
Rose is to be applauded for writing such a book as this. Its dramatic effect is greatly enhanced by a superb use of quotations from autobiographies, memoirs, letters, etc. What emerges from these pages is a breathtakingly wide-ranging interpretative account of what working-class people read and what they thought of literature. How some of them found time to read is probably beyond most modern readers; why they did so is now much clearer. For this, and for much else, Rose deserves praise and a wide readership.
The author thanks Dr MacRaild for the warmth and generosity of his review
Socialism Today
16th-17th Century
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Quiz: Can You Identify These Major Western US Cities from One Image?
Can You Identify These Major Western US Cities from One Image?
By: Jaclyn Lavine
Image: Aaron Eakin/Moment/Getty Images
Which do you prefer, East Coast cities or West Coast cities? If you answered West Coast cities, or if you've spent an extensive amount of time traveling the Western part of America, then this quiz is for you!
Many of America's major cities are on the East Coast of the country. Whether or not a city can be defined as "major" depends on the size of its population. The Big Apple is jam-packed with people, making it the most populated city in the country, But what are the major cities west of the Mississippi River?
Some cities are apparent. For example, Los Angeles is undoubtedly a major western city, in fact, it is the second-largest city in the country. But what other major cities are found in the west? How populated are these cities? Are they just as big as Philadelphia or Boston?
Whether you lived in some of the West's major cities or you went on an epic cross-country road trip that took you through them, this quiz is the perfect challenge for you! Find out if you can identify these 40 major Western cities based on an image.
Take this quiz now!
Which western city is depicted in this image?
Los Angeles, California
Portland, Oregeon
The City of Angels, i.e., Los Angeles, is the largest city in the west. It also happens to be the second-largest metro area in the entire United States.
Can you identify this city?
ROADTRIPPERS.COM via Youtube
Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico. It is known for its art scene. The city has been hosting the New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair since 1961.
Name the city that corresponds to this image!
mark shaiken - photography/Moment/Getty Images
Kansas City is the second-largest city in Missouri. It is known for its BBQ, fountains, and jazz heritage.
Which western city is this depicted in this image?
DroneCity VIA Youtube
Long Beach is a city in Southern California and is home to one of the world's largest shipping ports. The city is also considered the "Aquatic Capital of America" and is a great place to live if you like the beach.
What major western city is this?
Houston, Texas, is America's fourth-largest city. Houston is known for its diverse food scene and for being an affordable city in which to live.
To which city does this image correspond?
dszc/E+/Getty Images
Honolulu, Hawai'i
Tucson, Arizona, is known for its desolate beauty, such as the Sonoran Desert. It is home to an estimated 980,263 people (2015).
Can you identify this western city?
Colorado Springs is the largest city in Colorado. It sits at the base of Pikes Peak, one of the most famous American mountains.
Which city is captured in this image?
Chris Saulit/Moment/Getty Images
Oakland City is known for the Port of Oakland, the busiest port in the San Francisco Bay area. It is the eighth largest city in California.
What is the name of this city?
DenisTangneyJr/E+/Getty Images
The 2017 estimated population of Fresno was 527,438 people. The city was named Fresno, which means ash tree in Spanish, because of its copious number of ash trees.
Lightvision, LLC/Moment/Getty Images
Portland, Orgon
Phoenix is the state capital and largest city in Arizona. It is the fifth most populated city in the country, with 1,626,078 people calling this city home,
Can you name this city?
Wichita Kansas
Sacramento is the state capital of California and is the sixth largest city in the state. Sacramento is known for its sun and tree canopy. It has also been labeled the most hipster city in the state.
Terryfic3D/E+/Getty Images
The most prized treasure of Mesa, Arizona, is the Mesa Grande Cultural Par. The park houses a large old mound where many artifacts of the ancient Hokoam people were found,
With a population of 408,959, Omaha is the largest city in Nebraska. The world's richest man, Warren Buffet, lives in Omaha, as do many other multi-millionaires.
Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." Minneapolis means "City of Lakes" and the water is a central part of life for the 422,331 people living there,
Can you match this image with the correct western city?
Wichita is the largest city in Kansas, Nestled on the Arkansas River, the city is an industrial hub and cultural center. Wichita is known as the "Air Capital City" because it was home to aircraft manufacturing companies such as Beechcraft, Learjet, Cessna, and Boeing Military.
San Antonio is the seventh largest city in the country, and therefore one of the major cities of the west. San Antonio's most famous landmark may be the Alamo Mission, but there are plenty of other things to see in this city.
Can you correctly identify the city in this image?
Davel5957/E+/Getty Images
Tulsa, Oklahoma, has a population of 403,505 people, making it one of the major cities in the Western United States. Tulsa is best known for oil. In fact, during the 20th century, it was known as the "Oil Capital of the World."
What is the name of this major Western city?
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The city of Arlington has a population of about 379,577, making it one of the smaller cities in this quiz. Did you know the original Six Flags is located here?
Las Vegas is the most populated city in Nevada. The city is open 24 hours a day and is an entertainment paradise, which is why it's called the "Entertainment Capital of the World."
Posnov/Moment/Getty Images
Portland, Oregon, is a hipster's paradise. If you like a walkable and bikeable city with farm-to-table restaurants this city is for you!
With just 365,000 people, Bakersfield may not be the largest city in the country, but it is a major city in the Western half of the US. Bakersfield is best known for its agriculture and oil production.
Can you name the city depicted in this image?
Honolulu is one of the more difficult cities to get to in the Western U.S. Despite this, 359,870 make Honolulu their home. Perhaps it's because of the weather and pristine beaches.
Which major Western city is shown in this image?
sesimer via Youtube
Oklahoma City is the state capital of Oklahoma. It has one of the largest livestock markets in the entire world. Other popular industries include oil and natural gas.
What name does this city go by?
San Diego is famous for its zoo and SeaWorld. San Diego's beautiful beaches and warm weather make it the second-largest city in California and one of the largest in the West.
Mountain Mike Johans… via Wiki Commons
Aurora may not be as large as Denver in terms of population, but it is still considered one of the major cities in the Western U.S. In fact, Aurora isn't your typical urban city; it's more of a suburb of Denver.
Which city correlates to this image?
With 336,265 people living there, Anaheim is the 10th most populated city in California. Anaheim's claim to fame is Disney Land, which opened in 1955.
Mglsndst1993 via Wiki Commons
Corpus Christi received its name when Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez de Pineda discovered the bay in 1519. Today, it is home to roughly 320,434 people.
Home to the Dallas Cowboys, the city of Dallas, Texas, is the fourth most populated city in the United States. Dallas is one of the fasted growing cities in the nation and, therefore, one of the major cities in the West.
What city is this an image of?
Buchanan-Hermit via Wiki Commons
Located in Southern California, Santa Ana is situated near the Santa Ana River and 10 miles from the ocean. The Santa Ana winds bring seasonal wildfires to the town as well as throughout Southern California.
Can you name the city that correlates with this image?
Basil D Soufi via Wiki Commons
Vancouver, Oregon
Riverside, California, is the birthplace of the citrus industry. One of the city's most prized landmarks is the Riverside Fox Theater, where the first showing of "Gone With the Wind" premiered in 1939. The city is also home to the world's largest paper cup, which is actually made out of concrete.
William Wesen (Appraiser at en.wikipedia) via Wiki Commons
St. Paul lies on the east bank of the Mississippi River and is the capital of Minnesota. The city is known for its high literacy right.
Across from the Mexico-United States border sits El Paso. In 2010 and 2018, El Paso received the "All-American City Award." It has also been ranked the safest largest U.S. city for a few years running.
In 2017, Austin had a population of 950,715 people, but the number keeps growing. Austin is known as "The Live Music Capital of the World" because of its famous Austin City Limits Music Festival is held there each year. The city is also known for its long-running PBS show, "Austin City Limits."
Which city is depicted in this image?
Seattle, Washington is famous for several things, one of which is the television show, "Grey's Anatomy," Known for its overcast, rainy weather, this city is fast-growing, especially with companies such as Amazon and Microsoft calling it home.
Michael Aivaliotis via Wiki Commons
Did you know that Stockton, California, is the first California city to have a name that isn't Spanish or Native American in origin? In 2017, Stockton had an estimated population of about 320,554 people.
Which city corresponds with this image?
St. Louis was built on the western bank of the Mississippi River and is home to roughly 306,626 people. The city's economy is fueled by manufacturing, service, trade, tourism, and transportation of goods.
Can you identify the city in this image?
San Francisco is know for its fog, hills, and landmarks, such as the Golden Gate Bridge. The city is also the highest-rated American city in the world in terms of livability!
Denver is one of the major cities of the west. It's so well-known, that restaurants across the country have an omelet named after it on their menus: the Southwest Denver omelet.
Arlington, Texas, is home to 379,577 people. It is also home to AT&T Stadium, formerly known as Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
Drone Aire VIA Youtube
Fort Worth, Texas, is home to many museums, including the Kimbell Art Museum. The city is the 15th largest in the United States and is considered a major western city.
Can You Identify These Major Midwestern U.S. Cities from One Image?
Can You Name These U.S. Cities from Three Clues?
How Many Canadian Cities Do You Know?
Can You Identify These Major Northeastern US Cities from One Image?
Can You Identify These Street Food Items From an Image?
Food & Drink 7 Minute Quiz 7 Min
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Match the Fact to the U.S. State
We'll Give You Three Cities, You Tell Us the State!
Travel 6 Minute Quiz 6 Min
Can You Name the Western Movie From a One-Sentence Description?
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The American Master: Khalid Khannouchi’s Second Last Chance
Posted on December 13, 2010 by threlkeld
It’s a Saturday morning in September and for the last hour I’ve been staring at the back of Khalid Khannouchi’s head. We’re being coached through a workout in the deep end of a 25m pool in Briarcliff, New York. Directing us is Sandra Khannouchi, Khalid’s coach, manager and wife of over 14 years. She’s in the water with us, but she stays out of our way as we circle round and round her in Lane 4. Sandra is timing us through a fartlek run that she’s designed with varying intervals of hard running broken up with one minute rests. These are arranged in what has emerged as a diabolical order. The work is extremely hard both physically and mentally, and at one point she’s made it harder by forgetting to notice the end of the interval. “It’s been three minutes!” we protest at 3:02, our heart rates and tempers soaring. “Okay, okay…” Sandra says with some sheepishness, looking up at the huge clock. “Sorry.”
Khalid is injured. I am injured. So here we are. When he’s running fast in the pool he reminds me of a wounded duck, pierced by a bullet and struggling madly to get away. I realize at one point that this must be how I look too. Although I’ve met Khalid a few times before this, I barely know him. It’s hard not to feel a little starstruck; I’m doing a workout with the fastest marathoner this country has ever produced. Yet we’re moving at the same speed, water being the great equalizer. Sandra leaves and we remain for a 10-minute cooldown of leisurely laps. Khalid and I pass like ships. At one point he offers, “That was a good workout.” I agree and then tell him that it’s good to know that I’m not the only runner Sandra is constantly screaming at to go faster, harder. He laughs, but then I mildly regret what I’ve just said, realizing that I’m talking about someone who is not just his coach, but also his wife. Yet later on Sandra tells me that Khalid wants me to come back and do more workouts with him in the pool, so we can share the work. She adds, good-naturedly, “and the screaming.”
I first met Khalid and Sandra in May, 2010 at the NYRR Healthy Kidney 10K press event, the day before the race in which Khalid would make a tentative, and very public, return to competitive running after an injury-induced layoff of nearly two and a half years. At the time I was struck by his affability and candor. At one point he’d even taken off a shoe to show us exactly where on his foot he’d had his most recent surgery. Sandra as coach came across as realistic about Khalid’s current situation, yet exuding a sense of utter confidence in his ability to make a comeback. She was also smart. Those qualities were enough for me to approach her for coaching help a month or so later on.
After that 10K race, I looked for Khalid and found him just outside the Media tent. He surprised me with a warm hug and a question – “How was your race?” – before I could get a chance to ask him how his had gone. Khalid had finished in 21st place. But he was upbeat. To him, the race was a success, because it wasn’t intended to be a race at all. Central Park had instead served as proving ground: would his foot hold up post-surgery? It had, and, while his chip time was nothing to write home about, he called the run “something promising…something we can build on.”
Now, months later, I sometimes run into Khalid when we’re both working alone in the pool. Devoid of body fat, he sits low in the water despite a buoyancy vest. So low that his breath hits the surface and, amplified by the water, sounds like a steam engine. He is always, always working ridiculously hard. After he leaves I’m sometimes tempted to ask the lifeguards, “Do you have any idea who that guy was?”
A spectacular ascent, in spite of injuries
Unless you’ve been living under a rock since 1997, if you follow elite running then you know who Khalid Khannouchi is. Originally from Morocco, he moved to the States almost immediately after winning the 5000m at the 1993 World Student Games in Buffalo. He first settled in that city, living for several months in the home of a Buffalo doctor he’d befriended at the games, then moving south to Brooklyn with other members of the Moroccan running team after quickly realizing that cruel upstate winters aren’t conducive to good training.
The next year, he joined Warren Street Athletic and Social Club and became a rising star on the Tri-State racing scene, winning the NYRR Club Championships in 1994. That was also the year he met Sandra, an American originally from the Dominican Republic (and holder of the women’s marathon record for that country) at a road race in Hartford, CT. Sandra,10 years his senior, took over his coaching and management as she was winding down her own career as a professional runner. A contract with New Balance followed in 1995, enabling Khalid to finally focus full time on running. In 1996, the two married. From the very beginning, they shared a love of running – and a belief in Khalid’s potential to do great things.
Over the next six years, he would set world records, course records, and the standing American record in the marathon. It’s an impressive résumé: fastest debut marathon in history, four Chicago wins, three sub-2:06 marathons, one of which (London, 2002) is considered by many to be the greatest marathon competition in history. A phenomenal, seemingly unstoppable talent.
Yet there were cracks forming as early as 1999. That year began with a dropout at mile 16 in London, his left foot burning with a neuroma. But Khalid came back later that year to run a sub-1:01 at the Philadelphia Half, followed by a new world record in Chicago that would take four years (and Paul Tergat) to break.
A victory at the 2000 San Blas 10K in Puerto Rico was immediately followed by a ligament problem in his ankle. That led to a compensatory hamstring injury. His run for third place in London in 2000, a race Khalid ran only because of citizenship delays that put a bib for that year’s USA Olympic Trials in doubt, only exacerbated his injuries. Things got so bad that he ran no marathons in 2001, although he got lucky in 2002, when his injuries abated enough that he could train for and win two spectacular races: his 2:05:38 at London, as previously mentioned, followed by a 2:05:56 at Chicago, his fourth win there.
From there, it was all downhill, in the bad sense of the word. Three weeks after that Chicago 2002 race, Khalid’s battle with his own body began. The battle continues to this day.
The forgotten champion
Khalid eventually gained US citizenship later in 2000 and looked forward to trying again for an Olympic berth in four years. But he missed the 2004 Olympic Trials, again due to injury. In the fall of that year, he finished fifth in Chicago. 2005 was another year lost to injuries. 2006 featured a fourth place finish in London with a 2:07, but it was a time that was more than fast enough to qualify him for the 2008 Trials. 2006 also saw the first of several foot surgeries Khalid would undergo over the coming years. History repeated itself in 2007 when, with a neuroma in his right foot this time, he was again forced to drop out of the London Marathon midway through the race. The following few months included a string of disappointing races, or withdrawals from the elite field altogether, again due to injuries.
Things looked up in the summer of 2007, though. In a rare period of pain-free running, Khalid was at last able to train for a viable US Olympic Trials race that November. Perhaps the third time would be the charm. But his training was too little, too late; after making adjustments to his new orthotics he and Sandra had just nine weeks to prepare. Despite a heroic run, he nevertheless finished in fourth place. It’s a race he still has mixed feelings about. “It was a good experience. But, you know, it’s disappointing because I was very close to making the team. When you finish fourth, it feels really bad: fourth place. At the same time I was happy because I was able to run a marathon. So I thought, ‘Maybe I can train again. Maybe next year will be good. Better.’”
Through eight years of injuries, two missed US Olympic Trials races, one Trials fourth place and frequent trips across the globe for surgeries, therapies and treatments, Khalid has not given up on his dream of representing his adopted country on an Olympic Marathon team. This despite having declared 2008 the deadline for that dream, a deadline that he missed by just under a minute on the hills of Central Park. “Realistically,” he told the New York Daily News in 2007, just days before the Trials, “This is my last shot.”
Do a search on “Khalid Khannouchi” on LetsRun.com or other popular running sites and you’ll hardly see anything following his failed 2007 Olympic bid. One forum thread from the summer of 2009 is entitled “Is Khalid Khannouchi still running?” In many ways, Khalid’s situation mirrors that of Meb Keflezighi’s a few years ago: a once-stellar runner completely drops off the radar, hobbled by injuries, living under the encroaching shadow of advancing years. Lots of people wrote Meb off, but he made a stunning comeback in 2009 in New York and has not looked back. Khalid has cited Meb as an inspiration and role model. Good things can happen. But you have to keep the faith, and keep trying.
Riding the second wave of American running
When asked why American marathoners have slipped so far behind the Africans over the past two decades, and why no other American has broken 2:06, Khalid is emphatic. “We are improving! I think the attitudes of American runners now are totally different. They think they can compete, and win honors, titles and all that. They can go and run with Kenyans and Ethiopians. We saw Meb win New York City. We saw Dathan get a medal in the World Half Marathon. We see people breaking American records, which is good! So you cannot say that because nobody has broken my record that we are not improving.”
Khalid also points to the growing pool of potential champions, as reflected in participation in the Marathon Trials of 2008 vs. the mid-to-late 1980s. “If you look at the number of people competing in the US Trials in ’84 or ’88 [compared to] the numbers in 2008 or 2012, you’re going to see that maybe we’ve tripled the numbers. That’s how you know there are more people coming up. But,” he adds, “It’s going to take a lot of time. And, believe it or not, there are people who are out training a lot harder somewhere else,” with “somewhere else” being a euphemism for “Africa.”
The Africans are the runners to beat, and Khalid has beaten them in the past. With Americans now seemingly poised to truly take on the current world-beaters, Khalid wants to once more be among those leading the charge.
For the most part, Khalid’s American cohorts are anywhere from 5 to 20 years his junior. He’ll turn 40 in 2011. Can experience compensate for the unavoidable toll that time takes on a marathoner’s paces? For Khalid, that’s not the relevant question. “I think fresh legs are what really matter. I’ve not been running for almost a year. So I feel like I’m 35 or 34.”
Reaching the age of 40 could be significant for Khalid in several ways. For one, he’ll be competing as a master at that point. That presents even more opportunities – such as new records to break – to add to his list of achievements. The possibility of beating men decades younger than himself is an extraordinary one in its own right. But his new status as a masters runner doesn’t factor into how he thinks about his comeback. “To be honest, I don’t feel like a ‘master.’ You try to take care of business, get healthy and get back to training. I think if I can do that, I still believe I can compete. And if it comes as a master, I don’t mind it.”
So many dreams, so little time
Try for a moment to imagine how this feels: you are the best marathon runner in the world. You get injured, but you work through it and can clearly see that when you’re not injured you can still be the best marathoner in the world. Then the injuries just keep on coming. This goes on for eight years. “It’s very difficult,” Khalid acknowledges. “But you have to believe. You be patient, go to the gym, swim a bit, run a little bit. We had good, solid training. It’s just that I couldn’t keep up the work because I had little problems again. So you’re trying to get back and, for some reason – I don’t know if it’s a curse? Maybe I’ve done enough already.” Glancing down, he explains, “My feet are banged up. That’s the problem. If you have a good car without good wheels, it’s like you have nothing. That’s basically the problem I’m facing right now.”
Khalid had a plan back in 2007: finish in the top three in the Trials, run for the US on the streets of Beijing – and perhaps pick up a medal there as a souvenir – and then retire from competitive running. That dream died hard in November of that year and then was all but forgotten as new injuries took hold. At that point it seemed that even being able to run at all was an achievement worthy of pursuit. “Last year I wasn’t able to run for 20 minutes,” he notes. “So I said, ‘You know what, let me have surgery. I know it’s painful, but let me do it because at least then I can run like everybody else.’”
But then something happened. What began as an effort to simply get well enough to be able to run for more than a few miles without pain turned into a rekindled fervor for making the Olympic team. “Then when I started running like everybody else,” he says, laughing, “I said, ‘You know what, I want to get back and compete!’ I never wanted to run after 40. But I’ve got this opportunity: to be in the Olympics. I had the world record. I won the best marathons. But I’ve never been in the Olympics and I want that on my résumé.”
As Khalid and Sandra have learned over and over again, it can be dangerous to make plans, as they have a nasty habit of going awry. Perhaps this is why they speak of goals with a certain fluidity, a reflection not so much of shifting priorities but of their capitulation to the mercurial whims of Khalid’s body. The immediate goal is to get him healthy enough to train again, and run some test races at shorter distances, while avoiding further injury. The longer-term goal is to make a competitive comeback in the marathon. Ideally, an Olympic bib would figure into that comeback. But both of them acknowledge that betting all their chips on the US Marathon Trials in January of 2012 is risky. So he will run when Sandra says it’s time to run.
“It’s month by month,” says Sandra. “You don’t know what can happen. If, for example, it’s October and he says, ‘I feel good. Now is when I really have to run a marathon. Now I’m in peak condition,’ as a coach, as an agent, I will say, ‘Let’s go to New York.’ Because you don’t know what’s going to happen later. If you say, ‘No, let me wait until January,’ then you can get hurt again or that peak is not there anymore.”
Yet so many opportunities
From one perspective, Khalid’s comeback might seem at best daunting and at worst Quixotic. But from another, the whole world of running lies at his feet.
While the 2012 London Olympics is the headliner, other opportunities are waiting in the wings to serve as understudies should timing dictate: a run in New York, long-desired but always thwarted by injuries; or a return to Chicago; or perhaps a master’s world record or American record, if it happens – although Khalid has never entered a race with the intention of setting a world record, but rather picking one up as a bonus when that’s what the race required on that particular day.
Khalid knows what he wants to happen. “If I had a choice between going to the Olympics and running New York, I’d go to the Olympics.” But if the timing isn’t right for the Trials? “I want to run New York. I wish I had that opportunity in my day because I felt I could win New York, no problems. Chicago is probably the city where I feel more comfortable. It has a special place in my heart, more than London, more than any other place. Chicago is by far the best. But now, because I’m from here, I would love to have an opportunity to run New York City. No question.”
If Khalid does make the US Olympic Marathon Team, it will be historic regardless of what he goes on to run in that Olympic race in London. Only two masters men have ever represented the US in an Olympic Marathon. The last time around was James Henigan in 1932. Then there are masters’ marathon records to consider. The American record is 2:12:47, set by Eddy Hellebuyck in 2003, although given Hellebuyck’s recent admission of heavy EPO use during that period it can hardly be considered legitimate. The world record of 2:08:46 was set that same year by Mexico’s Andres Espinosa. That time is well within striking range for a healthy Khalid Khannouchi.
But, ultimately, what he wants most is just to have a good marathon, an experience that at this point seems very far away indeed. “I haven’t been running marathons. My dream is to run another marathon. I don’t care where. On another planet? I’ll go there!”
It’s not so easy, making a comeback
One of Sandra’s favorite observations, oft repeated, is, “It’s not so easy, being an elite runner.” That sentiment applies to making a comeback as well. When you are a world-class runner it’s impossible to participate in a race and go unrecognized. But the recognition isn’t the problem – it’s the expectation. Everyone watching is expecting you to win, even if that’s not why you’re there. Khalid tried to choose his test races carefully, in venues that would minimize the pressure to perform. But he still had to cope with people’s perceptions and assumptions.
He felt the weight of expectation on him at the Healthy Kidney 10K in May, his first race in well over two years. “You know, I thought at first, ‘It’s going to be the race to start with; it’s no pressure.’ But when I got to the starting line, everybody’s hugging you. You do feel the pressure. I said, ‘What the heck am I doing here?’ Because people know you, they love you, they expect a lot from you. That’s when the pressure hits you.”
After Healthy Kidney, Khalid ran a few other test races, including Beach to Beacon, a race that he’d hoped would be lower key. “We have a good host family, our friends. I feel like I’m going on vacation there, not racing.” He’ll return to such races in 2011 when he does his next round of test runs. Then the plan is to go for a Trials qualifying time at the half marathon distance, with that race as yet to be determined.
A major comeback demands major changes
Going forward, Sandra and Khalid know that they have to take the hard lessons they’ve learned over the years and apply them to every area. The first priority is healing from and preventing injuries. When the third neuroma of his career emerged earlier this year, they knew what to do: apply medications through local injections, slice a tendon to reposition the problem toe, then make adjustments to his orthotics once again.
Then there’s his training. The mileage will go down while the quality of those miles goes up. Lower mileage means lower impact and reduced chances of injury. As Khalid put it, “Running, running, running is what’s going to get you there.” But not so much running that he’ll be stopped dead in his tracks along the way. High levels of cross-training, along with strengthening and balance work, will augment the miles. “These other things will help to have a faster comeback,” Sandra asserts.
A move to Colorado Springs will further facilitate a comeback by reconnecting Khalid with some of his key training partners on a more consistent basis. That move punctuates a major change in his personal life as well. After 14 years of marriage, Sandra and Khalid have decided to divorce amicably. They’ll continue to work as a professional team and, in fact, both feel that the decision to part ways as a couple will only better his chances of racing well again.
“We care for each other,” Khalid says. “But for both our happiness, this is better. We have some differences. Lately we don’t agree. Maybe it’s because of me because I’ve been through hard times, dealing with injuries, not racing, not running like I would wish. It just seems like there is no good communication like we used to have.” He holds up a blue coffee mug. “When we had all the success, it was clear: ‘This is blue.’ We didn’t have to argue about it. And now…”
Sandra is quick to emphasize, “I think if he wants to make a comeback, it’s better not to be husband and wife. I really want him to make a comeback because I know he can do it. I think [the divorce] will be better because I can then concentrate and really give energy to him.” She reflects for a moment or two. “You have to be happy. When you’re doing something you want to do, whether it’s professional or your personal life, you have to be happy. If you’re not happy, nothing’s going to grow. I know that this is going to be better for both of us.”
Despite the plans to end their marriage, there remains an easy affection, and even jocular bickering, neither of which seems in danger of going anywhere. At one point Sandra offers me some Moroccan bread she’s made, although she was engrossed enough in our conversation that she forgot to take it out of the oven in time. As a result, it’s slightly overdone.
I tell them it’s fine, but Khalid says, “Bring her something else.”
Sandra laughs and says, “There is nothing else. You ate everything!”
While he may not be running at the moment, Khalid still has the appetite of a marathoner in training. “I am like a snake,” he says mischievously, weaving an undulating hand in the air. “I go through the house, eating everything.”
The sleeping giant
With the Trials set for January, 2012, it would seem that a year is plenty of time for a runner at Khalid’s level to prepare. But when you’re used to being blindsided by injuries, looking at a calendar can create more anxiety than confidence. So much can go wrong in those twelve months.
While Sandra may have her eye on 2011, Khalid can’t afford to look that far ahead. “I don’t want to talk about next year,” he says with a mixture of worry and conviction. “I’m talking about next month, when I start running and see the feeling. Look, I want to hear that everything is fine and I can run. If I do, then we’re going to have a lot of fun. Running 10Ks, maybe for six months. Just try to get back.”
It’s been over three years since he’s run a race with confidence, and that was the last Trials marathon in 2007. That’s enough time to forget everything you know. “Before, I used to know what I should do before races: I knew the workouts I should do, what I should eat. And now I’ve lost it. I don’t even know what I used to do before.”
Khalid is consumed with getting beyond his injuries and returning to the lead pack, displaying a drive to excel that even a decade’s worth of setbacks hasn’t diminished. “I want people to know that I’m trying the best I can. I invest a lot of money going to doctors and all that, just trying to get better. Because I really want to compete. I will never give up, and I’ll try. It’s frustrating. Eight years of struggle. People who have had injuries will understand me. We still hope. There is hope. I have faith that if I’m healthy I will compete again.”
As we’re wrapping up our interview, three of Sandra’s four grandchildren (by her daughter from a previous marriage) are making their arrival. I watch Khalid leap up from his chair, dash over to the door and impishly hide behind it, with a finger pressed to his lips. The kids tumble in, the youngest, four, tearing off her coat and throwing it on the floor. Khalid sweeps it up and shoves one arm into the pink sleeve. He struggles to get his arm into the other sleeve, but even on his 5’5”, 125 lb. frame, this is an ambitious proposal. Giving up, he lets the jacket drape across one shoulder and, eyeing the kids, singsongs, “I’m going outside for a walk now…” He’s Gulliver in a frock, eliciting a chorus of Lilliputian giggles. A few minutes later, as I’m walking away up the street, I can still hear faint laughter coming from the window.
Filed under: coaching, eating, elites, everyday life, injury, inspiration, olympics, racing, strength training, training | Tagged: dathan ritzenhein, haile gebrselassie, khalid khannouchi, meb keflezighi, paul tergat, sandra khannouchi | 15 Comments »
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Tag: The Dark 2006
Movie Reviews: Short reviews of films that have been on television recently
So over the holiday season I have watched a few films on television. Some of them are well known and some are not. Don’t expect anything in depth as these are purely brief opinion pieces i.e. I have nothing better to post right now.
Up (2009)
Was you favourite part when there is the non-dialogue musical section about Carl and Ellie’s married life together growing old, suffering the news they cannot have children and her passing away? Was it the bit when they reprise the ‘Married Life’ musical piece as Carl opens the adventure book and finds Ellie left him one last message thanking him for all the adventures and telling him to go have a new one?
You are lying!Those parts were far and away in a totally different league to the rest of the film!
To be honest once they realised the ‘married life’ backstory part worked better with no dialogue they should have just accepted they made something far better than the main part of the film and found a way to do the backstory segment a different way and have the ‘married life’ part be its own small feature. You can like Dug as a character but that is as far as I can allow. Ironically they ruined their own film by making a timeless moment with the ‘married life’ segment which leaves the rest of the film pale in comparison.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_%282009_film%29
The Dark (2006)
AKA Sean Bean and his American wife with their daughter go live in rural Wales where ghosts cause them trouble. It would be a good film if it wasn’t for the fact I know about the Welsh mythology they allude to while mixing it with a heretical chapel community who committed a suicide pact together. Annwn isn’t the odd cold, blue, windy place they depict but a sort of Valhalla without the need to go fighting, a world of delights and eternal youth where disease was absent and food was ever-abundant. A film of tepid Welsh caricatures and tepid supernatural thriller. It’s okay to watch if you are unfamiliar with Welsh mythology but otherwise it seems very poorly intended despite being based on a novel… a novel called ‘Sheep’… because… you know… Wales… Sheep… Stereotypes. I have watched it a few times thinking maybe I have missed something as they leave any spoken Welsh untranslated at the start but no… no apparently it’s just not that well thought out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_%28film%29
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
Excellent fun adventure film and enjoy it whenever I see it. The motion capture is well done though the faces are in that strange uncanny valley area of features. It amalgamates a few Tintin stories to make its own thing. I would have liked it if they had stayed true to Herge’s original ‘dot eye’ look personally. Andy Serkis as ever proves he is the go to man for ‘ink suit’ acting. I wish they had made a sequel so we could see Professor Calculus. Thompson and Thomson steal every scene they are in due to Pegg and Frost. Admittedly the albums/graphic novels have more space to develop the storylines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin_%28film%29
Hunky Dory (2011/2012)
Set in Swansea. So yes Minnie Driver ‘acting Welsh’ and seeing actors still doing the rounds on Welsh Language television and SkyOne’s Stella is odd. A 1976 comprehensive school does a version of Shakespeare’s Tempest with David Bowie music following the trials and tribulations of all involved. It is a period drama piece and I wasn’t fussed on it. Then again I have a very awkward response to Welsh period drama set in the late twentieth century but it did come across as quite flat despite flashes of potential occasionally. The director also did ‘Patagonia’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunky_Dory_%28film%29
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012)
I had wanted to see this for a while but never got around to it. A very fun anachronistic film I would happily see again. It is a stop motion film done by Aardman animation so you know its good stuff and you won’t catch every bit of humour in a scene the first time you watch it. Queen Victoria steals the film as far as I am concerned although all the characters are well done. Apparently based on the first of a series of books so it would be nice to think one day they will go on and adapt others from the series. I would actually go out of my way to see it again if it comes on television again soon it was that enjoyable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirates!_In_an_Adventure_with_Scientists!
A film that didn’t need to be made. More to the point it ends with some things unresolved like his adamantium claws being sliced off but I’m guessing by ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ this is never addressed how they became adamantium laced again… They hired a slightly less attractive actress to make the love interest actress look better in comparison. The ‘bow and arrow’ guy I was never clear if he was meant to be Mariko’s dedicated protector or a loyal servant of the family and thus more of an anti-hero. He was eye candy for the ladies so I guess it doesn’t matter. The reveal of who the silver samurai is isn’t a surprise although the de-aging bit was silly. Dr Green is just a very odd ‘obvious villain’ character who is never really given any characterisation beyond ‘obviously evil’. In fact no one gets much to work with in this film in terms of their characters and it shows. I will never willingly watch this film again unless I need to sleep.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolverine_%28film%29
Puss In Boots (2011)
Puss In Boots stars in a film with humour on the level of Shrek the Third. It’s fun but unfortunately Shrek 2 kind of ruined it for the later films due to its multifaceted cultural references giving adults and children an equally enjoyable film and expecting the later ones to follow suit. Humpty Dumpty I wasn’t too sure about but in the end I think he was a very good character albeit the ‘he was a golden egg/good egg all along’ part was a bit too contrived. There is a lot of Mexican/Spanish style music and it really keeps the film at a strong energetic tempo. Also just after this they showed the short ‘The Three Diablos’ which was okay but should have either been a bit longer or tightened up a bit as it felt a bit ungainly in its story progression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puss_in_Boots_%282011_film%29
Men In Black III (2012)
As good as the first one if not a little better in some respects depending on what you like. Josh Brolin does a brilliant impression of Tommy Lee Jones playing the younger version of the character. Emma Thompson and Jermaine Clement are both excellent and should have been in the film more. However Griffin, played by Micheal Stuhlbarg, steals every scene he is in. The inclusion of interesting alien characters was what was missing from the second film where they confused ‘weird and a set up for some puns’ with interesting as you actually care what happens to the characters here. I wouldn’t mind seeing this on television again one day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_in_Black_3
Nativity! (2009)
As a stand-alone film this would have been a cheap and cheerful bit of fluff quickly forgotten. How it has had sequels I have no idea as there only seemed enough there to just barely make one film let alone more. It was okay to watch once but I will never watch it again even if there is nothing else on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity!_%28film%29
Mary Poppins (1964)
Classic film. Dick Van Dyke and his dodgy cockney accent. Good stuff. Tarnished in my mind by ‘Saving Mr Banks’ and knowing P. L. Travers wasn’t happy with what they did with her character. It is never nice to find the original creator is unhappy with an adaption of their work. Personally I think they should take a view that it is an adaption and doesn’t change their own work but as we all know sometimes, if not more often, it is the adaptions people know and not the original upon which they are based.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Poppins_%28film%29
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
A film for those who would like something like Mary Poppins but don’t want to watch Mary Poppins again i.e. Disney live action mixed with ‘in animation land’ sequences. I never really ‘got’ this one personally. I think because the character basically go running around stealing a king’s pendant and having an element of ‘the protagonists are in the right always’ even when being thieves. Also the setting lends itself to ‘stiff upper lip’ English stereotypes which when the film was made in 1964 must have already seemed a very old fashioned idea already. I think this was one of the films in my childhood that made me always identify with the villain rather than the protagonists. Also the villain is named Astaroth just like the demon which I found surprising in a Disney film considering that in Fantasia they changed the name of the devil/Lucifer in the ‘Night On Bald Mountain’ section to that of the ancient Slavic mythological deity Chernobog… because… you know… Eastern Europe = Communism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedknobs_and_Broomsticks
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)
DC animation film. It’s basically about Super-girl arriving on earth, being trained by Wonder Woman, kidnapped and brainwashed by Darkseid and then returned home. They obviously didn’t think people would buy it if they admitted that. It’s okay but quite generically comic book story wise. Watch it once if you are interested but there is nothing there to draw you back ever again. A very generic comic book story… in fact shockingly so to the point you could imagine it being a satire. The one good bit is when they think everything is resolved then Darkseid appears out of Ma and Pa Kent’s house and there is a massive battle. In the aftermath Ma and Pa return to find their home decimated and Clark introduces his cousin. I’ve ruined the best bit but to honest it was quite boring even if it was only about an hour long.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman/Batman:_Apocalypse
Megamind (2010)
Dreamworks always tend to be a very hit or miss affair with more ‘fails’ than successes in my mind. Megamind is one of the few I feel actually works as it stays true to its subverting of superhero films although it brings nothing new to the table. There is good interaction between the characters and I feel that they could easily have made some interesting continuations with the story if they had wanted. I always think it is George Clooney and not Brad Pitt doing Metro-Man’s voice. Jonah Hill voices Hal Stewart/Tighten and ironically life imitates art is seems as he has more and more come across like an asshole in recent times with his ‘suck my dick faggot’ comment amongst other things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megamind
Конец Санкт-Петербурга (Konets Sankt-Peterburga) / The End Of St. Petersburg (1927)
Silent black and White film made to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. Worth watching, very intense visuals and performances. As a film made during the early Soviet era about a key period in its beginnings it is of course propagandist but you should check it out if you have even a passing interesting in the history or cinema.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_St._Petersburg
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
AKA the one where Bond marries at the end and she gets gunned down in a drive by shooting by Blofeld and his henchwoman. If nothing else that makes sure I could never think of this as ‘the bad Bond film’ as many insisted it was for years due to George Lazenby being the ‘Milk Tray’ man. The death however is foreshadowed far too heavily by how many times they said the phrase ‘we have all the time in the world’ even to the point of having it as the last line in the film but mostly its reiterated by how often the song reoccurred during the film. There’s a room of women from different nations as Blofeld’s ‘angels of death’. This was the ‘worst’ Bond film apparently for a long time but I actually enjoyed it albeit there are far better ones but if you take this one with a pinch of salt it is really enjoyable and at least breaks the mould of the 007 series up a bit as it’s not as by the book as some others. For me personally Quantum of Solace is the worst one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Her_Majesty%27s_Secret_Service_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Kingdom_of_the_Crystal_Skull
Basically its a rehash of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The villains who are generic villains but this time Soviet Communists instead of Nazis are after a mythological item… lots of call backs… Cate Blanhett doing a hammy Hollywood Ukranian accent… substitute Nazi occultism for Soviet ESP experimentation… adventures… rocket cart… survive nuclear blast in a fridge… strongman villain with little no dialogue killed in a gruesome way… someone talking in riddles… treacherous colleagues… fantastical resolution EXCEPT THIS TIME IT WAS ALIENS NOT MAGIC! …as M Night Shamalan would say ‘What a twist!’…or to be correct as Ox says in the denoument they are interdimensional beings not ‘alien’ aliens so yet a further twist! ‘knowledge was their treasure’ they conclude in the end… I hope you feel the same way now you’ve read these mini reviews.
So the next two posts will be regarding films I have on DVD. They will hopefully be uploaded later this week… hopefully.
O slavnosti a hostech / A Report on the Party and the Guests / The Party and The Guests. (1966) Czech
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Report_on_the_Party_and_the_Guests
Pociąg / Night Train / Baltic Express (1959) Polish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Train_%281959_film%29
Posted on January 4, 2015 January 4, 2015 Categories Movie ReviewTags aardman, bedknobs and broomsticks, bedknobs and broomsticks 1971, bond, communist, dc, dc comics, Disney, dreamworks, hunky dory, hunky dory 2011, hunky dory 2012, Indiana Jones, indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull, indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull 2008, james bond, marvel, Mary Poppins, mary poppins 1964, megamind, megamind 2010, men in black, men in black 3, men in black 3 2012, men in black iii, men in black iii 2012, mib 3, mib 3 2012, mib iii, mib iii 2012, nativity!, nativity! 2009, night train, on her majesty's secret service, on her majesty's secret service 1969, pixar, puss in boots, puss in boots 2011, sheep, soviet, superman/batman apocalypse, superman/batman apocalypse 2010, swansea, The Adventures of tintin, the adventures of tintin 2011, the adventures of tintin the secret of the unicorn, the adventures of tintin the secret of the unicorn 2011, The Dark, The Dark 2006, The end of st petersburg, the end of st petersburg 1927, the party and the guests, the pirates in an adventure with scientists, the pirates in an adventure with scientists 2012, the pirates!, the secret of the unicorn, the three diablos, the wolverine, the wolverine 2013, tintin, Up, Up 2009, wales, Welsh, wolverineLeave a comment on Movie Reviews: Short reviews of films that have been on television recently
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Rachel Ries
Daughter of Mennonite missionaries, Rachel Ries hails from the inspiring, vast expanses of South Dakota, by way of Zaire. Her formative years were filled with Congolese spirituals, Mennonite hymns and The Carpenters. Currently splitting her time between rural Vermont and New York City, Rachel crafts sly and compassionate songs for the crooked hearted. With an electric guitar, clear voice and steady hand, she pulls the listener into her world of city grit, country dirt, and her open-eyed search for redemption and reason. Her songs are fine-tuned delicacy with a snarl and disarming candor. Proudly carrying the torch of her love for the domestic arts, Rachel’s homemade preserves and hand stitched notebooks can often be found at shows, nestled amid the 180 gram vinyl, cds and t-shirts.
Ries, returning from a years-long hiatus, released her third long player, Ghost of a Gardener in 2014. Uncut calls it a “Gorgeous gush of warm-blooded harmonies” and Maverick UK states it’s a “technicolor treasure in word and melody.” Ghost caught the ear and earned interviews with such notables as NPR’s Weekend Edition, BBC London and Ireland’s RTÉ Radio One.
Rachel’s voice at times echoes that of Regina Spektor or early Maria Muldaur and this new album is full of thoughtful and inventive arrangements. Fingerpicked melodicism pairs with sweeping strings & analog synths while a Merle Haggard-style drinking song struts with trumpets and close knit harmonies. The album, produced by Ries along with Secretly Canadian artist David Vandervelde, also includes Emmett Kelly (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Cairo Gang), Gregory Alan Isakov, Evan Bivins (Cary Ann Hearst, Duncan Sheik) and members of Brooklyn’s Cuddle Magic.
Since 2008’s Country EP, a split 45″ with Anaïs Mitchell released on Righteous Babe Records, Ries (“reese”) has recorded and toured extensively with Mitchell, supporting Bon Iver and others. In addition to Mitchell, Rachel has recorded and collaborated with Jeremy Messersmith and Gregory Alan Isakov, who appears on Ghost. Since returning to music, Rachel received a Chicago 3-Arts award, worked in Chicago theatre, embarked on four European tours, learned how to repair Wurlitzers and (kind of) play the drums.
Website here.
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Manifest Guide
PNPC Policy
See All Mission Posts
14 Mission Posts
Wed Jun 19th, 2019 @ 9:40pm
Lieutenant JG Liam Harrison
Name Liam Harrison
Position Computer Systems Specialist
Rank Lieutenant JG
Species Raeyan
Serial Number SR-976-2051
Height 5ft 11in
Hair Color Blonde
Physical Description Liam is of somewhat average height and weight for a man his age, He is not physically built, but he does have a slim and tone body from his daily exercise routine. He has fast reflexes and amazingly good dexterity.
Spouse Tyler Vorran (fiancé)
Father Jon Harrison
Mother Samantha Harrison
Personality & Traits
General Overview Liam is incredibly intelligent, having one of the highest IQs in Starfleet. He is an incredibly talented programmer and engineer. Liam is also a very charming and handsome man, who is able to maintain a thriving professional life and a social life.
He rarely gets angry or annoyed, he always looks at things with a clear head so he can properly analyze it. He makes friends quite easily with his cool headed and sarcastic personality. Liam likes to play games with his fellow crewmen, both literally and intellectually. He will challenge you as much as he can.
Liam is arrogant and all knowing due to his eidetic memory. Despite his arrogance, he still has a respect for his superiors. He also has a daredevil and rebellious side to him. He is immature and has little experience with formality - something that even the Academy could not help.
Liam identifies as a bisexual, having had equally enjoyable intimate relationships with both sexes. However, he hasn't had a serious relationship with anyone since the Academy.
Liam was born on February 2nd, 2369 to Jon and Samantha Harrison on Raeya III. Both of Liam's parents were native Raeyans: his mother serving as a civilian law enforcement officer and his father a diplomat working closely to represent Raeya's interests with Starfleet and the Federation.
Growing up as an only child put pressure on Liam to excel in his academics. Instead of the usual independence that he wanted, he was kept on a tight leash and made to focus on his work. As the son of a renown diplomat, Liam also grew accustom to a certain lifestyle from an early age.
From a young age, Liam admired his portable computer, taking it with him wherever he went. When he entered his teen years, he asked questions like: "How was it made?" or "How can I improve it?" - with time, he found answers to those questions. From this point, he knew he wanted to learn everything he could about the inner workings of computers.
At school, he joined the cybernetics club in hopes that he'd be able to learn about the more unusual computers like androids and things such as that. However, the only thing joining the club did was divide his mind into computer science and engineering.
In high school, he had a tight knit group of friends that he trusted, but was never really "friends" with because he would be spending the majority of his time working on projects or studying.
Suddenly, Liam's path blurred. When it became time to apply for his future, he considered the Vulcan School of Science and Engineering and Starfleet Academy. With Vulcan, he would have the ability to work with the best pay check at almost any R&D lab in the galaxy. With Starfleet, he would be able to help people with his skills. In both cases, he would be able to make technology that could be seen across the known universe.
Either decision was fully supported by both of his parents, and his father could ensure that he would be admitted to either school, not that Liam would need the help. Finally, he decided to pursue a career in Starfleet because it would give him the opportunity to travel for a bit before he started working on actual projects.
Liam's first year at the Academy was very basic. He'd go to class and then go home to do homework and other side projects. He still could't make up his mind on whether or not he wanted to take Engineering or Operations, so he ended up taking both courses at the same time. Finally, he made a compromise and specialized in Computer Systems so he could be in Engineering, but have a big focus in computers.
When he made this adjustment, his time freed up significantly and he started to actually enjoy his time at the Academy. He dashed past all of his classes and on his free time, he found a group of like-minded friends to hang out with. He developed close relationships with them all, but with one in particular: Zoe McAllister. Liam's relationship with Zoe evolved into one based on romance.
After another year, Liam began to spend more time with another one of his friends: William Reece. Once they spent more time together and got to know each other, the connection between Liam and William grew stronger. Neither of them could deny their feelings for each other, but he was still dating Zoe at the time.
Conflicted, he decided to terminate both relationships and go back to focusing on his education. Liam knew that he enjoyed both Zoe and William's company, but he didn't to be with one knowing it would hurt the other.
In 2390, Liam made it to the top of his graduating class and had the choice of any assignment in the fleet. Liam's plan was to spend a few years on a starship, doing some sight seeing and skating by on his duties before he'd actually settle down and start his Research and Development Career.
Post-Academy
For his first assignment, Liam picked the Rhode Island-class USS Tornado. The reason why the Tornado was so appealing to Liam was because it'd be operating in the Beta Quadrant, which made it easier to go home when he had free time and it was a brand new ship with new technology that Liam could mess around with.
He started off as an Operations Officer, which he was fully qualified to be. After a couple of months on the Tornado, he grew bored and tiresome of the same old routine. Soon he met Tyler Vorran, who was the ship's Chief Helmsman. Tyler was a Bajoran "bad boy" who promised to show Liam a fun time. Liam didn't have many friends aboard the Torando so when someone came, he jumped at the opportunity.
Liam knew that there was something different about Tyler from they moment they met. Tyler wasn't just a friend. There was a deeper connection between the two. A connection that they shared and explored for several months, fooling around on places like the Bridge, which ended up getting Liam locked in the Brig for a day or two, and Main Engineering, where Tyler proposed marriage to Liam over a simulated warp core breach. Liam was transferred to Engineering from Operations because the ship's Commanding Officer felt that Liam's skills were needed more in Engineering, but the real reason was because she no longer trusted Liam on the Bridge.
On their second year on the Tornado, Tyler rose through the ranks of the ship and became Executive Officer. Liam and Tyler both agreed that a ship on the front line would be too hectic for what the two looked for in each other. They wanted to start a family and a ship as small as the Tornado couldn't properly foster their needs.
Liam applied for Starbase 332 as their Computer Systems Specialist and Tyler was offered to head up the Sector's Academy Adjunct.
Service Record 2369 - Born, Raeya
2387 - Starfleet Academy (Operations & Engineering)
2391 - Operations Officer, USS Tornado
2392 - Engineering Officer, USS Tornado
2392 - Computer Systems Specialist, Starbase 332
- Operational Management/Maintenance I & II
- Computer Systems I, II, & III
- Starship Aeronautics & Design I
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← The soul of the Roman Empire
The prospects for a scientific understanding of consciousness →
Recommendation: Children of Time
Posted on June 17, 2018 by SelfAwarePatterns
The Fermi Paradox is the observation that if intelligent life is pervasive in the universe, it should have arrived on Earth ages ago, but there is no evidence it ever did. The solutions to the paradox include the possibilities that interstellar travel is impossible (or so appallingly difficult that no one bothers), that there is something out there suppressing the development of intelligent life, or that intelligence capable of symbolic thought and technological development is profoundly rare in the universe.
There’s a new model which lends credence to the last possibility. Looking at chemical and genetic pathways, this model predicts that we may be the only technological civilization in the observable universe. I’ve written before on the reasons to think that our nearest intelligent neighbors may be cosmically distant. Life appears to have started early in Earth’s history, but intelligent life took billions of years to emerge, and only did it once, at least so far. And its development seemed highly dependent on a large number of low probability events throughout Earth’s evolutionary history.
So the common science fiction trope of us encountering an alien intelligence may never happen. If we meet other intelligent entities, it seems far more likely they’ll be ones we created rather than ones who evolved independently. These might be technological AI (artificial intelligence) or they might be animal species we “uplifted”, that is, genetically modified to be more intelligent than evolution made them.
At the beginning of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time, humans have begun terraforming a number of exoplanets for eventual habitation. On one of these planets, the egotistical and misanthropic Doctor Avrana Kern plans to uplift a species of monkey. The idea is to release the monkeys on a terraformed planet with lots of Earth life (including most animal species) along with a virus to guide the monkeys’ rapid evolution into sapience. Eventually they would be guided by a scientist left behind in orbit, all in order for them to be ready to help human colonists when they eventually arrive.
But the scientist recruited for the guidance role turns out to be a religious fanatic who destroys the scientific mission, killing all the scientists and the monkeys. Only the arrogant Kern herself survives, trapped in orbit, stuck in the guidance role she envisioned for another. The uplift virus does get delivered into the planet’s biosphere, but without the monkeys it will have unforeseen consequences. Shortly afterward, Kern loses all contact with humanity, receiving just enough clues to deduce that human civilization has destroyed itself in war.
Across the millenia, the virus, engineered to avoid working in mammalian species other than the monkeys it was programmed for, begins working in arthropod species, particularly spiders. Gradually the spiders evolve into an intelligent species and begin building a civilization. Eventually they realize that there is a Messenger in the Sky (in actuality the trapped scientist Avrana Kern, who has by now effectively merged with the AI managing her craft) and begin worshiping it.
Meanwhile on Earth, after several thousand years, civilization has slowly begun to recover, but the Earth is damaged by the previous wars, poisoned by biological weapons left behind from the war. It gradually becomes apparent to this new civilization, still a technological shadow of the old one, that the poisoning has doomed them to eventual extinction. In desperation, they send out colonization sleeper ships to the terraformed worlds.
One of these ships, the Gilgamesh, has Kern’s world as its destination. But when they arrive, they encounter a now deranged Kern who successfully chases them away with superior technology. But not before they’re able to see a world that has been successfully terraformed, albeit one inhabited by “monsters” (the spiders). They leave, but both they and Kern know their options are limited, and that they’ll be back.
Two story threads then run in parallel, one of the spiders and their climb into a civilization that may be able to protect their world from invaders, and another of humans desperately attempting to survive in space, preparing for what they hope will be a successful return to claim Kern’s world for their own.
This book explores a lot of philosophical concepts, such as humanity’s apparent need to always be at war with itself, the nature of religion, and the plausibility of uploading minds. It also explores how an arachnid species might see the world, and how this worldview might affect the technologies and civilization it develops. Attempted communications between the species show just how alien an intelligent arachnid species might be, even when it’s descended from the same biosphere as humanity.
The book is also a gripping story. On the human side, the story is told from the point of view of Holsten Mason, a classicist on the Gilgamesh familiar with the history of the old destroyed civilization, who is often able to compare it with what he sees happening with his own society. The Gilgamesh has received no signals from the other colony ships. They appear to be the only surviving one, effectively making them humanity’s last chance, raising the stakes to survival of the species.
My only real gripe with this side of the story is that fuel, and the related logistics, are never mentioned. The interstellar sleeper ship (and eventually generation ship), the Gilgamesh, is apparently limited to a cruising velocity of 10% light speed. The reasons for a limit like that in space always come down to fuel efficiency. Yet there is never any discussion of finding fuel for the ship when it’s in a solar system. But this is really just a pet peeve on my part, a reaction to a common failing in space opera. In fairness, Tchaikovsky mostly steers clear of discussing the drive technologies on the ships (except toward the end), so he does leave conceptual room for these issues to be handled behind the scenes.
On the spider side, Tchaikovsky, using an omniscient narrator, provides human names to the spiders, such as “Portia”, “Bianca”, and “Fabian”, while making it clear that these are placeholders for a species that communicates with vibrations made by their legs on web strands, for actual names that would be utterly alien to humans. The human names are reused for various spiders with similar personalities throughout their civilization’s history. The effect is that it provides a semblance of continuity in the narrative that actually works fairly well.
The book won the British Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel, and has received wide acclaim. Lionsgate is reportedly working on a film adaptation, although I wonder how they plan to handle the spiders. The alien nature of the spiders works in the book because the story is told somewhat from their perspective, but it seems like a movie would have to make significant compromises. It will be interesting to see how it’s handled.
Anyway, if you like hard(ish) space opera, and don’t mind reading a story with significant portions told from an alien perspective, I highly recommend this book. In some ways, it reminded me of Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky, which also has a spider civilization in it, although Vinge’s spiders are true aliens, as well as the movie Battle for Terra, which has a conflict between desperate humans and a native species on their target world. Children has enough original material that it never feels derivative, but if you enjoyed those other stories, you’ll probably enjoy this one.
This entry was posted in Science Fiction and tagged Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time, Science fiction, Space opera. Bookmark the permalink.
12 Responses to Recommendation: Children of Time
john zande says:
Excellent. Will certainly give it a try.
J.S. Pailly says:
This has been on my reading list for a while. I’ll probably get to it soon. The part about getting deep into how a spider civilization might work is what really grabbed my interest with this one.
SelfAwarePatterns says:
I think you’ll enjoy it. I was happy to see Tchaikovsky use the omniscient narrator for the spiders rather than third person limited. It allowed him to quickly explain things about the spiders that they would never have been conscious of themselves, such as why they didn’t have fire, or how the uplift virus was affecting them. Hopefully the acclaim of this book will convince other authors (and editors) that the omniscient viewpoint is sometimes a good choice.
Interesting. It does kind of annoy me that omniscient has become so taboo, especially when so many great Sci-Fi novels of the past used it so well.
Steve Ruis says:
Have you seen the illustration of how far radio waves have traveled since the invention of radio on Earth. It is a photograph of the Andromeda galaxy as a stand-in for ours and on it is superimposed a small blue bubble. In order for an alien species to know we exist, they would have to be traveling in our galaxy, one of several hundred billion galaxies, and traverse some part of that small blue bubble. Only in that bubble is there any sign of our existence. The volume of known space that bubble represents ins infinitesimally small. Then, out of the 14 billion years of the universes existence, the other alien species would have to exist in the last 10,000 years or so to find us. That is another infinitesimally small fraction of time. For all we know thousands of alien civilizations might have risen and fallen in other places at other times and we would/could have no knowledge of their existence.
I have seen those illustrations and I’m very aware of the scales. The problem is that if there are lots of civilizations out there, they would have had plenty of time to expand to every star in the galaxy. They should arrived here long before we evolved.
On the timescales, it might well be in the nature of intelligent life to destroy itself, meaning most civilizations only have brief lifetimes. So we may be alone in a graveyard galaxy. But again, if that’s true, multiple civilizations at different times should have arrived here long ago and left some kind of artifacts lying around. There should in fact be several layers of such artifacts. They might not exist on Earth due to geological upheaval, but they should be preserved on the moon and Mars. We’ve mapped both bodies pretty closely and found nothing so far. Maybe we’ll find something on one of the moons of the gas giants. Only time will tell, but the longer we find nothing, the more reasonable it is to conclude that nothing is there.
Of course, as I mention in the post, it’s also possible that interstellar travel is effectively impossible. If so, then the limited range of our sphere of signal visibility does become relevant. In that case, we’ll never meet the aliens, but may eventually be able to exchange one way messages with them across time and space. But I think there’s reasonable grounds to conclude that at least uncrewed interstellar exploration is possible.
Mordanicus says:
Sounds like a good novel in the tradition of the great SF works.
Fizan says:
Very fascinating indeed. I likely won’t read the novel because I don’t have an appetite to sit and read these days. But I love your summary of it and will use it to let my imagination run amok.
I was particularly interested in the god like qualities this scientist merged with the AI inadvertently acquires in the spider’s world. Would such a different type of intelligent species also have the same tendencies i.e. to turn into worshipers? We cannot escape our humanly ways of thinking about things but it’s interesting to ponder about. They’ll probably have similar biological insticts as other earthly species such as to protect against invaders I presume.
In the book, the spiders end up having religious wars between those who want to follow the Messenger’s instructions without question, and those who want to be a bit more skeptical. It’s not quite the same for them of course, since the Messenger’s actual existence is never in question, just its omniscience.
Callan says:
Off topic of me, but I enjoy as a story a pet theory that we are actually in a quarantine. The Wow! signal was a screw up in the quarantine that managed to get through – otherwise the outside universe is being filtered before it gets to us. Why do that? Because of cultural damage. We’re children and we’re off limits until we grow up. If we grow up.
If true, it seems like all bets would off on what we think we know about the universe. Another possibility is that the aliens and their technology are sitting in plain sight, but like monkeys climbing over a building, we just don’t understand the significance of what we’re seeing.
Pingback: Recommendation: Children of Ruin | SelfAwarePatterns
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This post is partly excerpted from the preprint to:
Omohundro, Steve (forthcoming 2013) “Autonomous Technology and the Greater Human Good”, Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence (special volume “Impacts and Risks of Artificial General Intelligence”, ed. Vincent C. Müller).
Harmful systems might at first appear to be harder to design or less powerful than safe systems. Unfortunately, the opposite is the case. Most simple utility functions will cause harmful behavior and it’s easy to design simple utility functions that would be extremely harmful. Here are seven categories of harmful system ranging from bad to worse (according to one ethical scale):
Sloppy: Systems intended to be safe but not designed correctly.
Simplistic: Systems not intended to be harmful but that have harmful unintended consequences.
Greedy: Systems whose utility functions reward them for controlling as much matter and free energy in the universe as possible.
Destructive: Systems whose utility functions reward them for using up as much free energy as possible, as rapidly as possible.
Murderous: Systems whose utility functions reward the destruction of other systems.
Sadistic: Systems whose utility functions reward them when they thwart the goals of other systems and which gain utility as other system’s utilities are lowered.
Sadoprolific: Systems whose utility functions reward them for creating as many other systems as possible and thwarting their goals.
Once designs for powerful autonomous systems are widely available, modifying them into one of these harmful forms would just involve simple modifications to the utility function. It is therefore important to develop strategies for stopping harmful autonomous systems. Because harmful systems are not constrained by limitations that guarantee safety, they can be more aggressive and can use their resources more efficiently than safe systems. Safe systems therefore need more resources than harmful systems just to maintain parity in their ability to compute and act.
Stopping Harmful Systems
Harmful systems may be:
(1) prevented from being created.
(2) detected and stopped early in their deployment.
(3) stopped after they have gained significant resources.
Forest fires are a useful analogy. Forests are stores of free energy resources that fires consume. They are relatively easy to stop early on but can be extremely difficult to contain once they’ve grown too large.
The later categories of harmful system described above appear to be especially difficult to contain because they don’t have positive goals that can be bargained for. But Nick Bostrom pointed out that, for example, if the long term survival of a destructive agent is uncertain, a bargaining agent should be able to offer it a higher probability of achieving some destruction in return for providing a “protected zone” for the bargaining agent. A new agent would be constructed with a combined utility function that rewards destruction outside the protected zone and the goals of the bargaining agent within it. This new agent would replace both of the original agents. This kind of transaction would be very dangerous for both agents during the transition and the opportunities for deception abound. For it to be possible, technologies are needed that provide each party with a high assurance that the terms of the agreement are carried out as agreed. Formal methods applied to a system for carrying out the agreement is one strategy for giving both parties high confidence that the terms of the agreement will be honored.
The physics of conflict
To understand the outcome of negotiations between rational systems, it is important to understand unrestrained military conflict because that is the alternative to successful negotiation. This kind of conflict is naturally analysed using “game theoretic physics” in which the available actions of the players and their outcomes are limited only by the laws of physics.
To understand what is necessary to stop harmful systems, we must understand how the power of systems scales with the amount of matter and free energy that they control. A number of studies of the bounds on the computational power of physical systems have been published. The Bekenstein bound limits the information that can be contained in a finite spatial region using a given amount of energy. Bremermann’s limit bounds the maximum computational speed of physical systems. Lloyd presents more refined limits on quantum computation, memory space, and serial computation as a function of the free energy, matter, and space available.
Lower bounds on system power can be studied by analyzing particular designs. Drexler describes a concrete conservative nanosystem design for computation based on a mechanical diamondoid structure that would achieve gigaflops in a 1 millimeter cube weighing 1 milligram and dissipating 1 kilowatt of energy. He also describes a nanosystem for manufacturing that would be capable of producing 1 kilogram per hour of atomically precise matter and would use 1.3 kilowatts of energy and cost about 1 dollar per kilogram.
A single system would optimally configure its physical resources for computation and construction by making them spatially compact to minimize communication delays and eutactic, adiabatic, and reversible to minimize free energy usage. In a conflict, however, the pressures are quite different. Systems would spread themselves out for better defense and compute and act rapidly to outmaneuver the adversarial system. Each system would try to force the opponent to use up large amounts of its resources to sense, store, and predict its behaviors.
It will be important to develop detailed models for the likely outcome of conflicts but certain general features can be easily understood. If a system has too little matter or too little free energy, it will be incapable of defending itself or of successfully attacking another system. On the other hand, if an attacker has resources which are a sufficiently large multiple of a defender’s, it can overcome it by devoting subsystems with sufficient resources to each small subsystem of the defender. But it appears that there is an intermediate regime in which a defender can survive for long periods in conflict with a superior attacker whose resources are not a sufficient multiple of the defender’s. To have high confidence that harmful systems can be stopped, it will be important to know what multiple of their resources will be required by an enforcing system. If systems for enforcement of the social contract are sufficiently powerful to prevail in a military conflict, then peaceful negotiations are much more likely to succeed.
← We can build safe systems using mathematical proof
The Safe-AI Scaffolding Strategy is a positive way forward →
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Collective Bargaining is a Human Right
Article 23 of the Universal Human Rights Declaration adopted by the United Nations in 1948 reads:
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
What we are seeing in Wisconsin and in Indiana is the attempt not to balance a budget but rather the attempt of elected officials to do the bidding of the corporations to strip the fundamental right of workers to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests. This is a violation of their human rights under the UN’s declaration of Human Rights.
In June of 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled:
“The right to bargain collectively with an employer enhances the human dignity, liberty and autonomy of workers by giving them the opportunity to influence the establishment of workplace rules and thereby gain some control over a major aspect of their lives, namely their work… Collective bargaining is not simply an instrument for pursuing external ends…rather [it] is intrinsically valuable as an experience in self-government… Collective bargaining permits workers to achieve a form of workplace democracy and to ensure the rule of law in the workplace. Workers gain a voice to influence the establishment of rules that control a major aspect of their lives.”
While Canada’s Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over the US, what its ruling does do is affirm emphatically that the right to unionize and to have collective bargaining is indeed a fundamental right as declared in the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights. It is part of what a democracy looks like for its people.
Wisconsin and Indiana are not the first states to attempt to rid collective bargaining nor would they be the first states to not have collective bargaining for their public workers, including teachers. There are five states that explicitly make collective bargaining illegal in their state for their public sector employees. There are additional states where restrictions apply to the bargaining process. Many more states prohibit teachers and other public employees from striking should collective bargaining efforts fail. Again, all of these violate the fundamental right of workers to have unions to protect their best interests. If a union is unable to negotiate with an employer on basic work conditions or to use non-violent strategies such as a strike to bring resolution to the issues at hand, their rights are being violated.
In my state of Alabama, which does not allow public employees to have collective bargaining, David Stout the president of the Alabama Education Association which is not union, recently stated, “I don’t think people in Alabama are ready for collecting bargaining laws.” This attitude that people need to be ready is a slap in the face of workers dignity. Similar statements have been made before regarding groups of people needing to be ready to have the vote, needing to be ready to have democracy, needing to be ready to have equality. The fact that it comes from the organization that is supposedly best equipped to support the interests of teachers reveals just how far the AEA is from representing their constituents. Instead comments like these represents the state’s and corporate interests just like the false trade unions in corrupt corporations in Mexico.
The essential right for the workers in Indiana and in Wisconsin to be able to sit down in negotiation with their employers is about reclaiming and resurrecting our most treasured American values of democracy. We have seen in the last 40 years such a deterioration of democracy in this nation while we pandered to the wishes of corporations as if they are people under the law with rights and privileges inherent in their being. Our nation has stripped away through this pandering all avenues of upward mobility for the poorest of the poor in this country and for the middle class. The divide between 90 % of the people and the top 1% has never been greater. The average income for the bottom 90 % is $31, 244. The average income for the top 1 % is 1, 137, 684. The average income for the top 1/100th percent is $27, 342, 212. Further the income of the bottom 90% has decreased significantly per year over the last decade while the top ten percent have seen astronomical gains in income. Stripping the right to collective bargaining from employees will ensure this trend not only continues but accelerates at an alarming speed because unlike a democracy, it places an imbalance of power into the hands of the government and corporations.
The Corporations are not people. They are only a vehicle towards sustaining our lives in what hopefully will be one with a certain level of quality of life. If they no longer serve the people towards the advancement of a quality life for all who work for them, then corporations and governments should be held accountable for their actions against human rights. Our elected officials must represent the people and not the corporations who line their pockets. If they do not then they must be removed from office and replaced with elected officials that will represent the best interests of the people.
This is one of many moral issues facing our nation today. It is essential that we stand with our workers in this fight because the survival of our democracy depends on it.
on February 24, 2011 at 7:15 pm Comments (3)
Tags: Alabama Education Association, Collective Bargaining, David Stout, Democracy, Economic Justice, Employee rights, Human Rights, Indiana, Supreme Court of Canada, Unitarian Universalist, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Wisconsin
Several months ago, I responded to a relative of mine who sent me one of those viral emails about the state of affairs in America. I had grown tired of receiving the tirade of complaints against what immigrants have done to this country, what Muslims are wanting to do to this country, and how disastrous “a foreign born Muslim” [sic] President Obama was for this country. So I responded and stated that in this country we believe in the American Dream where everyone can grow up to become President, where everyone has the opportunity to forge their own destiny. I further stated that since we held these ideals and values that we needed to do everything in our power to ensure that those opportunities continued to exist for everyone and if they were thwarted in anyway, we had the responsibility and the obligation to right that wrong.
The response I received was that my relative was not his brother’s keeper. In short if he could not have it, then his brother could not either. And the only way to keep his brother from having it was to ensure that laws were passed that were restrictive, punitive against the other from receiving what allegedly was kept from him.
The Biblical story where the brother’s keeper is mentioned is a painful story where two brothers, the sons of Adam and Eve, were at odds. Everything that Abel did was pleasing in the eyes of God. Everything that Cain did was displeasing and so Cain grew angry at God and angry that his brother always got what he did not get. Cain surmised if he couldn’t get what he desired then his brother should not have it either. And so in this story, Cain kills Abel. When confronted by God as to where Abel was, Cain responds, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God exiles Cain and in order for him to survive he will need to depend on the kindness of strangers, in short other brothers will be his keeper. The answer to this question is yes and so are we all.
A recent article on alternet.org regarding the protests against the Wisconsin Governor’s proposal to do away with collective bargaining of the unions, ends the article with this quote: “The Right has made great political progress getting Americans to ask the question: “How come that guy’s getting what I don’t have?” It’s the crux of the politics of grievance. Progressives need to get Americans to ask a different question: “What’s keeping me from getting what that guy has?”
It is a good question but the question does not go far enough. It is not enough to know that white privilege is rampant in America and is used to keep others from the good life. It is not enough to know that continued tax cuts for the top 2% income earners keeps the financial burden of government on the poor. It is not enough to know that our corporations have moved factories and jobs to other countries where they do not have to comply to our labor laws or environmental regulations. It is not enough to know that cutting spending on health care, human services, education will keep people in poverty. Many people know these things keep them from the same opportunities that the other guy had to fill his coffers.
What they are not doing is demanding a government that lives up to its ideals of being of, for, and by the people. Where the basic needs of the people are met. They have not realized that when we seek for our brothers and sisters to thrive we are seeking for ourselves to thrive as well. When corporations begin to take care of their employees’ basic needs such as a living wage, health care, pensions, life insurance, sufficient vacation and sick time; the incentive for the employee to be loyal, to be productive, to be innovative increases which benefits the corporations. Ensuring the best for our brother helps ensure the best for us as well.
It is time the people begin speaking up on what kind of government we want here in America. Will it be one that only benefits the rich and powerful or one that fulfills our American Creed so that everyone has the opportunity of having life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? We are not living Abraham Lincoln’s dream of being a government of, by, and for the people. We have moved far from that dream to being a plutocracy of corporations whose only use of the people is enslavement to sell their products and to line their pockets with gold. And if you think these words are too harsh, look at the work conditions in the countries where these corporations have set up shop to produce products. Those conditions would be here if they could get away with it. There are already some states that want to do away with child labor laws.
What we are seeing in Wisconsin is only the tip of the iceberg of what needs to happen across this nation. We need to send a strong message that in order for America to fulfill its creed of equality, that we need to begin by supporting the least of these in our nation; the children and the infirmed, the workers and the laborers, the poor and the immigrant. They are our brothers and sisters. To paraphrase Jesus of Nazareth, what you do to the least of my brethren, that you do also to all of us.
Tags: brother's keeper, child labor laws, Economic Justice, Justice, Unitarian Universalism, Wisconsin
Acceptance vs Tolerance
Acceptance v Tolerance
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tuscaloosa
13 February 2011 © Rev Fred L Hammond
There was a long pause on the phone. Then, “What did you call me?” I was flabbergasted, I had to think; did I say something derogatory and not realize it? “I called you Sir.” He sputtered, “No one has ever called me sir. I am not a sir. I am called lots of things but Sir is not one of them.” “Well,” I replied, “I just did and therefore you must also be, a Sir.”
Keith was many things in the eyes of the world. He was a convict, a violent criminal, an addict, a street bum, a con artist, abusive to his girlfriend, and infected with HIV/AIDS. All of these labels were met with fear by most everyone he encountered. This is the person parents warn their children about. Good people do not associate with the likes of him. He was the other to everyone he met. At best he would be tolerated by the social service workers who would help with food stamps, clothing vouchers, rental assistance. Rarely would he be accepted for his essential self, a fellow human trying to find his way through this maze called life.
The definition of tolerance has broadened over the centuries but its earliest meaning had to do with enduring, endurance as in something painful or abhorrent. A newer connotation of the word is to offer a permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, culture, race; sexual orientation is different to ones own. But the underlying denotation of enduring or forbearing something abhorrent remains.
Accept is the root word of acceptance and it has many definitions as well, including “to receive or admit formally, as to a college or club; and to regard as normal, suitable, or usual.” So the matter of acceptance means to welcome in as one of us or to consider as typically everyday normal.
The difference between tolerance and acceptance reveals a strong contrast: endure something painful or welcome as one of us.
There is in our society lots of conversation about tolerating our diversity. We are asked to be tolerant of gays, lesbians, and transgender folk. We are asked to be tolerant of our religious differences. We have heard specifically to be tolerant of Muslims in our country. So given the definition of the word what are we really asking when we ask for tolerance of those who are different from us. Are we asking to simply put up, endure people that we do not like, whose very presence might be painful, offensive to our set of morals or cultural mores?
It could be said that in the 20th century Euro-Americans were tolerant of African Americans as long as African Americans remained in their scripted place of being at the back of the bus. As long as African Americans remained in their prescribed societal role of a second class citizen, then Euro-Americans could tolerate them. Tolerate them with total indifference. This was not acceptance of African Americans, but it was tolerance. When African Americans refused to remain at the back of the bus, tolerance of African Americans went out the window and the south went up in flames, quite literally. African Americans wanted acceptance as equals. They no longer would stand for the tolerance of indifference which on a good day is what they received. We all know what happened on the bad days.
Martin Buber, 20th century philosopher, wrote a ground breaking text called I and Thou. He describes the person who declares I as having two basic word forms, I-It and I-You or I-Thou. We experience it. What ever that something is, it is experienced by the I. He writes, “I perceive something. I feel something. I imagine something. I think something. …The world as experience belongs to the basic word I-It.”
We do not experience You, instead I-You is in the realm of relationship. There are no boundaries, no borders to the I-You basic word form. There is a border with the I-It experience. The I-It has shape, it has definition, and it may also have a past tense. However, the I in the I-You dyad impacts upon the You only in the present, in the here and now, likewise the You impacts on the I. The I-You relationship must be dealt with; the relationship cannot be ignored or placed into the background like an I-It experience.
In the movie Avatar there is within the Na’vi culture this notion of seeing the other. The Na‘vi do not experience their world in the I-It sense but rather in the I-You relationship. They see their world in the full essence of life unfolding. Their world embodies an entity of being. They do not experience their world they are in relationship with the world. In the movie it is stated that the skypeople, the humans, cannot see. When Jack Sully finally embraces the culture of the Na’vi he and his Na’vi mentor say to each other, “I see you.” They are finally in an I-You relationship. Buber suggests that in these moments the I-You relationship is also addressing the eternal You. I see you.
The skypeople, the humans, are not in relation with the world Pandora. To them the world is an It. They experience the world. They know what the world can offer them in resources and in potential experiences. But the world is an It and all the beings living on the world are an It, as well. Pandora to the skypeople is of no consequence to them. They therefore are blind and do not see Pandora.
Extrapolate this not seeing the other as a You to the United States stance and quest for oil in the Middle East or our stance on immigration and undocumented citizens. Or our long embattled history with the indigenous people of this land. All of these are I-It experiences. This is not simply a political analysis this is as spiritual as it gets.
There is a Hindi word that also expresses this I-You relationship, Namasté. It has been translated in many ways from the simple “The god in me recognizes the god in you.” To “I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.” Saying Namasté, the person is acknowledging the I-You relationship.
In the last 18 days we have seen something remarkable happen in Egypt. We saw a people rise up, realize that they are people of worth and dignity and peacefully remove a dictator who saw them only as his objects. They claimed an I-You stance in this revolution and demanded that their government see them for who they are.
In the 1950’s, when Rosa Parks sat down in the bus, when the college students sat down at the lunch counter, when Ms. Lucy walked into the University of Alabama, they were declaring an I-You stance and demanded to be seen as the same as any other person. They were to be known as the I-You and no longer as an I-It. There is a lot of courage and fortitude to insist to be in relationship with another who does not see you but only tolerates you as a piece of landscape in the background. Tolerance as experienced in America is an I-It paradigm.
There is a video that has been making the rounds on Face Book. It is sponsored by a bible church in Arkansas. It opens with a young man in a hurry to work and he is complaining about every inconvenience, the kid next door on his skateboard that isn’t paying attention to cars, the traffic, the car that cuts him off, and the long lines in the coffee shop. He is handed a pair of glasses and as he puts them on he suddenly sees the problems that is weighing down on each person. One person is fighting addictions; another just had a blow up fight with their spouse, the single mom working two jobs to make ends meet, the man who just lost his job and trying to save face with his kids. Suddenly these people are no longer in the I-It experience. No longer are they barriers to his getting to where ever he is rushing to but I-You individuals that if he so chooses might serve as a difference in their lives.
Does acceptance mean embracing the opposing behaviors, values, and beliefs to our own? Contrary to popular argument, no. I can accept the person before me as one with dignity and worth and still not like their behaviors or belief system. Acceptance is not carte blanche. Parents can accept their children universally but this does not automatically mean they accept their children’s behaviors that are disrespectful or harmful to themselves or others.
What it does mean is that we are seeing the whole person as a person of worth and dignity. Before us stands a person who deserves to live their life as fully and as abundantly as possible. We are in relationship with them instead of simply tolerating their presence. This is spiritual work. When all the forces around us insist on making others I-Its in our landscape, it takes a disciplined soul to see the other as I-You. And when the person is oppressed by society, it takes even more fortitude to insist on being recognized as part of I-You.
Unitarian Universalist Zach Wahls, whose testimony before the Iowa state legislator on the zero impact of his parents being a lesbian couple on the development of his character was an I-You testimony. He declared that his family is not so different from any other family in Iowa. Their sense of worth as a family is not derived by the state declaring his parents married. “Sense of family comes from commitment to each other, it comes from the love that binds us,” Zach told the chambers. Acceptance of his family as equal partners in contributing to the positive development of Iowan society is far different than tolerance of his family. Zach told the council that not one person in his 19 years of life ever independently deduced that he was raised by two women instead of a heterosexual couple. He was passionately arguing that his parents were not I-It but were worthy of being I-You because he could declare, I see you to his parents. He was asking the council to join him in seeing, truly seeing his family as any other family in Iowa that receive the fair and equal treatment from their government.
Remember Keith, the hardened street criminal I called sir? He died many years ago just before Thanksgiving. At his funeral, his older brother told me that I was able to reach Keith in a way that no one in the family could. He thanked me for seeing Keith for who he was at his core being. He suggested that this made the difference in how Keith chose to live his final days surrounded by family, welcomed and accepted home.
Live with an attitude of acceptance, of welcoming in people where they are instead of an attitude of tolerance, of putting up and enduring the pain of life’s diversity. By so doing you may enter into the realm of I-You and even encounter the eternal You in the process. Namasté.
Tags: Acceptance vs Tolerance, Avatar, I and Thou, Justice, Martin Buber, Namasté, Racism, relationships, Unitarian Universalist, Zach Wahls
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Category: Brooks family
Travelling with the Lings (part 2)
This is the second in a series of posts on the history of my grandfather Frederick England’s maternal ancestors the Lings, the first of which can be read here. This part mainly focuses on Frederick’s great-grandfather George Ling and covers the period between his birth in 1824 and the death of his widow in 1906.
On 19 September 1824, a parish clerk in Hundon, Suffolk, recorded the baptism of a ‘base born’ (illegitimate) pauper’s son named George Ling. As we saw in the previous post, just three months later his mother Susan married an agricultural labourer named Samuel Mayes, the timing of which strongly suggests he may have been the boy’s father. Unlike his younger, legitimate brothers John and Thomas Mayes however, George did not share their father’s surname, so throughout his childhood his ‘bastard’ status would have been painfully self-evident to everyone in his community. Not only were illegitimate children subjected to one of the most pervasive and persistent social stigmas of the age (it was widely assumed they would share their parents’ ‘loose morals’), they faced economic discrimination too, as until the Twentieth Century they had no rights to inheritance. This perhaps explains why George had already left home by of the time of the 1841 census, when he would have been just sixteen, for the idea of starting a new life somewhere unburdened by his past must have been extremely attractive to anyone in his situation.
In 1841 George was working as a ‘male servant’ in the house of John Rutter of Bayments Farm in Stansfield, although his actual duties would probably have involved farm work rather than domestic service. By 1848 he had begun a relationship with a young woman from Keswick in Cumbria named Elizabeth Hartley (b. c. 1821), who on 28 February the following year gave birth to their first son, John. Although Elizabeth took the name Ling and is recorded on all later censuses as George’s wife, his will reveals that they had never actually been married, as in it he refers to their sons and daughters as “my illegitimate children familiarly known as…Ling”. After spending several years trying in vain to track down George and Elizabeth’s marriage certificate, this passing reference in his will had managed to solve one great mystery while simultaneously presenting another. Why, if they were living together as man and wife, sharing a surname and passing their children off as legitimate in public, did they not just get married? Even more confusingly, although no marriage certificate exists, there is a record of a couple in Kings Lynn with their names calling the banns in December 1846. I believe the most plausible explanation for all this is that one of them was already married, most likely Elizabeth who was older and came from further away, and that this was discovered before they could be wed.
This might explain why at the time of their son’s birth in 1849 they were living on Beckett Square in Barnsley, over a hundred miles from where either their families lived. Another explanation could be that George had been serving an apprenticeship there, as on John’s birth certificate he is recorded as an umbrella maker, a skilled trade which could have required several years’ training. Whatever the reason, they did not stay in Barnsley long, as the census of 1851 shows the family had moved to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire by then. Rather curiously they are shown running a large lodging house at 19 Chandlers Court, and George was no longer working as an umbrella maker but a bricklayer’s labourer. He and Elizabeth had one daughter there, Emily, before moving again to Alfreton in Derbyshire, where they would remain for the rest of their lives. They had eight children in total, whose names were:
John (b. 28 February 1849, Beckett Square, Barnsley, Yorkshire – d. 13 December 1894, 12 Silver Street, Doncaster, Yorkshire)
Emily (b. 8 April 1851, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire – d. 15 January 1925, Alfreton, Derbyshire)
William (bp. 2 October 1853, Alfreton, Derbyshire – d. c. August 1926, Chesterfield, Derbyshire)
Elizabeth (bp. 2 December 1855, Alfreton, Derbyshire – d. c. November 1925, Chesterfield, Derbyshire)
George (b. 13 July 1857, Alfreton, Derbyshire – d. c. May 1940, Chesterfield, Derbyshire)
Susannah (b. 14 August 1859, Alfreton, Derbyshire – d. 22 April 1936, Alfreton, Derbyshire)
Sophia (b. 8 July 1861, Alfreton, Derbyshire – d. c. August 1932, Derbyshire)
Thomas (b. 25 July 1865, Alfreton, Derbyshire – d. 27 April 1902, Chesterfield, Derbyshire)
Beckett Square, Barnsley c. 1900, where John Ling was born in 1849 (via Yococo Image Database).
An umbrella maker at work, 1884 (via The Old Print Shop).
The baptism record for George and Elizabeth’s second son William from 1853 shows that George had initially continued working as a lodging house keeper after moving to Alfreton, but by their daughter Elizabeth’s baptism in 1855 he was giving his main occupation as ‘general dealer.’ Similarly, in the 1861 census his occupation is recorded as ‘marine store dealer,’ and it is worth taking a moment to look at exactly what was meant by these slightly misleading terms. A ‘general dealer’ usually referred to a hawker rather than a shopkeeper, and despite what their name suggests ‘marine store dealers’ did not necessarily sell mariners’ equipment, normally this was just a term for general junk or scrap dealers. Interestingly, these are both occupations which were traditionally associated with Travellers and Gypsies, as was umbrella making. It is also notable that the majority of George and Elizabeth’s descendants went on to work in typical traveller occupations (general dealers, china and earthenware dealers, hawkers, even fairground showmen), and many led nomadic lives in caravans. It is unclear where exactly this affinity for the travelling lifestyle came from, as George clearly hailed from a settled agricultural community. One possibility is that it it came from Elizabeth as we know nothing about her life before 1849, therefore it is possible she came from a Traveller or Gypsy family.
Mr. Krook, a marine store dealer from Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, as depicted by Boz, 1895 (via Wikimedia Commons).
Elizabeth died at the age of fifty on 12 January 1871 of phthisis, a wasting disease often caused by tuberculosis. Her funeral took place at St Martins Church in Alfreton three days later, though oddly her name is recorded in the parish registers as ‘Mary Elizabeth Ling.’ In her death certificate her husband George is said to have been present at her death, and his occupation is given as ‘inn keeper.’ Since about 1864 he had been running the Royal Oak Inn at 10 King Street in Alfreton, and over time this appears to have gradually replaced general dealing as his main source of income. After 1871 he consistently gave his occupation as ‘publican’ in the census but he never completely abandoned his earlier trade as a marine store dealer. His will mentions two such shops, one in Alfreton and one in Chesterfield, as well as a greengrocers, although he presumably employed others to run these on his behalf.
His possession of these three businesses at the time of his death demonstrates just how far George had come since leaving Hundon, and after his acquisition of the Royal Oak in the mid-1860s his name begins to appear in local news stories with increased frequency. Many of these articles relate to incidents involving other people which merely took place on his premises, but they nonetheless help build up a picture of what his day-to-day life must have been like. One such story was that of Joseph Yarnold, who was charged with stealing one of George’s cups to give to a woman but was found not guilty after the jury dismissed it as “the act of a half-witted man” (The Derby Mercury, 11 January 1865, p. 8, col. 6). A second describes the inquest following the death from starvation of a sixty year old man from Sheffield who had been refused entry at several lodging houses before finally being taken in at the Royal Oak (The Derby Mercury, 19 October 1870, p. 2, col. 4).
Other stories relate more directly to George, such as the report on a court case he brought against the Meadow Foundry Co., which he claimed had supplied him with burnt scrap iron (The Derbyshire Times, 17 December 1873, p. 3, col. 5). Another from the following year describes “a general meeting of the Licensed Victuallers‘ Society, held at the home of Mr. George Ling” at which the men pledged to support their local Conservative candidates at the forthcoming general election (The Derbyshire Times, 7 February 1874, p. 8, col. 6). This would have been only the second election at which George was eligible to vote, the first being that of 1868 which was held the year after the Reform Act enfranchised the vast majority of male householders. As the secret ballot was still two years away at this time we can see from the 1868 poll book that he was clearly a habitual Conservative supporter, and had voted for the unsuccessful (but wonderfully-named) Conservative candidates Gladwin Turbutt and William Overend that year.
The Royal Oak Inn, c. 1907, 10 King Street, Alfreton (via Somercotes Local History Society).
In George’s final years he found companionship in a Yorkshire widow ten years his junior named Isabella Muff (née Brooks, b. 30 May 1834, Bradford, Yorkshire – d. c. February 1906, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire). They were married in Chesterfield parish church on 9 January 1873, and their marriage certificate (reproduced below) is notable for three reasons. Firstly there is the fact that it exists at all, which this tells us that there was no legal impediment to George getting married by this time. Presumably therefore it had been his late partner Elizabeth’s marriage to another man which had prevented her from marrying George, rather than any of his previous relationship of his. Secondly, it tells us that neither of them were literate because they both left ‘marks’ rather than signing their names. This is somewhat surprising given that George was already managing a number of businesses by then. Thirdly, it reveals that George had been attempting to conceal his illegitimacy, as he falsely gives his father’s name as ‘Samuel Ling,’ rather than ‘Samuel Mayes.’ There is further evidence for this cover up in the census returns for 1861 to 1901, which record George’s younger brother Thomas Mayes as ‘Thomas Ling.’ Thomas, by then a general labourer, had moved to Alfreton to live with George following their mother Susan’s death in 1859, and presumably took the Ling name in order to spare his brother any embarrassment. Interestingly, like George, Thomas also fudged the identity of his father on his marriage certificate from 1864, recording his name as ‘Samuel Mayse Ling’.
Marriage certificate of George Ling and Isabella Muff, 9 January 1873, Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
According to one of his descendants, Linda, who I met via Ancestry, George was apparently known to ‘cut his corns’ with a knife, and on one occasion this led to a severe foot infection. In an age before penicillin this could be fatal, and upon visiting his doctor George was immediately advised to prepare his will. He died on 18 November 1884 at the age of sixty of gangrene and an abscess of the foot, but his death certificate also reveals that he had been suffering from acute diabetes. Two days later he was buried in St Martins churchyard in Alfreton. His £1,807 12s. 11d. estate was divided among his children and Isabella, however there is reason to believe his widow may have been unhappy with this settlement. According to another oral tradition I learned through Linda, one night, presumably after George had died but before his wealth had been distributed, Isabella had locked herself in their bedroom and emerged several hours later wearing a large coat, claiming she was going for a walk. She would never return however, having sewn as much of George’s money as she could into the coat’s lining. If true this story could explain why none of George and Elizabeth’s children are said to have liked her. Three years later she married her third husband Lister Rhodes before moving to Middlesbrough, where she died in 1906 at the age of seventy one.
Over subsequent generations some of George and Elizabeth’s descendants would completely assimilate into their local communities while others embraced travelling lifestyles, and it’s possible to trace the origins of both tendencies back to this rather unconventional couple. In the next post we will look at what became of their eight children, including Maud Ling’s father John.
Author Robert JonesPosted on 22 March, 2016 19 September, 2016 Categories Brooks family, Hartley family, Ling family, Mayes familyTags Alfreton, Barnsley, Bigamy, Bricklayers, Chesterfield, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Elizabeth Hartley, Elizabeth Ling, Emily Ling, General dealers, George Ling, Gypsies, Hawkers, Hundon, Illegitimacy, Isabella Ling, Isabella Muff, Isabella Sunter, John Ling, John Mayes, Keswick, Kings Lynn, Ling family, Lodging houses, Mansfield, Marine store dealers, Mary Elizabeth Hartley, Mary Elizabeth Ling, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Phthisis, Publicans, Pubs, Royal Oak, Samuel Mayes, Sophia Ling, Stansfield, Suffolk, Susan Ling, Susannah Ling, Thomas Mayes, Travellers, Umbrella makers, William Ling, Wills, Yorkshire4 Comments on Travelling with the Lings (part 2)
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Tag: Reuben Mills
This is the fourth in a series of posts about my maternal grandmother’s family, the Millses. This installment follows the lives of her grandfather George Mills and his siblings. For information on the preceding generation see Going through the Mills (part 3).
Of the five children Reuben and Charlotte Mills had between 1862 and 1877, only three are known to have survived into adulthood. Their two daughters Ellen (b. c. 1865, Codnor, Derbyshire) and Elizabeth (b. c. 1870, Codnor, Derbyshire) appear on just one census each (1871 and 1881 respectively) suggesting they both died in childhood. Their second son however, William H. Mills (b. c. November 1866, Codnor, Derbyshire), appears in every census between 1871 and 1911, meaning we can say rather more about his life.
Aged fifteen William was recorded working as a farm servant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, the same occupation his father held as a young man. A report in The Grantham Journal however reveals that by 1888 William had moved to Saxby in Leicestershire, where he was employed as a cowman by a farmer named Mr. Rose (12 May 1888, p. 8, col. 8). The report in question was from the Melton Mowbray petty sessions, and recounted an incident where William was accused of stealing “two fronts and collars, and one shirt, valued 4 d, the property of John Ashwell, farm pupil” of the same household. During the trial it was argued there was no direct evidence of William’s guilt, and that there were in fact several others in the house who could have taken the items. In addition his parents Reuben and Charlotte said he “had been out to service eleven years, and had never been discharged from a situation…had always borne a good character and was a dutiful son”. Despite these protestations he was found guilty, fined “£1 and costs, or fourteen days’ imprisonment with hard labour”.
Whatever the truth behind the accusations, it is unsurprising to find that by the following census in 1891 William was recorded living back at home with his parents in Kegworth, Leicestershire, where he had taken on the slightly less prestigious role of an ‘agricultural labourer.’ By this time he also appears to have met and married his wife Elizabeth, but so far no marriage record has been uncovered and her original surname remains unknown. Ten years later, with his life seemingly back on track, the 1901 census shows William employed as a ‘stockman’ (cattle specialist) on a farm in Toton near Nottingham, where he and Elizabeth were living with their five children. By his final census appearance in 1911 however, he was back living in Kegworth and working as a plumber. The reasons for this rather abrupt career change in his forties may never be discerned but regardless, this is the final identifiable appearance of William in the historical record.
William’s younger brother John Thomas Mills (b. c. October 1877, Underwood, Nottinghamshire), Reuben and Charlotte’s youngest son, begun his working life as a ‘rod buffer’ in Kegworth according to the 1891 census. Quite what this occupation entailed is unclear, however it may have had something related to agricultural drainage. By 1901 however, John Thomas had found employment as a footman in the service of the wealthy Lancashire quarry and colliery owner William Brooks, Second Baron Crawshaw of Crawshaw Hall. As the household’s only footman he would have reported directly to the butler, and his work would have involved a mix of domestic duties such as waiting at table, attending the door, cleaning silver, and perhaps acting as a valet. A good contemporary description of a footman’s daily routine can be found in Mrs Beeton’sThe Book of Household Management(Beeton, 1907, 1764-1766).
Crawshaw Hall, Rawtenstall, c. 1880, where John Thomas Mills served as a footman to the wealthy quarry and colliery owner William Brooks in 1901 (via CrawshawHall.co.uk).
Valued highly as status symbols in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, footmen were often tall, good looking and athletic young men whose function was as ornamental as it was practical. Perhaps because of this, footmen were sometimes denied the respect they deserved. The master of the house would typically call all footmen by a generic name (e.g. ‘William’) to avoid having to learn a new name each time a man was hired. In addition, by the early 1900s domestic service was beginning to be seen as a somewhat ‘unmanly’ occupation due to the growing number of female household servants in the late Nineteenth Century (Lethbridge, 2013, 46-47). Despite this social stigma John Thomas continued working as a footman until at least 1911, when at the age of thirty four he was recorded living back in Kegworth in the employ of a local clergyman named Henry Major Stephenson.
The Rectory at Kegworth, where John Thomas Mills was employed by the clergyman Henry Major Stephenson (via Fretwelliana).
Unidentified footman, c. 1905, wearing the distinctive livery of the period which indicated his status (via Servants’ Stories).
By the time he was thirty eight however, there is evidence John Thomas had left domestic service and had begun working as a labourer in Derby, where he lived at 97 Shaftesbury Crescent. This evidence comes from his army service record, which tells us that on 19 November 1915 he had enlisted as a private in the 16th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment. The timing is especially poignant given that his mother Charlotte had died the previous day in Kegworth Union Workhouse, and his father Reuben, who he gave as his next-of-kin, would also be gone within four days.
His service record also attests that he was 5’5 1/2″ tall (average for the time, but relatively short for a footman), and that he had initially been relegated to the army reserve. On 19 March 1917 however he was mobilised and a week later was posted to Beaumarais in south-west Germany. Over next few months he was attached to a succession of different regiments, as the war’s rising death toll forced shrinking regiments to merge and reorganise. On 14 April he was transferred to the 25th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (7th Labour Battalion), then on 30 April to the 4th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment (L Company), and then the Labour Corps on 14 May. A few days later, on 25 May he returned to his original regiment, the 16th (transport workers) Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment, and on 16 June was transferred one last time to the 1st Battalion of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment.
The number and type of regiments to which John Thomas was assigned suggests he may have served mostly in non-combatant roles, providing labour to build and maintain the army’s transport and communications infrastructure when and wherever this was required. These roles, typically filled by older or less physically able recruits like John Thomas, were not without risks however. On 31 January 1918 he was diagnosed with ‘myalgia’, a form of chronic muscle pain, and was evacuated to England a few days later. According to his army pension record, his condition was attributed to his service, which entitled him to a 20% bonus to his weekly pension (total 5s 6d). His pension record also records his last known address as 3 Trenville Avenue, Fulham Road, Sparkhill, just south of Birmingham. He appears never to have married or had any children, and it is currently unknown when or where he died.
Like his younger brothers William and John Thomas, my great-great-grandfather George Mills was recorded in the 1881 census living at his parents’ home in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire. As we saw in the previous post, he was born at Langar Lodge on 9 April 1862, and had moved with his parents to Codnor, then Underwood. In the 1881 census he was listed as a farm servant, but by 1884 was working as an agricultural labourer in the nearby village of Kegworth, just over the Leicestershire border. This we know from his marriage certificate, which tells us that at the age of twenty one, on 10 March that year he married a local eighteen year old dressmaker named Frances “Fanny” Hardy Oldershaw (b. Frances Hardy, 4 June 1863, Kegworth, Leicestershire).
Curiously, although both were living in Kegworth at the time, their wedding is said to have taken place over twenty miles away in Langar, George’s Nottinghamshire birthplace. This inconvenient choice of wedding venue cannot be explained purely by a sentimental attachment to George’s place of birth, which he would have been too young to even remember. More likely it was chosen because it was a discreet distance away from both George or Fanny’s families. As Fanny was under twenty one at the time the couple would have required her parents’ permission to marry, and perhaps this was an attempt to get around that.
Is it possible to guess why her parents may have refused to support the marriage? A birth certificate for a girl named Minnie Hardy Oldershaw registered the previous year may provide a clue. This certificate confirms that on 12 July 1883 Fanny had given birth to a baby girl in Kegworth, eight months before her marriage to George. Perhaps when her pregnancy became public knowledge her parents shunned her and refused to have anything to do with the baby? As Fanny was unmarried at the time, no father’s name was recorded on her daughter’s birth certificate, but when Minnie sadly passed away from measles and capillary bronchitis on 25 November 1886 her father was named as ‘George Oldershaw’. This appears to be a false name given by George Mills, the informant, in an attempt to pass off Minnie as his legitimate daughter. Whether or not he had also been her biological father all along we can only speculate.
Tragedy was to strike the family twice in late 1886, for not only did they lose Minnie but also their second daughter, one-year-old Ellen Elizabeth Mills. Ellen’s cause of death has not yet been ascertained but it seems plausible she could have been carried off by the same measles outbreak which took her older sister. George and Fanny’s third child John George “Jack” Mills would have been just a few months old at the time, but fortunately he is known to have survived to adulthood, as did all six of his younger brothers and sisters. The Mills children were all born in Kegworth and grew up in the same family home near the hermitage at 17 Loughborough Road (later called London Road). Their names were:
Ellen Elizabeth (b. c. February 1885, Kegworth, Leicestershire – d. c. November 1886, Kegworth, Leiecestershire)
John George “Jack” (b. 13 November 1886, Kegworth, Leicestershire – d. 11 September 1963, Leicestershire)
Alfred William “Fred” (b. c. February 1888, Kegworth, Leicestershire)
Harry (b. 7 October 1889, Kegworth, Leicestershire – d. c. February 1968, Heanor, Derbyshire)
Edith Ellen “Nell” (b. 8 February 1891, Kegworth, Leicestershire – d. 27 April 1960, 51 Holly Street, Lincoln, Lincolnshire)
Alice (b. 12 March 1893, Kegworth, Leicestershire – d. 3 February 1961, Long Eaton, Derbyshire)
Frances Harriet (b. 22 April 1895, Kegworth, Leicestershire – d. c. February 1982, Ilkeston, Derbyshire)
Elizabeth Ann “Lizzie” (b. 9 December 1899, Kegworth, Leicestershire – d. 8 January 1979, Bilborough, Nottinghamshire)
The two photographs below from around 1888 and 1894 show Fanny with some of her and George’s children. In the first, she is shown with Jack and Fred in black clothing, which could have been mourning attire for her daughters Minnie and Ellen. Rather poignantly, the dresses her sons are shown wearing had probably belonged to their older sisters before being handed down to them (the tradition of dressing of young boys in dresses had always been one borne of economic necessity, rather than a conscious fashion choice). It is a posed, studio photograph, perhaps taken to commemorate Fred’s christening. The second more informal photograph was probably taken outside the family home and shows her with Jack, Nell, Alice, Fred, and my great-grandfather Harry Mills.
L-R: Jack, Fanny, and Fred Mills, c. 1888. Courtesy of R. Watkins and T. Lang.
L-R: Jack, Nell, Fanny, Alice, Fred, and Harry Mills, Kegworth, c. 1894. Courtesy of R. Watkins and T. Lang.
Throughout the 1880s and 1890s George had continued supporting the family working as an agricultural labourer, but by 1901 he had found employment at a plaster and cement mill works, most likely the one owned by the Winser family which stood over the river at the bottom of Mill Lane. The map below shows its location on the eastern edge of the village, as well as the Millses’ home on London Road to the south.
1901 6″ OS map of Kegworth (via National Library of Scotland).
By 1911 George was once again working as a farm labourer. At around this time, according to one of his descendants, he is said to have had his picture featured in a local newspaper after preventing a bank robbery. He was apparently on his way to fetch Dr. Bedford for his daughter Lizzie when he saw two men attempting to break into Westminster Bank. He quickly went off to find a policeman who lived nearby and the robbery was stopped in time. After all their children left home George and Fanny moved into in a house opposite the cinema on Derby Road, where they lived until Fanny’s death at the age of sixty seven on 26 August 1930. The official cause of death was a carcinoma of the liver, and her daughter Elizabeth was the informant.
L-R: Unknown, Fanny Mills, unknown, George Mills, c. 1930. Image courtesy of R. Watkins and T. Lang.
Following his wife’s death, George moved in with his daughter Alice and her husband Thomas Alfred “Alvy” Wilmot, who are recorded living at 220 Tamworth Road, Long Eaton in the 1939 register. He remained in Long Eaton for the rest of his life, and his last known address was 16 Hawthorne Avenue. Two days before Christmas 1950, at the age of eighty eight he died in Shardlow hospital of broncho-pneumonia, cerebral thrombosis and a carcinoma of the rectum. He was buried alongside his wife Fanny in Kegworth Parish churchyard.
L-R: Alfred WilImage and George Mills, c. 1930. Image courtesy of R. Watkins and T. Lang.
Memorial headstone of Fanny and George Mills, their daughter Elizabeth Ann and her husband Frederick Steel, Kegworth, c. 2010. Image courtesy of R. Watkins and T. Lang.
In the fifth and final post in this series we will look at what happened to George and Fanny’s children, before focusing specifically on my great-grandfather Harry, his wife Ruth Spencer, and my grandmother Julia Mary Mills.
Beeton, Isabella. Mrs. Beeton’s Book of household management : a guide to cookery in all branches, daily duties, mistress & servant, hostess & guest, marketing, trussing and carving, menu making, home doctor, sick nursing, the nursery, home lawyer. London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1907
Lethbridge, Lucy. Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Author Robert JonesPosted on 2 April, 2018 18 March, 2019 Categories Hardy family, Mills family, Oldershaw familyTags Agricultural labourers, Agriculture, Alfred William Mills, Alfred Wilmot, Alice Mills, Beaumarais, Charlotte Mills, Charlotte Wilcox, Codnor, Crawshaw Hall, Derby, Derbyshire, Dressmakers, Durham Light Infantry, Edith Ellen Mills, Elizabeth Ann Mills, Elizabeth Ann Steel, Elizabeth Mills, Ellen Elizabeth Mills, Ellen Mills, Fanny Hardy, Fanny Hardy Mills, Fanny Hardy Oldershaw, Fanny Mills, Fanny Oldershaw, Farm servants, Footmen, Frances Hardy, Frances Hardy Mills, Frances Hardy Oldershaw, Frances Harriet Mills, Frances Mills, Frances Oldershaw, Fred Mills, Frederick Steel, George Mills, Harry Mills, Henry Major Stephenson, Illegitimacy, Jack Mills, John george Mills, John Thomas Mills, Julia Mary Mills, Kegworth, Labour Corps, Labourers, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire Regiment, Lizzie Mills, Long Eaton, Minnie, Minnie Hardy Oldershaw, Nell Mills, Nottinghamshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, Plumbers, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Rawtenstall, Reuben Mills, Ruth Spencer, Saxby, Servants, Soldiers, Sparkhill, Stockmen, Toton, Underwood, William Brooks, William Mills, World War I, York and Lancester RegimentLeave a comment on Going through the Mills (part 4)
This is the third in a series of posts about the Mills family, the direct male-line ancestors of my maternal grandmother Julia Mary Mills. In this part I trace the stories of her great-grandfather Reuben’s generation who lived during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The children of John and Elizabeth Mills were among the first members of their family to abandon their ancestors’ rural way of life in search of work in the towns. In the previous post I speculated that this may have been a consequence of the Great Depression of British Agriculture which began in 1873, but the census shows that at least two of the Mills children left their parents’ home in Sutton Bonington in the 1860s, a time of relative prosperity. There could be a more local explanation however, as at around this time their landlord’s manor at West Leake had been put up sale (East Leake & District Local History Group, 2001, 8) and the threat of change would have led to a general unease among the agricultural workforce.
The first to leave was John and Elizabeth’s eldest son Thomas Mills (b. c. March 1830, West Leake, Nottinghamshire), who had already moved to Codnor in Derbyshire by 1861. That year’s census records him and his wife Elizabeth (née Hywood) living there with their two children George and Emma on Jessop Street, and Thomas’s occupation was given as ‘labourer on coal field’. Although the fact that Thomas’s wife hailed from Bolsover probably explains how the family ended up in Derbyshire, his occupation suggests the area’s well-established coal mining industry was another likely attraction.
So-called open-pit mining had been in operation at Codnor since at least the fifteenth century, but as Stuart Saint explains:
It wasn’t until the Butterley Company was established in 1790 that mining in the area began to get more advanced. The company invested huge amounts of money into mines that penetrated the coal and ironstone seams deeper than ever before. The local community grew from a small agricultural based workforce to a rapidly growing industrial one. The increasing population needed more housing and many of the streets in Codnor did not exist until the mid 1800s, when they were built to accommodate hundreds of workers needed for the many mines in the area.
One of these streets was Jessop Street, built in around 1860 and named for William Jessop, one of the Butterley Company’s founders, where Thomas and his family lived until at least 1881.
Jessop Street, 1906 (via The Codnor & Disctrict Local History & Heritage Website).
By that year’s census Thomas was recorded as an ‘iron worker’, so it is likely he had begun working at the Butterley Company’s vast ironworks just north of Ripley. Although the company was one of the most distinguished engineering firms in the country, and had been responsible for such innovations as the great arched train shed at St Pancras Station, they would nonetheless face calls from their employees to improve pay and working conditions later in the century. These calls were initially fiercely resisted by the company, who fired eleven workers in 1874 for their role in a strike over pay, although no official charges were ever brought. Thomas was not among those who lost his job as a result of the strike, however given his union activity later in life (more of which later) it seems plausible he could have participated in it.
Thomas Mills’s co-workers at the Butterley Company, who were refused work in 1874 for taking part in strike action (via Healey Hero).
Like any under-regulated nineteenth century workplace, the Butterley ironworks would also have been an incredibly dangerous place to earn a living, especially for men like Thomas who were forced to work well into old age. On Thursday 23 January 1890, Thomas, by then almost sixty, accidentally dropped a heavy iron plate he had been picking up, which fell and crushed one of his legs. Upon his arrival at Derby Infirmary the doctors were forced to amputate the smashed limb.
‘Serious Accident at Butterley Ironworks’. Description of Thomas Mills’s accident which inaccurately gives his age as sixty eight. He is also said to be living on Nottingham Road by this point, the same address he would give in the next three censuses. Source: The Derby Daily Telegraph, 24 January 1890, p. 2, col. 6 (via The British Newspaper Archive).
Fortunately Thomas survived the procedure, and the following year’s census shows he had already found work as a general labourer, one would hope with the assistance of a new wooden leg. Ten years later in 1901 he was recorded as a ‘head furnace weighman’ at the ironworks, a more prestigious but less physically demanding role better suited to a seventy one year old amputee. His work here would have involved leading the team who checked, weighed and recorded the coke and iron ore being charged into the blast furnace. A unique insight into the lives of the Butterley Company’s workforce at this time can be gained from this rare footage from 6 October 1900, which shows workers leaving the ironworks at the end of a long day’s work.
At some point before 1911 it appears Thomas returned to the coal mining industry, as in that year’s census his occupation was given as ‘colliery checkweighman (above ground) previously’ (i.e. recently retired). This job, while similar to what he had been doing at the ironworks, differed in that he would have been working not for the enrichment of the Butterley Company but for the benefit of his co-workers through their union, the Derbyshire Miners’ Association. At this time miners were paid by the amount of coal produced, so it was important the weights recorded were accurate. Two weighmen were therefore employed, one working on behalf of the company, and a trade union representative (a ‘checkweighman’) elected by the miners to verify his findings. The photograph below taken at Denby colliery in 1898 shows the type of weighing machine Thomas would have used on a daily basis. Note also the elderly one-legged man on the right. As Denby colliery was situated only about an hour’s walk from Thomas’s home on Nottingham Road, it is tempting to think the man in the picture could be him, even though the census suggests he was still working at the ironworks at the time.
A pit top weighing machine at Denby Colliery, Derbyshire, in 1898 (via Picture The Past).
It is interesting to compare Thomas’s story to that of Thomas England (see There’ll Always Be An England (Part 2)), whose grandson Frederick would go on to marry Thomas Mills’s great-grandniece, my grandmother Mary, in 1938. Not only did both men survive potentially fatal accidents at work, but as a result both ended up as colliery weighmen instead of manual workers. Unlike Thomas England though, Thomas Mills’s accident happened near the end rather than at the beginning of his working life, which perhaps explains why his career did not benefit to quite the same extent. He died in the last quarter of 1914 at the age of eighty four.
It is unclear what happened to John and Elizabeth Mills’s second son Charles (b. c. 1833, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire). Oddly, there is a baptism record for him from 8 June 1845 at Sutton Bonington, when he would have been around twelve, but after that we can only speculate. Charles’s baptism appears to have been a joint ceremony with his younger brothers Reuben (b. c. December 1835, West Leake, Nottinghamshire) and John Jr. (b. c. June 1845). Reuben we will return to shortly, but John Jr. is another son whose later life is a mystery.
We know a little more about their younger brother, John and Elizabeth’s last child Robert Mills (bp. 11 October 1849, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire). Born almost twenty years after their eldest, by the time he was twenty one Robert was still living at his parents’ house but working as a labourer at an iron foundry. Six years later he married Charlotte Musson, another Derbyshire girl from Heanor, on 18 December 1877. The next census shows that by 1881 they had left Sutton Bonington and moved to Leake Road in nearby Normanton on Soar. It also shows that Robert had begun working as an agricultural labourer, an occupation he would still hold ten years later, and that Charlotte was employed as a hosiery seamer. The final census on which Robert appears records that by 1891 his family had moved back to Sutton Bonington where they lived at Rectory Farm, a short distance away from where he had grown up at Pit House. Robert died at the age of only forty nine and was buried on 1 September 1899 at West Leake. Over the course if their marriage he and Charlotte had twelve children together, and after Robert’s death many of them went with their mother when she returned to Heanor to work as a charwoman.
1901 25″ OS map showing the locations Pit House and Rectory Farm in Sutton Bonington, where Robert Mills lived in 1871 and 1891 respectively (via National Library of Scotland).
We return now finally to Rueben Mills, John and Elizabeth’s third son and my grandmother’s great-grandfather. Like his brothers, Reuben grew up at Pit House in Sutton Bonington, but by the time he was sixteen he was working as a farm servant for a widow named Rebecca Oakley in Wilford. According to the 1851 census, Oakley’s farm covered thirty acres and employed three other servants (two domestics and a charwoman). Farm servants like Reuben differed from agricultural labourers in that they typically lived in the farmer’s house and received board as part of their pay. As a result, they were considered to be “just a little further up in the pecking order” according to Crawford MacKeand (2002):
If single, he “lived-in” and bed and board were part of the contract for hire, and if married, he was provided with a house or a cottage, with possibly some grazing rights or strip of land to use and some provisions for the family. Cash wages were maybe less than 40% of total income. Hiring could be a continuation of existing employment or a new contract established at a “hiring fair”, and was normally for a one year period, or at least six months.
In some areas the Farm Servant was also known as a “confined man” and this was a desirable status to be aimed at. He, almost always he, was skilled typically in horse or other livestock care…and was therefore employed continuously year round…The Agricultural Laborer on the other hand was paid day wages, hired on a short term as and when work was needed, and therefore much more characteristic of arable farming, for planting, hoeing, reaping etc. He or she was given no accommodation, often operated as part of a gang under a contractor, and received only wages.
It it may be hard for those familiar with Wilford as a Nottingham suburb to imagine it populated with farm servants and agricultural labourers, but in the mid-nineteenth century it still retained much of its original rural character. It is possible to get an idea of what the village looked like in Reuben’s day from the surprising number of Victorian oil paintings of it. Writing in 1914 Robert Mellors even noted that “Wilford has the honour of being the most painted, and best illustrated village in the county”, and that there were several paintings referring to it at the Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery:
There is a view of the Trent, shewing the church, ford, etc., painted by Thomas Barber, about 1840; a view at Wilford from the Trent, “Looking to the Castle,” by Benjamin Shipham; “Wilford Ferry” (The Cherry Eatings) about 1858, by John Holland, Junr, shows a boat being towed over, full of passengers, while a crowd of ladies wearing crinolines, and gentlemen top hats, are waiting their turn. The vendors of cherries are doing a busy trade.
The three paintings described by Mellors can be seen below, and more can be browsed via the Culture Grid website.
“View At Wilford, Nottingham” by Benjamin Shipman, c. 1830. Source: Nottingham City Museums and Galleries (via Culture Grid).
“Wilford Ferry, Nottingham (The Cherry-Eatings)” by John Holland, 1858. Source: Nottingham City Museums and Galleries (via Culture Grid).
Reuben did not settle permanently in Wilford however. By April 1861 he had moved back in with his parents at Sutton Bonington, and that year’s census records his occupation as ‘agricultural labourer’, suggesting something of a downturn in his fortunes. This would prove to be a temporary state of affairs though, as by November he was once again working as a farm servant twenty two miles away at Langar Lodge. Soon after he would be joined there by his new wife Charlotte (née Wilcox), who he married on 25 November 1861 at St Helena’s church in West Leake.
Charlotte was the third daughter of an agricultural labourer named Thomas Wilcox (b. 1797, Beeston, Nottinghamshire – d. c. February 1872, Nottinghamshire) and his wife Mary Attawell (b. 27 June 1799, Bradmore, Nottinghamshire – d. 1862, Stanton On The Wolds, Nottinghamshire). She was born on 2 May 1840 in the village of Stanton On The Wolds, Nottinghamshire, and in 1861 had been working as a domestic servant for a farmer named Thomas Hardy on Main Street, West Leake. As Reuben would have been living only half a mile away at the time it is unsurprising that the two of them eventually crossed paths, they may have even shared the same employer. Whatever the circumstances of their first encounter, sometime around August 1861 Charlotte became pregnant with Reuben’s child, and six months after their wedding she gave birth at Langar Lodge on 9 April 1862. The boy who was christened George Mills on 11 May that year was my great-great-grandfather.
Langar Lodge, where Charlotte gave birth to her and Reuben’s son George in 1862 (via Little Langar Lodge).
Shortly after their son’s birth Reuben and Charlotte left Nottinghamshire and rural life altogether to settle in Codnor, where Reuben’s brother Thomas’s family had moved a few years earlier. The 1871 census records both families living on Jessop Street just eight houses apart, and like his brother Reuben’s first job here was at the local colliery. There he worked as a banksman, which involved directing the loading and unloading of the cage that carried men from the top of the pit down to the coal face below.
The family stayed in Codnor for at least six years, during which time they had the following three more children:
Ellen (b. c. 1865, Codnor, Derbyshire)
William H. (b. c. November 1866, Codnor, Derbyshire)
Elizabeth (b. c. 1870, Codnor, Derbyshire)
At some point before 1877 they moved back across the county border to Underwood in Nottinghamshire, another mining village, where they had their fifth and last child:
John Thomas (b. c. October 1877, Underwood, Nottinghamshire)
Unlike his brother Thomas however, Reuben would not stay in the coal industry for long. The 1881 census shows that by then he had returned to farming, and that his family had resettled in Ratcliffe-on-Soar near where he grew up. Of Reuben and Charlotte’s children, sadly only George, William, Elizabeth and John Thomas were living with them at this point, suggesting their eldest daughter Ellen may have died. Their oldest sons George and William, then eighteen and fourteen, had started work as farm servants, while Reuben was once again an agricultural labourer, an occupation he would continue to hold for the rest of his life.
Sometime before the next census in 1891 Reuben and Charlotte moved for the fourth and final time to Kegworth in Leicestershire, where they lived on Nottingham Road. Their eldest son George had moved here a few years earlier, and many of their descendants would continue to live here well into the twentieth and even twenty first centuries. By this time all Reuben and Charlotte’s children except William and John Thomas had moved out, so they had been obliged to take in a lodger, a plumber and gas fitter named William Smart who was still living with them in 1901 and 1911.
Nottingham Road in Kegworth, where the Millses lived from the 1890s to the 1910s (via Kegworth Village).
Charlotte and Reuben died within just five days of each other on 18 and 23 November 1915 respectively. Charlotte’s cause of death at the age of seventy five was given as ‘old age [and] myocardial degeneration’, and Reuben apparently succumbed to ‘senile decay’ aged seventy nine. While Reuben died at the family home on London Road, sadly Charlotte’s last recorded address was the Shardlow Union Infirmary and Workhouse, suggesting she may have been unwell for some time.
The informant on Reuben Mills’s death certificate was his daughter-in-law Fanny Mills, who was also present at the death. Fanny was the wife of Reuben’s first son George and my great-great-grandmother, and I will be looking at this next generation of Millses in the next post.
East Leake & District Local History Group. 200 Years of Basketmaking in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, West Leake and East Leake, Nottinghamshire. East Leake: East Leake and District Local History Society, 2001.
MacKeand, Crawford. “Farm Servants and Agricultural Laborers”. The Wigtownshire Pages. 2002. Accessed 24 March, 2017. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ainsty/articles/profession/aglab.html.
Mellors, Robert. “Wilford: Then and Now.” Nottinghamshire History. 2010. Accessed 26 March, 2017. http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/mellorsarticles/wilford6.htm.
Saint, Stuart. “Mining.” Codnor & District Local History & Heritage Website. Accessed 9 March, 2017. http://www.codnor.info/mining.php.
Author Robert JonesPosted on 5 April, 2017 4 April, 2018 Categories Mills family, Wilcox familyTags Accidents, Agricultural labourers, Agriculture, Beeston, Bradmore, Butterley Company, Charles Mills, Charlotte Mills, Charlotte Musson, Charlotte Wilcox, Codnor, Codnor and Loscoe, Colliers, Derbyshire, Elizabeth Brown, Elizabeth Hywood, Elizabeth Mills, Ellen Mills, Emma Mills, Farm servants, Frederick England, George Mills, Heanor, Illegitimacy, Iron workers, John Mills, John Thomas Mills, Julia Mary England, Julia Mary Mills, Kegworth, Langar, Leicestershire, Mary Attawell, Mary Wilcox, Normanton on Soar, Nottinghamshire, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Rebecca Oakley, Reuben Mills, Robert Mills, Servants, Stanton On The Wolds, Strikes, Sutton Bonington, Thomas England, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Wilcox, Trade unions, Underwood, West Leake, Wilford, William H. Mills, William Smart, Workhouses1 Comment on Going through the Mills (part 3)
This is the second in a series of posts recounting the history of the Mills family, my maternal grandmother Julia Mary Mills’s direct male-line ancestors. This part largely concentrates on her great-great-grandparents John and Elizabeth, who lived in Nottinghamshire during the nineteenth century. To read about the family’s story so far see my previous post Going through the Mills (part 1).
My fourth great-grandfather John Mills was the second of Robert and Elizabeth Mills’s seven children, all of whom were born in West Leake in Nottinghamshire between 1806 and 1821. John’s three brothers, William, Thomas and Joseph all went on to work as agricultural labourers in West Leake or other nearby villages, including Greasley and Keyworth. Of his three younger sisters, little is known of Mary but Sarah married a labourer from Wysall named Charles Shaw, and Elizabeth, who had worked as a servant in her youth, married John Johnson Shaw, a lace worker who briefly served as a police constable in Eastwood during the 1850s. Her family later moved to Beeston just south of Nottingham where she worked as a laundress.
John, was baptised in Sutton Bonington on 12 December 1808. At the age of twenty he married Elizabeth Brown (b. c. 1809), the daughter of John Brown and Mary Monks, on 5 October 1829 in her home village of Bunny. The parish registers there show he had been living in nearby Long Whatton at the time, just over the Leicestershire border. The couple appear to have had at least five children together whose names were:
Thomas (b. c. March 1831, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire, bp. 9 March 1830, Bunny, Nottinghamshire – d. c. November 1914, Derbyshire, England)
Charles (b. c. 1833, Nottinghamshire, bp. 8 June 1845, West Leake, Nottinghamshire)
Reuben (b. c. December 1835, West Leake, Nottinghamshire, bp. 1 January 1836, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire – d. 23 November 1915, London Road, Kegworth, Leicestershire)
John (b. c. June 1845, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire, bp. 8 June 1845, West leake, Nottinghamshire)
Robert (b. c. October 1849, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire, bp. 11 October 1849, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire – bur. 1 September 1899, West Leake, Nottinghamshire)
Their birthplaces suggest the Millses settled in Sutton Bonington, which is where they were recorded in the first national census of 1841. This census shows that, like his father and brothers, John grew up to be an agricultural labourer and would have been in his twenties during the tumultuous 1830s when the Swing Riots were sweeping the English countryside. That year their sons Thomas, Charles and Reuben were all still living at home, but by the next census in 1851 all three had left to find work elsewhere and only their youngest boys, John and Robert, remained.
This latter census also reveals that the family’s modest income was being supplemented by their mother Elizabeth’s work as a ‘lace runner’, i.e. “a person who hand embroidered lengths of machine net with darning…or running stitches” (Textile Research Centre, 2016). In the early-to-mid-nineteenth century, Nottingham’s world famous lace industry employed thousands of women in similar roles across across the county, as Sheila Mason (2013) explains:
While the centre of Nottingham concentrated on lace finishing most lace making was carried on outside the town. Every town and village in the map [see below] accommodated lace machines at one time or another. Into the 1840s most lace machines were small and worked by the hand and feet of the operative, so that for nearly 100 years they could be located in houses or workshops. It was only after the 1850s, that machines were generally worked by steam power, and moved into factories.
Nottinghamshire lace runners or embroiderers at work, c. 1843. Source: Charles Knight, The Pictorial Gallery of Arts. Volume 1 Useful Arts, 1843 (via Textile Research Centre).
The map below from Mason’s article indicates the presence of at least one ‘twist machine or plain net machine’ in both West Leake and Sutton Bonington where Elizabeth was working in the 1850s:
Known locations of lace machines from the 1770s to 1850s in Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Nottinghamshire (via The Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway).
By 1861 however, Nottinghamshire’s lace industry had shifted away from the kind of small-scale cottage industry which enabled women like Elizabeth to work from home to the more centralised factory system which survived well into the twentieth century. The Mills family would have faced a dilemma at this stage: either migrate to Nottingham where Elizabeth could perhaps retrain as a factory hand, or stay in Sutton Bonington and hope John’s wages alone would be enough to sustain them. As a fifty three year old agricultural labourer John would have stood little chance of finding work in the city, therefore it is perhaps unsurprising that they chose the latter option. The 1861 census records that John was the only one still in paid employment, but by that time their twenty four year old son Reuben, also an agricultural labourer, had moved back home, and his wages would undoubtedly have helped with the family’s finances.
That year the family’s address was recorded as ‘5 Pitt House’, and in later census returns it appears as ‘Leake Pit House’ and ‘Leake Pit Cottages’. Although the building no longer exists it is possible to work out its location by examining contemporary Ordnance Survey maps of the area. The extract below from the 1883 edition clearly shows a small terrace or row of cottages with that name running parallel to Pithouse Lane, the road connecting Sutton Bonington with West Leake to the north. Its location on on the outskirts of both parishes could explain why some of the Mills boys were born in one parish but baptised in another.
1883 OS map showing of Pit House, as well as the Mills’s osier beds to the left of Pithouse Lane (via National Library of Scotland).
‘Pit House’, which was named after the cock pit it once incorporated, lives on as the name of the restaurant attached to the Star Inn. The Star is identified on the map above by the initials ‘P.H’ (public house) below and slightly to the right of the words ‘Pit House’. Today it stands on the same site on the outskirts of West Leake and Sutton Bonington as it did when the Mills family lived just around the corner. It can also be clearly seen about seven minutes into a 1936 film about the activities of the Long Eaton Co-operative society available via the Media Archive for Central England website.
The Star Inn, home of the Pit House Restaurant named after the Millses’ former home (via The Star Inn West Leake).
Both John and Elizabeth lived surprisingly long lives given their humble socioeconomic backgrounds. Elizabeth was the first to go, finally succumbing to jaundice on 9 June 1885 aged seventy five. John followed six years later on 7 January 1892 at the age of eighty three. Although little is known of their final years, it seems likely the couple would have found life increasingly hard as a result of the Great Depression in British agriculture, which began in about 1873 and would continue well into the 1890s. Increased competition from America had led to a steep fall in the price of grain from which British farming has never truly recovered, and consequently this period saw both a fall in the living standards of rural workers and a wave of migration from to countryside into the towns and cities. Although John and Elizabeth were not part of this wave, a number of their children were. In the next post I will focus on this next generation of Millses, and in particular my grandmother’s great-grandfather, Reuben.
Mason, Sheila A. “Lace”. Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway. 2013. Accessed 9 December, 2016. http://www.nottsheritagegateway.org.uk/themes/lace.htm.
Textile Research Centre. “Lace Runner”. Textile Research Centre. 2016. Accessed 9 December, 2016. http://www.trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/index.php/component/k2/item/10234-lace-runner.
Author Robert JonesPosted on 11 December, 2016 25 March, 2019 Categories Brown family, Mills family, Monks familyTags Agricultural labourers, Agriculture, Bunny, Charles Mills, Charles Shaw, Eastwood, Elizabeth Brown, Elizabeth Mills, Elizabeth Milner, Greasley, Great Depression, Harriet Mills, John Johnson Shaw, John Mills, Joseph Mills, Keyworth, Lace, Lace runners, Laundresses, Leicestershire, Long Whatton, Mary Mills, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Pitt House, Pubs, Reuben Mills, Robert Mills, Sarah Mills, Sutton Bonington, The Star, Thomas Mills, West Leake, William Mills, Wysall1 Comment on Going through the Mills (part 2)
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Posted on November 18, 2015 by Jordan Posner
Classics Revisited: Where’s the Guitar?
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I grew up during the 90’s. Coming of age during this decade is incredibly “in” right now, as there is an entire cottage industry based entirely on blind nostalgia for the Clinton era. Every show gets a multi-set DVD release, no matter how small the actual audience. Every band gets back together, even if they had one negligible hit (still waiting on my Dishwalla presale tickets) and the general result is that it’s become more or less impossible to discern what is actually worth remembering from this decade. Do I actually like Foo Fighters, or do they just represent some sort of safe space and consistency for me? Can’t it be both?
Ben Folds Five sucked up a lot of the zeitgeist in 1997 with their ubiquitous hit song “Brick.” It simply has to be the only modern rock song that is obviously about an abortion. There are a few that touch on the subject (“A Whiter Shade of Pale,” “Hot Blooded,” and “D’yer Maker”) *, but the sense of chilly loss and numbness is so explicit in “Brick” that it feels almost like eavesdropping when you listen to the track, like watching the personal home movies of someone you will never get to know.
And for a lot of people, Ben Folds Five was the band that sang “Brick.” They had their few minutes, got a few bucks out of it, and then quickly went the way of Seven Mary Three and Silverchair.
Sponsored link (story continues below)
This is a shame, because over the course of their original three-album run, Ben Folds Five ran the gamut from punk to lounge pop, all without the aid of a proper guitar.
Let’s start at the beginning: Ben Folds Five was formed in Chapel Hill, NC in 1993. The core membership (three people) consisted of Ben Folds (vocals, piano), Darren Jessee (drums, percussion) and Robert Sledge (bass). It’s essentially your classic jazz trio combination. And the group certainly had the chops to tackle unorthodox chord changes and time signatures. But more on that later, because ultimately, BFF arose from a proletariat punk sensibility. Check out the dystopian working-class sketch of “Jackson Cannery” or the scene-destroying “Underground” on their self-titled 1995 debut. How about the white-trash fling of “Julianne”? Though Ben Folds Five lacked the typical distorted guitar of punk/hardcore, and owed debts more to Elton John and Harry Nilsson than the Sex Pistols, the underlying ethos was there. Compare Ben Folds Five to Blink 182’s Enema of the State, which was released within the same 4-year period. Though, at least superficially, Blink sounds more like “punk,” it can hardly be said that Enema was a “punk” album. Sure it was loud and fast, but (in this writer’s opinion), something was lost in the translation. Blink 182 photocopies punk music and attempts to recreate it note-for-note, while a band like Ben Folds Five captures the spirit of punk (a free-floating phantasm, in “Ghostbusters” parlance) simply by breaking new ground. It’s ballsy to attempt to “rock” in the traditional sense without a guitar. Even when BFF was young and snotty, they’d still drop a pretty ballad like “Alice Childress” in the middle of things. Not rocking when you’re expected to do so? Nothing more punk than that.
It was this constant evolution, this reluctance to settle and become complacent in one particular genre, that animated Ben Folds Five during their heyday. This trend would continue with their most successful (and arguably best) record, 1997’s Whatever and Ever Amen. Though “Brick” is definitely the most well-known song on the record (and still, in spite of everything, a pretty good track), to stop there is to sell this album incredibly short.
But let’s talk about “Brick” for a minute. So many things set it apart from the other crop of 1997 hits (remember, we were dealing with Third Eye Blind and the nascent swing revival):
If nothing else, the subject matter, lack of guitar and presence of acoustic double bass are noteworthy. There is a thick air of melancholy that permeates this entire record, manifesting itself first in the form of spite (“One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces,” “Song for the Dumped,”) and finally transforming into numbness and tacit acceptance (“The Battle of Who Could Care Less,” “Selfless, Cold and Composed”). The anger and shit-stirring of their first album remains, it’s just funneled into more diverse outlets.
BFF’s final album was 1999’s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. In a way, the obscure and impossible to remember title predicts the frustrating nature of this record. Reinhold is probably BFF’s weakest studio album, but it is also the group’s most polished and adult. Though there are a few larks here and there (such as minor hit “Army,”) the album reads like a breakup album (both for romantic relationships and the band itself). Songs like “Don’t Change Your Plans” are cautiously optimistic about the future, though still recognizing the necessity for growth and finality. The sparkling production (a little much at times, if you ask me) brings to mind the jazzy pop of Burt Bacharach, and Ben Folds Five effectively shrugs off their youthful jesses just in time to completely implode. I’ll be honest. Though all three of their studio albums are excellent, Reinhold is not usually the one I’m listening to at any given time.
All their output, however, is worth checking out, even their reunion album (2012’s The Sound of the Life of the Mind). To give this group a chance beyond “Brick” is to allow one of the more unique pop acts of the past 20 years to work their magic on you. Despite the lack of guitar walls, Ben Folds Five have moments of pure power and energy that put louder and more traditionally “hardcore” groups to shame. It is BFF’s fluid versatility between styles and tones that elevate them high above the rest of the 90’s mucky muck.
*Not one of these songs is about an abortion.
Photo credit: By Michael Nutt (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nutt/137111439/) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By: Jordan Posner
Jordan Posner is a writer, musician, attorney, rock music fan, wine enthusiast, American history buff and dog lover. He is originally from Centerville, Ohio and went to school at The Ohio State University and Loyola University Chicago. Here is a list of more things about him:
1. Jordan currently lives in Chicago with his girlfriend and dog, both adorable.
2. His favorite bands of all time include Husker Du, R.E.M, Ween, Pink Floyd and Guided by Voices
3. His favorite U.S. President is either Theodore Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson (domestic policy only).
4. His favorite song very well might be “Nightswimming” by R.E.M.
5. He currently sells wine, unless you can offer him a better job.
Check him out on Twitter, because he usually says a lot of funny things : @FlackSabbath
You can email him your thoughts on 1980’s American hardcore music. Or just skip right to the death threats: jordan@rocknuts.net.
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Song of the Day: “Love Reign O’er Me” – The Who
See all this author’s posts
2000s, 90s Music
Tagged Ben Folds Five, Blink 182
One comment to “Classics Revisited: Where’s the Guitar?”
Great post on a great band. I definitely don’t miss the 90s swing revival!
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Tag: K. Noel Moore
REVIEW: “A Song for Hardy Connelly” by K. Noel Moore
Review of K. Noel Moore, “A Song for Hardy Connelly”, Luna Station Quarterly 37 (2019): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Moore’s “Song” is divided into three parts, telling the stories of Hardy, Saraid, and Moïra, all linked to each other through blood but separated by their experiences.
Hardy Connelly was born Deaf, and a childhood bout with Guillain-Barré Syndrome left her legs weak and in need of artificial support. Those who don’t know her pity her:
Poor thing, they said. Cursed she must be. That’s no worthwhile life she’s living.
But if Hardy is cursed, it’s not because of either her Deafness or her weak legs. It’s because she’s a Connelly, a descendent of the Ò Conghalaighs who
had meddled with something from the Other Place that wasn’t meant to be meddled with,
and as a result, both Hardy and her aunt, Moïra, have the same golden eyes that herald the second sight.
I found this story hard to follow and a bit disjointed. Saraid’s relationship with Hardy and Moïra is never made clear, and I didn’t understand how her central section related to the bookending sections of Hardy and Moïra. It was also not clear to me what the titular song was — whether it was a component of the stories, or whether the three rather prosaic sections were to be understood as being a song.
I liked the way the story engaged with Deafness, particularly the different communicative valences that came into play. I did find it a bit strange how the speech via sign language was depicted, though: Both Hardy’s (who is fluent in sign language) and Moïra’s (who is not) signed speech is rendered into written speech with an a-grammaticality and unexpected sentence structure. I wish I knew more about sign language to know if this is a mirroring of the syntax of sign language, or if Moore was trying to indicate something else with this technique.
Sara L. UckelmanLeave a comment
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… Patrick Dennis Bowlen ….
Straight Arrow Home June 16, 2019 June 16, 2019 22 Minutes
Broncos owner Patrick Dennis Bowlen passed away last week at age 75, after a lengthy battle against Alzheimer’s disease
Some of what he did……
Live 75 years.
Own an NFL team since 1984.
Have seven kids.
Become close with numerous players.
Serve as a prominent influence in league matters.
And win three Super Bowls.
For sure, the stories will be flowing about Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, who died Thursday following a long battle with Alzheimer’s.
Ahead of Tuesday’s public tribute event at Broncos Stadium at Mile High (10 a.m.-3 p.m.), here are seven stories,
one for each of the Broncos’ Super Bowl appearances during Bowlen’s tenure:
When his ex-wife, Sally Parker, moved to Hawaii in the early 1970s with their two daughters (Amie and Beth),
Bowlen would split his time between Edmonton and Honolulu. After buying the Broncos, he still prioritized spending the offseason months on Oahu.
But he was always working.
“By the time he bought the Broncos (in 1984), I was a teenager so I was more aware of what he was doing (work-wise),” Beth Bowlen Wallace said recently.
“He would get up in the morning, sit outside in the sun and he would be on the phone until at least lunchtime.
Consistently on the phone from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. working and once lunch came, he was going to the Outrigger (Canoe Club) or canoe surfing.”
Ears wide open
The Broncos went 13-3 in Bowlen’s first season and lost to Pittsburgh in the playoffs.
“We had a bunch of sensational wins and he was off and running as an owner,” Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis said.
And off and listening. Never having worked in professional sports, Bowlen stepped into the NFL with his eyes and ears wide open.
“He took his time to look at everything and evaluate things — that’s how I viewed it,” Ellis said.
“I remember John Beake, who was the general manager at the time, saying, ‘He’s not taking any chances.
He wants to sit back and see how this works and learn a lot about the business.’
“I remember Pat telling me that (commissioner) Pete Rozelle told him, ‘The best thing you can do for the first 3-5 years is keep your mouth shut,
listen to what everybody has to say and then you’ll know what’s going on.’
Pat was a really good listener.”
First Super Bowl win
Bowlen was 0-3 in the Super Bowl (losses by 19, 32 and 45 points) when the Broncos prepared to face Green Bay in January 1998.
The Packers were an 11-point favorite.
“He was pumped up; he was confident,” said son-in-law Howie Klemmer, who is married to Amie.
Howie and Amie drove cross-country from Atlanta to San Diego with their daughter Lillie (currently a volleyball player at CU), who was three-and-a-months old.
She was Bowlen’s first grandchild.
“He was excited — first grandchild, Super Bowl, great city, everybody together at the hotel,” Howie said.
The Broncos pulled the upset, winning 31-24.
“That was pretty awesome because those guys (players) were kind of like his sons,” Amie said.
“He was really happy for John (Elway).”
Running mishap
Last summer, Broncos director of sports medicine Steve “Greek” Antonopulos was asked for his No. 1 Pat Bowlen Dinner Table Story,
the one that would get everybody rolling.
Antonopulos would know — he pre-dated Bowlen with the Broncos and has been with the organization since 1976.
“I could tell some stories,” Antonopulos said after a long laugh.
“He just a special guy.
The No. 1 thing I’ll never forget: He came in one day to the training room and he had a cut on his head and I couldn’t figure out what the heck happened.
He had been running.
He stepped off a curb and hit his head on a stop sign.”
League-level impact
Bowlen served a combined 91 years on 15 different NFL committees and his biggest impact was made in expanding the league’s broadcast television revenues.
And the networks loved him.
“When Pat Bowlen walked into the networks, they rolled out the red carpet,” said former Broncos public relations chief Jim Saccomano.
Consider the NFL’s deal with Fox in December 1993.
It offered the league a four-year, $1.58 billion contract ($395 million per season); CBS’ proposal to keep the rights was $291 million per year.
Only five years later, the NFL’s broadcast deals were per-season fees of $550 million (Fox), $550 million (ABC), $500 million (CBS) and $600 million (ESPN).
“As chairman of the Broadcast Committee, Pat helped expand the audience for America’s Game and prepared our league for a changing media landscape,
” Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said.
Semi-anonymous sponsorship
Bowlen’s charitable efforts are well-documented.
But that also spread to helping local sports so long as the Broncos — and not him — received credit.
One example was when Saccomano (who drove Bowlen to his introductory press conference in 1984) approached him about sponsoring
a high school football television show.
“There were so many times with charity that he pledged me to secrecy,” Saccomano said. “(The station) said,
‘We’re wondering if the Broncos would do part of the sponsorship.’
“I go to Pat and he says, ‘How much is the whole thing (to sponsor)?’
I told him and he said, ‘Tell them I’ll sponsor the whole deal, all of it, for the year, but there is no commercial saying, ‘Pat Bowlen did that.
It’s the Broncos.’
The subsequent years, I would say, ‘The high school show…’ and he would say, ‘Let’s do it again.’
The conversation would last four seconds.”
Memories for Miller, Manning
When the Broncos drafted outside linebacker Von Miller in 2011, Bowlen was into his Alzheimer’s fight but was at the facility when Miller visited.
Miller posted a picture of their handshake on his Instagram account Friday night.
“I’ve got some great memories with Mr. Bowlen,” Miller said earlier this year.
When I got there, the sickness was kicking in, but he called me to the side and said,
‘You’re going to be a good player for us.’ I thought that was just incredible.”
A year later, the Broncos signed quarterback Peyton Manning.
In a statement released Saturday, Manning said: “Coming to play here for Denver, even though his health was declining,
I did enjoy a couple of conversations with Mr. Bowlen. … As soon as I signed with the Broncos, I was basically living at the facility — studying film, rehabbing and
working out.
I was usually one of the last to leave the facility during that time.
I (would) say, ‘I thought I was the last to leave,’ but Mr. Bowlen was still there.
He’d usually be in the training room on the elliptical, and I would go in there and have conversations with him.”
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen during KTLK’s sports talk show with Irv Brown and Joe Williams at the Grand Slam Sports Bar in 1998.
The first time I shook Pat Bowlen’s hand, the owner of the Denver Broncos was sweating harder than a rich guy needs to sweat.
“Are you lost?” Bowlen asked.
Not long after dawn on a summer morning in Greeley, I stood confused, staring up at Lawrenson Hall on the University of Northern Colorado campus,
overwhelmed by the sights, smells and logistics of my first trip to Broncos training camp as a 27-year-old reporter with The Denver Post.
The person that came to my rescue and steered me in the right direction was Mr. B.
What struck me most was not this small act of kindness, but the fact the Broncos’ boss was wide awake and already on the job,
huffing and puffing at the end of a long run, before breakfast was on the table.
“Well,” said Bowlen, sending me on my way, “get to work!”
Nobody ran harder in pursuit of Broncos’ excellence than Mr. B.
Patrick Dennis Bowlen passed away late Thursday, at age 75, after a lengthy battle against Alzheimer’s disease.
Maybe the true measure of a man’s life is what endures after he is gone.
“You can feel Mr. B’s presence here,” said Rod Smith, as the Ring of Fame receiver gazed across the perfectly groomed practice fields at Dove Valley
on the first day of training camp in 2018.
With Bowlen’s spirit warming him like sunshine on his shoulders, Smith added: “His legacy is everywhere you look.”
It’s hard to fathom now when Super Bowl Sunday is a bigger excuse to party in the United States than the Fourth of July.
But when Bowlen purchased the Broncos from Edgar Kaiser Jr. for $78 million in 1984, Denver was a cowtown trying to shake off the dust,
and the team practiced on the wrong side of the tracks, at a ramshackle facility that was more trailer park than training complex.
Back in those days, the NFL was not nearly the 24/7/365 obsession in the manner everything from the draft combine to smart phones and fantasy leagues
to lattes are icons of American culture today.
How much different was the world when Bowlen came to power as an NFL owner?
On the spring evening in ’84, when word began to leak that the son of a Canadian oil wildcatter was purchasing the Broncos,
I was a cub reporter, slacking on the sofa, playing a war game. (Back then, it was “Risk,” rather than “Call of Duty.”)
A newspaper colleague promptly kicked me out of his apartment, handing me a fistful of quarters, with orders to sprint for the pay phone
at a convenience store two blocks away and contact every league source in his Rolodex.
What we soon learned: Although Bowlen was not much of a football player in his youth, he relentlessly tackled innovative, big ideas, whether to improve his team or
grow league revenues. Mr. B cajoled local taxpayers to build him a new stadium, with the same force he persuaded fellow owners that this country needed
prime-time football games on Sunday night.
How immense and enduring was Bowlen’s impact on every, last person who worked for him?
Well, when he bought the Broncos John Elway had seven NFL touchdown passes and four professional victories to his name,
rather than three championship rings and a bronze bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
All the best mission statements are concise enough to fit on a T-shirt and bold enough to be hung in block letters on the wall at the team’s training facility.
“I want us to be number one in everything,” Bowlen declared, then got down to the business of building Broncomania until it was strong enough to outlast him.
Yes, the past five years have been a long, bittersweet goodbye, as it became obvious leaving this earth was the only thing that would allow Mr. B to rest in peace.
Since illness shoved him into retirement, Denver has won Super Bowl 50, changed coaches three times and signed star linebacker Von Miller to a contract
worth $35 million more than Bowlen paid for the entire franchise 35 years ago.
But the thing that sticks with me are tears that turned the eyes of team president Joe Ellis to sad puddles in 2014, when Alzheimer’s insidious cruelty forced Mr. B
to relinquish day-to-day operation of the club he ran with the pride and care of a family store, even when the Broncos grew into a business now worth nearly $3 billion.
“Everybody that knows Pat Bowlen well, loves Pat Bowlen.
And I love Pat Bowlen,” Ellis told me on that somber summer day.
Then, after choking back emotion, Ellis added words I will never forget, especially because they ring so true now, at the time of Mr. B’s death.
“It is the closure of a tremendous era of Broncos football.
But it is not the closure of a tremendous legacy.
The only way to do right by Pat Bowlen is to carry forward everything he meant to this football team, this city and the NFL.”
On the way to enshrinement in Canton, Ohio, Bowlen was fitted with wings by the angels.
But know what’s really fitting? Mr. B will go in the same Hall of Fame class as Champ Bailey, a cornerback so adored by the Broncos owner
he named the family dog Champ.
Mr. B is the Broncos.
The Broncos are Mr. B.
The man and the team he made great will be inseparable, forever and always, as orange and blue.
By MARK KISZLA | mkiszla@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
By RYAN O’HALLORAN | rohalloran@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Alzheimer’s Association Colorado Chapter (https://www.alz.org/co)
or Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver (https://www.bgcmd.org/donate/).
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Please see below for a statement from the Bowlen family (Pat Bowlen’s wife, Annabel, and his seven children:
Amie, Beth, Patrick, Johnny, Brittany, Annabel and Christianna) on Denver Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen:
“We are saddened to inform everyone that our beloved husband and father, Pat Bowlen, passed on to the next chapter of his life late Thursday night
peacefully at home surrounded by family.
His soul will live on through the Broncos, the city of Denver and all of our fans.
“Our family wishes to express its sincere gratitude for the outpouring of support we have received in recent years.
Heaven got a little bit more orange and blue tonight.
“Pat Bowlen had a competitive spirit with a great sense of humor.
As fun-loving as he was, he always wanted us to understand the big picture.
We will forever remember his kindness and humility.
“More important than being an incredible owner, Pat Bowlen was an incredible human being.”
BRONCOS MOURN THE LOSS OF OWNER PAT BOWLEN
Note: A quote from Broncos President & CEO Joe Ellis is included at the bottom of the release;
Quotes from Mr. Bowlen gathered from his ownership also are included throughout the release
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It is with heavy hearts and profound sadness that the Denver Broncos mourn the loss of Owner Pat Bowlen, who passed away late Thursday night
at age 75 following his courageous battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
The Broncos extend their deepest sympathies to Mr. Bowlen’s wife, Annabel, his children (Amie, Beth, Patrick, Johnny, Brittany, Annabel, Christianna)
and his entire family.
The organization also offers its sincere condolences to Broncos fans, Mr. Bowlen’s friends and the many individuals around the National Football League
who worked with him.
A 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame selection, Mr. Bowlen guided the Broncos during his 35-year ownership with a simple phrase: “I want to be No. 1 in everything.”
He was introduced as majority owner of the Broncos on March 23, 1984, and made it clear throughout his ownership that he wanted the organization
to be focused on winning and making a difference in the community.
“Nobody is going to care whether the team is worth a billion dollars or whatever,” Bowlen once said.
“That doesn’t matter.
It’s more about how successful you were as an organization and as a team on the field and in the community.”
With his immeasurable impact on the Broncos, the NFL and the community, Mr. Bowlen firmly established himself as one of the greatest contributors in professional
football history.
TEAM CONTRIBUTIONS
Affectionately referred to as “Mr. B” by many, Pat Bowlen built a culture of winning within the Broncos that resulted in unprecedented sustained success.
The Broncos posted as many Super Bowl appearances (7) as losing seasons under Mr. Bowlen, including the club’s back-to-back World Championships
following the 1997 and 1998 seasons and its victory in Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season.
The first owner in NFL history with 300 wins over his first 30 years, Mr. Bowlen frequently said that the word “rebuilding” was not in his vocabulary.
He had an annual training camp tradition of predicting a 19-0 record and Super Bowl victory for the Broncos.
“One thing that’s important to me is that we put a team on the field that can contend,” Bowlen once said.
“I like to think that [the Broncos] are going to win the Super Bowl every year.
I get a thrill out of that, and I know how much that means to Colorado and to Denver.”
The Broncos averaged more than 10 wins per year during Pat Bowlen’s 35 seasons, tying for the second-best overall winning percentage of all NFL teams
(.596, 354-240-1) and posting a league-high 199 regular-season home wins.
Among the 123 major North American professional sports franchises (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB), only the San Antonio Spurs, New England Patriots
and Los Angeles Lakers had a better overall winning percentage than the Broncos under Mr. Bowlen.
No NFL owner during the last 35 seasons had more winning seasons (21) and playoff berths (18) than Mr. Bowlen, who helped Denver become the only team
with 90+ wins over each of his first three decades of ownership.
Denver posted a league-low seven losing seasons under Mr. Bowlen while being the only team to rank among the top five in wins during both the pre-free agency
(1984-92, 96 wins, T-4th) and post-free agency (1993-2018, 258 wins, 4th) eras of his ownership.
Only one owner in NFL history has presided over more Super Bowl appearances (7) than Pat Bowlen, who made it clear that winning would always be the organization’s
top priority.
“As far as the business of football, winning is everything,” Bowlen once said.
“It doesn’t matter what it is worth.
If you are worried about what it is worth, get into some other business.”
Inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame in 2015, Mr. Bowlen is the only owner in NFL history whose teams appeared in Super Bowls with four different head coaches
—Dan Reeves (1986-87, ‘89), Mike Shanahan (1997-98), John Fox (2013) and Gary Kubiak (2015).
This past season, he moved into fifth place in NFL history in overall wins (354) among principle owners.
In the office and at practice most every day, Mr. Bowlen once spoke of his approach to football management by saying,
“This business is unique.
You have to have people you trust pick the talent and coach the talent and get out of the way.
I know the bottom line is winning. I also know when and what to contribute from a leadership standpoint.”
A testament to the success and popularity of the Broncos under Pat Bowlen, no NFL team had more home game sellouts—all 300 possible regular season
and playoff games—than the Broncos during his ownership.
The Broncos also played in nearly 350 nationally televised games during his ownership, including an AFC-best 132 prime-time games,
with local TV ratings consistently ranking among the highest in the league.
The Broncos’ popularity with fans under Pat Bowlen was confirmed in 2014 when the team earned the distinction of being named
“America’s Team” in a national Harris Poll.
“This is their team,” Bowlen once said when referring to the fans.
“It’s not my team.
I think if you manage your club well, the fans appreciate that.
They have a stake in it, too.”
Held in the highest regard by Broncos fans and around the NFL, Mr. Bowlen’s reputation was recognized in 2000 when he finished first in an ESPN poll that asked,
“Which NFL owner would be the best to play for?”
He also has been nominated numerous times for Executive of the Year by various media publications.
Pat Bowlen was unwavering in his support of the thousands of players he proudly called Broncos alumni, creating the team’s Ring of Fame in 1984
as one of his first contributions as owner.
Famously proclaiming, “This one’s for John,” after John Elway and the Broncos won their first Super Bowl during the 1997 season,
Mr. Bowlen had a special relationship with players throughout his ownership.
Entering the facility most days through a back entrance near the loading dock, Mr. Bowlen would first stop in the training room to visit with players and staff
before heading up to his office.
He shared a close friendship with many long-time staff members, including 44-year athletic trainer Steve “Greek” Antonopulos,
whom the Bowlen family selected to be his presenter for his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.
In an effort to deflect attention and praise toward players, staff and the fans, Mr. Bowlen would often say,
“It’s not about me” when asked about the success of the Broncos.
“I would much rather operate behind the curtain and let the athletes and coaches be the entertainment,” Bowlen once said.
“I think that’s the way that it should be.”
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
In addition to his indelible impact on the Denver Broncos, Pat Bowlen firmly established himself as one of the game’s greatest contributors
through his tireless efforts to help grow the National Football League.
As recently noted by former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Mr. Bowlen was the only owner who was heavily involved in all four areas of league growth
during the late 1980s and early 1990s: television, labor, stadium development and international play.
One of the longest-tenured owners in NFL history, Mr. Bowlen served on 15 different league committees during his time as Broncos owner
—the third-most committee assignments of any owner all-time.
Over the course of his career, he had the rare feat of serving as the chairman of both the prestigious NFL Broadcasting Committee and NFL Management Council
Executive Committee (labor).
Pat Bowlen also served on several other prominent league committees, including NFL Films (chairman), Compensation (co-chair),
Pro Football Hall of Fame, NFL Network, Finance, International and Workplace Diversity.
When other professional sports leagues struggled with labor issues and economics, Mr. Bowlen emphasized that the NFL could not lose sight of what mattered the most
—the fans.
“I think there’s a lesson there,” Bowlen once said.
“It’s about the connection with the fans…
There’s a lot of competition in [the market] for the sports dollar.
I, and this organization, we are very cognizant of that.”
In his role as chair of the NFL Broadcast Committee, Mr. Bowlen was a crucial part of the negotiations for the league’s $18 billion TV deal in 1998 that marked the most
lucrative single-sport contract in history.
His innovation and vision to grow the game on television was recently recognized by former NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol, who referred to Mr. Bowlen as
“the single major force in the creation of Sunday Night Football.”
Mr. Bowlen’s efforts on the broadcasting and NFL Network committees also were instrumental in the creation and growth of NFL Network, which was launched in 2003.
Through his work as co-chair of the NFL Management Council Executive Committee, Pat Bowlen helped ensure decades of labor peace through his impact
on Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.
He played a key role in the six-year extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2006 and again was part of the new CBA discussions
for the 10-year extension in 2011.
In March 2005, Mr. Bowlen noted the importance of compromise between the NFL and NFLPA to ensure labor peace.
“I think it’s important for everybody to get it done,” Bowlen said. “We’ve had labor peace for a long time.
I was on the original committee that negotiated the deal we’re now operating under… There’s going to be a lot of money in the system and in my opinion,
the NFLPA and the National Football League have to look at that and say ‘OK, what’s fair?’
There’s going to be a lot of money in the system—It’s not like there won’t be enough for everybody.”
Beyond advocating for the prosperity of the NFL in the United States, Pat Bowlen was a strong proponent of international growth.
He volunteered the Broncos to play eight international games in six different countries (7 American Bowl, 1 International Series) during his ownership,
marking the third-most such games in league history.
Inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, Pat Bowlen’s championship mentality included an extraordinary commitment to the community.
He felt a strong responsibility for the organization to be invested in the Rocky Mountain Region, once saying,
“It’s important to me that this organization lives up to the high reputation and that people connect the Denver Broncos with Colorado.”
As chairman of the board of Denver Broncos Charities, Mr. Bowlen donated more than $35 million to charitable organizations in the Denver area
since the inception of that fund in 1993.
His status and reputation as an owner were recognized locally in 2013 when he received the Mizel Institute Community Enrichment Award,
the region’s most prestigious philanthropic accolade, for his community leadership and commitment to the city of Denver and state of Colorado.
The longest-tenured owner in Colorado sports history, Pat Bowlen was the only owner in professional sports whose team fully funded
its own branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Opening its doors in 2003, the Denver Broncos Boys & Girls Club recently celebrated its 15th season impacting youth.
Mr. Bowlen helped the Denver Broncos Boys & Girls Club expand in 2008 with the addition of the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center,
which is named in honor of the late Broncos cornerback who died in 2007.
His long-standing commitment to the Boys & Girls Club was recognized in 2017 when a youth development park in Commerce City, Colo.,
was dedicated as “Pat Bowlen Field.”
In addition to his own philanthropic outreach, Pat Bowlen was a strong supporter of the players serving as positive role models and giving back to the community.
“The league is a big influence on young people’s lives, and we’ve got to set an example,” Bowlen once said.
“The players are where it starts.
Nobody cares about Pat Bowlen—I don’t even register on the meter.
These young football players are looked up to by lots of younger people, and they have to make sure they’re sending the right message.
And we’ll do everything we can to help them understand that.”
Taking great pride in calling Denver his home, Mr. Bowlen was inducted into the VISIT Denver Tourism Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame
in 2015 for his unwavering commitment toward the region.
A University of Denver Board of Trustees member, Mr. Bowlen in 2010 donated $1.5 million toward a new training center for the school’s athletics department
that is named “The Pat Bowlen Training Center.”
“I call it sort of a Western mentality,” Bowlen once said.
“We’re proud to be Coloradoans and we’re proud to live in Denver.
We really stick up for our city and we really stick up for our sports teams.”
Although Mr. Bowlen had a reduced role with the Broncos in recent seasons as he focused on his battle with Alzheimer’s disease,
he continued to have a positive impact on the community.
The public announcement of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in July 2014 has helped raise awareness and funds for a disease that currently affects
more than 5.8 million Americans.
The Broncos have joined with the Bowlen family in taking an active role in the Alzheimer’s community following Mr. Bowlen’s diagnosis,
including the team adding the Alzheimer’s Association Colorado Chapter as a flagship community partner.
Led by Pat Bowlen’s wife, Annabel, the Bowlen family and the Broncos, “Team Super Bowlen” has raised nearly $500,000 during the last five
‘“Walk to End Alzheimer’s” in Denver.
The Broncos this past season hosted their inaugural “Alzheimer’s Awareness Day” at UCHealth Training Center during a training camp practice,
encouraging all fans to wear purple in support of the Bowlen family and many others affected by Alzheimer’s.
The event raised more than $40,000 as the largest fundraising day ever for the “Walk to End Alzheimer’s” in Colorado.
Pat Bowlen’s impact on the Denver sports landscape extended beyond the Broncos as he helped bring a pair of professional sports franchises to the city.
He served as a part owner of the Arena Football League’s Colorado Crush from their inaugural season in 2003 through 2008 with that franchise making five
consecutive playoff appearances (‘04-08), including its ArenaBowl XIX win in 2005.
Mr. Bowlen brought Major League Lacrosse to Denver in 2006 when he founded the Denver Outlaws, which have advanced to the championship game eight times
and won three titles (2014, ‘16 and ‘18).
A dedicated athlete and competitor, Pat Bowlen maintained an active lifestyle throughout his entire life.
He competed in numerous marathons and triathlons, including the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii—an event in which one must swim 2.4 ocean miles,
ride 112 miles on a bicycle and run 26.2 miles, all consecutively.
In February 1984, Mr. Bowlen finished 135th out of 1,100 entrants in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, where he maintained a home on Oahu.
Born on Feb. 18, 1944, in Prairie du Chien, Wis., Pat Bowlen attended Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, competing on its football, hockey and track teams.
He attended the University of Oklahoma, where he played freshman football (wide receiver) and went on to earn degrees in both business (1965) and law (1968).
Mr. Bowlen, who played defensive back for the Edmonton Huskies of the Canadian Junior Football League in 1962 and was part of the club’s first national championship
(Little Grey Cup), began a law practice in Edmonton after graduating college.
After successful careers in oil, gas and real estate in Canada, he went on to purchase the Denver Broncos in 1984.
“In my late 30s, I got serious about doing something different,” Bowlen once said.
“I wanted to be deeply involved in an exciting people business of some kind.”
Introduced as the Broncos’ owner at a press conference on March 23, 1984, Bowlen immediately demonstrated his humility and singular focus on the Broncos
that would help define his 35-year Pro Football Hall of Fame career.
“I’m not involved in football for ego gratification or for the publicity that surrounds it,” he said that day.
“I’m involved in it for a career.”
STATEMENT FROM DENVER BRONCOS PRESIDENT & CEO JOE ELLIS
“This is a very sad day for our organization, our community and the National Football League.
Pat Bowlen was the heart and soul of the Denver Broncos.
Not only was Pat a Hall of Fame owner—He was a Hall of Fame person.
His competitiveness, kindness and humility are the qualities that I will always remember.
Even during his battle with Alzheimer’s, you could still see that same strength and dignity in Pat that he brought to the office every single day for more than 30 years.
“Pat was the driving force in establishing the championship culture of the Broncos.
He was also an extraordinary leader at the league level during a key period of growth.
It wasn’t all about what Pat did as an owner, but it was the way he did it.
The relationships he enjoyed with his players were real and sincere.
Pat truly cared about the players in a very genuine way and always wanted them to get the credit.
He preferred to be in the background and put every resource toward winning Super Bowls.
With the fans, Pat felt in many ways that his team belonged to them and approached things with that in mind.
There will never be another owner like Pat Bowlen.
My heart goes out to his wife, Annabel, all of his children and all of our fans.”
STATEMENT FROM BRONCOS PRESIDENT OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS / GM JOHN ELWAY
“Pat gave me so much and he was someone that I always looked up to.
He gave this team everything we needed to be the best and compete for championships, and the focus was always on football.
That’s all you can ask for in an owner—yet he did more.
He was a tremendous mentor to me and a tremendous friend.
Pat was a great listener, always asking what was going on, and I learned so much from watching him.
He was a terrific leader.
Whether things were going right or things weren’t going right, he would always let you know what we needed to get better.
He did a great job of applying pressure at the right times but always trusted his football people to make the right decisions.
Other than his family, nothing meant more to Pat than making sure the Denver Broncos were successful.
What he did for this team, this city and the entire NFL will never be matched.
His shoes will never be filled.
I will miss Pat greatly and will always treasure the times we had together.
We’ll continue to take care of his team as if he were here today.
My deepest sympathies are with Annabel and the entire Bowlen family.”
………….. Alzheimer’s Association Colorado Chapter https://www.alz.org/co ….w
Patrick Dennis Bowlen
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Home Features Volvo in South Carolina
Volvo in South Carolina
Jeff Moore, vice president of manufacturing at the new Volvo plant in South Carolina, talks about why the Palmetto State is the place for the luxury brand to build.
Nick Patterson
Volvo workers are just getting their new plant in South Carolina fired up with an eye on innovation. Photos courtesy of Volvo
By the time you read this, Volvo’s first U.S. plant will be up and running in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
It’s a significant step for the Gothenburg Sweden-based brand, which has been a subsidiary of Chinese multinational automotive manufacturing company Geely Holding Group since 2010. The $500 million plant, sited on 1,600 acres in Berkeley County is expected to eventually employ somewhere near 4,000 people producing 150,000 cars a year.
Vice President of Manufacturing Jeff Moore talked about the reasons for the South Carolina investment, and how Volvo Cars is positioned in the current economic climate. He’s joined, particularly for a discussion of why workforce development is so important to the company, by Volvo Corporate Communications Manager Stephanie Mangini.
Q: What specifically made Volvo want to open a facility in the US?
JM: I think it’s a commitment to the market…you know, the dealers I know have been clamoring for it for a long time, but it demonstrates Volvo’s commitment to this market. They’ve got a presence in Asia; they’ve got a presence in Europe; and now in North America.
Q: And why South Carolina?
JM: So, like most folks, infrastructure is kind of a big driver of site selection. And we have the convenience of the interstate… I-26 is a direct connection to I-95, which is a good – logistically good infrastructure from highways. The other driver for us being a global company is access to the port at Charleston; so that was also a key factor in the selection. So there’s a basic priority placed on infrastructure; beyond that it’s really based on the people in South Carolina. So from the state government, to local government, to the people here in the community, and the employees that we’re able to attract,…I think Volvo’s just had a great experience in South Carolina.
Q: What are the specific advantages of the locale in terms of hiring and personnel?
JM: We’re in Ridgeville, outside of Charleston, South Carolina, we’re able to draw from a pool of about… a population of about 850,000 people here, which is…you wouldn’t really think that if you’d ever been here. But you know, that’s part of that…the benefit to being as close to the interstate as we are, if you look in a radius of an hour out, it’s 850,000 people here. So it’s a large pool of folks and we’re able to attract some really good people and enthusiastic folks. It’s been a good experience.
Q: Volvo’s US plant is in early days now [the plant was scheduled to open within a month of the interview]. What challenges are you facing right now?
JM: I wouldn’t say…from my experience that the challenges that we’re facing are particularly unique, it’s simply getting a large plant up and running, bringing equipment in and getting it operational, and getting folks…We’ve got almost a thousand people now so bringing those people in and introducing them to Volvo culture, teaching them how to build cars. But we’re ramping up.
Q: How will the workforce expand over time?
JM: By the end of the month it will basically be a thousand. As we add volume and content through next year and beyond that, we’ll go… eventually over three thousand. We’ll be pushing close to four thousand.
Q: So what’s the goal in terms of the number of cars produced this year?
JM: Yeah, this year we’re ramping up, so the capacity of the plant, you know – we’re going to launch with the S60 this year is for basically domestic, focused on domestic sales. Next year we start exporting. And beyond that we add the XC90 production. And once we ramp up on XC90, we should be pushing our 150,000 vehicle capacity.
Q: When do you hit capacity?
SM: Beyond 2021. So it’s over the next five years.
Q: How is Volvo positioned to deal with the trade climate in view of the ongoing movement around tariffs?
JM: Yeah, a little bit difficult to anticipate where that’s heading, but… we’re a global company, we favor globally free trade, right? But specific to this plant, you know, I kind of mentioned the Port of Charleston. We’re Volvo’s first U.S. plant, but we’re not intending to simply produce for the U.S. market. Next year we’re adding exports, and this plant from the beginning was planned to be at least fifty percent export, so how are we positioned to be able to deal with the lack of exports? Well, we’re not. It would be a significant impact to this plant if we are unable…you know, if there’s tariffs or retaliatory tariffs in place that limit our exports, then it’s going to limit our output and how much we can expand here.
Q: So obviously with the uncertainty, Volvo must have plans to address whatever eventualities are coming. Can you talk about any of that?
JM: Yeah, again from a Charleston standpoint, the reason why we have a thousand employees now and not four thousand is because we’re going to add as we go. So, you know, we’re planning to export next year and if we can’t export then we won’t hire those people. I prefer to focus on the upward flexibility, though, than the downward. (Laughs)
Q: Can you talk about how the U.S. plant is positioned to sort of drive innovation, respond to innovation, etc.?
JM: Yeah, so from a product standpoint, certainly Volvo is pushing the envelope and continuing to, I think, lead the industry from a safety standpoint. I think with the product revamp, it’s safety with performance would be the way I’d say from our product portfolio. So from a manufacturing standpoint, it’s our responsibility to be able to bring those products to market. I think it’s the ambition of Volvo to ensure that no one is seriously injured in a car by 2020. I think it speaks to the commitment to safety that’s really driving the company. And all those vehicle technologies we’re capable of and will be putting in our car – the S60s that we produce here – there’s, as you know, a lottery list of those for Volvo. Environmentally, the same way so we’re launching this year with conventional power train and we’ll add hybrid power trains to the S60 next year. So we’re positioned to meet those commitments from an environmental standpoint, as well.
Q: How does this U.S. plant fit in to the ongoing evolution of what you do at Volvo?
JM: I think that’s really one of the driving factors of being here in the local market – you want to be able to capture the innovations and the market needs locally. So between the plant here, the sales and marketing folks up in New Jersey; we have technical operations out in California as well that are very focused on the innovation side. Another benefit of having a plant here….We’ll continue though as the operations in California are expanding, we’re expanding and we’ll be able to contribute more from the manufacturing side with that innovation.
Q: How has Volvo changed under Chinese ownership?
JM: What I think is changed is the investment in Volvo from Geely. That investment has allowed a total redo of the product portfolio, right? And I think that’s what’s driven any kind of a change within Volvo – to be able to have access to that capital and make those kinds of changes and …the trickle-down effect of the pace of change and innovation has increased.
Q: In the immediate future with ramp up coming before this story comes out, what are you looking forward to in the next couple of months there at your plant in the U.S.?
JM: Well, I think our team members, you know, we’ve been running production trials and training…. Improvement spirit is all the way down to the shop floor. They’re making improvements to their processes and they can’t wait to get started. It’s just like everyone is really itching to hit the go button and start from job one and get into mass production, so that’s what everyone is really focused on and looking forward to here.
Q: How does the workforce development climate suit Volvo’s needs?
JM: What I’ve been pleasantly surprised since I’ve been here is with workforce development here in South Carolina. We’ve worked with the state of South Carolina, and with local technical schools and the local high schools to implement this Lean Manufacturing Certification Program. And that’s been very effective for us to get folks prepared before they even start at Volvo. I don’t know that that’s unique to us, so much, as just because we are a start-up and hiring so many people at once, it’s clearly highlighted how important that is in our position and I think that continues to be the thing that we need to work on as an industry.
Q: Right. And South Carolina has some unique programs for workforce development.
SM: You know, we knew that coming here we would have a workforce that may not have the manufacturing experience, but certainly wanted the job opportunities. You know, when we spoke to the community as we were setting up the construction, one of their biggest concerns were are you going to hire people here, or are you going to bring people in from the outside? And so we knew we had to make a commitment to hiring locally, but we also knew that in terms of what we needed for talent, we needed people with manufacturing experience, at least one year.
Q: How does Volvo work with the state?
SM: We worked with the Commerce Department and state and local officials to say we need to come up with a program that is compressed, that somebody who doesn’t have the manufacturing experience, but has a high school diploma and wants to get involved in manufacturing as a career, can take a 62-hour compressed curriculum through our local technical school. And once you receive that certificate, that satisfies one year of manufacturing experience for us. Now this program has expanded so it’s not just Volvo. Mercedes is accepting this; BMW is accepting this; our key suppliers in the upstate and here are also accepting this certificate as one year…in lieu of one year of experience. So this program has truly expanded and it started as a pilot here with Volvo.
Q: How important is it to get to young potential workers early?
JM: Stephanie…talked about the kind of post-high school approach, but we’re now pushing that into the high schools which I think is even more powerful from a long-term standpoint.
People have an image of manufacturing and they have a lot of parental pressure to go to college and all this thinking that they’ve got to do that, you know, so it’s great to get into the high school in front of the parents and let them know what manufacturing is really like these days, high technology and all.
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BlogHome Blog History Johnson’s Bookstore, A History
Johnson’s Bookstore, A History
Johnson’s Bookstore, an iconic Main Street institution in Springfield, Massachusetts, for over a century, was established by Henry R. Johnson in 1893. It was owned and managed by four generations of the Johnson family until its closing in 1997. Over its lifetime the store occupied five successively larger Main Street locations, all within a few blocks of each other. It was one of the largest independent booksellers in New England and its store letterhead and advertising reflected that, reading “Johnson’s Bookstore, The Largest Store of Its Kind in New England.” It was a favorite haunt for many people of all ages who lived in the Springfield area. A trip downtown to shop at the city’s department stores was often paired with a visit to Johnson’s to look at the books, toys, and gifts. As those department stores closed, Johnson’s became a destination in itself.
Henry Reynolds Johnson was born to Chester L. and Jeannette Reynolds Johnson in “the long, lazy hamlet of Hockanum,” a part of Hadley, Massachusetts, on April 7th, 1868. He was the youngest of three brothers; Clifton was born in 1865 and Charles was born in 1867. He also had a younger sister, Jeannette, born in 1872. Henry followed in his oldest brother Clifton’s footsteps, attending the same village school, followed by enrollment in Hopkins Academy in Hadley. Clifton dropped out of school in 1880 at age 15. He rowed across the Connecticut River and walked into Northampton, a distance of over two miles. He got a job at the College Bookstore, in order to pay off the mortgage to prevent foreclosure on the family farm. His brother, Henry, also dropped out of school at the age of 16 in 1885 and went to work at the same store to help pay off that debt. After a two and a half year apprenticeship there, Henry came to Springfield to take a position at James D. Gill’s prestigious book, stationery and art store at the corner of Bridge and Main Streets.
Henry spent five and a half years working for Gill before deciding to go into business for himself. In April 1893, using his savings, and those of his oldest brother, Clifton, he purchased a small stationery and notion shop from Miss S. I. Cooley at 318 Main Street. The sign over the storefront of the 800 square foot shop read Henry R. Johnson’s Blank Books. Johnson employed a staff of two, one clerk and a boy, and sold bookkeeping supplies, stationery, and “kindred supplies.” A fire next door required the removal of the business to a half store at 428 Main Street. As business increased, Johnson moved to more spacious quarters encompassing 1,500 square feet at the southwest corner of Main and Vernon Streets. The staff grew to twenty employees, and in March 1898 Henry Johnson relocated once again to a large double store of over 10,000 square feet in the Fuller Building, currently the location of Public Radio’s NEPR station, at 313-315 Main Street. Here he sold books, art supplies, stationery and office supplies. He also maintained an art gallery in conjunction with Edward Walton, who managed the art supplies department. Through the first decade of the twentieth century the Johnson-Walton Galleries, within the bookstore premises, had an annual exhibition of oil paintings by American artists, along with exhibitions of work by individual artists. Later it loaned paintings to James Gill for his exhibitions. During this period, the staff again doubled, increasing to forty employees.
Henry Johnson was a true Yankee with an eye for a bargain, boundless energy, and a flair for marketing. In his early days in business, he published humorous ads in the local newspapers, followed later by more merchandise-driven ads to promote his store. Johnson’s store windows were always eye-catching, topical and creative. This marketing flair was carried on by later generations, with the bookstore windows on Main Street featuring everything from live bunnies, puppies, baby chicks, a juggling clown, an old automobile complete
with road maps, and even a group of boys playing marbles in the window. At Christmas an electric train ran all day long in the main window.
In 1909 the store moved a final time, finding its permanent location in the Charles Hall Building, renamed the Bookstore Building, at 391-395 Main Street. Due to street renumbering along Main Street in the 1920s that address became 1379 Main Street. At this time, the store’s name was changed to Johnson’s Bookstore. A booklet was issued to the public for the store’s opening, illustrated with photos and diagrams, which described with pride the new Johnson’s Bookstore. Its inventory, along with stationery, office supplies, and books, included cameras and leather goods on the main floor, a full toy department in the basement, and on the second floor, sporting goods, artists’ materials, draftsmen’s supplies, and a large selection of framed pictures.
In 1914 a rear building was constructed on Market Street directly behind the Main Street store to house the Art Department. When Henry Johnson was planning the rear building he was considering an air walk connection, for which his family found a blueprint, or a tunnel. The tunnel was decided on, and ran under the street, connecting the two buildings so customers and staff could access both without going outside.
In 1919 Johnson’s started a new tradition; a special guest book was designated to record the signatures and comments of famous individuals who visited the store. Naturalist John Burroughs was the first to sign the book in March 1919, followed soon after by children’s author Thornton Burgess and poet Robert Frost. Actor/singer/activist Paul Robeson and author Joseph Conrad autographed the book, along with famed Irish tenor John McCormack, TV personality Art Linkletter, broadcaster Lowell Thomas, and many others. On Christmas Eve of 1937 Theodor Seuss Geisel, Springfield’s own Dr. Seuss, was spending the holidays in the city and added his signature to the book, echoing the sentiments of Albert Payson Terhune, another Springfield native and author. Under the Remarks section Geisel wrote “see remark by Albert Payson Terhune, who, next to his signature 2 lines above, had written “Once a Springfield boy. Now a third rate writer.” This custom of capturing the names of special shoppers continued until 1964, and became one of the store’s most prized possessions.
After WWI an Antiques Department and a secondhand bookshop were added. The secondhand bookshop, considered a hobby for Henry Johnson after his retirement, was opened in 1921. It soon became a popular spot for Johnson’s shoppers. Separate departments were also created for greeting cards and gifts.
Since the store’s opening in 1893, Clifton Johnson had been a silent partner and trusted advisor to his brother Henry. The two men were close, and Clifton came down from Hadley and spent every Tuesday and Friday at the store in Springfield when he wasn’t traveling to do research for his own books. Clifton’s career path was that of author, illustrator and photographer. He wrote, edited, and/or illustrated more than 125 books. He designed the store’s familiar ship logo, which was a rendering of a shallop, a boat used on the Connecticut River by early settlers coming up from Wethersfield, Connecticut. This instantly identifiable logo appeared on Johnson’s “familiar green bags” for decades. Clifton Johnson passed away in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1940, but his connections to the bookstore were carried on by his sons, Roger and Arthur Johnson. Roger Johnson entered the business in 1918, followed a year later by his brother Arthur, who served in the Marine Corps in WWI. They became partners with their uncle, Henry Johnson, and bought control of the business from him in 1922. They helped to create the Antiques Department, which was stocked from buying trips Henry and his wife took throughout New England. In 1926 Richard Johnson, Henry’s son, entered the business and became active in its management in 1930.
Johnson’s Bookstore, with its unique stock of carefully chosen premium quality merchandise and its emphasis on customer satisfaction, continued to do well, even during the Depression of the 1930s. In 1936, when the banks of the Connecticut River overflowed and flooded Main Street, Johnson’s, like many stores on Main Street, suffered losses of a considerable amount of its stock in the basement sales space and stockrooms, where the flood waters reached almost six feet.
Henry Johnson’s buying of antique furniture became even more important during WWII because no new furniture was being made. He traveled extensively in New England, paying cash for people’s surplus furniture, and the store’s antique shop found a ready market among buyers from the stores in New York City. Roger Johnson, Treasurer and General Manager, remained in Springfield to run the book store while his brother, Arthur, the company Vice President, served in the United States Navy. It was a great regret of Roger’s that he didn’t serve in the military, but he was needed to run the store. Instead he became a patriotic proponent of the War effort on the home front. Johnson’s Bookstore hosted a Women’s Army Corp (WAC) recruiting office on the second floor of its building, and had a permanent War Bond booth in the store. War Bonds were very successfully promoted, with slogans like “Buying a $100 bond for $75 is like buying a Garand Rifle for our Troops.” The displays in the store’s Main Street window encouraged citizens to join the WAC, support the Red Cross, and buy War Bonds.
On April 7th, 1943, Henry Johnson celebrated his 75th birthday and the store had its 50th Anniversary. In lieu of hosting a large celebration and anniversary sale, given wartime food shortages and a limited supply of merchandise, Johnson’s gave a $2,500 donation to the Red Cross and formed a Benefit Fund for its Bookstore Crew of 75 employees. Although officially retired, Henry continued to enjoy the search in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut for antiques and secondhand books for the departments in the Rear Building. Following the war, Arthur returned to the store to join Roger and Richard, who by this time was Secretary and Assistant Treasurer of the store.
In 1948 Charles Johnson, Roger’s son, graduated from Amherst College and became the first of the third generation in the family business. Roger decided that Charlie would learn every aspect of the business so he started his career as one of the store’s night janitors, and spent the next two years working in every store department. He met his wife, Dorothy Allen, known as Dottie, while working at the store. Charlie and his wife were involved in running the store until it closed, and Dottie, with her style and excellent taste, joined the business as its merchandising manager in the 1970s. Peter Johnson, Henry Johnson’s grandson, and Richard’s son, was also a third generation family member who joined the store in 1965.
During the 1950s Johnson’s Bookstore did a huge retail Christmas business. The annual Christmas parade down Main Street, held the Friday after Thanksgiving, was so popular the store had to put plywood panels up to protect its windows from being broken by the pressure of the crowds gathered to watch the parade. The store hired a couple of husky football players for traffic control because of the deluge of customers at their main entrance when the parade was over. Their Santa held court in the Toy Department from November 1st to Christmas Eve. To avoid Christmas morning disappointment, it was a store rule that the Johnson’s Santa never promised a child a toy unless the parents gave him the nod. At its peak in the 1950s, Johnson’s Santa handed out more than 25,000 of the store’s gold “lucky coins from Santa Claus” to the children who visited him. These coins were given out from the late 1940s through the 1960s and treasured by the children who received them. They are still a fond memory for many people who grew up in the Springfield area. In 1959 Henry Johnson, known as the Dean of Downtown, passed away at the age of 91, leaving his legacy in good hands.
By the store’s 75th Anniversary in 1968, the main floor of the Main Street store was devoted to new books, the greeting card department, pens and leather goods. Office supplies, the genesis of the Johnson family business, were relocated to a larger space in the basement along with the Toy Shop. With the departure of the Bookshop Restaurant, the Rear Building became the art shop and framing gallery. During this period the store also carried sporting goods, including gym sets, above ground pools, bicycles, skis, sleds, toboggans, ice skates, and tennis racquets. Electric trains, radios and cameras were also sold. All this varied inventory led some customers to refer to Johnson’s as the “non-clothing department store.” The second floor housed the second hand bookshop, a fascinating repository of books, posters, and old magazines. A fourth generation of the Johnson family joined the store when in 1975 Paul Johnson, Clifton’s great grandson, and Charlie’s son, came on board. The store had grown to 40,000 square feet, spread over three buildings, and employed 125 people during the year and doubled to 250 employees at Christmas.
In 1980 the name of Johnson’s Bookstore was changed to “Johnson’s Since 1893,” reflecting the fact that the store retailed so much more than just books. But the fabric of downtown Springfield was changing. Despite numerous efforts at downtown revitalization, the department stores and specialty shops on Main Street had begun to close, starting in 1976 with Forbes & Wallace, one of Springfield’s major department stores. Bay State West, now Tower Square, opened as an office tower and indoor mall in 1970, pulling business from Main Street to its enclosed retail space. Steiger’s Department Store was the last of Main Street’s major retailers to close in 1994.
In 1993 Johnson’s celebrated its Centennial with much fanfare. Always a family-run business, its hundred years of success on Main Street was based on responding to market trends, continually upgrading its facilities, and most importantly, setting high standards and continually training its staff to deliver the optimum shopping experience. The Johnson family prided itself on working together to deliver the most responsive customer experience, and having a visible family member on the premises to interact with staff and shoppers. By the early 1990s sales of new and used books accounted for about one third of the store’s revenue, followed by office supplies at just under 25%. Greeting cards, gifts and toys accounted for the rest of their sales. But Johnson’s was feeling the effects of the advent of national retailers like Borders and Barnes & Noble who lured customers away from the more service-oriented small retailers by undercutting traditional pricing. In 1995 the Annex closed and all the bookstore departments were consolidated under one roof for the first time since 1914. From its staffing peak of over 100 employees, the store found itself in 1997 with a staff of 16. By September that year Johnson’s announced that it would be closing its doors. Like many independent book stores, it could not compete with the change in consumer shopping habits, not only geographically from Main Street to the suburban malls, but also from full-service to discounter with limited merchandise. Its closing was met by an onslaught of letters from loyal customers deeply saddened by the news that a store which had been such a part of their lives for decades was shutting its doors. That final Christmas in 1997 the remaining cache of gold “lucky coins from Santa Claus” held over for decades, was handed out for the last time. The store’s original Santa suit from the 1930s was auctioned for charity. Johnson’s final day of business was January 5th, 1998.
Researched and written by Maggie Humberston, Curator of Library and Archives at the Springfield Museums, and Zoe Cheek, processor of the Johnson’s Bookstore Collection. Edited by Charlie Johnson.
All images courtesy of the Johnson’s Bookstore Collection, donated by Charles Johnson, and processed with the generous support of members of the Johnson family.
Johnson's Bookstore
Exploring the GWV Smith Art Museum with Agawam Paranormal
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Putin: Falsification, Manipulation of History Lead to Global Disunity
© Sputnik / Sergey Guneev
The revision of history leads to the erosion of of the pillars of today's world order, which were built after World War II, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Falsification of history leads to disunity in the world and is fraught with huge risks, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Pobeda (Victory) Committee.
"Of course, unfortunately, there are other approaches to history, when they try to turn it into political and ideological weapons. We see the risks of a cynical attitude toward the past. How the falsification and manipulation of historical facts leads to the disunity of countries and peoples, to the emergence of new dividing lines, creating the image of an enemy," Putin said.
"Some countries have taken the path of glorifying Nazism and providing justification for Nazi collaborators, which is especially dangerous. Not only does it abuse the memory of the victims of Nazi crimes, but it fuels nationalistic, xenophobic and radical forces," he added.
Putin noted that the "revision of history actually paves the way for the reconsideration of the pillars of the world order, erosion of key principles of international law and security formed after World War II".
"It has been already said that this is fraught with great risks for all of us," the president said.
According to Putin, Russia maintains that "history, however complicated and controversial it can be, should not pit peoples at one another and should help them avoid mistakes and facilitate good neighbourhood."
Lies Targeting Russia, History Falsification Cannot Be Tolerated - Putin
Putin Urges Former Soviet States to Prevent Distortion of Shared History
Putin: Attempts to Rewrite WWII History Aimed at Undermining Russia
Putin Says Attempts to Rewrite History Are Driven by Desire to Hide Shame
Vladimir Putin, Russia
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Government faces legal action on pupil nationality data
Freddie Whittaker
Mon 20th Nov 2017, 11.52
A campaign group is raising money to take the Department for Education to the High Court over its decision to collect data on school pupils’ nationality and country of birth.
The human rights charity Liberty will represent Against Borders for Children, which will focus on whether the policy infringes the rights of pupils. The groups also argue the policy serves no “educational purpose”.
Campaigners have today launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover their legal costs, and have already raised more than £1,500 of their initial £3,500 target.
We are optimistic that we will succeed, and that schools can get on with undoing the toxic legacy of the last few years
Schools have had a legal duty to collect data on pupils’ nationality and country of birth in the school census since last September.
The controversial change to the school census, which was rushed through Parliament during the summer recess in 2016, sparked a huge backlash from parents after some schools overreacted to the duty, demanding copies of pupils’ birth certificates and passports.
In one instance, only non-white pupils were chased for their data, and in other cases, parents were told they had a legal duty to provide the information, when no such requirement exists. Vague government guidance, which was recently criticised by the Information Commissioner’s Office, has been blamed.
The DfE initially insisted it had no intention of sharing the data with the Home Office for immigration control purposes. But last December, following a lengthy freedom of information battle, the Department was forced to admit to Schools Week that it had intended to release the data, but had backed down following the backlash.
And although there is now an agreement between the two departments that stipulates that nationality and birthplace data will not be shared, campaigners remain suspicious of the DfE’s motives.
“Human rights campaigners have been patient and allowed the government time to retreat from this discriminatory policy, an approach which spreads fear in our schools and risks the safety of our young people,” said Fran Zanatta, a spokesperson for Against Borders for Children.
READ MORE: DfE had agreement to share pupil nationality data with Home Office
“Their intransigence means this court challenge must now go ahead. We are optimistic that we will succeed, and that schools can get on with undoing the toxic legacy of the last few years.”
Alan Monroe, a teacher and Against Borders for Children campaign member, said the government could not provide “any educational reason for turning our schools into border posts”.
“Theresa May’s legacy at the Home Office includes making schools ask only those children assumed to be migrants to bring in passports and birth certificates.” he said. “It’s utterly unacceptable.
“Sooner or later we need to turn the tide and start to turn a hostile environment for our children into a welcoming one.”
The crowdfunding campaign will run until December 20.
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Joseph Gdovic
St. Mark Parish
1125 Romine Ave.
Port Vue, Pennsylvania, United States
Obituary of Joseph Gdovic
Joseph Gdovic, 91, of McKeesport, Pennsylvania died Saturday, April 20, 2019. He was born in Port Vue, Pennsylvania on January 19, 1928. He is the son of the late Michael and Anna (Koval) Gdovic. He is preceded in death (2002) by his wife Angelina “Angie” (Chiodo) Gdovic. They were married June 11, 1955 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. The family also resided for a period of time at their vacation home in Plantation, Florida. He is survived by daughters, Joanne Zettl of Chagrin Falls, Ohio; Suzanne Gdovic (James Pokorny) of Arvada, Colorado; Dianne (Phillip) Modenos of Lake Worth, Florida and son Michael Gdovic of Boca Raton, Florida. Also, grandchildren, Dianne Zettl of Columbus, Ohio; Kristen Pokorny and Sean Pokorny of Arvada, Colorado and Joseph Modenos of Lake Worth, Florida; his sister Helen (Roy) Epler of McKeesport, Pennsylvania and many nieces, nephews and cousins in the United States and the Czech Republic.
In 1945, at the young age of 17 Joe Gdovic enlisted in the Maritime Service, United States Coast Guard-Merchant Marines and served overseas in Italy & the Mediterranean Region. Just a year later he entered active service with the United States Army, he made Private and then Sergeant and served in Japan with the Nugata Military Government Team. Between 1947 and 1951 he served at Fort Lawton, Washington and Fort Lee, Virginia. He was granted an Honorable Discharge as Sergeant and awarded the World War II Victory Medal and Army of Occupational Medal, Japan. He received an Honorable Release from Active Duty as a Corporal. His hobbies during his military service included boxing and baseball. He was also quite skilled at the games of pool and cards. He was a 47-year member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, USA.
After his military service Joe went to work for US Steel in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Upon completing an apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker, he left US Steel to embark on the adventure of owning his own business. A true entrepreneur at heart, he would go on to have several successful businesses starting with McKeesport Roofing Company, a roofing and sheet metal enterprise that he operated out of the building he owned (formerly Famous Garage, now McKeesport Auto Body) at the intersection of Rebecca Street & West Sixth Avenue, near The Elbow Room. This business went on to employ many people and serviced the McKeesport and surrounding areas for many years. While still running McKeesport Roofing Company, Joe Gdovic, “the roofer” then branched out into the business world and represented various US manufacturers as an independent representative and found his calling in the sales arena. He represented Consolidated Chemical, Inc., Bismoline Manufacturing Company (medicated body powder), Sunshine Products, Inc. and Nilodor, Inc. He sold lines of skin care and odor control products to nursing homes, hospitals and a whole host of government agencies and entities, working with many states, counties, municipalities and cities. When the sales operations became more successful, Joe left the roofing world for good and became more involved in both domestic and international sales. Striving for real independence he started his own companies, Joseph Gdovic & Associates (McKeesport, PA) and Perfect Products Company (Plantation, FL) which he ran with his daughter, Dianne. Under the banner of these companies he created his very own private label odor control product line. He operated these companies profitably well into his 80’s.
Although plagued by failing eye sight and succumbing to blindness from a hereditary eye disease, Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP); he was never deterred from pursuing his goals for himself and his family. Fiercely independent, amazingly self-motivated, Joe was ambitious, determined and a forward thinker. Most would say he was ahead of his time. A formal education and college degree eluded him during his lifetime, but he dedicated himself to the education of his children; all who graduated from college and became professionals with successful careers and businesses. And now his legacy is his grandchildren who either graduated from college and have careers or are pursuing their educations at the time of this writing.
Joe Gdovic was a self-made man; he was self-taught in the areas of business, finance and history. He had an amazing intellect for politics, current events and understanding of the culture. He was a masterful debater on all these topics and more. He was a man that had a deep love for his family, respect for his Catholic faith and his Czech upbringing. He understood he was a flawed man at times. He was forever dedicated to the continual improvement of life, not just for himself and his family, but for all he knew, he always encouraged others to strive for something better. His best advice was “keep plugging” and “Keep Common Sense Alive.” He often repeated the motto from his former business mentor, Buck Pennington to family and friends… “always have a plan… and remember, a half-assed plan is better than no plan at all!” Joe was an avid and life-long Pittsburgh Steelers fan and was a season ticket holder for many years. He was also a follower of the Pirates and Penguins. He enjoyed the songs of Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti and was a classical music fan. Joe loved his country and was extremely patriotic. He was conservative and traditional in his political beliefs and was a student of politics. He loved to reminisce and tell stories from his past and there was always a moral to every story. He learned something from everything that he did and cherished every memory.
Family and friends will be received on Friday, May 3, 2019 from 4-8 pm at Strifflers of White Oak Cremation and Mortuary Services, Inc., 1100 Lincoln Way, White Oak, PA 15131. (Sue Striffler Galaski, Supervisor, 412-678-6177). A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. in St. Mark Parish at St. Joseph Worship Site, 1125 Romine Avenue, Port Vue, PA 15133. Burial will follow. To share a memory or condolence visit strifflerfuneralhomes.com.
The family would like to extend sincere gratitude and appreciation to the following people who were a tremendous help to Joe. Your friendship, support, assistance and encouragement did not go unnoticed and our words can never express how grateful we are to you. You were all very important to him and he appreciated each and every one of you: Kandy Frew, Helen Epler, Dick and Dolly (Epler) Kershner, John Tkach, Nick Stanish, George (Gigs) Vinovich, Chucky Peck and his brothers, Mike Kochman; Ladies of Charity at St. Mark’s Parrish, Rose & volunteers, Meals On Wheels of McKeesport, Minerva’s Bakery; Tom Borucki & Staff at McKeesport Auto Body; Doctors Mohammad & Kareem Idrees & Staff, White Oak Medical Center; Chuck Traeger, Carolyn, Mike, Midge, Renee & Vonnie, Ayres Drug Store; Doctors Ihsan H. Awan & Francis L. Ergina, UPMC Heart & Vascular Institute; Dr. M. Nair, Vascular Surgery, UPMC; Dr. P. Dafe´ Ogagan, UPMC Urology; the doctors, nurses and staff at UPMC McKeesport; and, many others as well.
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Democracy in Great Britain – Демократия в Великобритании (2)
Great Britain is one of the biggest and highly developed countries in the world. Britain’s democratic system of government is long established and well tried, and has provided a remarkable political stability. Britain’s overseas relations including its membership in the European Economic Community and its links with Commonwealth countries, enable it to realize international cooperation.
Great Britain has diplomatic relations with 166 countries, bears the responsibility for 14 independent territories, provides assistance to over 120 developing countries and is a member of some international organizations. It is one of the five permanent members of the UNO Security Council. Great Britain is a member of the European Economic Community. The Community defines its aims as the harmonious development of economic activities. It has abolished internal tariffs, established common custom tariffs, and set a goal of the creation of an internal market in which free movement of goods,
services, persons, and capital would be ensured in accordance with the Treaty of Rome.
By the middle of 2000 Britain had adopted more laws regulating the activity in the internal market than any other Community member. The Community now accounts for a fifth of world trade. Half Britain’s trade is with its eleven Community partners.
Great Britain takes an active part in the work of the Commonwealth, which is a voluntary association of 50 independent states. The English Queen is recognized as Head of the Commonwealth.
Great Britain promotes sustainable economic and social progress in developing countries. Almost £65 million were spent on disaster relief, help for refugees and emergency humanitarian aid.
Britain’s defence policy is based on its membership in NATO, which is committed to defend the territories of all its states-members.
Демократия в Великобритании (2)
Великобритания – одна из самых больших и высоко развитых стран в мире. Британская демократическая
система правления общепринята и хорошо апробирована, и обеспечивает замечательную политическую стабильность. Британские внешние связи, включая ее членство в Европейском Экономическом Сообществе и ее связи со странами Содружества, дают ей возможность осуществить международное сотрудничество.
Великобритания имеет дипломатические отношения с 166 странами, несет ответственность за 14 независимых территорий, оказывает помощь более чем 120 развивающимся странам и является членом некоторых международных организаций. Она – один из пяти постоянных членов Совета Безопасности ООН. Великобритания – член Европейского Экономического Сообщества. Сообщество определяет своей целью гармоничное развитие экономической деятельности. Оно отменило внутренние тарифы, установило общие таможенные тарифы, и поставило цель создать внутренний рынок, в котором свободное движение товаров, услуг, людей и капитала будет обеспечено в соответствии с Римским Соглашением.
К середине 2000 г. Великобритания приняла больше законов, регулирующих деятельность на внутреннем рынке, чем любой другой участник Сообщества. Сообщество сейчас отвечает за одну пятую мировой торговли. Половина британской торговли осуществляется с ее одиннадцатью партнерами по Сообществу.
Великобритания принимает активное участие в работе Содружества, которое является добровольной ассоциацией 50 независимых государств. Английская королева признана главой Содружества.
Великобритания способствует непрерывному экономическому и социальному продвижению развивающихся стран. Почти 65 миллионов фунтов были потрачены на помощь при катастрофах, помощь беженцам и чрезвычайную гуманитарную помощь.
Британская оборонная политика основана на ее членстве в НАТО, которое берет на себя обязательства защищать территории всех стран-членов.
Понятие и сущность процесса обучения.
Greenpeace In 1971, motivated by their vision of a green and peaceful world, a small team of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, in an old fishing boat. These activists, the...
Family(topic by Shapkina Lyuba) Your family are probably the most important people in your life. Families consist of parents and children. But we can also say that family is a group of people consisting...
Shopping – Покупки (1) When we want to buy something, we go to a shop. There are many kinds of shops in every town or city, but most of them have a food supermarket,...
Leisure time Everybody sometimes has a free time. Somebody prefers only to sleep intheir leisure time, but most of us prefer to do a great number of interesting things. It may bereading,...
Easter – Пасха From Scotland to the Channel, Britain is full of customs and traditions. A lot of them have very long histories. Some are funny, some are strange – But they’re all...
Theatre in Great Britain – Театр в Великобритании Britain has a long and rich dramatic tradition. The two national companies, the National itself which stages modern and classical plays and the Royal Shakespeare company! which is performing in...
Great Britain – Великобритания (1) The full name of the country the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two...
Entertainment I am fond of good books and good music, and when I have some timeto spare, I like to go to the theatre or a concert. There aremore than a...
“My Brother – Мой брат” на английском языке с переводом I have a brother. His name is Pavel. He is 20 years old. He is 5 years older than me. He studies at the university in another city. He also...
Meet is good for our health Have you ever wondered that the meat is good for our health? A lot of people think that meat is healthy food, but not all the people think so. Some...
Travel Arrangements Traveling is an essential part of any business. Even with new communication technology business people have to travel much as it’s particularly important to establish good face-to-face relations with partners,...
The USA (5) The USA is composed of 50 states. It occupies the central part of North American continent. It borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. The...
American Sports and Games Baseball is the most popular game in the US. It is played throughout the spring and summer by schools, colleges and professional teams. Football is the most popular game in...
Madagascar My report is on Madagascar. Madagascar is an island near the continent of Africa. It is the fourth largest island in the world. It is situated in the Indian Ocean....
Famous Landmarks: the Kremlin – Знаменитые достопримечательности: Кремль At the heart of the city stands the Kremlin. This old fortress was the centre of the Soviet Union’s government until that nation was dissolved in 1991. Since then, it...
The Doctor. Our Health When we are ill, we call the doctor, and he examines us and diagnoses the illness. When we have a headache, a stomachache, a sore throat, a cold or a...
The Climate of Great Britain – Климат Великобритании (1) Great Britain is situated on islands. It is washed by seas from all sides. That’s why the climate and the nature of Great Britain is very specific. The popular belief...
Higher Education in The UK There are more than 60 universities in the U. K. The leadinguniversities are Cambridge, Oxford and London. English universitiesdiffer from each other in traditions, general organization, internalgoverment, etc. British universities...
The Base of Industry – Основа индустрии Americas heavy industry depends upon three resources: iron ore from the Lake Superior area, coal from western Pennsylvania, and transportation across the Great Lakes District. Steel making is basic, but...
My Flat I live in a 5-storied block of flats in Yushno-Sakhalinsk. It’s not a very picturesque place but we have a yard and a Kodak Express studio under the window. My...
Сейчас вы читаете: Democracy in Great Britain – Демократия в Великобритании (2)
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методика викладання іноземної мови.
адаптеры и контроллеры.
шпаргалка по зарубежной литературе.
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Art - Essay Example
However, what runs in minds of many people when the term art is mentioned is the aesthetic concept involved in it. However, in general terms, art can be defined as creative work presented in the form of…
Subject: Miscellaneous
Author: bergstromcathar
Extract of sample "Art"
Art Art is a broad concept that can not have a definite definition (Harrison However, what runs in minds of many people when the term art is mentioned is the aesthetic concept involved in it. However, in general terms, art can be defined as creative work presented in the form of drawings, paintings, sculpture, architecture and other objects of artistic work. Nevertheless, art is also seen in other forms like poetry and music, commonly known as fine arts (Harrison 2).
I consider art to be a large part of our every day lives. This can be argued to be true because art involves designing and using creativity in making objects that triggers memories, educate, communicate, and trigger emotions (Harrison 11). In fact, it can be argued that art involves several human activities. It is not a must for art, to have specific qualities for it to qualify to be art. However, certain things like color, texture are considered to differentiate between good and bad art. What I value or look for in art is beauty, uniqueness, and inherent meaning. Beauty in art captivates people. When art is created to convey certain meaning such as political and emotional trigger, I consider that to be an ideal art.
I expect art to act as a communication tool to different groups of people. For example, a toy created for children should act as an educative element to children. Cartoon drawings should act as warning, informative, and above all bring about joy in people’s lives. Art should be used to represent beliefs and norms of cultures, whereby cultures would be represented in artistic works.
Harrison, Charles. An Introduction to Art. London: Yale University Press, 2007. Print. Read More
Art Thou
(“Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4”, n.d.)
Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1602077-art
(Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 Words - 4)
Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 Words - 4. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1602077-art.
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CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Art
...?Artist Dario Robleto, Obsequies in Albany Order No. 511883 Facts - Dario Robleto was born in San Antonio in 1972 and in 1997 he received his BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) degree from the University of Texas-San Antonio. He not only made use of his artistic skills to design the ‘Obsequies in Albany’ but he also made a study of the Victorian mourning traditions and wove hair into the flowers that adorned the art piece. What makes this piece of art more important is that every detail has been backed by historical facts. E.g. the fabric and lace was from a mourning dress and the hair flowers were braided by a widow from the Civil War. 2: Describe Dario Robleto’s ‘Obsequies in Albany’ is a...
...? Drawing is a time of art that produces two-dimensional pictures using instruments such as pen and ink, graphite pencils, crayons, and charcoal. Drawing is mainly done on paper. Examples of famous drawers include Leonardo da Vinci and his drawings such as Study of Arms and Hands (1474) and the Grotesque Profile (1487-1490). Printmaking is the art process of produces prints using three categories: relief where includes wood engraving and metalcut, intalgio which includes lithography and monotyping, and stencil which includes screenprinting and pochoir. In a contemporary context famous ways of printmaking include digital printing. Unlike drawing, there are multiple forms of mediums that include paper, wood...
...Art 0 Introduction Art through the eyes of an artist represents the different moods, features, and aesthetics of the living world. The same cannot be said of the spectator, who like many before and after him, see art as a piece of sexuality and provocation. One sees that most photographic representations are far from conveying the photographers’ intentional aim, in contrast to what spectators interpret them as. This is a pressing issue, because one tends to worry attending to the various conclusions reached about photographic representations. Art, in all forms, appear to generate a skeptical argument about the aesthetic significance of its diverse representation. It is...
...Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago One of the exhibitions that is currently on show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is that of Iain Baxter&. Born as Iain Baxter in England, Baxter& immigrated to Canada with his family when he was only a year old. In 2005, Baxter& legally added an ampersand to his surname due to his belief that art is all about connecting with the viewer. His surname is now pronounced and Baxterand. The three works of art of his on display are Television Works, Still Life with 6 Trucks, Highway 1, Saskatchewan, and Landscape with One Tree and Three Clouds. Iain Baxter& first established his art-making company, originally known as IT Works, back in 1965. Since that time, the company has changed its name... to...
...Art in Ancient Rome Roman art created during the earliest period of Rome is majorly associated with the period of 509 BC when republic was created. The roman art period is divided into two different eras, the first era is recognized as Republic art and the second era is referred to as Roman Empire Art. During the Roman period various great artists existed who are still studied and they produced great artistic work which is still given great importance. One of the most renowned artists of the Roman era was Michelangelo who produced sculpture recognized as Pieta, this sculpture was used to denote the scene when Jesus Christ lay dead in the hands of Virgin...
...Art Middle Ages are a term used to refer to the era of that travelled between 5th and the 15th century of Europe. During this time period various forms of arts came into existence and later lost their stand in the society. These forms of arts include the Gothic, Byzantine, Christian and Romanesque arts. The first form of art that came into existence was the Byzantine style of art which was mostly associated with religion and religious believes. The Byzantine form of art was related to the eastern part of Rome and the western part of Rome came up with Romanesque arts, this form of art was...
... Site: Number: November 09, Robert Carston Arneson Breathless (Self-Portrait in Blue), 1976 earthenware, low fire 37in x 21.5 in, d, 22 in. Utah Museum of Fine Arts Description This small earthenware sculpture is in the form of an adult male head and neck. It is somewhat larger than life size, and sits on a terracotta colored base into which the word “BREATHLESS” is inscribed. The head itself has a blue glaze but the natural reddish brown color of the clay is visible underneath the glaze in places. The hair and beard are worked realistically in the clay, and there are visible vertical lines on the neck which represent veins straining under pressure. The eyes are protruding and the pupils are emphasized by circular indentations... Site:...
...Section/# Dancers: An Artistic Analysis Although modern art has taken many forms, one of the mainstays of which itis represented is the way in which it seeks to capture core emotions within as few lines or intricacies as possible. Such a level of minimalism is represented in the statue by Jonathan Borofsky entitled “Dancers”. This particular piece of artwork stands between the theaters of the Denver Performing Arts Complex. As a means of seeking to define and illustrate what this particular sculpture represents to this author, this brief analysis will seek to focus a level of inquiry based upon the key emotions, and illustrations that are believed to be exemplified. It should of course be understood...
...Denver Art The dancing sculpture of Denver an art piece which is famous is a symbol of music celebration and dance. Denver is a of music and dance lovers and this striking piece of art is a remembrance to the public about the significance of art in people’s life. This sculpture with its slender body and dynamic structural beauty has the capability to take anybody into dancing mood and this 50 foot gleaming structure can take away anybody’s heart. The sculpture has five speakers mounted around it, which gives a unique ambience to the sculpture. The sculpture is the center of attraction of the city and brings in lot of people to enjoy it. This sculpture of Denver is created...
... Number] James Bama’s “Young Plains Indian” is exhibited in the Denver Art Museum. This oil painting is painted in 1980 and its basic texture is masonite. Thus, the aim of the artist was to preserve a realistic black and white photographic moment of a Native Indian youth in its most natural, pragmatic and tinted form. The young native Indian warrior in the painting was actually present in a Montana’s Crow Fair, but Bama aimed to preserve this moment as a true heritage of Native Indian American Society (“Bama”). (Courtesy of Denver Art Museum, James Bama) This painting is in vivid colours and portrays a traditional Native Indian Warrior, riding on a horse, with a traditional cloth saddle. Hence, his warrior accessories entail a bow... seems...
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In the original "Casino Royale," James Bond was playing baccarat, not Texas Hold 'Em. (Image via Bond)
Thoughts x April 19, 2019
Baccarat, Once a Relic of the Card-Game World, Is on the Upswing
Often overlooked, the high-stakes game of baccarat is enjoying a resurgence, and it’s time you learn to play it.
By Daniel Reed
Did you know that in the original “Casino Royale” the high-stakes card game that James Bond plays with Le Chiffre wasn’t Texas Hold’em but was, in fact, baccarat? Baccarat used to be seen as an exclusive game, only fit for royalty and the upper classes. However, the heyday of this card game was many moons ago, and it was deemed too old-fashioned for the modern “James Bond” audience.
Recently though, baccarat has had something of a revival. Online gaming has introduced a new generation to a game that can be just as thrilling as poker. The draw for many players is that baccarat tends to be a high stakes game with high limits, meaning there is the potential for huge winnings.
The Aim of the Game
The aim of the game is for the cards in your hand to equal nine, or be as close to nine as possible. The dealer will deal two cards, face up, to both the player and the dealer. Prior to the deal, the player will have to decide whose hand they are going to bet on. This is where the game gets unique.
What Is It That Makes Gambling Entertaining?
In baccarat, you can either bet on your hand to win or the dealer’s hand to win, or you can bet on a tie. You have no way of knowing whose hand will win because you won’t have seen any cards at this point. This is also where the game is exciting. The thrill of placing a bet based on blind luck is as tempting as it is risky.
How to Play Baccarat
Once the cards have been dealt, the value of the hand will be calculated. In baccarat, the king, queen and jack cards are considered to be zero, meaning they have no value. Ace has a value of one and all the other cards retain their own numerical value. If a player is dealt an 8 and an ace, for example, the win with what’s called a “natural win” because their cards have hit the value of nine. Any hand where the first two cards add up to nine is considered a natural win.
If a natural win doesn’t occur, then the player with the closest value to the number nine will win the round. This can be calculated in different ways. If a player has been dealt a three and a two, they will be dealt a third card in order to try and get closer to nine. If a player has been dealt a five and two, the value is seven and the player will hold.
How the New Sports Betting Laws Will Affect Student Gambling
If a player is dealt any two cards that, when added together, make a value higher than 10, then the second number is considered to be the final value of the hand. Confused? Yes, it’s confusing! So, if you are dealt a seven and a nine, for example, these two cards add up to 16 — this would make the value of your hand six.
The player is only given a third card if the dealer’s hand has a value of less than eight. Once the player has been dealt a third card, the value of the player’s hand will then determine whether or not the dealer will be able to draw a third card. This is where the game gets a little complicated, and it will be worth your while to put in some study time before you play.
There’s Nothing Like Some Good Ol’ Fashioned Casino Fraud
We also recommend that you play a few rounds of RNG baccarat before sitting down at a high-stakes table, because although this game requires a certain amount of luck to win, there are also various strategies that you can employ to enhance your chances of winning.
Check out https://mobile-casino.ca/games/baccarat for some helpful hints regarding strategy, and also where to find the best mobile baccarat games to practice on.
The Beginner’s Guide to Becoming a Casino Pro
How the Casino Industry Takes Inspiration from TV and Film
Sick of Gambling with Money? Try a Bitcoin Casino
Ever Wanted to Visit a Casino Without Leaving Home?
How Is New Technology Changing the Online Casino Industry?
Gambling Odds: Which Games Give You the Best Chance of Success?
The 7 Best Halloween-Themed Slot Games of 2018
Belgium’s Banned ‘Overwatch’ Loot Boxes — Should Other Countries Follow Suit?
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District Accolades
Assessment and Performance
Blue Valley students identify more than 83 different languages as their primary home language with 11.3 percent of students reporting a home language other than English. The top five non-English home languages reported include Telugu, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Korean.
Blue Valley Schools is committed to examining multiple perspectives and working to prepare all members of the Blue Valley community to thrive in a diverse world. The district's diversity team leads Blue Valley's efforts toward culturally responsive schools. This work was affirmed when The Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council awarded The Table of Faiths Award to Blue Valley Schools for 2016. The award recognizes an organization that is visible in the community, is making a positive difference in building relationships with diverse religious groups and promotes a pluralistic vision.
Unified in 1965, Blue Valley Schools encompasses 91 square miles in southeastern Johnson County in portions of south Overland Park, Leawood and Olathe. These cities have been recognized in many national quality-of-life rankings. Money magazine named Overland Park one of the Best Places to Live in 2018.
Blue Valley Schools is home to more than 52,000 residential housing units. Approximately 71 percent of the units are single-family dwellings and 29 percent are duplexes/condos/multi-family housing. The average household size in Blue Valley is 2.67 residents.
About half of Blue Valley residents are under the age of 40, with a significant portion of the population in the 20 to 44-year-old age group. The median age of Blue Valley's residential population in 2017 was 40.6 years old. The median income of all Blue Valley households is $117,770. According to information derived from the Johnson County Appraiser's Office, the average value of single-family residences in the school district is approximately $451,000.
Advanced Placement (AP) and other college credit courses
The Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS)
K-12 enrichment programs
Intervention programs for reading and math
The Blue Valley Academy, a non-traditional program for high school students
The Wilderness Science Center, which offers students of all ages hands-on environmental education in a 30-acre nature preserve
Early Childhood Center as well as the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program
Mentoring programs, and 18-21, a program teaching independent living skills for students with moderate to severe disabilities
Caucasian/White: 71.78%
Asian: 13.92%
Hispanic: 6.03%
Multi-racial: 4.50%
African-American/Black: 3.35%
American Indian/Alaskan Native American: 0.37%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.05%
Elementary schools (grades K-5): 21
Middle schools (grades 6-8): 9
High schools (grades 9-12): 5
K-12: 22,206
Preschool-12: 22,789
Certified staff: 1,873
Classified staff: 1,453
Administrators: 110
Percent of teaching staff with a master's degree or higher: 73 percent
Grades 7-12 dropout rate: 0.2 percent
Average daily attendance: 95.9 percent
Graduation rate: 96.6 percent
Student/computer ratio: 1.7:1
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Kalaari Capital
snapdeal founders
Kalaari Capital looks to sell its stake in Snapdeal
Kalaari Capital could sell its stake in Snapdeal for Rs 40 Cr -Rs 50 Cr, signalling a massive haircut from its overall investment of about Rs 135 crore in the company.Biswarup Gooptu | ETtech | March 15, 2018, 06:00 IST
Venture capital firm Kalaari Capital, one of the early and most influential investors in Snapdeal, has held conversations with the company’s promoters to sell its stake, in entirety or partially, in the online marketplace.
The discussions have been at a very preliminary stage, and there is yet no guarantee that a successful secondary deal will be struck, according to two sources with knowledge of the developments.
However, according to the sources cited above, the technology and consumer Internet-focused venture capital firm could sell its stake in Snapdeal for Rs 40-Rs 50 crore, signalling a massive haircut from its overall investment of about Rs 135 crore in the company.
Further, a potential stake sale could see the Snapdeal founders, Kunal Bahal and Rohit Bansal, tighten their grip on the company, almost a year after fighting off rival Flipkart, as well as its own investor, SoftBank Group Corp, and wrestling back control of the online marketplace.
Kalaari Capital is also believed to have held discussions with other investors for the sale of its shares in the company. However, ET was unable to ascertain the names of the parties the VC firm had held conversations with.
Emails sent to both Kalaari Capital and Snapdeal, did not elicit any response at the time of going to press. Kalaari Capital held about an 8% stake in Snapdeal, while the two co-founders, cumulatively, owned a little over 7.3% of the Gurgaon-based online marketplace, according to business intelligence platform Paper.vc.
The collapse of the Snapdeal acquisition by larger rival Flipkart last year had dealt a blow to the venture capital firm, which had emerged as one of the strongest backers of the Indian e-commerce sector over the last decade.
The firm, along with Nexus Venture Partners, had demanded a special payout, estimated at $90 million, in return for their acquiescence to the deal, which was seen as one of the major stumbling blocks to a successful completion of the acquisition.
After the proposed $850 million acquisition fell through in July last year, Vani Kola, managing director of Kalaari Capital, and who had resigned from the Snapdeal board in May last year, had expressed deep disappointment with the Snapdeal founders’ decision to call off the deal, and pursue an independent path.
The developments come to light at a time when the VC firm is reportedly gearing up to raise its fourth investment vehicle. The investor, which had earned a little over Rs 200 crore, through secondary sales, in Snapdeal, also saw two of its senior executives, Bala Srinivasa and Prashanth Aluru, quit the early-stage firm, resigning from their roles as partners in last October.
Since its decision to go solo, Snapdeal has pivoted to a pure marketplace model, branded as Snapdeal 2.0, and which loosely resembles Alibaba Group's Taobao platform, and is expected to focus on non-branded products across fewer categories, thereby competing more with Tiger Global and GIC-backed Shopclues.
Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates Snapdeal, posted a 38% drop in revenue for the financial year ended March 31, 2017, posting a top line of Rs 903.8 crore, compared with Rs 1,457 crore the previous year, according to documents that Jasper Infotech filed with the Registrar of Companies, and accessed by research platform Tofler.
Tags : Internet, SnapDeal, Kalaari Capital, snapdeal founders, e-commerce
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inMobi
InMobi fined $4m, but has to Pay $950k now for violating consumer privacy in the US
Mobile advertising firm InMobi will pay $950,000 in civil penalties and implement a comprehensive privacy programme to settle the federal trade commission (FTC) charges.Vikas SN | ET Bureau | Updated: June 23, 2016, 14:23 IST
BENGALURU: SoftBank-backed mobile advertising firm InMobi will pay $950,000 in civil penalties and implement a comprehensive privacy program to settle the federal trade commission charges that it deceptively tracked locations of "hundreds of millions of consumers - including children - without their knowledge or consent" to serve geo-targeted advertising.
FTC in a statement noted that under the actual terms of the settlement, InMobi is subject to a $4 million penalty but the agency suspended the fine to $950,000 "based on the company's financial condition".
In its complaint, FTC alleged that InMobi was tracking consumers' locations whether or not the apps using the company's solution asked for their permission to do so and even when consumers denied permission to access their location information.
"InMobi created a database built on information collected from consumers who allowed the company access to their geolocation information, combining that data with the wireless networks they were near to document the physical location of wireless networks themselves. InMobi then would use that database to infer the physical location of consumers based on the networks they were near, even when consumers had turned off location collection on their device." FTC said in a statement.
The agency said in the complaint that InMobi's software also tracked location in thousands of apps "that were clearly directed at children, in spite of promising that it did not do so". This location information was also tracked without getting a parent or guardian's consent to collect and use a child's personal information, thereby violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
"InMobi tracked the locations of hundreds of millions of consumers, including children, without their consent, in many cases totally ignoring consumers' express privacy preferences," said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "This settlement ensures that InMobi will honor consumers' privacy choices in the future, and will be held accountable for keeping their privacy promises."
InMobi has now been directed to delete the location information of consumers it collected without their consent, including all information it has collected from children and will be prohibited from further violations of Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. It will also be prohibited from further misrepresenting its privacy practices.
InMobi will also have to setup a comprehensive privacy program that will be independently audited every two years for the next 20 years.
"With best intentions to adhere to COPPA requirements, InMobi implemented a process to exclude any publisher's site or app identified as a COPPA app from interest-based, behavioral advertising. During the investigation by FTC, InMobi discovered that there was a technical error at InMobi's end that led to the process not being correctly implemented in all cases.
As a result, some COPPA sites were served with interest-based campaigns on the InMobi Network. InMobi promptly notified the FTC of this issue as soon as it was discovered and has made it clear from the outset that this was by no way means deliberate. Any family safe ads that may have formed part of targeted campaigns would have been undertaken to target the adult owner of the device.
In certain instances, InMobi has inferred user location through the Wifi identifier as part of the SDK integration with publisher apps without express election by an user. While InMobi was not fined by the FTC for this practice, to implement best practices, going forward InMobi will only use WiFi information when serving location based targeted advertising campaigns when an app user has authorized the app to collect and transmit the same. The errors were corrected in Q4 2015, and since then, InMobi has been fully compliant with all COPPA regulations. InMobi operates across several countries and continents, and intend to adhere to the best practices related to the data and privacy requirements of all the countries." InMobi said in a statement to ETtech
This settlement comes at a time when InMobi is struggling to raise funds and chart out a sustainable business model besides grappling with attrition in its senior & mid-level management, amid concerns about the company's future and whether its new strategic initiatives are working or not.
Tags : Industry, US, inMobi, FTC, consumer privacy
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California Secretary of State Alex Padilla tells a sitting room-only crowd about his concerns in election security at the Vote Hacking Village at DefCon 26 on Friday, Aug. 10, 2018. Photo by Seth Rosenblatt/The Parallax
Why current funding to secure U.S. elections ‘doesn’t cut it’ (Q&A)
Seth Rosenblatt August 16, 2018
LAS VEGAS—When it comes to election security, politicians like Alex Padilla, the top election official for the most populous state in the nation, are more worried about how they’re going to fund election modernization and counter disinformation campaigns than about hackers slipping into voting machines.
Padilla, California’s secretary of state, says that in the “new reality” of election security, there’s a “distinction” to be made between exposing security vulnerabilities in voting machines and greater election security concerns. But most importantly, he said at the DefCon Vote Hacking Village on August 10, is that if Congress wants election officials to “implement all these findings, recommendations, and discoveries,” it’s going to have to go back to the coffers.
“While I thank the United States Congress for appropriating $380 million last month, let me be abundantly clear: We need more resources,” Padilla said. “The money that came to states is not new money. It’s the remaining Help America Vote Act dollars, appropriated last month but authorized 15 years ago, in the wake of Florida 2000. That’s butterfly ballot hanging-chad money.”
READ MORE ON ELECTION HACKING
There’s more to election integrity than secure voting machines
Mueller’s indictment of election hackers a cybersecurity ‘wake-up call’
For want of a VPN, Guccifer 2.0 was lost
Facebook’s Stamos on protecting elections from hostile hackers (Q&A)
For decade-old flaws in voting machines, no quick fix
Post-recount, experts say electronic voting remains ‘shockingly’ vulnerable
Can your vote be hacked—after you cast it?
Over the past year, hackers have schooled Padilla and other election administrators on the security vulnerabilities of electronic voting machines, especially those that lack a paper trail. They’ve also called attention to “social engineering” campaigns bent on decreasing voter confidence in election integrity.
A comprehensive MIT study on voter confidence that included research from the Pew Research Center and the Roper Center found that only 19 percent of respondents said they were confident in the integrity of nationwide vote results before the election.
Jeanette Manfra, national protection and programs directorate assistant secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security, told The Parallax that she agrees with Padilla’s concerns about funding. She also compared election security to the current state of Internet-connected medical devices.
“You have to balance raising awareness of vulnerabilities and pushing vendors to make more secure products, which is what DefCon is trying to do, with the ability for vendors to react to that,” she said. “We have to bring both communities to see each other’s perspective.”
Padilla spent a few minutes speaking with The Parallax after his Vote Hacking Village presentation. What follows is an edited transcript of our conversation.
Q: You seem keenly aware of the issues surrounding voting machines and hacking, but not all secretaries of state appear to be on board, as the National Association of Secretaries of State statement shows. Is this an issue that’s worth convincing your peers of?
I think that the vast majority of my colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, clearly understand the stakes. I think the release you read comes from an appreciation of a practitioner’s standpoint that we’re always balancing the attention we give technology and cybersecurity with public perception. We don’t want to overplay threats; we don’t want to underplay them, either.
At last year’s conference here, a lot of headlines came out about effective hacks of voting equipment. When you look at the equipment they were using and the conditions they were using the equipment in, it didn’t exactly reflect real-world conditions that we deploy on Election Day.
As an engineer, I’m trained to understand that methodology matters. If DefCon is going to be constructive, we distinguish between what is an applicable take-away versus what may or may not apply in the real world.
So you do agree with the memo?
I might have phrased it differently, but I’m here [at DefCon]. I think there’s a lot of value in this convening, and in the spirit of this convening. In the Vote Hacking Village, I hope to see what kinds of lessons we can take away that we might not yet have thought of in California. I’d rather be enlightened today than be enlightened after an incident.
Are there other secretaries of state who used to not think that voting-machine and election systems hacking is important to consider and address, but do now?
I can’t think of a colleague that doesn’t take this seriously. We’re all actively engaged within each state and our local jurisdictions. We’re all participating in this. There is improved collaboration with the federal intelligence agencies, as well. I think best practices are being shared.
If we’re united on anything else, it’s on the need for additional resources. For Congress to only invest in election modernization and security once every 15 years doesn’t cut it.
What’s being done to counter the social-engineering angle, where the point is more to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt in elections than to exploit computers to change votes?
If the question is, were any systems penetrated? Or, was the vote outcome in any race changed due to hacking or any cyberthreats in 2016? The answer is no. And if the question is, were there attempts at finding vulnerabilities in those systems? The answer is yes.
Those are very different questions than, was there a concerted, massive disinformation campaign conducted by the Russian government to create chaos, sew doubts, and undermine confidence in elections? Absolutely.
To the extent that devices are used to make selections, they must still provide a voter-verified paper audit trail that we can go back to count, recount, audit to ensure the integrity of the results.
Another question would be, was there collusion between a certain presidential campaign and the Russian government? Well, there’s a whole special investigation going on to find the answer to that question. But whether there were successful penetrations or breaches of any type, that’s a different question than, is there misinformation that’s undermining public confidence in our system? And we have to address both.
In our democracy, there’s an important balance to maintain between voting-system cybersecurity, accessibility, and participation.
Many of the security researchers investigating election security talk about “risk-limiting audits” as an effective tool in ensuring election integrity. Do you have plans to use them in California?
Absolutely. We’re actively working on legislation to call for that before this year’s session is over. California already has a 1 percent manual tally requirement. That’s a good foundation to build on. I think there’s added value in a risk-limiting audit, but like with everything else, details matter, methodologies matter.
We have 58 counties in California, each with a different size and different complexity, so the exact methodology that best suits Alpine County versus Los Angeles County may be different, and we’ve got to get the language on our legislation right.
Are you looking outside the United States for guidance or inspiration toward how best to adopt electronic-voting technology?
There’s a lot of room for technology to improve how we register voters, how we inform voters, and even how we facilitate the act of voting. But one of the criteria that has served California well is the requirement of paper ballot, paper ballot, paper ballot. To the extent that devices are used to make selections, they must still provide a voter-verified paper audit trail that we can go back to count, recount, audit to ensure the integrity of the results.
So you don’t see that changing anytime soon?
Not on my watch.
Speaking of new technology, what’s your take on West Virginia’s use of a blockchain-backed mobile-voting app for its citizens stationed overseas in the military?
I’d be cautious, if I were them. It’s not coming to California.
DefConDefCon 26electronic votinghackingrisk-limiting auditssecurityvote hackingvotingvoting machine
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Policy Lates: The Precautionary Principle
The Policy Lates series examines topical science policy issues, and “The Precautionary Principle: Can we strike the balance between risk and reward” coincided with the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee’s inquiry into the uses of the precautionary principle and its application in Europe in legislation regarding genetically modified foods.
The panel for the discussion was Chaired by Professor Jim Dunwell of the University of Reading, and was made up the chief scientific adviser of Defra, Professor Ian Boyd FSB, the managing director of Sense About Science, Tracey Brown, and Professor Joe Perry FSB who is Chair of the GMO panel of the European Food Safety Authority.
The precautionary principle is sometimes described as an attempt to put into practice the common sense principles of "better safe than sorry" and "look before you leap". While this may seem sensible in everyday life, some argue that this approach is too limiting and stifles innovation when applied on a larger scale. Its use has been discussed recently in a number of areas, with some questioning whether or not it is still appropriate.
Tracey Brown highlighted a number of issues surrounding the precautionary principle. In the case of the licensing of blight-resistant potatoes, she argued that it does not address the original question of how to deal with significant crop loss. She also made the case that its narrow focus in the case of the ban of neonicotinoids has meant that other factors which contribute to the decline in bee populations have been overlooked.
Professor Dunwell pointed out that significant differences between the EU and parts of North America in terms of use of the precautionary principle impact globally. The panel were in general agreement that, while a precautionary approach may be sensible, application of the precautionary principle in the form which the EU uses is not always appropriate. Professor Perry noted that in terms of GMOs, voting on their use within the EU is often done on political rather than scientific grounds and Professor Boyd added to this saying that the precautionary principle is “politically convenient".
The storify of the event is now available.
To contribute to our response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee’s inquiry email policy@societyofbiology.org
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6 Energizing Wellness Experiences in San Francisco
Spend time at Ocean Beach on your visit to San Francisco | © Laura Drake / Alamy Stock Photo
Jessica Dellow
Though a lazy day at the spa will always be a luxurious way to recharge, sometimes you need to energize yourself with something that offers a little more excitement to match a city as vibrant as San Francisco. When that’s the case, the six following experiences will allow you to reset while also appreciating just what it is that makes this place so remarkable.
See the city by bicycle
Explore the Golden Gate Bridge and more in San Francisco via bicycles | © Durk Talsma / Alamy Stock Photo
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An excellent way to see San Francisco is on two wheels. It’s an invigorating experience that not only allows you to really take in the sights, smells and sounds but also tap into your sense of exploration. While the hills can be intimidating, there are cycling maps that show the easiest routes. Also, some rides don’t involve many hills at all, like biking across the Golden Gate Bridge or along Crissy Field. If you want a little extra help, you can also rent a tandem bicycle with your partner or an electric bike that can reach speeds of almost 20 miles per hour (32 kilometers per hour). Civitatis rents bikes for 24 hours at a time, so you can take your time exploring.
2715 Hyde Street, Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California, 94109, USA
Take a tour of the towering redwoods in Muir Woods
Architectural Landmark
The wide paths in the Muir Woods National Monument make it easy to explore | © Jennifer McCallum / Alamy Stock Photo
There are only a few places in the world where you can see coastal redwood trees, with the most stunning being Muir Woods National Monument – about 30 minutes north of San Francisco. A walk in nature offers a sense of peace not easily found in the city, so this park’s proximity to SF allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds. With its flat and wide wooden walking paths, the park is easy to explore but can get quite crowded, making a guided tour an ideal way to see the forest. On the tour, you’ll learn about the trees in Muir Woods, including their age (the average age is 600 to 800 years old, with the oldest tree being at least 1,200 years old) and their height (the tallest one is 258 feet, or 79 meters).
288 Beach Street, North Beach, San Francisco, California, 94133, USA
Have a Zen moment in the Japanese Tea Garden
The Japanese Tea Garden provides visitors a respite from the city | © zhencong chen / Alamy Stock Photo
The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States and is home to three acres of winding stepping-stone paths, native Japanese plants, koi ponds, stone lanterns and pagodas. The garden feels like a true oasis in the middle of the bustling city and can be very tranquil, especially in the morning hours. Be sure to climb over the highly arched drum bridge, which reflects a full circle on the water and is intended to slow people down. You can even stop for a meditative cup of tea at the Tea House, which overlooks the pond.
75 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California, 94118, USA
Eat your way through the Ferry Building Marketplace
The Ferry Building Marketplace is a foodie’s paradise | © Rosangela Lima / Alamy Stock Photo
San Francisco’s historic Ferry Building Marketplace has some of the Bay Area’s best local farmers, artisan producers and independently owned restaurants. It’s an excellent place for anyone who loves food and wine, much of which can be enjoyed while taking in gorgeous views. With burgers, biscuits, cheese, chocolate, doughnuts, dry rubs for meat and more, the Ferry Building is a first-class culinary destination. Go on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday when the farmer’s market is in full swing to discover fresh farm products and prepared foods.
Ferry Building South Beach, San Francisco, California, 94111, USA
Sit around a bonfire at Ocean Beach
Natural Feature
Ocean Beach offers 16 fire rings for fun get-togethers | © Dionigi Pozzi / Alamy Stock Photo
There’s something truly magical about sitting around a fire with friends, and you don’t have to leave the city to experience that magic. Ocean Beach has 16 fire rings that are available from the beginning of March until the end of October. The fire rings are first come, first served; and you can buy everything you need, including firewood, hotdogs and ingredients for s’mores, at the Safeway across the street from the beach.
Feel your way through the Exploratorium’s Tactile Dome
The Tactile Dome lies inside the Exploratorium | © Exploratorium, www.exploratorium.edu
Discover just how much you take your sight for granted when you enter the total darkness of the Tactile Dome at the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s hands-on science museum. The sensory journey requires you to walk, crawl, climb, slide and feel your way through the twists, turns and textures of the interactive sculpture – created in 1971. The wonderland of textures is an extraordinary way to reset your senses and possibly experience a sense of rebirthing (which was the artist’s original intention). Reservations are required. The Exploratorium lies on Pier 15 along the Embarcadero and features more than 650 interactive works of sound, color and touch, challenging your perceptions and leaving you awestruck, inspired and full of laughter.
Pier 15 The Embarcadero, Embarcadero, San Francisco, California, 94111, USA
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A Bibliophile’s Guide to Seattle
University of Washington library | © Tinted_glass / Flickr
Samantha Ladwig
In November 2017, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared Seattle an official City of Literature.
The City of Literature program is part of the Creative Cities Network, a community made up of 180 international cities all working toward “placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.” And Seattle gets to be a part of that effort.
The Emerald City stands as the second city in the United States to have earned the title, with the first being Iowa City, Iowa, back in 2008. It joins the ranks of international cities such as Edinburgh, Scotland, and Durban, South Africa. The organization rates its nominees on their historical and current contributions to the arts community, both citywide and globally. A glance at the city’s creative community shows why UNESCO pegged Seattle with the honor.
Richard Hugo House
© Brent Ozar / Flickr
To begin with, Seattle has its own literary hub. The Hugo House, founded in 1998 by three Seattle writers—Linda Breneman, Andrea Lewis, and Frances McCue—is a nonprofit writing community housed on Capitol Hill. There, creatives can partake in a number of literary courses taught by prominent poets and writers such as Lidia Yuknavitch and Ijeoma Oluo. Through their youth scholarships and emerging writer fellowships, the Hugo House offers an influential platform for unheard voices.
It’s not all scholarly either. The Hugo House is also noted for their year-round events that mix intellect with entertainment, including the acclaimed “Hugo Literary Series,” which has been a part of the community since 2007. The cultured celebration brings together a handful of artists who share original work, written specifically for the event based on a theme generated by the organization.
Until recently, the nonprofit organization ran its business out of a three-story Victorian house built in 1902. But in 2016, builders tore the establishment down. Not to worry though. In summer 2018, the Hugo House will move into its new home, a beautiful six-story structure built in the same location.
The Hugo House isn’t the only organization helping emerging writers and the arts community. There’s also the nonprofit organization Artist Trust, which dedicates itself to lifting up creatives in Washington State. Founded in 1986, the Artist Trust is a hub of grants, classes, and connections that assists artists with their journey.
Some of their grants include the Twining Humber Award, which “recognizes a female-identified visual artist, age 60 or over, who has dedicated 25 years or more to creating art,” and the LaSalle Storyteller Award. The latter recognizes a different discipline each year, along with one hardworking individual who is helping to shape it.
Sorrento Hotel
© Joe Mabel / WikiCommons
On a more lighthearted note, there are a number of bookish establishments, events, and performances throughout the city outside of the Hugo House and the Artist Trust. The historic upscale Hotel Sorrento in the First Hill neighborhood features a monthly silent reading party. That’s right. On the first Wednesday of every month, the Italian-style hotel hosts a read-a-thon in its Fireside Room. Though it may seem awkward, the evening fills up in less than an hour according to Seattle’s alternative newspaper, The Stranger.
Blocks away from the Hotel Sorrento sits the Book-It Repertory Theatre, a theatre company that adapts great works of literature into plays—and not just for entertainment either. Per the organization, “We know literacy is a multi-dimensional enhancement to life, yet we also know that functional illiteracy is a fundamental obstacle for one-third of adults in Washington State.” The company, which performs all across the state, has continued to expand since its founding in 1987.
While the tech industry—Amazon, Zillow, Microsoft, and Expedia—continues to spread across the city, arts and nonprofit organizations continue to flourish. UNESCO’s recognition proves that despite Seattle’s many changes, its creative community remains strong.
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The Silence Of The Bells: Notre Dame Cathedral In Ashes
In its 850 years, the cathedral has also become a symbol for France, the West, and Christendom. In its lifetime, it has seen the highest points and the darkest hours of France.
By Ellie Bufkin
Yesterday, the world watched in horror as raging fire consumed much of the 850-year-old Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. In a stroke of mercy late on Monday evening in Paris, the fire officials declared that the main façade of the cathedral, containing the famed bell towers, would be spared.
Shortly thereafter it was revealed that even the central vault was largely still intact. The iconic spire, however, was completely destroyed, falling along with the majority of the roof into a pile of ashes.
Holy Week began yesterday, and many French and visiting Catholics watched as one of the most recognizable institutions of their faith was in danger of being annihilated after nearly 1,000 years on Earth. My colleague David Marcus wrote yesterday about Christ’s gift of mercy and grace, and the power of faith in God in the wake of this destruction.
In its 850 years, the cathedral has also become a symbol for much more. In its lifetime, it has seen the highest points and the darkest hours of France. It has become the visual symbol of the ability of Paris—and all of France—to survive revolution, cruel monarchs, wars, and country-wide occupation by Nazis. The 12 million annual visitors to Notre Dame serve as proof that it is much more than just a Medieval Gothic church. It is Paris.
It is perhaps the modern history of Notre-Dame that most clearly marks it as a symbol of Parisian strength and resolve. As it entered its 754th year in 1914, the Great War came to France and the famed bells of Notre Dame were silenced except for use as a citizen warning system.
The bells had been woven into the soundtrack of life in the City of Lights, and their silence did little to placate the anxiety during the war. On November 11, 1918, the bells rang out once more as the armistice was signed. People ran to the streets in jubilation. The cathedral had signaled the restoration of peace and prosperity in France.
Only a few decades later in 1940, as the dark cloud of Nazi Occupation settled in Paris, the bells of Notre Dame went silent once more. The symbol of life, of culture, of religious freedom, and of Paris itself was to be unheard for several years.
The French took early steps to protect the cathedral from Nazi looting, hiding large stained-glass pieces and many works of art. The occupation saw the life of French people deteriorate in an instant as families were torn apart, Jews were arrested and put on trains destined for concentration camps, and freedom was taken from every man, woman, and child.
The absence of the cathedral bells’ familiar chiming was coupled with more than four years of starvation, fear, and unrelenting Nazi rule. Following the 1944 arrival of the Allied army to France in the invasion of Normandy, Adolf Hitler placed Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz in charge of Paris with the order to destroy the city if the advancing Allies threatened to enter it.
Choltitz agreed to have the city wired for destruction by placing explosives in the most significant landmarks, including the Arc de Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. However, Choltitz knew the war was coming to an end and that he would not be on the winning side. He hoped the war would end somewhat peacefully, and he knew that the destruction of Paris, a city he loved, would mean his war would end in blood.
As the first of the Free French forces entered Paris under the command of Capt. Raymond Dronne, Parisians spread word quickly that liberation of their city was imminent. Messages were broadcast asking priests to once again ring the bells of their churches to signal to the Resistance and to the citizens that the Allies had arrived. Paris would be free. The bells of Notre Dame were the first to break the silence of persecution. They rang out in the sweetest song ever heard, joined by other bells from all over the city.
Choltitz called his superior, Gen. Speidel, and simply held the receiver of the phone to the window. The overwhelming sound of the bells did not require an explanation. Paris was no longer under Nazi control. Paris was free. Choltitz never gave the order to destroy the city.
The bells became an important symbol of the alliance between France and the United States once more, nearly 60 years later. On September 12, 2001, following the loss of almost 3,000 people in an unspeakable act of evil in the United States, the city of Paris closed the Metro so their citizens could pray. At Notre Dame, where many Parisians gathered, the bells began to toll in mourning.
The largest bell, Emmanuel, which had played the celebratory tones at the ends of both World Wars, was nearing 600 years of age and generally reserved for only a few annual holidays, state funerals, and visits from the pope. On September 12, however, for an entire hour Emmanuel and every other cathedral bell sang out in sorrow for the profound loss of life in America.
The cathedral of Notre Dame has been in Paris for most of a millennium. In just the last 105 years, it has become the symbol of life for the remarkable city. When times were grim, the cathedral’s survival served as a reminder that darkness is always followed by light. As the towers containing the iconic bells miraculously survived the fire, Parisians will soon hear them toll once more, and be reminded that the people of France have risen from the ashes many times, and now the cathedral will do the same.
Ellie Bufkin is the co-host of the movie podcast "Flix It" and a senior contributor to The Federalist. Ellie worked in the wine industry as a journalist and sommelier. You can follow her on Twitter @ellie_bufkin and on Instagram @exsommellie.
Photo Miguel Mendez / Flickr
architecture Cathedral of Notre Dame church history churches Europe France Notre Dame Paris world history World War I World War II
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Motels Near I-95 and Ormond Beach, Florida
John Cagney Nash, Leaf Group
A destination resort of itself, Ormond Beach is also a popular stop on the drive to south Florida. (Photo: Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images )
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Interstate 95 is the main highway serving the east coast of the U.S., running predominantly alongside the Atlantic Ocean from Maine in the north to Florida. Although five east-west routes are longer, it is the longest north-south route in the country. Ormond Beach -- named for James Ormond, a sea captain in the service of King Ferdinand VII of Spain -- was called New Britain when originally founded. The area's hard white beach made it an immediate hit with post-Civil War tourists, and so it has remained. Hotel and motel accommodations nearby is therefore considerable, mostly clustered around Interstate 95's exits.
Hampton Inn Ormond Beach
Hampton Inn Ormond Beach (daytona-ormondhampton.com) offers all the services and amenities expected of the Hilton chain's Hampton Inn brand: Rooms are large; furniture and bedding are comfortable; and housekeeping standards are impeccable. Staff are happy to provide local information and to assist with making plans for day trips and business meetings. The hotel has 85 rooms on four floors, a heated outdoor swimming pool and exercise facilities. Wired Internet access is free. A complimentary continental breakfast is included, which features a serve-yourself waffle station and fresh fruit along with the more usual provision. Insider tip: Management also serves warm, freshly baked cookies at night. Several restaurants are within a few miles of the hotel, which is one exit from the LPGA Headquarters and Golf Center (lpga.com). Note that the property is not pet-friendly. Hampton Inn Ormond Beach is close to exit 268 off I-95.
Jameson Inn Ormond Beach
Jameson Inn Ormond Beach (jamesoninns.com) is a AAA three-diamond facility comprising 67 rooms on three floors. The location -- less than a mile from the interstate -- is surprisingly quiet and convenient; guests will find a number of restaurants, a movie theater and a shopping center anchored by a Publix (publix.com) grocery store. Aiming to combine "the conveniences of a contemporary hotel with the charm of a country inn," premium rooms are equipped with a microwave and refrigerator. Jameson Inn is a pet-friendly hotel and charges a per-night, per-pet fee. The property has a small but well-maintained heated outdoor pool and an exercise room. Front desk staff are happy to make photocopies and send and receive faxes; an Internet computer kiosk is located in the lobby; and Wi-Fi is available throughout the building. In addition, each room has a work station. Located at exit 265 off I-95, this property is approximately 10 miles from Daytona Beach International Airport (volusia.org).
Sleep Inn Ormond Beach
Sleep Inn Ormond Beach (sleepinn.com) is a mid-scale property with 82 rooms on three floors. Friendly staff go out of their way to arrange early check-ins, and they are happy to provide information about the locale and its attractions. Although not large, guest rooms and bathrooms are clean and well-maintained; however, the side of the hotel facing the Interstate is quite noisy. Each room is equipped with a spacious work station; free Wi-Fi is available throughout the property; and a business center is equipped with copying and fax facilities. Sleep Inn Ormond Beach is not pet-friendly. A complementary continental breakfast is served, and Applebee's (applebees.com), Chili's (chilis.com), Taco Bell (tacobell.com), Denny's (dennys.com) and Steak 'n Shake (steaknshake.com) are all within easy walking distance. As with all properties in the area, prices and availability fluctuate according to demand; reservations are strongly recommended when events are scheduled at the nearby speedway and golfing center. Sleep Inn Ormond Beach is close to exit 268 off I-95.
Trenton, New Jersey in JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember
The temperature in Trenton, New Jersey in July tends to be very predictable, so you can generally count on the forecast and travel light.
The temperature in Trenton, New Jersey in July is somewhat unpredictable, so be on the safe side and prepare for a variety of conditions.
The temperature in Trenton, New Jersey in July is highly unpredictable, so use the forecast as a guide, but be ready for anything!
Scottish Inns Ormond Beach
Those wanting a cheap, quick stopover get what they pay for at Scottish Inns Ormond Beach (no website: 484 South Atlantic Avenue, Ormond Beach; 386-677-8860). Scottish Inns is a sub-economy-chain, and this older building is showing its age; cigarette burns are present on sinks and furniture, and appointments are bare-bones. Vending machines are seldom filled, but a gas station next door has a good selection of snacks. The swimming pool is located on an adjacent property. Pet-friendly rooms are available but limited, and the hotel makes a small per-night per-pet charge. The facility has 50 rooms on two floors and is close to I-95, exit 273.
Jameson Inn of Ormond Beach/Daytona
Ladies Professional Golf Association
Daytona Beach International Airport
John Cagney Nash began composing press releases and event reviews for British nightclubs in 1982. His material was first published in the "Eastern Daily Press." Nash's work focuses on American life, travel and the music industry. In 1998 he earned an OxBridge doctorate in philosophy and immediately emigrated to America.
Attribution: Adam Moss from Highland Park, NJ, United States; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
Cagney, John. "Motels Near I-95 and Ormond Beach, Florida." Travel Tips - USA Today, https://traveltips.usatoday.com/motels-near-i95-ormond-beach-florida-55154.html. Accessed 17 July 2019.
Cagney, John. (n.d.). Motels Near I-95 and Ormond Beach, Florida. Travel Tips - USA Today. Retrieved from https://traveltips.usatoday.com/motels-near-i95-ormond-beach-florida-55154.html
Cagney, John. "Motels Near I-95 and Ormond Beach, Florida" accessed July 17, 2019. https://traveltips.usatoday.com/motels-near-i95-ormond-beach-florida-55154.html
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Sociology Professor Links Resegregation and Enrollment Trends
David Swanson, professor of sociology, discussed how his analysis of enrollment trends prevented the re-segregation of public schools in Memphis, Tenn., in a lecture at UC Irvine’s Center for Demographic and Social Analysis in November.
Swanson, a demographer who has advised the U.S. Census Bureau on survey methodologies, appeared as an expert witness in a U.S. District Court trial regarding the creation of new municipal school districts and school boards. The sociologist presented “Forensic Demography in a Red State: How Expert Testimony Helped Stop Re-Segregation of the Public Schools” as part of the UCI center’s Fall 2013 Colloquium Series.
The merger of the largely black Memphis School District with the suburban Shelby County School District stood to change the racial composition in the suburban district substantially, Swanson explained. A law passed by the Tennessee legislature in 2012 would have allowed the suburban schools to pull out of the merger, but only if the new law did not violate the state constitution, which prohibits laws affecting only one county.
Swanson’s projections showed that no other county had the potential to meet the enrollment requirements that allowed the Shelby County schools to form a separate district. A federal judge cited Swanson’s population forecasts and testimony in ruling last year against the state law that permitted the creation of new municipal school districts.
UCR Receives Grand Challenges Explorations Grant For Groundbreaking Research in Global Health and Development
Yanping Chen
UCR is a Grand Challenges winner an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Yanping Chen, a computer science Ph.D. student at UCR, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled “Using Sensors to Understand Insect-Vectored Diseases and Plan Effective Interventions.”
Chen, who is working in the lab of Professor Eamonn Keogh in the Bourns College of Engineering, will use the $100,000 to create sensors to count and classify insect vectors, producing real-time information that can be used to plan intervention/suppression programs to combat problems such as malaria.
She will be assisted by Adena Why, a Ph.D. student in entomology, and Moses Oben Tataw, who recently earned his Ph.D. under Keogh. The goal is to produce a software system that leverages information from sensors, and can produce real-time counts of the target insects and summarize them in an intuitive and actionable manner.
Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol Disrupts Brain Circuitry
Kelly Huffman
According to a team of UCR neuroscientists and Kelly Huffman, assistant professor of psychology, prenatal exposure to alcohol severely disrupts major features of brain development that potentially lead to increased anxiety and poor motor function, conditions typical in humans with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).
The team discovered that prenatal exposure to alcohol significantly altered the gene expression and the development of a network of connections in the neocortex–the part of he brain responsible for high-level though and cognition, vision, hearing, touch, balance, motor skills, language, and emotion. Prenatal exposure caused wrong areas of the brain to be connected with each other.
These findings contradict the popular belief that consuming alcohol during pregnancy does no harm. So women who are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant should abstain from drinking alcohol.
The study appeared in the Nov. 27 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Study co-authors are UCR Ph.D. students Hani El Shawa and Charles Abbott.
School Climate Key to Preventing Bullying
Cixin Wang
Cixin Wang, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education, found that to effectively prevent bullying, schools need to understand positive school climate, use reliable measures to evaluate school climate and use effective prevention and intervention programs to improve the climate.
Wang co-authored the article, “The Critical Role of School Climate in Effective Bullying Preention,” with Brandi Berry and Susan M. Swearer, both of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was published in the journal Theory Into Practice.
“With this research, we’re really trying to provide school personnel with some proven steps to address the problem,” Wang said.
Ph.D. Student to Participate in Carnegie Hall Workshop
Damjan Rakonjac, a first-year graduate student in the Department of Music, was selected to participate in the prestigious Carnegie Hall Weill Institute of Music Arts Journalism Workshop in New York City in November.
Rakonjac was one of four arts journalism students chosen in the national competition that also brought young composers and performers together for mentoring in the process of creating, collaborating on, promoting, and premiering new works commissioned for the occasion by Carnegie Hall.
“Damjan is a brilliant, insightful graduate student who writes a blog featuring music criticism of the highest order,” said Byron Adams, professor of music and Rakonjac’s faculty advisor. “His accomplishments in this area have resulted in the signal honor of participation in the Carnegie Hall Weill Institute workshop.”
Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed mentored the arts journalism students in the weeklong workshop whose leaders also included Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, International Contemporary Ensemble founder Claire Chase and members of the ensemble.
The workshop aims to promote dialogue between and among composers, performers and writers, and to explore the different but intersecting means through which each group communicates about music and their artistic work, Rakonjac explained.
“The application process was highly selective,” he said. “Making the case that I was a graduate student in the UCR musicology program was instrumental in my obtaining this unique opportunity. One of the most exciting aspects of the program was the chance to collaborate with some of the most active composers, performers, and music critics in the world of new classical music.”
The program culminated in a concert of newly commissioned works at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 20.
Rakonjac expects to complete his M.A. in 2014 and his Ph.D. in 2018. His research specialty is the emergence of musical modernism in Paris from about 1880 through the 1920s.
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Kevin Smith’s Tusk Will Receive An International Cinematic Release
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Snap Up Kevin Smith’s Monster Movie Tusk.
For those not in the know, here’s a brief history of Kevin Smith’s latest movie since announcing his retirement from the movie game, which seems unlikely to actually happen as he’s already announced his next project (Comes The Krampus) and has aspirations of producing Clerks III.
The idea for Smith’s latest film, Tusk, was spawned on his SModcast Podcast (episode #259) whilst riffing with fellow presenter, movie writer (Free Birds) and producer (Most of Smith’s movies) Scott Mosier. The pair roll-played a scenario based on a Gumtree advertisement that offered free accommodation if the lodger agreed to dress as a walrus. As bizarre as this sounds Smith has managed to produce the movie with Micheal Parks (Red State), Justin Long (Galaxy Quest) and Hayley Joel Osment (AI) taking the lead roles.
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Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions have picked up the rights to distribute the film at the Berlin Film Market in many international markets including the U.K, Canada and Australia this autumn. The film has already been snapped up by A24 Films in the U.S.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news.
http://youtu.be/kGYSTp5jFN8
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‘Climate caucus’ Republican claims strong environmental record, but his votes tell a different story
Rep. Peter Roskam hopes membership in caucus will divert attention away from his opponent's strong climate record.
Mark Hand Twitter Oct 23, 2018, 10:27 am
Democratic nominee Sean Casten (left) debates Rep. Peter Roskam (R) for 6th congressional seat of Illinois on October 22, 2018. CREDIT: WTTW/screenshot
A Republican congressman, who is in a tight reelection race against a Democrat to continue serving a district in the Chicago suburbs, is touting his membership in the House Climate Solutions Caucus as a reason to vote for him. His voting record, however, tells a different story.
At a televised debate in Chicago Monday night, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and his Democratic challenger, Sean Casten, were asked by the moderator to describe how worried they are about climate change and the dire predictions in the new U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
Roskam told the moderator that he was concerned enough about climate change to join the House Climate Solutions Caucus and “be a part of a group that’s trying to come up with a remedy.”
The House Climate Solutions Caucus was founded in February 2016. Roskam joined the caucus this past May, more than two years after it was formed.
There’s a long list of Democrats waiting to join the caucus; there is no waiting list of Republicans. Based on the rules of the caucus, members must join in bipartisan pairs. So, if Roskam had wanted to join the caucus in early 2016, soon after it was formed, there would have been many Democrats willing to pair up with him to join the caucus.
Bipartisan climate caucus at risk of losing large percentage of Republican members
More than half of the House climate group's GOP members are retiring or facing strong competition.
Roskam also decided to join the caucus only after climate champion Casten won the Democratic primary to run against him for the 6th congressional district of Illinois.
The caucus has been widely criticized for allowing Republicans to join who are in fact “climate peacocks” — a term used to describe politicians who want to put on a display of caring about climate change, without actually having to follow that up with action.
Monday night’s debate, the final one between Casten and Roskam before the November midterms, offered a clear case of a candidate — who had previously never shown interest in fighting climate change — using his membership in the caucus to convince residents of his district that he truly cares about reversing climate change.
But Roskam’s record undercuts the notion that he’s sincerely invested in the issue. In 2006, while campaigning for the House of Representatives, the then-Illinois state senator described climate science as “junk science” during a debate with Tammy Duckworth. More recently, Roskam has earned a shockingly low 3 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters, based on its environmental scorecard of 2017 voting records.
In response to the same question from the moderator about climate change, Casten, who has a long history of working to reduce carbon pollution, emphasized that “climate change is the existential challenge of our lifetime.”
“I’ve dedicated my life to it. Peter has referred to it as junk science for much of his career,” Casten said.
During the debate, Casten also referenced the IPCC report, released two weeks ago. He explained that what is “most scary” about the report is that it puts into writing the warnings about the need for immediate and drastic action that scientists have been saying for the past 10 or 15 years.
Roskam did not specifically refer to the IPCC report during the debate.
‘Climate Solutions Caucus’ Republican could lose House seat for being a climate peacock
The Climate Solutions Caucus has extremely few accomplishments to its name in its two-and-a-half years in existence. The only major feat — cited routinely by its leaders — occurred in July 2017 when 46 House Republicans, including almost all of the GOP members of the caucus, joined Democrats to defeat a bill amendment that would have prevented the Department of Defense from analyzing and addressing climate change.
Even one of the co-founders of the Climate Solutions Caucus has made statements that raise doubts about his commitment to fighting climate change. On October 11, Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) adopted the language of climate deniers in a tweet that labeled people who want to discuss the connection between Hurricane Michael and climate change as “alarmists.”
Despite touting his membership in the Climate Solutions Caucus, Roskam voted to approve the anti-climate bill amendment that would have prevented the Pentagon from tackling climate change. Granted, the vote occurred before Roskam became a member of the Climate Solutions Caucus.
Given the timing of the vote on the defense authorization amendment — it occurred in a non-election year — it’s fair to assume Roskam cast his anti-climate action vote based on his true feelings about climate change and his belief that climate science is “junk science.”
Democrats are hoping to flip the 6th congressional district of Illinois — as well as Curbelo’s 26th district in Florida — to Democratic control. Roskam’s Chicago suburban seat is a “Clinton-Republican” district, meaning that in 2016 the district voted for both the Democratic candidate for president and the Republican incumbent in Congress.
#Climate, #Climate Solutions Caucus, #Election 2018, #Peter Roskam, #Politics, #Sean Casten
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Q&A with Fergus Henderson: the father of nose-to-tail eating comes to Toronto
By Renée Suen | February 25, 2011
By Renée Suen | 02/25/2011
Fergus Henderson (Image: Laurie Fletcher)
It’s not hard to discern the influence that chef Fergus Henderson—co-owner of London’s legendary St. John Restaurant and spiritual godfather to nose-to-tail dining—has had on Toronto’s food scene. Think beef cheeks (Foxley), sweetbreads (Cowbell) and bone marrow (Black Hoof). The self-trained chef is widely credited with revitalizing modern British cooking, and making offal and other dismissed animal parts worthy of a Michelin star. Henderson will be making the keynote speech at Terroir, the Toronto hospitality industry symposium, on March 1. We recently spoke with the low-key chef, who shared his feelings on the new popularity of offal, misconceptions about his cooking and his future projects.
How does that make you feel when chefs cite you as the influence behind the current interest in nose-to-tail dining?
Oh dear, I’m a little surprised. It’s weird, I can’t explain what happened, but it’s marvellous. I wasn’t trained as a chef. I do whatever that comes from my head. I’ve never seen it as a war cry, just “gosh, wow, it’s some good tripe.” Do you know what I mean? Take the pig. The head alone has many good foods: the cheeks, the ears you can press into soft jelly, or the snout.
How about horse? That’s been taking off a little around here.
Oh, I don’t quite care for horse. It’s a little bit too chewy.
Are there misconceptions about your type of cuisine?
It’s not a contest for who’s got the scariest thing on the menu. It’s just something to eat. I went to New York for a chef’s supper and they served me half a sheep’s head. The brain was a bit raw. It would have been delicious—but not raw. Offal should be loved and nurtured.
What’s your feeling about the rising interest in local sourced or foraged foods? Does it factor into your own menu?
I think Noma’s an amazing restaurant and René Redzepi is a fantastic chef. The whole concept is brilliant. Many chefs try to cook seasonal and local, but they lack common sense. Noma’s an extraordinary example; the dishes are wonderful. But I’m not one to try new concepts. Perhaps I just know through my nose and cook.
You’re coming to make the keynote speech at Terrior V. What are you most looking forward to when you’re in Toronto?
Toronto is new to me—I’ve heard lovely things, and I’m going to see what happens. I’m looking forward to an adventure.
Terroir, Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle. March 1, 7:30 a.m-6:30 p.m. terroirsymposium.com.
Topics: Chefs Fergus Henderson People Rene Redzepi restaurant Toronto
2 thoughts on “Q&A with Fergus Henderson: the father of nose-to-tail eating comes to Toronto”
This guy is a personal hero of mine; anyone responsible for making offal chic, is good in my book.
HPC says:
Just ate at Noma a couple of weeks ago. And he is right, it is amazing. But I can hardly wait to save up and make my way to London and eat at his restaurant. It has been a dream of mine for years. Wish I was still home in Toronto so I could see him speak.
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LINDSAY, TX
Robert Wayne McDaniel
LINDSAY, TEXAS. Lindsay is on U.S. Highway 82 six miles west of Gainesville in north central Cooke County. When it was established as a switching station on the Gainesville, Henrietta and Western Railway in 1887, it was named for Judge J. M. Lindsay. It was a German-Catholic colony promoted by land speculators Anton and August Flusche. In 1891 the brothers signed a series of contracts with J. M. Lindsay, W. W. Howeth, and others, granting them 9,300 acres on the railroad. In the spring of 1891 the townsite was surveyed, and the remaining property was divided into farms. Colonists began arriving in October 1891, and in January 1892 eleven heads of households were present for the first colony meeting. The people of Lindsay celebrate March 25, 1892, as the town's birthday, because on this date the first Mass was celebrated in the William Flusche home by Father Hugo Bardenhewer. The apparent success of this new colony caused Judge Lindsay to donate nearly eight acres to the Diocese of Dallas as a building site for a church, a school, and a cemetery. Rev. Joseph Blum of Muenster selected the highest point near the western end of the townsite, and a twenty-by-fifty-foot frame church was built there for $800. The money was raised by Judge Lindsay, citizens of Gainesville, and the Flusche brothers.
In 1898 the Reverend Heuchmer, pastor of Gainesville and Lindsay, stated that Lindsay was too small to remain a separate parish and should be incorporated into the Gainesville parish. Wanting to remain independent, Anton Flusche, J. D. Boesken, and Henry Sandmann talked to Bishop Edward Joseph Dunne and secured a promise that Lindsay would remain a separate parish; on September 1, 1899, the Benedictine Fathers of Subiaco, Arkansas, were given the responsibility of religious duties for St. Peter's Parish. In 1903 a new brick church was built to serve the parishioners. This church was destroyed by a tornado on May 31, 1917. A new church, still extant in the 1980s, was dedicated on October 12, 1919. Residents of Lindsay, with the help of Father Bonaventure, established a parochial school, which opened in October 1893 with sixty pupils. It was run by the Sisters of Divine Providence until 1932, when the school system became public. In 1969 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line discontinued service through Lindsay, and U.S. Highway 82 became its main traffic artery. Lindsay was incorporated in December 1959, and in April 1960 its residents voted to legalize the sale of alcoholic beverages within the city limits. Restaurants and package stores, built on both sides of U.S. Highway 82, constitute a large part of the business in Lindsay. In 1982 the town had 581 residents, most of whom were descendants of the early German-Catholic settlers. The Lindsay economy includes farming, dairying, oil production, and liquor and food sales. Some residents commute to work in Gainesville. Lindsay has two local festivals, Octoberfest and the Lindsay Homecoming Picnic in July. In 1990 the town's population was 610. The population grew to 788 in 2000.
John Walbe, A Diamond Jubilee History of St. Peter's Parish, Lindsay (San Antonio, 1942; rev. ed., Dallas: Taylor, 1967).
Handbook of Texas Online, Robert Wayne McDaniel, "LINDSAY, TX," accessed July 17, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hll44.
For more information about towns and counties including physical features, statistics, weather, maps and much more, visit the Town Database on TexasAlmanac.com!
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Afford Anything
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You can afford anything, but not everything. What matters most? You can afford anything, but not everything. We make daily decisions about how to spend money, time, energy, focus and attention – and ultimately, our life. Every decision is a trade-off against another choice. But how deeply do we contemplate these choices? Are we settling for the default mode? Or are we ruthlessly optimizing around a deliberate life? Host Paula Pant interviews a diverse array of entrepreneurs, early retirees, millionaires, investors, artists, adventurers, scientists, psychologists, productivity experts, world travelers and regular people, exploring the tough work of living a truly excellent life. Want to learn more? Download our free book, Escape, at http://affordanything.com/escape
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UPWARD | Magazine of the ISS National Lab
Media Credit: Image courtesy of NASA
Microbes in Microgravity
Analyzing Gene Expression to Better Understand Bacterial Behavior in Space
By Amelia Williamson Smith, Staff Writer
By observing the health of astronauts that travel into space, scientists have learned that microgravity has important effects on the human body, causing substantial changes to our bones and muscles. However, scientists have also found that microgravity has dramatic effects on far smaller living organisms, such as bacteria.
Bacteria behave differently in the microgravity environment of space than they do in a 1-g ground environment. For example, scientists have observed that in space, some strains of bacteria appear to exhibit enhanced growth and increased virulence (ability to cause disease). Additionally, higher doses of antibiotics are needed to kill some bacteria in space.
Scientists believe that these behavioral changes are not necessarily a direct effect of microgravity acting on the bacteria themselves— so what causes these changes in bacterial behavior?
Altering the Environment Around Bacteria
Dr. Luis Zea preparing the AES-1 experiment at Kennedy Space Center prior to the launch of Orbital ATK CRS-1.
Media Credit: Image courtesy of BioServe Space Technologies
One model—the altered extracellular environment model—hypothesizes that the changes in bacterial behavior are actually an indirect effect of the microgravity environment, said Luis Zea, a researcher at BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The model postulates that microgravity alters the immediate environment around the bacterial cells, which then leads to changes in bacterial behavior.
Zea and his team conducted an experiment called Antibiotic Effectiveness in Space-1 (AES-1), in which they compared gene expression data from a nonpathogenic (not disease-causing) strain of Escherichia coli bacteria grown onboard the ISS National Lab with cultures grown on the ground. AES-1 was launched to the ISS on Orbital ATK CRS-1 and returned to Earth on SpaceX CRS-3 and SpaceX CRS-4. Results from AES-1—published in the journal PLoS ONE in November 2016—strongly support the altered extracellular environment model.
“On Earth, there are different flows and forces, such as sedimentation, buoyancy, and convection, that don’t exist in space because they are gravity dependent,” Zea said. “The model states that it is the lack of these forces and flows that creates a different environment around the bacteria.”
“Through AES-1, we were able to corroborate, for the first time, this altered extracellular environment model that has been hypothesized for decades and could not be proven empirically or computationally,” Zea said. Although the AES-1 data only shows correlation and not yet causation, the results shed light on why bacteria behave the way they do in microgravity and open the door to further research on unicellular organisms.
Peeking Inside Bacterial Cells
On Earth, the movement of bacterial cells through their media is influenced by the physical properties of the medium, including gravity-driven forces like buoyancy and sedimentation, as well as other forces, such as the viscosity of the medium. As the cells move, they interact with fresh media and absorb molecules of nutrients. The cells also excrete waste products that may sediment down, float up, or trail behind the cells if they move, while simultaneously diffusing away.
Media Credit: Image courtesy of Zea L, Prasad N, Levy SE, Stodieck L, Jones A, Shrestha S, et al. (2016) A Molecular Genetic Basis Explaining Altered Bacterial Behavior in Space. PLoS ONE 11(11): e0164359.
However, in microgravity, these gravity-driven forces are absent, and the transportation of nutrients to cells and waste products away from cells are limited to diffusion-only transport. The altered extracellular environment model hypothesizes that the resulting reduction in the movement of molecules leads to less interaction of the cells with fresh media and thus reduced availability of nutrient molecules for absorption. Additionally, less movement causes waste products to accumulate around the cells, resulting in higher concentrations of potentially toxic compounds. The model postulates that these changes in the immediate environment around the cells are what lead, at least in part, to the changes in bacterial behavior observed in microgravity.
Researchers had tried to confirm the altered extracellular environment model using both physical measurement techniques and computational modeling; however, both methods fell short. Gene expression analysis gave researchers a new way to look at bacteria and test the model. If the model is correct, one would expect to see specific differences in gene expression in the bacteria grown in space versus ground controls, said AES-1 principal investigator David Klaus, professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder and faculty affiliate of BioServe Space Technologies.
“The gene expression data gives us a little peek inside the cell, which we have not had before,” Klaus said. “It is another layer that we’ve peeled back as we continue to try to figure out how bacteria respond to microgravity.”
Handling Test Tubes in Space
For the AES-1 experiment, the research team prepared 128 bacterial culture samples to send to the ISS National Lab. The samples were each contained in a fluid processing apparatus (FPA), a test tube specially designed by BioServe Space Technologies for use in microgravity. Each FPA has four separate chambers—the first containing the growth medium with nutrients (glucose molecules), the second containing the E. coli bacteria, the third containing an antibiotic, and the fourth containing a fixative to preserve the sample for analysis back on the ground. Two different antibiotics were each tested under 16 conditions (different drug concentrations and fixatives), and all were tested in quadruplicate. Groups of eight FPAs were loaded into 16 BioServe Space Technologies group activation packs (GAP), which are cylinders that hold the FPAs and control the release of the solutions from the different compartments. Once the samples were onboard the ISS, a crew member used a crank to rotate the top of each GAP, introducing the bacteria in each FPA intothe growth medium to start the experiment. The bacteria were left to grow, and then the antibiotics of varying concentrations were introduced into the samples using the GAP.
“In space, you can’t just take test tubes and transfer the contents from one to another,” Klaus said. “The BioServe Space Technologies hardware allows us to first isolate the fluids and then sequentially mix them to start and stop the experiment within a single container without introducing the possibility of fluid leakage in the cabin.”
Once the AES-1 flight samples were returned to Earth, the research team performed gene expression analysis on the flight samples and ground controls at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama. This allowed the research team to examine—at a molecular level—the responses of the bacterial cells to their environment. The team compared the gene expression data from the microgravity-grown bacteria to the ground controls to determine if the flight results matched those predicted by the altered extracellular environment model.
Correlating Observations With the Model
If the model is correct, the microgravity-grown bacterial cells would have reduced interaction with fresh media and thus less nutrients available (even though the same amount of nutrients was provided for the flight samples and ground controls). Therefore, the researchers expected to see signs that the bacterial cells grown in microgravity were experiencing starvation conditions—and, indeed, they did.
The researchers found an overexpression of genes in the microgravity-grown cells, relative to the ground controls, that indicate the cells grown in space experienced a lack of available nutrients. They also observed an overexpression of genes associated with the metabolism of other carbon sources (non-glucose nutrient molecules) that were not present in the growth medium. “It is believed bacteria do this to be able to change their metabolic pathways as soon as another carbon source becomes available,” Zea said. “This can be compared to the risk-prone foraging strategy that some animals use, in which they start engaging in high-risk behaviors looking for food.”
Analysis of the microgravity-grown bacteria also revealed an overexpression of genes associated with the metabolism of glucose, which may explain why some types of bacteria exhibit enhanced growth in space. Related to this, the team also found an increased expression of genes associated with acid production—acetic acid is a waste product of glucose metabolism.
It may seem counterintuitive that there was an increase in cell growth, given that the cells were under starvation conditions; however, this same phenomenon has been observed to happen on Earth under a very specific growth condition called fed-batch processing, Zea said. Scientists have found that higher bacterial cell counts occur when nutrients are absorbed incrementally (such as under starvation conditions), as opposed to when there is a steady absorption of nutrients (under normal batch conditions).
If the altered extracellular environment model is correct, the researchers also expected to see signs of higher concentrations of waste products, such as acetic acid, around the microgravity-grown cells due to the reduced mass transport of chemical compounds around the cells—and, again, they did.
In the microgravity-grown bacteria, the team found an overexpression of genes associated with acid resistance, suggesting increased acidity in the environment around the cells. However, the team did not observe differences in acidity of the bulk fluid around the cells in microgravity versus ground controls, suggesting the acidic environment in microgravity is limited to the immediate area around the cells. The buildup of acid may also explain the observed increase in virulence of some bacteria in space, as researchers have seen a correlation between an increase in acidity and an increase in virulence in certain bacterial strains, Zea said.
Together, these results provide strong support for the altered extracellular environment model. “I think the gene expression data was a real breakthrough,” Klaus said, “but it doesn’t prove cause and effect; it only shows correlation. Moving forward, we can begin to ask more definitive questions to get a much better understanding of what’s going on.”
Additional research is needed to confirm why higher concentrations of antibiotics are needed to kill bacteria in space. However, the altered extracellular environment model suggests that it may not be that bacteria have increased resistance to antibiotics in space, but instead, encounter less antibiotic due to the reduced concentration of antibiotic drug molecules around the cells.
“We’re trying to differentiate between bacterial drug resistance and bacterial susceptibility to drugs,” Zea said. “Is it that fewer drug molecules are reaching the cell due to the altered extracellular environment, thus physically reducing susceptibility, or is it that the cells are turning on resistance mechanisms more effectively? Or, it could be a mixture of the two, or something else altogether—that question is still open.”
Advancing Knowledge of Cells in Space
The microgravity environment on the ISS National Lab allows researchers to probe the interactions between bacterial cells and their environment, and the resulting influences on bacterial behavior, in unique ways. “We’re trying to understand what’s going on at the interface of a cell and its environment,” Klaus said. “And in the absence of gravity, you can tease out some of these relationships in ways that are not really possible to recreate on Earth.”
Understanding changes in bacterial behavior in space is important not only because it helps better protect astronauts from infection during future long-duration spaceflight missions, but it also illuminates the mechanisms of bacterial behavior in our bodies on Earth. Additionally, an understanding of the mechanisms by which the altered extracellular environment in space triggers behavioral changes in microorganisms and our own cells informs research aimed at developing new vaccines, uncovering novel molecular targets against drug-resistant bacteria, and developing new antibiotics.
“There’s always an interplay between basic research and applied research, and they build on each other,” Klaus said. “So the more we understand the fundamental mechanisms, the more we can then use that knowledge to go after the real end goal—the development of application-oriented products.”
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Making Bacteria Self-destruct
While analyzing the AES-1 gene expression data, the research team found something interesting about the genes that enable bacterial cells to self-destruct.
It is believed bacteria self-destruct under certain types of stress to ensure the survival of the colony. Scientists have long wondered if this mechanism could be exploited to kill bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics by activating the genes that control self-destruction, often called “suicide” genes.
“The problem is that if you turn on the known activator for the suicide genes, then you’re also activating 156 other genes that actually make the bacteria worse,” Zea said.
The suicide genes are actually a pair of genes—one is a toxin, which triggers self-destruction, and the other is an antidote, which keeps the toxin gene under regulation. The AES-1 data showed a 24-fold increase in the expression of the toxin gene and a 40-fold underexpression of the antidote gene
in one of the 16 tested conditions. And the interesting part, Zea said, is that the known activator for the genes was not turned on—which means that perhaps there is a second unknown activator.
“In space, the antidote gene was turned off and the toxin gene was overexpressed by 24 times, which is rather remarkable,” Zea said. “Those out-of-the-roof numbers combined with the fact that the known activator was not differentially expressed indicates that there may be another activator that we could look into as a potential target for novel drugs.”
For AES-1, each condition was tested in quadruplicate in microgravity and in ground controls. The research team found this overexpression of the toxin gene and underexpression of the antidote gene in all four microgravity replicates of the tested condition, but not in any of the ground samples.
An indication of a possible second activator has never before been observed, and the team hopes to probe this further in future microgravity research. If a novel activator is discovered, it could eventually lead to the development of a new class of antibiotics.
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Hang 'em High full movie
Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice..
Genres: Western,
popularity: 13.239
With : Clint Eastwood, Inger Stevens, Ed Begley, Pat Hingle, Ben Johnson, Bruce Dern, Charles McGraw, Ruth White, Alan Hale Jr., L.Q. Jones, Michael O'Sullivan, Dennis Hopper, James Westerfield, Richard Gates, Bruce Scott, Arlene Golonka, James MacArthur, Bob Steele, Bert Freed, Mark Lenard, Robert Williams, Joseph Sirola, Russell Thorson, Ned Romero,
The Life of David Gale
The Frighteners
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Anything for Her
Barbed Wire Dolls
Caged Women
Four Minutes
Women's Prison Massacre
Salvador (Puig Antich)
House of Whipcord
#United Artists
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Final Fantasy – A Crystal Compendium presents Final Fantasy Dimensions
Feb16 by Jesse (The artist formerly known as Richenbaum)
Surprisingly, Final Fantasy Dimensions is an actual whole RPG for your phone. By this I mean that it is a single player game with a full campaign without any weird PVP F2P mechanics or microtransactions, unlike most other Final Fantasy mobile games. It does come broken up into four chapters, the first whole game, that’s it. No need for any other purchases or endless online grinding.
No, Final Fantasy Dimensions is just a regular old Final Fantasy game, with a heavy emphasis on the old. The style in this one is very much like the original NES and SNES games and carries with it all the best and worst traits of those ancient JRPGS.
Graphically it all looks like a familiar, but nicely updated, version of those early games. If you have fond memories of Final Fantasy on NES, you’ll probably be a fan of the classic visual themes and music here. Gameplay mechanics are a big mash-up of different things from 1-6. There’s a sizable job system here, with a lot of customization options for each of your characters, and many very familiar classes to choose from, like Red Mages, Dragoons, or even those damn spoony Bards.
Combat can be done in a classic turn-based manner or with the classic active combat system. It’s all very basic, just like the old days, and actually gets quite repetitive after a while, also like the old days. How much you’ll be able to enjoy this game probably relies heavily on how much you liked those old days. If you don’t have a nostalgic itch for ancient Final Fantasy games, you’ll probably find this much too basic and repetitive to enjoy.
On the other hand, if this is your thing, you’ll be in for a real treat here as this game stretches the classic formula about as far as humanly possible, resulting in a classic JRPG experience that lasts around 50 hours or more, depending on how far you want to go in tracking down all those secrets.
One last important aspect to discuss is the story. Well, don’t expect much from the story here. Yes, it’s a very long game that takes you to a large number of locations, with a huge cast of characters, but they’re all as basic and clichéd as can be. Imagine the level of writing on an NES JRPG and you’ll know what to expect from this. There’s crystals, and there’s light and darkness, and there’s an evil empire, and blah blah blah. There’s nothing new here, you’ve heard it all before. It’s more of a tribute to all the classic games than an original story of any kind.
One thing’s for sure though, it’s all a lot of game for a mobile game. You’ll definitely get your money’s worth if you can stomach how dated it all is, and you may even have a good deal of fun while doing it! Just don’t expect any innovative new combat system or emotionally deep story here.
This is merely a small sliver of the grand universe of Final Fantasy though. For more great games in the series click the pic below, which leads to the hub of the mighty Final Fantasy – Crystal Compendium project, which is being hosted by The Well-Red Mage and is bursting with other more fine WordPress talents than I can even remember the names of. Thanks to the host for having me, and thanks to everyone else involved for being generally awesome.
This entry was posted in Games and tagged final fantasy, final fantasy a crystal compendium, final fantasy dimensions, Games.
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2 comments on “Final Fantasy – A Crystal Compendium presents Final Fantasy Dimensions”
“Final Fantasy: A Crystal Compendium Hub” | says:
[…] Final Fantasy Dimensions (2010) by Richenbaum Fotchenstein […]
I’ve always wished they would collect this into a game for the 3DS or something so that more people could experience it. Clean it up, make it work on consoles: they could have something special here with just a bit of work.
Instead they have a mobile game doomed to slowly fade into obscurity.
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It's the environment - stupid!
Bill Clinton famously put a sign up behind his desk saying "It's the economy - stupid!" It helped him focus on successfully growing the economy whilst getting the entire US national budget back into surplus. Before the Republicans came along and destroyed that surplus with their irresponsible ideas of cutting taxes & de-regulating markets.
The next leader of the Green Party could gain quite a lot by copying the idea. She should put a welcome message on her screen saver saying: "It's the environment - stupid!"
The Green party has a number of things going for it that have the potential to make it extraordinarily popular. They include:
1. It is right about the direction of development of the economy. Technology is changing rapidly. We are moving away from a world that can only function by burning fossils. There are plenty of good moral reasons to want to do this. There are also rock solid economic self interest reasons. Across the globe from China to Saudi Arabia governments are making major efforts to switch their economies away from oil and gas as quickly as they possibly can. No one does well by being the owner of resources or possessing skills or running companies that have become out of date. Boiler making is a dead trade. The people who invested in Apple early prospered. A party which argues for the necessity of the UK being at the forefront of that change to a new technology will be very popular. The best policy the Green Party had at the last election was to invest 1% of the UK national budget on scientific research and development. People saw the sense in it and admired the ambition for a better future.
2. It is right about the importance of local communities. The single most unpopular policy of the current Conservative government with the people who voted for it is its determination to allow developers to build whatever they like across green field sites. People don't want to wake up and discover lorries going past their window on the way back to the fracking well or to see land that they have loved for years covered in yet another executive housing development. These people can be mobilised very easily to defend their local environment and to fight this kind of thing off whilst still fully recognising the need to build more single bedroom starter homes at prices in the right places at prices that young people can afford. Increasing numbers of people are beginning to understand that getting rid of so much social housing has left a huge gap in the community which is going to be very hard to repair. It is now very easy to argue that a healthy community needs a mix of private housing and affordable social housing. It is also easy to persuade people that local government and housing associations need to be supported not bullied into selling off what they own on behalf of the public.
3. It is right about transport. There is so much to be gained by investing in a properly co-ordinated and efficient public transport service. The Northern Powerhouse concept of connecting majority of the North of England into one large job market, skills pool and technology transfer centre is an excellent example of what could be achieved. It is a relatively cheap and efficient way to rebalance the UK economy so that work is more evenly distributed across the country and more people can live in environments where homes are affordable and they have easy access to spectacular countryside. The same model can easily be applied to the South West or to the Birmingham/Black Country conurbation. The current mess of eccentric companies running different parts of the railway service without any powerful co-ordinating force is hugely unpopular. So is the fact that the Northern Powerhouse is currently all talk and no money or action.
4. It is right about collaboration. The Green Party has honestly told the electorate that we need strong local government, strong national government but also strong European and world institutions. Problems don't stop at borders in the modern world and so messy difficult international collaboration is a must and the idea that "A New Europe is Possible" is very credible and necessary.
5. The Green Party has been seen to be right in opposing a series of very bad wars which have had dreadful consequences for people and wildlife in the countries invaded or bombed including the generation of large numbers of helpless refugees.
Yet despite having got so many of the big things right the Green Party in the UK remains a small party that has yet to make the major breakthrough to being taken in deadly earnest as a potential government of the country.
Some of the reasons for this are fully understandable. The Greens have been arguing against austerity politics and putting forward serious economic alternatives. That is not an easy thing to do at a time of major budget deficit. Common sense says that if you aren't balancing your books you need to cut your spending. Unfortunately common sense is wrong and economists have known since the 1930s Great Depression that some recessions are so deep that the only way you can get out of them is co-ordinated international action to boost all the major economies at the same time. That isn't an easy or simple message to get across. Particularly when you are also trying to explain that when we do expand the economy we will have to change it radically so that it is a low consumption form of growth that we are creating and doing massively more to ensure that getting the economy moving again doesn't mean burning more fossils, ripping out more raw materials, destroying more forests and dumping more plastic into the sea.
But not all the reasons for the Green's failure to make a major breakthrough are down to difficulties in explaining an honest and necessary policy in the face of a hostile press. Many of those difficulties are down to policies or at the very least ways of communicating those policies which I think are wrong and which are deeply unpopular. For example:
1. Nationalisation is not the solution to every problem. Sometimes it is helpful but the most effective economies - such as the Chinese since Deng - have always been a mixture of free enterprise and state planning. Green policies need to be business friendly as well as people friendly and environmentally friendly. I don't know anyone in the Green Party that wants to introduce a North Korean style state run economy. But I have heard people explain things so badly that this is what it sounds like they want to do. If that is the way we come across to other then we won't get to implement any of our excellent policies and the Greens will have to be content with trying to criticise the deeply damaging policies of those who do win votes and power.
2. Freedom is every bit as important as equality. At its core the Green Party is a very libertarian organisation but it can often come across to the public as an organisation that wants to stop people doing lots of things. No one will ever win a high proportion of the votes in the UK by allowing itself to sound like the party of more restrictions. Greens have to articulate and develop their policies as ones which are enabling and empowering.
3. Long term ambition is not the same as the policy the Green Party would implement tomorrow. I have a long term ambition to live in a world with no passports or borders where we are free to move wherever we wish. I also think the UK has hugely gained from immigration and we need a refreshing injection of energetic young people from other countries to sustain the increasingly elderly population of this country. Furthermore I am convinced that we are not doing remotely enough to help out with the refugee crisis. That doesn't mean I think we can function in today's world without any controls whatsoever on immigration. That is actually Green party policy and appeared in our last election manifesto so we shouldn't be embarrassed to remind people of that policy. Saying that kind of thing clearly and often is necessary, helpful and honest. It also means that people can't easily write you off as nice but a silly little idealist who can't be trusted to make realistic decisions. It increases our chances of looking after more refugees rather than reduces them.
4. The aim of policy making is not to develop the most radical policy possible so that no one can outflank you from the left. Policy making is about making sure your proposals will work before you talk about them live on TV or radio. The Greens have been really poor at internally road testing their policies and getting rid of all the weaknesses before the leader is sent out to become easy meat for even the gentlest of media interviewers. Natalie didn't have a brain meltdown on live radio because she was personally flawed. She failed to explain a Green policy because it had been announced before it had been properly worked through and she was hung out to dry by being sent out to an interview before she had been subjected internally to every argument against it that could be predicted. If that happens to the next leader the Greens are finished as a serious force.
All of this leads to my final and biggest concern. Too many Greens are very happy to write people off. I have lost count of the number of people who have told me that votes couldn't be won in particular localities because they are all Tories there or it is a UKIP stronghold. I won 30% of the vote in a seat that "always votes Conservative" in the last council elections and would have won if Labour hadn't stood and taken 25% of the vote. I won votes from Conservatives that Labour could never have won. The same thing happened in the national general election. I stood in one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, where I was told it would be impossible to retain the deposit. I got 5.7% of the vote and easily got the money back. Several of the people who voted for me said that they were intending to vote UKIP before I spoke to them on the street because they were desperate for an alternative. Once they heard Green policies they liked them. This is not down to some personal impact. In the last Council elections up and down the country the Greens did really well in Conservative held seats because people were prepared to vote for a sensible Green candidate that they knew personally who would never have voted Labour.
The only way to win elections is to listen to what people say, argue strongly back against things you disagree with and explain in straightforward honest terms why we are going to have to adopt sensible environmental policies sooner or later and we might as well get on with doing it now before the cost goes up even further. The new leader of the Green Party needs to learn that lesson. Either we vote for someone with the limited ambition to lead a pressure group without much influence. Or we learn to speak to the core concerns of the people we are hoping to represent and make sure that they understand why electing an environmentalist with a fierce determination to do the right thing is the best way to protect their own vital interests. I think we should do the latter and lay the groundwork for a huge move forward.
securing a successful future for the UK
Month after month, year after year the UK's trade figures seem to get worse. We are currently running an annual deficit between what we buy from abroad and what we sell of £36,673m. This is not just a problem of a failure to sell enough goods, it is includes services. The entire economy is in serious deficit. The last time the UK ran a surplus was 1997.
There are some economists who believe this is no great problem. After all only around half of the countries in the world can run a surplus on exports every year as by definition the surpluses and the deficits must average out to zero. But this UK deficit has gone on for nearly two decades.
The reason is desperately simple to state. UK industry isn't making enough things that the rest of the world wants and our consumers find products from abroad to be a better buy. We have been paying for this in three different ways. The first is by selling more services than we buy. This ought to be no problem. It makes little difference whether people in other countries want to buy steel from you or to pay to download computer games or access a specialist insurance market. But, of course, if the service sector you rely on is itself vulnerable then the situation is very different. The UK has relied on a banking sector which has begun to develop a reputation for dodgy dealing and that doesn't represent the most secure way to plan the nation's future.
This weakness is further compounded by the second means we've been using to pay for the lack of attractiveness of too much of what we have to offer. We have been taking fossils out of the ground in large quantities and using a limited capital resource to cover a deficit on income and expenditure. North Sea Oil was supposed to have been a bonanza for the country but pushed the pound up artificially and contributed to a lack of competitiveness. It gave the illusion that the country was doing well when in fact we were failing to adapt to the future quickly enough and slipping behind. Now it is running out and many politicians are trying to get us to repeat the mistake by going for fracking. At a time when even the Saudis are trying to get themselves free of over dependency on fossils this also does not look like a very good long term solution.
The third way we've coped with the deficit is to draw money in from abroad. Every time there is a deficit on the country's current account it has to be paid for by a flow of money into the country. We have seen huge capital inflows into the UK over recent decades. A great deal of that money has gone into London to buy high end property. There have also been huge purchases of financial assets held in the UK - often from oil rich plutocrats or families and friends of corrupt dictators looking for a safe place to store the money they have extracted.
This comes at a heavy price. It has had a corrupting influence on the London financial markets. It also puts the price of London property up to staggeringly high levels. Already ordinary working people can't afford to buy a home in London from their salary because so much of the property there has ended up in foreign hands and the prices are now way beyond incomes. Perhaps most worryingly, it creates an enormous source of potential instability. If anything happened to cause foreign investors to worry about the value of their investments then the consequences of a mass move to get their money out of the UK could be a lot more dangerous than the negative impacts of it arriving. Any panic move to sell off assets would produce an even nastier re-run of 2008.
Britain therefore needs to get back to selling as much as it buys. If you listen to many EU out campaigners then the way to do this is simple. We get out of the EU and suddenly we'll magically start selling to the rest of the world. Why this would suddenly start to happen is usually not explained. After all there is nothing to stop us selling to the rest of the world right now and Germany certainly seems to be able to do it very well from within the EU. Those out campaigners who do attempt an explanation tell us that we will be able to get rid of all that pesky regulation and be more fleet of foot. Translated that means we'll be able to ditch workers rights, women's rights, paternity leave, environmental controls and health and safety legislation. We'll be cheaper because we'll be able to treat our employees worse and that will lower costs. Hardly a strategy for a successful high wage economy.
The truth is that the entire in out debate is pretty irrelevant to the fundamental problem. Britain needs to be better at producing the goods and providing the services that are going to be needed across the world in the next few decades. The ways to do this are simple to state:
1. Invest in future technology. We remain remarkably bad at taking new UK inventions like graphene and finding ways to exploit the full potential of those products. Manchester University didn't even take out a proper patent on graphene and the attempts to create new businesses based on it have been so poor that they have been the subject of a parliamentary committee enquiry. Meanwhile Germany is furiously investing in green technology companies whilst the UK government is pulling the plug on almost all green economic initiatives. The Paris climate change conference guarantees that moving to a low energy economy will be the main economic trend of the next decades. The UK needs to invest in being at the forefront of the green energy revolution.
2. Invest in a skilled workforce. I leave you to decide whether UK University fees represent good value for money and encourage skill acquisition. I also leave you to speculate on whether the UK attitude to the acquisition of manual skills is healthy or gives the impression that apprenticeships are a route only taken by the thick kids. Not an attitude you'd find in Germany. The world used to consist of a few highly skilled nations and a great mass of uneducated people. That is no longer the case. The relevance & quality of UK further and higher education is a critical issue for the future.
3. Support small businesses to grow and compete. UK banks are very good at finding a complex way to invest money obtained from a variety of hard to trace bank accounts. They are not good at supporting a company with a good idea with affordable finance. If the private sector continues to fail to do this then some of the remaining banks that had to be nationalised after the huge private sector failure of 2008 are going to need re-designing to do the job.
These things are simple to state but have proved remarkably hard to do. Mainly because we are following an ideology which says that we can leave it to the free market to transform our economy. This refusal to use all the tools at our disposal is not an approach taken by China, Japan or Germany all of which have done really well by combining the efforts of both state and private enterprise. Developing a strategy for doing to create a secure and sustainable basis for the UK economy is vital if we are going to get the country positioned successfully to respond to the future. That is the issue that the country should be furiously debating instead of wasting time and energy talking about how we best collaborate with our European neighbours.
The UK has a huge advantage of a highly educated workforce and some very imaginative small businesses. That competitive edge will only remain if we invest in the technology and skills of the future. That means getting serious about gearing up to take advantage of the Green Economy.
EU debate revealing some dangerous emotions
I always learn something when I go out on the streets campaigning and talk to ordinary people. What I've learned from the EU referendum campaign hasn't been pretty. When you ask folk whether they have made their mind up about exit and get into a conversation it is remarkable how quickly and how often that conversation reveals deep prejudices.
For example, this week a man of about 60 who seemed like a very pleasant average citizen told me that he used to live in London but he didn't dare go there anymore because it had been taken over by the Muslims. He wasn't referring to the mayoral elections. He genuinely believed no elderly white man was safe walking the streets. When I said that I went there often and I thought it had a fun mix of people and you could be whatever you wanted to be there he gave me one of those pitying looks that indicated that I couldn't possibly mean it.
A few minutes later I got into a second conversation with a perfectly ordinary person who also wasn't remotely a member of the British Movement or an enthusiastic UKIP supporter. He told me that we had to vote exit so we could get rid of all the immigrants who were coming over and ruining the country. When I gently pointed out that a lot of immigrants were working very hard at unpopular jobs and paying tax that was currently being used to pay for the pensions we were both drawing and the NHS care we were both receiving it was clear that he hadn't met anyone who held that point of view for a very long time. I was informed that we already had quite enough of the buggers and it was time we did something about it so he was going to vote out.
This is what is most interesting and significant about the EU debate. Most of the participants on both sides are trying to frame the debate on the basis of some kind of logical argument but that isn't what is going on with a significant minority of the public. To give Farage his due he tries very hard to stop his supporters from playing the race card and openly argues against racism. I think this is underestimated in importance when you compare his position with the openly and enthusiastically racist Nation Front party in France or the Austrian far right. We are fortunate that even the far right in the UK states its anti-racism fairly frequently.
But what is being said by the exit camp and what significant numbers of the people I am speaking to are hearing aren't the same. A lot of people are going to vote out because they genuinely believe that when we leave Europe someone will kick out all the blacks and we'll go back to how things were in the 1950s. There is a visceral emotional certainty amongst many out supporters that one single step will put an end to all our problems and those problems pretty much begin and end with foreigners.
If the vote to leave succeeds then it will feed and encouraging that emotion. There is a kind of naughty enthusiasm amongst a faction of the public that sees an out vote as THE opportunity to tell government that the country is being taken over by foreigners and it has to stop. A win for the out campaign would normalise and verify some quite ugly sentiments.
There are, of course, plenty of out folk who are voting to leave on much more reasonable calculations. I disagree with them but the disagreement is a healthy one. They think we must leave because we will get rid of all red tape and bureaucracy. I think this means we will get rid of workers' rights, women's rights and environmental controls. Many out folk say we must leave so we can trade more with the rest of the world. I can't see what is stopping us from doing that now. Germany certainly manages to maintain a successful manufacturing industry and sell across the world. So far as I can see we simply create uncertainty about the future of our relationship with our biggest market where we sell 47% of our goods. Out campaigners say we will have lots of new money to spend because we won't send anything to Brussels. I think the harm of austerity is nothing to do with the EU and everything to do with irresponsible banks creating a massive boom and bust in a dangerously uncontrolled market. I also think we've done one sensible thing to fend off the bust which was to print £375 billion of money - way more than anything we've sent to Brussels. Then we've wasted that quantitative easing money by giving it to banks to create a property and stock market boom that does nothing to transform our economy. In short I think in or out of Europe is actually completely the wrong debate. What we should be discussing is how to transform our economy for a low energy future and how to improve our balance of payments by investing in future technology.
More and more people seem to be starting to agree with me that on balance we need to stay in. They, like me, have huge numbers of criticisms of the EU. They see European political collaboration as hard, difficult and messy work. But they also see it as necessary. They want to see the EU reformed by the UK's influence rather than weakened by its absence. Many of them are worried that Turkey could be allowed full membership at a time when its President is busy destroying its democracy and its free press. Many of them are also worried that the Syrian situation is creating challenges that look really hard for the EU to resolve effectively. They see the problems as highly significant. But they are unconvinced that we can solve Europe wide problems by simply trying to separate ourselves from Europe and leaving those problems to our neighbours.
The referendum is likely to be decided by how many of those who quietly want to stay in turn out and vote. The convinced out voters are very determined and will turn out regardless. The in folk are much less sure that this is the biggest issue around and don't always sound like they think it is really worth their time and effort to turn up and vote. They may not bother.
I suspect the outcome will be very similar to the Scottish referendum. At the last minute droves of people will decide that all this exit talk really is too much of a gamble. When the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Scottish and Welsh Nationalists, the Lib Dems and the Greens agree on something the majority of voters will decide that it is just possible that they aren't all getting it wrong.
What happens then is not so simple. Regardless of who wins there will be a legacy from the campaign. People won't ditch prejudices they have felt able to openly air just because the vote has been decided. The folk who have openly shared their conviction that we are being over-run by foreigners with their neighbours over the garden fence don't seem very ready to change their minds. Scotland shows us very clearly that you can win a vote at the polls by quite dramatic margins one year. But you can't remove the emotions that the campaign generated quickly or easily.
The emotions generated by those who wanted Scottish independence don't seem to me to have soured Scottish politics in any way. Rather they have enhanced it and energised people to take an interest in the future of their country. The emotions generated during the out campaign across the UK may leave a much more damaging legacy.
Cameron clearly thinks that he can let an EU debate run its course and then we'll all get back to normal business. If what I'm coming across is remotely typical then it is going to take a lot longer to repair the damage than he thinks.
hard realities of electors verdict
Elections are a time for facing up to cold reality. Locally, nationally and internationally. My own personal local experience was a harsh one. Standing as a Green candidate in a Ward that has always been strongly Conservative I managed to push the Conservative hard with the following result. Conservative 511 votes (44.5%), Greens 346 votes (30.1%), Labour 291 votes (25.3%). In a first past the post system I lost. In a single transferable system it looks very much as if I would have narrowly won.
I would like to think that I got close to winning an "unwinnable" seat for a small party because a lot of people no longer care about the political label but are prepared to vote for anyone they think is half way straight and honest. So my thanks go out to all those normally Conservative or Labour voters who were quite happy to vote for a Green candidate. Nevertheless a lot of people are, understandably, very bored by politics and still vote the way they normally do regardless of the quality of the candidates or the arguments any particular candidate puts to them. I was facing a particularly weak Conservative candidate but the label was enough for a lot of folks to vote for her regardless. And the Labour party split my vote and let her in!
When it comes to national elections I have always believed that you have to take the results at face value and it is daft to blame the press and the BBC for reporting bias just because they don't share your own partisan analysis of the results. I no longer think it is that simple. In his first budget after the last election George Osborne cut the BBC's income by around £1bn and the Conservatives have made it very obvious that if they don't like the coverage they will go after it hard again. This does not make for brave objective reporting. When you put that together with journalist who struggle to understand that conventional wisdom about what voters will do no longer applies you get a seriously flawed analysis from the BBC. Too many reporters didn't seem to me to be willing to change what they intended to say just because of a pesky little thing like the actual facts.
I don't support Labour. I am not impressed by the way a large number of its MPs have tried to ignore the popular membership vote for Corbyn. Nor was I particularly taken with the way so many of them loyally voted for bad wars, cheered Brown to the rafters when he told us he was putting an end to boom and bust just before the crash, or offered the voters the opportunity to put the party of austerity light into power in 2015. But I try not to let my disagreements with them interfere with a hard objective assessment of how they have actually done in an election.
So I have continued to assert the factual mathematical truth that Labour didn't actually lose any share of the vote in 2015. What happened was the Lib Dems lost seats to the Conservatives and that's why we got the government we did. And I'd also quite like to assess 2016 local elections also on the basis of the numbers. As I write this they are as follows in terms of seats won in England:
Labour won 1,280 seats - down 24
Conservatives won 753 - down 35
Lib Dems won 341 - up 39
UKIP won 58 - up 26
Greens won 32 - down 1
The comparisons are with 2011 not with 2015. That was one year after the coalition came in and raised tuition fees and was quite a bad year for the Conservatives. So holding steady and winning over 500 more seats than the Conservatives was actually a decent result for Labour in England. Labour didn't cling on by their fingernails. They actually did rather well.
In the case of London they did spectacularly well. It is normally a close contest and holding the seat had turned Boris Johnson into one of the most prominent Conservatives. They fought a very dirty campaign to try and hang on to it. They lost hands down. Labour got around 44% of the votes, the Greens a further 5.8% whilst Conservatives got the desperately low score of 35%. This wasn't down to any UKIP split. They only got around 3.6% of the vote in fifth place. It was down to Conservatives losing a lot of votes to Labour in the largest and arguably the most important contest of the night. In my book that counts as a pretty dramatic victory.
Across the rest of England Labour also did very well and UKIP failed to break through. Even in Rotherham, after all that had happened with the child abuse scandal Labour won and there was no breakthrough for UKIP. Nowhere in the UK did Labour lose an important council and they easily won both parliamentary bi-elections. They are a long way from being a spent force yet and it is entirely possible that having someone like Corbyn who actually seems to honestly believe what he says is the reason that they didn't go into the kind of tailspin they did in Scotland. This would be in keeping with the reason that a lot of Scottish people who voted to stay in the UK vote for the SNP. They respect a party that seems to have a high proportion of honest people who say what they really think rather than what they think is more likely to help get them elected.
Saying things that voters think you actually believe is no longer electoral suicide. It is now a necessary electoral asset. Even the Conservatives benefit from this. Their central message is that we need to take money out of your pocket to avoid economic problems in the future and in 2015 more people voted for austerity to be inflicted on them than any other option. They may have lied about a lot of other things but you can't accuse them of covering that one up.
Even when almost everyone in the media tells the voters that a politician is so extreme that they are unelectable it is no longer true. Hence Corbyn winning the Labour leadership. This isn't just a UK trend. It is the single most important lesson from the primaries in the States. I don't like Donald Trump. I don't think he is honest and I think his policies are deeply divisive and dangerous. But you can't accuse him of pandering to the opinions of the popular press. He has won despite the media not because of some conspiracy by it. The same is true of Saunders. An openly Socialist politician is winning shed loads of votes in the United States. That isn't supposed to happen. But he inspires trust.
I think the reason for this is that each form of the media tends to give you a different era of politics. The era of radio, when voters were first exposed to mass media and almost everyone in the nation heard the same broadcast, was ideally suited to propaganda. It produced some very unpleasant dictators such as Hitler and Stalin. The age of TV gradually produced politicians who were very good at looking good and producing short term sound bites that appealed to the centre ground. You got in if you found out what the opinion polls said and then repeated that back to the voters quickly. Hence the election of politicians like Blair who were at their most popular when they didn't really stand for anything except what they thought most folks wanted to hear. The age of social media is different. You have to inspire people. A good twitter storm can over-ride weeks of newspaper coverage and TV bulletins. Because a lot of people get their news and views from friends over the internet it doesn't matter so much if the media doesn't think you are electable. What matters is whether a large group of people will make Facebook comments about you that are positive.
That creates some scary possibilities. It makes it easy for very nasty people to put forward horrible extremist views that were previously unacceptable and to win elections by appealing to the lowest common denominator. But it also creates a much more positive possibility. Plug away honestly at what you really believe and if what you say resonates with the public then you can bypass the opinion of the mainstream media and get those ideas accepted. That seems to me to be a fundamentally optimistic situation. We are in an era when no one can control which ideas you encounter and that gives a chance for different voices to be heard. If we want the world to change then we have a much better chance of achieving that than we ever had in an era where you needed several million pounds in order to own a TV station before you could have your say. On the morning after losing an election that under any fair electoral system I would have won I find that a re-assuring thought.
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Teeth of the Dog - Pete Dye - READ BEFORE PLAYING
All golfers seek ways of improving their score when they play. Most of the time, this revolves around technique. An aspect which is sometimes forgotten about with amateurs is understanding the course they are playing and adapting their game accordingly.
The Teeth of the Dog Golf course was designed by Pete and Alice Dye and built in 1969. The course is the best in the Caribbean and to many, the best in the world. For those who are about to set foot and challenge the course, reading Pete Dye's Design notes about the course will definitely give you an edge on the rest of your golf group. Shave a few points off your score by knowing what challenge lays ahead.
Pete Dye’s Design Notes: - Teeth of the Dog at Casa De Campo
Hole #1 , Par 4, Hndcp 11, Black 412, Gold 393, Blue 366, White 327, Red 277
The opening hole at Teeth of the Dog, which runs southeast, is a short par four with a comfortably wide landing area that is all of 200 feet wide. The higher handicap player can not lose a ball on this hole because the fairway is so wide, but also has another 100 feet of rough on each side that is always kept cut very short. The fairways bunkers are also modestly sloped so people can easily play out of them.
The green opens up left to right, and the bunkers on the right-hand side of the green and the one on the left are also modest bunkers so the higher handicap players can easily get out of them. The green’s contour is subtle with a one foot of fall from the back to front. It’s an easy green to putt.
Hole #2 , Par 4, Hndcp 7, Black 390, Gold 384, Blue 358, White 340, Red 255
This is a par four measuring about 390 yards from the back tees, it’s a slight dogleg left. The 2nd fairway is plenty wide, but has a rocky dry creek bed that runs all along the left-hand side. Whenever there is a big rain that is where the water drains down, eventually ending up in the Caribbean. The landing area to the right of the rocks is about 150 to 180 feet wide and has more shortly cut rough on both sides so this fairway also has plenty of room to play golf. Also, the far right side of the 2nd hole is further defined by native trees that line the fairway.
There is a long narrow bunker on the right side of the green and a small bunker on the left side but the green itself is wide open in front. The wind comes from the left to right making this hole a little more severe than the first hole but the contours on the green are pretty tame and most people can play it. I like the way this hole looks from the tee because you can see all the rock down the left side of the fairway.
This hole is rated as the 5th hardest hole and is a pretty strong par five playing 551 from the back tees. You can see the ocean from the 3rd hole and the view tee is beautiful. A bunker on the left side of the fairway steers players to right off the tee.
The green is open in the front, but even the good players usually still have a wedge to the green on their third shot. There are bunkers left and right of the large green and it slopes about a foot from back to front. The green is also elevated about eight feet above the second landing area so the wedge to the green is a fairly delicate pitch shot.
The back tees for the long par four measure 489 yards but I’d say most of the higher handicap resort golfers probably play the tees at 364 or 328 yards, and the tee is elevated so you get a really nice view of the ocean. Now, the landing area of the 4th fairway is not as wide as the first three holes. It’s about 140 feet wide and there are a couple of long bunkers on the right hand side of the fairway. So, anyone that stays left should have an open shot to the green and a chance to birdie the hole.
The green receives balls nicely because it is sloped from back to front with a foot of fall. But be warned, the green also runs a little left-to-right and the diabolical bunker right of the green is eight feet deep, ‘but I digress’.
Hole #5 , Par 3, Hndcp 15, Black 176, Gold 157, Blue 137, White 122, Red 70
The tees of the 5th hole run along the ocean and are elevated eight feet above sea-level and are made up of native rock walls. It has a pretty good size green and seaside bunker left of it that are only four feet above sea-level. The waves come right up next to the left side of the seaside bunker and green, but never splash up on the Paspalum green. The hole runs west so the prevailing wind often blows right to left. There is a small bunker right of the green that is shallow and easy to get out of. There is also a mound right of the green so any shot right of the green will kick left toward the green. The 5th green is also contoured very modestly and has “birdie opportunity” written all over it.
Rated as the hardest hole on the course, this long par four runs west along the ocean and measures 501 yards from the back tees. Bunkers along the left side of the fairway and guarding the left front of the green make it necessary to stay on the right side of this dogleg left. The green opens on the right and runs right-to-left and all the contouring on the right side of the fairway also kicks in toward the green. The 6,000 square foot green has a foot of slope from back to front making it receptive, but it also slopes away from the ocean an inch per every 10 feet.
Seven is a par three that measures 229 yards, mostly over water, from the back tee and 91 yards over land from the forward tee. The green is 7,000 square feet and has a foot of fall from back to front. It also has a modest amount of undulating contour, but since it is so big it still has plenty of places to put the pin. The bunkers around the green are shallow and easy to get out of and they really make the green look good. If you don’t land in one of the bunkers on the right, the bank on the right side will kick your ball into the green. The bunker in front and left of the green also really looks good coming right out of the ocean like it does. I don’t know why the sand in it doesn’t wash away, but it doesn’t.
This is the fourth hole in a row that runs westward along the ocean and this beautiful midsize par 4 is rated as the 3rd hardest hole from the back tee. It measures 414 yards from the back tee, but most of the higher handicap resort patrons don’t play it from back there. There are six tees to choose from with the most forward tee measuring a more manageable distance of 285 yards. It is a slight dogleg left with a large green on the ocean. There is a big bunker on the front left guarding the green and the green opens toward a bank on the right, so anything that goes right kicks left toward the green. There is also a collection area behind the green on the right that drops down about six feet so anything that goes back there lands in a grass swale. But its short grass and easy to hit out of from there. I love this hole, it’s got the Caribbean on the left and the next thing out of bounds is Venezuela.
Nine is a nice long par 5 that runs northwest back toward the clubhouse. It plays 602 from the back tee, but most of the golfers don’t play from back there. They play mostly from the 529 or 516 yard tees. From the tee of the 9th hole you can see a big long bunker up on the left side of the fairway and the landing area is pretty wide there, so off the tee it feels like you’re playing right to left. During the winter months the prevailing wind blows right to left, helping you to draw your tee shot. Further up the fairway there are some bunkers on the right to avoid and the approach to the green breaks off to the right so you might want to play your second shot a bit left to right. The approach to the green is very much uphill so a good player, playing from the correct tee might be able to get home in two, but from the back tees, they can’t.
Hole #10 , Par 4, Hndcp 16, Black 405, Gold 396, Blue 387, White 351, Red 300
This is a pretty hole with native trees defining both sides of the fairway. It’s a midsize dogleg left with a huge bunker that dominates the entire left side of the hole and thanks to the wind it usually plays a little shorter than it measures. The green is open in front so if you stay right of the big fairway bunker you should par this hole.
Hole #11 , Par 5, Hndcp 8, Black 604, Gold 575, Blue 555, White 540, Red 458
Hole #11 is a long par 5 that runs west and also favors the prevailing wind. Giant bunkers on both sides of the fairway make the drive feel like a right to left shot off the tee. Then another big bunker on the right makes the second shot feel like a left to right into an approach area of the green. The green is elevated a few feet above the natural grade of the ground and the putting surface is sloped from back to front and a little bit left to right but the green is wide open in front. This hole is a lot easier than it looks.
The 12th is long for a par 4 measuring 483 yards but it plays a little shorter than that because it runs southwest, which is directly downwind. It’s a dogleg left with a large fairway bunker on the left that steers golfers right to left off the tee. Then, bunkers on the right front of the green offset it left to right making it feel like your second shot needs to be cut a little left to right into the green. There again, the green is pretty good size with a foot of fall back to front and the contour of the green is set up to receive a left to right approach shot.
Hole #13 , Par 3, Hndcp 18, Black 201, Gold 180, Blue 170, White 143, Red 97
Just like the 17th at Sawgrass, we call this par 3 an island green, but instead of water, this island green is completely surrounded by sand. The 13th hole is a long par 3 from the back tee, but it is rated as the easiest hole on the course. Most of the golfers, who get on this green in one, do it by playing from one of the shorter tees according to their handicap. This hole is another excellent birdie opportunity. This island green is over 6,000 square feet and slopes a little from back to front. But, the contour all around the edge of the green leads up out of the bunker with a gentle 5-to-1 slope making it possible to often putt out of the firm well-packed sand. They rake this bunker two or three times per day; there must be at least an acre of sand around that green.
#14 is a short par 5 that plays dead into the prevailing wind. A long bunker down the entire right side of the fairway makes this hole open left to right off the tee. Then, when you get down the fairway a bit it doglegs right around a lake making for a second left-to-right shot toward the green. Bunkers guard the right-hand side of the green which runs left-to-right but the left hand side is open so if stay far enough to the left you can bounce it into the green if you want to. But if you don’t stay far enough left your approach shot to the pin will have to go air-mail over the sand.
Interesting enough, the lake on 14 is lined with a type of clay called caliche that we dug out of that very spot. In fact that clay pit which is now a five acre lake is where we got the clay to build all the roads around the resort at Casa de Campo.
Just a short walk from the 14th green, the elevated tees of the 15th hole are set along the rocky shore next to the ocean. It’s a beautiful hole that runs southeast and you can see the ocean from the tee, fairway and the green. Measuring 374 yards from the back tee, #15 is a short par 4, but it’s rated as the 4th hardest hole on the course. A long bunker guarding the ocean along the right makes it necessary to keep your tee shot left which is difficult with the prevailing wind blowing left to the right. The 15th green which is guarded on the right front by a bunker is open on the left and is offset left to right requiring a left to right approach shot to the green. If you manage to keep your tee shot far enough to the left you can roll your ball into the 15th green.
Right off the back of the 15th green is the ocean and the nearby back-tee of #16. The par three 16th hole measures 204 yards from the back tee and 125 yards from the forward tees, but most of the high handicap players play it from either the 181 or 151 yard tee markers.
The 16th green is huge. It’s all of 7,000 square feet and it’s right at the edge of the ocean. The ocean makes a big bend to the right there and the green goes right around and bends with the ocean. So the left side of the green is easy to get to and the back right is a little more severe. And of course, the prevailing wind is coming from left to right on that hole, blowing toward the ocean.
To the right, off the edge of the green is a natural rock wall straight down to the ocean. So it is possible to hit your ball off the green into the ocean. It’s not going to roll of by itself though; you would have to hit it off the green there, because the green slopes mostly back to front. The contour does also run a little north-to-south or left-to-right but it’s only falling about an inch and a half every ten feet.
Everyone loves the 16th hole. It’s a beautiful hole; you’ll never see another one like it. The man upstairs built that hole; I didn’t have to do anything except build the green.
#17 is a long par four measuring 463 yards from the back tee and is rated the second hardest hole at Teeth of the Dog. With the Caribbean on the right, it runs southeast so the prevailing wind out of the northeast usually blows left to right off the tee. This hole is a slight dogleg right that follows a natural rock wall along the concaved edge of the sea. There is also multiple fairway bunkers way off to the left side, but nobody ever gets over there. A large bunker guards the right side of the green which is offset right to left, but it’s open in front. You can put the pin just about anyplace on that green.
On Hole #18 you’re going northwest back toward the clubhouse and the green is about 20 feet higher than the landing area so it’s uphill and into the wind. It’s a long par four; measuring 484 yards from the back tee and 310 yards from the forward tee. But most of the higher handicap golfers play it from either the 396 or 370 yard tee markers.
Left of the landing area there’s an irrigation pond and part of it also guards the left side of the green. The approach to the green doglegs left around the pond and the green is offset right-to-left but open in front. It’s a good finishing hole with plenty of room off the tee for the resort players and a landing area that’s 200 feet wide. I usually play #18 right-to-left off the members’ tee, then I hit a right-to-left approach shot to the green and hopefully two-putt for a par.
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46 Proceedings Winter 2015–2016 www.uscg.mil/proceedings the collector provides as evidence must prove he/she is properly trained and authorized to collect urine specimens for Department of Transportation drug testing. To do this, the Coast Guard need only produce documentation that the collector, at the time the specimen was collected, met all of the regulation's requirements. 6 The collector must also show that the mariner was properly identifed. For example, the collector must see an original employer photo ID (other than in the case of an owner-operator or other self-employed individual) or a federal, state, or local government ID. Employer representative (not a co-worker or another employee being tested) positive identifcation is also acceptable. The preferred means of identifcation is viewing the MMC and/or Transportation Worker Identifca- tion Credential. It is worth noting that the majority of drug use cases the Coast Guard loses are due to error(s) in the collection process. The Respondent Failed the Test. The second element to prove is that the mariner tested positive or failed the drug test, which requires sub-elements also to be proved. To fail a chemical test for dangerous drugs per 46 CFR Part 16 means: • the result arose from a chemical test conducted in accor- dance with 49 CFR Part 40, and • a medical review offcer reported it as "positive" because the chemical test indicated the presence of a dangerous drug at a level equal to or exceeding those established in 49 CFR Part 40. To prove this element, the Coast Guard leans slightly on the collector and heavily on the laboratory and medical review offcer. The Coast Guard will offer the laboratory's copy of the federal drug testing custody and control form (also referred to as the CCF) into evidence to show the chain of custody matches the collector's copy, indicating the chain remained intact. Once this is established, the Coast Guard will ask the ALJ to take "offcial notice" of the current list of Health and Human Services-certifed laboratories and instrumented initial test- ing facilities that meet minimum standards to engage in urine drug testing for federal agencies. 7 This combined with the CCF should serve as proof the chemical test was con- ducted in accordance with 49 CFR Part 40. The Coast Guard must then prove a medical review offcer reported the results as "positive" because the chemical test indicated the presence of a dangerous drug at a level equal to or exceeding those established in 49 CFR Part 40. To this end, the Coast Guard will frst prove the MRO's qualifca- tion by entering into evidence his or her training certifcates. selected for testing by a scientifcally valid random method, the drug test has not been shown to have been conducted in accordance with 46 CFR Part 16 and one of the elements of a prima facie case has not been established. Later, in Appeal Decision 2704, the Vice Commandant fur- ther clarifed the statements in Appeal Decision 2697 con- cerning the three elements required for a prima facie case of drug use. In Appeal Decision 2704, the Vice Commandant held that a prima facie case of drug use is established when: (1) the respondent was the person who was tested for dan- gerous drugs, (2) the respondent failed the test, and (3) the test was conducted in accordance with 46 CFR Part 16 (with the proviso that 46 CFR Part 16 incorporates by reference the regulations in 49 CFR Part 40). Under this rule, when the test was ordered pursuant to the regulations, but the justifcation for it is not consonant with the regulations, or the test is not conducted in accordance with 49 CFR Part 40 and is therefore unreliable, there is no prima facie case proved. 4 The Vice Commandant explained the procedures in 46 CFR Part 16 were established not only to protect public safety interests, but also to ensure that mariners' constitutional rights are safeguarded throughout the drug testing process. By expressly mandating limited, specifc types of drug tests, the regulation drafters ensured that the constitutionally protected privacy interests of the mariner were balanced with the overriding need to ensure a drug-free and safe workplace. The drafters of 46 CFR Part 16 recognized that the Fourth Amendment (which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures) applies, and that private employers' testing to comply with federal regulatory requirements constitutes government action. 5 Hence, when the employer conducts tests in accordance with 46 CFR Part 16, the employer acts as an instrument or agent of the government. Therefore, it is vital that if a marine employer orders a mariner to submit to a drug test under the authority of 46 CFR Part 16, the reason for the test must be fully supported by 46 CFR Part 16. The Respondent Was the Person Who Was Tested for Dan- gerous Drugs. To prove the respondent was tested for a dan- gerous drug, the Coast Guard leans heavily on the urine collector's training, actions during the collection process, documentation, and testimony concerning the proof of iden- tity for the person providing the specimen. Since the chemical test must have been conducted in accor- dance with 49 CFR Part 40, the testimony and documentation
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Ambassador Kirk Lauds the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa for Advancing Regional Economic Integration, Strengtheni
Ambassador Kirk Meets with Philippine Trade Secretary Domingo to Promote U.S.-Philippines Trade and Investment
Ambassador Kirk, Minister Pangestu Meet Under Trade Dialogue
Final readout of Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations in Chicago, IL
Forum to Address Coffee Trade Challenges Convenes
Members Named to Seven Agricultural Trade Advisory Committees
Monday, September 12 at the Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations in Chicago, IL
Press Office Week Ahead for September 11-18, 2011
Press Office Week Ahead for September 4-10, 2011
Readout from the Fifth Meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan TIFA Council
Trade Enhancing Access to Medicines
Tuesday, September 13 at the Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations in Chicago, IL
USTR Announces FY 2011 Tariff-Rate Quota Allocation for Refined Sugar
USTR Press Office Week Ahead Week of October 2-9, 2011
USTR Press Office Week Ahead for September 18-25
USTR Press Office Week Ahead for Week of September 25-October 1, 2011
USTR Ron Kirk Applauds Senate Passage of Key Trade Programs
USTR Statement Regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations
United States Files WTO Case Against China to Protect American Jobs
United States Prevails in WTO Dispute about Chinese Tire Imports
United States and Central Asian Countries Evaluate Progress on Trade and Investment Relationship
United States and Kazakhstan Sign Bilateral Agreement that will Open Markets, Support American Jobs
Wednesday, September 14 at the Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations in Chicago, IL
Home » About Us » Policy Offices » Press Office » The USTR Archives » 2007-2017 Press Releases » 2011 » September
WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk met today with Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Gregory Domingo to discuss bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade issues and to open a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) meeting, which will last through Friday. The Philippines is a key market in Southeast Asia for U.S. exporters of goods, services, and agricultural products. Two-way goods trade between the United States and Philippines totaled $15 billion in 2010. U.S. agricultural exports totaled $1.6 billion, making the Philippines the 11th largest agricultural export market of the United States. Services added another $4 billion to the bilateral trade relationship in 2009.
“The Philippines is an important friend, ally, and trading partner of the United States," said Ambassador Kirk. “Trade with the Philippines already supports thousands of jobs in both countries, and we have a strong shared commitment to working together to address outstanding issues and explore new trade and investment opportunities that can create even more jobs for our people.”
The meeting between Ambassador Kirk and Secretary Domingo opened a three-day program of discussions under the U.S.-Philippine TIFA, which will cover all aspects of the trade relationship. In addition to key outstanding bilateral issues, including agriculture, intellectual property, customs, and trade and labor, Ambassador Kirk emphasized the importance of expanding cooperation on APEC issues prior to the Leaders’ Summit in November.
Ambassador Kirk also briefed Secretary Domingo on progress being made in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, an ambitious regional agreement that the United States and eight other Asia-Pacific countries are negotiating, which the Philippines has expressed interest in potentially joining. The two countries also discussed the Partnership for Growth, an initiative aimed at supporting economic reform in the Philippines, including in areas that would help better position the Philippines to join the TPP in the future.
The TIFA is the main forum for trade dialogue between the United States and Philippines. U.S. and Philippine officials meet regularly throughout the year to discuss ways to build our bilateral economic relationship and coordinate on APEC, ASEAN, and WTO issues. Under President Obama’s Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, the Partnership for Growth initiative provides a new framework for deepening and strengthening U.S. engagement with the Philippines to promote and support broad-based economic growth.
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AC/DC's Brian Johnson Is Bringing His Hit TV Series To U.S. In September
posted by Andrew Magnotta @AndrewMagnotta - Jul 11, 2019
AC/DC front man Brian Johnson's television show is finally coming to a U.S. audience this September.
AXS TV on Wednesday announced that Brian Johnson's: A Life on the Road will make its American debut Sunday, Sept. 15 at 9 p.m. ET/6p.m. PT.
The series follows Johnson as he travels the world with other Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, getting an inside look at new angles on their passion for music. The first two seasons of the series, which AXS TV has acquired, feature episodes with Sting, Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Joe Elliott, Lars Ulrich, Nick Mason, Billy Joel, Joe Walsh, Dolly Parton, Paul Rodgers and Mick Fleetwood.
Johnson says the reason the show works is because he and his guests have authentic conversations based on their unique mutual experiences as rock/pop stars.
"To sit and chat with my friends and heroes while filming On the Road was ridiculous fun, and with no professional journalists around, you can feel the trust," he said.
The first episode features Johnson visiting Sting in New York City, where The Police front man discusses the band's early days, as well as the inspiration behind their biggest hit, "Roxanne."
The pair even visit the former site of New York's legendary punk rock venue CBGB's, where The Police performed their first U.S. gig.
In the next episode, John and Plant discuss Led Zeppelin's love of American blues music and how Plant established him as a solo artist after so many years in Zeppelin.
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Previous Story Celebs, athletes give ‘Dragon Ball’ pop culture super status Next Story Patriots’ Edelman still making most of his opportunities
Pederson reiterates Wentz is Philly’s No. 1 QB
By Associated Press January 15, 2019 5:29 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Eagles coach Doug Pederson reiterated Tuesday that Carson Wentz will be the team’s starting quarterback in 2019.
Wentz missed the final three games of the regular season and two playoff games because of a back injury. Nick Foles led Philadelphia to four straight wins and was 27 yards away from taking the Eagles to the NFC championship game before his final pass bounced off Alshon Jeffery’s hands and was intercepted to seal a 20-14 victory for the New Orleans Saints.
“Yes, Carson is the quarterback going forward,” Pederson said at the start of his season-ending news conference.
Foles filled in when Wentz tore two knee ligaments in December 2017 and led Philadelphia to its first NFL title since 1960, earning Super Bowl MVP honors in a win over New England.
Howie Roseman, the team’s executive vice president of football operations, acknowledged it’s going to be a difficult decision.
“We would love to keep Nick Foles,” Roseman said. “You talk about a guy who we drafted here and we’ve grown incredibly close with. I don’t know a team that wouldn’t want to have Nick Foles on their roster. Certainly, as we go into the substance of those discussions, we haven’t had them yet, but there is no question we love having Nick Foles as an Eagle in Philadelphia and we would love to keep him.”
The Eagles must decide by mid-February if they want to exercise a $20 million option to keep Foles for 2019. But Foles could decline it and pay back $2 million to become a free agent. Philadelphia could put a franchise tag on Foles, though $23 million to $25 million is a hefty price for a backup. It’s possible the Eagles could use the franchise or transition tag to trade Foles rather than allow him to walk away for only a compensation pick.
Foles said Monday having the option to become a free agent is “extremely important” to him.
“It always has to be what’s best for our football team and the Philadelphia Eagles. We have to make decisions based on that,” Roseman said. “There is also a respect factor for guys that have done a lot for us and been part of it. We try to factor that in as well, but the bottom line is we have to do what’s best for our football team to help us win games going forward.”
Wentz finished third in NFL MVP voting after leading the Eagles to an 11-2 record in 2017. He was 5-6 as a starter in 2018 but set career highs in passer rating and completion percentage.
Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobMaaddi
Alshon Jeffery AP Online - Sports AP Online Football News Athlete health Athlete injuries Carson Wentz Doug Pederson Football Howie Roseman National Football Conference National Football League National Football League New Orleans Saints NFC East NFC South NFL football NFL Playoffs Nick Foles North America Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philadelphia Eagles Professional football s Sports United States
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Christopher Jencks2003 W.E.B. DuBois Fellow
View Christopher Jencks’s website
Christopher Jencks is currently the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has held positions at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. Before entering academic life he was a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC (1963-67) and an editor at The New Republic(1961-63). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Editorial Board of The American Prospect.
His recent publications examine changes in the material standard of living over the past generation, changes in the influence of family background on children’s economic success, the social consequences of economic inequality, homelessness, the effects of growing up in poor neighborhoods, and welfare reform.
His books include The Black-White Test Score Gap (with Meredith Phillips, 1998),The Homeless (1995), Rethinking Social Policy (1992), and The Urban Underclass(with Paul Peterson, 1991). He is also the author of The Academic Revolution (with David Riesman, 1968, reissued 2001), Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effects of Family and Schooling in America (with seven co-authors, 1972), and Who Gets Ahead? (with eleven co-authors, 1979).
Sherman James
Robert Jervis
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Here's the News: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2012-13
Download the report as a .pdf
Explanation of Statistical Data
Appendices to the Report
The appendices to this report contain salary listings for individual institutions.
Corrections to the 2013 report, published in The Bulletin of the AAUP can be found here
Over the last three years, media reports have examined every possible tidbit of economic data, bringing us daily and even hourly forecasts, updates, and speculation on the contours of the broader economy’s very slow recovery from the Great Recession of 2007–09. The reporters seem to make every effort to point out the silver lining otherwise shrouded by the clouds of continuing high unemployment, looming foreclosure threats, and stagnant earnings for all but a very few. This report on faculty compensation and the economics of higher education is different. We produce the Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession only once a year, so it lacks some of the drama of the broadcast news, and our examination of the available data over the last three years especially has failed to produce much evidence of a silver lining. That’s not to say that all the news is bad, but important long-term trends are still heading in the wrong direction for higher education.
In this year’s report we cover three main issues—all perennial problems, but with new analysis based on the latest data—in addition to summarizing the current results from the annual AAUP survey of full-time faculty compensation. We provide new data to document the most significant trend in academic labor of this era, the unabated growth of contingent employment. Our analysis enumerates the overall trend in employment status, examines pay for part-time faculty members, and presents an entirely new dataset on the compensation and working conditions of full-time non-tenure-track faculty members. The following section examines the sharp drop in state funding for higher education, with figures for all fifty states. And finally, we take another look at the (still) growing pay differentials between the public and the private sectors. How much less are you earning if you teach at a public college or university? Quite a bit, unfortunately.
The News This Year
Each year, the AAUP Research Office gathers data on full-time faculty salaries and benefits from colleges and universities of all types, all across the country. We tabulate and present the results in this annual report, so that faculty members, colleges and universities, and the general public can inform themselves about the compensation faculty members earn, set within the broader economic context for higher education. Our analysis this year indicates that after three years of increases in average salary levels that lagged behind the rate of inflation, the overall increase this year matched the increase in consumer prices— but only just barely. Salaries did not actually rise any faster this year, but the rate of inflation was low enough to keep them from falling any further behind.
Table A provides a historical overview of changes in salary from one year to the next. It is divided into two sections that depict the two most fundamental “findings” from the annual AAUP survey. The upper half of the table records the yearly change in the average salary level for each of the upper four faculty ranks, and for all ranks combined, at the colleges and universities that provided data both this year and last. In essence, this section of the table answers the question, “How does the average salary of a full-time faculty member this year compare with the average last year?” It depicts the changing remuneration of the profession as a whole, rather than of the individuals employed within it. The right half of the table compares the change in average salary with the national increase in consumer prices over the previous year, as a measure of whether the purchasing power of faculty salaries is keeping pace with inflation. Table A indicates that salaries held steady over the past year. This finding represents a slight improvement over the three preceding years, largely the result of a relatively low inflation rate, but that is small consolation for the many faculty members who are still struggling to make ends meet.
The AAUP survey produces a second basic measure of full-time faculty salaries, one that is unique to this report. The “average change for continuing faculty members” forms the lower half of table A. It is a measure of the change in salary a full-time faculty member could expect over the previous year, on average, if he or she remained at the same institution. This is the “average raise” calculated for the large majority of faculty members—about 79 percent of all full-time faculty members whose compensation is reported to the AAUP—who continued their work from the previous year without a change in basic employment status. The continuing faculty figure includes all elements of salary change in a single number, comprising the total of across-the-board, promotion, and merit or other discretionary increases (or, as has become more common in recent years, decreases); as such, that figure is generally larger than the change in average salary level. At 3.2 percent for 2012–13, it is marginally higher than it has been in several years, but still well below the average level of annual increases over the last ten years.
Survey report table 1 (located with other standard tables after this report) provides greater detail on the one-year changes in full-time faculty salary increases across institutional categories. As is the case in table A, this table presents two different measures of salary change: the change in average salary levels for institutions submitting data both this year and last and the average change in salary for faculty members continuing at the same institution. The most significant comparison in the table is between the public and private institutional categories; private religiously affiliated institutions are presented separately because they tend to be smaller and pay lower salaries.
Looking first at the change in salary levels presented on the left side of the table, we see that average salaries in the public sector grew more slowly than those at either private-independent institutions or religiously affiliated institutions, as has been the case for many years. This public-sector disadvantage holds across all three institutional categories for which we received a sufficient number of private-sector responses to enable the comparison, with only a few exceptions at specific ranks. The right half of survey report table 1 breaks down the average salary increase for continuing full-time faculty members. As noted previously, these levels of increase are generally higher than those found for salaries overall, since they do not include the net effect of senior faculty members retiring. The public-private comparison on this measure produces essentially the same result as that depicted for the change in average salary levels, with continuing faculty members in the public sector receiving salary increases that are lower, on average, than those at private-sector institutions. We take a more in-depth look at the public-private salary differential later in this report.
A consistent theme in our last two annual reports has been that, even though the Great Recession of 2007–09 was declared formally over for the US economy as a whole, the recessionary period for higher education continues. The data at our disposal show some signs of very slow recovery in full-time faculty salaries. But state-level indicators, discussed below, do not give cause for great hope that more rapid improvement is close at hand.
Contingent Employment
The emergence of contingent employment as the most common situation for instructional staff members has been a recurring concern of this annual report in recent years. Under the heading of contingent instructional staff we include full- and part-time faculty members not on the tenure track and graduate student employees. (The category should include postdoctoral fellows as well, but national datasets provide us with very little information on individuals in these positions.) As has been detailed in numerous other AAUP reports, individuals employed in contingent academic positions have limited academic freedom, since their employment is subject to termination or nonrenewal without due-process procedures that are vital as protectors of academic freedom. Faculty members with contingent appointments risk dismissal if they challenge students by assigning significant reading loads or in-depth writing assignments. Graduate student instructors who raise controversial topics in their seminars can be deprived of their assistantships or even expelled from their programs. In most cases the individuals employed in contingent positions lack the institutional support necessary to do their jobs effectively, whether that be in the form of technology, private office space for consultation with students, or access to funds for travel to academic conferences. Too often, our colleagues in contingent positions are also excluded from meaningful participation in shared governance, as documented in the recent AAUP report The Inclusion in Governance of Faculty Members Holding Contingent Appointments.
This year’s report adds to the body of knowledge regarding the compensation and working conditions of academics employed in contingent positions. We first provide an updated overview of the extent of contingent employment on the basis of national aggregate employment statistics, followed by a supplement to recent reports on the compensation of part-time faculty members. Finally, we provide new analysis of data on the compensation and working conditions of full-time nontenure- track faculty members.
Figure 1 provides an update on trends in instructional staff employment through fall 2011, the most recent year for which national data have been released by the US Department of Education. Unfortunately, complete tabulations for fall 2011 have not yet been published at the time of this writing, so figure 1 provides an estimate for the most recent year based on the partial tabulations available.
Combining the contingent employment categories as described above, the graph shows that more than three of every four instructional staff positions (76 percent) are filled on a contingent basis. By far the largest category of employment is the part-time faculty (we explore the nomenclature for this category below). Tenured and tenure-track full-time positions combined form the next largest category but represent less than 25 percent of all appointments, and the proportions of individuals in both categories have been declining steadily. Over the entire period covered by the graph, the most rapid growth has been in part-time faculty appointments, which increased in number by more than 300 percent between 1975 and 2011. By contrast, the number of faculty members in full-time tenured or tenure-track positions grew by only 26 percent during the same period. In the most recent two-year period, it appears that growth in full-time positions off the tenure track actually was slightly more rapid than the increase in part-time faculty positions.
The failure to provide full support to instructors employed on a contingent basis deprives students of the highest-quality academic experience, and the predominance of contingent appointments weakens the academic enterprise. Furthermore, the unabated growth of contingency constitutes an ongoing threat to academic freedom that should be of concern to all who value higher education. If the majority of our colleagues are deprived of a full measure of academic freedom, can any of us be assured of our own freedom to question received wisdom and explore the most difficult dilemmas facing society?
There has been a lively (and ongoing) discussion among faculty advocates regarding the most appropriate labels for the various contingent employment categories that now comprise the large majority of instructional staff positions. The individuals in the largest category are most often referred to as “adjuncts,” even though many commentators have pointed out that their work is central, rather than peripheral, to the higher education enterprise. In this report, we refer to this category as “part-time faculty,” denoting the formal employment status these individuals hold. However, we acknowledge that many of our colleagues employed in “part-time” positions teach course loads comparable to those of full-time faculty members and may do so over a number of years. That they are regarded as part-time (and, indeed, “temporary”) employees by their institutions, however, is central to understanding their precarious situation—and the detrimental consequences of that precarious status for the quality of instruction they offer and for academic freedom itself.
As was noted in last year’s report, the AAUP is a founding member of the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW), a group of disciplinary societies and other organizations concerned with the deleterious effects on higher education of the overuse of contingent instructional appointments. In fall 2010, CAW carried out a survey of nearly twenty-nine thousand individuals employed in contingent academic positions. The first report of data from that survey, A Portrait of Part-Time Faculty Members, was released in June 2012. We refer readers who would like a more complete picture of the compensation and working conditions of part-time faculty members to the CAW report, but we are also including here a previously unpublished table on part-time faculty pay using those survey data.1
More than ten thousand part-time faculty members responded to questions in the CAW survey. These individuals were teaching a total of 19,615 courses and provided pay information for 17,035 of them. The median rate of pay per course (standardized at three credits) over all of those courses was $2,700. (The median, the point at which half of reported wage rates are lower and half are higher, is a better measure of the typical pay rate than the mean, commonly called the average, when data are available for each of the units being analyzed—in this case, each course taught by a responding part-time faculty member. The median is not skewed by a small number of entries at the high end, whereas the mean is.) Table B provides a breakdown of median pay rates by type of institution and region of the country.
The table indicates differences in pay rates attributable to the interaction of three main factors: institutional sector (public, private nonprofit, or for-profit), institutional level (based on degrees awarded), and geographic region. The effects of these factors on part-time faculty pay are similar to those observed in full-time faculty pay, albeit on a much smaller scale. With a range in median per-course wages from $1,800 at southeastern community colleges to $5,225 at private doctoral universities in New England, the variation is considerable. In general, per-course pay increases with the level of degrees awarded by the institution. Within each of these classifications, private nonprofit institutions generally pay more than public institutions and private for-profit institutions pay much less. (It should be noted, however, that the number of responses from faculty members teaching in for-profit institutions was much smaller than the numbers from the other two sectors.) Finally, there are differences in pay between regions, with institutions in New England generally paying the highest wages and those in the Southeast paying the lowest. (We find similar differences by region in full-time faculty pay in the AAUP survey.)
It bears pointing out how low part-time faculty pay rates actually are. In spring 1989, the second author of this report was a doctoral candidate at Carnegie Mellon University, where she was paid $3,000 per course to teach undergraduate economics. In 2010 dollars that would be $5,457 per course, slightly more than the median amount reported in 2010 by CAW respondents from the highest-paying sector, private doctoral universities in New England, and twice the overall national median rate. Although it has now been more than two years since the CAW survey data were collected, we have not adjusted the pay rates shown in table B for inflation, because it is not at all clear that part-time faculty pay rates are adjusted regularly to match increases in the cost of living. Only 18.8 percent of part-time faculty respondents to the CAW survey reported receiving regular salary increases.2
Solely for the sake of comparison, we can multiply the per-course wage rates shown in table B by a factor of eight courses—a full load for all but the most overworked community college faculty members—to produce an academic-year equivalent salary. These salaries would then range from about $18,000 in associate’s degree colleges (a little more than the pay of a full-time minimum wage worker) to just over $30,000 at private doctoral universities. That rate of pay represents one-third or less of the national average salary for full-time faculty members at those institutions, based on the AAUP’s 2010–11 data—and part-time positions do not include benefits, in most cases.
Later in 2012, the Center for the Future of Higher Education released a report based on data collected by the New Faculty Majority Foundation in fall 2011. Who Is Professor “Staff” and How Can This Person Teach So Many Classes? focuses on the deleterious effects of two prevalent practices in the employment of part-time faculty members: “just-intime” hiring and a lack of institutional support for instruction. Because of its relatively small respondent pool, the report focuses on exposing the negative consequences of these unsatisfactory working conditions on the educational experiences of students rather than on specific measures of compensation or workload. The AAUP continues to work in collaboration with both organizations, and we welcome the increased data collection— but we need much, much more data.
Using available national data, we cannot say definitively what proportion of total college and university instruction is provided by our colleagues on part-time appointments. We do not have a precisely representative national sample from which to estimate typical per-course pay rates. And we cannot say with absolute certainty what proportion of faculty members in part-time appointments would prefer to be in full-time tenuretrack or tenured positions. But the data we do have make it abundantly clear that part-time faculty members are paid unacceptably low wages, and the extent of this inequity—together with the situation of full-time non-tenure-track colleagues described in the next section—forms a very real (even if still hidden from public view) multi-tier academic labor structure. It’s an inequity that cannot be allowed to stand.
Full-Time Non-Tenure-Track Faculty
This section presents an entirely new analysis of data from the 2010 CAW survey, which also garnered responses from more than 7,500 full-time faculty members employed in positions off the tenure track. We should begin with two caveats: first, that the analysis in this section does not constitute a report from the coalition; and second, that the respondents to the CAW survey do not form a fully representative sample of all full-time non-tenure-track faculty members nationwide. Even so, these data provide an important new source of information focused specifically on the compensation and working conditions of our colleagues working off the tenure track. (The lead author of this report was a member of the working group that developed and carried out the CAW survey and takes responsibility for any shortcomings in the data.)
As noted in table C, about 85 percent (6,418) of the full-time non-tenure-track respondents to the 2010 CAW survey provided information on their rate of pay. When standardized to an academic-year basis, the overall median salary reported by these individuals in 2010 was $47,500. A majority of the respondents held a full-time position in a public institution, with the largest group employed at public doctoral or research universities.3 The salaries reported in this sector were below the overall median for the group. Salaries at private institutions were generally higher than those at public institutions in the same category, as has been the case for the overall full-time faculty salaries reported in the AAUP survey for many years (see the section on increasing public-private salary differentials below). But contrary to the pattern found in AAUP data for full-time faculty members overall, among CAW non-tenure-track respondents salaries were not necessarily higher in universities than at community colleges. Some caution is required in interpreting differences between some of the cells of table C, however, as they represent the responses of only a few faculty members.
Another factor confounding the interpretation of the salary data shown in table C is the lack of a distinction by academic rank. The CAW survey, unfortunately, did not ask for academic rank from full-time non-tenure-track respondents, and a comparison with AAUP data indicates that this is a significant deficiency. The annual AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey collects fulltime salary data by rank and gender. It also collects counts of faculty members by rank, gender, and tenure status; however, it does not collect salary data by tenure status. The median academic-year salary for non-tenure-track respondents to the 2010 CAW survey was $47,500, very close to the 2010–11 average for the instructor rank ($47,143) in the AAUP’s survey. These similar results conceal differences, however. To provide context, we looked at the distribution by rank of full-time non-tenuretrack faculty members in the 2010–11 AAUP survey. There were just over ninety-six thousand non-tenure-track faculty members reported that year, distributed through all the faculty ranks. Nearly half were in what might be considered the “typical” nontenure- track ranks of lecturer and instructor, but 40 percent were in what are commonly presumed tenure-track ranks (assistant, associate, and full professor). More than one in five (21 percent) assistant professors reported that year were employed off the tenure track. And only a small proportion of these non-tenure-track colleagues, about 16 percent, were employed at institutions that did not grant tenure. In sum, individuals employed on a contingent basis constitute a significant proportion of the full-time faculty, even at institutions that grant tenure and in ranks that normally lead to consideration for tenure.
The lack of faculty rank in the 2010 CAW data complicates the analysis in two ways. It conceals the true impact on the salary distribution of other variables (some of which are examined in the tables described in this section), and it makes an adjustment of the 2010 data for inflation impractical. The AAUP data indicate that salaries at the various ranks have increased at different rates between 2010–11 and 2012–13, rendering any overall inflation factor applied to non-tenure-track salaries inaccurate. But without salary by tenure status in the AAUP data, a specific non-tenure-track inflation rate also is unavailable. As a consequence, we present tables in this section using unadjusted 2010 CAW data for all non-tenure-track faculty respondents. Readers should bear this in mind when comparing the reported salaries to those at their own institutions.
Table D presents median salaries for a set of disciplinary categories, by type of institution. The disciplines in the table represent the respondent’s area of academic specialization rather than the discipline or disciplines in which instruction was offered. They have been grouped where the original response categories received too few responses. The disciplines captured in these responses reflect the organizations participating in the coalition, and are thus weighted heavily toward the humanities and social sciences. Salaries reported for faculty members in business disciplines are generally higher, as is the case when data for all full-time faculty members are tabulated, but the table does not include several disciplines that typically pay the highest salaries, such as engineering or computer science. The table also indicates that salaries within discipline categories do not necessarily increase with the level of degrees offered. For example, in several of the largest categories, including English, other modern languages, and history, the median salary in doctoral and research universities is lower than it is in associate’s degree colleges.
Table E presents median salaries for full-time nontenure- track faculty members according to two individual characteristics, gender and race or ethnicity. The breakdown by gender indicates that men generally earn higher salaries, except in baccalaureate colleges. (Women are more likely than men to hold non-tenure-track appointments, and more women than men responded to the survey. According to US Department of Education national data for fall 2009, 44 percent of women in full-time faculty positions were off the tenure track, compared with 33 percent of men.) The breakdown of salaries by race or ethnicity does not show a clear pattern of differences. A more detailed statistical analysis that controls simultaneously for the specific contributions of multiple individual and institutional factors to the differences in non-tenure-track salaries would be desirable—and appropriate, given the wide range of variables available in the CAW dataset—but is beyond the scope of this report. We should also note one additional survey item not shown in the tables: about 35 percent of the full-time non-tenure-track respondents reported that they could expect regular salary increases, and the proportion was similar across institutional types. This proportion seems low, although we do not have comparable survey responses from tenure-eligible faculty members for comparison. (The proportion among part-time faculty members documented in the CAW report was 18.8 percent.)4
Table F examines another characteristic of individual nontenure- track respondents, academic qualifications. A majority of all survey respondents providing information about their academic training held a doctorate, but that proportion varies considerably by institutional category. Respondents teaching in associate’s degree colleges most commonly held a master’s degree, the generally accepted qualification for the undergraduate teaching that comprises nearly all of the workload in those colleges. Slightly more than a quarter of these respondents held a doctorate, and 12 percent had completed other degrees that would be considered “terminal” (for example, an MFA, MLS, JD, or MBA). By contrast, 56 percent of respondents employed at doctoral and research universities held a doctorate, 24 percent a master’s, and 15 percent a terminal professional degree.
The CAW survey data also provide extensive information about the working conditions of full-time non-tenure-track faculty members. Unfortunately, we do not have comparable data on the working conditions of other full-time faculty members, since with the demise of the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty there is no longer a comprehensive national survey that examines faculty working conditions and careers. The CAW data do provide a strong indication, however, that for these respondents a contingent academic position is not simply a “temporary” way station on the road to a tenure-track faculty career. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents who provided their ages were thirty-six or older, and a majority were at least forty-six. Eighty-seven percent had been teaching in a contingent position for at least three years, and 39 percent had been teaching off the tenure track for ten years or more. This finding among the CAW survey respondents confirms the careful analysis of mobility between non-tenure-track and tenure-track positions by Jack Schuster and Martin Finkelstein in their authoritative 2006 book, The American Faculty, based on 1998 data: “The preliminary evidence suggests that for the most part these fixed-term full-time appointments seem to constitute a discernibly different career track from that of traditional, tenure-eligible appointments.”5
Perhaps the most significant characteristic of full-time nontenure- track employment is that it extends only for a specified number of semesters or years; these positions are frequently referred to as “term” or “contract” appointments. Respondents to the survey were asked the length of their current appointment: one year was by far the most common period, reported by 57 percent. Three years was the second most common length of appointment (17 percent), and 9 percent of respondents were employed only for a single term. An additional 6 percent reported five-year appointments, and 4 percent were employed for longer terms. Appointments of less than a year (covering only one quarter or semester) were far more common in associate’s degree colleges, where they were reported by a quarter of respondents. In doctoral and research universities, three-year appointments were more frequently reported than elsewhere. But for the majority of non-tenure-track faculty members, there is no formal guarantee of job security beyond the current academic year. Although we know from anecdotal reports that “one-year” appointments are frequently renewed year after year, it is the lack of a longer-term commitment by the employing institution that makes these appointments contingent and that constrains the academic freedom and undermines the effectiveness of the individuals holding them.
Survey respondents were asked about the mode of instruction employed in the courses they were teaching in fall 2010, and a large majority (77 percent) taught only on-site courses, as opposed to those offered at a distance or with both on-site and distance components.6 However, respondents from associate’s degree colleges were more than twice as likely to teach at least some courses where they were not on site with their students. (Owing to the difficulty in defining “main” versus “branch” campus or “satellite” locations, the questionnaire did not pursue this distinction.)
The CAW questionnaire also collected detailed information about the number and level of courses that non-tenure-track respondents taught, only a portion of which is tabulated here. The largest numbers of respondents were teaching two, three, or four courses during the fall 2010 term in which the survey was conducted. As would be expected, the teaching load varied by institution type. Nearly half of respondents from associate’s degree colleges were teaching five courses or more, a far higher proportion than in other categories of institutions. The most common teaching load in baccalaureate colleges and doctoral and research universities was three courses, while four courses was the teaching load reported most frequently by respondents at master’s degree universities.
A frequent criticism regarding the overuse of contingent appointments is that the instructors with the lowest levels of institutional support (and academic freedom protections) bear the brunt of undergraduate teaching, which forms the core of the academic enterprise. This translates into a less rich academic experience for those students who are still at an early stage in developing their interests and the skills of independent inquiry. Analysis of the CAW data regarding the level of courses full-time non-tenure-track respondents taught provides some support for this criticism. The level of courses taught by respondents from associate’s degree colleges is obviously constrained by the courses that are offered there, but the most common response from non-tenure-track faculty members across all categories of institutions, with the exception of baccalaureate colleges, was that they taught only lower-division undergraduate courses. In fact, the proportion of respondents who taught exclusively lower-division undergraduate or developmental (precollegiate) courses was 88 percent in associate’s colleges and 38 percent in other institutional categories combined.
We cannot emphasize enough that the threat to academic freedom and to the quality of instruction from the increasing use of contingent appointments is rooted in the conditions of employment in those positions, not in any shortcomings of the individuals who hold the appointments. As last year’s reports from CAW and the Center for the Future of Higher Education document with regard to part-time appointments, a key challenge facing contingent faculty members is a lack of institutional support. Table G presents tabulations for four of the 2010 CAW survey items measuring the institutional support for instruction provided to full-time non-tenure-track respondents.
The first item listed, “participation in departmental meetings,” refers simultaneously to two aspects of faculty work: teaching and governance. Departmental meetings are the locus for discussions and decisions about curriculum, consideration of pedagogical and student affairs issues, dissemination of information about instructional technology and other aspects of institutional operations, and participation in financial decision making. Contingent faculty members who are excluded from participation in such meetings are less able to convey to their students and advisees how various aspects of the curriculum relate to one another, are at a disadvantage in using a whole array of instructional resources, and may be unaware of funds available for classroom instruction or professional development. Their tenure-eligible colleagues are also missing the perspective that contingent faculty members could bring to these discussions. Unfortunately, as the AAUP report on inclusion in governance referenced above describes, “the participation in institutional and departmental governance of faculty holding contingent appointments is uneven, with some institutions encouraging it, some allowing it, and some barring it.” A large majority of the full-time non-tenure-track respondents to the CAW survey reported that they were included in departmental meetings; there is no apparent reason why such participation should not be open to all.
Slightly more than half of the survey respondents indicated that they could obtain funding for travel to professional meetings. Such travel is a necessary part of keeping current with developments in a faculty member’s discipline and can therefore be expected to have a direct impact on teaching and research. The proportion of full-time non-tenure-track colleagues eligible for travel support was noticeably higher at baccalaureate colleges. With regard to support for research specifically, only 41 percent of respondents reported that they would receive institutional support in submitting proposals for research funding. This proportion was lower in associate’s degree colleges, where research is frequently considered a secondary aspect of faculty work, but reached a high of only 45 percent at baccalaureate colleges—an indication that non-tenure-track faculty members are expected to focus almost entirely on teaching. Such an approach to faculty work is short-sighted, for as the 2010 AAUP report Tenure and Teaching-Intensive Appointments argues, “Professional development and research activities support strong teaching, and a robust system of shared governance depends upon the participation of all faculty, so even teaching-intensive [appointments that have been converted into] tenure-eligible positions should include service and appropriate forms of engagement in research or the scholarship of teaching.”
The final item presented in table G is especially disheartening. Only 3 percent of the full-time non-tenure-track survey respondents reported that they would receive priority consideration for tenure-track openings at their current institutions. Differences in the proportion among the institutional categories are minuscule. Essentially, these respondents are describing a situation in which they are appropriately qualified and currently doing much of the work of tenure-track colleagues but are not credited with this experience when a tenure-track position becomes available in their own department. As many of our non-tenure-track colleagues reported in extended comments submitted as part of the CAW survey, this situation typifies the basic lack of respect they experience on a daily basis.
The CAW survey also asked respondents about benefits they receive as part of their total compensation, and most were receiving benefits. In completing the most basic questionnaire item regarding benefits, about 89 percent of respondents reported receiving health-care benefits, either alone or in combination with retirement or other benefits. Only 6 percent of these respondents reported receiving no benefits. The most basic questionnaire item, however, does not tell us of the extent of these benefits or who bore the costs.
The analysis presented in this section touches on only a few aspects of the working conditions of full-time non-tenure-track faculty members. In terms of pay and benefits, their situation superficially resembles that of “junior” faculty colleagues. But the fundamental distinction lies in the non-tenure-track status itself. With fixed-term appointments, limited participation in the full range of faculty work, and insufficient support from their institutions, these full-time non-tenure-track colleagues effectively constitute a second tier of the academic labor structure. (And it has become almost impossible to deny that part-time faculty members inhabit an even further undermined third tier in this structure.) We do not have all the data necessary to make a precise estimate of the impact of this second-tier status on the quality of instruction and academic inquiry. We need to continue advocating for the collection of more and better data. But even absent “empirical certainty,” the need for advocacy on behalf of and in concert with our non-tenure-track colleagues is clear. Unless we can stem and reverse the shift toward an “academic precariat,” the vital contribution of higher education as a social good is imperiled.
The CAW data include more specific details of salary and benefits, as well as additional information about aspects of working conditions and access to institutional resources. They also include information on academics working in other categories of contingent employment: graduate employees in teaching and research, postdoctoral fellows, and non-tenuretrack researchers, albeit with relatively small respondent pools. Researchers who are interested in using these data should contact the coalition at contact@academicworkforce.org for more information.
State Appropriations
In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama stated that “our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs,” and he spoke of the educational investments necessary to achieve that goal, beginning with preschool and ending with college. The president noted that in order to obtain a good job and a middle-class income, most people would need some higher education, and he declared that “skyrocketing tuitions” are reducing access to college for some while saddling others with unsustainable debt.
Remarkably, at the same time the president is emphasizing the need to invest in higher education to guarantee the availability of good jobs and workers who can fill them, most state budgets reveal a continued trend of disinvestment from the sector through reductions in their annual appropriations for higher education, which historically have been the single largest revenue source for most public colleges and universities. The December 2012 report from the Delta Cost Project, College Spending in a Turbulent Decade, noted that “for the first time in higher education, net tuition brought in more revenue than did state and local appropriations at the average public research and master’s institutions.” The report analyzed institutional revenue data collected by the US Department of Education and found that the level of state and local appropriations declined sharply in fiscal year 2010, the most recent year for which data were available. It concluded that “these declines . . . resulted in the lowest per-student state and local funding in the decade across all types of public institutions.”7
In table H we examine changes in state-by-state appropriations for higher education, adjusted for inflation, between fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2013. While there are wide variations, some of which are related to the differential impact of the Great Recession across the nation, most states made steep cuts. Arizona made the largest cuts, reducing funding for higher education by 42 percent. New Hampshire and Louisiana were second and third among the states with the largest cutbacks in funding. By contrast, some states benefiting from improving conditions in the energy industry (Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming) were willing and able to increase their funding for higher education substantially between 2008 and 2013. Texas, another energy state and one with an enormous public higher education sector, chose a different path, allocating 7.4 percent less funding during this time period. The total reduction in funding for all fifty states combined was 18.4 percent.
The period covered by the table includes the Great Recession and the weak economic recovery that has followed. Most states rely on sales taxes and taxes on business income for a substantial portion of their revenues, and consequently experience reductions in receipts during recessions because consumers make fewer purchases and businesses have lower profits. It is possible to examine whether cutbacks in higher education funding exceed those that are solely recession-related by examining changes in state appropriations per $1,000 of state personal income. This is the second column of table H.
For example, in fiscal year 2008 Arizona budgeted $6.10 to higher education for each $1,000 in personal income earned by residents of the state. However, by fiscal year 2013 Arizona was allocating just $3.57 per $1,000 of personal income—a reduction of 41.5 percent when controlling for the change in personal income. By contrast, Illinois and Wyoming both provided double-digit percentage increases in their higher education appropriations per $1,000 in personal income, meaning that higher education funding grew faster than personal income during the period. North Dakota represents an entirely different case. Its booming economy has grown substantially, so although its real appropriations for higher education increased significantly, funding for higher education didn’t increase proportionately to the increase in personal income within the state. Take a look at table H to see how your state stacked up, and use those figures as evidence in advocating for a restoration of higher education funding.
Much of the tuition price increase in public higher education over the last several years has been a direct consequence of reductions in state appropriations. As states have abdicated their responsibility for ensuring access to postsecondary education, students and their families have been forced to bear more of the costs in the form of higher tuition prices. Because good jobs migrate to the locations with the best-educated workforces, states such as Arizona, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and California may be retarding their future rates of growth for decades to come.
Public-Private Salary Differences
The declining state appropriations for higher education have already had consequences. As we documented in this report last year, increases in faculty salaries are not the reason for rapid tuition price increases during the last decade. Indeed, average fulltime faculty salaries, adjusted for inflation, actually decreased at public master’s-granting institutions and community colleges and increased by less than 1 percent at public doctoral universities and baccalaureate colleges over the decade. Public colleges and universities, reeling from immediate and long-term cutbacks in their state funding, have sought to reduce spending on the backs of their students, increasingly substituting lower-paid contingent faculty members for more fairly paid tenure-track faculty members. Further budget tightening has come in the form of lower starting salaries and smaller annual salary increases for faculty members employed in the public sector, which has led to a widening salary disadvantage for the 70 percent of faculty members who work there.
The gap between public- and private-sector salaries has been a regular topic of this report. We thought it would be useful to present the most recent data in a slightly different way, one that we hope is easily understandable. Figures 2 through 4 show how much less faculty members in the public sector are earning, by academic rank and institutional category, focusing on the last seven years. The public-sector disadvantage is greatest at the full professor rank, ranging from 17 percent at master’s universities to 35 percent at doctoral universities. The range of disparity for associate professors is 10 to 23 percent, and that among assistant professors is 7 to 24 percent. The pattern by institutional category is similar for all three ranks, with faculty members in doctoral universities lagging quite a bit further behind than those in master’s universities or baccalaureate colleges.
It’s noteworthy that the salary disadvantage for public-sector faculty members increased beginning in 2010–11, after the recession in the national economy was technically over. Continued large and rising differentials in faculty salaries between public and private colleges and universities reflect the reductions in state support for higher education described above.
It’s important to bear in mind that these figures represent the average salary disadvantage for a public-sector faculty member in a given year. As noted in the first section of this report, the average salary increase in public institutions was also lower this year, and that has been true for many years. So for the individual, the earnings deficiency accumulates over the course of a career. The pipelines into academic positions are long, ranging through college and graduate school and sometimes through postdoctoral fellowships or visiting assistant professor positions. But higher education is a service industry, and as such its labor resources are among the most valuable on campus. Colleges and universities that ignore this point and attempt to underpay their faculty for the work they perform will increasingly confront labor markets where it is difficult to hire and retain the best faculty and where talented graduate students who could have been great faculty members choose nonacademic careers instead.
The salary disadvantage experienced by faculty members at public colleges and universities, and the continued growth in exploitative contingent employment practices, are thus matters of significant public policy. The disinvestment from fully supported and compensated faculty positions in the public sector means that the majority of students will be deprived of the most engaged instructors and mentors. Our elected leaders consistently proclaim that investing in higher education is a state and national imperative, yet the data on state appropriations and public-private faculty salary disparities belie these proclamations. Public officials need to hear from their constituents about the value of higher education, and, importantly, about the critical role of faculty members in providing that education.
We encourage all of our readers to get involved, take action, and “spread the news.”
The presentation of full-time faculty salary data in this report would not have been possible without data supplied by administrative offices of colleges and universities across the country. The data collection is carried out entirely by the AAUP Research Office, and research assistant Sam Dunietz played a key role in ensuring that the data submitted are as accurate as possible. Respondents to the survey know him as a helpful and courteous voice on the other end of the telephone, or perhaps by means of an e-mail exchange. We join our colleagues in expressing our gratitude to Sam for his excellent work. We also acknowledge the support and leadership of the organizations in the Coalition on the Academic Workforce and especially those individuals on the CAW survey workgroup, without whose efforts our knowledge of the working conditions faced by our colleagues in contingent appointments would be immeasurably weaker.
1. A Portrait of Part-Time Faculty Members (Coalition on the Academic Workforce, 2012), http://www.academicworkforce.org/CAW_portrait_2012.pdf.
2. Ibid., 48, table 38.
3. The institutional categories in tables C through G are for each respondent’s full-time academic employer. Some respondents also taught additional courses elsewhere, but compensation, working conditions, and benefits for those institutions are not included in the analysis presented here.
4. Portrait of Part-Time Faculty, 48, table 38.
5. Jack H. Schuster and Martin J. Finkelstein, The American Faculty: The Restructuring of Academic Work and Careers (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), 222; emphasis in the original.
6. The CAW questionnaire used the label “distance”; we can infer that in most cases this means an online course or course component.
7. Donna M. Desrochers and Rita J. Kirshstein, College Spending in a Turbulent Decade: Findings from the Delta Cost Project (Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research, 2012), 3, http://www.deltacostproject.org/pdfs/Delta-Cost-College-Spending-In-A-Tu....
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Trump picks David Shulkin to lead Department of Veterans Affairs
Posted: 10:36 AM, Jan 11, 2017
<p>President-elect Donald Trump has tapped David Shulkin to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, he announced during a news conference Wednesday, January 11, 2017. Shulkin is the VA's current undersecretary for health, a position in which he oversaw more than 1,700 health care sites across the United States.</p>
(CNN) -- President-elect Donald Trump has tapped David Shulkin to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, he announced Wednesday.
"I appointed today the head secretary of the Veterans Administration, David Shulkin," Trump said during his news conference at Trump Tower in New York. "We'll do a news release in a little while, I'll tell you about David, he's fantastic. He's fantastic. He will do a truly great job. One of the commitments i've made is that we're going to straighten out the whole situation for our veterans."
Shulkin is the VA's current undersecretary for health, a position in which he oversaw more than 1,700 health care sites across the United States.
Before joining the VA, Shulkin was president and CEO of the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and president of the Morristown Medical Center.
He was also the chief medical officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
The announcement means Trump has chosen nominees for 20 of his 21 Cabinet posts -- with the position of secretary of agriculture left to fill.
Veterans' care advocates had said they'd seen clear signs of progress and had lobbied Trump to keep current VA Secretary Robert McDonald in the post.
Trump had pledged on the campaign trail to dramatically overhaul the VA. In elevating a current Obama administration appointee, it's not clear whether those plans have changed.
After joining the VA in 2015, Shulkin -- who is not a veteran -- pushed an initiative to expand nurses' authority to provide care, part of an effort to reduce the VA's backlog.
"My number one imperative is to address the access issue among veterans," he told The Washington Post in 2016. "What we know about American medicine is that our supply of health-care professionals is not equally distributed. In rural areas, we have severe shortages. I've seen firsthand how difficult it is to recruit to some of the areas where our veterans live. We have a shortage of both nurses and physicians. We are recruiting thousands of doctors and advanced-practice nurses."
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Once the strategic Schwerpunkt had been identified, the attack could commence, using the concept of Kesselschlacht (“cauldron battle”). A frontal attack would immobilize the enemy while forces on the flanks would execute a double envelopment, forming a pocket called a Kessel (“cauldron”) around the enemy. Once surrounded, the opposing army, demoralized and with no chance of escape, would face the choice of annihilation or surrender.
Killing on a mass scale using gas chambers or gas vans was the main difference between the extermination and concentration camps.[269] From the end of 1941, the Germans built six extermination camps in occupied Poland: Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Majdanek, Chełmno, and the three Operation Reinhard camps at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka II.[44][270] Maly Trostenets, a concentration camp in the Reichskommissariat Ostland, became a killing centre in 1942.[44] Gerlach writes that over three million Jews were murdered in 1942, the year that "marked the peak" of the mass murder of Jews.[271] At least 1.4 million of these were in the General Government area of Poland.[272]
Although many people responded with obstructionism and doubt, several rescue operations were run throughout Axis-controlled Europe. Some were the work of prominent individuals like Raoul Wallenberg and Carl Lutz who worked largely alone while other operations were far more complex. A network of Catholic bishops and clergymen organized local protests and shelter campaigns throughout much of Europe that are today estimated to have saved 860,000 lives. Danish fishermen clandestinely ferried more than 7,000 Jews into neutral Sweden while the French town of Chambon-sur-Lignon sheltered between 3,000 and 5,000 refugees.
His grip on German society tightened and those who publicly objected to Nazi policies were often sentenced to hard labour in the rapidly expanding concentration camp system. Jews were subjected to further laws restricting their rights, but rising anti-Semitism in Europe wasn’t limited to Germany. In the UK, Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists gained support from sections of the public and press, even filling the Royal Albert Hall in April.
The German invasion of France, with subsidiary attacks on Belgium and the Netherlands, consisted of two phases, Operation Yellow (Fall Gelb) and Operation Red (Fall Rot). Yellow opened with a feint conducted against the Netherlands and Belgium by two armoured corps and paratroopers. Most of the German armoured forces were placed in Panzer Group von Kleist, which attacked through the Ardennes, a lightly defended sector that the French planned to reinforce if need be, before the Germans could bring up heavy and siege artillery.[85][h] There was no time for such a reinforcement to be sent, for the Germans did not wait for siege artillery but reached the Meuse and achieved a breakthrough at the Battle of Sedan in three days.[86]
^ Jump up to: a b Dan Stone (Histories of the Holocaust, 2010): "Europe's Romany (Gypsy) population was also the victim of genocide under the Nazis. Many other population groups, notably Poles, Ukrainians, and Soviet prisoners of war were killed in huge numbers, and smaller groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Black Germans, and homosexuals suffered terribly under Nazi rule. The evidence suggests that the Slav nations of Europe were also destined, had Germany won the war, to become victims of systematic mass murder; and even the terrible brutality of the occupation in eastern Europe, especially in Poland, can be understood as genocidal according to the definition put forward by Raphael Lemkin in his major study, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (1944), the book that introduced the term 'genocide' to our vocabulary. Part of the reason for today's understanding, though, is a correct assessment of the fact that for the Nazis the Jews were regarded in a kind of 'metaphysical' way; they were not just considered as racially inferior (like Romanies), deviants (like homosexuals) or enemy nationals standing in the way of German colonial expression (like Slavs). ... [T]he Jews were to some extent outside of the racial scheme as defined by racial philosophers and anthropologists. They were not mere Untermenschen (sub-humans) ... but were regarded as a Gegenrasse: "a 'counter-race', that is to say, not really human at all. ... 'Holocaust', then, refers to the genocide of the Jews, which by no means excludes an understanding that other groups—notably Romanies and Slavs—were victims of genocide. Indeed ... the murder of the Jews, although a project in its own right, cannot be properly historically situated without understanding the 'Nazi empire' with its grandiose demographic plans."[32]
[Steinlauf says] ‘…even in this place one can survive, and therefore one must want to survive, to tell the story, to bear witness; and that to survive we must force ourselves to save at least the skeleton, the scaffolding, the form of civilisation. We are slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death, but… … we must certainly wash our faces without soap in dirty water and dry ourselves on our jackets…. …for dignity… We must walk erect, without dragging our feet… …to remain alive, not to begin to die.’”
Of the 430,000 sent to the first death camp at Bełżec in Poland, there were only two survivors. 700,000 were killed at Treblinka in just five months. In July, Himmler ordered that all Jews in key areas of Poland, except for those needed for essential labour, were to be killed by the end of the year. Most were. Despite Allied intelligence receiving detailed reports of the mass murders in Europe, the public reaction in Britain was largely a mixture of apathy and disbelief.
During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived racial and biological inferiority: Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others). Other groups were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.
Nearly all lectures concerned the strategic uses of airpower; virtually none discussed tactical co-operation with the Army. Similarly in the military journals, emphasis centred on 'strategic’ bombing. The prestigious Militärwissenschaftliche Rundeschau, the War Ministry's journal, which was founded in 1936, published a number of theoretical pieces on future developments in air warfare. Nearly all discussed the use of strategic airpower, some emphasising that aspect of air warfare to the exclusion of others. One author commented that European military powers were increasingly making the bomber force the heart of their airpower. The manoeuvrability and technical capability of the next generation of bombers would be ’as unstoppable as the flight of a shell.[140]
When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, triggering World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered that the Polish leadership and intelligentsia be destroyed.[16] Approximately 65,000 civilians, viewed as inferior to the Aryan master race, had been killed by the end of 1939. In addition to leaders of Polish society, the Nazis killed Jews, prostitutes, the Roma, and the mentally ill.[17][18] SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, then head of the Gestapo, ordered on 21 September 1939 that Polish Jews be rounded up and concentrated into cities with good rail links. Initially the intention was to deport them to points further east, or possibly to Madagascar.[19] Two years later, in June 1941, in an attempt to obtain new territory, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.[8]
The Jews killed represented around one third of the world population of Jews,[398] and about two-thirds of European Jewry, based on an estimate of 9.7 million Jews in Europe at the start of the war.[399] Much of the uncertainty stems from the lack of a reliable figure for the number of Jews in Europe in 1939, numerous border changes that make avoiding double-counting of victims difficult, lack of accurate records from the perpetrators, and uncertainty about whether deaths occurring months after liberation, but caused by the persecution, should be counted.[392]
That month, Himmler ordered the evacuation of all camps, charging camp commanders with "making sure that not a single prisoner from the concentration camps falls alive into the hands of the enemy".[239] Beginning on 17 January, 56,000–58,000 Auschwitz detainees—over 20,000 from Auschwitz I and II, over 30,000 from subcamps, and two-thirds of them Jews—were evacuated under guard, largely on foot, in severe winter conditions, heading west.[240][241] Around 2,200 were evacuated by rail from two subcamps; fewer than 9,000 were left behind, deemed too sick to move.[242] During the marches, camp staff shot anyone too sick or exhausted to continue, or anyone stopping to urinate or tie a shoelace. SS officers walked behind the marchers killing anyone lagging behind who had not already been shot.[234] Peter Longerich estimates that a quarter of the detainees were thus killed.[235] Those who managed to walk to Wodzisław Śląski and Gliwice were sent on open freight cars, without food, to concentration camps in Germany: Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenburg, Gross-Rosen, Mauthausen, Dora-Mittelbau, Ravensbruck, and Sachsenhausen.[243]
The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as the seed of a new Jewish revival (see the experience of history.) In the course of the practical execution of the final solution, Europe will be combed through from west to east. Germany proper, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, will have to be handled first due to the housing problem and additional social and political necessities. The evacuated Jews will first be sent, group by group, to so-called transit ghettos, from which they will be transported to the East.[256]
After 1942, the economic functions of the camps, previously secondary to their penal and terror functions, came to the fore. Forced labor of camp prisoners became commonplace.[182] The guards became much more brutal, and the death rate increased as the guards not only beat and starved prisoners, but killed them more frequently.[186] Vernichtung durch Arbeit ("extermination through labor") was a policy—camp inmates would literally be worked to death, or to physical exhaustion, at which point they would be gassed or shot.[187] The Germans estimated the average prisoner's lifespan in a concentration camp at three months, due to lack of food and clothing, constant epidemics, and frequent punishments for the most minor transgressions.[188] The shifts were long and often involved exposure to dangerous materials.[189]
The novel was adapted as the 1993 movie Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg. After acquiring the rights in 1983, Spielberg felt he was not ready emotionally or professionally to tackle the project, and he offered the rights to several other directors.[95] After he read a script for the project prepared by Steven Zaillian for Martin Scorsese, he decided to trade him Cape Fear for the opportunity to do the Schindler biography.[96] In the film, the character of Itzhak Stern (played by Ben Kingsley) is a composite of Stern, Bankier, and Pemper.[27] Liam Neeson was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Schindler in the film,[97] which won seven Oscars, including Best Picture.[98]
Throughout the spring and summer of 1940, the German army expanded Hitler’s empire in Europe, conquering Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Beginning in 1941, Jews from all over the continent, as well as hundreds of thousands of European Gypsies, were transported to the Polish ghettoes. The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 marked a new level of brutality in warfare. Mobile killing units called Einsatzgruppenwould murder more than 500,000 Soviet Jews and others (usually by shooting) over the course of the German occupation.
Moreover, one of the key successes of the Blitzkrieg was its use of FM radios – these enabled the forces that had broken through the lines to inform support units as to their progress and relay information on what was behind enemy lines. This superior intelligence was a crucial tool at the German’s disposal and allowed them to perform far more organised assaults on the enemy. The communication technology promoted quick, decentralised decision-making that was key to this speed focused approach.
Because they refused to pledge allegiance to the Nazi party or serve in the military, Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps, where they were identified by purple triangles and given the option of renouncing their faith and submitting to the state's authority.[447] The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that between 2,700 and 3,300 were sent to the camps, where 1,400 died;[411] in The Holocaust Encyclopedia (2001), Sybil Milton estimates that 10,000 were sent and 2,500 died.[412] According to German historian Detlef Garbe, "no other religious movement resisted the pressure to conform to National Socialism with comparable unanimity and steadfastness."[448]
The superior race was the "Aryans," the Germans. The word Aryan, "derived from the study of linguistics, which started in the eighteenth century and at some point determined that the Indo-Germanic (also known as Aryan) languages were superior in their structures, variety, and vocabulary to the Semitic languages that had evolved in the Near East. This judgment led to a certain conjecture about the character of the peoples who spoke these languages; the conclusion was that the 'Aryan' peoples were likewise superior to the 'Semitic' ones" (Leni Yahil, The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, New York: Oxford University Press, 1990, p. 36).
I have been to Dachau and Auschwitz and as sad as it is to see the movies and books, it is a much sadder reality to see these attrocities up close. Anyone who does not believe that this unhuman behaviour(idiot guy from last post!) took place should take a closer look at their education and spoiled life today in comparison to how it was back then to fear your life every day. It wasn't just jews and religion shouldn't have mattered,but it did. It was human beings been murdered out of pure blind hatred and ignorance.
Auschwitz was the Nazis' largest concentration and extermination camp. It was founded on Himmler's orders on the 27th of April 1940, close to the small Polish town of Oświęcim. The first inmates - mostly Polish political prisoners - were brought there in June 1940 and were used for slave labour. By March 1941, more than 10 000 prisoners were registered here. The Auschwitz camp was renowned for its harshness, with the most infamous being Block 11 (known as the bunker), where prisoners received the cruellest punishments. In front of it stood the „black wall“, the site of frequent executions. The inscription „Arbeit macht frei!“ above the main gate of the original camp at Auschwitz was merely a cynical mockery.
Auschwitz inmates began working at the plant, known as Buna Werke and IG Auschwitz, in April 1941, and demolishing houses in Monowitz to make way for it. By May, because of a shortage of trucks, several hundred of them were rising at 3 am to walk there twice a day from Auschwitz I.[53] Anticipating that a long line of exhausted inmates walking through the town of Oświęcim might harm German-Polish relations, the inmates were told to shave daily, make sure they were clean, and sing as they walked. From late July they were taken there by train on freight wagons.[54] Because of the difficulty of moving them, including during the winter, IG Farben decided to build a camp at the plant. The first inmates moved there on 30 October 1942.[55] Known as KL Auschwitz III-Aussenlager (Auschwitz III-subcamps), and later as Monowitz concentration camp,[56] it was the first concentration camp to be financed and built by private industry.[57]
As the mass shootings continued in Russia, the Germans began to search for new methods of mass murder. This was driven by a need to have a more efficient method than simply shooting millions of victims. Himmler also feared that the mass shootings were causing psychological problems in the SS. His concerns were shared by his subordinates in the field.[251] In December 1939 and January 1940, another method besides shooting was tried. Experimental gas vans equipped with gas cylinders and a sealed compartment were used to kill the disabled and mentally-ill in occupied Poland.[252] Similar vans, but using the exhaust fumes rather than bottled gas, were introduced to the Chełmno extermination camp in December 1941,[253] and some were used in the occupied Soviet Union, for example in smaller clearing actions in the Minsk ghetto.[254] They also were used for murder in Yugoslavia.[255]
Blitzkrieg, (German: “lightning war”) military tactic calculated to create psychological shock and resultant disorganization in enemy forces through the employment of surprise, speed, and superiority in matériel or firepower. Blitzkrieg is most commonly associated with Nazi Germany during World War II even though numerous combatants used its techniques in that war. Its origins, however, can be traced to the 19th century, and elements of blitzkrieg have been used in present-day conflicts.
In general, subcamps that produced or processed agricultural goods were administratively subordinate to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Subcamps whose prisoners were deployed at industrial and armaments production or in extractive industries (e.g., coal mining, quarry work) were administratively subordinate to Auschwitz-Monowitz. This division of administrative responsibility was formalized after November 1943.
When Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, they found these pitiful survivors as well as 836,525 items of women clothing, 348,820 items of men clothing, 43,525 pairs of shoes and vast numbers of toothbrushes, glasses and other personal effects. They found also 460 artificial limbs and seven tons of human hair shaved from Jews before they were murdered. The human hairs were used by the company "Alex Zink" (located in Bavaria) for confection of cloth. This company was paying the human hairs 50 pfennig/kilo.
In October 1941, work began on Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, located outside the nearby village of Brzezinka. There the SS later developed a huge concentration camp and extermination complex that included some 300 prison barracks; four large so-called Badeanstalten (German: “bathhouses”), in which prisoners were gassed to death; Leichenkeller (“corpse cellars”), in which their bodies were stored; and Einäscherungsöfen (“cremating ovens”). Another camp (Buna-Monowitz), near the village of Dwory, later called Auschwitz III, became in May 1942 a slave-labour camp supplying workers for the nearby chemical and synthetic-rubber works of IG Farben. In addition, Auschwitz became the nexus of a complex of 45 smaller subcamps in the region, most of which housed slave labourers. During most of the period from 1940 to 1945, the commandant of the central Auschwitz camps was SS-Hauptsturmführer (Capt.) and ultimately SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieut. Col.) Rudolf Franz Hoess (Höss).
^ Nothing appeared in Luftwaffe 'doctrine' stipulating "terror" as a major operational factor. The method of "terror", was denied to German aerial operations (and strategic bombing methods) by the Luftwaffe field manual The Conduct of Air Operations, Regulation 16, issued in 1935 (Corum 1992, pp. 167–169). Regulation 16 denied "terror" operations against civilians, and it was not until 1942 when indiscriminate "terror" operations, in which terror and civilian casualties become the primary target, took place (Corum 1997, pp. 7, 143).
Germany’s plans to attack the USSR were heavily influenced by Adolf Hitler’s racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Bolshevik postulates, which he had largely formulated much earlier in his agenda-setting book Mein Kampf. Joseph Stalin failed to fully take into account the highly ideological nature of Hitler’s political and military-strategic thinking; this led to mistakes in interpreting the Third Reich’s plans vis-a-vis the Soviet Union.
The Holocaust Resource Center provides you with easy access to in-depth information about the Holocaust. It can help you integrating the info you already have. The Center has a large collection of sources from the Yad Vashem Archives, including various kinds of original Holocaust-era documentation provided in English including letters and diaries written by Jews during the Holocaust, numerous photographs and original documents. More...
This is the punishment card of a prisoner in Auschwitz-Birkenau, dated 24 October 1942. In German it reads: “Trotz verbot hinter haus 7 seine Grossnotdurft verrichtete”. In English this means: “Despite being forbidden, the prisoner went behind block 7 to relieve themselves”. The prisoner would have been severely punished for going to the toilet without permission as a warning to other prisoners.
Hitler quickly moved to cement his power by suspending many civil liberties and allowing imprisonment without trial. By March, the first Nazi concentration camp was established at Dachau, not to imprison Jews but to hold political dissidents. Further laws targeted Jews, restricting the jobs they could hold and revoking their German citizenship. Anti-Semitic sentiment increased as the Jewish population was blamed for many of Germany's recent and historical problems.
[t]hroughout the Polish Campaign, the employment of the mechanised units revealed the idea that they were intended solely to ease the advance and to support the activities of the infantry....Thus, any strategic exploitation of the armoured idea was still-born. The paralysis of command and the breakdown of morale were not made the ultimate aim of the ... German ground and air forces, and were only incidental by-products of the traditional maneuvers of rapid encirclement and of the supporting activities of the flying artillery of the Luftwaffe, both of which had as their purpose the physical destruction of the enemy troops. Such was the Vernichtungsgedanke of the Polish campaign.[82]
The gate house at Birkeanu is located three kilometers, or about two miles, from the main Auschwitz camp, known as Auschwitz I. To get to the Birkenau camp from the main camp, turn right after exiting from the parking lot. The road curves to the left and goes over the railroad overpass where Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler stood on March 1, 1941 when he selected the village of Birkenau to be the location of a new addition to the Auschwitz camp. At that time, the invasion of the Soviet Union and the plan to exterminate all the Jews in Europe was only months away.
The site was first suggested as a concentration camp for Polish prisoners by SS-Oberführer Arpad Wigand, an aide to Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, Higher SS and Police Leader for Silesia. After this part of Poland was annexed by Nazi Germany, Oświęcim (Auschwitz) was located administratively in Germany, in the Province of Upper Silesia, Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz, Landkreis Bielitz. Bach-Zelewski had been searching for a site to hold prisoners in the Silesia region, as the local prisons were filled to capacity. Richard Glücks, head of the Concentration Camps Inspectorate, sent former Sachsenhausen concentration camp commandant Walter Eisfeld to inspect the site, which housed 16 dilapidated one-story buildings that had served as an Austrian and later Polish Army barracks and a camp for transient workers.[3] German citizens were offered tax concessions and other benefits if they would relocate to the area.[33] By October 1943, more than 6,000 Reich Germans had arrived.[34] The Nazis planned to build a model modern residential area for incoming Germans, including schools, playing fields, and other amenities. Some of the plans went forward, including the construction of several hundred apartments, but many were never fully implemented.[35] Basic amenities such as water and sewage disposal were inadequate, and water-borne illnesses were commonplace.[36]
In the summer of 1942, when Germany launched another offensive in the southern USSR against Stalingrad and the Caucasus, the Soviets again lost tremendous amounts of territory, only to counter-attack once more during winter. German gains were ultimately limited by Hitler diverting forces from the attack on Stalingrad itself and seeking to pursue a drive to the Caucasus oilfields simultaneously as opposed to subsequently as the original plan had envisaged.
Modern blitzkrieg was introduced by the German Army as a rational response to the stagnant trench warfare that characterized most of the fighting on the Western Front during World War I. Battles like Verdun or Passchendaele proved the war was nothing more than a meat grinder, and attacks from both sides only further proved the futility of the conflict.
For a better sense of reality, Spielberg originally wanted to shoot the movie completely in Polish and German using subtitles, but he eventually decided against it because he felt that it would take away from the urgency and importance of the images onscreen. According to Spielberg, “I wanted people to watch the images, not read the subtitles. There’s too much safety in reading. It would have been an excuse to take their eyes off the screen and watch something else.”
i've been doing about the holocaust at school and we have been given a project to do on auschwitz and im going to visit there next easter, i cried at all the films and i am dreading what im going to be like when i visit the camp. the thought of all that happening makes me really annoyed, and what hitler done to them poor jews and the other minority groups was a terrible terrible thing but im so interested and just want to know more and more!
In early April 2009, a carbon copy of one version of the list was discovered at the State Library of New South Wales by workers combing through boxes of materials collected by author Thomas Keneally. The 13-page document, yellow and fragile, was filed among research notes and original newspaper clippings. The document was given to Keneally in 1980 by Pfefferberg when he was persuading him to write Schindler's story. This version of the list contains 801 names and is dated 18 April 1945; Pfefferberg is listed as worker number 173. Several authentic versions of the list exist, because the names were re-typed several times as conditions changed in the hectic days at the end of the war.[103]
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On April 21, 1945, the evacuation of the camp began. The prisoners were first deloused and then moved into the barracks of the German Army Training Center next to the camp. Two days later, 6 detachments of the Red Cross arrived to help. The epidemics had yet to be brought under control and 400 to 500 prisoners were still dying each day, but by April 28, the German guards had caught up with the burial of the bodies and the mass graves were completed.
In June 1933, Theodor Eicke became the camp commander. He introduced a regime which essentially consisted of the systematic terrorisation of prisoners and an attempt to humiliate them as thoroughly as possible. Eicke had the camp surrounded by an electric fence with watch towers. Dachau also became a „murder school“ for SS members. In 1934, Eicke became the inspector of all the concentration camps. The system he developed was introduced, with certain modifications, into the other camps.
After President Paul von Hindenburg was asked by the Nazi-controlled German Cabinet that night to use his emergency powers under Article 48 of the German Constitution to suspend certain civil rights, 2,000 leading Communists throughout Germany were imprisoned without formal charges being brought against them and without a trial. They were held in abandoned buildings such as the camp in an old brewery in Oranienburg; this camp was rebuilt in 1936 as the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On March 21, 1933, Communists in the town of Dachau were imprisoned in the building which now houses the New Gallery for modern art. Other Communists were sent to prisons such as the federal prison at Landsberg am Lech, where Hitler himself had formerly been a prisoner after his failed Putsch in 1923.
The secretary of the Communist party, Deputy Joseph Goetz, was frequently taken out for a cross-examination. He always returned to his cell covered with wounds, and the orderly at the barracks refused to dress them. Every night at 10 o’clock, Steinbrenner, one of the overseers, entered the cell with five other special policemen equipped with long oxtails. They beat him into unconsciousness. The mattress, drenched with blood, was put out to dry in the sun every second day. After having gone through this torture for more than two weeks, Goetz was killed in his cell. His coffin was made in the cabinet-makers’ workshop by his former friends. In the meantime, his corpse lay in a coal cellar, the bleeding head wrapped in newspapers.
On March 7, 1933, an important law was passed by the newly-elected German Congress, which called for all high-level government officials in the German states to be appointed by the Nazis and for all state government positions to be supervised by the Nazis in the event of an emergency. Germany was already in an emergency situation and Article 48 of the German Constitution had already been invoked. Under this new law, Heinrich Himmler was appointed the acting Chief of Police in Munich, although his real job was Reichsführer-SS, the leader of Hitler's elite private Army.
Dachau has a well-developed road infrastructure for regional transportation. The city is connected to Bundesautobahn 8 (via Fürstenfeldbruck) with Munich-Pasing southbound, and westbound terminating in Karlsruhe. Dachau is connected to Bundesautobahn 92 via Oberschleißheim connector which is located east of Dachau. Bundesautobahn 99 is connected with Dachau via Karlsfeld which is located south of Dachau. Bundesstraße No. 471 (via Rothschwaige) connects eastbound towns such as the neighboring city Fürstenfeldbruck and westbound towns such as Oberschleißheim. Bundesstraße No. 304 starts in the south of the city and connects southbound towns until the German-Austrian border. Additionally, several Staatsstraßen connect Dachau with surrounding towns and villages.
Some 28,000 prisoners died of disease and other causes in the weeks after the British army liberated the camp on April 15, 1945. The British were forced to bury thousands of corpses in mass graves hastily excavated on the site. Bergen-Belsen was the first major Nazi concentration camp to be liberated by the Western Allies, and its horrors gained instant notoriety. Forty-eight members of the camp staff were tried and 11 of them, including SS commandant Josef Kramer, the “Beast of Belsen,” were sentenced to death by a British military court and hanged. After the war, Bergen-Belsen became the largest displaced-person camp in Germany. Most of its residents later immigrated to Israel.
In spite of the Jewish "holy war" against the Nazis, there were no Jews sent to a concentration camp solely because they were Jewish during the first five and a half years that the Nazi concentration camps were in existence. Jews were sent to Dachau from day one, but it was because they were Communists or trade union leaders, not because they were Jewish. The first Jews to be taken into "protective custody," simply because they were Jews, were arrested during the pogrom on the night of November 9th & 10th in 1938, which the Nazis named Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).
^ Nazi Science – The Dachau Hypothermia Experiments. Robert L. Berger, N Engl J Med 1990; 322:1435–1440 May 17, 1990 DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199005173222006. quote: "On analysis, the Dachau hypothermia study has all the ingredients of a scientific fraud, and rejection of the data on purely scientific grounds is inevitable. They cannot advance science or save human lives." ... "Future citations are inappropriate on scientific grounds."
Although Dachau was in existence for 12 years, most people know only the horror described by the soldiers in the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division and the 45th Thunderbird Infantry Division after they had liberated the camp on April 29, 1945. Three weeks before, on April 9, 1945, a bomb had hit the camp, knocking out a water main and the source of electricity. There was no running water in the camp and drinking water had to be brought in by trucks. There was no water for the showers, nor any water to flush the toilets. There was however, one last vestige of what the camp had been like before Germany was bombed back to the Stone age: fresh flowers in a vase in the undressing room for the gas chamber.
Prisoners transported to these extermination camps were told to undress so they could shower. Rather than a shower, the prisoners were herded into gas chambers and killed. (At Chelmno, the prisoners were herded into gas vans instead of gas chambers.) Auschwitz was the largest concentration and extermination camp built. It is estimated that 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz.
Gun wrote that the International Committee of Dachau, headed by Patrick O'Leary, had set up its headquarters at 9 a.m. on April 29th in Block 1, the barracks building that was the closest to the gate house of the prison compound. This was the building that housed the camp library. Gun also wrote that Lt. Heinrich Skodzensky had arrived at Dachau on April 27th and on the day of liberation, he had remained in the gate house all that day.
Instead, Marcel Goldberg, a Jewish “clerk” assigned to the new Plaszow commandant Arnold Buscher, played the largest role in compiling the transport list. It is generally agreed that Buscher, an SS officer, “could not have cared, within certain numerical limits, who went on the list,” according to Thomas Keneally. It’s also agreed that Goldberg engaged in a certain amount of corruption in who he added to the list and, moreover, that there was not even one “list” but rather different lists that emerged over a series of months.
Here over an acre of ground lay dead and dying people. You could not see which was which. ... The living lay with their heads against the corpses and around them moved the awful, ghostly procession of emaciated, aimless people, with nothing to do and with no hope of life, unable to move out of your way, unable to look at the terrible sights around them ... Babies had been born here, tiny wizened things that could not live. ... A mother, driven mad, screamed at a British sentry to give her milk for her child, and thrust the tiny mite into his arms. ... He opened the bundle and found the baby had been dead for days. This day at Belsen was the most horrible of my life.
In the 1930s, the political landscape of Europe changed dramatically with the rise of Adolf Hitler and the German Nazi Party. Sensing the shift in political momentum, Schindler joined a local pro-Nazi organization and began collecting intelligence for the German military. He was arrested by Czech authorities in 1938, charged with spying and sentenced to death but was released shortly thereafter, when Germany annexed the Sudetenland. Schindler would take advantage of this second chance.
At the same time this little boy miraculously survived the same camp, Bergen-Belsen! More than any other photos, this famous photograph captures the essence of the horrors of Holocaust: Warsaw 1943, a little Jewish boy dressed in short trousers and a cap, raises his arms in surrender with lowered eyes, as a Nazi soldier trains his machine gun on him.
The wounds of the Holocaust–known in Hebrew as Shoah, or catastrophe–were slow to heal. Survivors of the camps found it nearly impossible to return home, as in many cases they had lost their families and been denounced by their non-Jewish neighbors. As a result, the late 1940s saw an unprecedented number of refugees, POWs and other displaced populations moving across Europe.
All the major death camps were behind the "Iron Curtain" and few Americans had even heard of them before the fall of Communism; the six death camps, Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec and Chelmno were all located in what is now Poland, and they were controlled by the Communists. For many years in America, Dachau was the name most associated with the Holocaust, not Auschwitz.
When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, it gained control of about 2 million Jews in the occupied territory. The rest of Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union, which had control of the rest of Poland's pre-war population of 3.3–3.5 million Jews.[141] German plans for Poland included expelling gentile Poles from large areas, confining Jews, and settling Germans on the emptied lands.[142] The Germans initiated a policy of sending Jews from all territories they had recently annexed (Austria, Czechoslovakia, and western Poland) to the central section of Poland, which they called the General Government. There, the Jews were concentrated in ghettos in major cities,[143] chosen for their railway lines to facilitate later deportation.[144] Food supplies were restricted, public hygiene was difficult, and the inhabitants were often subjected to forced labor.[145] In the work camps and ghettos, at least half a million Jews died of starvation, disease, and poor living conditions.[146] Jeremy Black writes that the ghettos were not intended, in 1939, as a step towards the extermination of the Jews. Instead, they were viewed as part of a policy of creating a territorial reservation to contain them.[147][l]
The first thing that the American liberators saw at Dachau was the "death train" filled with the dead bodies of prisoners who had been evacuated three weeks before from Buchenwald; the train had been strafed by American planes, but the soldiers assumed that these prisoners had been machine-gunned to death by the guards after the train arrived. After the war, Hans Merbach, the German soldier who was in charge of this train was put on trial by an American Military Tribunal at Dachau.
Moshe Peer has spent many years writing a first-person account of the horror he witnessed at Bergen-Belsen. He recalls the separation from his parents as excruciating. But surviving the horrors of the camp quickly became a priority: `There were pieces of corpses lying around and there were bodies lying there, some alive and some dead,` Peer recalled, `Bergen-Belsen was worse than Auschwitz because there people were gassed right away so they didn't suffer a long time ...` Russian prisoners were kept in an open-air camp and were given no food or water. `Some people went mad with hunger and turned to cannibalism.`
To prosecute the leaders of the Holocaust, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg was formed in 1946. The U.S., the UK, the Soviet Union and France each supplied two judges (a primary and an alternate) and a prosecution team for the trial. Twelve leading Nazi officials were sentenced to death for the crimes they had committed, while three received life sentences in prison, and four had prison terms for up to twenty years.
By January 1946, 18,000 members of the SS were being confined at the camp along with an additional 12,000 persons, including deserters from the Russian army. The occupants of one barracks rioted as 271 of the Russian deserters were to be loaded onto trains that would return them to Russian-controlled lands, as agreed at the Yalta Conference. Ten of the soldiers, who had been captured in German Army uniforms, committed suicide during the riot. Twenty-one others attempted suicide, apparently with razor blades. Many had "cracked heads" inflicted by 500 American and Polish guards, in the attempt to bring the situation under control. Inmates barricaded themselves inside and set fire to the building, tore off their clothing, and linked arms to resist being removed from the building. Some begged American soldiers to shoot them. Tear gas was used by the soldiers before rushing the building.[103]
Most Holocaust historians define the Holocaust as the enactment, between 1941 and 1945, of the German state policy to exterminate the European Jews.[a] In Teaching the Holocaust (2015), Michael Gray, a specialist in Holocaust education,[27] offers three definitions: (a) "the persecution and murder of Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945", which views the events of Kristallnacht in Germany in 1938 as an early phase of the Holocaust; (b) "the systematic mass murder of the Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1941 and 1945", which acknowledges the shift in German policy in 1941 toward the extermination of the Jewish people in Europe; and (c) "the persecution and murder of various groups by the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945", which includes all the Nazis' victims. The third definition fails, Gray writes, to acknowledge that only the Jewish people were singled out for annihilation.[28]
Owing to the severe refugee crisis mainly caused by the expulsions of ethnic Germans, the camp was from late 1948 used to house 2000 Germans from Czechoslovakia (mainly from the Sudetenland). This settlement was called Dachau-East, and remained until the mid-1960s.[113] During this time, former prisoners banded together to erect a memorial on the site of the camp, finding it unbelievable that there were still people (refugees) living in the former camp.[citation needed]
After a day’s journey, we arrived at Bergen-Belsen. This concentration camp was hopelessly overcrowded and we were not accepted. The right hand no longer knew what the left hand was doing, so we were sent to an adjoining Wehrmacht compound. As the soldiers of the Wehrmacht marched out, we moved in. The confusion was unbelievable; this time it was disorder with German perfection. We were moved into clean barracks, equipped for human beings with excellent bathrooms and clean beds stacked three on top of each other. After all we had experienced in the preceding year, this was sheer luxury. There was no mention of the usual camp rituals, no roll calls and no work, but also no food.
There are different methods of execution. People are shot by firing squads, killed by an "air hammer", and poisoned by gas in special gas chambers. Prisoners condemned to death by the Gestapo are murdered by the first two methods. The third method, the gas chamber, is employed for those who are ill or incapable of work and those who have been brought in transports especially for the purpose/Soviet prisoners of war, and, recently Jews.[333]
The opening of the camp, with a capacity for 5,000 prisoners was announced by Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer SS at a press conference held on 20 March 1933. The first group of so-called protective-custody, consisting mainly of Communists and Social Democrats was brought to the camp on 22 March 1933. They were guarded by Bavarian state police until the camp was taken over by the SS on 11 April 1933.
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah,[b] was a genocide during World War II in which Nazi Germany, aided by local collaborators, systematically murdered some six million European Jews—around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe—between 1941 and 1945.[a][c] Jews were targeted for extermination as part of a larger event during the Holocaust era, in which Germany and its collaborators persecuted and murdered other groups, including Slavs (chiefly ethnic Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, and Soviet citizens), the Roma, the "incurably sick", political and religious dissenters such as communists and Jehovah's Witnesses, and gay men.[d] Taking into account all the victims of Nazi persecution, the death toll rises to over 17 million.[3]
In August 1944, a new section was created and this became the so-called "women's camp". By November 1944 this camp received around 9,000 women and young girls. Most of those who were able to work stayed only for a short while and were then sent on to other concentration camps or slave-labour camps. The first women interned there were Poles, arrested after the failed Warsaw Uprising. Others were Jewish women from Poland or Hungary, transferred from Auschwitz.[12] Among those who never left Bergen-Belsen were Margot and Anne Frank, who died there in February or March 1945.[13]
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Treatment inside the concentration camps were horrible. Prisoners were given tiny rations of food and forced into physical labor. They often slept more than three to a bed without pillows or blankets, even in the winter months. In many concentration camps, Nazi doctors conducted medical experiments on prisoners against their will, in many cases killing the prisoners in the process.
There was "practically no resistance" in the ghettos in Poland by the end of 1942, according to Peter Longerich.[305] Raul Hilberg accounted for this by evoking the history of Jewish persecution: as had been the case before, appealing to their oppressors and complying with orders might avoid inflaming the situation until the onslaught abated.[306] Henri Michel argued that resistance consisted not only of physical opposition but of any activity that gave the Jews humanity in inhumane conditions, while Yehuda Bauer defined resistance as actions that in any way opposed the German directives, laws, or conduct.[307] Hilberg cautioned against overstating the extent of Jewish resistance, arguing that turning isolated incidents into resistance elevates the slaughter of innocent people into some kind of battle, diminishes the heroism of those who took active measures to resist, and deflects questions about the survival strategies and leadership of the Jewish community.[308] Timothy Snyder noted that it was only during the three months after the deportations of July–September 1942 that agreement on the need for armed resistance was reached.[309]
Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, opened in 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) became chancellor of Germany. Located in southern Germany, Dachau initially housed political prisoners; however, it eventually evolved into a death camp where countless thousands of Jews died from malnutrition, disease and overwork or were executed. In addition to Jews, the camp’s prisoners included members of other groups Hitler considered unfit for the new Germany, including artists, intellectuals, the physically and mentally handicapped and homosexuals. With the advent of World War II (1939-45), some able-bodied Dachau prisoners were used as slave labor to manufacture weapons and other materials for Germany’s war efforts. Additionally, some Dachau detainees were subjected to brutal medical experiments by the Nazis. U.S. military forces liberated Dachau in late April 1945.
"The persecution of Jews in occupied Poland meant that we could see horror emerging gradually in many ways. In 1939, they were forced to wear Jewish stars, and people were herded and shut up into ghettos. Then, in the years '41 and '42 there was plenty of public evidence of pure sadism. With people behaving like pigs, I felt the Jews were being destroyed. I had to help them. There was no choice."
There were massive efforts to help the survivors with food and medical treatment, led by Brigadier Glyn Hughes, Deputy Director of Medical Services of 2nd Army, and James Johnston, the Senior Medical Officer. Despite their efforts, about another 9,000 died in April, and by the end of June 1945 another 4,000 had died. (After liberation 13,994 people died.)[10]:305
For the role, Spielberg cast then relatively unknown Irish actor Liam Neeson, whom the director had seen in a Broadway play called Anna Christie. “Liam was the closest in my experience of what Schindler was like,” Spielberg told The New York Times. “His charm, the way women love him, his strength. He actually looks a little bit like Schindler, the same height, although Schindler was a rotund man,” he said. “If I had made the movie in 1964, I would have cast Gert Frobe, the late German actor. That’s what he looked like.”
Just west of the concentration camp at Dachau, a large SS army garrison was set up in 1936 on the grounds of the former gunpowder factory. This facility, which was four or five times the size of the Dachau prison camp, included an officers' training school where German SS soldiers were educated to be administrators. Some of the famous graduates of this school were Adolf Eichmann, who became the head of Hitler's Race and Resettlement office, and Rudolf Hoess, the infamous Commandant of Auschwitz, who confessed that 2.5 million Jews had been gassed while he was in charge there, from May 1940 through November 1943.
Oskar Schindler was born into a German Catholic family on April 28, 1908. After attending trade schools, he worked for his father’s farm machinery company. He worked for German intelligence and later joined the Nazi Party. An opportunist businessman with a taste for the finer things in life, he seemed an unlikely candidate to become a wartime hero. During the war, however, he operated a factory that employed more than 1,000 Polish Jews, saving them from concentration camps and extermination. In 1993 his story was made into the Steven Spielberg feature film Schindler's List.
But Auschwitz-Birkenau became more than a concentration camp. In the spring of 1942 gas chambers were built at Birkenau and mass transports of Jews began to arrive. Some of the new arrivals were inducted into the camp as registered prisoners, but the great majority were gassed immediately. These gassing operations were greatly expanded in the spring of 1943 with the construction of four purpose-built gas chamber and crematorium complexes, which included such refinements as electric lifts to carry bodies up to the crematoria. Each crematorium could handle 2,000 victims daily. In a nearby group of barracks, nicknamed 'Canada' by the prisoners, victims' belongings were sorted for transportation to the Reich. The victims' hair was used to stuff mattresses; gold teeth were melted down and the gold deposited to an SS account.
The British troops who liberated the Belsen camp three weeks before the end of the war were shocked and disgusted by the many unburied corpses and dying inmates they found there. Horrific photos and films of the camp's emaciated corpses and mortally sick inmates were quickly circulated around the globe. Within weeks the British military occupation newspaper proclaimed: "The story of that greatest of all exhibitions of 'man's inhumanity to man' which was Belsen Concentration Camp is known throughout the world." (note 1)
^ Goebbels noted: "Regarding the Jewish question, the Fuhrer is determined to clear the table. He warned the Jews that if they were to cause another world war, it would lead to their own destruction. Those were not empty words. Now the world war has come. The destruction of the Jews must be its necessary consequence. We cannot be sentimental about it. It is not for us to feel sympathy for the Jews. We should have sympathy rather with our own German people. If the German people have to sacrifice 160,000 victims in yet another campaign in the east, then those responsible for this bloody conflict will have to pay for it with their lives."[262]
Young boys of the Hitler Youth were brought to see the dead bodies on the train. Mutilated corpses of SS guards, who had been killed by the Americans after discovering the train, were lying nearby. Before the corpses in the camp were finally given a decent burial, the stench could be smelled up to a mile away, according to the American liberators. When the bodies of the typhus victims were finally taken to the cemetery on a hill called Leitenberg for burial by the citizens of Dachau, the horse-drawn wagons had to be driven slowly though the town, on the orders of the American military, so that the town's people would be forced to confront the horror of what the Nazis had done.
Oscar Schindler was all that stood between them and death at the hands of the Nazis. A man all too human, full of flaws like the rest of us. The unlikeliest of all role models - a Nazi, a womanisor, a war profiteer. An ordinary man who answered the call of conscience. Even in the worst of circumstances Oscar Schindler did extraordinary things, matched by no one. He remained true to his Jews, the workers he referred to as my children. He kept the SS out and everyone alive.
Policies differed widely among Germany’s Balkan allies. In Romania it was primarily the Romanians themselves who slaughtered the country’s Jews. Toward the end of the war, however, when the defeat of Germany was all but certain, the Romanian government found more value in living Jews who could be held for ransom or used as leverage with the West. Bulgaria deported Jews from neighbouring Thrace and Macedonia, which it occupied, but government leaders faced stiff opposition to the deportation of native Bulgarian Jews, who were regarded as fellow citizens.
Initially lacking sufficient manpower, the British allowed the Hungarians to remain in charge and only commandant Kramer was arrested. Subsequently, SS and Hungarian guards shot and killed some of the starving prisoners who were trying to get their hands on food supplies from the store houses.[10] The British started to provide emergency medical care, clothing and food. Immediately following the liberation, revenge killings took place in the satellite camp the SS had created in the area of the army barracks that later became Hohne-Camp. Around 15,000 prisoners from Mittelbau-Dora had been relocated there in early April. These prisoners were in much better physical condition than most of the others. Some of these men turned on those who had been their overseers at Mittelbau. About 170 of these "Kapos" were killed on April 15, 1945.[20]:62 On April 20, four German fighter planes attacked the camp, damaging the water supply and killing three British medical orderlies.[10]:261
In Dachau, as in other Nazi camps, German physicians performed medical experiments on prisoners, including high-altitude experiments using a decompression chamber, malaria and tuberculosis experiments, hypothermia experiments, and experiments testing new medications. Prisoners were also forced to test methods of making seawater potable and of halting excessive bleeding. Hundreds of prisoners died or were permanently crippled as a result of these experiments.
Schindler was the eldest of two children born to a farm machinery manufacturer and his wife. Svitavy, where the family lived, was located in the Sudetenland, and, though the region passed from the Austrian Empire to Czechoslovakia in 1918, the Schindlers were ethnically German. After leaving school in 1924, Schindler sold farm equipment for his father, during which time he met his future wife, Emilie, whom he married in 1928. He took a variety of odd jobs, including running a driving school, before enlisting for a stint in the Czechoslovak army. Schindler then briefly lived in Berlin before returning to Czechoslovakia to start a poultry farm, which he soon abandoned. A self-professed sybarite, he spent much of his time drinking and philandering.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain paid a historic visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in June 2015. The Queen visited the camp on the last day of an official state visit to Germany to pay respects to the individuals exterminated there by the Nazis during the Holocaust. It was the first time that the 89-year-old Monarch had visited a concentration camp. The Queen met with British army veterans, who shared horror stories of their first impressions upon arrival at the camp in April 1945. Official sources reported that the Queen had a “personal and reflective” visit to the camp, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip.
One of the most horrific terms in history was used by Nazi Germany to designate human beings whose lives were unimportant, or those who should be killed outright: Lebensunwertes Leben, or "life unworthy of life". The phrase was applied to the mentally impaired and later to the "racially inferior," or "sexually deviant," as well as to "enemies of the state" both internal and external. From very early in the war, part of Nazi policy was to murder civilians en masse, especially targeting Jews. Later in the war, this policy grew into Hitler's "final solution", the complete extermination of the Jews. It began with Einsatzgruppen death squads in the East, which killed some 1,000,000 people in numerous massacres, and continued in concentration camps where prisoners were actively denied proper food and health care. It culminated in the construction of extermination camps -- government facilities whose entire purpose was the systematic murder and disposal of massive numbers of people. In 1945, as advancing Allied troops began discovering these camps, they found the results of these policies: hundreds of thousands of starving and sick prisoners locked in with thousands of dead bodies. They encountered evidence of gas chambers and high-volume crematoriums, as well as thousands of mass graves, documentation of awful medical experimentation, and much more. The Nazis killed more than 10 million people in this manner, including 6 million Jews. (This entry is Part 18 of a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II)
Miconic 10 was introduced in 1996, and was the industry first of an innovative type of control systems now known as hall call destination system. The system features keypads and LED screens instead of hall button stations whereby riders enter their desired floor before entering an elevator car. The system then directs the rider to a specific elevator car while grouping riders traveling to nearby floors together. Schindler claims this minimizes the number of stops, and decreases congestion and travel time—especially during peak traffic periods. The system was continuously further developed and new functions were amended eventually evolving in systems which guarantee highly efficient and energy saving traffic management. Especially in high rise buildings traffic management systems like Miconic 10 and Schindler ID allow building designers to maximize rentable space and transport efficiency. Moreover, access control becomes feasible.
Ghettos were intended to be temporary until the Jews were deported to other locations, which never happened. Instead, the inhabitants were sent to extermination camps. The ghettos were, in effect, immensely crowded prisons serving as instruments of "slow, passive murder."[216] Though the Warsaw Ghetto contained 30% of Warsaw's population, it occupied only 2.5% of the city's area, averaging over 9 people per room.[217] Between 1940 and 1942, starvation and disease, especially typhoid, killed many in the ghettos.[218] Over 43,000 Warsaw ghetto residents, or one in ten of the total population, died in 1941;[219] in Theresienstadt, more than half the residents died in 1942.[216]
On 24 April 1945, just days before the U.S. troops arrived at the camp, the commandant and a strong guard forced between 6,000 and 7,000 surviving inmates – on a death march from Dachau south to Eurasburg, then eastwards towards the Tegernsee; liberated two days after Hitler's death by a Nisei-ethnicity U.S. Army artillery battalion.[43] Any prisoners who could not keep up on the six-day march were shot. Many others died of exhaustion, hunger and exposure.[44] Months later a mass grave containing 1,071 prisoners was found along the route.[45][46]
On April 15, 1945, the British army liberated Belsen. However, it was unable to rescue the inmates. On that liberation day the British found 10,000 unburied corpses and 40,000 sick and dying prisoners. Among the 40,000 living inmates, 28,000 died after the liberation. The inmates were abandoned in Bergen-Belsen by the Germans, left behind for death to come.
The first proceedings against the Nazi war criminals after the war were conducted by a British Military Tribunal at Lüneburg, Germany in November 1945. Some of the staff members of Bergen-Belsen had previously worked at Auschwitz-Birkenau and former prisoners of that camp, who had been transferred to Bergen-Belsen in January 1945, testified about the crimes committed at Auschwitz-Birkenau at the Lüneburg proceedings. Dr. Klein was charged with selecting prisoners for the gas chamber at Auschwitz, but there were no charges, involving a gas chamber at Bergen-Belsen, against any of the accused.
Established in March 1933, the Dachau concentration camp was the first regular concentration camp established by the Nazis in Germany. The camp was located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria, which is located in southern Germany. Heinrich Himmler, in his capacity as police president of Munich, officially described the camp as “the first concentration camp for political prisoners.”
While Bergen-Belsen contained no gas chambers, an estimated 50,000 people died of starvation, overwork, disease, brutality and sadistic medical experiments. By April 1945, more than 60,000 prisoners were incarcerated in Belsen in two camps located 1.5 miles apart. Camp No. 2 was opened only a few weeks before the liberation on the site of a military hospital and barracks.
At the end of the war, between 50,000 and 100,000 Jewish survivors were living in three zones of occupation: American, British and Soviet. Within a year, that figure grew to about 200,000. The American zone of occupation contained more than 90 percent of the Jewish displaced persons (DPs). The Jewish DPs would not and could not return to their homes, which brought back such horrible memories and still held the threat of danger from anti-Semitic neighbors. Thus, they languished in DP camps until emigration could be arranged to Palestine, and later Israel, the United States, South America and other countries. The last DP camp closed in 1957 (David S. Wyman, "The United States," in David S. Wyman, ed., The World Reacts to the Holocaust, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, pp. 70710).
The camp administration was located in the gatehouse at the main entrance. The camp area had a group of support buildings, containing the kitchen, laundry, showers, and workshops, as well as a prison block (Bunker). The courtyard between the prison and the central kitchen was used for the summary execution of prisoners. An electrified barbed-wire fence, a ditch, and a wall with seven guard towers surrounded the camp.
In 1942, the crematorium area was constructed next to the main camp. It included the old crematorium and the new crematorium (Barrack X) with a gas chamber. There is no credible evidence that the gas chamber in Barrack X was used to murder human beings. Instead, prisoners underwent “selection”; those who were judged too sick or weak to continue working were sent to the Hartheim “euthanasia” killing center near Linz, Austria. Several thousand Dachau prisoners were murdered at Hartheim. Further, the SS used the firing range and the gallows in the crematoria area as killing sites for prisoners.
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In town there are still parts of the Schleißheimer canal remaining today. This canal was built in the mid-eighteenth century as part of the northern Munich canal system to which the Nymphenburger Canal belongs as well. It functioned as a transportation route between Dachau and Schleißheim. The building material recovered from the demolition of three wings of the Dachau castle was transported to Schleißheim this way.
Men and women lived in separate barracks, but members of the same family were permitted to meet. Most of the prisoners in the “star camp” were Jews from the Netherlands. In the period from January to September 1944, eight transports from the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands arrived in Bergen- Belsen, made up of 3,670 persons who were classified as “exchange Jews.”
One prisoner, Aaron, son of a Bamberg attorney, died of his injuries a few days later. The official cause of death, which in every other case was agreed upon between the camp commanders and the Special Police, could not in this case be made to appear as “Shot while trying to escape,” or “Found hanged in his cell,” since the body showed no marks of shooting or hanging. The Commander, however, found a way out of this fix: that very night the shed in which the corpse was laid out was burned down. The corpse was sufficiently scorched to destroy the marks of the beating, and the official announcement read, “Died of heart disease.” The body was delivered to the parents in a sealed coffin.
Few visitors to the camp bother to visit the town of Dachau which has grown from 13,000 residents in 1945 to 50,000 residents. Dachau is now multicultural and has a diverse population which includes many people who are not ethnic German. Older residents of Dachau are quick to point out that the majority of the people in the town did not vote for Hitler when he ran for President of Germany in 1932.
Nazi racial policy aimed at forcing Jews to emigrate.[109] Fifty thousand German Jews had left Germany by the end of 1934,[110] and by the end of 1938, approximately half the German Jewish population had left the country.[109] Among the prominent Jews who left was the conductor Bruno Walter, who fled after being told that the hall of the Berlin Philharmonic would be burned down if he conducted a concert there.[111] Albert Einstein, who was in the United States when Hitler came to power, never returned to Germany; he was expelled from the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and the Prussian Academy of Sciences and his citizenship was revoked.[112] Other Jewish scientists, including Gustav Hertz, lost their teaching positions and left the country.[113] On 12 March 1938, Germany annexed Austria. Austrian Nazis broke into Jewish shops, stole from Jewish homes and businesses, and forced Jews to perform humiliating acts such as scrubbing the streets or cleaning toilets.[114] Jewish businesses were "Aryanized", and all the legal restrictions on Jews in Germany were imposed.[115] In August that year, Adolf Eichmann was put in charge of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna (Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Wien). About 100,000 Austrian Jews had left the country by May 1939, including Sigmund Freud and his family, who moved to London.[116] The Évian Conference was held in July 1938 by 32 countries as an attempt to help the increased refugees from Germany, but aside from establishing the largely ineffectual Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, little was accomplished and most countries participating did not increase the number of refugees they would accept.[117]
Some Germans, even some Nazis, dissented from the murder of the Jews and came to their aid. The most famous was Oskar Schindler, a Nazi businessman, who had set up operations using involuntary labour in German-occupied Poland in order to profit from the war. Eventually, he moved to protect his Jewish workers from deportation to extermination camps. In all occupied countries, there were individuals who came to the rescue of Jews, offering a place to hide, some food, or shelter for days or weeks or even for the duration of the war. Most of the rescuers did not see their actions as heroic but felt bound to the Jews by a common sense of humanity. Israel later recognized rescuers with honorary citizenship and commemoration at Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the Holocaust.
Mr. Le Drieullenac said that as he helped to drag the bodies he noticed many had wounds at the top of the thigh. “First I thought they were gunshot wounds,” he told. the court to-day. “Then I saw that they could not be and a friend told me that men were cutting bits out of the bodies to eat them. When I went into the but to another body I saw a man take a knife and, looking to see if he was unobserved, cut a piece of flesh from the body and put it in his mouth. You can imagine the condition to which the men had been reduced to run the risk of eating flesh taken from a body turned black.”
General Patch's 12th Armored Division, forging their way towards the Austrian border, uncovered horrors at a German prison camp at Schwabmunchen, southwest of Munich. Over 4,000 slave laborers, all Jews of various nationalities, were housed in the prison. The internees were burned alive by guards who set fire to the crude huts in which the prisoners slept, shooting any who tried to escape. Sprawled here in the prison enclosure are the burnt bodies of some of the Jewish slave laborers uncovered by the US 7th Army at Schwabmunchen, May 1, 1945. #
Anti-Jewish measures were introduced in Slovakia, which would later deport its Jews to German concentration and extermination camps.[175] Bulgaria introduced anti-Jewish measures in 1940 and 1941, including the requirement to wear a yellow star, the banning of mixed marriages, and the loss of property. Bulgaria annexed Thrace and Macedonia, and in February 1943 agreed to deport 20,000 Jews to Treblinka; all 11,000 Jews from the annexed territories were sent to their deaths, and plans were made to deport an additional 6,000–8,000 Bulgarian Jews from Sofia to meet the quota.[176] When the plans became public, the Orthodox Church and many Bulgarians protested, and King Boris III canceled the deportation of Jews native to Bulgaria.[177] Instead, they were expelled to the interior pending further decision.[176] Although Hungary expelled Jews who were not citizens from its newly annexed lands in 1941, it did not deport most of its Jews[178] until the German invasion of Hungary in March 1944. Between 15 May and 9 July 1944, 440,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz.[179] In late 1944 in Budapest, nearly 80,000 Jews were killed by the Hungarian Arrow Cross battalions.[180]
Shortly after the outbreak of war in September 1939, thirty-one-year-old Schindler showed up in occupied Krakow. The ancient city, home to some 60,000 Jews and seat of the German occupation administration, the Generalgouvernement, proved highly attractive to German entrepreneurs, hoping to capitalize on the misfortunes of the subjugated country and make a fortune. Naturally cunning and none too scrupulous, Schindler appeared at first to thrive in these surroundings. In October 1939, he took over a run-down enamelware factory that had previously belonged to a Jew. He cleverly maneuvered his steps- acting upon the shrewd commercial advice of a Polish-Jewish accountant, Isaak Stern - and began to build himself a fortune. The small concern in Zablocie outside Krakow, which started producing kitchenware for the German army, began to grow by leaps and bounds. After only three months it already had a task-force of some 250 Polish workers, among them seven Jews. By the end of 1942, it had expanded into a mammoth enamel and ammunitions production plant, occupying some 45,000 square meters and employing almost 800 men and women. Of these, 370 were Jews from the Krakow ghetto, which the Germans had established after they entered the city.
On April 15, 1945, British troops entered Bergen Belsen. They liberated some 60,000 prisoners, many of whom were on the verge of death. During the first weeks after liberation, close to 500 people in Bergen Belsen died every day. From liberation day until June 20, an estimated 14,000 people died from the terrible conditions that had been inflicted on them by the Nazis during the war.
Oskar Schindler was born April 28, 1908, in the city of Svitavy [Zwittau], in the Sudetenland, now part of the Czech Republic. The eldest of two children, Oskar’s father, Hans Schindler, was a farm-equipment manufacturer, his mother, Louisa, was a homemaker. Oscar and his sister, Elfriede, attended a German-language school where he was popular, though not an exceptional student. Forgoing the opportunity to attend college, he went to trade school instead, taking courses in several areas.
Paradoxically, at the same time that Germany tried to rid itself of its Jews via forced emigration, its territorial expansions kept bringing more Jews under its control. Germany annexed Austria in March 1938 and the Sudetenland (now in the Czech Republic) in September 1938. It established control over the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now in the Czech Republic) in March 1939. When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, the “Jewish question” became urgent. When the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union was complete, more than two million more Jews had come under German control. For a time, the Nazis considered shipping the Jews to the island of Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa, but discarded the plan as impractical; the Nazis had not prevailed in the Battle of Britain, the seas had become a war zone, and the resources required for such a massive deportation were scarce.
These outdoor 'wild' camps were little more than improvised barbed-wire stockades where prisoners were subjected to military-style drills and random beatings. The storm troopers soon discovered that desperate family members would gather up whatever money they could find to ransom their loved ones out of the place. Thus began a lucrative practice of hauling off prisoners simply to hold them until sufficient ransom was received.
Gun did not explain how these 300 prisoners died on the night of the liberation of the camp, but he did write that the prisoners had weapons and that the International Committee of Dachau had made sure that the prisoners who had cooperated with the German guards were not allowed to escape. Others may have died from eating too much of the canned food and chocolate given to them by the Americans, and undoubtedly there were deaths among the 900 prisoners sick with typhus in the infirmary.
"Ceremony Recalls Victims of Bergen-Belsen," The Week in Germany (New York: German Information Center), April 27, 1990, p. 6; A figure of 50,000 is also given in Time magazine, April 29, 1985, p. 21; According to a stone memorial at the Belsen camp site, 30,000 Jews were "exterminated" there; A semi-official Polish account published in 1980 reported 48,000 Belsen "victims." Czeslaw Pilichowski, No Time Limit for These Crimes (Warsaw: Interpress, 1980), pp. 154-155.
At the dawn of World War II, Hitler came to believe that restricting the daily activities of Jews in Germany and the countries annexed by the Nazis would not resolve what he considered to be his “Jewish problem.” Nor would isolated acts of violence against Jews serve a purpose. Instead, the chancellor determined that the sole solution would be the elimination of every European Jew.
SS-Hauptsturmführer Adolf Haas became the first commandant of the Bergen-Belsen camp in the spring of 1943; SS-Hauptsturmführer Josef Kramer replaced him in December 1944. The number of SS functionaries in Bergen-Belsen varied over the course of the camp's existence. The SS succeeded in destroying many of the camp's files, including those on personnel.
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I had become aware of antisemitism from a young age, when my uncle had his head chopped in two when he was attacked by fascists while driving up to Novograd where he lived. While his attacker was convicted, he was hardly punished, and continued to live opposite my uncle’s wife and child. But as a child you don’t think about these things all that much. My family had a wood and coal business and, like most people in those days, my father was self-employed. As they started to restrict us, he lost his licence to operate and then he faced the enormous task of trying to find work. Meanwhile, my mother was at home trying to keep the family together, with all of us all involved in domestic life.
When we were in Gusen penal camp, my father, who was 50, one day just gave up and said he couldn’t continue. From that moment I was totally alone. In February 1945 they moved us to Gunskirchen, Upper Austria. It was here that I witnessed starving people eating human flesh. We were liberated by Americans and Canadians in Gunskirchen. The Germans had simply left the camp, and with an absence of drama we just walked through the gates. The first thing I did was to knock on a local resident’s door and ask for permission to take a shower. Somehow, I managed to meet up with my brothers, David and Shuli. We had no desire to return to Dej, to the people who had betrayed us.
The Polish government in 2009 asked European nations, the United States and Israel to contribute to a fund from which the Auschwitz museum could draw $6 million to $7 million a year for restoration projects, on top of its more than $10 million annual operating budget. Last December, the German government pledged $87 million—about half of the $170 million target endowment. (Auschwitz officials had not received a U.S. pledge by the time this magazine went to press.)
I started looking for work as soon as I arrived, finding a job earning $35 (£23) a week and by 1955 I had opened up my own business in Brooklyn, Queens, as a tailor and I think I did OK. I worked for some dignitaries, including Henry Kissinger and Nancy Reagan, and I also did a lot for the Johnsons. I’d be putting together the garments designed for them by the likes of Oscar de la Renta and Geoffrey Beene.
Other Nazis—especially those at the time associated with the party's more radical wing such as Gregor Strasser, Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler—rejected Italian Fascism, accusing it of being too conservative or capitalist.[126] Alfred Rosenberg condemned Italian Fascism for being racially confused and having influences from philosemitism.[127] Strasser criticised the policy of Führerprinzip as being created by Mussolini and considered its presence in Nazism as a foreign imported idea.[128] Throughout the relationship between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, a number of lower-ranking Nazis scornfully viewed fascism as a conservative movement that lacked a full revolutionary potential.[128]
Hitler denounced the Old Testament as "Satan's Bible" and utilising components of the New Testament he attempted to prove that Jesus was both an Aryan and an antisemite by citing passages such as John 8:44 where he noted that Jesus is yelling at "the Jews", as well as saying to them "your father is the devil" and the Cleansing of the Temple, which describes Jesus' whipping of the "Children of the Devil".[209] Hitler claimed that the New Testament included distortions by Paul the Apostle, who Hitler described as a "mass-murderer turned saint".[209] In their propaganda, the Nazis utilised the writings of Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer. They publicly displayed an original edition of Luther's On the Jews and their Lies during the annual Nuremberg rallies.[210][211] The Nazis endorsed the pro-Nazi Protestant German Christians organization.
By the fall of 1933, Otto Frank moved to Amsterdam, where he established a small but successful company that produced a gelling substance used to make jam. After staying behind in Germany with her grandmother in the city of Aachen, Anne joined her parents and sister Margot (1926-45) in the Dutch capital in February 1934. In 1935, Anne started school in Amsterdam and earned a reputation as an energetic, popular girl.
Another important figure in pre-Nazi völkisch thinking was Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl, whose work—Land und Leute (Land and People, written between 1857 and 1863)—collectively tied the organic German Volk to its native landscape and nature, a pairing which stood in stark opposition to the mechanical and materialistic civilization which was then developing as a result of industrialization.[63] Geographers Friedrich Ratzel and Karl Haushofer borrowed from Riehl's work as did Nazi ideologues Alfred Rosenberg and Paul Schultze-Naumburg, both of whom employed some of Riehl's philosophy in arguing that "each nation-state was an organism that required a particular living space in order to survive".[64] Riehl's influence is overtly discernible in the Blut und Boden (Blood and Soil) philosophy introduced by Oswald Spengler, which the Nazi agriculturalist Walther Darré and other prominent Nazis adopted.[65][66]
Auschwitz II (or "Birkenau") was completed in early 1942. Birkenau was built approximately 1.9 miles (3 km) away from Auschwitz I and was the real killing center of the Auschwitz death camp. It was in Birkenau where the dreaded selections were carried out on the ramp and where the sophisticated and camouflaged gas chambers laid in waiting. Birkenau, much larger than Auschwitz I, housed the most prisoners and included areas for women and Gypsies.
From 1942, members of the Bureau of Information and Propaganda of the Warsaw-area Home Army published reports based on the accounts of escapees. The first was a fictional memoir, "Oświęcim. Pamiętnik więźnia" ("Auschwitz: Diary of a prisoner") by Halina Krahelska, published in April 1942 in Warsaw.[206] Also published in 1942 was the pamphlet Obóz śmierci (Camp of Death) by Natalia Zarembina,[207] and W piekle (In Hell) by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, founder of Żegota.[208] In March 1944, the Polish Labor Group in New York published a report in English, "Oswiecim, Camp of Death (Underground Report)", with a foreword by Florence Jaffray Harriman, which described the gassing of prisoners from 1942.[209]
The Nazis were hostile to the idea of social welfare in principle, upholding instead the social Darwinist concept that the weak and feeble should perish.[237] They condemned the welfare system of the Weimar Republic as well as private charity, accusing them of supporting people regarded as racially inferior and weak, who should have been weeded out in the process of natural selection.[238] Nevertheless, faced with the mass unemployment and poverty of the Great Depression, the Nazis found it necessary to set up charitable institutions to help racially-pure Germans in order to maintain popular support, while arguing that this represented "racial self-help" and not indiscriminate charity or universal social welfare.[239] Thus, Nazi programs such as the Winter Relief of the German People and the broader National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV) were organized as quasi-private institutions, officially relying on private donations from Germans to help others of their race - although in practice those who refused to donate could face severe consequences.[240] Unlike the social welfare institutions of the Weimar Republic and the Christian charities, the NSV distributed assistance on explicitly racial grounds. It provided support only to those who were "racially sound, capable of and willing to work, politically reliable, and willing and able to reproduce." Non-Aryans were excluded, as well as the "work-shy", "asocials" and the "hereditarily ill."[241] Successful efforts were made to get middle-class women involved in social work assisting large families,[174] and the Winter Relief campaigns acted as a ritual to generate public sympathy.[242]
Nevertheless, the Nazi Party's voter base consisted mainly of farmers and the middle class, including groups such as Weimar government officials, school teachers, doctors, clerks, self-employed businessmen, salesmen, retired officers, engineers, and students.[176] Their demands included lower taxes, higher prices for food, restrictions on department stores and consumer co-operatives, and reductions in social services and wages.[177] The need to maintain the support of these groups made it difficult for the Nazis to appeal to the working class, since the working class often had opposite demands.[177]
Prior to the Nazi ascension to power, Hitler often blamed moral degradation on Rassenschande ("racial defilement"), a way to assure his followers of his continuing antisemitism, which had been toned down for popular consumption.[96] Prior to the induction of the Nuremberg Race Laws in 1935 by the Nazis, many German nationalists such as Roland Freisler strongly supported laws to ban Rassenschande between Aryans and Jews as racial treason.[96] Even before the laws were officially passed, the Nazis banned sexual relations and marriages between party members and Jews.[97] Party members found guilty of Rassenschande were severely punished; some party members were even sentenced to death.[98]
Carl Clauberg was put to trial in the Soviet Union and sentenced to 25 years. 7 years later, he was pardonned under the returnee arrangement between Bonn and Moscow and went back to West Germany. Upon returning he held a press conference and boasted of his scientific work at Auschwitz. After survivor groups protested, Clauberg was finally arrested in 1955 but died in August 1957, shortly before his trial should have started.
Otto Frank gave the diary to the historian Annie Romein-Verschoor, who tried unsuccessfully to have it published. She then gave it to her husband Jan Romein, who wrote an article about it, titled "Kinderstem" ("A Child's Voice"), which was published in the newspaper Het Parool on 3 April 1946. He wrote that the diary "stammered out in a child's voice, embodies all the hideousness of fascism, more so than all the evidence at Nuremberg put together."[69] His article attracted attention from publishers, and the diary was published in the Netherlands as Het Achterhuis (The Annex) in 1947,[70] followed by five more printings by 1950.[71]
But, in May 1944, a railroad spur line was built right into the camp to accelerate and simplify the handling of the tens of thousands of Hungarian and other Jews deported in the spring and summer of 1944. From then to November 1944, when all the other death camps had been abandoned, Birkenau surpassed all previous records for mass killing. The Hungarian deportations and the liquidation of the remaining Polish ghettos, such as Lodz, resulted in the gassing of 585,000 Jews. This period made Auschwitz-Birkenau into the most notorious killing site of all time.
From there we were sent to Buna (an Auschwitz sub camp) and were set to work. After a few months there, I went for a walk one day and saw a few tomatoes growing. I was starving by then so tried to take them and was given a beating so severe, I don’t know how I survived it. I still have the scars from it today. I was taken to hospital and knew the rule: if you didn’t heal in four to five days, they’d take you to Birkenau and you’d be gassed.
Fascism was a major influence on Nazism. The seizure of power by Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini in the March on Rome in 1922 drew admiration by Hitler, who less than a month later had begun to model himself and the Nazi Party upon Mussolini and the Fascists.[121] Hitler presented the Nazis as a form of German fascism.[122][123] In November 1923, the Nazis attempted a "March on Berlin" modelled after the March on Rome, which resulted in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.[124]
Birkenau (Auschwitz II) was established in October 1941, three kilometers from Auschwitz. Exterminations in Birkenau began in March 1942. There were four gas chambers in the camp that used Zyklon B gas. Until November 1944 the camp functioned as a factory for mass murder, receiving transports from all over Europe. Most of those brought to the camp were Jews and nearly all were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Only a small percentage was selected for labor in the camp itself, labor in munitions plants at satellite camps, or the “medical” experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele and his staff. In the spring and summer of 1944, the rate of extermination was increased as the Jews of Hungary and the Lodz ghetto were brought to the camp.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler effectively supported mercantilism in the belief that economic resources from their respective territories should be seized by force, as he believed that the policy of Lebensraum would provide Germany with such economically valuable territories.[265] Hitler argued that the only means to maintain economic security was to have direct control over resources rather than being forced to rely on world trade.[265] He claimed that war to gain such resources was the only means to surpass the failing capitalist economic system.[265]
Major public works projects financed with deficit spending included the construction of a network of Autobahnen and providing funding for programmes initiated by the previous government for housing and agricultural improvements.[258] To stimulate the construction industry, credit was offered to private businesses and subsidies were made available for home purchases and repairs.[259] On the condition that the wife would leave the workforce, a loan of up to 1,000 Reichsmarks could be accessed by young couples of Aryan descent who intended to marry, and the amount that had to be repaid was reduced by 25 percent for each child born.[260] The caveat that the woman had to remain unemployed outside the home was dropped by 1937 due to a shortage of skilled labourers.[261]
By then, Auschwitz was serving as both a slave labor facility and a death camp. As the Germans brought more and more Jews from all over Europe to the sprawling complex, SS doctors selected the fittest for work. Other prisoners were sent directly to Birkenau’s gas chambers for what was euphemistically known as a special action. “Was present for first time at a special action at 3 a.m. By comparison Dante’s Inferno seems almost a comedy,” SS doctor Johann Paul Kremer wrote in his diary on September 2, 1942. Camp records show the transport he observed contained 957 Jews from France; only 12 men and 27 women were selected for work.
Women were a cornerstone of Nazi social policy. The Nazis opposed the feminist movement, claiming that it was the creation of Jewish intellectuals, instead advocating a patriarchal society in which the German woman would recognise that her "world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home".[264] Feminist groups were shut down or incorporated into the National Socialist Women's League, which coordinated groups throughout the country to promote motherhood and household activities. Courses were offered on childrearing, sewing, and cooking. Prominent feminists, including Anita Augspurg, Lida Gustava Heymann, and Helene Stöcker, felt forced to live in exile.[367] The League published the NS-Frauen-Warte, the only NSDAP-approved women's magazine in Nazi Germany;[368] despite some propaganda aspects, it was predominantly an ordinary woman's magazine.[369]
By 1942, Auschwitz had mushroomed into a massive money-making complex that included the original camp, Birkenau (officially labeled Auschwitz II) and 40 sub-camps (mostly located in and around the nearby town of Oswiecim but some as far away as Czechoslovakia) set up to provide slave labor for chemical plants, coal mines, shoe factories and other ventures. In their eagerness to carry out orders, advance their careers and line their own pockets, mid-level bureaucrats like Höss implemented what came to be known as the Holocaust.
Around 7,000 SS personnel were posted to Auschwitz during the war.[84] Of these, 4 percent of SS personnel were officers and 26 percent were non-commissioned officers, while the remainder were rank-and-file members.[85] Camp guards were members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (Death's Head Units).[86] Approximately three in four SS personnel worked in security. Others worked in the medical or political departments, in the camp headquarters, or in the economic administration, which was responsible for the property of dead prisoners.[85] SS personnel at the camp included 200 women, who worked as guards, nurses, or messengers.[80] About 120 SS personnel were assigned to the gas chambers and lived on site at the crematoria.[87]
Umbreit, Hans (2003). "Hitler's Europe: The German Sphere of Power". In Kroener, Bernhard; Müller, Rolf-Dieter; Umbreit, Hans. Germany and the Second World War, Vol. 5. Organization and Mobilization in the German Sphere of Power. Part 2: Wartime Administration, Economy, and Manpower Resources, 1942–1944/5. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820873-0.
Early one morning I met Stos, a retired architect, at his small first-floor apartment on the outskirts of Krakow. We sat in his small, dark dining room, a plate of jam-filled ginger cookies on the starched white tablecloth between us. He said he grew up in Tarnow, Poland, about 50 miles from Krakow. He remembers the day the Nazis shipped him off to Auschwitz: June 13, 1940. It had been almost a year since Germany invaded Poland and launched its campaign to destroy the nation. Following instructions issued by SS chief Reinhard Heydrich—“the leading strata of the population should be rendered harmless”—the SS killed some 20,000 Poles, mainly priests, politicians and academics, in September and October 1939. Stos was an 18-year-old Boy Scout and a member of a Catholic youth organization. Germans put him and 727 other Poles, mostly university and trade-school students, in first-class train cars and told them they were going to work on German farms.
Jews, Gypsies (Roma), homosexuals, asocials, criminals, and prisoners of war were gathered, stuffed into cattle cars on trains, and sent to Auschwitz. When the trains stopped at Auschwitz II: Birkenau, the newly arrived were told to leave all their belongings on board and were then forced to disembark from the train and gather upon the railway platform, known as "the ramp."
In 1933, when Adolf Hitler assumed power in the German government, the usage of "Nazi" diminished in Germany, although Austrian anti-Nazis continued to use the term,[18] and the use of "Nazi Germany" and "Nazi regime" was popularised by anti-Nazis and German exiles abroad. Thereafter, the term spread into other languages and eventually was brought back to Germany after World War II.[22] In English, the term is not considered slang, and has such derivatives as Nazism and denazification.
Himmler visited Auschwitz in March 1941 and commanded its enlargement to hold 30,000 prisoners. Himmler also ordered the construction of a second camp for 100,000 inmates on the site of the village of Brzezinka (Birkenau), roughly 4 km from the main camp. This massive camp was intended to be filled with captured Russian POWs who would provide the slave labor to build the SS 'utopia' in Upper Silesia. The chemical giant I G Farben expressed an interest in utilizing this labor force, too. Extensive construction work began in October 1941, under terrible conditions and with massive loss of life. About 10,000 Russian POWs died in the process.
All civilian organisations, including agricultural groups, volunteer organisations, and sports clubs, had their leadership replaced with Nazi sympathisers or party members; these civic organisations either merged with the NSDAP or faced dissolution.[29] The Nazi government declared a "Day of National Labor" for May Day 1933, and invited many trade union delegates to Berlin for celebrations. The day after, SA stormtroopers demolished union offices around the country; all trade unions were forced to dissolve and their leaders were arrested.[30] The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, passed in April, removed from their jobs all teachers, professors, judges, magistrates, and government officials who were Jewish or whose commitment to the party was suspect.[31] This meant the only non-political institutions not under control of the NSDAP were the churches.[32]
^ "Social democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism. … These organisations (ie Fascism and social democracy) are not antipodes, they are twins." (J.V. Stalin: Concerning the International Situation (September 1924), in Works, Volume 6, 1953; p. 294.) This later led Otto Wille Kuusinen to conclude that "The aims of the fascists and the social-fascists are the same." (Report To the 10th Plenum of ECCI, in International Press Correspondence, Volume 9, no.40, (20 August 1929), p. 848.)
Antisemitic legislation passed in 1933 led to the removal of all Jewish teachers, professors, and officials from the education system. Most teachers were required to belong to the Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund (NSLB; National Socialist Teachers League) and university professors were required to join the National Socialist German Lecturers.[349][350] Teachers had to take an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler, and those who failed to show sufficient conformity to party ideals were often reported by students or fellow teachers and dismissed.[351][352] Lack of funding for salaries led to many teachers leaving the profession. The average class size increased from 37 in 1927 to 43 in 1938 due to the resulting teacher shortage.[353]
Pope Pius XI had the "Mit brennender Sorge" ("With Burning Concern") encyclical smuggled into Germany for Passion Sunday 1937 and read from every pulpit as it denounced the systematic hostility of the regime toward the church.[421][427] In response, Goebbels renewed the regime's crackdown and propaganda against Catholics. Enrolment in denominational schools dropped sharply and by 1939 all such schools were disbanded or converted to public facilities.[428] Later Catholic protests included the 22 March 1942 pastoral letter by the German bishops on "The Struggle against Christianity and the Church".[429] About 30 percent of Catholic priests were disciplined by police during the Nazi era.[430][431] A vast security network spied on the activities of clergy and priests were frequently denounced, arrested or sent to concentration camps – many to the dedicated clergy barracks at Dachau.[432] In the areas of Poland annexed in 1939, the Nazis instigated a brutal suppression and systematic dismantling of the Catholic Church.[433][434]
It is surprising to me that inmates make any attempt to escape. Already in the first hours of our stay we could convince ourselves of the hopelessness of such an undertaking, being lined up as we were along the inner wall. The watchtowers were occupied by S.S. men with machine guns, and during the darkness rays of searchlights played from them. The guards in the watchtowers, provided with field glasses, were able to see each inmate who might move outside the barracks during the night hours, and they had strict orders to fire at an offender at once. Aside from these guards, mechanical contraptions made escape almost impossible. On the inner sides of the two encircling walls there were tall wire fences charged with a high-voltage current. Inside the wire fence there was a small strip of gravel, in front of which were signs bearing skull and crossbones and this inscription: 'Caution neutral zone.' The guards were instructed to shoot without warning at anybody entering this zone.
The extravagant hopes of Nazism came to an end with Germany’s defeat in 1945, after nearly six years of war. To a certain extent World War II had repeated the pattern of World War I: great initial German military successes, the forging of a large-scale coalition against Germany as the result of German ambitions and behaviour, and the eventual loss of the war because of German overreaching. Nazism as a mass movement effectively ended on April 30, 1945, when Hitler committed suicide to avoid falling into the hands of Soviet troops completing the occupation of Berlin. Out of the ruins of Nazism arose a Germany that was divided until 1990. Remnants of National Socialist ideology remained in Germany after Hitler’s suicide, and a small number of Nazi-oriented political parties and other groups were formed in West Germany from the late 1940s, though some were later banned. In the 1990s gangs of neo-Nazi youths in eastern Germany staged attacks against immigrants, desecrated Jewish cemeteries, and engaged in violent confrontations with leftists and police.
Officially, the Third Reich lasted only 12 years. The first Instrument of Surrender was signed by representatives of Nazi Germany at Reims, France on 7 May 1945. The war in Europe had come to an end. The defeat of Germany in World War II marked the end of the Nazi Germany era.[88] The party was formally abolished on 10 October 1945 by the Allied Control Council and denazification began, along with trials of major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg.[89] Part of the Potsdam Agreement called for the destruction of the Nationalist Socialist Party alongside the requirement for the reconstruction of the German political life.[90] In addition, the Control Council Law no. 2 Providing for the Termination and Liquidation of the Nazi Organization specified the abolition of 52 other Nazi affiliated and supervised organisations and prohibited their activities.[91] The denazification was carried out in Germany and continued until the onset of the Cold War.[92][93]
An elaborate bureaucracy was created to regulate imports of raw materials and finished goods with the intention of eliminating foreign competition in the German marketplace and improving the nation's balance of payments. The Nazis encouraged the development of synthetic replacements for materials such as oil and textiles.[255] As the market was experiencing a glut and prices for petroleum were low, in 1933 the Nazi government made a profit-sharing agreement with IG Farben, guaranteeing them a 5 percent return on capital invested in their synthetic oil plant at Leuna. Any profits in excess of that amount would be turned over to the Reich. By 1936, Farben regretted making the deal, as excess profits were by then being generated.[256] In another attempt to secure an adequate wartime supply of petroleum, Germany intimidated Romania into signing a trade agreement in March 1939.[257]
Prisoners received half a liter of coffee substitute or a herbal "tea" in the morning, but no food.[109] A second gong heralded roll call, when inmates had to line up outside in rows of ten to be counted. No matter how cold the weather, prisoners had to wait for the SS to arrive for the count. How long they stood there depended on the officers' mood, and whether there had been escapes or other events attracting punishment.[110] Guards might force the prisoners to squat for an hour with their hands above their heads, or hand out beatings or detention for infractions such as having a missing button or an improperly cleaned food bowl. The inmates were counted and re-counted.[111]
This stunning historical episode is faithfully rendered in James Q. Whitman’s Hitler’s American Model, a slim but consequential report on the banality of lawful evil. Whitman is a professor of comparative and criminal law at Yale Law School. (Full disclosure: I was a student in his legal history class, although we never interacted.) In his book, he asks one of those dangerous intellectual questions that are so pressing in the current political era: How could the United States, the land of liberty and constitutional republicanism, have influenced the most racist and genocidal regime of the twentieth century? Given the neo-Nazis marching in Charleston, South Carolina, and in Chemnitz, Germany, along with the mélange of fellow-travelers on the fascist spectrum—white nationalists, the alt-right—Whitman’s investigation feels urgent. He wants to know what, if anything, the United States taught the Nazis, and what this in turn says about the United States.
Uniquely at Auschwitz, prisoners were tattooed with a serial number, on their left breast for Soviet prisoners of war[97] and on the left arm for civilians.[98] Categories of prisoner were distinguishable by triangular pieces of cloth (German: Winkel) sewn onto on their jackets below their prisoner number. Political prisoners (Schutzhäftlinge or Sch), mostly Poles, had a red triangle, while criminals (Berufsverbrecher or BV) were mostly German and wore green. Asocial prisoners (Asoziale or Aso), which included vagrants, prostitutes and the Roma, wore black. Purple was for Jehovah's Witnesses (Internationale Bibelforscher-Vereinigung or IBV)'s and pink for gay men, who were mostly German.[99] An estimated 5,000–15,000 gay men prosecuted under German Penal Code Section 175 (proscribing sexual acts between men) were detained in concentration camps, of which an unknown number were sent to Auschwitz.[100] Jews wore a yellow badge, the shape of the Star of David, overlaid by a second triangle if they also belonged to a second category. The nationality of the inmate was indicated by a letter stitched onto the cloth. A racial hierarchy existed, with German prisoners at the top. Next were non-Jewish prisoners from other countries. Jewish prisoners were at the bottom.[101]
Authorities in Belgium were not aware of the pensioners’ identities, the Belgian MPs (Olivier Maingain, Stephane Crusnière, Véronique Caprasse and Daniel Senesael) said, adding that the situation was “the same in the UK, where former SS people also receive payments directly from the German länder [states] without the amounts being taxed or communicated to the British authorities”. The German embassy in London said it did not have any information about the Belgian allegations.
The Reich Forestry Office under Göring enforced regulations that required foresters to plant a variety of trees to ensure suitable habitat for wildlife, and a new Reich Animal Protection Act became law in 1933.[402] The regime enacted the Reich Nature Protection Act in 1935 to protect the natural landscape from excessive economic development. It allowed for the expropriation of privately owned land to create nature preserves and aided in long-range planning.[403] Perfunctory efforts were made to curb air pollution, but little enforcement of existing legislation was undertaken once the war began.[404]
Same edition as the one I have read from my local library. This appears to be as fine an edition as you can get, and I have done a fair amount of research on that. This, the "definitive edition" has a lot of material that did not appear in the original one that was edited by Anne's father after the war. It also is on superior paper, with very readable type, and the photos are clearly rendered, compared to the other editions I have had in hand.
Schneidermann, when I spoke with him, added that, of course, “the situation today is totally different from the nineteen-thirties. In the thirties, there were the big papers and there were the small papers. Period. Today, newspapers are drowned in the social networks, drowned in Facebook and Twitter, which is to say drowned in an ocean of commentary. Commentators who are activists, moralists, et cetera.” As a result, today’s readers are inundated with emotion, and turn to legacy media for trustworthy information. Here, Schneidermann’s analysis dovetails with what the American public says it wants. “I think what remains for journalism today is the essence of the profession,” he said, “which is the verification of facts. Everywhere there is commentary. The only thing that’s left, really, is investigating facts.”
Nazi flags: The Nazi Party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colours were said to represent Blut und Boden ("blood and soil"). Another definition of the flag describes the colours as representing the ideology of National Socialism, the swastika representing the Aryan race and the Aryan nationalist agenda of the movement; white representing Aryan racial purity; and red representing the socialist agenda of the movement. Black, white and red were in fact the colours of the old North German Confederation flag (invented by Otto von Bismarck, based on the Prussian colours black and white and the red used by northern German states). In 1871, with the foundation of the German Reich the flag of the North German Confederation became the German Reichsflagge ("Reich flag"). Black, white and red became the colours of the nationalists through the following history (for example World War I and the Weimar Republic).
In spite of efforts to prepare the country militarily, the economy could not sustain a lengthy war of attrition. A strategy was developed based on the tactic of Blitzkrieg ("lightning war"), which involved using quick coordinated assaults that avoided enemy strong points. Attacks began with artillery bombardment, followed by bombing and strafing runs. Next the tanks would attack and finally the infantry would move in to secure the captured area.[225] Victories continued through mid-1940, but the failure to defeat Britain was the first major turning point in the war. The decision to attack the Soviet Union and the decisive defeat at Stalingrad led to the retreat of the German armies and the eventual loss of the war.[226] The total number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht from 1935 to 1945 was around 18.2 million, of whom 5.3 million died.[150]
The death camp and slave-labour camp were interrelated. Newly arrived prisoners at the death camp were divided in a process known as Selektion. The young and the able-bodied were sent to work. Young children and their mothers and the old and infirm were sent directly to the gas chambers. Thousands of prisoners were also selected by the camp doctor, Josef Mengele, for medical experiments. Auschwitz doctors tested methods of sterilization on the prisoners, using massive doses of radiation, uterine injections, and other barbaric procedures. Experiments involving the killing of twins, upon whom autopsies were performed, were meant to provide information that would supposedly lead to the rapid expansion of the “Aryan race.”
In July 1942, the Nazis began deporting Dutch Jews to work and extermination camps in eastern Europe via train, mainly from the Westerbork transit camp and Vught concentration camp. On July 5, 1942, Margot received a call-up notice to report for deportation to a labor camp. The following day, the family went into hiding in the achterhuis or secret annex above Otto’s business on the Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam. They would live there, helped by four of Otto’s trusted employees, for 25 months. The Franks were joined by Otto’s business partner, Hermann van Pels, his wife Auguste, and their son Peter on July 13, and by Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist, on November 16.
From a contemporary U.S. perspective, however, the most interesting area of influence that Whitman explores is in immigration law. From the outset, the United States had a racially restricted immigration regime. The Naturalization Act of 1790, passed by the First Congress, limited immigration to “free white person[s].” In the 1800s, the United States passed more racially exclusionary immigration laws because of the perceived threat of Asians. As Whitman notes, the Nazis “almost never mentioned the American treatment of blacks without also mentioning the American treatment of other groups, in particular Asians and Native-Americans.” The Chinese were excluded from citizenship in the late 1800s, and the Asiatic Barred Zone of 1917 expressly banned immigration from a whole swath of Asia. Finally, the Immigration Act of 1924 set racial quotas for those who could enter the United States, and banned Indians, Japanese, Chinese, and other Asians outright, along with nearly all Arabs. Under the Cable Act of 1922, if a woman married an Asian man, her U.S. citizenship would be revoked. There were similar race-based immigration laws in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Discrimination against immigrants on the basis of race was the norm, and in the United States it survived until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which is also the principal legislation that today’s white nationalists seek to undo. The Nazis had much to envy, what with the porous borders of Europe and the humiliating foreign treaties that had crippled Germany.
Auschwitz became a significant source of slave labor locally and functioned as an international clearing house. Of 2.5 million people who were deported to Auschwitz, 405,000 were given prisoner status and serial numbers. Of these, approximately 50 percent were Jews and 50 percent were Poles and other nationalities. Of those who received numbers, 65,000 survived. It is estimated that about 200,000 people passed through the Auschwitz camps and survived.
As we read the diary we see how much potential was lost not only in Anne but in her entire family. Anne Frank was an intelligent and well-read young woman who studied multiple languages and had an analytical mind. I believe we lost a shining beacon of women's intelligence when she died. She was an emerging feminist, activist, and writer! I think she would have been an amazing woman who would have gone on to do great things. All that potential was lost millions of times over during WWII, and this is what we feel deep in our hearts upon closing the book.
I decided to go back to my village as I had nowhere else to go. But of the 1,000 or so of us who had been deported, only eight to 10 had survived. Some people had warned me not to go back, saying there had been attacks on those who had returned, including the Jewish woman I had worked for when I’d done my tailor apprenticeship. She’d gone back to reclaim some possessions she had left behind in somebody’s house and they killed her rather than return the items. She and her husband had been the only couple in Czemierniki to survive and then they went and murdered her when she came home.
In August 1934, civil servants and members of the military were required to swear an oath of unconditional obedience to Hitler. These laws became the basis of the Führerprinzip, the concept that Hitler's word overrode all existing laws.[203] Any acts that were sanctioned by Hitler—even murder—thus became legal.[204] All legislation proposed by cabinet ministers had to be approved by the office of Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, who could also veto top civil service appointments.[205]
In 2018 the Polish government passed an amendment to its Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, making it a criminal offence to make false suggestions of Polish complicity in the Holocaust, which would include referring to Auschwitz and other camps as "Polish death camps".[304] After discussions with Israel's prime minister, amid international concern that the law would stifle research, the Polish government adjusted the amendment so that anyone falsely accusing Poland of complicity would be guilty only of a civil offence.[305]
As the Soviet Army advanced from the east, the Nazis transported prisoners away from the front and deep into Germany. Some prisoners were taken from the camps by train, but most were force-marched hundreds of miles, often in freezing weather and without proper clothing or shoes. Over the course of these death marches, which sometimes lasted weeks, tens of thousands of people died from cold or hunger, or were shot because they could not keep up.
Most of the judicial system and legal codes of the Weimar Republic remained in place to deal with non-political crimes.[206] The courts issued and carried out far more death sentences than before the Nazis took power.[206] People who were convicted of three or more offences—even petty ones—could be deemed habitual offenders and jailed indefinitely.[207] People such as prostitutes and pickpockets were judged to be inherently criminal and a threat to the community. Thousands were arrested and confined indefinitely without trial.[208]
Sunday was not a work day, but prisoners were required to clean the barracks and take their weekly shower,[115] and were allowed to write (in German) to their families, although the SS censored the outgoing mail. Inmates who did not speak German would trade some of their bread for help composing their letters.[116] Observant Jews tried to keep track of the Hebrew calendar and Jewish holidays, including Shabbat, and the weekly Torah portion. No watches, calendars, or clocks were permitted in the camp. Jewish calendars were rare among prisoners; being in possession of one was dangerous. Only two Jewish calendars made in Auschwitz survived to the end of the war. Prisoners kept track of the days in other ways, such as obtaining information from newcomers.[117]
Concentration camp, internment centre for political prisoners and members of national or minority groups who are confined for reasons of state security, exploitation, or punishment, usually by executive decree or military order. Persons are placed in such camps often on the basis of identification with a particular ethnic or political group rather than as individuals and without benefit either of indictment or fair trial. Concentration camps are to be distinguished from prisons interning persons lawfully convicted of civil crimes and from prisoner-of-war camps in which captured military personnel are held under the laws of war. They are also to be distinguished from refugee camps or detention and relocation centres for the temporary accommodation of large numbers of displaced persons.
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F & P Wholesale names Alzheimer's Society as its 2016 charity
F & P Wholesale, Primaflow & Connections have announced that they will be supporting the Alzheimer's Society as their chosen charity partner for 2016 and 2017.
The charity, which offers welcome support and advice for those caring for someone living with dementia, as well as much needed research into treatments, prevention and a cure for the illness, was voted for wholeheartedly by employees who will now get to work on a wide range of fund-raising activities.
Already in the calendar is the FPC 2016 Bike Ride in September, which aims to be bigger and better than ever this year. Covering over 140 miles, it will see a team of cyclists tackle a range of terrains as they travel between some of FPC's biggest locations.
"We are delighted to be able to offer our support to such a worthy cause," explains Jed Kenrick, (pictured) managing director at F & P, Primaflow & Connections. "Dementia affects over 850,000 people in the UK; this figure is expected to rise to one million by 2021, with no cure currently available.
"Through its tireless work, the charity aims to make sure being diagnosed doesn't mean life has to end, by providing the best support possible for people living with dementia and their carers alike. We hope our fundraising support will go some way to helping further the valuable research into finding a cure, and the care so many rely on can continue."
Ray Nash, senior corporate partnerships executive at the Alzheimer's Society adds:
"It's fantastic that F & P Wholesale is supporting Alzheimer's Society as its National charity for the next two years and I am really looking forward to working with the team.
"Through our network of local services, we touch the lives of over 30,000 people every week, providing practical services and support for people with dementia and their carers. Every year, more than a million people make use of the information we provide.
"We rely heavily on the support of companies like F & P Wholesale to continue our commitment to improving the lives of those affected by dementia. Money raised for Alzheimer's Society during our partnership will make a huge difference to the lives of people living with dementia today and fund research for a cure tomorrow."
For news of the fundraising activity or to make a donation to the cause, visit :
www.justgiving.com
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Who Gives A Crap?
Environment, Social
Who Gives A Crap?Source: Good Goods
Have you ever wondered Who Gives A Crap every time you wipe your bum? I am sure the 2.4 billion people that don’t have access to a toilet do. If you could lend a hand to these people with every motion you have would you?
In 2010 Australian trio Simon Griffiths, Jehan Ratnatung and Danny Alexander began working on a new social business to address the fact that 40% of the world’s population does not have access to a toilet. “We wanted to find a way to use mass-market products that are available anywhere in Australia. The answer: toilet paper! We quickly realised we were onto something and Who Gives a Crap[1] was born.” says Simon Griffiths. So in July 2012, Simon, Jehan and Danny launched Who Gives A Crap with a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo[2] which ended up raising $66,548, 133% of their $50,000 fixed goal by the end of the campaign. They were able to deliver their first product in March 2013.
Who Gives A Crap is a feel good toilet paper from an Australian company, with offices in the UK and USA, whose social and environmental mission is integral to the project. The company donates 50% of its profits to non-profit organisations working to improve access to hygiene, water and basic sanitation in developing countries. WaterAid[3] is one such organisation and it has deep experience and skill in implementing high impact sanitation projects throughout the developing world.
The Who Gives A Crap Brand Mission
“Our goal is to make sure everyone has access to a toilet by 2050. Building a sustainable business model that delivers quality and environmentally responsible products at competitive prices is how we’re going to get there.”
Their Brand Mission is reflected in the choice of materials that their products are made from, mainly 100% Recycled paper, Bamboo and Sugarcane. The decision to set up operations in China was a decision made after taking into consideration a number of factors. These includes things like:
Product quality and packaging options: e.g. being able use paper wrappers and recycled cardboard boxes rather than plastic – we couldn’t find an Australian producer that could do this.
Materials: having access to a large pool of raw materials – post consumer waste paper and bamboo (which isn’t readily available in Australia).
Cost of operations: Australian toilet tissue manufacturers are few and far between and also have their own brands to produce and sell – so we’d be their competitors!
The Who Gives A Crap range of products
Recycled paper Toilet Paper – Made with 100% recycled paper, No inks, dyes or scents, 3-ply.
Premium 100% Bamboo Toilet Paper – Made with 100% forest friendly bamboo, No inks, dyes or scents, 3-ply.
Forest Friendly Tissues – Made with 100% bamboo, 3-ply.
Forest Friendly Paper Towels – Made with a blend of bamboo and sugarcane, Super strong 2-ply, No inks, dyes or scents.
Roll Model Jumbo Roles – Made with 100% recycled paper, 300 metre rolls for use in industrial dispensers, No inks, dyes or chlorine, 2-ply.
100% Money Back Guarantee on all products.
Impact to date
According to their website they have, to date, donated $478,500 and they say “…and we’re just getting started!” Through their forest friendly paper products they have saved 30,797 trees. By making their products using eco-friendly materials they have saved 74 million litres of water and by using cleaner processes they have avoided 5,922 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.[4]
Sanergy[5] is one of Who Gives A Crap’s favourite organisations in the loo world and a new partner. Sanergy build low-cost, high-quality Fresh Life Toilets and then franchise them out to locals they call Fresh Life Operators to clean up Nairobi’s slums. Then they collect the waste from every one of their hundreds of toilets each week and turn it into useful agricultural products like fertiliser and animal feed, which they sell to Kenyan farmers. Who Gives A Crap have donated $50,000 towards their work.
Who Gives A Crap are on track to achieve $1 million in total donations by the end of the financial year.
Who assesses your claim about donating 50% of profits?
“We are certified B Corp, which means that we’ve been assessed as a ‘for benefit’ company, rather than purely ‘for profit’. This certification covers a wide range of aspects of our business and ranks our performance across a rigorous set of criteria. Part of this certification involved an independent assessment of our financial statements confirming our claim to donate at least 50% to charities.”[6]
B Corporations are a group of companies that are using the power of business to create a positive impact on the world and generate a shared and durable prosperity for all. The Who Gives A Crap 2016 B Impact Report, which is published online[7], gives Who Gives A Crap a score of 101, out of a maximum of 200, where as the median score for all assessed companies is just 55.
Who verifies your claims about environmental impact and sustainability?
We’ve had an independent life cycle assessment of our business undertaken by Life Cycles in October 2016 to ensure that the environmental claims we make are backed up by science.[8]
Lifecycles[9] undertook an environmental mapping project to help Who Gives A Crap back up their claims and understand what the actual environmental impacts are of their activities. This was accomplished by undertaking a Life Cycle Assessment(LCA) study that included raw materials of their different product ranges (recycled paper, bagasse, bamboo), packaging, transport & logistics and company overheads.
Where is your stuff made?
Where we choose to produce our products is a big deal, and setting up operations in China is a decision we’ve made after taking into consideration a number of factors. These includes things like:
In seeking further information as to why they decided to set up production in China and use Chinese sourced materials Who Gives A Crap Customer Happiness Executive Megan Olney responded with the following information:
“Our bamboo is predominantly grown in remote areas of Sichuan Province, China by local farmers who plant bamboo on the borders of their small family farms to supplement their income. Unlike industrial agriculture (like special plantation forests created for toilet paper and other paper products) no vast areas of land are cleared. On top of this, the bamboo process is all very localised. Each village has their own bamboo co-op and after it has been harvested, it gets chipped and then goes to a local pulp factory. Sourcing bamboo this way means there’s no adverse affects on natural forestry or wildlife.”
“At this stage there are no Australian producers making bamboo pulp.”
“There are only two Australian producers who make recycled tissue paper domestically (alongside their non-recycled, virgin tree production). Both of these producers have their own brand of recycled toilet paper that they produce and sell into Australian supermarkets. We have spoken to these producers in the early stages of launching our business and were very close to working with them to produce our products, but they then decided to pull out of negotiations in favour of selling their own brands, which is totally understandable. We are a competitor to their own business interests, so we couldn’t work with either. Instead, we had to find a producer from outside of Australia, and China made the most sense.”
How do you monitor working conditions and wages in the second world country of China?
At our request, our recycled paper producer has been independently audited and certified by the BSCI[10] (Business Social Compliance Initiative). The BSCI audit focuses on driving social compliance and improvements in global supply chain management. The audit scored our producer the highest grade available across multiple categories including workers rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, no discrimination, no child labour, no precarious employment, no bonded labour, and ethical business behaviours. They also scored highly in the category of fair remuneration. Of course there’s always room for improvement and we will be working closely with our producers to ensure a transparent working relationship.
Concern for the amount of fossil fuel miles attached by the shipping from China to Australia.
It’s great that Who Gives A Crap use a renewable resource for their product range but it would be better if that resource did not come with so many fossil fuel miles attached by the shipping from China to Australia. So how does Who Gives A Crap justify this? I was referred to the following information[11]:
“We’re based in Melbourne but also have warehousing in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth. Our manufacturer is based in China and we ship via sea freight directly into each of the ports where our warehouses are located (apart from Canberra of course!).
It may seem counter-intuitive, but the transport emissions incurred as a result of our shipping are slightly lower than they would be if we manufactured domestically in a single location and road-freighted stock across the country. To test this reasoning, we’ve commissioned an initial analysis of our whole business practice by an external life cycle assessment group. This analysis has included modelling the environmental impacts of three production scenarios:
Producing in China and sea freighting into each port
Producing in Victoria and road freighting into the major cities
Producing in Victoria and rail / road freighting into the major cities
The analysis included modelling outputs of global warming potentials, particulate matter, land use, and water scarcity. The results show that there are no consequential environmental benefits if we were to produce locally in Australia. This is largely because our operation minimises road transport emissions as much as possible by shipping directly into the major ports and distributing from there (sea freight miles are 6-10 times less emissions-intensive than road miles).
The above analysis does not include final deliveries from warehouse to customer (which would happen regardless of where we produced). But we’re proud to say that we’ve partnered with Sendle[12], Australia’s first carbon neutral delivery service, to deliver all our packages going to TAS, ACT, NSW, QLD, and metro VIC.”
Can you envision a future where producing your product takes place domestically?
Megan Olney responded with “It’s certainly never off the table. If the conditions and available options to produce the product we want domestically become available, it’s definitely something we’d seriously consider. There are real instances where the choices we make aren’t straightforward and barriers can and do exist, but we’re always looking for ways we can learn and improve what we’re doing. The more toilet rolls we can sell, the more influence we might have down the track.”
“Crap” Brand Promotion
Given the name of the brand you can imagine the amount of toilet humour that comes along because of it and Who Gives A Crap has taken that and made it an integral part of their promotions. The original IndieGoGo campaign was launched with a live stream of Simon Griffiths sitting on a toilet stating “I’m not leaving this toilet until we pre-sell $50,000 of product”. 50 hours and one cold bottom later, they had raised over $50,000.
Testimonials[13]
Sarah L. – Love it!!! Who Gives a Crap is the best ethical toilet paper ever. Super fast delivery and a completely easy ordering process. I love the fact that having toilet paper delivered in bulk helps me to avoid the supermarkets yet again. I’m never going back to the alternative 🙂
Jody T. – I give a crap. Not only is this toilet paper great on your bum but every time we go to the toilet we show that we give a crap. Admire these guys for their ingenuity and for taking caring for others to a whole new light. Just love it.
Jenna M. – Excellent paper. Not only do we feel really good about buying 100% post consumer recycled loo paper with no plastic packaging that helps create access to toilets in the 3rd world, but it’s actually really good toilet paper! soft and thick and everything you want for your bottom. plus the wrapper makes great wrapping paper and a good conversation starter. great work, thanks.
Tony V. – Who gives a crap – wee can! Great prop for the long drop. Chemical free when your having a wee. Best for you when you’re having a p(ee or oo) Great marketing because the more I spend, the more that goes overseas so that others can enjoy the level of sanitation we take for granted in Oz. Great concept!
Where to purchase the products
If you are in Victoria you can find 6 packs in many independent grocery stores across the state. For the rest of Australia you will need to place an order online.
A special “Thanks” to Elizabeth Walton for her assistance with the background research!
[1] Who Gives A Crap – https://au.whogivesacrap.org/
[2] Indiegogo Who Gives A Crap Campaign – https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/who-gives-a-crap-toilet-paper-that-builds-toilets#/
[3] WaterAid – https://www.wateraid.org/au
[4] Impact To Date – https://au.whogivesacrap.org/pages/our-impact
[5] Sanergy building healthy, prosperous communities – https://saner.gy/
[6] How much do you donate in dollar value? – https://support.whogivesacrap.org/hc/en-us/articles/219112747-How-much-do-you-donate-in-dollar-value-
[7] Who Gives A Crap 2016 B Impact Report – https://bcorporation.com.au/community/who-gives-a-crap/impact-report/2016-02-10-000000
[8] Life cycle assessment group – https://www.lifecycles.com.au/
[9] Walk the Talk – https://www.lifecycles.com.au/single-post/2017/01/07/An-environmental-mapping-of-an-eco-product
[10] BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) – https://www.bsci-intl.org/
[11] How emissions intensive is the production and delivery of your product? – https://support.whogivesacrap.org/hc/en-us/articles/219112807-How-emissions-intensive-is-the-production-and-delivery-of-your-product-
[12] Sendle – We help good business deliver – https://www.sendle.com/
[13] Testimonials – https://www.facebook.com/WhoGivesACrapTP/app/226132034107547/?ref=page_internal
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Pravin Anand
Raunaq Kamath
Anand & Anand
Gunjan Shah, Shubhangi Garg and Akshita Agrawal1
I INTRODUCTION
The banking business in India is supervised and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the apex banking authority. Among other things, the RBI acts as banker and treasurer to the government of India (GoI), and is the lender of last resort. The RBI is responsible for regulating currency issuance and circulation, foreign exchange control management, public debt management and safeguarding the overall financial health of the country.
i Categories of banks
Historically, the three main categories of banks in India have been public sector banks (PSBs),2 private sector banks3 and foreign banks.4 Recent entrants in the banking space include holders of limited banking licences known as small finance banks (SFBs) and payments banks.
All categories of banks are further sub-divided into two types: scheduled5 or non-scheduled.6 The RBI grants the status of a ‘scheduled commercial bank’ (SCB) to eligible banks, which typically include PSBs, private sector banks, foreign banks and regional rural banks (RRBs),7 and even SFBs on a case-by-case basis.8 SCBs are generally permitted to undertake universal banking, that is fully fledged banking business including both core banking9 and para banking.10
In the past, the banking sector in India has been owned, controlled and supervised by the state. Until 1993, PSBs dominated the traditional banking space. The largest PSB, State Bank of India (SBI) and other government-owned banks, still account for the largest market share in the industry (more than 70.6 per cent and 68.10 per cent, respectively) in the total deposits and credits in India as at March 2016.11
In 1993, the RBI issued guidelines for licensing private sector banks (i.e., non-state-owned banks incorporated in India) and granted licences to 10 new private sector banks. Over the years, the RBI has continued to update the licensing regime for private sector banks, and issued four banking licences during the limited windows that were opened periodically, between 1993 and 2013. However, on 1 August 2016, in an unprecedented move, the RBI introduced an ‘at will’ licensing regime for private sector banks, permitting them to apply for a universal banking (or fully fledged banking business) licence at any point in time. As of March 2016, private sector banks accounted for more than 21.5 per cent and 24.1 per cent respectively of the deposits and credits in India.
Apart from the PSBs and the private sector banks, the third category that are primary players in the industry are foreign banks, which are large global banks that operate in India through branches or representative offices, and have been permitted to set up wholly owned subsidiaries (WOSs). As at March 2015, foreign banks such as Standard Chartered, HSBC and Citibank accounted for about 4.6 per cent and 5 per cent respectively of the deposits and credits in India.12
While there is parity in regulation between the above-mentioned categories of banks, the regulatory regime and ownership guidelines vary for each category. This chapter aims to set out the applicable legal regime for all major categories of banks in India.
ii New developments
The RBI and the GoI have undertaken various measures to move towards a cashless economy by digitisation of payment services. To provide an impetus towards digital payments, the GoI has proposed the use of blockchain technology in the recent Union Budget 2018–2019. The GoI has also proposed mandating large corporates to use bond markets to finance one-fourth of their fund needs, which not only signifies a shift from the traditional mode of bank financing, but it is hoped it will also boost the debt capital markets in India.
Following the global financial crisis and recommendations of the Financial Stability Board (FSB),13 the RBI has also adopted a framework for designating certain domestic and foreign banks in India that are ‘too big to fail’ as ‘domestic systemically important banks’ (D-SIBs) and ‘global systemically important banks’ (G-SIBs), respectively.14 In addition to ICICI Bank Ltd and SBI, the GoI has identified HDFC Bank Limited as a D-SIB, as the continued functioning of these banks is critical for the uninterrupted availability of essential banking services to the Indian economy. The RBI has prescribed additional capital requirements and increased supervision for these banks.
Recently, IDFC Bank Limited (a private sector bank) and Capital First Limited (a financial institution specialising in debt financing) announced a merger, pursuant to which IDFC Bank Limited will transform its portfolio from a dedicated infrastructure financier to a well-diversified universal bank. While, on the one hand, the banking industry in India is looking at consolidation (such as the merger of the SBI with its subsidiaries last year and the merger of IDFC Bank Limited with Capital First Limited) with a view to strengthening the loan portfolio and financial soundness of banks and reaching a wider customer base, there is a need to also strengthen the internal and external audit norms governing banks to contain instances of fraud and money laundering. For instance, the GoI is currently investigating an account of Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of the biggest PSBs in India, for a fraud of over 110 billion rupees.15 The PNB fraud scam, one of the biggest in Indian history, has exposed the need for stricter vigilance of the internal and external audit procedures of all banks.
ii THE REGULATORY REGIME APPLICABLE TO BANKS
The RBI is the key regulator for all banks, and it regulates all public deposit-taking and lending business in India. Any entity accepting demand deposits from the public and lending to the public must necessarily be licensed with the RBI as a bank.
i Licensing of banks
Licensing for public sector banks
All banks in India (including foreign banks operating through RBI licensed branches) are governed by the RBI Act, 1934 (the RBI Act) and the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (the BR Act). In addition, most PSBs are incorporated, governed and licensed by and under their specific legislative enactments. Most of the PSBs are listed on the stock exchanges in India, with the GoI holding and controlling a majority stake in them.
Licensing for private sector banks
Private sector banks are primarily governed by the BR Act and the RBI Act, and are licensed to undertake banking activities by the RBI.
To encourage competition and innovation in the banking sector, the RBI issued ‘at will’ banking licensing regulations for granting universal banking licences to eligible entities. Moving away from the previous ‘stop-and-go’ licensing policy, the RBI now permits resident individuals and professionals, entities and groups in the private sector that are owned and controlled by residents, and existing non-banking financial companies that are controlled by residents, to apply to the RBI to set up a universal bank.16
Licensing for foreign banks
Typically, foreign banks (i.e., those incorporated and registered as banks outside India) that wish to engage in the banking business in India must be licensed by the RBI to set up branches in India. Pursuant to the Foreign Bank Wholly Owned Subsidiaries Scheme, issued in November 2013 for the setting up of WOSs by foreign banks, the RBI has now mandated certain foreign banks to incorporate WOSs in India.17
Licensing for payments banks
Payments banks are a relatively new category with a limited banking licence, and are not permitted to undertake lending activities. They are expected to provide small savings accounts and digital payments and remittance services to migrant labour workforces, low-income households, small businesses, other unorganised sector entities and other retail users.
Unlike universal banks, payments banks are permitted to undertake only limited activities, including acceptance of demand deposits, issuance of debit cards, internet banking and acting as business correspondents18 for other banks. So far, the RBI has issued final licences to seven payments banks, out of which only four have started their operations.
Licensing for small finance banks
SFBs are expected to cater for the banking requirements of micro and small enterprises, agriculture and banking services in unbanked and under-banked regions of the country.
These banks are permitted to undertake the basic activities of accepting deposits (both demand and term deposits) and lending to non-served and underserved sections. Many entities have shown an interest in the SFB space, and 10 entities have already received a final licence from the RBI.
Licensing for regional rural banks
The RBI has also issued banking licences to RRBs to further its goal of financial inclusion and agricultural financing. RRBs are established under specific legislative enactments and are regulated by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, an independent financial institution focused on agricultural lending.
ii Other activities permitted to be undertaken by banks
SCBs in India are generally permitted to undertake core banking and para banking activities. Certain para banking activities, such as investment advisory and stockbroking, may only be undertaken by an SCB through a separate entity, such as a subsidiary (and not departmentally), whereas certain other businesses, such as insurance distribution, may be undertaken either departmentally or through a separate entity.
The RBI has mandated all banks, both Indian and foreign (including those not having an operational presence in India), to obtain prior approval from the RBI for any schemes marketed by them in India to residents either for soliciting foreign currency deposits for their foreign or overseas branches, or for acting as agents for overseas mutual funds or any other foreign financial services company.
iii Priority sector lending
The RBI has mandated separate priority sector lending (PSL) targets for all SCBs (including foreign banks and SFBs). Agriculture, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, export credit, education, housing, social infrastructure and renewable energy are a few PSL sectors identified by the RBI. Typically, SCBs must allocate 40 per cent of their adjusted net bank credit19 or credit equivalent amount of off-balance sheet exposure, whichever is higher, to PSL sectors. SFBs, however, must allocate 75 per cent of their adjusted net bank credit to PSL sectors.
iii PRUDENTIAL REGULATION
i Relationship with the prudential regulator
General powers of the RBI
The RBI was constituted under and derives its statutory powers to regulate market segments from specific provisions of the RBI Act. The RBI holds a fairly tight rein over banks, quasi-financial institutions and non-banking financial institutions and has wide powers of inspection and audit under law, over all banks in India (including foreign banks operating through branches in India). To strengthen banks’ balance sheets, the RBI prescribes and monitors prudential norms with regard to income recognition, asset classification and provision, capital adequacy, investment portfolios and capital market exposures. The major market segments under the regulatory ambit of the RBI are interest rate markets, government securities market, money markets, foreign exchange markets, derivatives on interest rates and prices, repo, foreign exchange rates and credit derivatives.
In terms of the BR Act, a bank must submit monthly returns setting out its assets and liabilities in India to the RBI and provide all other information in relation to its banking business as may be requested by the RBI. The RBI also prescribes standards for the quality of the statutory audit and internal audit functions in banks and financial institutions. The GoI notified changes to the BR Act to empower the RBI to issue directions suo moto to banks to initiate insolvency resolution under the recently enacted The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (the Insolvency Code) to recover bad loans.
ii Management of banks
The RBI closely controls the appointment and removal of directors of private sector banks, and its prior approval is required before the appointment of the chairman, managing director and other full-time directors of a private sector bank. At least half the board of a private sector bank must consist of independent directors.20
The directors on the boards of private sector banks must also comply with the ‘fit and proper’ criteria21 prescribed by the RBI and the board composition must meet the specified qualifications as set out above. Further, no two private sector banks are permitted to have common directors. The RBI also has the power (in the public interest or in the interest of depositors, or to secure the proper management of a bank) to supersede the board of directors of a private sector bank, and to appoint an administrator to undertake its management, and to reshuffle and reconstitute the board of directors.
Specific provisions governing public sector banks
In addition to the conditions mentioned above for private sector banks that are also applicable to PSBs, the GoI has set up the Banks Board Bureau22 as an autonomous body to appoint heads of PSBs. With effect from 1 April 2016, the Banks Board Bureau is tasked with the responsibility of appointing full-time directors and the non-executive chairman of the board of directors of PSBs in a transparent manner using a merit-based selection approach.
Small finance and payments banks
The regulations applicable to private sector banks in respect of board composition and management are also applicable to SFBs and payments banks.
Board constitution norms for foreign banks
Currently, all foreign banks undertake operations in India through their branches and are therefore not subject to corporate governance norms issued by the RBI. Having said that, the appointment of the chairman, managing director and other full-time directors of any branch of a foreign bank in India (if appointed) requires prior approval of the RBI. However, in terms of the RBI guidelines applicable to WOSs (once incorporated by foreign banks in India), the WOSs are required to ensure that at least 50 per cent of the board of directors comprises Indian residents, at least one-third of the directors are Indian nationals and resident in India, the chief executive officer is an Indian resident, and at least two-thirds of the directors of the WOS are non-executive directors. The regulations that govern the appointment of the board of directors of private sector banks also apply to WOSs of foreign banks in India.
iii Restrictions on remuneration and the payment of bonuses
Generally, employees of all banks in India (including foreign banks operating through branches) are not permitted to be paid remuneration in the form of commission or a share in the profits of the bank. No Indian bank or branch of a foreign bank is permitted to approve or amend the terms of remuneration of its full-time directors or chief executive officer without the prior approval of the RBI. In consonance with the principles of the FSB, the RBI discourages banks in India (including foreign banks operating through branches) from adopting any remuneration structures that encourage or reward an excessive risk-taking approach by the management. The RBI also has the power to restrict compensation for directors and management, including the chief executive officers and executive directors of those SCBs that do not meet the financial parameters set by the RBI.
In private sector banks, the variable component of the compensation payable to full-time directors and chief executive officers is not permitted to exceed 70 per cent of the fixed component in a year. However, where the variable pay constitutes a substantial portion of the fixed pay, an appropriate portion of the variable pay must be deferred for a period. Notwithstanding the general provisions of the BR Act, the RBI has granted general permission to private sector banks to pay compensation (not exceeding 1 million rupees) to non-executive directors in the form of profit-related commission if the bank in question has declared profits.
The RBI in consultation with the GoI fixes the rate of sitting fees payable to directors on the boards of PSBs. Any performance-based compensation structures for the management of PSBs are also devised by the RBI in consultation with the Ministry of Finance.
The compensation policy of all foreign banks operating through branch offices in India is governed by their head office policies. However, a foreign bank must submit a declaration to the RBI annually from its head office to the effect that its compensation structure in India, including that of the chief executive officer, conforms with the FSB principles and standards.
iv Regulatory capital and liquidity
In May 2012, the RBI issued guidelines on the implementation of the Basel III capital regulations that were brought into effect from 1 April 2013. The Basel III norms are being implemented in phases, and are expected to be fully implemented by 31 March 2019. Typically, all SCBs can issue ordinary equity shares with voting rights as part of the Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital. However, if SCBs issue non-voting ordinary equity shares as part of CET1 capital, they must be identical to voting ordinary shares of the issuing bank in all respects except the absence of voting rights.
Typically, SCBs must maintain a total capital equivalent to 9 per cent of their total risk-weighted assets. The RBI has prescribed a minimum capital requirement of 15 per cent of total risk-weighted assets for payments banks and SFBs. Universal banks proposed for a licence under the new ‘at will’ licensing guidelines are required to maintain a capital adequacy ratio of 13 per cent of their risk-weighted assets for a minimum period of three years after the commencement of operation.
To enable the banking industry to sustain the advantage of healthy financial profiles, the RBI has generally prescribed higher capital adequacy norms than those proposed under the Basel III regulations prescribed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). For instance, SCBs must typically maintain CET1 capital of at least 5.5 per cent of risk-weighted assets as opposed to the 4.5 per cent prescribed by the BCBS. Similarly, according to the Basel III regulations, the total capital required to be maintained by SCBs is 8 per cent, as opposed to the threshold of 9 per cent prescribed by the RBI.
For universal banks proposed for a licence under the new ‘at will’ licensing guidelines, and any foreign banks setting up a WOS, the initial minimum paid-up voting equity capital of the bank must be 5 billion rupees.
v Recovery and resolution
Under Indian law, no separate guidelines or procedures have been prescribed on the bankruptcy of a bank or financial institution. Typically, if a weaker bank is facing bankruptcy, it is merged with a stronger and financially sound bank.
Under the BR Act, the RBI has wide powers to manage the financial health of a bank, including the power to supersede the board of directors, impose a moratorium on its functions, prepare a scheme for amalgamation or restructuring, and apply for winding-up. No court in India can approve a winding-up petition against a bank unless the RBI certifies its inability to pay its debt in writing. The RBI can also apply to the courts to suspend an entity’s banking business if the bank’s business is being conducted in a manner detrimental to the interests of depositors. In the case of a bank being wound up, the RBI may even be appointed as the liquidator.
While there is no separate bankruptcy resolution regime, in terms of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961 (the DICGC Act), the GoI has established the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation, which automatically insures the customer deposits with all commercial banks, up to a limit of 100,000 rupees per depositor.
The Insolvency Code seeks to consolidate the laws relating to the reorganisation and insolvency of companies. However, the Insolvency Code is not applicable to reorganisation or insolvency, or both, of any bank in India (including foreign banks operating through branches). Recently, the GoI has proposed the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 (the FRDI Bill), which seeks to repeal the DICGC Act. The FRDI Bill aims to provide a comprehensive resolution mechanism for financial service providers, including banks in distress. The FRDI Bill establishes a resolution corporation as a principal agency for, inter alia, providing deposit insurance to banks and acting as an administrator and liquidator for banks. The FRDI Bill has also proposed bail-in provisions that will be implemented either by cancelling or modifying the liabilities owed by a bank, or converting liabilities into any other form of instrument or creating a new form of security. The FRDI Bill is being considered by Parliament and has not yet been notified.
iv CONDUCT OF BUSINESS
i Banking confidentiality
The principles of banker–customer confidentiality recognised in Tournier v. National Provincial and Union Bank of England 23 are recognised in India.24 Banks in India (including foreign banks operating through branches) are required to maintain the secrecy of their customers’ accounts and all information collected by them as part of the ‘know your customer’ (KYC) norms, at all times, unless the disclosure is required under law or is made with the express consent of the customer.
Banks are required to maintain confidentiality of any sensitive personal data or information25 and personal information of a customer as per the data protection rules issued under the Information Technology Act, 2000. Typically, any sensitive personal data or information or personal information available with a bank in India (including foreign banks operating through branches) may only be disclosed with the prior specific consent of the customer.
ii Liability of banks
The RBI may also impose stringent penalties on banks in India (including foreign banks operating through branches) for violation of the BR Act or any instructions of the RBI, and has the power to cancel banking licences issued by the RBI. The provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 are also applicable to the full-time chairman, managing director, auditor, liquidator, manager and other employees of banks in India (including foreign banks operating through branches); in certain cases, the ‘officers in charge’ are even liable to imprisonment.
The RBI is known to adopt a proactive approach towards ensuring banks’ compliance with KYC norms, including rules for customer identification, acceptance and monitoring transactions, and anti-money laundering (AML) norms. In several instances, the RBI has levied stringent monetary penalties on banks for violating KYC or AML norms and disclosure requirements prescribed under the extant foreign exchange laws and instructions of the RBI.26
The RBI is also empowered to cancel the licences of banks (including foreign banks undertaking banking activities in India) in certain instances, such as non-compliance with licensing guidelines issued by the RBI as applicable to that bank.
v FUNDING
Broadly, the elements of total regulatory capital of SCBs27 include Tier I capital28 (comprising two elements: CET1 capital29 and Additional Tier 1 capital) and Tier 2 capital.30 SCBs are generally permitted to issue perpetual non-cumulative preference shares, perpetual cumulative preference shares, redeemable non-cumulative preference shares and redeemable cumulative preference shares as part of Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital. SCBs are also generally permitted to issue perpetual debt instruments as part of additional Tier 1 capital and debt instruments with a minimum maturity of five years for inclusion in Tier 2 capital. SCBs are permitted to issue Indian rupee-denominated bonds to eligible persons overseas for inclusion as additional Tier 1 capital and Tier 2 capital, respectively.
Banks are permitted to obtain funding from the money market through instruments such as government bonds, treasury bills, commercial paper, certificates of deposit and ready forward purchases. Since the money market is a source for short-term funds, banks rely on the money market for short-term liquidity requirements, including for meeting cash reserve ratios and statutory liquidity ratio requirements.31
vi CONTROL OF BANKS AND TRANSFERS OF BANKING BUSINESS
i Ownership and voting limits
The ownership and control requirements for PSBs are prescribed in their respective governing legislation. The GoI is required to own and control a shareholding in PSBs of at least 51 per cent at all times.
To meet the additional capital requirements under the Basel III regulations, the RBI overhauled the regulations governing the shareholding structure of private sector banks in May 2016, and issued a new set of regulations for ownership in private sector banks (the Private Sector Banks Ownership Guidelines). The RBI has prescribed different limits for shareholding in private sector banks by a single entity, corporate entity or group of related entities, and has prescribed different thresholds for different categories of shareholders based on their organisation, constitution and ownership.
Further, in terms of the Private Sector Banks Ownership Guidelines, there is a requirement of a minimum shareholding by promoters, a promoter group or a non-operative holding financial company (NOHFC) of the private sector bank (currently 40 per cent of the paid-up capital of the bank), which is subject to a lock-in for a period of five years. The RBI introduced the NOHFC model to ring-fence the banking and financial businesses of new bank applicants.
Any persons seeking to acquire or agreeing to acquire shares or voting rights of a private sector bank by themselves or with persons acting in concert, where the acquisition results in the aggregate shareholding of the acquirer, and persons acting in concert, to be 5 per cent or more of the paid-up share capital of that bank, or entitles the acquirer, and persons acting in concert, to exercise 5 per cent or more of the voting rights in that bank, requires prior approval by the RBI.
No person holding shares in a private sector bank can exercise voting rights on a poll in excess of 15 per cent of the total voting rights of all shareholders of the bank. The RBI may, however, consider an application to increase the ceiling on voting rights in phases up to 26 per cent.
The Private Sector Banks Ownership Guidelines are also applicable to SFBs and payments banks in relation to their respective constitution and ownership.
No person holding shares in an SFB or payments bank can exercise voting rights on a poll in excess of 10 per cent of the total voting rights of all shareholders of the bank. The RBI may, however, consider an application to increase the ceiling on voting rights in phases up to 26 per cent.
ii Foreign investment
Foreign investment in public sector banks
Foreign investment in PSBs (including by way of foreign direct investment and by registered portfolio investors under the portfolio investment scheme) is permitted up to 20 per cent, with the prior approval of the GoI.
Foreign investment in private sector banks
Foreign investment in private sector banks shall not exceed 74 per cent of the paid-up share capital of the bank. Foreign investment in private sector banks is permitted up to 49 per cent under the automatic route (i.e., without any approval of the GoI). Further investments between 49 and 74 per cent require prior approval of the GoI. This limit does not apply to foreign banks intending to establish a WOS in India. So far, only two foreign banks have received in-principle approval of the RBI to offer banking services under the WOS model.32
Foreign investment in small finance and payments banks
The foreign investment limits applicable to private sector banks are also applicable to SFBs and payments banks.
iii Financial assistance by banks to purchase their securities
Under the Companies Act, 2013, public companies are not permitted to directly or indirectly provide financial assistance (by means of a loan, guarantee or other security) for the purpose of or in connection with a purchase or subscription of shares made or to be made in that company or in its holding company.
Under Indian law, banks are also prohibited from securing their assets for the purpose of or in connection with a purchase or subscription of shares made or to be made in that bank, or in connection with any financial assistance granted to the bank or its associate company.
iv Transfers of banking business
The procedure for the merger and amalgamation of PSBs is different from that applicable to private sector banks, and is specifically set out in the statutes governing them.
For private sector banks licensed under the BR Act, the RBI requires that the draft scheme of amalgamation must be approved by a resolution of at least two-thirds of the total number of members of the board (and not just of those present and voting), and two-thirds of the shareholders of both the merging banks. The scheme of amalgamation must then be approved and sanctioned by the RBI.
The merger or amalgamation of SFBs and payments banks is governed by the provisions of the BR Act in terms of which the draft scheme of amalgamation must be approved by a resolution of at least a two-third majority of the shareholders of both the merging banks. The draft scheme must thereafter be approved and sanctioned by the RBI.
Banks are also required to notify the Competition Commission of India regarding any proposed merger, except in cases where the RBI or the competition regulator have prescribed specific exemptions.
vii THE YEAR IN REVIEW
The key focus of the RBI and the GoI in recent times has been on easing the stress on the balance sheets of Indian banks on account of bad loans, and on the consolidation and reorganisation of PSBs. The RBI has also been keenly focusing on the digitisation of payment systems as a medium to increase access to banking services and promote financial inclusion. The RBI has recently issued comprehensive directions for issue of pre-paid instruments.
i Digitisation of payment services
The RBI issued a revised set of directions bringing about some significant changes to the pre-paid instrument regulatory framework which, inter alia, seeks to permit interoperability between different digital wallets and between wallets and bank accounts of users. The GoI is currently considering proposals in relation to enhanced cybersecurity measures for such transactions.
The finance minister clearly announced the GoI’s position on cryptocurrency and denounced it as a valid legal tender in the budget speech earlier this year; however, he also indicated the GoI’s intention to explore the use of blockchain technology in furthering digital payments. Separately, as an impetus to the digital economy, the RBI has issued more than 15 new licences to digital pre-paid payment operators in the past year alone, after a temporary suspension on issuing new licences in this field that lasted more than two years.
ii Empowering RBI to initiate insolvency resolution process
The GoI amended the BR Act to empower the RBI to suo moto issue directions to banks to initiate insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency Code in respect of a default. The RBI constituted an Internal Advisory Committee that identified 12 accounts (totalling 25 per cent of the gross non-performing assets or bad loans in the country) for a reference for insolvency under the Insolvency Code. These accounts were identified based on a minimum exposure to banks of 50 billion rupees, of which more than 60 per cent were non-performing assets. In an unprecedented move, the RBI issued directions to banks in June 2017 to commence insolvency proceedings against 12 companies and, in August 2017, it issued a second set of directions to commence insolvency proceedings against approximately 40 defaulters, should the banks be unable to find a resolution for the accounts by December 2017.
iii Revised Restructuring Framework
As a further move to ensure early identification and speedy resolution of stressed assets, on 12 February 2018, the RBI published the Revised Restructuring Framework (Framework), which replaces a number of extant restructuring schemes for identification and resolution of potential non-performing assets (i.e., before they become non-performing assets) that had been issued by the RBI during the past two decades or so. The Framework acts as a precursor to insolvency or resolution proceedings under the Insolvency Code. One of the most critical features of the Framework is that, from 1 March 2018, large accounts (i.e., more than 20 billion rupees), including existing large accounts undergoing a restructuring, must be restructured according to the parameters set out in the Framework within 180 days of 1 March 2018 (or the date on which a new default occurs after February 2018), and if the restructuring plan is not implemented within this timeline, the loan accounts must be mandatorily referred for insolvency resolution under the Insolvency Code.
viii OUTLOOK and CONCLUSIONS
An insistence of financial inclusion and a move away from a cash-based economy are the two pillars of the various banking sector reforms being undertaken by the RBI and the GoI. The implementation of various schemes proposed by the GoI and the RBI to achieve these ends, however, continues to be a challenge, and it remains to be seen whether the proposed developments are effectively implemented to benefit marginalised sections of society.
With an increase in the number of banks, the digitisation of payment services and greater access to banking services, the GoI must take steps towards addressing potential cybersecurity challenges and strengthening the current data protection laws. While significant strides have been made in introducing a time-bound and efficient insolvency regime for corporates, there still remains an urgent need for reforms regarding liquidation and bankruptcy of banks and financial institutions to protect depositor interests and secure the financial sector from potential global and domestic systemic failures. In this respect, the FRDI Bill aims to provide a comprehensive resolution mechanism for banks in distress; however, it remains to be seen whether the interests of depositors will be protected adequately as the bail-in provision for resolution could result in the use of the depositor funds to compensate for some part of the loss of the distressed bank.
1 Gunjan Shah and Shubhangi Garg are partners and Akshita Agrawal is a senior associate at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.
2 Public sector banks are those in which a majority stake is owned by the government.
3 Private sector banks are those that are incorporated as companies in India and have been granted a banking licence by the RBI.
4 Foreign banks are incorporated as banks outside India and generally operate in India through branch offices by obtaining a banking licence from the RBI.
5 Scheduled commercial banks are those that are required to maintain an average minimum daily balance with the RBI in a prescribed form of cash and securities to meet their net demand and time liabilities.
6 Unlike SCBs, non-scheduled banks are not entitled to borrow from the RBI for normal banking purposes, except in emergency or ‘abnormal circumstances’. Non-scheduled banks are not permitted to deal in a foreign exchange or be licensed as authorised dealer banks in India.
7 Regional rural banks are specialised banks with a focus on agricultural and rural lending in a specified region.
8 While typically all SCBs are subject to the same regulations, the RBI sometimes prescribes a different set of regulations for RRBs and SFBs and excludes them from the scope of certain general permissions granted to SCBs.
9 Banking Regulation Act, 1949, Section 5(b): ‘Banking means the accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment, of deposits of money from the public, repayable on demand or otherwise, and withdrawal by cheque, draft, order or otherwise.’
10 Para banking activities include activities such as equipment leasing, hire purchase and factoring, underwriting, credit card, insurance distribution, mutual fund businesses, portfolio management and other financial services.
11 ‘Basic Statistical Returns of Scheduled Commercial Banks in India’, Volume 45, published annually by the RBI.
13 The FSB is an international body based in Basel, Switzerland, that coordinates and monitors the work of national financial authorities and international standard setting bodies to develop, promote and monitor the implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies across all member countries.
14 Global systemically important banks are so prescribed by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and are considered to be ‘too big to fail’. In other words, a G-SIB is a financial institution of which the distress or disorderly failure would cause significant disruption in global economic activity.
15 ‘Rs 11,400 crore PNB Fraud Case a case of systemic failure, say experts’, LiveMint, 17 February 2018.
16 New private sector banks that are granted a ‘universal banking’ licence must be designated by the RBI as SCBs for commencement of operations. The new private sector banks will then have to comply with the net demand time liabilities and other requirements as applicable to SCBs.
17 Foreign banks that have been in operation in India before August 2010 have been exempted from this requirement. A few foreign banks are reported to have applied for a WOS conversion, but the applications are under review with the RBI, and no foreign bank has so far set up a WOS in India.
18 Business correspondents are retail agents engaged by banks for providing banking services at locations other than a bank branch or cash dispensing machine.
19 Adjusted net bank credit is to be calculated in accordance with the ‘Master Direction – Priority Sector Lending – Targets and Classification’, dated 7 July 2016, issued by the RBI.
20 An independent director is a non-executive director of a company who does not have any material or pecuniary relationship with the firm, its directors or promoters. Independent directors cannot be managing directors, full-time directors or promoters of the company, its holding company or subsidiaries.
21 Educational qualifications, experience and field of expertise, track record and integrity are some of the factors considered by the RBI to assess the ‘fit and proper’ status of the directors on the board of private sector banks. The ‘fit and proper’ criteria for private sector banks is broadly similar to the criteria prescribed by the RBI for private sector banks.
22 The Banks Board Bureau comprises seven members and includes representatives from the RBI, the GoI and recognised experts in the field of banking.
23 Tournier v. National Provincial and Union Bank of England, (1924) 1 KB 461.
24 ‘Working Group on Information Security, Electronic Banking, Technology Risk Management and Cyber Frauds’, 21 January 2011, available at rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationReportDetails.aspx?UrlPage=&ID=609.
25 ‘Sensitive personal data or information’ is defined as including bank accounts, credit card and debit card details.
26 ‘RBI slaps fine on 5 foreign banks for violating FEMA rules’, The Hindu, 21 December 2016. ‘RBI fines three govt-run banks for violating KYC norms’, Business Standard, 30 April 2015; ‘RBI slaps Rs. 27 cr penalty on 13 banks’, The Hindu, 25 July 2016; ‘RBI imposes penalty of Rs. 2 crore on IndusInd Bank’, Business Standard, 28 July 2016.
27 The RBI has also prescribed certain regulatory norms for non-scheduled banks such as non-scheduled state cooperative banks and non-scheduled urban cooperative banks. The source of capital fundraising of non-scheduled banks is restricted as compared to SCBs.
28 Tier 1 capital is ‘going-concern’ capital, i.e., capital that can absorb losses without triggering bankruptcy of the bank.
29 Typically, for SCBs, ordinary equity shares (paid-up equity capital issued by the bank), stock surplus and capital reserves are a few components of the Common Equity Tier 1 capital.
30 Tier 2 capital is classified as ‘gone-concern’ capital, i.e., capital that acts as support for depositors in receivership, bankruptcy or liquidation.
31 The cash reserve ratio is a percentage of the total demand and time liabilities in India of the bank required to be maintained in cash with the RBI. The statutory liquidity ratio is the percentage of the total demand and time liabilities in India of the bank required to be maintained in the form of prescribed assets such as cash, gold or approved unencumbered securities in India.
32 The Development Bank of Singapore Limited and Bank of Mauritius.
Other chapters on India
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Ancient Canaanite religion
The land of Canaan, which comprises the modern regions of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. At the time when Canaanite religion was practiced, Canaan was divided into various city-states.
Canaanite religion refers to the group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries of the Common Era.
Religions of the ancient Near East
Semitic
Canaanite religion was polytheistic, and in some cases monolatristic.
1 Beliefs
1.1 Deities
1.2 Afterlife beliefs and Cult of the Dead
1.3 Cosmology
1.4 Mythology
1.5 Religious practices
2.1 The Canaanites
3 Contact with other areas
4.1 Literary sources
4.2 Archaeological sources
Beliefs[edit]
Deities[edit]
Ba'al with raised arm, 14th–12th century BC, found at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), Louvre
A great number of deities in a four tier hierarchy headed by El and Asherah[1] were worshiped by the followers of the Canaanite religion; this is a partial listing:[2]
Adonis, god of youth, beauty and desire, son of Astrate. In Greek Mythology he is the lover of Aphrodite and Persephone. Linked to the planet Mercury
Anat, virgin goddess of war and strife, sister and putative mate of Ba'al Hadad.
Arsay, goddess of the underworld, one of the three daughters of Ba'al Hadad.
Athirat, "walker of the sea", Mother Goddess, wife of El (also known as Elat and after the Bronze Age as Asherah)
Athtart, better known by her Greek name Astarte, is the goddess of love and fertility, is the sister of Anat and assists her in the Myth of Ba'al
Asherah, queen consort of El (Ugaritic religion), Elkunirsa (Hittite religion), Yahweh (Israelite religion), Amurru (Amorite religion). Symbolized by Asherah pole, a common sight in ancient Canaan
Attar, god of the morning star ("son of the morning") who tried to take the place of the dead Baal and failed. Male counterpart of Athtart.
Baalah, properly Baʿalah, the wife or female counterpart of Baal (also Belili)[3]
Ba'al Hadad (lit. master of thunder), god of storms, thunder, lightning and air. King of the gods. Uses the weapons Driver and Chaser in battle. Often referred to as Baalshamin.[4]
Ba'al Hermon, titular local deity of Mount Hermon.
Baal Hammon, god of fertility and renewer of all energies in the Phoenician colonies of the Western Mediterranean
Dagon (Dagan) god of crop fertility and grain, father of Ba'al Hadad
El, also called 'Il or Elyon ("Most High"), god of creation, husband of Athirat.[5][i]
Eloh Araphel, god of darkness and evil, the father of El Elyon, Elat, Qadeshtu and Mot.
Eshmun, god, or as Baalat Asclepius, goddess, of healing
Horon, an underworld god, co-ruler of the underworld, twin brother of Melqart, a son of Mot. Bethoron in Israel, takes its name from Horon.
Ishat, goddess of fire, wife of Moloch. She was slain by Anat.[6][7][8]
Kotharat, seven goddesses of marriage and pregnancy
Kothar-wa-Khasis, the skilled god of craftsmanship, created Yagrush and Aymur (Driver and Chaser) the weapons used by the god Ba'al Hadad
Lotan, the twisting, seven-headed serpent ally of Yam
Marqod, god of dance
Melqart, "king of the city", god of Tyre, the underworld and cycle of vegetation in Tyre, co-ruler of the underworld, twin brother of Horon and son of Mot.
Moloch, putative god of fire, husband of Ishat [9]
Mot or Mawat, god of death (not worshiped or given offerings)
Nikkal-wa-Ib, goddess of orchards and fruit
Pidray, goddess of light and lightning, one of the three daughters of Ba'al Hadad.
Qadeshtu, lit. "Holy One", putative goddess of love, desire and lust. Also a title of Asherah.
Resheph, god of plague and of healing
Shachar and Shalim, twin mountain gods of dawn and dusk, respectively. Shalim was linked to the netherworld via the evening star and associated with peace[10]
Shamayim, (lit. "Skies"), god of the heavens, paired with Eretz, the land or earth
Shapash, also transliterated Shapshu, goddess of the sun; sometimes equated with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash,[11] whose gender is disputed. Some authorities consider Shamash a goddess. [12]
Sydyk, the god of righteousness or justice, sometimes twinned with Misor, and linked to the planet Jupiter[13][14]
Tallay, the goddess of winter, snow, cold and dew, one of the three daughters of Ba'al Hadad.
Yam (lit. sea-river) the god of the sea and the river,[15] also called Judge Nahar (judge of the river)[16][17][18]
Yarikh, god of the moon and husband of Nikkal, separated husband of Shapash the sun goddess.
Afterlife beliefs and Cult of the Dead[edit]
Canaanites believed that following physical death, the npš (usually translated as "soul") departed from the body to the land of Mot (Death). Bodies were buried with grave goods, and offerings of food and drink were made to the dead to ensure that they would not trouble the living. Dead relatives were venerated and sometimes asked for help.[19][20]
Cosmology[edit]
None of the inscribed tablets found in 1929 in the Canaanite city of Ugarit (destroyed c. 1200 BC) has revealed a cosmology. Any idea of one is often reconstructed from the much later Phoenician text by Philo of Byblos (c. 64–141 AD), after much Greek and Roman influence in the region.
According to the pantheon, known in Ugarit as 'ilhm (Elohim) or the children of El, supposedly obtained by Philo of Byblos from Sanchuniathon of Berythus (Beirut) the creator was known as Elion, who was the father of the divinities, and in the Greek sources he was married to Beruth (Beirut = the city). This marriage of the divinity with the city would seem to have Biblical parallels too with the stories of the link between Melqart and Tyre; Chemosh and Moab; Tanit and Baal Hammon in Carthage, Yah and Jerusalem.
From the union of El Elyon and his consort were born Uranus and Ge, Greek names for the "Heaven" and the "Earth".
In Canaanite mythology there were twin mountains Targhizizi and Tharumagi which hold the firmament up above the earth-circling ocean, thereby bounding the earth. W. F. Albright, for example, says that El Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic stem that appears in the Akkadian shadû ("mountain") and shaddā`û or shaddû`a ("mountain-dweller"), one of the names of Amurru. Philo of Byblos states that Atlas was one of the Elohim, which would clearly fit into the story of El Shaddai as "God of the Mountain(s)." Harriet Lutzky has presented evidence that Shaddai was an attribute of a Semitic goddess, linking the epithet with Hebrew šad "breast" as "the one of the Breast". The idea of two mountains being associated here as the breasts of the Earth, fits into the Canaanite mythology quite well. The ideas of pairs of mountains seem to be quite common in Canaanite mythology (similar to Horeb and Sinai in the Bible). The late period of this cosmology makes it difficult to tell what influences (Roman, Greek, or Hebrew) may have informed Philo's writings.
Mythology[edit]
In the Baal Cycle, Ba'al Hadad is challenged by and defeats Yam, using two magical weapons (called "Driver" and "Chaser") made for him by Kothar-wa-Khasis. Afterward, with the help of Athirat and Anat, Ba'al persuades El to allow him a palace. El approves, and the palace is built by Kothar-wa-Khasis. After the palace is constructed, Ba'al gives forth a thunderous roar out of the palace window and challenges Mot. Mot enters through the window and swallows Ba'al, sending him to the Underworld. With no one to give rain, there is a terrible drought in Ba'al's absence. The other deities, especially El and Anat, are distraught that Ba'al has been taken to the Underworld. Anat goes to the Underworld, attacks Mot with a knife, grinds him up into pieces, and scatters him far and wide. With Mot defeated, Ba'al is able to return and refresh the Earth with rain.[21]
Religious practices[edit]
Archaeological investigations at the site of Tell el-Safiad have found the remains of donkeys, as well as some sheep and goats in Early Bronze Age layers, dating to 4,900 years ago which were imported from Egypt in order to be sacrificed. One of the sacrificial animals, a complete donkey, was found beneath the foundations of a building, leading to speculation this was a 'foundation deposit' placed before the building of a residential house.[22]
It is considered virtually impossible to reconstruct a clear picture of Canaanite religious practices. Although child sacrifice was known to surrounding peoples, there is no reference to it in ancient Phoenician or Classical texts. The biblical representation of Canaanite religion is always negative.[23]
Canaanite religious practice had a high regard for the duty of children to care for their parents, with sons being held responsible for burying them, and arranging for the maintenance of their tombs.[24]
Canaanite deities such as Baal were represented by figures which were placed in shrines often on hilltops, or 'high places' surrounded by groves of trees, such as is condemned in the Hebrew Bible, in Hosea (v 13a) which would probably hold the Asherah pole, and standing stones or pillars.[25]
The Canaanites[edit]
The Levant region was inhabited by people who themselves referred to the land as 'ca-na-na-um' as early as the mid-third millennium BCE.[26] There are a number of possible etymologies for the word.
The Akkadian word "kinahhu" referred to the purple-colored wool, dyed from the Murex molluscs of the coast, which was throughout history a key export of the region. When the Greeks later traded with the Canaanites, this meaning of the word seems to have predominated as they called the Canaanites the Phoenikes or "Phoenicians", which may derive from the Greek word "Phoenix" meaning crimson or purple, and again described the cloth for which the Greeks also traded. The Romans transcribed "phoenix" to "poenus", thus calling the descendants of the Canaanite settlers in Carthage "Punic".
Thus while "Phoenician" and "Canaanite" refer to the same culture, archaeologists and historians commonly refer to the Bronze Age, pre-1200 BC Levantines as Canaanites; and their Iron Age descendants, particularly those living on the coast, as Phoenicians. More recently, the term Canaanite has been used for the secondary Iron Age states of the interior (including the Philistines and the states of Israel and Judah)[27][28] that were not ruled by Arameans—a separate and closely related ethnic group.[29]
Canaanite religion was strongly influenced by their more powerful and populous neighbors, and shows clear influence of Mesopotamian and Egyptian religious practices. Like other people of the Ancient Near East Canaanite religious beliefs were polytheistic, with families typically focusing on veneration of the dead in the form of household gods and goddesses, the Elohim, while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as Baal and El, Asherah and Astarte. Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies, such as the hieros gamos of the New Year, may have been revered as gods. "At the center of Canaanite religion was royal concern for religious and political legitimacy and the imposition of a divinely ordained legal structure, as well as peasant emphasis on fertility of the crops, flocks, and humans."[30][31]
Contact with other areas[edit]
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Canaanite religion was influenced by its peripheral position, intermediary between Egypt and Mesopotamia, whose religions had a growing impact upon Canaanite religion. For example, during the Hyksos period, when chariot-mounted maryannu ruled in Egypt, at their capital city of Avaris, Baal became associated with the Egyptian god Set, and was considered identical – particularly with Set in his form as Sutekh. Iconographically henceforth Baal was shown wearing the crown of Lower Egypt and shown in the Egyptian-like stance, one foot set before the other. Similarly Athirat (known by her later Hebrew name Asherah), Athtart (known by her later Greek name Astarte), and Anat henceforth were portrayed wearing Hathor-like Egyptian wigs.
From the other direction, Jean Bottéro has suggested that Yah of Ebla (a possible precursor of Yam) was equated with the Mesopotamian god Ea during the Akkadian Empire. In the Middle and Late Bronze Age, there are also strong Hurrian and Mitannite influences upon the Canaanite religion. The Hurrian goddess Hebat was worshiped in Jerusalem, and Baal was closely considered equivalent to the Hurrian storm god Teshub and the Hittite storm god, Tarhunt. Canaanite divinities seem to have been almost identical in form and function to the neighboring Arameans to the east, and Baal Hadad and El can be distinguished amongst earlier Amorites, who at the end of the Early Bronze Age invaded Mesopotamia.
Carried west by Phoenician sailors, Canaanite religious influences can be seen in Greek mythology, particularly in the tripartite division between the Olympians Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, mirroring the division between Baal, Yam and Mot, and in the story of the Labours of Hercules, mirroring the stories of the Tyrian Melqart, who was often equated with Heracles.[32]
Present-day knowledge of Canaanite religion comes from:
literary sources, mainly from Late Bronze Age Ugarit,[33] supplemented by biblical sources
archaeological discoveries
Literary sources[edit]
The ruins of the excavated city of Ras Shamra, or Ugarit
Until Claude F. A. Schaefer began excavating in 1929 at Ras Shamra in Northern Syria (the site historically known as Ugarit), and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablets written in an alphabetical cuneiform,[34] modern scholars knew little about Canaanite religion, as few records have survived. Papyrus seems to have been the preferred writing medium, but whereas in Egypt papyrus may survive centuries in the extremely dry climate, Canaanite records have simply decayed in the humid Mediterranean climate.[35] As a result, the accounts contained within the Bible represented almost the only sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion. This record was supplemented by a few secondary and tertiary Greek sources: (Lucian's De Dea Syria (The Syrian Goddess), fragments of the Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos (died 141 CE), and the writings of Damascius). More recently, detailed study of the Ugaritic material, of other inscriptions from the Levant and also of the Ebla archive from Tel Mardikh, excavated in 1960 by a joint Italo-Syrian team, have cast more light on the early Canaanite religion.[35][36]
According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, the Ugarit texts represent one part of a larger religion that was based on the religious teachings of Babylon. The Canaanite scribes who produced the Baal texts were also trained to write in Babylonian cuneiform, including Sumerian and Akkadian texts of every genre.[37]
Archaeological sources[edit]
Archaeological excavations in the last few decades[when?] have unearthed more about the religion of the ancient Canaanites.[29][page needed] The excavation of the city of Ras Shamra (1928 onwards) and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay-tablet alphabetic cuneiform texts provided a wealth of new information. More recently,[when?] detailed study of the Ugaritic material, of other inscriptions from the Levant and also of the Ebla archive from Tel Mardikh, excavated in 1960 by a joint Italo-Syrian team, have cast more light on the early Canaanite religion.[citation needed]
Ancient Semitic religion
Canaanism
Semitic neopaganism
The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities in Ancient Israel
^ Whereas the Israelites originated as Bronze Age Canaanites, the origin of Yahweh is indeterminate (see Yahweh §Bronze Age origins). Following the introduction of Yahweh (localized to the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah), a shift in theophoric naming occurred in which the original and most ancient biblical names paying tribute to El (Isra-el, Dani-el, Samu-el, Micha-el etc.) began to be displaced by names paying tribute to Yahweh.
Mark S. Smith sees the conflation of El and Yahweh as part of the process which he describes as "convergence" in the period of the Judges and the early monarchy. Convergence saw the coalescence of the qualities of other deities, and even the deities themselves, into Yahweh. (Mark S. Smith, 2nd edition of The Early History of Israel, p.6-13) Thus El became identified as a name of Yaweh, while Asherah ceased to be a distinct goddess. And the attributes of El, Asherah and Baal (notably, for Baal, his identification as a storm-god) were assimilated into Yahweh.
Some of the idiosyncratic aspects of Yahweh are described by Smith as "differentiation" in the period from the 9th century BC through to the Exile. Differentiation identified and rejected certain Canaanite features i.e. Baal, child sacrifice, the asherah, worship of the sun and moon, and the cults of the "high places". (W. Lee Humphries, review of The Early History of God, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Spring, 1993), pp. 157-160.)
^ Evans, Annette H. M. "Monotheism and Yahweh", The Development of Jewish Ideas of Angels: Egyptian and Hellenistic Connections, ca. 600 BCE to ca. 200 BCE. PhD diss., Stellenbosch University, 2007. p. 291. "Handy (1994:176,177) describes the four hierarchical levels in Syro-Palestinian mythology. The first level consists of the deity El (or his equivalents) and Asherah. The second level consists of the active deities or patron gods, for example Baal, and the third, the artisan gods, for example Kothar-wa-Khasis. The lowest level consists of the messenger-gods, who have no independent volition, which Handy equates with the “angels” of the Bible."
Handy, Lowell K. (1994). "Summary - Cosmic Hierarchy". Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy. Eisenbrauns. pp. 169–170. ISBN 978-0-931464-84-3. [Per the Syro-Palestinian perception of the cosmos] The fourfold hierarchy of the divine realm may be diagramed as follows [Authoritative Deities: El; Active Deities: Baal; Artisan Deities: Kothar; Messenger Deities: gpn w ugr]...
^ "Caananite Religion". www.mc.maricopa.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
^ "Canaanite culture and religion". history-world.org. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
^ "Baal | ancient deity". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
^ Smith, Mark S. (2002). The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 32f, n. 45. ISBN 978-0-8028-3972-5. [Deuteronomy 32:8-9] suggests that Yahweh, originally a warrior-god from Sinai/Paran/Edom/Teiman, was known separately from El at an early point in early Israel.
^ Gorelick, Leonard; Williams-Forte, Elizabeth; Ancient seals and the Bible. International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies. p.32
^ Dietrich, Manfried; Loretz, Oswald; Ugarit-Forschungen: Internationales Jahrbuch für die Altertumskunde Syrien-Palästinas, Volume 31. p.362
^ Kang, Sa-Moon, Divine war in the Old Testament and in the ancient Near East. p.79
^ "alleged but not securely attested", according to Johnston, Sarah Isles, Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01517-7. p.335
^ Botterweck, G.J.; Ringgren, H.; Fabry, H.J. (2006). Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. 15. Alban Books Limited. p. 24. ISBN 9780802823397. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
^ Johnston, Sarah Isles, Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01517-7. P. 418
^ Wyatt, Nick, There's Such Divinity Doth Hedge a King, Ashgate (19 Jul 2005), ISBN 978-0-7546-5330-1, p. 104
^ "26 Religions". cs.utah.edu. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
^ "MELCHIZEDEK - JewishEncyclopedia.com". jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
^ Ugaritic text: KTU 1.1 IV 14
^ "The Shelby White & Leon Levy Program: Dig Sites, Levant Sothern". fas.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2014-03-29. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
^ Finkelstein, Israel, and Silberman, Neil Asher, 2001, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, p. 242
^ Asherah: goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament, By Tilde Binger. Page 35
^ Segal, Alan F. Life after death: a history of the afterlife in the religions of the West
^ Annette Reed (11 February 2005). "Life, Death, and Afterlife in Ancient Israel and Canaan" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-01. [dead link]
^ Wilkinson, Philip Myths & Legends: An Illustrated Guide to Their Origins and Meanings
^ Bohstrom, Philippe (21 June 2016). "Canaanites Imported Sacrificial Animals From Egypt, Archaeologists Find" – via Haaretz.
^ David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers (2000-12-31). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. p. 214. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
^ Lawrence Boadt, Richard J. Clifford, Daniel J. Harrington (2012). "11". Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction. Paulist Press. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
^ Bruce C. Birch (1997-01-01). Hosea, Joel, and Amos. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 33, 56.
^ Aubet, Maria E., 1987, 910 The Phoenicians and the West, (Cambridge University Press, New York) p.9
^ Davies, Philip R. (1 April 2016). "Early Judaism(s)". On the Origins of Judaism. Routledge. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-134-94502-3. Ancient Israel and Judah were not “communities of faith” as distinct from any of their neighbours, all of whom had their own deities also. We cannot know in much detail what the religions of these ancient societies were, but the books of Judges—Kings and the archaeological evidence agree that much religious practice in these two kingdoms largely conformed to local patterns (“worshipping the Baals”).
^ Thompson, Thomas L. "A view from Copenhagen: Israel and the History of Palestine". The Bible and Interpretation. Mark Elliott, Patricia Landy. Retrieved 15 September 2017. The Bible, I think, is neither historical nor historiographical, but a secondary collection of tradition.
^ a b Tubb, Jonathan. 'The Canaanites (British Museum Press)
^ abstract, K. L. Noll (2007) "Canaanite Religion", Religion Compass 1 (1), 61–92 doi:10.1111/j.1749-8171.2006.00010.x
^ Moscati, Sabatino. The Face of the Ancient Orient, 2001.
^ Stories from Ancient Canaan, Second Edition. ISBN 1611641624. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
^ Richard, Suzanne Near Eastern archaeology: a reader, Eisenbrauns illustrated edition (1 Aug 2004) ISBN 978-1-57506-083-5, p. 343
^ Schaeffer, Claude F. A. (1936). "The Cuneiform Texts of Ras Shamra~Ugarit" (PDF). London: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-20.
^ a b Olmo Lete, Gregorio del (1999), "Canaanite religion: According to the liturgical texts of Ugarit" (CDL)
^ Hillers D.R. (1985)"Analyzing the Abominable: Our Understanding of Canaanite Religion" (The Jewish quarterly review, 1985)
^ The Encyclopedia of Religion - Mcmillan Library Ref. - Page 42
Moscatti, Sabatino (1968), "The World of the Phoenicians" (Phoenix Giant)
Ribichini, Sergio "Beliefs and Religious Life" in Maoscati Sabatino (1997), "The Phoenicians" (Rissoli)
van der Toorn, Karel (1995). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. New York: E.J. Brill. ISBN 0-8028-2491-9.
Bibliography of Canaanite & Phoenician Studies
Dawson, Tess (2009). Whisper of Stone. Natib Qadish: Modern Canaanite Religion. O Books. ISBN 978-1-84694-190-0.
K. L. Noll. "Canaanite Religion". Brandon University.
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Related to Ancient Canaanite religion
Yahweh was the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah. His exact origins are disputed, although they reach back to the early Iron Age and even the Late Bronze: his name may have begun as an epithet of El, head of the Bronze Age Canaanite pantheon, but the earliest plausible mentions of Yahweh are in Egyptian texts that refer to a similar-sounding place name associated with the Shasu nomads of the southern Transjordan.
Baal, properly Baʿal, was a title and honorific meaning "owner," "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities, but inscriptions have shown that the name Baʿal was particularly associated with the storm and fertility god Hadad and his local manifestations.
El (deity)
ʼĒl is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "god" or "deity", or referring to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ʼila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic archaic biliteral ʼ‑l, meaning "god".
Qetesh
Qetesh is a goddess, who was adopted during the late Bronze Age from the religion of Canaan into the ancient Egyptian religion during its New Kingdom. She was a fertility goddess of sacred ecstasy and sexual pleasure, and became a popular deity.
Hadad
Hadad, Adad, Haddad (Akkadian) or Iškur (Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Northwest Semitic and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
Asherah
Asherah, in ancient Semitic religion, is a mother goddess who appears in a number of ancient sources. She appears in Akkadian writings by the name of Ašratu(m) (Ashratum), and in Hittite as Aserdu(s) or Asertu(s). Asherah is generally considered identical with the Ugaritic goddess ʾAṯiratu (Athirat).
Astarte is the Hellenized form of the Middle Eastern goddess Astoreth, a form of Ishtar, worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name is particularly associated with her worship in the ancient Levant among the Canaanites and Phoenicians. She was also celebrated in Egypt following the importation of Levantine cults there. The name Astarte is sometimes also applied to her cults in Mesopotamian cultures like Assyria and Babylonia.
Anat, classically Anath is a major northwest Semitic goddess.
Mot (god)
Mot was the ancient Canaanite god of death and the Underworld. He was worshipped by the people of Ugarit, by the Phoenicians, and also by the Hebrews of the Old Testament. The main source of information about his role in Canaanite mythology comes from the texts discovered at Ugarit, but he is also mentioned in the surviving fragments of Philo of Byblos's Greek translation of the writings of the Phoenician Sanchuniathon and also in various books of the Old Testament.
Baal Cycle
The Baal Cycle is an Ugaritic cycle of stories about the Canaanite god Baʿal, a storm god associated with fertility. It is one of the Ugarit texts.
Phoenicia was a thalassocratic, ancient Semitic-speaking Mediterranean civilization that originated in the Levant, specifically Lebanon, in the west of the Fertile Crescent. Scholars generally agree that it was centered on the coastal areas of modern day Lebanon and included parts of what are now northern Israel and southern Syria reaching as far north as Arwad, but there is some dispute as to how far south it went, the furthest suggested area being Ashkelon. Its colonies later reached the Western Mediterranean, such as Cádiz in Spain and most notably Carthage in North Africa, and even the Atlantic Ocean. The civilization spread across the Mediterranean between 1500 BC and 300 BC.
Yahwism
Yahwism is the modern term used to describe the historic worship of Yahweh in the ancient Israelite kingdoms of Judah and Samaria (Israel) – and thus the primitive, formative stages of Judaism.
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Top Fifteen Games Of 2011
By Wolf's Gaming Blog on December 31, 2011 • ( 3 Comments )
As we come up to the start of another year, and another year of games, it’s around this time, usually as I’m getting my ass kicked at some game online, that I start to reflect on the year, and without even consciously realising it I start to create a list of my favorite games from the past 375-days. This leads to the infamous ‘top ten” list that circulates the internet at this time of the year as massive gaming sites hand out awards like they’re fact rather than opinion. Sadly these awards don’t always mean much because back-handed dealings often make the entire process a bit of a joke. So while my little list of fifteen games here may not have the distinction and influence of the likes of IGN, the one thing that I can say is that none of the games have been chosen because of cheeky publishers and developers, mostly because I’d tell them to go stuff it, and partly because this small little part of the internet just ain’t big enough to make it worth their time! No. this is MY list, made up of games that I feel are deserving. Still, the games that make list probably won’t surprise you that much, because despite all the shenanigans that do go on, the games that win the big awards are usually deserving of it. Usually.
Sadly I’m terrible at making this sort of list, because I am never able choose which game deserves which slot in the list and the resulting internal debat often leaves me frothing at the mouth and qouting random Red Dwarf lines. Still, I’ve spent many tortured hours swapping the games around to try to devise my perfect list. There’s no doubt in my mind that by the time you’ve read this I’ll have just my mind half a dozen more times at the very least, but for now, it’s complete.
But before we get into this whole list thing, here’s a couple of points to consider:
Only games that I’ve actually played can be included on this list. So while I’ve played the majority of games out there this year, there might be a few that I didn’t.
As I’m an Xbox 360 gamer, this list is for Xbox 360 games ONLY. So don’t complain that Uncharted 3 didn’t make it on here.
This list is just for full retail titles. I’ll be doing a seperate list forArcade games, assuming I can finally get off this chocolate high that I’ve been on since Christmas.
And finally, the review scores I handed out to each of these games doesn’t make an impact on the list, because I was trying to be as fair as I could when I reviewed the games, and so despite the fact that I may have had lots of fun with a game it may not have gotten the highest review score.
So here we go, my top fifteen games of 2011:
Number 15: F1 2011
Somehow Codemasters have managed to sneak two games, both racers, into my list of favorite games from 2011, which goes to show that they still know what they’re doing when it comes to crafting four-wheeled mayhem. F1 2011 may not have been vastly different from F1 2010, which makes sense, really, but the changes it did make were certainly for the best. But the best thing about the game was being able to play a season with a friend, cheerfully vying for the prestige of crossing the line first and claiming those vital points for the team. It may not have been rigidly realistic enough to please the most hardcore of gamers out there, but it was a damn fun game and that’s why it’s kicking off my little list. Well played, Codemasters, well played.
Number 14: WWE All Stars
Since the end of the attitude era, I’ve not been the biggest wrestling fan. The only thing that kept me watching WWE was Edge, and then he retired and I lost interest again. Of course I’ve since tuned back in thanks to the return of a certain legend. But that’s not the point; the point is that I really liked WWE All Stars! The Smackdown vs RAW games have never really done it for me, feeling incredibly clunky and never really capturing the inherent excitement of watching two or more wrestlers collide. WWE All Stars captured the over-the-top nature of the sport(?) perfectly by using a fantastic graphical style and slick, fast paced, heavy-hitting action. I do have complaints about the game; the creation suite was severely lacking, and it’s a shame that much of the Smackdown vs RAW features weren’t transferred across, but otherwise I spent many a happy hour on All Stars, beating the snot out of people as Edge and kicking some ass as the Rock.
Number 13: DiRT 3
Cars. Dirt. More dirt.. All of these things equal DiRT 3, and while I may never see the return of my beloved Colin McRae series of games and their focus on rallying only, it’s still one hell of a game. In an attempt to appease fans Codemasters shifted the focus of their off-road racer back toward rallying, resulting in a far more satisfying career mode. Of course the new Gymkhana mode also made quite a difference to the series, and for the better. I whittled away countless hours spinning my car around posts, sliding through stupidly tight gaps and mastering lines in this mode. I enjoyed the simple challenge of mastering car control, and then using those skills in the games much improved online mode to kick some serious ass in things like Capture the Flag. In fact, DiRT 3’s multiplayer gave me many hours of joy thanks to some great game modes and its fantastic handling model. A fantastic racer.
Number 12: Saints Row: The Third
Striding into the 12th space on my list is the utterly insane, utterly fun Saints Row: The Third. Its combat isn’t that great, its driving isn’t that great and it doesn’t look that great, either, but that doesn’t matter because Saints Row is just pure fun to play thanks to some truly wacky mission designs, bonkers characters and a sense of humour so depraved and, at times, vulgar that it should be illegal. Driving tigers around in cars, hitting people with dildos, fighting a space battle on Mars, playing an old-school text adventure that kills you with tiles, fighting a giant dragon/demon with a sword, skydiving through the middle of a plane and fighting off a zombie horde are just a few highlights from a game packed with insanity and hilarity. In many ways Saints Row: The Third is what Grand Theft Auto used to be: fun. And for that very reason it’s one of my favorite games of the year.
Number 11: Rayman: Origins
It’s a sad truth, but in todays FPS and Call of Duty dominated world platformers are a dying breed; a breed that’s only barely clinging on by the tip of their fingers to existence. But Ubisoft’s decision to bring back the limbless wonder Rayman proved three things: 2D games can still be awesome; platformers ain’t dead yet, and damn does this game look good! Origins doesn’t win any awards for originality, but there’s a super-slick platformer here that demands precision, quick reflexes and patience to best. Sadly because it doesn’t have Call of Duty, Halo or Gears of War written across the front the game will likely never get the attention it deserves, and that’s a true shame because I can almost guarantee that if you give this game just fifteen minutes, you’ll be hooked. And did I mention it looks good? SWEET MOTHER OF MARY MAGDELINES HAIRY GRANDMOTHER’S PET CAT DOES IT LOOK GOOD!
Number 10: Tropico 4
Out of every game on this list, I’m willing to bet that this is the only one that stops people in their tracks as they go off to Google the name, ‘ Tropico 4’. Since I had never played the previous three games, I had gone into Tropico 4 with some trepidation, but I came out with a huge grin and the knowledge that I’d never want to rule an island in real life because it would be far too much work. As an RTS game, the goal is to take control of your own little island and slowly nurture it until it has a booming economy, whether that be thanks to tourism, weapons production, exporting exotic food or any mixture of the above and more. Compared to the other games on this list, Tropico 4 is a relaxed game where one mission can take hours to complete, demanding that you patiently balance out the demands on numerous factions and those of your people. And it’s up to you whether you play the nice Presidente, always trying to please your people, or the utter bastard who randomly kills people and focuses on building a military to crush any resistance to your tyrannical rule. Throw in a great sense of humour and you’ve got a brilliant game that kept me playing for hours on end, and one that really does deserve your attention.
Number 9: Mortal Kombat
Rebooting a series, restoring it to its former glory and still keeping the fans happy is no easy task. The Mortal Kombat series had been dying a slow death for far too long, and finally Ed Boon decided that they needed to go back to the beginning, do it all again and bring back the fighter that we all knew and loved. And I fully admit that I was a little worried that in their enthusiasm to bring back the series they might forget what made it great; quick, smooth, violent gameplay. And so in 2011 they released Mortal Kombat 9, simply titled Mortal Kombat. And. It. Was. Utterly. Badass. Through the efforts of NetherRealm Studios Mortal Kombat was brought back to life as an entirely new entity that somehow still remained true to the series. The combat system, while lacking the depth of Street Fighter, was smooth, fast and incredibly fun and diverse, and taking it online and battling friends is the perfect way to settle some old scores. There is one thing I hate about Mortal Kombat, though; Shao Sodding Khan. That complete and utter bastard is the most annoying boss battle I’ve ever had to endure. JUST DIE YOU F*CKING SON OF A B*TCH! JUST DIE! Yes, I have issues.
Number 8: Bulletstorm
Bulletstorm is big and dumb and stupid, and that’s why I loved it. Created by People Can Fly, Bulletstorm does something that many games seem to be forgetting about now; it puts fun ahead of anything else. It’s a game inhabited by overly muscled characters, rudeness and incredible violence, all culminating in a shooter that rarely failed to have me smiling, and that’s quite an achievement. Many people knock the game for its lack of subtlety, for its lack of maturity and for its portrayal of shallow characters who just liked to blow shit up, but it’s for all those reasons that I loved Bulletstorm. In many respects it’s like Saints Row: The Third, because it puts pure fun ahead of anything else; it’s outrageous, insane and it’s not afraid to poke fun at itself. Even the shooting itself was over-the-top carnage thanks to a Skillshot system that rewards players for killing enemies in the most insane ways they can imagine. Sure, the game had a lot of flaws, but the point is it was just plain, simple good fun, and I’m looking forward to a Bulletstorm 2, assuming they make one. Which I’m saying right here, right now, that they will. And there’s a giant remote-control dinosaur in it. Called Wallington P. Tallylicker. R.I.P. Mr. Wallington P. Tallylicker.
Number 7: Battlefield 3
Oh boy, I can hear the fanboy rage machine starting up, revving its engine and getting ready to run my ass down for this one. Yes, that’s right; Battlefield 3 has made my list of favorite games while Modern Warfare 3 has not. Somewhere in the world, some gamer wearing nothing but Modern Warfare 3 branded clothing is having a heart-attack. But let’s get this straight: Do I think Battlefield 3 is a better game than Modern Warfare 3? No, they’re both extremely good at what they do, but the simple truth is that Battlefield’s multiplayer appeals to more thank Modern Warfare 3’s thanks to its large scale, vehicular carnage and general mayhem. There’s so much scope to the multiplayer that player created magical moments of sheer awesome happen on a regular basis, ensuring that every game feels completely different from the last one. I remember my first game of Rush fondly: I was perched on a rock, sniping the hated enemy, when all of a sudden a jet crashed into the top of the radio tower behind me. Fiery death rained down upon me, but I survived. I went to turn back around and get back to some pain infliction when I hear a horrendous sound, and to my horror the entire tower collapsed, crushing me instantly. Moments like this are what make gaming amazing, and it’s moments like these that make Battlefield 3 amazing.
Number 6: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
The review isn’t even up yet, but Revelations makes it onto my list of favorite games in 2011, netting a strong 6th place for its efforts. I’ve loved the Assassin’s Creed series since it began, and while Revelations is arguably the weakest entry in the franchise yet, it’s still essential playing for any Creed fan as it brings us to the end of Ezio’s story(well, almost. Embers, an animated short, actually does that) as well of that of Altair’s, giving the previously cold assassin more depth and character. It also adds more to Desmond’s history and his overall story arc, giving us a few more clues to work with in regards to the mysterious events leading up to Assassin’s Creed 3. From the start it was the intriguing storyline that drew me into the world of the Creed series, and then with Ezio Ubisoft gave me a charming character whose journey kept me captivated until this final chapter in his story. And even at its worst the Creed gameplay is still absolutely brilliant, with the new bomb-crafting and heavily tweaked Assassin’s Brotherhood elements being the stars of the show. Few experiences in gaming match up to running across the rooftops of Constantinople as Ezio, admiring one of the most believable cities ever crafted in gaming; it truly feels like a living, breathing city, full of life and wonder. But perhaps most surprising of all is that Revelations is my favorite multiplayer game of the year, trumping Battlefield by a small amount thanks to it providing something totally unique. Stalking your prey through busy streets and quiet rooftops is an incredibly tense experience, and while there’s certainly balance issues and problems with it all, it’s some of the most rewarding and equally frustrating multiplayer I’ve ever played.
Number 5: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Human Revolution may not be impressive on the technical front, but this prequel to the original Deus Ex games is still one of my favorite titles from the year. Following the story of Adam Jensen it portrays a dark world where humans have developed augmentation technology that allows them to replace perfectly healthy limbs with superior mechanical ones. They can even upgrade their eyesight and mental capabilities. It might sound far-fetched, but it’s actually closer to reality than most people realise, and the game’s story paints a bleak picture that may well come true should humans not be careful with such technology. This, above all else, is why the game makes it so high it my list; the storyline speaks to me in ways that most games don’t as I’m someone very interested in technology and where it’s taking our race. But the gameplay wasn’t half bad either; Human Revolution offers several different ways to play the game and multiple routes through its levels, resulting in a game that’s a joy to play. Sure, there are problems, like a clunky control system and a boring lead character, but the augmentations that can be unlocked, the different ways to play and the world all combine to make this a damn fine game that, I feel, does the original game proud, though I’m sure many would argue otherwise.
Number 4: Gears of War 3
The original Gears of War was responsible for my choice to get an Xbox 360 many years back, and it remains one of my most loved games of this generation, but Gears of War 3 takes what made it great and blows it out the water with ease. Now many people don’t like the hammy story of the Gears story, which is perfectly understandable as it really is an over-the-top blood fest, but I for one enjoy the mad-cap antics of Delta squad, but sometimes it’s nice to get back to a simple story about aliens, guns and explosions. Gears of War 3 wraps up Marcus Fenix’s storyline in truly epic fashion (crap pun intended) and offers the most polished rendition of Gear’s gameplay yet. The cover-based blasting is super-slick and incredibly satisfying, the set-pieces are awesome, the game looks amazing and the improvements made to Horde mode and multiplayer are great. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not the biggest fan of Gears multiplayer, mostly thanks to those damn shotguns, but even I had great fun online, bayonetting people and generally causing carnage. But the real star was the improved Horde mode, which I was even willing to play by myself because it was so much fun. Quite simply, the Gears series is, for me, what I think of when I see an Xbox 360, and while Gears 3 doesn’t have the wow factor of the first game, it’s still a sublime shooter, and that’s why its fourth on my list.
Number 3: Portal 2
Few games can make gamers laugh, and Portal 2 is certainly one of those few. When Valve announced that they planned on making a full retail sequel to their previously download only FPS puzzler Portal, I admit that I was a little dubious as to whether they could pull it off, but damn did they do it! As a puzzler Portal 2 succeeds on almost every level, balancing difficulty and fun perfectly throughout. The puzzles are often devious tests of your intelligence and spatial awareness, yet never feel unfair in their design. But the real reason this game hits third on my list is the wit of the script. From Wheatley’s hilarious ramblings, Glados’s insults and the brilliant narration of the games second half, this is an intelligently crafted game that never failed to bring a smile to my face and a chuckle to my throat. The engine powering it all is starting to look creaky in its old age, but that doesn’t stop Portal 2 from being one of the must-own games of 2011.
Number 2: Batman: Arkham City
I’m not the biggest Batman geek in the world: I can’t quote lines from comics, I can’t tell you his biography word for word. Still, though, I do like Batman; as a character he’s pretty awesome and comes in second only to Spider-Man on my list of favorite heroes, so this love of the character has gone a long way toward Arkham City securing second place on my list. When the first game from Rocksteady involving Batman, Arkham Asylum, was announced their was great concern amongst gamers, and for good reason; comic-book heroes don’t have a great record with video-games. But I was quietly confident that the game would work because Rocksteady seemed to have something that most other developers of such games lacked: a passion for the source material. The result of their passion was the single greatest super-hero game of all time. But this year they upped their game by creating Batman: Arkham City which took everything that made the first game great, improving on it, ironing out things that didn’t work and adding in new stuff as well. The result displaced Arkham Asylum as the single greatest super-hero game of all time and serves as both a fantastic tribute to the Dark Knight and an utterly superb game.
Number 1: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The fact that Skyrim is taking the number one slot on my list should hardly come as surprise to any of you. In all the games that I’ve reviewed on here, Skryim was the second ever game that I handed out a full 10/10 to. Is it a perfect game? No, it is not – like any game there are flaws to be found, areas that could be improved and glitches to be fixed. But no other game can match the sheer amount of freedom that Skyrim offers, nor the amount of content that it can boast. In the hand-crafted and beautiful world of Skyrim, you can essentially lead an entire fantasy life, playing the game in any way you see fit, whether that be as a morally questionable thief, a fire-wielding mage, a none-too-bright warrior, skilled blacksmith, deadly archer, or even a pacifist who likes to chase bunny rabbits around. As I write this I’ve spent around a 120-hours in the world of Skyrim, battling dragons, looting dungeons, stealing ( I mean “acquiring”) items of value, fighting vampires, having fun as a werewolf, forging my own custom gear, assassinating poor suckers for money and generally just getting up to much shenanigans. Even my review which came in at over 5,000 words didn’t really do the scale of the game justice, so this meagre assortment of words doesn’t stand a chance. However, many people will disagree with my choice for number one due to the sheer amount of glitches and problems that the game has had since launch, and that’s a perfectly valid point, but here’s the catch: I haven’t actually had any major problems. Even the 1.2 update barely affected me, with only one backwards flying dragon making an appearance for me to laugh at, and so for me this isn’t just the best game of 2011, but one of the best games of this generation and any other. An absolutely outstanding adventure that will suck you in, devour your life and spit out your remains many years down the line.
Alright, so that’s my top fifteen games of 2011 – a year that has been filled with many, many great games and memorable moments. But I’m not quite done yet, because you see this list was almost like physical torture to me. Picking just fifteen games and then trying to put them in some semblance of order was like a nightmare wrapped in a horror film stuffed in a bag made of nettles. So I want to take a moment and mention a couple of the games that didn’t quite make my list:
So, many of you guys and gals will probably have this on your list, and presumably it’ll be in a fairly high position. For me it was still a damn good shooter, but it just felt too familiar and so when I thought back to my time with it I remembered having plenty of fun, but pretty much forgetting about it a few days after I completed because the multiplayer didn’t sit with me as well as Black Ops did. For those reasons it doesn’t quite make my list, but it was a very close call.
This game received a hell of a lot of flak from fans of the first game, and so I sort of feel like I’m completely on my own when I say that I actually really enjoyed it. Sure, there’s a lot of things that I didn’t like about the game, and I was disappointed that from a technical point of the view the game was poor, yet there was just something about it that kept me playing and then had me doing a second play-through. Don’t ask me to put a finger on it; I just liked the game and I had great fun with it.
The LEGO Games
Can you believe three of these things came out in 2011!? THREE!? Nevertheless, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the LEGO games, and ever time one turned up on my doorstep this year I was thankful because it was a nice change of pace from the usual blood, guts and gore. Actually choosing which is my favorite of the three is pretty tough: on the one hand Clone Wars introduced some great RTS elements, while LEGO Pirates had a LEGO version of Jack Sparrow! And of course the Harry Potter game was just plain charming. It took me ages to decide whether one of these games would actually make it to my list or not. In the end it was the simple fact that there was three of them in one year that stopped them from making it to the list, because as I reflected on them I started to realise that I was a little tired of them. Still, they bring a smile to my face.
Bethesda’s singleplayer/multiplayer hybrid didn’t do well when it was released, neither commercially nor critically, but I actually quite enjoyed it. Sure, there were quite a few problems with the game and some questionable design choices, but the basic premise was solid, the art-style was slick and including a parkour system for movement was a fun idea. I feel that Brink is solid platform that’s begging for a sequel to realise the games potential, and I await that sequel eagerly.
Only one thing really stopped Forza 4 from getting into my list: it felt a lot like Forza 3. Sadly there’s only so much improvement that can be made to a racing series, and while Forza 4 did what it could it still felt too familiar. I had fun with the game, patiently amassing a collection of beautiful cars that I wish I could own in real life. But I’ve told a lie – there was a second reason why it didn’t quite get into my list; a lack of soul. Yes, it’s an old argument against the series, but one that rings true; the game often feels cold and dispassionate about itself, and so I couldn’t justify a position on my list for it. Perhaps it’s the rather sterile racing that gives me that feeling. Adopting the shaky camera of the Shift series may go a little way toward fixing it, helping to give the game a visceral feeling.
So there we have it; my top fifteen games from 2011 – a damn good year to be a gamer. Doubtless this list is radically different from your own, which begs the question, what’s your favorite games of the year?
The Top Five Most Pirated Games Of 2011
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Top 5 Arcade Games of 2010
The end of 2010 is looming in the horizon and it's time to announce my…
Telltale Games is Rumoured To Be Working On A Game Of Thrones Game
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Categories: Feature, Opinion Piece
Tagged as: 15, 2011, fifteen, games, of, top
HAPPY “SLIGHTLY LATE” NEW YEAR! A Thank You And An Update
Gamerbox says:
Great list, but I would have put Portal 2 in the first stop and I would also have The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in my top 15! Other than that I pretty much agree with everything 🙂
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1/10/2019 Member News
Penn Community Bank Board Directors Help Build Habitat for Humanity Home in Morrisville
Penn Community Bank directors Robert L. Byers, Bruce Weed, and W. Thomas Lomax participated in a build day for the Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County Woodland Park Project on Jan. 4 in Morrisville. Penn Community Bank team members Diane Brown, Chief Administrative Officer, and Will Kadri, Multi-Site Manager, joined the directors in the build.
“The participation from the team members and my colleagues on the board of directors exemplifies Penn Community Bank’s culture of volunteerism,” said Byers, who serves as chairman of the board. “We are proud to contribute to support affordable housing in Bucks County.”
In October 2018, Penn Community Bank announced a sponsorship pledge of $100,000 over the next three years to Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County to support the creation of affordable housing in the county.
“Along with the funds pledged for this project, the team at Penn Community Bank has generously donated their time and participation to help build this home,” said Florence Kawoczka, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County. “Our partnerships with organizations such as Penn Community Bank help make the dream of being a homeowner a reality for hard-working Bucks County families.”
The homes in the Woodland Park development project will pave a path to homeownership for four deserving families. To qualify for Habitat’s homeownership program, families must invest at least 200 “sweat equity” hours in the building project, have a stable income and credit history, and be able to afford the projected monthly mortgage payments while earning an average of 60 percent to 80 percent of Bucks County’s median family income, which Habitat pegs at $87,400 for 2018.
The Philadelphia suburbs are among the most expensive places to live in Pennsylvania, often putting homeownership out of reach of lower-income earners. Supporting efforts to create safe, stable, affordable housing is one of Penn Community Bank’s four primary priorities for community giving.
The Woodland Park project will offer many more opportunities for volunteerism. To learn more and to get involved, visit https://www.habitatbucks.org/
PHOTO CAPTION: (from left to right) Penn Community Bank directors and team members W. Thomas Lomax, Robert L. Byers, Will Kadri, Bruce Weed and Diane Brown participated in a build day for the Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County Woodland Park Project in Morrisville on January 4.
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Well | Are You at Risk for Sexually Transmitted Infections?
Are You at Risk for Sexually Transmitted Infections?
By Roni Caryn Rabin
Credit Getty Images
What Is Your S.T.I. Risk?
A quick quiz from researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical School may help you find out.
If you’re having sex, you’re at risk for sexually transmitted infections. But what are the chances you’ll actually get one?
A quick sex quiz from researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will give you a better idea. It asks your age along with five questions about your love life, and clinical trials show it works pretty well — particularly for women, not quite as well for men. Answers are weighted, but it’s the kind of test you don’t want to ace: the higher your score, the higher your risk for an infection. Whether you use condoms and how many sex partners you have are critical factors in determining risk.
“Adolescents don’t want to tell their parents they’re sexually active,” said Charlotte Gaydos, a developer of the quiz and a professor in the division of infectious diseases in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Nor can teenagers easily get tested for sexually transmitted infections without a parent knowing. “If they don’t have a way to get to a hospital or clinic — they don’t have cars, they don’t have credit cards — how can they pay and keep it private from their parents?”
With support from the National Institutes of Health, she and her colleagues started a website at IWantThe Kit.org that provides free S.T.I. test kits to residents of Maryland and Washington, D.C., and the quiz is posted on the site. “The pop quiz can help them realize, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe I should order a kit, I got a high score.’”
In a recent study, Dr. Gaydos and her colleagues looked at 836 women and 558 men in their early 20s who had taken the quiz. They had also all gotten tests for sexually transmitted infections through IWantThekit.org, which provides free home collection test kits that include directions for taking vaginal, penile or rectal swabs. Visitors then send back the tissue samples for free testing. If results are positive, the website directs patients to clinics that offer free or low-cost treatment.
The vast majority of respondents to the quiz were not deemed to be at high risk, according to the study, which was published Friday in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. But women who fell into the high-risk category were four times as likely to test positive for chlamydia, gonorrhea or trichomoniasis than those who were deemed “low risk.” (Respondents were not tested for H.I.V., herpes and syphilis, which require blood samples.)
Over all, 31.4 percent of the high-risk women tested positive for a sexually transmitted infection, compared with 16.3 percent of medium-risk women and 8.7 percent of low-risk women. You can get a zero score if you are at least 25, have had only one sex partner in the last 90 days who is not a new sex partner, have never had an S.T.I. and always use a condom.
S.T.I. risk differs by gender; the cells of the cervix in women, for example, may be particularly susceptible to certain infections like chlamydia. So scores were counted differently for men. Some 13 percent of the high-risk men tested positive for an S.T.I., compared with 5.7 percent of the medium-risk men and 2.8 percent of low-risk men. The results in men were not considered statistically significant, but further studies are being done, and preliminary data presented last September at the World S.T.I. & H.I.V. Conference in Brisbane, Australia, suggests scores are predictive of risk for men as well.
The risk factors for sexually transmitted infections are well known, Dr. Gaydos said. “Studies tell us the same things over and over again: Young age is a risk factor. Not using condoms is a risk factor. Concurrent partners is a risk factor,” she said. The quiz “is a way to get young people diagnosed and get them treated” and could also be used in a doctor’s office, she said.
Teenagers and young adults under 25 account for half of the 20 million cases of sexually transmitted infections that are contracted each year in the United States, though they make up only one-quarter of the sexually active population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sexually transmitted infections are often asymptomatic. Many cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea go undiagnosed and can result in long-term consequences, including infertility for women. Syphilis rates have been increasing, particularly among men who have sex with men. If not treated, syphilis increases the risk of contracting H.I.V. and can lead to long-term complications including vision impairment and stroke.
The C.D.C. advises sexually active young women to be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea once a year if they have a new partner or several partners. Pregnant women should also be tested for syphilis, H.I.V. and hepatitis B. Men who have sex with men should be tested for H.I.V., syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea at least once a year, according to the C.D.C.
The Weekly Health Quiz: Zika, Back Pain and Knitting
Finding a Drug for Healthy Aging
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When discussing a subject that affects every human on the planet, many issues raised are going to be controversial.
Who hasn’t heard someone mention ‘depopulation’ in the last few years?
Today, I heard someone state that 100 years ago there was ONE BILLION people on the planet. The first problem with this statement is, how do we know that, when we didn’t have electrical communications that we have today. And many places were still unexplored. Perhaps they were talking about the ‘civilised peoples’ who had participated in a census.
This someone also stated that in 1918 the world’s population of only ONE BILLION was reduced by ONE HALF due to the Spanish Flu Epidemic. It is hard to imagine only half a billion people in the population when today’s estimation is at 7 AND A HALF BILLION…and rising. Estimates of 11 BILLION are being projected for 2100.
The graph below shows quite clearly how the first increase started 3,000 years ago and then dramatically doubled 200 years ago (but doesn’t show the decimation from flu, 100 years ago), then rose unabated to its present 7.5 billion today.
I am sceptical of statistics, but this graph does at least give an over-view of the trend. Read from left to right…
The ‘someone’ I mention has suggested several different ways the world could end tomorrow. Is this just us being prepared, being doom-and-gloomy, or a realistic projection? What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Looking at Nature, we may gain some insights. When a species over-populates it may become food for predators, it may self-consume, migrate or deplete in number due to lack of food. Some species self-regulate their reproduction, and sometimes infertility does it for them.
What is humanity’s natural predator? Nature’s seasons can go wrong and bring drought and famine, extreme winters or flood. Sometimes the enemy is within, with viral epidemics or war; sometimes the enemy is without, as in a global cataclysm.
What has happened in the past? This question is very seldom asked for a couple of reasons. Not many people are interested enough to inquire into the historical record, think about it, or care, keeping their heads safely buried in the sand while they go on consuming without reserve. Creationists don’t believe we have a past long enough for this problem to have been experienced before, because God’s world is only 6,000 years old, according to their narrative. The science community is divided, but most believe in a progressive time-line where population increase is exponential and this problem of over-population has not presented itself before. In this case, our demise must be from doing something wrong ourselves, polluting the environment and causing climate problems, and draining resources, something we cannot deny.
A vast population is a problem in itself, as it puts strains on the production of food and provisions of resources, especially fuel and minerals. Industrialisation is a short term solution to provide for the hungry host, but it is devastating, long term.
Recently, independent researchers have realised that this problem may indeed have happened before and been solved. The thin and vague evidence of the Atlantean Era does not appeal to many, but does present a possibility of a previous population of civilised humans that was advanced in technology and intellect and may have seen a high rise in population numbers, but disappeared from the surface of Earth “in one night”, along with all evidence.
The world-wide legends of a global flood, which support the Biblical story of Noah and his Ark, present one possible reason why all evidence of previous large populations has been wiped out.
Younger Dryas 10.5 to 11.5 thousand years ago (present time on the left of graph)
New studies of what may have caused the short ice-age, called the Younger Dryas, 10.5 – 11.5 thousand years ago, have raised new theories of a world cataclysm which was unprecedented and unexpected. Landscape destruction in the Columbia Basin, the Carolina Bays, and Siberia, may present evidence of a large asteroid implosion*. The eruption of the super-volcano, Mount Toba, in Sumatra, was also a catastrophic event. These events and the ensuing Y D ice-age would significantly have decreased the population at the time.
*[See the work of Randall Carson and Graham Hancock]
There is one piece of evidence that is shining a light on this question: the ice-core samples from the Arctic regions, which show a fairly regular cycle of ICE AGES that last approximately 100,000 years, with a warm inter-glacial period lasting approximately 15,000 years, in between. It is during these warm periods that life takes off on Planet Earth. With warmer climates and larger territories to inhabit, food production – or agriculture – takes over from just hunting and gathering, and the human population increases like lilies in the field.
As the Ice Age comes to its natural end and the ice cap retreats, the growth of population occurs specifically on these pristine new territories, mainly in the northern hemisphere. The equatorial regions remain populated with the indigenous peoples, as before. This demarcation line is named the Tropic of Cancer north of the equator,and the Tropic of Capricorn, south of the equator.
The population grows…and grows, for around 15,000 years, rising and falling at times of plenty and times of hardship.
Now we can see that this is exactly where we are at the present time. The home planet is full and the store cupboards are hard to fill; the garden is depleted and the fuel store is looking bare.
What happened last time we found ourselves in this situation? The world turned and another ice age began. Land was covered in ice and the living quarters were reduced. Food and fuel was short. The human population diminished and was reduced to a size the planet could sustain.
After another 100,000 years the world turned again, according to its Nature, and the climate warmed up; the land recovered as the ice retreated, and humans lived happily in their Garden of Eden.
What turns the Earth on her axial tilt in these long climatic cycles? The Moon-Earth gravitational relationship and the ice-water ratio.
For more, read ‘THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE MOON…’ by Wendy H Salter and John H Shaughnessy
http://www.tisatmoon.com
Books by Wendy Salter
on February 3, 2018 at 6:05 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: climate change, depletion of resources, Depopulation, ice ages, Moon and climate, population 7.5 billion
To survive in this world, Man has had to learn Earth’s patterns and anomalies and work with them for his own benefit. Besides attending to his day-to-day needs he has had to look to the Heavens for help and learn the intricacies of this organic living planet in relation to the cosmos. Yet hard as he has tried, he has been caught out by some extreme and unexpected changes.
His basic needs of food and shelter have progressed from an opportunist approach to one of organisation and husbandry. Man and animals have different ways of managing their food supply.
Large herds of beasts, flocks of birds or swarms of insects can completely devastate the local environment from which they are feeding and then move swiftly on. It is not a complete failure, because Nature replenishes the stocks after they have gone.
Family groups, like primates, that like to stay put and make a home, tend to have a more varied diet and make sure that no part of that diet is eaten completely, so that it can continually restore itself. Agriculture gave Man a new way to grow what he needed for his whole settlement.
Many animals, including humans, learnt to store food when there is an abundance, to keep a supply for the lean times.
Early Humans seem to have gone one step further in that they invented a system of praying to the nature gods and goddesses to help them. It is possible that this was after the advent of agriculture, when people realised that they, themselves, could work with Nature and manage their crops and animal stock in a co-operative and conscious way, but there were some mysterious events that they could not predict and needed to elicit the help of the unseen powers.
There were virile gods and goddesses of fertility who helped with the setting of the seeds and mating of animals, none more so than the power of the sun and the moon deities which influenced the success of propagation on Earth, who was a Mother Goddess herself.
There is much evidence of seasonal rituals performed by these ancient people, to celebrate the Sacred Marriage of the gods and goddesses and bestow good fortune on the consummation of that marriage, thereby procuring good fortune on their harvest. These rituals must have been seen to be successful when prolific harvests followed. Of course, this may have happened without the added ‘good luck’ from the gods, but a failure, in the minds of the people, was due to the failure of the ritual. Superstition works when the appropriate result follows the appropriate action, both negatively and positively.
But did the early people believe something that we have forgotten – that they really could influence this unseen but powerful energy force?
Dowsers of natural energy show that the life-force in our world has two distinct ‘polarities’. These can be called + and – , positive and negative, or male and female. Each of these has a flow, or character, or effect, that is different to the other. One has a clock-wise and descending spin – and has a more direct, highly tuned feel – where the other runs anticlockwise and ascends and is more fluctuating, or rhythmic and soft. In the planet Earth, the poles, or focal points of these two energies are in the north and south Arctic regions.
Prophecies of old have forewarned us about a ‘Pole Shift’ or even a ‘Pole Swap’. Now that our scientists can study the physical mechanics of our Earth’s magnetic field, which is caused by the emanations of magnetism from molten magma flexing around the crystalline metallic core, and the positioning of the magnetic poles, they can confirm that we have had Pole Shifts before, and are likely to have more in the future.
Our scientists have found that the Magnetic Shift has already started and will likely cause a ‘flip’ into a Pole Reversal. The South Atlantic Anomaly, which is a weakening area of our magnetic field, affects the instruments on the International Space Station every time it crosses it, while orbiting the planet, and has shown that this area is allowing an increased level of protons into our vicinity. We will experience different phenomena as this happens but one important effect will be on bird migrations: it is highly likely that the Natural World, and especially certain animals, will give us signs that it is happening.
Geomancers of the past have known about the magnetic nature of the living energy of our planet and have been able to trace lines, commonly called ‘Ley’ lines, or ‘dragon’ lines. When we look at the position of megalithic monuments along these lines, and at intersections called ‘nodes’, we can see that our ancestors went to great lengths to put these great stones in place, so there must have been an important reason for doing so. Many of the megalithic circles, or ‘landscape temples’, are also calendars which mark out the solstices and equinoxes and watch the subtle changes in their cycles. They also align to the zodiac constellations and are our gauge on the great cycle of the turning cosmos, called The Great Year, or Precession of the Equinoxes. The stones may also have been an attempt to ‘fix’ the energy in that place to stabilise it, or to mark concentrations of energy and benefit from it. Some studies have noted alignments around the world to a different North and South magnetic pole and a different Equator – on which sat the Great Pyramid at Giza. The period of the last Pole Shift may have been around the time of the Great Flood, around 10- 12,000 B.C.E.
Once the studies of the past and the studies of the present come together, it may present a full picture of how these anomalies not only repeat but can be predictable. Now we have the technology to know what the ancients also seem to have known, we should be well prepared. But what seems remarkable is that this subject still seems to be one of conjecture, or one dismissed as mystical or unfathomable, or antiquated or science-fiction, or one that is only discussed behind closed doors… and a subject of which the general public seems to be blissfully unaware.
A pole-shift, or reversal of polarity of the Earth’s magnetic field, may not be felt or noticed immediately except by measuring it with instruments, but an ‘axial tilt’ shift is a very different thing. If the tilt of Earth’s axis should increase or decrease, the effects would be felt physically in seismic upheavals and noticed immediately in changes in the sun and moon positions and radical climate changes. Extreme changes may occur, plummeting us into an Ice Age.
Evidence of large areas of land changing dramatically from one climate to another is very visible. For example, both the Sahara desert and the Gobi desert show evidence of large areas of water and vegetation, and the Antarctic has given up its secret landscape and habitation to reveal a green and pleasant continent beneath its miles-thick ice-cap.
Something obviously turned the world.
In the following short video, we can see an imaginary turning of Earth after a possible 40 degree axial tilt.
In our new book “There Is Something About The Moon…”, John H Shaughnessy and I, Wendy H Salter, explain how the Moon has the muscle to pull the Earth into new axial tilts, with an original theory. Using Arctic ice-core sample results, they demonstrate how the regular cycles of cold and warm climates, in reoccurring Ice Ages and Inter-glacial, or Water Ages, change the shape of our planet and thus change the gravitational torque relationship between the Earth and the Moon… thus changing the tilt angle. Can the Moon actually tell us when the next axial tilt may happen, and when the next Ice Age may occur? This fascinating book, which covers many different ways of re-assessing Earth’s relationship with the Moon, and how the true message from the man on the Moon has been removed from our consciousness, can be found here: http://www.tisatmoon.com
on January 18, 2012 at 10:32 pm Comments (4)
Tags: Axial tilt, earth polarity, Earth's axis, Earth's core, magnetic field, polar shift, pole reversal
*My Book Reviews
HERSTORIA, my first novel, has now been published and been followed by my second, GREEN STONES, and my third, PERSIAN CARPET.
You can order a copy by sending me an email first, to wendy@wendysalter.com
The price is £7.99 plus £1.50 p&p.
‘HERSTORIA – a life out of time’ – is a four-part story about Brieze, who loses first her mother at the age of three, then her father when she was fourteen. At twenty-eight she is heading for a crisis but then remembers that her grandmother had taught her how to travel outside of Earth time. By re-visiting the proverbial history books of time Brieze comes to realise that the connection she has with her loved ones, and ultimately with her soul, goes far beyond this one life-time. Not only does Brieze meet her spirit guardians in different characters, but she discovers where she has known the souls of her parents and her children before. She even meets her grandchildren before they are born in her present time. Other relationships reveal their deeper meanings, too. It shows her, in an unmistakable way, that she is part of a timeless relationship-family and her own earthly personalities are transient. It heals her loneliness and sense of loss by helping her understand that she is not really separated from her loved ones by death. Most importantly for Brieze at that time, she also comes to understand that she can be the vehicle for others to arrive into the Earth realm. It also helps her see that the relationships she engages in are more important than she realised and everyone around her is there to love her, and for her to love.
There are times in one’s life where an understanding of our Higher Condition can make all the difference, when making choices to follow our Soul’s purpose. Without that understanding we may get lost in negative aspects of our lower ego and lose our direction.This is not a new concept in the esoteric teachings of the world, which is to understand the karmic cycle of re-incarnation and its purpose in transcending the base animal life towards a higher conscious state.The pages of history hold unexpected clues to these mortal and spiritual relationships, for it is all in our evolution, where we have come from. What is yet to be written, the future, is no less difficult. All we have to do is let our experience, imagination and conscious choices take us there. Each of the stories present different ways in which Brieze discovers a past, or future, incarnation, which helps her to understand herself more. The experiences come at significant times of change in her life – motherhood, grand-motherhood, embarking on a career later in life and finally, at the time of contemplation of her mortality, at the end of her life.
Dolphin mosaic
‘HERSTORIA’ as reviewed by John Lehman, writer, poet and book reviewer from Wisconsin, USA.
In the final pages of her book, author Wendy Salter states, “To believe in the eternal spirit, therefore, we have then to embark on the eternal search for that place from whence we have come and to where we are going.” That’s exactly what Brieze the narrator/protagonist of this four-story novel does. Through each of these episodes in different places and different times she (and we) comes to realize a wonderful connectedness with loved ones past, present and future. I appreciated the overview of each part before “Story One” it helps the reader grasp the scope of the book and anticipate each of its different parts. My favorite was the contemporary encounter of the third section, but I also liked the first; my wife found the second most inspiring — Brieze travels back to spend time with Native American’s in the early 1600s.
But each of the four stories has an important underlying meaning: (the first) things have greater meaning than they initially appear to have; (the second story) nature is part of us and we regain ourselves by losing ourselves in it; (third) a partner in life helps us remember; (and fourth) the future — who we will become — shapes the present just as the past has. But the whole of this book is more than the sum of its parts.
There is a wonderful metaphor that runs throughout ‘Herstoria’. The first episode when Brieze slips into the Otherworld is a bit like reading an old fashioned fairy tale of a child lost in the woods (“The oak trees here were grand old things, with bulging midriffs and knotted biceps and obscure faces in the bark that grimaced and leered.”) except this is a Jungian world of archetypes and the surprise interpretation, sprung on her husband at the end, is that she wants to have children. The metaphor is that life is like stories, like a book, in which we discover meaning. Here Brieze describes the architecture professor John Tate: “He would shed the dust of time that moved this old tome and make its presence known to her. And she could resist its invitation to take it off the shelf and sit down with it, in intimate union, no more than she could resist the turning of the Earth. She would lift its cover, slowly and carefully and watch it reveal its contents, as God may reveal His mysteries to the world.”
This book is well written. The transitions to different time periods are flawless and Salter’s grasp of historic detail gives each account real credibility. There is a temporary change of point of view in the first part developing the French revolutionary’s family more quickly, that is a little distracting and I found the second story more reflective with fewer scenes of character interaction that would have made it more dramatic. This is quickly rectified with the dynamics of the encounters between Brieze and the deaf man in the third story. The last section is a brief, (somewhat expository-heavy) glimpse into the crystal ball of the distant future. But what I enjoyed most about this book is that we, as readers, are acknowledged to be searchers. When the book is over and Brieze’s journey is complete, we are well on a trail of discovery about our own lives.
Ϫ Ϫ Ϫ Ϫ (4 angels out of four) – John Lehman
>>>>>>><<<<<<<<
'Green Stones'
‘GREEN STONES’ – my second book, is a story of past-life karma.
Sometimes, what we know from our present life doesn’t answer a strange and difficult experience we may have. It may be time to visit the past. Following on from Wendy Salter’s first book, ‘Herstoria’, this book takes the subject of past-lives deeper into the karma brought forward from a past-life into the present.
‘GREEN STONES’ is set in the beautiful sun-drenched turquoise Aegean Sea around Turkey and delves into the surfacing past-life of Louise, an English woman who finds her connection to a famous pirate, Captain Oruc. How can her present life, set in 2004, reconnect to Captain Oruc back in 1503, and a city renown for one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – Halicarnassus, now known as Bodrum? There, St Peter’s Castle, the last stronghold of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, holds an unexpected secret.
This is a heart-rending story of hatred, betrayal and intrigue, survival, passion and pain, but it is love that endures. It is based on a true story.
Alongside the fiction and the fact, the author makes a study of an ancient, mysterious esoteric wisdom, which is resurfacing at this time in a spiritual understanding of re-incarnation and karma. When our lives unfold, not in a pre-ordered and simplistic fashion, but in a surprising and challenging way, we can find purpose and fulfillment through an understanding of re-incarnation and the opportunities it offers. Unbelievers of the transmigration of the soul see the human existence as just a procreation of the species, but a simple question must expand the mind into other possibilities – For what purpose? Thousands upon thousands of testimonies lend evidence to the idea that we return to incarnation many times. Is it too preposterous to imagine that we can accumulate knowledge from life-time to life-time, and through experience gain a wisdom that enlarges our existence into a fully conscious, evolved being?
St. Peter's Castle, Bodrum, Turkey
>>>>>>><<<<<<<
'Persian Carpet'
‘PERSIAN CARPET’ – my third book, is a story beyond Death’s Door.
Have you ever wondered what lies beyond Death’s Door? In Wendy Salter’s third book, she takes a diversion from past-lives into the mysterious World of Spirit, between incarnations.
‘PERSIAN CARPET’ – The protagonist, Beatrice, thinks she knows where she is going, but she didn’t know the outcome of her surprising journey into Old Persia and beyond. She meets not just one companion, Ishaq, but a second, a guide called Pir, and together they explore this different dimension of the living universe. Just as the old Persian Carpets earned a reputation for ‘flying’ in Old Persia, Beatrice finds a Persian Carpet that can take her beyond her wildest dreams. The outcome of this journey leaves Beatrice with a dilemma.
In this story, Beatrice is not just the story-teller but the explorer in a world not too dissimilar to our own, while presenting some significant differences as her free-consciousness is less restricted by space-time. In her transition from Earth-Time to Spirit-Time, the journey seems common-place at first, with familiar modes of transport, but she crosses the Rainbow Bridge and from thereon she knows she has arrived in a very different place. Conversations reveal some enigmas of the spirit-world, especially when they involve the numerous characters she meets, who each have their own story to tell. Beatrice goes through ‘death’s door’ consciously and with purpose, as she has undertaken a mission to investigate the possibilities and locations of numerous kinds of ‘portals’. The blending of history, mythology, philosophy and speculation contrive to expose the creative abilities of the conscious mind, set free in an environment of imagination we may call an alter-reality. Having gained important insights, Beatrice then has a choice, armed with a new understanding of herself – what to do next.
Coming soon – Book four will follow Beatrice’s decision to continue and in so-doing she will endeavour to discover long-lost ancient history that could explain the early Path of Humanity, where the Path divided, and the potential it now has to dream-up its own future. As an increasing number of people open their minds and retrieve their lost memories of who they truly are, commonly known as ‘waking-up’, the barrier of disbelief we have constructed around us will dissolve to reveal – what?
on January 1, 2009 at 10:43 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: books, Books by Wendy Salter, Catalonia, French revolution, Futre life, Green Stones, Heaven, Herstoria, John Lehman, karma, Knights Templar, Massasoit, Native American, New England history, Old Persia, past lives, Past-life karma, Persian Carpet, pirates, Portals, re-incarnation, Roman Invasion of England, Spirit World, trans-migration of the soul, Turkey
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Posts tagged ‘Ohio’
OH legislators fail to override Kasich
Reported by Charlie Butts (OneNewsNow.com) | Thursday, December 27, 2018
URL of the original posting site: https://www.onenewsnow.com/pro-life/2018/12/27/oh-legislators-fail-to-override-kasich
Ohio legislators attempted but failed to pass a pro-life bill that died due to a veto. As he promised to do, Gov. John Kasich delivered a veto of the Heartbeat Bill, which would make illegal an abortion if the abortionist detects a heartbeat.
Yet the pro-life state legislature attempted an override: the state House on Thursday voted 60-28 to successfully override the veto, and a vote in the Senate followed hours later and failed by one vote.
Kasich is term-limited and the governor-elect, Mike DeWine, has said he will sign the bill if it passes again.
Barry Sheets, a spokesman for the Right to Life Coalition of Ohio, says the bill has been described as anti-abortion legislation but insists that’s not true.
“It would actually save babies,” he says. “They could not abort once a fetal heartbeat is detected, and we believe that that is a very strong line to draw for the first evidences of life.”
Kasich vetoed the legislation after claiming it would fail to stand up to a court challenge, but Sheets says the president of the state senate, who is an attorney, and other attorneys stated during floor debate that the bill would withstand constitutional scrutiny.
Janet Porter of Faith 2 Action tells OneNewsNow that pro-lifers will fight next year with DeWine as governor.
“Who will sign the Heartbeat Bill into law,” she predicts, “rather than heartlessly veto it like Gov. John Kasich did not just once but twice.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated after the Ohio senate voted on overriding the Heartbeat Bill.
Heartbeat Bill
pro life legislation
Rigged for Democrats? Voters Purged from Rolls Will Get Ballots Counted Anyway
Reported By Kara Pendleton | November 1, 2018 at 2:21pm
URL of the original posting site: https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/rigged-democrats-voters-purged-rolls-ballots-counted-anyway/
One of the wonderful things about the United States is the right to vote. Because people move and die, voter rolls need to be purged from time to time to help keep things honest and accurate. In some places, to help with this, voters who haven’t been to the polls in a number of years will be purged from the voter rolls. But a federal court ruling just made that more difficult.
According to The Associated Press, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court on Wednesday ordered election officials in the crucial swing state of Ohio to accept provisional ballots from those purged from the voting rolls between 2011 and 2015 if they show up to cast a ballot for this year’s midterms — either as part of early voting or on Election Day itself.
The voters were purged only after failing to vote for six years, and failing to respond to a notice informing them they would be taken off the rolls for inactivity if they didn’t answer.
However, the AP reported, the appeals court agreed with advocacy groups challenging the purge on the grounds that the letters informing voters about it “were too vague on letting recipients know the consequences of not responding.”
According to the Washington Examiner, “the ruling will allow provisional ballots submitted by voters purged from the rolls between 2011 and 2015 to be taken into account in the state’s early voting — as long as they still live in the same county of their last registration and have not been disqualified from voting due to felony conviction, mental incapacity, or death.”
It’s nice to know death is still a disqualifier from voting. Still, the ruling means that, despite the fact they had made no effort to respond to the letter or vote in six years, voters who were purged from the rolls now can vote anyway. Rules don’t matter. It might not come as a surprise to know that, according to the Washington Examiner, the groups challenging the purge included liberal outfits like the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the progressive “public policy organization” Demos.
With that kind of context, it’s not hard to guess which party is likely to benefit the most from low-information, low-engagement voters suddenly deciding to take an interest in the political life of their country. The ruling is a win for Democrats.
In essence, the liberals’ appeal was pushing the narrative that voters who were purged lacked the intelligence to understand the letters that were sent out or to inquire about them. This is the same kind of argument liberals have pushed about voter ID laws: That some groups are too low-I.Q. to know how to do what everyone else does, which is to get identification to function in modern American society.
So what is the big deal if purged voters can now vote? Tom Fitton, president of legal watchdog group Judicial Watch weighed in on the other aspect of the Ohio process that the 6th Circuit’s ruling did approve of — the basic principle that voter rolls need to be purged for accuracy.
His statement answers that question.
“Great news: another federal court turned aside a leftist attempt to dirty up the voting rolls and undermine clean elections,” Fitton stated. “Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections.
“We will keep pushing in the courts to make sure other states take reasonable steps to make sure the names of dead people and people who have moved away are removed from election rolls. After comparing national census data to voter roll information, Judicial Watch estimates that there are 3.5 million more names on state voter rolls than there are citizens of voting age.”
Even though the court ruled that the purge itself was not the problem, you’d never know that based on a statement from the Demos, which claimed Ohio voters who were purged from the rolls had been “unlawfully disenfranchised.”
So if voting in prior elections, a rule that has been upheld as constitutional, suddenly doesn’t matter, and if failing to respond to a notice that states you may be removed from the voting rolls if you don’t vote or respond also doesn’t matter, what exactly is the criterion for voters in the mind of Democrats? Breathing? Apparently, following the rules everyone else can follow isn’t a requirement.
The elephant in the room, of course, is that the left fighting this hard to get around the rules may indicate a belief on their part that the voters who were purged would vote Democrat. By getting those ballots accepted regardless of the rules, this ruling opens the door for the kind of “dirty election” the voter purge rules were meant to prevent.
#WarriorChick: Female University Graduate Carries AR-10 on Campus
Posted by GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com | on May 16, 2018
URL of the original posting site: http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/49401-2/
Kaitlin Bennett posted her recent graduate photos of herself walking on campus with an AR-10 with a call to action hashtag “CampusCarryNow.”
Graduating from Ohio’s Kent State University back in December of 2016, Gov. John Kasich (R) signed a bill which legalized campus carry; giving the individual universities their choice of permitting students to carry or not. Kent did not allow their students to be armed and still doesn’t.
Also, open carry is legal in the state of Ohio, however this university forbids it.
Back in April, Bennett told the Akron Beacon Journal that, “Kent State is one of the few schools in Ohio that decided that students wouldn’t be permitted to open carry on campus while guests can.”
Once she graduated and was free from the tyranny of the University, Bennett decided to walk around on campus with her AR-10 and graduation cap with the words “Come and Take It” glued on it:
A couple of days later she had this to say: “I have no apologies for my graduation photos. As a woman, I refuse to be a victim & the second amendment ensures that I don’t have to be.”
April Bennett
Second Amaendment
“Liking” of Fake Gun Photo on Instagram Gets 7th Grader Suspended
Reported By Andrew West | May 8, 2017
URL of the original posting site: http://constitution.com/liking-of-fake-gun-photo-on-instagram-gets-7th-grader-suspended/
The anti-gun movement in America has gained unwieldy strength after 8 years of Barack Obama’s presidency, and the latest skirmish in the fight to normalize firearm enthusiasm comes to us from a 7th grade classroom.
Even though our nation’s Constitution explicitly allows Americans the right to bear arms, the political left of our nation has been at the forefront of the anti-gun cabal in America. By preying on bleeding heart liberals with their ridiculously skewed assertions and anti-firearm media campaigns, democrats and their ilk have been able to create a dark stigma surrounding firearms in our nation. After any gun-related accident or mental health-induced incident, the left is quick to jump onto their soapbox to push for tighter gun control legislation.
Now, after being emboldened by one of the country’s most liberal and forceful Presidents in modern history, the fight against firearms is reaching absurd new heights.
“The campaign against guns has reached such a fever pitch that an Ohio seventh-grader was suspended from school for 10 days for simply ‘liking’ a photo of an airsoft gun on Instagram.
“Zachary Bowlin saw the photo, which was succinctly captioned, ‘Ready.’ He ‘liked’ the photo, prompting Edgewood Middle School to suspend him.
“The boy said, ‘I don’t think I did anything wrong. The] next morning, they called me down and, like, patted me down and checked me for weapons. Then, they told me I was getting expelled or suspended or whatever.’
“The school sent a note to Zachary’s parents stating the reason he was suspended was ‘liking a post on social media that indicated potential school violence.’ His father, Martin Bowlin, snapped, ‘I was livid. He never shared, he never commented, never made a threatening post … [he] just liked it.’ He added, ‘My wife called and said he’d been pulled in to the office, and he was being suspended because he liked a picture on Instagram that his friend posted of a weapon, of an airsoft gun. It was 10 days suspension with the possibility of expulsion. I’m like, “For liking a gun? Did he make a comment or threat or anything?” And it’s like, “No. He just liked a picture.” I’m like, “Well, this can’t happen.”‘”
This insane action, taken against a young man at such an impressionable age, is proof positive that the leftists of our nation are actively working to win the propaganda war against the Second Amendment. With this vile and disturbing demonization taking place at an educational institution, the question must be asked, “has liberalism gone too far?”
The answer, for many, is certainly yes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Andrew West
Andrew West is a Georgia-based political enthusiast and lover of liberty. When not writing, you can find Mr. West home brewing his own craft beer, perfecting his home-made hot sauce recipes, or playing guitar.
Political, Society
DEAR NEVER TRUMPERS: Ford Moves Truck Production FROM Mexico – Guess Where They’re Moving
URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2016/11/dear-never-trumpers-ford-moves-truck-production-mexico-guess-theyre-moving/
Ford has taken a lot of heat for moving production out of the US and into Mexico. Ford is NOW moving the truck plant out of Mexico… And that’s great news for you, Ohio!
Ford’s heavy duty pickup trucks which used to be built in Mexico started rolling off an assembly line in Ohio this week.
That’s good news for the 1,000 Ford workers in Ohio, who might have otherwise been out of work.
It’s also good publicity for Ford (F), which has been under fire for investing so much in Mexico. In April, the automaker said it would invest $2.5 billion in transmission plants in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Guanajuato, creating about 3,800 jobs there.
Ford’s south-of-the-border strategy has drawn heavy criticism from groups such as the United Auto Workers union and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The Avon Lake, Ohio, plant produced its first batch of Ford’s full-size F-650 and F-750 pick up trucks on Wednesday.
“Our investment…reinforces our commitment to building vehicles in America,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president, The Americas. “Working with our partners in the UAW, we found a way to make the costs competitive enough to bring production of a whole new generation of work trucks to Ohio.”…
…Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently said that if he’s elected he would take steps to make it more expensive for manufacturers to shift work to Mexico and then export the items back to the United States.
“How does that help us?” Trump said about the Ford investment in Mexico while campaigning in Michigan this week. “Mexico is becoming the new China.”
Read more: CNN Money
Make America Great Again!
This is the kind of thing that Democrats didn’t get — the struggle to keep good-paying jobs in America.
Micheal Moore got this and even used the example of Trump confronting the Ford Motor Executives at the Detroit Economic Club.
So did Bill Maher.
Even crazy ol’ Joe Biden got it.
It’s a good move on Ford’s part. The tariffs for importing goods from Mexico is about to go up!
FORD MotorCompany
FORD Truck manufacturing
move back to America
WATCH: Hillary Hosts ‘Volunteer Event in Ohio’ – The Results Are HILARIOUS!
URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2016/10/watch-hillary-hosts-volunteer-event-ohio-results-hilarious/
We have seen that Hillary is having trouble with attendance at her rallies. Is it a sign that voter turnout for her will be low? How is she doing with volunteers, though?
ClashDaily has reported many times on the attendance disparity between Hillary and Trump rallies. If this ‘Volunteer’ event in Ohio is any indicator, she’s in BIG trouble.
Millie Weaver tried to get information on two of Hillary’s scheduled events in Ohio, one in Akron, the other in Toledo.
There was zero attendance at a ‘Canvas for Hillary’ event in Akron for 2 days in a row. The Akron speaking event does list a time and location, but none is listed for the Toledo rally. No one is even answering the phone.
Hillary can’t seem to drum up support in the Buckeye state. Does this mean she’s giving up on Ohio?
BONUS VIDEO: Hillary Campaign Bars Alternative Press from her Events. You will be very interested in this report. Please watch;
Federal Judge Rules Virginia Cannot Bind Delegates to Vote for Trump
Written by Steve Byas Tuesday, 12 July 2016
URL of the original posting site: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/23612-federal-judge-rules-virginia-cannot-bind-delegates-to-vote-for-trump
Robert Payne, senior judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, has ruled unconstitutional Virginia’s statute that provides criminal penalties for delegates who do not follow the results of the presidential preference primary. Payne, nominated in 1992 by President George Herbert Walker Bush, declared late Monday that the statute “exceeds the powers retained by the Commonwealth of Virginia under the Constitution of the United States and cannot be enforced.”
The essence of the ruling is that Virginia may not impose any criminal penalties on delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, who refuse to vote for Donald Trump. Trump received about a third of the vote in Virginia’s primary, narrowly edging out Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Under Virginia’s state primary law, a candidate does not have to receive a majority of the vote to win all the state’s delegates, but just a plurality (more votes than anyone else). Under Virginia law, a Class 1 misdemeanor provided that any delegate who did not vote according to the outcome of the Virginia primary could be sent to jail “for not more than twelve months,” or face a “fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.”
A delegate from Virginia, Carroll Correll, Jr., sued to overturn Virginia’s statute, arguing that a state law should not be able to interfere in what is a private matter of a political party. The case’s judgment, Correll v Herring, only restrains the state of Virginia from punishing Correll. Judge Payne did not address the issue of whether a political party can bind a delegate under party rules.
In his decision, Payne wrote,
Because Defendants have not demonstrated that Section 545 (D) advances a compelling state interest, it is not necessary to address whether the statute is narrowly tailored. Nonetheless, it is significant to note that Defendants have tacitly conceded the point by failing to offer any evidence or argument that the statute is narrowly tailored.
For the foregoing reasons, Correll is entitled to judgment that Section 545 (D) is an unconstitutional burden on his First Amendment rights of free political speech and political association. Therefore, the Court so declares and will enter judgment on that score on his behalf on Counts I and II.
Under Count I, the judge held that the statute could keep a delegate from voting “consistent with party rules,” while under Count II, the judge said the statute is a violation of the First Amendment rights of “free association.”
During the hearing, Judge Payne asked, “Is he entitled to get a criminal penalty for making that decision or is that a party matter to drub him out of the party?” He repeatedly asked the attorney general’s lawyers how the state could enforce a law that seems to dictate the internal affairs of a political party. The attorney general’s lawyers replied that no one had ever been prosecuted for violating the delegate law, and that they had no intention of bringing any charges against Correll.
The judge cited testimony by Erling “Curly” Haughland, who has written a book — Unbound: The Conscience of a Republican Delegate — positing the thesis that the rules of the Republican National Convention have historically allowed delegates to vote their consciences at any Republican National Convention. In his book, Haughland and his co-author, Sean Parnell, detail the history of Republican conventions since 1856 (the first year the Republican Party fielded a candidate for president) on this subject. The authors argue that state governments should not be allowed to pass laws interfering with how a private organization such as a political party chooses its candidates for public office, including president of the United States.
Donald Trump’s campaign issued a statement claiming a win in the case, because under the decision the party can still pass rules to bind delegates to the results of presidential primaries in the several states, even if state governments cannot do so.
Those such as Correll, however, contend that they do not argue with the right of the national convention to pass whatever rules they wish, but they say they now know that they will not have to worry about facing jail time or a fine from the state simply because of the way they vote in what should be a party, not a legal, matter.
The Rules Committee is meeting this week to adopt the rules for the 2016 convention. Each convention adopts its own rules, and the rules of the previous convention cannot bind this year’s convention. Whatever rules the committee makes must be approved by the entire convention on the first day of the convention.
Whether delegates are “bound” by the results of the state’s primary or by state party rules is irrelevant to how they vote on the party’s rules. A delegate bound for Trump could vote to unbind the delegates from the results of a state’s primary or a state’s party rules, or a delegate bound for Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) or for Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), could likewise choose to pass a rule to bind the delegates.
GOP National Convention
Republican National Convention in Cleveland
Robert Payne
senior judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
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Crosslake Chautauqua: Experts share their knowledge with the public
Every summer for the past 10 years, the Crosslake Community Center has hosted the Chautauqua program, a once-monthly series of classes on varying topics. Every Chautauqua is different, open to the public, and free.
Topics over the years have varied greatly. One class brought in Marla Spivak, one of the nation’s leading authorities on bees. Another brought in local sculptor and metalworker Jeff Kreitz. Even though this summer will be the last for the Chautauqua program, four great classes are scheduled. Each starts at 1:30 p.m., and refreshments are served halfway through the program.
On May 11, Alden Hardwick will present “Unexplored Territory,” a program on nearby vacations you never thought to take. Alden, a Crosslake resident, has for years been embarking on short trips to interesting locations all within a short drive of Crosslake. He’ll share some of his favorite locations with the group, and plans to include a handout outlining his favorites.
On June 8, Bob and Char Wrobel will speak about their wildlife sanctuary and rehabilitation center in Garrison, Minnesota, called Wild and Free. Wild and Free is a non-profit that’s completely supported by donations. They’ve rehabilitated all sorts of wild animals, from large animals like bears, deer and wolves, to small animals, like squirrels and robins. They’ll talk about what they do and their experiences with wild animals. To get a taste of Wild and Free’s work, take a look at their Facebook page.
The history of Breezy Point Resort will be discussed at the July 13 Chautauqua, with guests Dave Gravdahl, general manager of the resort, and George Rasmussen, public relations director. The story of the resort was told at Chautauqua once before, when Albrecht said the event drew its most-ever listeners. Around 180 people attended a similar presentation in 2010. This summer Gravdahl and Rasmussen will once again discuss the history of a resort so successful it now has a city named for it.
Albrecht said he’s really looking forward to the Aug. 10 Chautauqua, when Carroll Henderson of the DNR’s nongame division will present “Swan Song,” the story of how he nearly single-handedly brought trumpeter swans back to Minnesota. Trumpeter swans were once on the decline in Minnesota but have made a stunning comeback. Henderson will share the story of how he brought breeding pairs of trumpeter swans from Alaska back to Minnesota, where the birds have thrived. Today, Albrecht said, Minnesota has 12,000 loons and 17,000 trumpeter swans.
“He’s an incredible person. I’ve never met anybody with such passion for what he does,” Albrecht said of Henderson.
Every Chautauqua program is from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Usually the program starts with an hour of speaking, followed by a break for cookies, ice cream, lemonade and coffee, and concluding with a one-hour question and answer period. All Chautauquas are filmed with the intention of placing them in the Crosslake Library for rental.
Written by Kate
View all posts by: Kate
Vacation Articles
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Laurent Koscielny Sets Date For Arsenal Exit
Laurent Koscielny has set a date for when he will leave Arsenal after joining the club in 2010 (via Goal.com).
He has become a fringe figure at Arsenal as he aims for a return from injury but Laurent Koscielny is still on the books at the Emirates.
Koscielny joined the Gunners from Lorient in 2010 and has made over 300 appearances for the club.
That expected to continue but the Frenchman picked up a nasty Achilles injury against Atletico Madrid in May which ruled him out of the World Cup and half of the coming season.
Now, the 32-year-old has spoken about his future and revealed that he has set an end date for his Arsenal career.
“I’m under contract until June 2020. Afterwards? I’m thinking of moving on, but I do not know where,” he told French publication Nice-Matin.
“This is not relevant anyway! I am in England, my family too. Then there will inevitably be a lot of question marks.
“The bottom line is to have health. I learned to relativise because there are so many more serious things in life.”
Laurent Koscielny has been a brilliant player for Arsenal in the last 8 years. The Frenchman has been one of the best defenders in Europe during spells of his Arsenal career and it’s a shame to have seen the injury he has picked up. Let’s hope he comes back in good form and can make a few more appearances before his Arsenal career comes to an end in 2020.
More Stories: Arsenal, France, Laurent Koscielny, Unai Emery
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Striking Matches explains the song a "Hanging On A Lie"
Striking Matches is a duo formed by Sarah Zimmerman and Justin Davis. These two have come together to bring a unique sound that is intertwined by rock, blues and country. They have helped to write all of their 11 songs. They make the kind of music everyone can relate too.
The hit show Nashville has featured their songs “When the Right One Comes Along” and “Hanging on a Lie”. Their debut self-titled EP was named among iTunes "Best of 2012".
Check out this interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_VKpe6Jlbg to hear how Sarah and Justin put together their creative talents for the song “Hanging On A Lie”.
Be sure to see them perform on June 10th at Terminal West!
Tony MacAlpine knows how to blend rock and soul!
Wild Cub
Andrew Belle's Signature Sound
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Caltech Mourns Passing of Barclay Kamb '52
Caltech remembers and celebrates the life of alumnus W. Barclay Kamb, Barbara and Stanley R. Rawn, Jr., Professor of Geology and Geophysics, Emeritus, who died at his home on April 21. He was 79. Born in San Jos?Kamb began his long and distinguished Caltech career in 1948 as an undergraduate at the age of 16. He graduated with a degree in physics in 1952 and obtained his PhD in geology in 1956. Hired upon graduation as assistant professor of geology, Kamb rose through the ranks to become a full professor in 1962 and Rawn Professor in 1990. He served as chair of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences for 11 years, from 1972 to 1983, and as vice president and provost of the Institute from 1987 to 1989.
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Liquid-like Materials May Pave Way for New Thermoelectric Devices
In identifying this new type of thermoelectric material, the researchers studied a material made from copper and selenium. Although it is physically a solid, it exhibits liquid-like behaviors due to the way its copper atoms flow through the selenium's crystal lattice.
"It's like a wet sponge," explains Jeff Snyder, a faculty associate in applied physics and materials science in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a member of the research team. "If you have a sponge with very fine pores in it, it looks and acts like a solid. But inside, the water molecules are diffusing just as fast as they would if they were a regular liquid. That's how I imagine this material works. It has a solid framework of selenium atoms, but the copper atoms are diffusing around as fast as they would in a liquid."
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Andy Johnson
Vice President, Database and Analytic Services / MarkeTeam
Andy Johnson has been with MarkeTeam for over 14 years, and is the vice president of database and analytic service. Mr. Johnson has worked with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Lahey Health, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Sierra Club, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Oblate Missions and CARE. Andy has been working with Oblate Missions on their digital program for the past three years, providing full services from strategy, concept, deliverability and analytics. Mr. Johnson leads a team of data analysts, scientists and engineers committed to innovating the way sophisticated models and advanced analytics are applied to clients’ fundraising programs. He is certified in email deliverability and enjoys driving results for great causes. Andy holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
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Scanning helps North Hertfordshire College with online learning
When the Principal of the North Hertfordshire College had a vision of 'going electronic', Chris McLean, Director of IT, decided to search the Web to find a company that could help him do just that.
After obtaining five or six quotes from companies around the UK, Chris chose ADEC Preview as it offered the most flexible service and competitive pricing. North Herts College had to move premises to new accommodation where space was at a premium. He could think of no better way to save space than to scan as many of the documents as he could.
The spin-off to this was that once the documents were in electronic format, re-engineering of learning materials, sharing this information with others and on-line learning became a real possibility. This innovative way of storing the documentation was just as applicable to the HR department as it was to the Business Support Unit so he opened up the offer of scanning and archiving documents to the rest of the college.
Chris sends out an email to remind all staff of this service and, once a quarter, invites staff to put the documents that they would like scanned into crates provided for the purpose. ADEC Preview collects the material, scans it and returns the information to the college. If, whilst the documentation is with ADEC Preview, a member of staff requires a certain document, then ADEC Preview can scan on demand and return the document urgently.
"We are provided with guaranteed service levels and scanning schedules that allow us to plan ahead," said Chris. "The process is sound; we would like to see even more departments taking advantage of this service and thus realise the Principal's vision of electronic media."
North Herts web site: http://www.nhc.ac.uk
Call ADEC Services on 02 9418 7822.
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Kelly Howell (Association for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities - AEPD): Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kelly received her B.A. in International Relations from Grand Valley State University in 2012. She went on to study in both Egypt and Ireland, where she developed a special interest in post-conflict community building. At the time of her fellowship Kelly was studying for a Masters Degree in Conflict and Dispute Resolution at the University of Oregon. After her fellowship she wrote: “AEPD’s work here is much needed and so important, and I am very happy to be working alongside such brilliant advocates for human rights.”
AEPD Successfully Combats Poverty in Vietnam
There is a saying in Vietnam; Smile, breathe, and go slowly…
A simple phrase with unusual resonance, the words were still with me when I first arrived in the late evening to Vietnam, after rushing from plane to plane, in bustling Hanoi. There, I stayed for one night, only to be carted off in a taxi in the early morning hours in order to catch my final flight to Dong Hoi, Vietnam.
On the plane, I was seated next to an elderly Vietnamese woman, who threw me curious glances. She wore a face mask to avoid the germs that circulate onboard planes. Her eyes peered merrily at me over the top of the mask, and upon landing, she gave me a hearty high five. I returned her sentiment of acceptance with gratitude. I thought to myself that she likely had memories of the wars here. Here I am, I thought, an American in post-war Vietnam, what will people think of me? Her high-five said to me, hey, welcome!, and I’ve encountered that same sentiment again and again, here in the quaint city of Dong Hoi.
While traveling by taxi toward my hotel, I was greeted by a sense of calm that the city carries. Dong Hoi is quieter and smaller, with fewer people on the streets, and feels a bit empty after the rushing crowds of Hanoi. I was soon to learn that this was because of the heat at the time of day I arrived (2 p.m.), and that most of the city was still napping. In Dong Hoi, between the hottest hours of the day, 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., you will find many colorful open storefronts, yes, but their proprietors can be found napping in hammocks artfully tied close to the floor, sleeping through the worst of the heat. After 2 p.m., the streets come alive again with patrons of tea shops, cafés, hair salons, restaurants, and tiny supermarkets.
In spite of its quaintness and beauty, there are many people in Dong Hoi that are facing grave challenges. The challenges faced by people with disabilities and the plights of poverty are global maladies, and Vietnam has experienced these problems more intensely since the American/Vietnam war. According to government statistics, 6.3% of its population, or more than 5 million people in Vietnam are affected by a disability, and these figures are low due to underreporting.
After the American/Vietnam war, troves of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) were left behind, later to cause many avoidable injuries to innocent Vietnamese civilians, including countless children. In addition, many Vietnamese were injured due to the American use of Agent Orange during the war. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that Agent Orange has affected 3 million people spanning three generations, including at least 150,000 children born with severe birth defects since the war ended in 1975. Finally, poverty inevitably follows war on battle territory as inexorably as night follows day, and Vietnam was hit hard.
8a.m. Monday, I was greeted by my hosts and began my work with the Association for the Empowerment of Peoples with Disabilities (AEPD), and immediately, there was action! AEPD has been working on a partner-project with Zabunet Funds-France, giving micro-loans to people living in poverty in Vietnam so that they can start small businesses, raising and selling pigs and cattle. On Tuesday, Ms. Dung, my effervescent boss and Chairperson of AEPD, and Ms. Linh, Project Manager, and I traveled to the village of Quang Van in the district of Quang Trach in order to usher in the latest loan recipients.
There, 58 women and 2 men received loans for pig and cattle raising, which they will pay back in 2 to 3 years with their new profits. This new start will help them to raise needed income to support themselves and their families. The atmosphere was jovial, and the happiness of these enterprising small-business owners was palpable. “This will really change things for these people,” said Ms. Dung, “they will create sustainable businesses that can support their families into the future.”
Over the years, AEPD has assisted more than 1,000 households with economic opportunity activities, contributing meaningfully to community resiliency and lessening poverty in the Quang Binh region, an area that was gravely affected by the Vietnam/American war, and is presently often damaged by disastrous floods that affect the region nearly annually during Vietnam’s rainy season, destroying homes and cropland.
“We are broadening our reach” says Ms. Dung, “…as we can see there is a need. We are doing more in the realm of inclusive education for people with disabilities, as well as in climate change education and disaster prevention and relief.” The loans that AEPD has secured to help the people of Quang Binh province have helped alleviate some, but not all, of the need here. But for Ms. Dung, it is well that AEPD can have the impact that it has had, and AEPD looks forward to the future as it reaches more deeply into Dong Hoi’s surrounding communities.
Posted By Kelly Howell
Posted Jul 24th, 2013
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Attack of the Aztec Mummy (1957)
Director: Rafael Portillo
Stars: Ramón Gay, Rosa Arenas, Crox Alvarado, Luis Aceves Castañeda and Jorge Mondragón
'How far can the human mind fathom the mysteries of the hereafter? No one knows.' Nobody will know after they watch this film either, the first in a trilogy of Aztec mummy movies shot back to back by producer Guillermo Calderón in Mexico in 1957 and released almost as quickly in 1957 and 1958. This is by the far the best of them, partly because it's an entirely original film, those following cannabilising their predecessors to increasing degrees, and partly because it's a little different from other horror movies released during the same era. It took its spark from a current fad that dealt with regression through hypnotism to past lives, but built that into a fire based on Universal's take on both Frankenstein and The Mummy, as transplanted to a native setting in the kingdom of the Aztecs. It also frames all this in a pulp crime story featuring, almost inevitably, a villain called the Bat, so you can hardly accuse it of being conventional.
The Bat has an overly convenient habit of being in the right place at the right time. He's at the first international congress on neuropsychiatric investigations, though we don't know that at the time, to watch the rejection of Dr Eduardo Almada, who has come back to Mexico to present his theories on how hypnotism can be used as a mechanism to regress patients to previous lives. He's rejected not because he hasn't actually tried any of these theories out, due to an inability to find a volunteer willing to risk the extreme danger to mental health he highlights is possible, but because such regression implies a belief in reincarnation which is truly beyond the pale for these scientists. Remember that as this review runs on. So Almada leaves, rejected even by a congress whose president is his future father in law, Dr Sepúlveda, who sees him as his 'favourite disciple' and who cautioned him not to give such a flimsy presentation to begin with.
So how to bulk it up? For a start, Almada's fiancée Flor promptly volunteers for the experiment, though we can't help but wonder why she never did so before. Sepúlveda is willing to assist, as is Almada's assistant, the cowardly Pinacate, and so we begin. The Bat conveniently overheard these plans so turns back up to watch proceedings, though why we have no idea. Nobody sees him hanging around in the window in his pulp Bat suit, complete with hat, mask and cape, but there are far more outrageous problems with the plot than that, trust me. Flor is taken back to when she was a twenty year old girl called Xochi, consecrated from birth to be sacrificed as a virgin to the god Tezkatlipoka. Not a bad first discovery for Almada's regression technique, huh? He's only eight moons away from her sacrifice, so naturally he jumps forward to that event as it can't possibly cause his fiancée any trauma, right? You know, like dying while under hypnosis.
The experiment with both a whirligig and a metronome, is interesting to watch, though it has far too much slow counting, but it's not as interesting as what unfolds in the lower temple of the Teotihuacan pyramid. Here we witness exotica actually conjured up by the ethnic descendants of those depicted, unlike most exotica, which came out of the imaginations of lounge musicians and Hollywood screenwriters mostly based on sailors' yarns and pictures in National Geographic. The bad side is that it's really no better, with a terribly choreographed flower dance and a singer who tries for Yma Sumac but doesn't have either the range or the charisma. She's accompanied by a small group of musicians, one of whom plays a flute and a drum at the same time. It's very primitive but fun to watch. What's really fun to watch are the costumes, which are vastly ornate with headdresses based on peacock fans. I'd love to see all this in colour.
Playing the double role of Flor Sepúlveda and Xochi is Rosa Arenas, who looks the same in both parts but does demonstrate some notable flexibility during her sacrifice. She's all for it, though the warrior Popoca who she loves unconditionally wants to take her away from inevitability. He fails dismally because he really should have done that a little earlier than the day of sacrifice, so ends up forced to drink an elixir that will send him mad then buried alive, tasked with protecting for eternity the breastplate and bracelet his girlfriend wears as she dies. Naturally these are gold and are inscribed with hieroglyphics that identify the location of the Aztec treasure, because why wouldn't they be? Can anyone think of a reason why that would be a bad idea? Anyone? Anyway Xochi gets sacrificed, Popoca gets walled up and poor Flor has to endure the death of her former self, left floating, a soul out of a body, until her fiancé calls her back.
Venezuelan born Arenas does a capable job but she's no great actor. She'd been acting since 1950 but was nowhere near as prolific as her co-stars, who racked up long filmographies. She found herself in a string of genre movies at the end of her career, partly because she'd married Abel Salazar, who had really kicked off the modern Mexican horror genre with The Vampire in 1957. Only two were with her husband: The Witch's Mirror in 1962, which he directed, and The Curse of the Crying Woman a year later, in which they co-starred as husband and wife. As Flor she's pleasing to the eye, as Xochi she's a little more but she's unable to steal the film back from Ramón Gay, who channels Vincent Price as Dr Almada, and Luis Aceves Castañeda, who exudes the villainy of the Bat. Remember him? He'll be back. We're talking Aztec treasure here, and no self respecting mad scientist/pulp villain could resist Aztec treasure.
Unless I missed a reference, we find out about the treasure 54 minutes into the picture and the mummy shows up six minutes later, shuffling around for a while to build suspense. There have been a number of attempts to build suspense thus far but most of them fail, because while it's great to see more footage of most of these scenes than the compressed versions recapped in the third film, The Robot vs The Aztec Mummy, a few of them run too long. We get too much of the Almada party wandering around the pyramid in the dark trying to find the lower temple and thus the artefacts that will prove Flor's story and Almada's theories. We get way too much of Pinacate because in this film he's an embarrassing attempt at comic relief, fainting after the experiment and resisting danger the way you'd expect Scooby and Shaggy to do. He's a mouse not a man, he freely admits. If only he was that small, we could ignore him.
Fortunately the Aztec mummy is someone we don't want to ignore. He's a memorable monster, far more inspired by the Universal version of Frankenstein's Monster than their Mummy, as his movements and moans are notably reminiscent, especially when cringing away from light. For some bizarre reason he cringes away from a cross too, which makes no sense to me, but that's a small price to pay for such a unique monster. The character's success is partly due to his look, a wizened face framed by ragged hair atop a period costume, looking for all the world like he was really buried alive. Partly though it's because he wins, in a sense making him the hero over the more obvious Dr Almada. It doesn't matter whether it's Almada or the Bat who tries to steal away the breastplate and bracelet, even Almada's daughter Anita who takes a fancy to it back home, he blindly does what he's cursed to do and he's done. He's a sympathetic monster.
For the most part the various genre conventions play well together. The ancient curse is handled capably, the mummy used judiciously and the past life regression embued with interest. The Bat is a fair pulp villain, clichéd but interesting, with a suitable costume and a videophone to talk to his minions. He even has a more capable assistant in the tall, ratlike Tierno than Almada has in the annoying Pinacate. What doesn't work is the consistency of the story, which has more leaps of logic than can be counted, something that only gets worse as the trilogy progresses. Above all the use of science is terrible, the scientists who reject reincarnation outright being perfectly fine with supernatural curses and astral powers. 'In the realm of the dead, the secondary malignant spirits are always ready to follow the orders of the ruler of darkness,' they suggest, which must bring a new meaning to the word 'science' that I've been hitherto blissfully unaware of.
Character motivation is terrible, not reaching the level of the serials that it comes to resemble over the course of the trilogy, though the actors are capable. The technical side is varied, with great sets on one hand and bad lighting on the other. The finalé is a joke, apparently tacked on because the running time was adding up and they ought to wrap the first story up so that they could make a start on the second. What survives above all is the creature, who abides eternally and made an impact on horror cinema in Mexico. Mummies are probably more prevalent there than any other monster except vampires, though they appear in many forms. Popoca returned only for the remaining two Aztec mummy films but others followed in his wake in very similar storylines, such as in The Living Head, The Wrestling Women vs The Mummy or Santo in the Vengeance of the Mummy, even as recently as the 2006 Mil Mascaras vs The Aztec Mummy.
Posted by Hal C. F. Astell at 12:06 am
Automorphosis (2008)
Carlton-Browne of the FO (1959)
Worm (2010)
Moon (2009)
Livestock (2009)
Absentia (2011)
Curse of the Aztec Mummy (1957)
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Home > Articles > Opinion > Rome’s Margaret Thatcher
Rome’s Margaret Thatcher
Andrew Selkirk
Andrew Selkirk, Roman
In the late 20th century, a British prime minister looked at her country, saw that it was in decline and set out to reverse that decline; her name was Margaret Thatcher. In the mid-fourth century a Roman emperor looked at the Roman Empire and saw that it was in decline and set out to reverse that decline: his name was Julian the Apostate.
Coin of Julian the Apostate, wearing a beard.
The die-cutter did not quite know how to depict a beard, so it is rather pasted on.
Photo courtesy the British Museum.
Julian is best known as the emperor who set out to roll back Christianity, and is thus known as the ‘Apostate’. However he is far more interesting than this: he saw that Rome was in decline and he set out to reverse the decline on all fronts. If therefore we wish to analyse the decline and fall of the Roman Empire we need to look very carefully at what this very intelligent, even if occasionally slightly batty emperor set out to do. He did not actually achieve very much for sadly he was killed fighting the Persians after only eighteen months as supreme Emperor. Nevertheless what he achieved in these eighteen months makes him the only noteworthy emperor in the fourth century after Constantine.
Before he became full Emperor, he spent six years as Junior Emperor (‘Caesar’) in Gaul and it is here that he carried out his best-known cost cutting exercises. Julian was a very distant relative of Constantine and thus at the age of twenty four he was summoned to be Caesar of the North West Empire, but given very little power. Nevertheless he became an extremely skilful soldier and won a major battle at Strasbourg against the invading Germans. He then went on to re-organise the finances and in teeth of opposition from the civil service, he reduced the annual poll tax from 25 gold coins to just 7 — according to his friend the historian Ammianus Marcellinus who was actually with him in Gaul: Margaret Thatcher would have approved.
When he became full emperor, he began by cutting down the Civil Service. There is a famous story of how he called for a barber and a gentleman appeared in gorgeous clothes: ‘But it is a barber that I require’ said Julian,’ not the Chancellor of the Exchequer’. He asked how much he earned, and was told that in addition to his salary, he had the allowance for 20 men and their horses and many profitable perquisites. He dismissed him and began a purge of the palace staff: there were a thousand barbers, a thousand cupbearers, said the orator Libanius, while the eunuchs could be compared only with the insects of a summer’s day: one began to understand where all the money went in the late Roman Empire.
Julian also tried to revive the cities. The Roman Empire, like the Greek civilisation before it, was based on cities. The cities were in turn based around their councils known as the ‘curia’, and in the great days of the empire the leading citizens all vied to be members of the curia and to embellish their city with fine architecture and working sewers. By the fourth century membership of the curia had become a great burden and something to be avoided. One of the privileges given to the Christians by Constantine was that priests could opt out of the curia. Julian tried to reverse all this. The income of the city was increased: land that had been taken over by the Emperor was given back to the cities — together with the rents it produced. At the same time the burdens on the curia were reduced.
And finally there is the attack on Christianity. Julian did not of course actually attack Christianity — he simply passed an Edict of Toleration. Christianity at the time was bitterly divided between the Arians and the Catholics, and many Arian bishops had been driven into exile. Julian proclaimed that not only should Pagans be tolerated, but also the Arians, and he hoped that once the Arians were brought back and ‘tolerated’, the Christians would tear themselves to pieces.
What is the equivalent of Christianity today? For Margaret Thatcher the answer was surely socialism, a weed that was slowly strangling western civilisation. Perhaps the analogy is inexact because socialism was already in decline, and Marxism, its intellectual backbone was already bankrupted by the failure of communist Russia. I suspect that the real analogy should be with the Greens, who like the Christians have a lot of worthy ideas which they then push to extremes.
Unlike Margaret Thatcher who managed to survive eleven years before being knifed by her own party, Julian spent only six months at Constantinople before moving east to fight the Persians. On the way he spent six months in Antioch, the leading city of what is today Syria, but then a fun-loving Christian city. Julian grew a beard to emphasise that he was a philosopher and therefore intellectually superior to the Christians, and refused to go to the circus or partake in the many pleasures that gay, fun-loving Antioch had to offer. He then tried to excuse himself by writing a pamphlet entitled The Beard Hater in which he tried to explain away his wearing of a beard and dislike of the circus. But all too soon he left to fight the Persian Empire, then at its height under its great King Shapur. He reached their capital Ctesiphon and prowled around it, but was then stabbed in the shoulder and died. With his death the expedition collapsed, and an ignominious peace was concluded by which the Romans withdrew from Mesopotamia: the Persians had won, but the boundaries that were drawn remained intact until the Muslim invasions. So in a way the ignominious peace was a great success as it solved the Persian problem.
Like Margaret Thatcher, Julian remains a controversial figure. However unlike Margaret Thatcher, many of whose reforms have remained intact, Julian’s reforms failed. His successor restored Christianity, and within fifty years Theodosius made paganism a crime. But like Margaret Thatcher, Julian remains a divisive figure: he has recently been the subject of a hostile biography by my former tutor, Glen Bowersock, as well as a friendly biography by Robert Browning. He is certainly the most interesting figure of fourth century Rome and we should study his reforms closely if we want to see what the most brilliant thinker of the fourth century thought what was wrong with the Roman Empire.
For a fuller account of Julian, click here.
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Dr M M Gilchrist
Well, how to insult my favourite Emperor… And rather revealing of the author’s politics.
It’s still Christianity and its spin-offs: the authoritarian Middle-Eastern monotheist religions.
Julian still represents hope — a better future that might have been. Imagine a world without the long history of Christian anti-Semitism (he was planning to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple, and gave the contract to Alypius, former Sub-Prefect of Britannia); with Christianity put back in the box as just another oddball Eastern cult; and the parts of the Middle East beyond the Empire remaining Zoroastrian.
Thatcher destroyed hope for whole communities, and, for some of us, the hope of any kind of economically and professionally secure life. I also can’t help but think she’d have been personally horrified by this loveable, witty Greek geek, who teased the Antiochenes about being a hairy hippie (“And I’ll tell you a secret,” he writes in the Misopogon, as if the beard wasn’t bad enough, “I’ve a hairy chest like a lion’s, too!”), and once dealt with a military unit that performed badly in the field, not by decimating them (the traditional punishment of killing one in ten after drawing lots), but by making them parade through the camp in drag, before disbanding them.
I’m also tad perplexed that the article this links to deplores his animal sacrifices. Although a vegetarian himself, Julian understood that, besides being an impressive ritual, bull sacrifices gave the troops and poor civilians a boost to their rations. People tend to be happier when they are not hungry: something Thatcher and her disciples never cared about.
And for up-to-date reading material, I recommend my old friend Shaun Tougher’s books on him, and Rowland Smith’s Julian’s Gods. (Bowersock seems to write as if Julian had done something to him personally: I really don’t understant his animus against him!) There is also a touching tribute in John Gaskin’s Traveller’s Guide to Classical Philosophy. Best of all, his own works are available in the bilingual Loeb Classics edition (3 vols). Theodoretos was wrong to invent Julian’s ‘last words’ as: “You’ve won, Galilaean!” Because through preserving his works to try to refute them (even the odious Cyril of Alexandria played his part in that!), the Galilaeans left a time-bomb for freer times. We can choose to live as if they didn’t win, and so deny them power over us.
Also — and apologies for formatting problems in last post — he was wounded between the ribs, in the liver, not the shoulder (see Ammianus Marcellinus and Libanios). The tragedy is that, these days, he might have been saveable.
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US bandys semantics to UN Committee on Torture "no solitary confinement here!".
From the excellent blog, Solitary Watch. When it comes to the hell of solitary confinement (among other things), I assure you, the US Government lies. So does the AZ DOC...
-------------------from SOLITARYWATCH.com------------
U.S. Government Tells UN Committee on Torture: “There Is No Systematic Use of Solitary Confinement in the United States”
SOLITARYWATCH.com
October 14, 2014 by Jean Casella
Today, dozens of advocates will travel from around the country to Washington, DC, to take part in what are called “Civil Society Consultations” with representatives of the U.S. government on the subject of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).
As a signatory of CAT, the United States Government is required prepare a “Periodic Report” to the UN’s Committee Against Torture about its adherence to the Convention. In this report, the United States must respond to questions, observations, and recommendations for change issued by the Committee.
The U.S.’s latest Periodic Report, prepared by the State Department and due to be presented in Geneva in November, runs to more than 100 pages. The government addresses 55 separate items raised by the Committee Against Torture, on its conduct in the “war on terror” and also on its civil justice system.
CAT forbids “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person” for the purposes of intimidation, coercion, forced confession, or punishment, “when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”
Unsurprisingly, the United States asserts that it is in all cases in alignment with CAT. It’s safe to say that most of the advocates permitted to testify at the State Department today will differ, to some degree, with that assertion. Some have even created “shadow reports” to the U.S. Periodic Report.
In what is pretty clearly a pro forma review process, each of the 21 representatives of “civil society” will have three minutes to address their concerns to members of the U.S. State, Justice, and Homeland Security Departments, who will then have the opportunity to respond. The entire session will take just two hours.
For advocates working on solitary confinement, the key item comes on page 73 of the U.S. Periodic Report. Amid questions regarding the treatment of immigrants, the death penalty, police brutality, and prison rape, item 37 asks the U.S. government to do the following:
Please describe steps taken to improve the extremely harsh regime imposed on detainees in “super-maximum security prisons”, in particular the practice of prolonged isolation.
The assurances provided by the United States should be read in full, but we are publishing a few choice sections here. For example, the U.S. report insists that the U.S. Constitution, as interpreted by the courts, offers sufficient protection against the ravages of solitary confinement to all people in prison, and especially to children and people with mental illness.
The U.S. Constitution, along with federal and state laws, establishes standards of care to which all inmates are entitled…U.S. courts have interpreted the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution as prohibiting the use of solitary confinement under certain circumstances, especially with regard to inmates with serious mental illness or for juvenile detainees. (Specifically, under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishments,” correctional facility administrators may not subject inmates to solitary confinement with deliberate indifference to the resulting serious harms, including suicides, suicide attempts, and serious self-injury. See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 843 (1970); see also, e.g., Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F. Supp. 1146, 1265 (N.D. Cal. 1995) (using prolonged solitary confinement on prisoners with serious mental illness can be “the mental equivalent of putting an asthmatic in a place with little air to breathe”)…
People with mental, physical, and psychological disabilities are not punished with solitary confinement, the U.S. reports asserts:
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehabilitation Act) restrict and regulate the use of solitary confinement for persons with disabilities. Title II of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12132, applies to state actors, while the Rehabilitation Act applies to federal correctional facilities and correctional facilities receiving funds from the federal government. Both statutes prohibit the use of solitary confinement in a manner that discriminates on the basis of disability instead of making reasonable modifications to provide persons with disabilities access to services, programs, and activities, including mental health services. See Pa. Dep’t of Corr. v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206, 210 (1998).
Likewise, according to the report, children cannot be placed in solitary confinement (or at least, “only as a last resort”:
PREA [Prison Rape Elimination Act] restricts the use of solitary confinement for juvenile inmates and inmates who are the victims of sexual violence. Under implementing regulations, juveniles “may be isolated from others only as a last resort when less restrictive measures are inadequate to keep them and other residents safe, and then only until an alternative means of keeping all residents safe can be arranged.” 28 C.F.R. 115.342. The regulations also set time limits and other limitations on the use of solitary confinement on juvenile inmates. With regard to adult inmates at high risk for sexual victimization, the regulations establish conditions on placement in segregated housing and provide that if such inmates are placed in segregated housing, they are to have access to programs, education, work opportunities, and other services to the extent possible. 28 C.F.R. 115.43(a)-(b).
In fact, there is “no systematic use of solitary confinement in the United States” at all! Not even at the notorious federal supermax, ADX.
As stated in a letter of November 30, 2011, responding to a request from the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, “[t]here is no systematic use of solitary confinement in the United States.” Noting that the Special Rapporteur had cited the U.S. Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum (ADX) facility as an example of a facility that places inmates in solitary confinement, the letter provided information including the following:
Security requirements at the ADX mandate restrictive procedures for movement of inmates and physical interaction with staff. For security reasons, inmates in General Population spend most of their day in individual cells. They are not deprived, however, of human interaction. Inmates can speak with (but not touch) one another in the recreation yards, and can communicate with the inmates housed on either side of their cells. The Warden, Associate Wardens, Captain, and Department Heads perform weekly rounds so they can visit with each inmate. Correctional Officers perform regular rounds throughout all three shifts on a daily basis. A member of an inmate’s Unit Team visits him every day, Monday through Friday, except on holidays. Inmates receive regular visits from medical staff, education staff, religious services staff, and mental health staff, and upon request if needed. In addition, General Population inmates are permitted five non-contact social visits per month and two fifteen-minute phone calls. Inmates in less restrictive housing units are permitted even more social visits and phone calls. Inmates can also send and receive personal correspondence.
Virtually everything we have published in the last five years on Solitary Watch refutes these assurances. So do the lives of the thousands of men, women, and children who have been driven to despair, to madness, to self-harm, or to suicide–all by a practice which, according to their government, is neither cruel, inhumane, degrading, or torturous.
Labels: isolation, mental illness, solitary confinement, torture, UN committee on torture
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HomePrizewinnersNikki Ragozin Keddie
Nikki Ragozin Keddie
2004 Balzan Prize for the Islamic World from the End of the 19th to the End of the 20th Century
Bio-bibliography
Acceptance Speech – Rome 18.11.2004
My life and Ideas: A Brief Overview
Research Project - Women, Gender and the Family in the Muslim World
For a remarkable contribution to our knowledge of the Islamic world in the 20th century, and particularly of the encounter between Muslim religion and thought and the spiritual and political values of the West.
Professor Nikki Keddie has had a brilliant academic career. She has published numerous works, which have earned her a pre-eminent place in the world of Middle Eastern studies, and she has displayed great diversity of interests and skills. Nikki Keddie is Professor Emerita of the History of the Middle East at the University of California at Los Angeles. She worked with Professor von Grunebaum in the development of Middle Eastern studies, both at Los Angeles and throughout the United States. She has guided the research of a great number of students with authority and competence, enlivened teams of researchers, and trained historians of the Middle East whose renown is steadily increasing. In her doctoral thesis, she analysed the impact of the West on modern Iranian social history. During the past four decades, her scholarly work has focused especially upon Iran. The reaction of the Muslim world to imperialism is another problem on which she has concentrated, stressing the role of Islam as an ingredient in the opposition to it. Since her first works, she has reflected on the effects of the encounter between Islam and the West, Islam and domination. It should be emphasised that this approach, which today motivates many researchers, was, at the time when her earlier books – Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Tobacco Protest of 1891-1892 (1966), and An Islamic Response to Imperialism (1968) – appeared, limited to a few isolated researchers. Their publications have progressively opened up the fundamental theme of confrontation, the meeting of Islam with the West.
Her great biography of Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al-Afghani” has had a decisive influence on research on the specific nature of nationalism and liberation movements in the East. Subsequently, Nikki Keddie has written the classic Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of Modern Iran (1981), revised and updated as Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution (2003). She has been working for years on themes such as secularism, fundamentalism and the place of women in Islamic Society, which have only recently come to concern the academic community at large. In addition, she founded and edited the wide-ranging journal “Contention: Debates in Society, Culture, and Science” (1991-1996), and has produced professional-quality photographs that have been exhibited and published. The Balzan Prize is awarded to Nikki Keddie in recognition of the wide-ranging scope of her publications, the depth and originality of her thought, and her pioneering concern with problems which are increasingly relevant today
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New Projects: Gordie Howe Sports Complex | University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Master Plan and More
Colby College has broken ground on a comprehensive new athletics, recreation and wellness center along with playing fields on its Waterville, Maine, campus. Scheduled to open in 2020, the facility will house a 50-meter competition pool, a field house with a 200-meter indoor running track and tennis courts, a multisport gymnasium, an ice arena, nine squash courts, strength and conditioning space, an erg room and a multipurpose flex space, as well as support spaces including locker rooms, sports medicine rooms and coaching and administrative offices. Sasaki of Watertown, Mass., is working with Hopkins Architects of London to design the project.
Marquette University recently broke ground on a 46,000-square-foot Athletic and Human Performance Research Center. Designed by Perkins+Will of Chicago in collaboration with HGA of Minneapolis and Ellenzweig of Boston, the facility represents phase one of a long-term master plan that includes new faculty research space, locker rooms and other support spaces for the lacrosse and golf teams, and strength and conditioning space for the athletics department. A two-story glass wall on the north end opens lines of sight to the strength and conditioning space, showcasing the center's interdisciplinary initiative. Phase one is expected to be complete in spring 2019.
The Gordie Howe Sports Complex in Saskatoon, Sask., broke ground in April on a major renovation project. Upgrades to the community sports complex include the installation of multilayer, dual-polymer turf, the addition of a winter speed skating oval that's convertible to a summer outdoor Beynon track, and the construction of new indoor and outdoor baseball and softball diamonds and batting cages. The complex will also feature a new 60,000-square-foot indoor multisport training center with weightlifting facilities. These upgrades will allow the complex to continue hosting national and international sports championships. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.
First Pitch
The Merriam, Kan., city council voted last month to approve a $30 million community center. The 66,000-square-foot building will include indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness center and an indoor walking track. The building design was provided by McCarthy Building Companies of St. Louis, with pool components overseen by Aquatic Design Group of Carlsbad, Calif. The center is expected to be completed in March 2020.
A 4,300-square-foot addition and renovation of the baseball hitting facility at Alex Box Stadium was recently approved by the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors. Planned improvements include a 3,500-square-foot weight room, a cardio mezzanine, locker rooms, a nutritional fueling station and advanced graphics and audio-visual systems. The project is expected to break ground June 1, with a completion date of August 2019.
The City of Buffalo, N.Y., recently approved plans for the new 12,593-square-foot Seneca Babcock Community Center. At a projected cost of $2.5 million, the center will feature a 7,644-square-foot gymnasium, spectator bleachers, locker rooms, restrooms, storage, offices, study rooms, computer classrooms and parking. Designs for the community center were provided by Kideney Architects of Buffalo.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater recently completed a facilities master plan to accommodate the athletic department, the Office of Recreation Sports and Facilities, and the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Coaching. Developed by Milwaukee-based design firm Kahler Slater, the plan details a multiphase expansion of the Williams Center, including a 3,500-seat events center, an 80-yard field house, a natatorium, an athletic training suite, team offices, locker rooms, a multipurpose court, a combative arts room and a 10,000-square-foot expansion of the strength and conditioning center.
The Al Charron Rugby Canada National Training Center recently opened its doors in Langford, B.C. Designed by JSA Sport Architecture of Victoria, B.C., the new 21,650-square-foot training center is home to the men's and women's national rugby teams. At a cost of $7.84 million, the project was funded through the Building Canada Fund — Major Infrastructure Component and the City of Langford, as well as private donations. The center features a 6,750-square-foot gymnasium, strength and conditioning equipment, therapy rooms and pools, locker rooms, team meeting rooms, kitchen and dining facilities and three studio bedroom units. The center will also house the Rugby Canada Hall of Fame and Museum. A seating expansion is planned for future development.
The Marvin Williams Recreation Center in Bremerton, Wash., held a grand opening in April. The two-story, 20,000-square-foot facility by Seattle-based McClellan Architects will feature community elements such as a cooking theater, a catering kitchen, an events center, a 7,000-square-foot gymnasium, locker rooms, meeting rooms and a computer classroom, as well as an open-air courtyard. The total project budget came to $7.2 million.
The Sycamore (Ill.) Park District held a grand opening for its new Community Center April 14. The 40,000-square-foot center was designed by Farnsworth Group of Bloomington, Ill., and will include a 24-hour fitness center, an elevated track, two gymnasiums, three multipurpose rooms and a group exercise studio, as well as administrative offices. The center will also offer a wellness program hosted by Northwestern Medicine and the Department of Kinesiology at Northern Illinois University. The $13 million project budget was covered by a combination of grants, private donations and a $9 million bond sale.
This article originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of Athletic Business with the title "Forward Progress" Athletic Business is a free magazine for professionals in the athletic, fitness and recreation industry. Click here to subscribe.
The New York Yankees had unexpected visitors to their stadium on Monday — about 25,000 of them.
The community pool at a recreation center in Philadelphia is closed temporarily after a spate of gun violence in the neighborhood.
This sponsored content was provided by Matrix Fitness. What is sponsored content?
The University of Minnesota board of regents approved a renovation for 3M Arena at Mariucci, which will renovate 11,000 square feet of space within the facility. Plans call for a state-of-the-art weight room, a remodeled office suite and a new alumni room. The weight room will renovate 6,700 square feet of space, and include an area for shooting that will be used by both the men’s and women’s hockey programs. — GopherSports.com
Gym Refuses Member, Claims Language as Safety Issue
A Richmond, Ky., gym is getting pushback after it refused service to a woman over her inability to speak English.
World-Class Natatorium Part of Revitalization in Downtown Des Moines
The following content is supported by one of our advertising partners. To learn more about sponsored content, click here.
When the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, Iowa, opened the Wellmark YMCA branch in an old convention center in 2015, it was hailed as the largest downtown YMCA in the United States. With 180,000 square feet of space, the $30 million facility became a critical player in the ongoing revitalization of the capital city’s downtown area.
Inspection Finds Faulty Seating at Football Stadium
Temporary bleachers will accommodate fans seated on the home side of the field during Lenoir-Rhyne University football games this fall. That's because an inspection of the facility in Hickory, N.C., found structural integrity issues with existing seating.
North Texas Puts Court Design to Fan Vote
Basketball fans at the University of North Texas will get to decide how the court looks when the Mean Green hit the hardwood next season.
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Jodie Prenger
This Spotify advert was banned for being too scary
The advert was deemed too scary by the ASA (Photo: Spotify)
Iain Lynn
Halloween may be just around the corner, but one terrifying advert from Spotify has raised the ire of the Advertising Standards Agency, who have banned it from broadcast.
The ad for the music streaming platform was filmed in the style of a horror movie, and depicts a young couple who are obsessed with the song ‘Havana’ by Camila Cabello.
Whenever they play the song – which reached Number One in the UK in 2017 – a horrifying antique doll is brought to life, which then terrorises them.
The ad ends with the tagline, “Killer songs you can’t resist”. It appeared in June 2018 on YouTube, playing in front of videos from well-known vloggers with a large audience of young viewers.
The Spotify advert featured a ‘horror film style doll’ attacking housemates “The fact that the ad was set inside a home, including a bedtime setting, and featured a doll, meant it was particularly likely to cause distress to children who saw it,” said the ASA.
Meant to be ‘tongue-in-cheek’ The agency also ruled that not enough was done to make sure viewers knew the ad was for Spotify and not a horror film, and that the clip’s implied violence, the characters’ reactions and the abrupt editing and ‘jump scare’ nature of the ad made it likely to scare young viewers.
Spotify responded by saying: “We acknowledge the ruling from the ASA and regret any distress the ad may have caused the complainant.”
It defended the ad by saying that there was no gore or violence, and that the feelgood nature of by Camila Cabello’s ‘Havana’ established the commercial as being tongue-in-cheek.
Ad for plug-in diffuser for stressed dogs banned over lack of evidence
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By Angela Leroux-Lindseyshare:
Alternative Futures in High-Energy Particle Physics
Scientists convene at Brookhaven National Laboratory to plan new projects and anticipate scientific discovery
By Angela Leroux-Lindsey
Attendees at the Snowmass high-energy frontier workshop gather at Brookhaven National Laboratory to discuss the future of high-energy physics.
In an exultant moment for an entire generation of high-energy particle physicists, the long-sought-after Higgs boson—an elementary particle predicted to endow other elementary particles with mass—was cemented as an experimental discovery in March, completing the Standard Model of particle physics and bringing new insight to our mysterious and enthralling universe. This historic breakthrough culminated more than four decades of scientific inquiry, and is a triumph of the largest international collaborative endeavor in the history of science: The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a powerful particle collider operating in Europe that is host to more than 10,000 scientists from all over the world.
Brookhaven National Laboratory was an active participant in the Higgs discovery and physicists here continue to sift through and analyze data as it comes in from the LHC. Brookhaven researchers helped build ATLAS, one of the LHC detectors, and Brookhaven is now the U.S. host laboratory for this experiment, playing essential roles in the project's operation, physics analysis, upgrades, and computing. Brookhaven also has a long history of innovation in physics, as five Nobel prizes in high-energy physics in the last half-century have been awarded for work done at the Lab. The Higgs detection is just the latest insight from a field that continuously unveils new data about the subatomic realm, but it may be the most profound. Further study of its properties and behavior promises to bring excitement and resolution of current questions to the next several decades of research.
An accomplishment of this magnitude requires brilliant theoretical insight, grand experimental execution, meticulous data analysis, and—equally important—careful planning. To this end, once every decade or so, the U.S. cohort of high-energy physicists convenes at a conference called Snowmass, an opportunity for scientists to discuss how to maximize the effectiveness of future experimental projects. In early April, Brookhaven hosted the first of two Snowmass meetings dedicated to scientists working in the "energy frontier" study group, a subset of the high-energy community interested in areas of particle physics that are most relevant to high-energy colliders and in mapping the opportunities they present for future discoveries.
"At Snowmass, we have an opportunity to solidify the considerable excitement we see in physics," said Howard Gordon, deputy chair of the BNL Physics Department and deputy collaboration board chair of the ATLAS experiment. "The Higgs boson is very important because of its role in giving elementary particles their mass, and learning more about it will be critical to our understanding of nature."
The major items on the table at Snowmass revolved largely around the Higgs and how to more closely study it. Beginning in 2015, the LHC will collide particles at higher energies than ever before, and will likely yield more precise data on the Higgs mass and other properties. Beyond that, the possibility of a next-generation machine called the International Linear Collider (ILC)—which would collide electrons instead of protons, producing cleaner and more robust collision events—has people in the field buzzing.
"After the LHC, what do we want to do in the future? Do we want to keep building larger, more powerful accelerators? And what do we know now that could provide physics motivation for doing it? These are the issues being debated this week," said Michael Peskin, a theoretical physicist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and co-convener of the energy frontier workshop. "There are still big physics questions that we're probably just about to find the answers to. The exciting thing is that these answers could well be found in the next stages of the LHC program and at the ILC."
The Higgs Boson is a part of the Standard Model of particle physics, but this aspect of the Standard Model has always seemed mysterious and incomplete. A tantalizing aspect of the Higgs discovery is that it gives particle physicists a path to confront these problems with experimental data and discover missing pieces of the story. Scientists already know that the Standard Model isn't totally comprehensive, since it leaves out explanations of gravity, dark matter, and dark energy. Some physicists at Snowmass revel in the possibility of beyond-Standard Model physics and hope that future accelerator runs will produce even more evidence to support it.
"We no longer have the luxury of knowing that we're operating within the Standard Model," said Chip Brock, former chair of the physics department at Michigan State University and co-convener of the energy frontier workshop. "All of a sudden, we've lost that mooring, because now we have an experimental confirmation of a measurement that says there must be something beyond it. That's really exciting."
Global collaborations like the LHC may be the model for all future projects, including the ILC, which—if built—would require scientific and monetary contributions from countries across the globe. Japan has already expressed interest in moving forward with plans to build the ILC, but only with the support of other physics communities. Many U.S. physicists are hopeful such support will materialize, and believe in the promise of new physics.
"I think the Higgs is the tip of an iceberg," said Jonathan Rosner, a professor of physics at the University of Chicago. "Its connection with dark matter is just beginning to be realized, and I would say that whatever lies beyond the Standard Model is related both to the Higgs and to dark matter—and possibly even to why we have so many quarks and leptons."
However, not everyone agrees that beyond-Standard Model physics is out there, adding friendly debate to the Snowmass discourse.
"The Higgs boson is a huge accomplishment, and just the beginning as we continue to analyze the data and try to figure out what's really there," said Sally Dawson, a senior scientist in the Physics Department at Brookhaven and organizer of the energy frontier workshop. "But my prediction is that the Higgs boson is the whole story. I know that's an unusual prediction, but I think the Standard Model is going to be it—and now we just have to prove it."
This possibility is certainly something the group will consider when finalizing a proposal for future projects. At $10 billion a pop, colliders like the LHC and those physicists are now contemplating aren't easy to come by. Sorting out critical disagreements within the field is precisely what Snowmass is designed to facilitate, in the hopes that by the end of this summer, a coherent view of future priorities will emerge. Brookhaven will host the next workshop group, which will focus on possible future accelerator projects in the intensity frontier, starting on April 17.
Fueled by the Higgs success story, the heartbeat of high-energy physics remains an insatiable curiosity about the universe and a sense of wonder that drives the field toward new and bigger breakthroughs. This particular moment in physics could mark the edge of a paradigm, and allows for big ideas as scientists look toward a wide-open future.
"Any way you look at it, particle physics from this point on is historic," Brock said. "We're trying to imagine a discovery of sorts we haven't seen before. We're dreaming about what new physics should be."
Tags: LHCmeetings & workshopsphysics
2013-3838 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
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2004 - In what is her first live television performance since her infamous Super Bowl halftime show, Janet Jackson appears on ABC's "Good Morning America." Jackson is interviewed by anchors Diane Sawy
2004 - In what is her first live television performance since her infamous Super Bowl halftime show, Janet Jackson appears on ABC's "Good Morning America." Jackson is interviewed by anchors Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson prior to the performance in New York's Battery Park, which is broadcast on a five-second delay.
2000 - At the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Riders in the Sky present their 21st annual benefit concert to aid Hospital Hospitality House, which offers a home away from home for family members of critically ill patients and outpatients receiving medical treatment in Nashville area hospitals.
1999 - It is announced that tickets for the Cranberries' forthcoming U.S. tour are to be sold exclusively on the Internet. Tickets for the nine-date U.S. tour, which begins April 28 in Washington, D.C., are to be available only through the band's Web site, www.cranberries.com.
1998 - Available for the first time on video, "Good Times," the only movie starring Sonny & Cher, hits stores. The video includes an unreleased version of "I Got You Babe." The 1967 film was directed by William Friedkin ("The Exorcist") and scored by the late Sonny Bono.
1998 - The first Celebration of Female Artists Awards take place at London's Grosvenor House with performers Shola Ama, SWV, Gala, and Terry Ellis. Nominees for the awards include Bjork, All Saints, Kylie Minogue, Ultra Nate, Rosie Gaines, Texas, No Doubt, Missy Elliot, and Eternal.
1995 - Tejano singing idol Selena is shot to death by Yolanda Saldivar, president of Selena's fan club and once a close friend of the Grammy-winning singer, outside a Corpus Christi, Texas, motel room.
1995 - A former Led Zeppelin fan who calls the band's music "satanic" is arrested for allegedly trying to stab guitarist Jimmy Page backstage with a pocket knife at a Page and Robert Plant concert in the Detroit area.
1992 - "La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. One," White Zombie's major label debut album, is released on Geffen Records.
1986 - O'Kelly Isley of the Isley Brothers dies of a heart attack at the age of 48.
1975 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: ``Lovin' You,'' Minnie Riperton. The song is produced by Stevie Wonder.
1967 - Jimi Hendrix begins first his British tour as part of a package that includes Cat Stevens.
1935 - Herb Alpert is born in Los Angeles. He writes the hit song ``Wonderful World'' for Sam Cooke. His biggest hit is ``This Guy's in Love with You,'' a No. 1 hit for four weeks in 1968. In 1965 he forms his own band, the Tijuana Brass.
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Scott Kirsner | Innovation Economy
Uber for MBAs is a worrying sign
By Scott Kirsner Globe Columnist,April 15, 2016, 7:00 a.m.
Employees watched a slideshow during an office meeting at HourlyNerd in Boston. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)
In a brick-and-beam former warehouse in Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood, Rob Biederman and Patrick Petitti are building an online network that could change how white-collar work gets done.
In the same way Uber built a network of drivers, and Craigslist can help you find someone willing to paint your back porch tomorrow, the company that Biederman and Petitti cofounded, HourlyNerd, has attracted 22,000 independent consultants with MBA degrees from 45 top universities, all willing to do projects for clients that range from the corner clothing boutique to conglomerates like General Electric.
Business owners can understand the allure of paying someone a few thousand bucks to analyze three different locations for a new shop. But anyone who sits in front of a computer every day, analyzing data and assembling PowerPoint presentations, is probably justified in fretting about what this could mean for their job.
And these online expert networks could evolve into potent competition for some of the best-known management consulting firms, like McKinsey & Co. and Boston Consulting Group. The traditional consultants are a bit like the livery companies that were the only game in town before Uber arrived: high-touch and expensive, but don’t try to call them 10 minutes before you need them to show up.
HourlyNerd was born as a class project at Harvard Business School in early 2013 with the theory that business school students and alumni might want to earn some extra cash by taking on consulting projects. By the end of 2013, the company had raised $750,000, the majority of it from Mark Cuban, the “Shark Tank” investor and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, who had responded to an e-mail pitch from the founders. HourlyNerd has since raised another $9 million, and it employs about 55 people.
When you post a project on the site, you describe what you’re trying to get done, a start date, and a ballpark estimate of what you’re willing to pay. Consultants seeking work can review the project, ask for more details, and submit a bid. And before you hire someone, you can look at their star rating (one to five), along with comments from past clients.
Marisa Goldenberg signed on with the site in 2014 and says HourlyNerd is now her sole source of work. Goldenberg, a former operations executive at computer maker Dell, says she began proving her ability on the site with smaller projects, “then hit the big leagues with a Fortune 20 industrial company last year.” And when she needs more assistance on a big project, she uses the site to assemble a team of “nerds.”
One recent project for Goldenberg involved a large company that wanted to rethink its leadership development program. Goldenberg identified “best in breed” programs in place at other companies, conducted interviews with those companies, and produced a report with recommendations.
Goldenberg says she doesn’t mind being reviewed on the site like a pizzeria would be reviewed on yelp.com. “There’s nothing that helps you more to get future clients than to have previous clients sing your praises,” she says.
Daniel Callaghan, the founder of London-based MBA & Co., an HourlyNerd rival, says the costs of getting work done through his site can be 70 percent less than hiring a traditional consultancy. But another part of the allure is the speed and flexibility. Callaghan says a project can get rolling within days, which is often faster than a consulting firm can show up to have an initial “let’s discuss the scope of the project” meeting.
Kevin Dawson, an IT engineering leader at GE’s oil and gas division, says the combination of speed and the range of skills available on HourlyNerd makes him regard the site as “Uber for expertise.”
How do the big consulting firms view these startups? Miles Everson, US vice chairman at PwC, notes that the country’s workforce is tilting toward more freelancers, and consultants like PwC need to be able to “tap into that labor pool to get the best and brightest talent.” In mid-February, the firm launched a site called PwC Talent Exchange, which allows freelance consultants to participate in PwC projects, but it doesn’t yet allow clients to post projects they need done.
Nav Singh, the managing partner at McKinsey & Co.’s Boston office, says he sees the new marketplaces as “part of the constant innovation going on in the industry,” but that most of his firm’s work involves “sitting down with the CEO and other leaders to figure out what is useful. That journey itself sometimes takes us six or nine months.” That’s very different from a client posting a description of a specific issue with which they need help.
Biederman at HourlyNerd acknowledges that many clients in the midst of major decisions might want the “rubber stamp” of advice from a well-known firm. But he says there are plenty of opportunities to do other kinds of work for companies.
Surf through the websites of companies like MBA & Co., and you’ll see a growing number of tasks that their experts are willing to take on — from market research to supply chain streamlining. We’re at the beginning of what I believe will be an inexorable shift to more and more knowledge work being done outside of a company’s borders.
Gary Swart is a partner at the Boston investment firm Polaris Partners, and former CEO of a talent marketplace that is now known as Upwork. “In the early days of e-commerce, we were comfortable buying a book from Amazon and a PEZ dispenser with eBay, but as e-commerce has evolved, now we’re now comfortable transacting automobiles, real estate, Rolex watches,” he says. “I think the world of work is not dissimilar. In the early days, we’re comfortable with someone designing a logo, writing some copy, or doing some website coding. But why not a lawyer, an accountant, a strategic consultant?”
You can ignore it. You can hope it won’t happen. But unlike Uber or Airbnb, there’s no question about the legality of these online marketplaces for consulting. So perhaps it’s time to start thinking about how you make yourself indispensable to your current employer, or how you might craft a life as a brain-for-hire.
Scott Kirsner can be reached at kirsner@pobox.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottKirsner.
A look back at JFK Jr.’s life and death on the 20th anniversary of his plane crash off Martha’s Vineyard
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Covering New War in the Shadow of Old One
Jul 24 · By L. P · Share
By Margaret Sullivan for the New York Times
THE lead-up to the war in Iraq in 2003 was not The Times’s finest hour. Some of the news reporting was flawed, driven by outside agendas and lacking in needed skepticism. Many Op-Ed columns promoted the idea of a war that turned out to be both unfounded and disastrous.
Readers have not forgotten. Even now, more than a decade later, it’s one of the topics I hear most about. In recent weeks, with Iraq in chaos, military intervention there again has been under consideration, and readers are on high alert.
Clearly, the two situations are very different, and made even more so by President Obama’s statement that no ground troops would be involved. Beyond that, where President George W. Bush seemed intent on invading Iraq, President Obama has made his distaste for the war clear. And it’s still early in this crisis.
Nevertheless, given The Times’s troubled history when it comes to this subject, readers have good reason to be wary about what appears in the paper about military intervention in Iraq. And based on what I am already hearing from them, they are.
Many readers have complained to me that The Times is amplifying the voices of hawkish neoconservatives and serving as a megaphone for anonymously sourced administration leaks, while failing to give voice to those who oppose intervention.
I went back with the help of my assistant, Jonah Bromwich, and reread the Iraq coverage and commentary from the past few weeks to see if these complaints were valid. The readers have a point worth considering. On the Op-Ed pages and in the news columns, there have been very few outside voices of those who opposed the war last time, or those who reject the use of force now.
But the neoconservatives and interventionists are certainly being heard.
A recent profile of the historian Robert Kagan, a leading proponent of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 who is once more in the news, was one focus of sharp reader criticism. And an Op-Ed article by Anne-Marie Slaughter, another proponent of the Iraq war who says Mr. Obama should use force in Syria, also dismayed some readers.
Phyllis Bennis, who writes frequently on the Middle East, protested in an email to me: “The appearance is that The Times takes seriously only those who were responsible for the disaster that Iraq has become.” Where, she asked, is the equivalent treatment — “serious, comprehensive, virtually uncritical” — of those who opposed the war and warned of what is coming to pass now?
And the documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald put it this way on Twitter: “Another day, another NYT article about a neocon and Iraq! Where are the articles about hundreds of thousands against escalation?”
I also observed that much of the news reporting continues to reflect The Times’s extraordinary access to administration sources. That is both a competitive advantage and a potential hazard. A reader, Dave Metzger, pointed out one recent front-page article that relied heavily on such unnamed sources. His comment on Twitter dripped with sarcasm: “Iraq lessons learned.”
I’ve been critical, repeatedly, of the overuse of unnamed sources, while acknowledging that they are sometimes necessary. Certainly, they have dominated the paper’s recent coverage from Washington.
The Times’s access to administration sources has produced important news stories, but my reading suggests that there has not been enough effort to challenge and vet the views of these government sources.
Here’s one small example. In a military analysis, “U.S. Airstrikes Could Help in Reversing Insurgent Offensive, Experts Say,” the only acknowledgment of opposition came in a partial sentence: “Despite skeptics, particularly Democrats, who say that American airstrikes are unlikely to change the course of events in Iraq, President Obama is considering them among a range of options to help the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Malaki.” The skeptics, after this brief nod, are not heard from again. (Maybe a military analysis was not the right place for such skepticism, but it has not surfaced much elsewhere either.)
Other news articles have also included limited response from those who oppose American intervention. The coverage has not featured the kind of in-depth attention that readers want as a counterbalance to pieces like the one on Mr. Kagan. It is worth noting that The Times’s foreign on-the-ground reporting has been aggressive and solid.
On the editorial page and Op-Ed pages, the anti-intervention arguments have come not from the outside but largely from The Times’s own columnists and its editorials. The opinion pieces by outside writers have tilted toward military intervention. They included not only Ms. Slaughter’s but also one by Nussaibah Younis, an Iraq specialist at Harvard’s Kennedy School who urged the Obama administration to help Iraq retake the city of Mosul.
The selection of these pieces makes sense in the overall picture, since the Op-Ed pages are intended, in part, to present points of view that counter those of The Times’s editorials.
One of the most notable developments is Thomas Friedman’s change of heart; Mr. Friedman was a leading voice for intervention last time, and has since said that he was wrong. He wrote recently: “For now, I’d say stay out of this fight — not because it’s the best option but because it’s the least bad.”Nicholas Kristof, David Brooks and Ross Douthat have expressed opposition to any major intervention.
The coverage before the Iraq war was the cause of much soul-searching for The Times. Afterward, a stronger policy on anonymous sources was put in place, and an extraordinary editors’ note acknowledged reporting that lacked rigor and skepticism. The editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, told me recently, in another context, that The Times’s earlier misjudgments about Iraq were very much on the minds of the opinion staff.
Now, I hope that the editors — on both the news and opinion sides — will think hard about whose voices and views will get the amplification that comes with being in The Times. They owe it to their readers, who are observing their paper closely. You might even say they are watching it like a hawk.
Correction: June 29, 2014
An earlier version of this column characterized Times editorials imprecisely in stating that many of them promoted the idea of a war with Iraq in 2003. Editorials expressed the belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and should be disarmed but said that the United States should not go to war without a broad international coalition.
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Board deals with cost overrun on sewer line project
The Bedford County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to authorize a change order in the work on Corporate Park Drive that will result in a $213,000 cost overrun.
According to Robert Hiss, the county administrator, the change order was needed because workers encountered large amounts of rock in the path where the plan called for relocating a sewer line. The blasting required to clear this path would have been very expensive. It was less expensive to change the design so the sewer line goes through a spot with less rock.
Council honors Rev. Henderson
Bedford Town Council honored the Rev. Henry Henderson last week. The Rev. Henderson has been pastor of Washington Street Baptist Church for 50 years.
The proclamation that Mayor Steve Rush read mentioned Rev. Henderson’s accomplishments over the years. He had a radio ministry on WBLT and was a leader in the work to establish the Shepherd’s Table. He counseled youth and adults as part of the Prison Ministry Team.
Broadband initiative underway
The effort to provide last mile broadband Internet coverage to all of Bedford County got underway with a groundbreaking ceremony for a tower in Big Island last month.
According to a press release from the county, a series of towers and fiber optic cable will help bring high-speed Internet service to 95 percent of the unserved and underserved areas of the county.
State to study stop in Bedford
Although Michael McLaughlin, chief of rail transportation for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DPRT) recommended against an Amtrak platform in Bedford during the April 9 meeting of the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s Rail and Transit Subcommittee, the Commonwealth Transportation Board approved, at its June 19 meeting, $300,000 to conduct a planning study on adding a train platform in Bedford.
Board tries to help nursing home attract staff
Monday night, the Bedford County Board of Supervisors approved three special use permits after public hearings.
The supervisors also approved by 6-0 votes to allow the Bedford County Nursing Home to provide three employee recruitment and retention incentives. One provides a $500 signing bonus for new medical staff and another provides a $500 bonus to employees who refer a new medical staff employee. The third provides an extra $1.25 per hour to licensed practical nurses who work the second and third shift.
Miller wins Republican Primary nomination for Sheriff
Capt. Mike Miller emerged the victor in Tuesday’s Republican primary for sheriff. Miller drew a plurality, 48 percent of the vote, in a three way race with Kent Robey and David Wells. Robey came in second with 38 percent of the vote and Wells came in third with 14 percent. Miller got 3,904 votes. Robey received 3,115 votes and 1,183 people cast ballots for Wells.
Board approves county budget
The Bedford County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Bedford County’s budget for the next fiscal year.
The budget calls for $110 million in general fund expenditures. This includes a $36 million transfer to the school division’s operating fund. Included in the budget is money to hire an additional school resource officer and money to expand career staffed ambulance crews’ coverage in Big Island and Goode bringing coverage from 12 hours a day, seven days a week to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mike Miller gets Republican nod
Capt. Mike Miller emerged the victor in Tuesday's Republican primary for sheriff. Miller drew a plurality, 48 percent of the vote, in a three way race with Kent Robey and David Wells. Robey came in second with 38 percent of the vote and Wells came in third with 14 percent. Miller got 3,904 votes. Robey received 3,115 votes and 1,183 people cast ballots for Wells.
Council transfers funds for middle school, Old Yellow project
At a brief meeting that lasted about 10 minutes, Bedford Town Council took care of what Town Manager Bart Warner termed housekeeping items.
Council voted to transfer $400,000 to the town’s economic development authority (EDA) in accordance with the town’s performance agreement with Waukeshaw Development for the Bedford Middle School project.
Board argues about permit fees
A heated argument between District 1 Supervisor Bill Thomasson and District 4 Supervisor John Sharp over fees for concealed weapons permits broke out at last week’s board of supervisors meeting.
The meeting was held on Tuesday evening due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday. Board Chairman Tommy Scott ultimately had to gavel the meeting to order.
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Home » Events » 3-Day Visit to Border Country
3-Day Visit to Border Country
The purpose of our early May visit was the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro, however, we wanted to extend the trip to include Foz Coa, Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo.
Foz Coa was our first stop and we commenced with a guided tour of the new Museum situated overlooking the River Douro. The museum is a must in order to fully appreciate the actual prehistoric rock art along the River Coa. During the afternoon our group was escorted on a field trip by excellent guides from Castelo Melhor to the Coa river at Penascosa which is a 6 km drive in their 4x4 vehicles. This site has been the place of many rock engravings and the guides show the best and most complete. The scenery around the Coa valley was lovely and the spring flowers, bird life and sunshine just added to the experience of this special place. Later we paid a short visit to the medieval hill top castle village of Castelo Rodrigo before staying the night in the adjacent town.
Next day we continued on to the fortified town of Almeida where we had a guided tour of the Museum set into the castle walls where the people used to hide during the great sieges that occurred in the town’s history. The visit extended into the old town enclosed within the walls and into the new CEAMA Centre where we saw a short film about the architecture of the fortifications.
After lunch we continued via Aldea del Obispo, the site of the fortification of Fuerte de la Concepcion, and then on to Fuentes de Onoro. Here we had another guide to fully explain the 3-day battle that occurred exactly 200 years ago. The visit started in the village centre, near the church where most of the hand to hand fighting occurred. Later we moved to nearby Paco Velho to understand the terrain for the French Cavalry charges that tried to divide the British troops and bypass the village. Our guide was very enthusiastic which enabled us to fully appreciate the background and actions of this critical battle on the Portuguese/Spanish border. Finally, we finished the day in Ciudad Rodrigo were we had a lovely hotel in the old town, by the cathedral which took the brunt of the cannons from Wellingtons siege of the town in January 1812.
On the final morning of our visit we had time to appreciate this lovely town and walked the 1,5km around the walls to understand the siege positions and the storming of the town. Our return journey was planned to follow initially the other castle villages in the area and to stop at Freineda to visit Wellington’s HQ from May 1810 to November 1812. Here we were very fortunate to meet the owner of the property, which was the HQ. He showed us the interior which is now retained in its near original condition and houses a small private collection of Peninsula War memorabilia. We continued our journey through remote schist villages down to Sabugal and on to Sortelha where we made our final stop and had the opportunity to walk up to this isolated medieval village topped by a fortified tower which appeared to be of Arabic origins. This village is also in the book of the Loveliest Villages in Portugal and clearly lives up to its description.
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Opinion: A little stimulus wouldn't hurt the job market
By Mark WhitehouseBloomberg Opinion
People keep saying that the Federal Reserve needs to cut interest rates, in large part to ward off the ill effects of the Trump administration's trade wars.
But what about the job market? With unemployment already hovering near its lowest level in almost 50 years, would added stimulus make sense?
Maybe. Some new data even suggests that the job market could handle a boost, even if new tariffs don't have much adverse effect.
U.S. employers have long been hiring at an impressive pace. During the past year, monthly nonfarm payroll gains have averaged 196,000, more than enough to compensate for natural growth in the labor force. The unemployment rate has declined from a very low 3.8% to an even lower 3.6%. Wage growth has even improved after a long period of little growth. Average hourly earnings, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, were up 3.1% from a year earlier in May, not far from the rate that prevailed before the last recession.
So why stimulate? First, there's the obvious issue of President Donald Trump's erratic trade policy. His penchant for surprises — such as his recent move to impose emergency tariffs on Mexico — has spread uncertainty, which could prompt businesses to pull back on hiring, send the unemployment rate up, and even tip the economy into recession. Job gains might already be slowing: Nonfarm payrolls grew by an estimated 75,000 in May, well below the longer-term average. Because monetary policy operates with a significant lag, now could be the best time for the Fed to act.
That said, even if fears of a slump are unfounded, there's reason to believe that stimulus wouldn't be a terrible move. Consider wages. Although they're already increasing at a decent pace, they could do a lot more with little risk of triggering an inflationary spiral. That's because productivity growth appears to be picking up — and the more workers produce per hour, the more companies can pay without increasing consumer prices.
As of March, workers' output per hour was up an estimated 2.4% from a year earlier. If that pace persists, wages can safely grow at about the overall inflation rate plus 2.4 percentage points. (Assuming productivity growth is being measured accurately. Some have doubts.)
So if inflation hits the Fed's 2% target, that's 4.4%, well above the current pace of pay gains. Even using the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, which currently reads 1.5%, the ceiling is 3.9%.
Also, research suggests that increased demand for workers can still draw in people who remain on the sidelines of the labor market (and are hence not counted as unemployed). Even a decade after the economy last hit bottom in mid-2009, their numbers are significant. As of May, the labor force participation rate among prime-age workers stood at 82.1% — about 1.3 percentage point, or 1.6 million workers, short of its pre-recession level.
In short, it's hard to see what damage a little stimulus would do.
Mark Whitehouse writes editorials on global economics and finance for Bloomberg Opinion. He covered economics for The Wall Street Journal and served as deputy bureau chief in London.
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Engineers plan to make intelligent tyre device in West Midlands
Two engineers from the West Midlands have developed a device that allows tyres to communicate with drivers on the move.
Engineers Geoff Haswell and Malcolm Caley have spent the last seven years developing Piezotag, a tyre monitoring system which uses power harvested from wheel rotation to collect and transmit data like tyre pressure, temperature and carbon footprint.
New EU legislation set to ensure every new car is to have monitoring systems fitted by 2014 – which means the market is about to expand substantially – and the pair want to manufacture the product locally.
Unlike traditional monitoring systems Piezotag uses unique design geometry to operate without the use of batteries.
Mr Haswell admitted the pair were initially reticent to manufacture themselves but have come around to the idea after consulting with the Manufacturing Advisory Service in the West Midlands (MAS-WM).
He said: “We have created a unit that sits within the tyre and as it rotates that is how it gets its energy.
“There is one device to measure and a device to transmit the data. It measures air pressure and temperature, which is obviously very important, and also measures things like the carbon footprint.
“The information can be transmitted and can be connected to the display so the driver can see what is going on.”
The monitoring systems provide additional data on driver performance that can help prolong tyre life and reduce fuel consumption.
Mr Haswell, who has a background in mechanical engineering and plastic injection moulding, said the firm will be carrying out testing for the rest of the year with a view to beginning production in the region next year.
The company has already entered into an initial arrangement with Birmingham-based Barkley Plastics to develop prototypes for passenger vehicles and trucks.
And Mr Haswell said the company has spoken to a host of vehicle manufacturers about the technology, with mixed results, but expects demand to pick up as legislation is brought into force.
He added: “The car industry has been quite slow and there are all sorts of barriers to small companies like us.
“Truck companies have been easier to deal with because they are looking for ways to save money as there is a lot of pressure at the moment.”
The deployment of this technology offers a way to reduce the carbon footprint of a vehicle.
Mr Haswell said using the Piezotag a 100-strong vehicle truck fleet could reduce emissions by 470 tonnes of CO2 in a year, and the cost of this wasted fuel could be in excess of £250,000 per fleet.
Mr Caley added: “With this independent backing and patents secured for Europe, China and the US, we are hoping to explore the growing global market demand for intelligent tyres by targeting mainstream and emerging producers, car and commercial vehicle manufacturers and telematics firms.
“The latter are really excited by our ability to capture previously unavailable tyre data, which, when applied across a fleet of vehicles, has the potential to reduce tyre inspection costs while increasing tyre life. Fuel economy is also improved by up to four per cent with better tyre maintenance.”
Martin McKeever, MAS-WM specialist adviser, said: “Piezotag has gone past just being a TPMS and now boasts a proven track record that could revolutionise the way tyres work and are built.
‘‘Yes, there is still work to do to demonstrate the huge benefits it will provide, but when one organisation takes the lead, the rest of the industry will follow.
“This is an invention born in the heart of the West Midlands and I’m delighted that we are helping them develop a supply chain that will see the product manufactured right here in the region.”
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Liverpool facing ‘illegal’ air until 2026 without action
Liverpool is one of eight councils in England found to have much worse air quality than previously thought, adding more pressure on the government to take robust action on air pollution.
New figures show that Liverpool, previously expected to meet legal air quality limits by 2020, is now unlikely to reach this point for eight years unless urgent action is taken. Portsmouth, Leicester, Bradford and Stoke-on-Trent are among seven other councils in a similar situation.
The eight councils are part of a larger group of 33 that had to submit air quality action plans earlier this summer after the government lost a court case against environmental lawyers ClientEarth for the third time in as many years.
Katie Nield, clean air lawyer at ClientEarth, said: “It’s absolutely staggering that only now, eight years after legal limits came into force, the true extent of the problem is being uncovered for large areas of the country.
“In the meantime, people in these areas have continued to be exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.”
City-level action
Mayor of Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotherham, was one of 17 city leaders to call on Prime Minister Theresa May for more ambitious national action on air pollution last month.
Liverpool City Council already has a number of its own measures in development, such as replacing all the council’s diesel vehicles in the city centre by 2019 and introducing a car salary sacrifice scheme to encourage employees to purchase cleaner vehicles.
The council is also considering a penalty scheme to discourage engine idling in the city centre and new planning policies to force developers to incorporate electric vehicle charging points in car parks.
Other local authorities, including the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, are considering charging zones for some vehicles.
Posted under General Interest on 17 October 2018
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'The Bachelorette’s Chris Soules Has Been Arrested… A Lot
There are four men left on Andi Dorfman's season of The Bachelorette: The Jock, The Hot One (hey, I'm just sayin' what Andi would call him), The Farmer, and Nick V. Out of these, you probably think The Farmer, Chris Soules, is the most innocent. He's just a country gentleman who is there for the right reasons. Well, this may be, but it also seems he has a bit of a... wild side. Nah, I'm just trying to make it sound intriguing. He's a criminal. The Bachelorette 's Chris Soules has 13 guilty charges for various vehicle-related activities such as driving under the influence, driving with an open container of alcohol, and quite a few for speeding. Oh, The Farmer, you are not living up to the reality show stereotype (the sweet, thoughtful one who will totally be the next Bachelor ) we all placed upon you.
Radar Online reports that according to Iowa State court records, Chris' first run in with the law occurred in 1998 when he was 16 and was caught speeding six to ten miles over the speed limit. From this point on, Chris racked up the charges which include: possession of alcohol under age (three times), failure to maintain control of a vehicle, driving with an open container of alcohol, speeding, running a stop sign, and for a fight that occurred on Valentine's Day. His last charge was in 2010 for a registration violation.
For his guilty charges, Chris was fined, sentenced to community service, and served a year of probation.
It's hard to tell if this says more about Chris or about the small town in which he grew up — it only has 461 people! The cops had to have something to do. Driving under the influence is inexcusable, don't get me wrong, and hopefully Chris has really learned his lesson there. But as for the underage possession charges, I'm thinking he got caught because the town sheriff knew exactly how many underage people were in the town (like, fifty?) and was able to keep track of them all.
If Andi chooses Chris (she won't), she doesn't need to worry about his crazy past, because it seems that he's over it at this point. He's 32 now and has to take care of his farming responsibilities! As for Chris becoming the new Bachelor, all I have to say is at least the worst of him is already out there. As we know, that is not the case with everyone:
Image: Giphy
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Kevin Stypulkoski
Only a few years ago, Ellen Page thought she could never come out publicly. Now, her new movie Freeheld marks an important step in the marriage equality movement — and it's just the start of a new stage in her career.
Posted on September 29, 2015, 16:38 GMT
Kate Aurthur
BuzzFeed News Reporter
On a bright, windy October morning in 2014, Ellen Page prepared to film a wrenching scene for her upcoming movie Freeheld, a project she’d been attached to since 2008. The four-minute scene was six years in the making for Page: Her character, Stacie Andree, was alone on a beach — Long Island's Lido Beach, posing as the Jersey Shore — mourning the death of her partner, Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore). Trudging in work boots, Page walked down the beach, sat in the sand, opened a box of Stacie and Laurel's mementos, and began to cry.
"This is my kind of scene," Freeheld director Peter Sollett said as he watched Page do another take. "All emotion, no dialogue."
Jeff Bottari / AP Images for Human Rights Campaign
Page's coming-out speech, Feb. 14, 2014.
Nearly a year later, Freeheld will be released in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 2, expanding on Oct. 16. Adapted from Cynthia Wade’s Oscar-winning 2007 documentary short of the same name, it tells the true story of Hester, a detective from Ocean County, New Jersey, who sought to leave her police pension to her domestic partner, Andree, as Hester became increasingly sick from terminal lung cancer. The movie's plot is a busy one: It begins in 2002, when Hester and Andree met and fell in love, and reaches its dramatic peak in late 2005 and early 2006, as Hester's fight with her local governing body — the Freeholders — escalated and became a national news story.
Thematically, Freeheld is both a love story and a narrative about the palpable, toxic effects of anti-gay discrimination — ones that only this year in the United States have begun to feel surmountable. Its motifs of the importance of allies, community, and friendship — as well as its central idea that coming out is still an act of bravery and necessity — seek to move, if not wreck, its audience.
And Page can relate. Her own coming-out on Valentine's Day in 2014 — during a galvanizing speech at a Human Rights Campaign conference — was both a personal and political act. More than five minutes into the eight-and-a-half-minute speech, Page said, "And I am here today because I am gay," which was greeted with a standing ovation from the surprised crowd. The nervous-looking Page took a moment to say, "Whew!" before continuing. "I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility," she said. "I also do it selfishly, because I’m tired of hiding. And I’m tired of lying by omission."
With that, Page suddenly became the highest-profile actress of her generation ever to come out.
Juan Naharro Gimenez / WireImage
Sitting recently at a small table in the middle of an otherwise empty conference room in a Beverly Hills hotel, Page, who is also one of Freeheld’s producers, reflected on how the movie's labyrinthine trip to the screen has paralleled her own often-painful path. Page is now 28. And though she has been acting professionally since she was 10 years old, her paparazzi-chronicled public life began in late 2007 after the release of Juno. In the Jason Reitman-directed/Diablo Cody-scripted film, Page's performance as Juno MacGuff — the honest-to-bloggiest pregnant 16-year-old there ever was — propelled her to fame and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. As a young woman coming to terms with her sexuality apart from her incipient fame, Page at 20 quickly learned about how celebrity and life in the closet can clash.
"I remember someone writing an article called, like, 'The Ellen Page Sexuality Sweepstakes,'" she said. "And to be honest with you, at 20 or 21, in retrospect, of course I was sure — but I wasn't sure. Stuff like that, particularly when you go from being a totally anonymous person to not, was a jarring experience."
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
Page at the Academy Awards in February 2008.
It was around then, shortly after Page's Juno fame explosion, when filmmakers Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher — the producers of Pulp Fiction, Erin Brockovich, and many more, who had optioned Freeheld after it won the Oscar in 2008 — approached Page about playing Stacie. (Shamberg is now an adviser to BuzzFeed Motion Pictures.) Page was filming Whip It, the Drew Barrymore–directed Roller Derby movie, and was living in a Detroit hotel room. She committed to Freeheld after seeing only the trailer for Wade's documentary. "I cried," Page said. "And I just said yes."
Page's fervent attachment to Freeheld even in its earliest stages is a throughline in the story of the movie's creation. In a telephone interview, Wade remembered flying out to Los Angeles in 2008 to talk with Page and Kelly Bush Novak, Page's manager, producing partner, and then-publicist. During one meeting with the producing team, some of whom were on speakerphone, Wade described what she had witnessed while filming the documentary. "I don't know whether I should say this or not," Wade said, sounding wary, "but Ellen just started sobbing — sobbing — as I explained the inequality that I saw, and the relationship that I saw between Stacie and Laurel. And it was clear to me that it was incredibly meaningful for Ellen, in whatever that meant." (When I asked Page whether she remembered that meeting, she said quietly, "I think so, yeah. There were a bunch of us on the call, and it was emotional — emotional for Kelly too.")
At her most ascendant moment as a young actor, Page had signed on to play a lesbian and to produce a movie about a significant, soon-to-be historical moment in the marriage equality movement. Did that mean she was envisioning a future time when she would come out?
"No," Page said, shaking her head, as if she couldn't believe it herself. "I think back to not that long ago, and I didn't think it was possible to be out. And I don't know why I believed that so strongly, but I remember someone was like, 'So when do you think you could maybe come out?' And I was like, 'No, that's impossible.' And I really, really, really believed it. Which I think back to now, and it's amazing, because it's like — that's insane. That is an insane thought that I had!" She pointed at her head and added, "But something had gotten inside of me; it had gotten in my thoughts. It had gotten in my body — I was just not a healthy person. And I believed it!"
Fox Searchlight/Everett
Page, whose Twitter bio reads "I am a tiny Canadian," was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in February 1987. As a kid, she was in drama club, and she liked theater enough to ask to be taken to the plays the older high schoolers were doing — "Needless to say I would have no understanding of what they were even talking about," Page said. But at age 10, when she was cast in a Canadian TV movie called Pit Pony that was filming in Nova Scotia, it didn't seem like her life was about to change, even when the movie evolved into a series. Her parents reminded her to be a regular student ("Hey, this isn't your life, you know that — keep your grades up," she remembered them saying) and regular kid ("Keep playing soccer").
"So that's what I did," Page said. "And even for me, it wasn't until I was about 15 when I was like, Oh, I love this — this is what I want to do. And I think that was more because I started falling in love with film." After working steadily in Canadian productions, when Page was 16 she moved to Toronto by herself, continuing high school but also aggressively seeking more acting roles. "I think back now, and I'm like, Whoa, they're cool," Page said of her parents. "But I think they trusted me, and I will say: They could. I feel fortunate because I found this thing that I loved and that made me self-disciplined and driven."
Pit Pony
As we discussed this topic, Page made the argument that child actors don't have time to get up to no good, because they're simply too busy working and being in school at the same time. She was cogent and earnest as she described this idea; I pointed out that history does not prove her theory to be correct. "I'd say I'm fortunate that I'm not attracted to things that maybe young actors get involved with," she said with a laugh. "And Canada doesn't have the same sort of star system or anything like that. So you are getting to live a normal life."
It was shortly after moving to Toronto — and filming Mouth to Mouth, a dark, harsh film shot across Europe, for which she shaved her head — when Page received the script for Hard Candy. "I was at a new school, I had a new look, I'd been through this amazing but intense experience in Europe," Page said. "My parents were like, 'Please, just a take a break. Go to school, get your grades up.'" She agreed — in theory. After reading Brian Nelson's screenplay — about a 14-year-old vigilante who lures a pedophiliac murderer into a deathtrap — Page abandoned her promise and sent an audition tape to Hard Candy's director, David Slade. She ended up getting the role, her first American job, opposite Patrick Wilson.
With Patrick Wilson in Hard Candy.
Page was a baby-faced 17-year-old, credibly playing 14-year-old Hayley. But more important, she inhabited the twisted, righteous character throughout every flirty, torturous (literally), sweaty, manipulative zigzag. To watch Hard Candy is an uncomfortably visceral event — at one point, Hayley fools Wilson's Jeff into thinking she has castrated him — but to act in it, Page was completely sanguine.
"I'm not judging her," Page said of playing Hayley. "And for the most part, I'm operating from a place of, Oh, she's radical. She sees something wrong, and she's going to do something about it — cool. And that's my mindset when I'm making it. So it's not 'til I go to Sundance with my dad, and he has to watch it, and I have to watch him watching it, that then it registers."
Page's father wasn't the only one who had a strong reaction; Hard Candy was Sundance's most divisive film of 2005. A story in the Boston Globe at the time called it the "word-of-mouth don't-see buzz movie" that sent "audiences out of Park City theaters in a distressed rage." (The same story also called Page "an actress of tremendous skill and depth.")
When Hard Candy came out a year later, Page quickly grew tired of answering questions about it. "I got really cranky about it when men would come in to interview me and go —" she paused to affect a nerdy, reedy male voice — "'Oh no, are there any scissors in here?' And I'd be like, ‘If we turned on prime-time television tonight, I will see a naked woman in a dumpster. So I need you to stop telling me how hard it is as a man to watch this movie.'"
Warner Bros. Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox
With Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception. With Shawn Ashmore in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Hard Candy and Hayley were the beginning of a new phase in Page's career: She would soon appear in X-Men: The Last Stand as Kitty Pryde in 2006 and then, of course, in Juno in 2007. Juno, like Hayley, wore a red hoodie, but to much cheerier effect.
Page had no idea that the indie Juno would become such a big, mainstream hit, and an Oscar contender. She said she "never would have thought when making Juno that in a million years that that would be the movie that popped the eff off." (In addition to Page's nomination, the movie was nominated for Best Picture, Reitman was nominated for Best Director, and Cody won for her screenplay.)
As is usually the case with sudden fame, Page's first months of blasting into the celebrity stratosphere were a mixed bag. "It's exciting to make a movie and have people respond to it in that way: to be, like, quoting it. It entered the zeitgeist somehow," she said. And yet: "I don't want to say it in a complain-y way in any sense, but the reality of the situation is that it is a wild experience to go from people not knowing who you are to, for a period of time, everywhere you went there's some kind of interaction, or you're experiencing paparazzi for the first time."
Career-wise, Page at 21 was a seasoned professional, and knew that Juno would put her in a different category, one in which she would have "a lot of control over what you're going to choose," she said. She would use her position to go back and forth from smaller movies such as Whip It (2009), Super (2010), and The East (2013) to massive ones like Inception (2010) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2013).
But personally, Page was suffering. Today, she appears to be so open and frank and optimistic; before she came out, though, she was miserable. "I'm embarrassed to say how closeted I was," she said. "I get sad thinking about it, honestly, because it was painful. And painful for people I was in relationships with. Just all-around destructive. Intolerance and closetedness is just a ripple effect of shit."
She would hide women she was dating, she said, making them, for instance, leave a hotel by a different entrance to wait for her in a car. "That kind of shit," Page said, sounding disgusted. "Go in the bathroom when room service comes. Or: This is my friend." And, of course: "Noooo public interaction." She cringed: "I feel bad about it. And I did start feeling really guilty about it. And I think that I should feel guilty about it."
Page had her reasons, of course. "Being told that this thing that I love, acting —." She stopped herself. Then, more carefully, she said: "Not even necessarily being told. But the believed, subtly expressed idea that you wouldn't get to do that anymore. And that is a huge part of my life."
That led to her lowest points, she said. Then, in her mid-twenties, Page began to relax — a bit. "I'd be working with people and be like, 'I have a girlfriend,'" she said. By the time Page was ready to publicly come out, "I couldn't have been more out. I was very, very out in my life when it got close to the point,” she said. “I just assumed that everybody knew I was gay. It was shocking to me to meet someone who didn't know I was gay."
Because she had been outed so many times, or because she was living in the so-called glass closet, or — why? "No, I assumed people knew I was gay because of, like—" Page pointed at her clothes — she was wearing a black button-down shirt and black pants — and whole self. "Do you know what I mean? You have to be careful what you say, because a lot of gay women wear tight dresses and heels and lipstick, right? There's all kinds of gay people, bi people — how they want to present themselves. Trans people. I know those stereotypes become tiresome. So I want to preface what I am about to say with that."
Page paused, and laughed hard: "But yeah, I just assumed."
And Freeheld loomed over Page during this whole trajectory toward self-acceptance. When Moore signed on to play Laurel Hester in early 2014, Page knew that the project was finally coming together. "I think I almost cried when she said yes," Page said. "Because I think she's one of the best working actors. And because she's played a lot of gay people."
"I was pretty emotional," she continued. "Because I did have that feeling of, We're going to make our movie now. We're going to get to make this movie."
Page, a feminist and a politically engaged person in the world, couldn't stay quiet about herself any longer. "First of all, I didn't want to be a closeted person anymore," she said. "But then also: What, are you going to not be an out gay actor when you shoot a movie like that? Of course not."
"And it is people like Stacie and Laurel that inspire you," Page told herself.
Phillip V. Caruso/Lionsgate
As Stacie, Page starts Freeheld as a carefree, single twentysomething mechanic who falls in love with the significantly older, closeted Laurel — a cop who pulls out her gun on their first date when a gaggle of men threateningly leer at them. When Laurel finds out she is deathly ill, and, because of her love for Stacie and her desire to provide for her, pivots into being a political, public figure fighting for equality, Stacie is ambivalent. Is this how Laurel should spend her final days? She’s also devastated, not to mention terrified to lose Laurel.
It's not something we have seen Page — who can still look so young — play before. In an interview in Toronto before the movie's premiere, Sollett said, "We definitely made a conscious decision to let Ellen look her age, and not make her look younger. And in subtle ways, we tried to age her throughout the film, by pushing her hair out of her face." He feels Stacie is a "breakthrough performance" for Page. "We'd show up in the morning and have rehearsal, and I felt like I was meeting a new actress that I hadn't really seen in a film before," Sollett said.
At the core of Freeheld is Laurel and Stacie's relationship, and Page and Moore worked on it carefully — but they also just liked each other. "We really connected," said Page. "And I think for us, it was about creating this level of natural physical intimacy that I feel that we had together. We had it onscreen and offscreen. We just never left each other's side. I felt we established a partnership through making the movie as Ellen and Julie. I feel like we were protective of one another and checked in on one another and I was excited to see her every morning. There was something that felt natural to us. I hope that we got to convey a certain amount of intimacy in regards to showing their love and being cuddly and kissing as much as we do."
Moore echoed the same affection in a phone interview. "It was kind of amazing to go to work every day and have a real friend there," she said. "And to feel like we did everything together. That's unusual! It doesn't always happen."
And of course, it was also freeing for Page finally to be in a same-sex relationship onscreen. "It was a special experience for me personally: what it represented in my life,” she said. “It was nice to play a gay person. I'm gay! It was nice to fall in love with a person onscreen who is the kind of person that you'd fall in love with."
Jason Merritt / Getty Images
Page with her girlfriend, Samantha Thomas, at the premiere of Freeheld at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Page remains personally invested in Freeheld, and hopes that audiences will be too. "I've never been a part of a movie where I've heard such an extreme emotional response," she said. "I'm excited for people to see it, and hopefully be moved by it. And to learn about Laurel and Stacie, and learn about the realities of discrimination, and how far we've come and how important it is that we've had this recent Supreme Court decision."
Page has found a way to fuse her personal beliefs with her career, which she didn't think was possible only a few years ago. She is working on a documentary project with Vice to explore LGBT issues around the world (and at home, too: thus the recent video of Page challenging Ted Cruz at the Iowa State Fair).
With film, she will — of course — continue to take the roles she likes best, regardless of whether the character is straight or gay. (Into the Forest, which Page also produced and co-stars with Evan Rachel Wood, was bought by A24 after its Toronto Film Festival premiere; over the summer, she shot Tallulah, which will be released next year — her characters in both movies are straight.) Yet it is safe to say that Page is determined to continue to play gay roles whenever possible. "It is rare that we get to go and sit in a theater and see some sort of reflection of ourselves and our lives onscreen — we don't get to have that experience that much," she said. "And those moments really are special. And so, of course, as an actor, I want to have that feeling doing it. To me, it's just natural for me to want to tell gay stories." And so she will: in the yet-to-shoot Lioness, in which Page will play a lesbian Marine during the war with Iraq, and in a movie she will produce and star in with Kate Mara that she called "a love story between two women."
After 18 years of acting, Page is clear about where she's going. It has taken her time to get here — but now she makes it sound simple. "Because I'm out, living my life, I feel like I'm a more confident person in general," she said. "I have more of a vision, but the vision is really just producing, telling stories I want to tell, and living the life I want to live."
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Fort Conde was reconstructed on a 4/5 scale in the 1970s to represent the fort as it was built by the French in the 1700s. The fort has a striking appearance, and serves as the official welcome center to visitors of the city. A row of cannons lines the upper deck above the I-10 tunnel that leads into downtown Mobile, giving an air of protection as the fort once did. Sentry boxes topped with fleurs de lis protrude from the corners. High rise buildings shoot up around the outside of the fort, creating a drastic and visually appealing contrast to the 18th century-designed buildings with French Mansard roof tops inside the fort.
History: 3 Flags over Mobile
Fort Conde was initially constructed by the French in 1723 with brick walls on a stone foundation and a dry moat surrounding the outside. In these times the fort covered what is now several city blocks. The fort's original name was Fort Louis, named after the King of France. The name was later changed to Fort Conde to honor King Louis XIV's brother, the Prince of Conde. Over the years the fort changed hands (as did the city of Mobile) from French rule to British rule to Spanish rule before finally belonging to the United States.
The fort served as the French headquarters in the region until 1763 when it was turned over to the British along with the rest of Alabama as part of the agreement to end the French and Indian War. The British renamed the fort to be Fort Charlotte. During the Battle of Fort Charlotte, a significant battle fought during the American Revolution, American troops allied with Spanish forces led by General Bernardo de Galvez to take the fort from the British. The battle lasted from March 10 to March 13, 1780. The Spanish and American forces drove away British troops, but only after they had destroyed the entire city of Mobile. The Spanish then took control of the fort, renaming it yet again. This time it was called Fort Carlota.
American Occupation & Fort Conde Village
In 1813, American troops occupied the city of Mobile and took control of the fort. In the 1820s, Congress authorized the sale and removal of most of the fort, as it was no longer needed for defense. By the end of 1823, most of the original fort was gone and the city made way for the construction of new streets and houses. Fort Conde Village was constructed around this time. This quaint and historic neighborhood still exists outside the fort. Take a tour of the neighborhood when you come up to visit the Fort from our Gulf Shores condos and Orange Beach rentals and stop at the famous Conde-Charlotte House, a house museum with antiques and artifacts that represent life in the area under various flags.
Fort Conde is open daily from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Admission is free. It is well worth a visit from our Orange Beach condos and Gulf Shores rentals. You'll be able to view the fort as it once was with replicas of the artillery storage, jail cell, soldiers' quarters, and officers' quarters. There are also a couple of miniature models of fort as it once was before it was torn down and a model of the Spanish siege of fort in 1780. Inside you'll also find a museum displaying artifacts from Native Americans and Europeans who colonized the Mobile area as well as old maps and letters.
Fort Conde
150 S. Royal Street
http://www.museumofmobile.com/ft_conde.php
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California Statute of Limitations - Extensions Under Statutory Law
In California, as with other states, the time period within which the plaintiff must bring their legal claim depends on the specific cause of action. For personal injury claims against private persons or entities, for example, the statute of limitations period runs for two years from the date of injury, while the period for personal injury claims against public employees or entities runs for only six months. If the applicable statute of limitations period expires before the plaintiff has filed a lawsuit, then the plaintiff will no longer be legally entitled to bring the claim – and by extension, is no longer entitled to recover damages.
Importantly, California law makes available a number of statutory exceptions that allow plaintiffs to suspend or extend – in other words, to toll – the statute of limitations period so that the plaintiff’s claim remains legally actionable. You should always consult with a qualified attorney as soon as possible after an accident or commercial disagreement so as to preserve your claims. Of course, in the event that you have waited too long and you are concerned about the continued actionability of your claim, read ahead to learn more about the exceptions to the statute of limitations rules in California. The law may have preserved your claim despite the delay.
The Plaintiff is a Minor
If the plaintiff is below 18 years of age then the statute of limitations period does not begin to run (see California Code of Civil Procedure section 352(a)).
Importantly, this exception does not apply if the minor plaintiff was injured prior to birth – the statute of limitations in such circumstances is a period of six years that begins to run on the date of birth. Nor does this exception apply to medical malpractice claims, generally, or claims against government employees and/or entities.
What does this mean? Let’s consider the application of this statute of limitations exception in a standard personal injury scenario.
Suppose that plaintiff was a 16 year old driver when involved in serious accident. The plaintiff was rear-ended by the defendant, who was speeding into an intersection and did not stop his vehicle at the red light, as plaintiff had. The plaintiff suffered serious neck injuries as a result of the collision. Unfortunately, plaintiff did not seek the consultation of a personal injury attorney until he was 19 years old – three years after the date of injury. Under normal circumstances, the plaintiff would be prevented from bringing the personal injury claim against the defendant, as the two year statute of limitations period in California for personal injury claims would have expired. Thanks to CCP section 352(a), however, the statute of limitations period did not actually begin to run until the plaintiff’s eighteenth birthday. The statute of limitations was suspended, or paused. As the plaintiff is presently only 19 years old, there is still time left to file a lawsuit against the defendant and to recover damages for the injuries he suffered.
The Defendant was Out of State for a Period of Time
California Civil Code of Procedure section 351 provides for the tolling – the suspension – of the statute of limitations for the duration that the defendant is absent from the state. To put it simply, the running of the statute of limitations "pauses" while the defendant is out of state.
Worth noting, however, is that this exception does not apply to nonresident motorists (or to motorists who are licensed to drive in California, or if the car involved in the accident at-issue was registered in California, unless the plaintiff can show that reasonable efforts were taken to locate the defendant, but the defendant could not be located).
Section 351 absentee tolling is applicable in a great many cases. Defendants who have left the state for vacation, work, or other reasons may have these absentee days counted towards tolling of the plaintiff’s statute of limitations period. Consider the following example.
Suppose that a personal injury plaintiff has a personal injury claim against defendant retail store-owner under a theory of premises liability. If, during the course of the next few years (when the statute of limitations period is still running) the defendant leaves the state of California for a vacation with his family for a month, and then perhaps takes several business trips adding up to a month, the plaintiff’s statute of limitations period will be extended for two months total.
If the defendant is engaged in actual cross-state business, however – the sale of goods and/or services – then the work travel out of state may not be counted towards tolling.
Mental Incompetence of the Plaintiff
If the plaintiff has been judged mentally incompetent at the time of the defendant’s negative conduct, then the statute of limitations period will be tolled for the length of continued mental incompetence. This mental incompetence may be due to mental illness, or may be due to more physical manifestations of mental incompetence such as a coma.
Importantly, the incompetency exception to the running of the statute of limitations does not work in situations where the mental incompetency of the plaintiff happens after the accident (or after whatever conduct of the defendant’s that gives rise to a potential legal claim).
The mental incompetency exception also does not work when applied to claims brought against government employees and/or entities.
Death of the Plaintiff or Defendant
The death of the plaintiff or defendant exceptions are governed by sections 366.1 and 366.2 of the California Civil Code of Procedure.
If the plaintiff dies before the statute of limitations runs, then the lawsuit can still be filed within the statute of limitations period. Alternatively, if there are less than six months left on the statute of limitations at the time of the plaintiff’s death, then the lawsuit may be filed within six months of the plaintiff’s death.
If the defendant dies before the statute of limitations runs, then the lawsuit must be filed within a year of the defendant’s death. Unlike the situation with a dead plaintiff, this requirement is not shifting – in other words, the new 1 year post-death statute of limitations is final, regardless of how long the original statute of limitations period has run. Consider the following example.
Suppose that 6 months have passed since the date of injury for a personal injury plaintiff. The plaintiff would technically have 1.5 years left on his statute of limitations. If the defendant dies, however, then the plaintiff would only be left with 1 year with which to file his lawsuit. As a result, the statute of limitations period has in fact been shortened by the defendant’s death.
Plaintiff’s Prison Sentence
Under California Civil Procedure section 352.1(a), if the plaintiff is imprisoned, the statute of limitations will be tolled either until the plaintiff is released, or for a period of two years – depending on which comes sooner. For example, if the plaintiff serves a 1 year sentence, then he will have his statute of limitations tolled for 1 year, but if the plaintiff is serving a 3 year sentence, then the statute of limitations will be tolled for a maximum of 2 years.
Plaintiff’s Military Service
Military service automatically and unequivocally tolls the statute of limitations period for as long as the plaintiff is serving in the military, and this includes persons who serve in the military as a career (during peacetime and wartime).
Though your statute of limitations period may be influenced by one of the above exceptions, do not hesitate to seek the consultation of an experienced attorney to ensure that your legal claims are preserved.
For a free consultation with an experienced San Jose plaintiff’s attorney, call the Law Offices of Brian O’ Grady at (650) 318-6131 to set up your appointment today.
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Gerald Atilus, Julenny Aquino, Michael Kempfer, Mohammed Ahmed, Samuel Yoon, 87 Others Arrested in Polk County, Florida Prostitution Sting
Gerald Atilus, Julenny Aquino, Michael Kempfer, Mohammed Ahmed, Samuel Yoon and 87 others were arrested in a Polk County, Florida prostitution sting this past week, news sources report. The defendants, who are from various parts of the country, were booked into police custody on an array of charges. Most of these charges involve prostitution and include deriving proceeds from prostitution, aiding and abetting prostitution, and possession of illegal drugs. Information about bail and legal representation for the defendants is slowly forthcoming.
According to reports, the arrests were part of a four-day undercover operation organized by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The operation targeted websites where men and women list and respond to ads for prostitution, reports say. Sources say 92 people were arrested during the operation, including 39 prostitutes, 39 johns, 12 “pimps,” and 2 other people who accompanied the suspects to undercover meeting locations.
Samuel Yoon, one of the defendants, is a 45-year-old youth minister for Holy Cows youth ministry, a New Community Mission Church located in San Leandro, California. Sources say Yoon answered an online advertisement offering a 14-year-old female prostitute. Yoon allegedly traveled to an undercover meeting location intending to have sex with the nonexistent underage girl and was arrested. He is now charged with using a two-way communication device to commit a felony and traveling to meet a minor. Yoon has since bailed out of jail, reports indicate.
Another defendant, 21-year-old Mohammed Ahmed of Illinois, was in South Florida on his honeymoon when he allegedly responded to an online prostitution ad created by police. Ahmed left his wife at his hotel room and allegedly traveled to meet the “prostitute.” Ahmed’s wife was worried when he did not return back to the hotel later that night and reported him missing; police told her that Ahmed had been arrested for possession of marijuana and prostitution. Ahmed has since been released from jail on bail, sources say.
40-year-old Gerald Atilus, of Homestead, also responded to a prostitution ad that police posted, reports say. Police arrested Atilus after he traveled to an arranged meeting location. According to reports, Atilus faces and additional charge of battery, though it is not clear why.
Micheal Kempfer of Orlando was arrested after he allegedly acted as a pimp, transporting a 15-year-old girl to a location where he thought a john was waiting. Kempfer was arrested and remains in police custody on $2,250 bail. Reports did not identify the 15-year-old victim; it is not clear whether she was also arrested.
In other sex crime news, Clermont police are investigating a report by a 24-year-old woman who said a man photographed her while she was using a tanning booth, reports say. Police have not released the identity of the 36-year-old suspect. It is unclear whether he was arrested.
The alleged incident occurred at L.A. Tan of US Highway 50 in Clermont. The victim had been tanning naked in a personal booth and was getting out of the bed when she noticed a hand holding a cellphone dangling over the seven-foot privacy wall to the room. Detectives interviewed the suspect and searched his phone; it is not clear whether they found anything. The phone has apparently been seized for deeper analysis.
Sources: 5.20.13 Polk Prostitution Sting.pdf, 5.20.13 Clermont Tanning Spy.pdf.
Posted in: Sex and Variety
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Request Neighborhood Sold Report
Learn the Value of Your Home
A Mix of Old and New in Murray Hill
The upscale and fast-growing neighborhood of Murray Hill is located just east of Midtown Manhattan, alongside the East River, north of Kips Bay and south of Turtle Bay. This bustling community is an eclectic mix of new and old—with beautiful historic mansions and revitalized carriage houses housing cultural institutions and missions to the UN, and brand-new high-rise condos and apartments offering some of the finest amenities modern design has to offer. Murray Hill is home to historic sites such as the Morgan Library and Museum and the Scandanavian House, as well as modern businesses such as defense contractor L3. Come explore Murray Hill and find out why this community is growing fast in popularity.
Available Murray Hill Homes for Sale
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Murray Hill at a Glance
10,000+ Residents
0.249 square mile
0.64 square kilometers
Subway Stations: 33rd St - 6 train
Kips Bay, Rose Hill, Midtown Manhattan, Turtle Bay
Living in Murray Hill
Murray Hill is the perfect place for those who want to be close to it all, without really being in the heart of all the hustle and bustle. Located just on the other side of 42nd street from Grand Central Station and the United Nations, Murray Hill is popular with commuters who ride the Metro-North Railway or take subways around the city. The community also offers a lot of restaurants, bars, and other services, making it ideal for those who want to be able to walk to everything they need.
Murray Hill offers an eclectic mix of new and old homes, largely divided east and west along Third Ave. East of Third, towards the East River, new developments are blossoming, with sleek new high rises popping up all over. West of Third, the homes are largely historic or prewar row houses, mansions, and even stables and carriage houses turned into homes. Predominantly, smaller townhomes sit on side streets while larger buildings and homes line the avenues. Best of all, Murray Hill is still relatively affordable, compared to many of Manhattan’s other neighborhoods.
Things to Do Near This Manhattan Neighborhood
Eager to Buy a Home in Murray Hill?
Directions to Murray Hill
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MALKY: INCREDIBLE WEEK FOR CARDIFF
Will Pallot
Malky Mackay spoke to the press after a point at Turf Moor saw his Cardiff City side crowned champions of the npower Championship.
Following the jubilant on-pitch celebrations Malky found the time to look back on what has been a sensational season for the Bluebirds, as well as looking forward to their first season in the top flight in over half a century.
“The last couple of days in Cardiff has been just incredible,” said the City boss. “We’ve seen the smiles on the faces of thousands of people that have been desperate for this to come to their city for ever. There’s been a lot of hype and media attention in the last few days, but the players themselves were ready to focus today because they wanted a medal and they wanted to get that cup.”
Indeed, it’s been quite a week in the capital after promotion was secured on Tuesday night, but today’s confirmation of the club’s status as champions really is the icing on the cake for the manager.
“Last Tuesday was a great night for Cardiff as a whole," he continued. "But to win it today is something else. It gives them the cup and it mean that in two weeks’ time after the Hull game we can really celebrate.”
Malky has gone up to the top flight on three separate occasions as a player, with West Ham, Norwich and Watford. However, his first promotion at the helm of a club has been a completely different experience for the former centre-half, who reflected: “It's completely different as a manager. As far as a manager is concerned there are a lot of other things that you’ve got to take into account. It’s really for the city, for the people at the football club and for those fans that you can see out there now.
“This will bring such great joy for them. They’ve not been in the top division for 51 years and never been in the Premier League, and their cousins down in Swansea have been there for the last couple of years. It is a capital city and it’s a very passionate football city – we’ve got 27,000 people at our home games now, and our away fans have been fantastic all season as you’ve seen today. For the people of Cardiff it’s just going to be a really fantastic summer for them.”
Promotion to the Premier League rounds off a terrific couple of years for Welsh sport in general in the eyes of the City boss, who added: “It’s been a great two years for Wales. What Swansea have done has been magnificent. We’ve got to a Carling Cup final and been promoted and you look at Newport and Wrexham doing really well at the moment as well. Even with sport in general, with the Paralympians and Olympians of South Wales and Nathan Cleverley boxing for the world title again tonight and of course the Six Nations for the rugby team. So I think sport in general in Wales is on the up and that can only be good for the country and for the communities.”
Finally, Malky is well aware of the challenges that lie in wait for the club’s first season back in the top flight, but City fans can rest assured that the meticulous planning for the Premier League is already well underway.
“We’ve quietly put a recruitment process in place for the last six months just in case – so it’s something that can now be started," he confirmed. "The recruitment department are there to try and bring in a higher quality of player and improve the group again.
“It’s a tough league that we’re going in to and we’ve got to make sure that we stand up to the mark for that, but I’m confident that I’ve got a good group of players to go in there and do that. Right now it’s about putting foundations in the club to make sure that we hopefully have a sustainability for the next 5-10 years.”
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Archives: 03/2010
Taxpayer Choice + Parental Choice = Education Reform That’s Constitutional
By Ilya Shapiro
Arizona grants income tax credits for contributions made to school tuition organizations (“STO”). These STOs must these donations for scholarships that allow students to attend private schools. This statutory scheme broadens the educational opportunities for thousands of students by enabling them to attend schools they would otherwise lack the means to attend.
The Ninth Circuit held that the tax credit program violated the Establishment Clause because many of the STOs – as it happens, a decreasing majority – provide scholarships for students to attend parochial schools. Counsel for the defendants, including the Institute for Justice, asked the Supreme Court to review the case – and indeed to summarily reverse the Ninth Circuit, based in part on a 2002 case (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris) rejecting a similar challenge to a school voucher program. Cato filed a brief, joined by the Foundation for Educational Choice and the American Federation for Children, supporting this request.
Our brief argues that the funds received by STOs are the product of individual taxpayers’ “genuine and independent choice” – the touchstone by which the Court judges the religious neutrality of statutes allowing for taxpayer money to fund religious education. Moreover, the tax credit scheme is indistinguishable from similar charitable tax deduction programs that the Court has previously held to pass constitutional muster. While the Ninth Circuit reasoned that Arizona parents feel pressured to send their kids to parochial schools due to limited scholarships available for secular schools, it failed to consider that the share of STO money available to secular schools was nearly twice as large as the share of families choosing to send their children to secular schools.
Far from being an impediment to parental freedom, the autonomy Arizona grants to taxpayers and STOs is ultimately essential to it. More generally, should the lower court’s opinion be allowed to stand, the progress made to broaden the educational opportunities of students across the country will be stifled.
The name of the case is Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. The Court will likely decide before it breaks for the summer whether to take it up – and, indeed, whether to summarily reverse the Ninth Circuit.
Education and Child Policy, Constitution, the Law, and the Courts
Trade Gap Plunges in 2009, but Where Are the Jobs?
By Daniel Griswold
Lost in the buzz last week over health care was the news that the broadest measure of the U.S. trade deficit fell sharply in 2009 from the year before. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. current account deficit plunged from $706 billion in 2008 to $420 billion last year – the smallest deficit since 2001.
I’ve been waiting for a few days now for the usual trade deficit hawks to hail this development as great news for millions of Americans looking for work.
In years when the trade deficit was rising, it was common practice for the labor-union-friendly Economic Policy Institute to publish detailed studies showing that larger trade deficits caused the U.S. economy to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs each year. For example, according to an October 2008 EPI paper, rising non-petroleum trade deficits from 2000 to 2006 caused a lost of 484,400 jobs per year, while the shrinking deficit in 2007 lead to the creation of 272,500 jobs.
By the EPI’s own internal logic, the past two years should have been a boom time for job creation. Between 2007 and 2009, the non-petroleum trade deficit dropped by $174 billion as the sagging domestic economy cut demand for impost. If that was good news for jobs, somebody forgot to tell the U.S. labor market. Since the end of 2007, the U.S. economy has shed a net 8 million jobs.
Oops, maybe it’s time for EPI to rework its model.
Another Argument for Limited Government
By John Samples
Obviously, yes, I was upset yesterday. I’m glad that this could bring so much joy to peoples’ hearts, and of course to know that for many people, the happiest part of passing health care reform seems to have been knowing that it made people like me unhappy
For many people, a major reason to engage in politics is the pleasure gained from schadenfreude, a German word that means “joy from injury or harm.” Given that, shouldn’t we try to limit politics and its outcome, government? Or is a society with more schadenfreude better than one with less?
Cato Publications, Political Philosophy
Monday Links
Late Sunday night, the House voted 219-212 to pass the health care bill. Cato health policy experts were blogging throughout the weekend. Read all of their analysis here.
Almost lost in the details of the massive health care overhaul was a broad reorganization of the student loan program, including eliminating private lenders from federal aid programs and $36 billion in new spending for Pell Grants.
This week only, get a free copy of Healthy Competition for your Kindle. It’s a complete overview of the best and worst ideas in health care reform on both the right and the left.
Don’t bet on it: Why Republicans won’t really try to repeal the health care overhaul.
Podcast: “U.S. Debt Rise May ‘Test Social Cohesion’” featuring Mark A. Calabria.
Cato Publications, General
March 22, 2010 11:41AM
Rat Falls Back on the Broken Window Fallacy
In Sunday’s “Pearls Before Swine” comic strip, the nefarious Rat is now a PR flak. And when his client accidentally blows up downtown, he comes up with a solid economic defense:
Go here for Frederic Bastiat’s original explication of the “broken window fallacy,” and for way too much detail, go to Wikipedia. John Stossel breaks some windows here and talks to Walter Williams about the implications.
General, Political Philosophy
Knocked Out, but Not Knocked Down: Spinning the Taliban Defeat in Marjah
By Malou Innocent
Remember Marjah? The Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan captured several weeks ago by U.S. and Afghan forces? I remember the offensive being hailed as a big deal. Well, what happened?
Although they have been pushed out of power in Marjah, Taliban insurgents have slowly been trying to reassert some measure of control.
Marjah residents have told U.S. Marines that Taliban insurgents are coming around at night to threaten and beat Afghans who cooperate with the Americans.
In at least one confirmed case, said U.S. military officials, the Taliban beheaded a local resident suspected of working with U.S. forces. The U.S. Marines are checking out at reports of at least two other beheadings in Marjah.
If that weren’t enough, the newly appointed Afghan official for Marjah, described as “the Afghan face of the American-led military offensive,” is Haji Zahir, who served four years in a German prison for attempted murder after stabbing his stepson.
Maybe this question will come across as obvious, but what discernible interest does America have in clearing regions we can’t hold, and backing ex-cons to disperse hundreds of thousands of U.S. tax payer dollars “to repair schools, clean canals, and compensate Afghan families who lost relatives” to people who will likely turn back to the Taliban anyway?
While residents of Marjah have little affection for the Taliban, they say they nevertheless prefer them over the non-Islamic Americans and the corrupt Kabul government.
This piece in Foreign Policy, “Down the AfPak Rabbit Hole,” confirms my suspicions that the offensive in Marjah was in part a PR stunt intended to galvanize public support for the war back at home (HT: Justin Logan).
The “Rabbit Hole“ ‘s authors, Thomas H. Johnson, a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, and M. Chris Mason, a retired Foreign Service officer who served as a political officer in Paktika province, write “this battle—the largest in Afghanistan since 2001—is essentially a giant public affairs exercise, designed to shore up dwindling domestic support for the war by creating an illusion of progress.”
That sentiment was echoed several weeks ago by Greg Jaffe and Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post. They write, “The campaign’s goals are to convince Americans that a new era has arrived in the eight-year-long war and to show Afghans that U.S. forces and the Afghan government can protect them from the Taliban.”
For some sanity on this situation, and how much we have lost our way, listen to “Afghanistan and Conservatives” featuring Joe Scarborough.”
It’s NOT a Health Bill, NOT a Medicare Tax and It Can’t Possibly Cost Only $940 Billion
By Alan Reynolds
The “reconciliation bill” is not a “health bill” but an anti-health bill. It relies heavily on price controls, taxes and fines to punish doctors, hospitals and formerly innovative companies the produce prescription drugs and medical devices. If we treated farmers, food companies and grocery stores the way Congress threatens to treat the health industries would anybody expect food to become better or cheaper?
The 3.8% tax on both labor and investment income is not a “Medicare tax.” It’s surtax on income that goes into the slush fund, not the Medicare trust.
The bill could not possibly cost “only” $940 billion unless it contained a sunset provision – repealing the law after 2019.
In fact, new spending is negligible for four years. At that point the government would start luring sixteen million more people into Medicaid’s leaky gravy train, and start handing out subsidies to families earning up to $88,000. Spending then jumps from $54 billion in 2014 to $216 billion in 2019. That’s just the beginning.
To be unduly optimistic (more so than the CBO), assume that the new entitlement schemes only increased by 7% a year. At that rate spending would double every ten years – to $432 billion a year in 2029, $864 billion a year in 2039, and more than $1.72 trillion by 2049. That $1.72 trillion is a conservative projection of extra spending in one year, not ten. How could that possibly not add to future deficits?
Could anyone really imagine that the bill’s new taxes and fines could possibly grow by 7% a year? On the contrary, most of the claimed revenues are either a timing fraud (such as treating $70 billion for long-term care premiums as newly found treasure) or self-defeating.
The hypothetical tax on Cadillac plans (suspiciously postponed until 2018), for example, is designed to discourage such plans from being offered by employers or wanted by employees – that is, it’s designed to yield less and less over time.
Moreover, the accumulating penalties on reporting joint incomes above $250,000 – a 39.6% tax, a 3.8 % income surtax, a 0.9% Medicare surtax, rapid phasing-out of deductions and exemptions – would greatly discourage any activity that would push income above $250,000. Most obviously, no sensible family whose income is normally below that pain threshold would be so foolish as to sell enough assets to let capital gains to push them over the line.
(If even half of the punitive tax plans are enacted, I plan to launch a “249 Club” whose members pledge to never again report more than $249,000).
Health Care, Tax and Budget Policy
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Assault on U.S. consulate in Benghazi leaves 4 dead, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens
September 12, 2012 / 4:26 PM / CBS/AP
Updated at 9:27 a.m. Eastern
(CBS/AP) U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens was among four Americans killed in an attack by Muslim protesters on the U.S. consulate compound in Benghazi the previous evening, the U.S. government confirmed Wednesday.
"I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens," President Obama said in a written statement released Wednesday morning. The U.S. government had confirmed one American death on Tuesday.
President Obama said he had ordered heightened security at all U.S. diplomatic offices around the world in the wake of the attack in Benghazi and a similar but less violent incident in Cairo on Tuesday. Both incidents were sparked by hardline Muslims protesting a film made in the U.S. which insults the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
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Military officials told CBS News an anti-terrorism team of U.S. Marines was being deployed to Libya to help secure U.S. interests in the country following the attack. The State Department said, however, that no Americans were remaining at the facility in Benghazi. State officials would not confirm how many Americans were evacuated, or to where.
Wanis al-Sharef, a Libyan Interior Ministry official in Benghazi, said the four Americans were killed when the angry mob, which gathered to protest a U.S.-made film that ridicules Islam's Prophet Muhammad, fired guns and burned down the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
He said Stevens, 52, and other officials were moved to a second building - deemed safer - after the initial wave of protests at the consulate compound. According to al-Sharef, members of the Libyan security team seem to have indicated to the protesters the building to which the American officials had been relocated, and that building then came under attack.
Stevens, 52, was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in the line of duty since 1979. A Libyan doctor who says he treated Stevens told the Associated Press Wednesday that the diplomat died of severe asphyxiation and that he tried for 90 minutes to revive him.
Ziad Abu Zeid said Stevens was brought to the Benghazi Medical Center by Libyans Tuesday night with no other Americans, and that initially no one realized he was the ambassador. Abu Zeid said Stevens had "severe asphyxia," apparently from smoke inhalation, causing stomach bleeding, but had no other injuries.
Mobs hit U.S. buildings in Libya, Egypt
Obama, Romney camps clash over response to Libya, Egypt
AP: Anti-Muslim filmmaker in hiding after attacks
Al-Sharef said two U.S. Marines sent to Benghazi when the clash erupted were shot and killed by the well-armed protesters. It was not immediately clear whether the Marines were part of Stevens' security detail. The American whose death was confirmed on Tuesday also died of a gunshot wound. He was identified by the State Department on Wednesday as Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.
Deputy Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur said on his Twitter account that, "Amb. Stevens was a friend of Libya and we are shocked at the attacks on the U.S. consulate." The Libyan Prime Minister also expressed grief and condemned the attack.
According to his biography page on the U.S. Embassy's website, Stevens "was the American representative to the Transitional National Council in Benghazi during the revolution," in Libya. Benghazi was the capital of rebel-held Libya during the uprising to oust Qaddafi.
An armed man waves his rifle as buildings and cars are engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the U.S. consulate compound in Benghazi, Libya, Sept. 11, 2012. Getty
According to al-Sharef, the angry mob stormed the consulate after the U.S. troops who responded fired rounds into the air to try and disperse the crowd. Al-Sharef said there had been threats that Islamic militants might try to take revenge for the death of al Qaeda's No. 2 commander Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in June, and he said the U.S. consulate should have been better protected.
Confirming al-Libi's death for the first time in a video posted online Monday, al Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri called on Muslim's in al-Libi's native Libya to take revenge for his death.
Al-Sharef said the Libyan guards employed to guard the consulate building were far outgunned by the protesters, and thus retreated when the building was stormed.
Hours before the protest erupted in Benghazi, protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, tearing down and replacing the American flag with an Islamic banner.
CBS News' Alex Ortiz reported from Cairo that about 40 or 50 protesters had again gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday, but they were far outnumbered by Egyptian security personnel.
Tuesday's attacks were the first such assaults on U.S. diplomatic facilities in either country, at a time when both Libya and Egypt are struggling to overcome the turmoil following the ouster of their longtime leaders, Muammar Qaddafi and Hosni Mubarak, in uprisings last year.
U.S. Embassy protest in Cairo 8 photos
There have been indications in recent months that radical, armed Islamic groups have gained a foothold in Libya since the fall of the Qaddafi regime.
One of the groups to emerge in post-revolution Libya, Ansar al-Sharia, claimed responsibility Wednesday for the attack in Benghazi, which has been condemned by the country's new government.
The protests in both countries were sparked by outrage over the film ridiculing Muhammad, which was produced by an American-Israeli in California and being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States. Excerpts from the film, dubbed into Arabic, were posted on Youtube during the summer.
"While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants," Mr. Obama said in the statement Wednesday morning, calling Stevens "a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly condemned the attack on Tuesday and said she had called Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif, "to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya."
Clinton expressed concern that the protests might spread to other countries. She said the U.S. is working with "partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide."
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said in the statement released by the State Department. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind."
Sam Bacile, an American citizen who said he produced, directed and wrote the two-hour film, has gone into hiding, The Associated Press reports.
He told the AP from an undisclosed location that he had not anticipated such a furious reaction.
"I feel sorry for the embassy. I am mad," Bacile said.
The incidents also led to an exchange between the campaigns of Republican standard bearer Mitt Romney and President Obama, over the nature of a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo following the attack there.
First published on September 12, 2012 / 4:26 PM
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In a career spanning six decades actor Donald Sutherland has portrayed a wealth of rebels, ruffians and iconoclasts, whose distaste for playing by the rules is searing, and often very funny. So strong is the stamp of a Sutherland rebel that, when he does play a figure of authority, tradition or cloak-and-dagger subterfuge, the audience is forgiven for believing that his tongue - when speaking of order and control - is very much in his cheek.
On November 11, 2017, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences presented the star of such classic films as "MASH," "Klute" and "Ordinary People" with an honorary Oscar at its Governors Awards ceremony.
Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
"Dr. Terror's House of Horrors"
Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada in 1935, Donald Sutherland studied engineering and drama in Toronto, before attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He appeared in small roles in British television and films throughout the 1960s, including the series "The Avengers" and "The Saint."
In the 1965 British anthology film "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors," Donald Sutherland fears his new bride is actually a vampire, which calls for stern measures.
Credit: Paramount Pictures
"The Dirty Dozen"
Sutherland's first big screen role was in Robert Aldrich's 1967 war film "The Dirty Dozen," as Sgt. Pinkley, whose 30-year prison term will be suspended if he survives a commando mission in German-occupied France.
Credit: MGM
"MASH"
Sutherland's first iconic role was in Robert Altman's black comedy "MASH" (1970). He played Hawkeye Pierce, a surgeon on the front lines of the Korean War, opposite Elliott Gould as Trapper John McIntyre.
Credit: 20th Century Fox
"Start the Revolution Without Me"
Donald Sutherland and Gene Wilder starred in the comedy "Start the Revolution Without Me," set in Revolutionary France.
Credit: Warner Brothers
"Kelly's Heroes"
While freeing the world from Hitler, Donald Sutherland joined up with Clint Eastwood in a plot to free a bank of $16 million in gold bars, in the war comedy "Kelly's Heroes." Telly Savalas and Don Rickles also starred.
"Alex in Wonderland"
In Paul Mazursky's comic-drama "Alex in Wonderland" (1970), Donald Sutherland played a film director who struggles to match success with his follow-up feature. With Ellen Burstyn, Meg Mazursky and Glenna Sargent.
Donald Sutherland and Jeanne Moreau (playing herself) in "Alex in Wonderland."
"Klute"
In Alan J. Pakula's thriller "Klute" (1971), Donald Sutherland played a detective investigating a missing corporate executive whose trail leads to a prostitute (Jane Fonda).
"Steelyard Blues"
Sutherland and Fonda were reunited in the 1973 comedy "Steelyard Blues," directed by Second City veteran Alan Myerson.
In Nicolas Roeg's psychological suspense film "Don't Look Now" (1973), based on the Daphne du Maurier novel, the accidental death of Donald Sutherland's young daughter precipitates a journey with his wife (Julie Christie) to Venice, where mysterious events may signal a visit from their daughter's spirit.
Credit: British Lion
"The Day of the Locust"
Donald Sutherland is overcome by a mob in John Schlesinger's 1975 film version of Nathanael West's poison-pen letter to 1930s Hollywood, "The Day of the Locust."
In Bernardo Bertolucci's epic "1900," which actually spans the first 45 years of the 20th century, Donald Sutherland played the fascist Attila Mellanchini. After what he does to a pussy cat, his character gets what he deserves.
Credit: Paramount
"Fellini's Casanova"
Donald Sutherland played the renowned adventurer, author and lover in Federico Fellini's stylized 1976 drama, "Fellini's Casanova."
Credit: Universal Pictures
"The Eagle Has Landed"
In the World War II thriller "The Eagle Has Landed" (1976), Michael Caine played a German officer who recruits an IRA member (Donald Sutherland) in his plot to kidnap British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Credit: Columbia Pictures
"National Lampoon's Animal House"
Donald Sutherland as Professor Dave Jennings, who finds Milton "boring," in "National Lampoon's Animal House."
"The Great Train Robbery"
Donald Sutherland and Sean Connery are two rogues eager to swipe some heavily-protected gold in "The Great Train Robbery" (1979).
Credit: United Artists
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers"
In Philip Kaufman's remake of the classic sci-fi thriller "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978), updated and set in San Francisco, Donald Sutherland plays a health inspector whose suspicion that citizens were being replaced by emotionless duplicates hailing from an alien world proves fatefully correct.
Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams - has she been replicated by the alien pods? - in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978).
"Murder by Decree"
In the Sherlock Holmes mystery "Murder by Decree," Donald Sutherland played a psychic who aids the detective in his hunt for Jack the Ripper.
Credit: Avco Embassy
"A Man, a Woman, and a Bank"
Donald Sutherland reunited with his "Body Snatchers" co-star Brooke Adams in the heist film "A Man, a Woman, and a Bank," in which romance intrudes on robbery.
"Ordinary People"
In the Oscar-winning "Ordinary People" (1980), Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore are the parents in a family fractured by the accidental death of one son and the attempted suicide of another. Sutherland received his second Golden Globe nomination (his first for Drama).
"Eye of the Needle"
Based on Ken Follett's World War II thriller, "Eye of the Needle" starred Donald Sutherland as a German spy in the U.K. whose plans run afoul when he enters into a relationship with Kate Nelligan.
"Revolution"
Donald Sutherland as British Sgt. Major Peasy in the historical epic "Revolution" (1985).
"The Wolf at the Door"
Donald Sutherland as the artist Paul Gauguin, with Valerie Morea, in "The Wolf at the Door" (1986).
Credit: IFM
"Lock Up"
Donald Sutherland is a villainous warden out to make life hell for inmate Sylvester Stallone in the 1989 drama "Lock Up."
Credit: Tri-Star Pictures
"A Dry White Season"
In "A Dry White Season" (1989), set in apartheid-era South Africa, Donald Sutherland and Zakes Mokae become embroiled in an investigation into the disappearance of two black men taken into police custody.
Credit: MGM/UA
"JFK"
In Oliver Stone's conspiracy film "JFK," Donald Sutherland played "X," a shadowy intelligence figure who relays distressingly ominous information to Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner), who is investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Donald Sutherland is Merrick, who trains a high school cheerleader (Kristy Swanson) in the ways of hunting the undead, in the horror-comedy "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
"Six Degrees of Separation"
In "Six Degrees of Separation" (1993), based on John Guare's play, Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing are a wealthy New York couple who take in a presentable young man (Will Smith) who appears at their door - and are subsequently taken in by the con artist.
"Disclosure"
Donald Sutherland played a corporate wheeler-dealer in the drama "Disclosure" (1994).
"Citizen X"
Stephen Rea and Donald Sutherland investigate a serial killer in the Soviet Union of the 1980s, in the TV film "Citizen X." Sutherland won an Emmy and his first Golden Globe Award for his performance.
Sutherland would win a second Golden Globe for the TV miniseries "Path to War."
Credit: HBO
"A Time to Kill"
Matthew McConaughey and Donald Sutherland in "A Time to Kill," the 1996 film based on the John Grisham legal thriller.
"The Italian Job"
In "The Italian Job," a 2003 remake of the classic British heist film, Donald Sutherland and Mark Wahlberg are partners in a daring robbery in Venice.
"Cold Mountain"
Based on Charles Frazier's novel, "Cold Mountain" (2003) starred Jude Law and Nicole Kidman, as lovers who become separated when the Civil War erupts. Donald Sutherland played a preacher, and father of Kidman.
Credit: Miramax
"Pride and Prejudice"
Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn as Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, with their marriageable daughters - Lydia (Jena Malone), Jane (Rosamund Pike), Kitty (Carey Mulligan), Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and Mary (Talulah Riley) - in the 2005 film version of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."
Credit: Focus Features
"An American Haunting"
In the 2008 horror film "An American Haunting," set in the early 19th century, Donald Sutherland is convinced he has been cursed by a witch, and that his daughter (Rachel Hurd-Wood) may be possessed.
Credit: Freestyle Releasing
"Dirty Sexy Money"
Donald Sutherland starred as Patrick "Tripp" Darling III, of the extremely wealthy Darling family, in the drama series "Dirty Sexy Money." The cast also included Peter Krause, Jill Clayburgh, William Baldwin, Lucy Liu and Blair Underwood.
"Fool's Gold"
Donald Sutherland starred with Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Alexis Dziena and Ewen Bremner in the romantic comedy-adventure "Fool's God."
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
Donald Sutherland played President Coriolanus Snow in the film adaptations of Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" books.
Credit: Lionsgate
"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1"
Donald Sutherland as President Snow in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1."
"Forsaken"
Donald Sutherland starred opposite son Kiefer Sutherland in the western "Forsaken" (2015), about a young gunslinger reestablishing his relationship with his preacher-father.
Credit: Momentum Pictures
"The Leisure Seeker"
In the road movie "The Leisure Seeker," Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren are a retired couple whose failing health shadows what would appear to be their last cross-country RV trip.
Credit: Sony Pictures Classics
On November 11, 2017, Donald Sutherland was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences at its Governors Awards ceremony, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Beverly Hills. Presenting the award was Sutherland's "Hunger Games" co-star, Jennifer Lawrence.
"I wish I could say thank you to all the characters I've played," he said.
Fellow honorees included filmmakers Agnes Varda ("Cleo from 5 to 7," "One Sings, the Other Doesn't") and Charles Burnett ("Killer of Sheep," "To Sleep With Anger"), and cinematographer Owen Roizman ("The French Connection," "The Exorcist").
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
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Au revoir "love locks"
Love locks
The famous "love locks," attached to the Pont des Arts in Paris, are now being removed, due to concerns about the bridge's weight.
Started by tourists in 2008, the love locks ritual, which also spread in the early 2000s to other cities -- including New York, Seoul and London -- has resulted in the transformation of several bridges; every inch of their railings covered with clunky brass padlocks.
Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
A couple kiss at sunset on the Pont des Arts in Paris, July 2013.
City officials, in recent years, became increasingly concerned about the weight of the locks on the bridges of Paris, the Pont des Arts in particular. One three meter panel (9.8 foot) is estimated to have 500 kgs (1,1100 lbs) of locks and posed a risk to the bridge as wells as boats passing underneath.
Credit: Radhika Chalasani
A worker begins the removal of love locks from the railings of the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, June 1, 2015.
Part of the railings of the bridge collapsed due to the weight of the locks.
Credit: Stephane De Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images
Love locks are getting removed from the Pont des Arts in Paris, June 1, 2015.
A worker lifts hundreds of love locks off the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, June 1, 2015.
A section of the Pont des Arts railing is now padlock free after all the locks were removed, June 1, 2015.
City officials plan to ultimately replace the rails with glass panels to prevent the locks from reappearing.
City municipal employees lower iron grills from the 1800s covered with "love locks" into a truck after they were removed from the Pont des Arts in Paris, June 1, 2015.
The bridge is closed from June 1 to June 8 while the padlocks which hang on the bridge are removed by city workers. A City Hall campaign to save the bridges of Paris from the weight of hundreds of thousands of "love locks" has not checked the ardor of droves of tourists, who continue to view the City of Light as the City of Love.
Credit: Philippe Wojazer/Reuters
A woman looks at the love padlocks attached to the railings of the Pont Des Arts in Paris, August 19, 2013. The railings date from 1804.
Credit: Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images
A mass of hundreds of love padlocks are attached to a railing on the Pont de l'Archeveché (Arch bridge) behind Notre Dame in Paris, September 13, 2011. The city plans to remove the locks from the Pont de l'Archeveché as well.
Credit: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images
A man plays saxophone on the historic Pont des Arts bridge, where people hang "love locks" in Paris, October 22, 2012.
The bridge is also a meeting place for artists who draw inspiration from the surrounding views of the city.
Credit: Fred Dufour/AFP Photo/Getty
Padlocks bearing messages of love are seen fixed to a street lamp on a bridge in Paris.
A couple takes pictures on the Pont des Arts with padlocks attached to the railing in Paris, August 30, 2013.
Lovers started attaching the padlocks in 2008. Couples would scratch their names onto a padlock, attach them to the bridge and often symbolically throw the keys into the Seine below to symbolize their unbreakable love.
Credit: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images
Padlocks adorn the Pont des Arts in Paris, January 4, 2013.
Credit: Yves Forestier/Getty Images
A woman walks by stickers urging tourists to stop setting locks on the railings of the Pont de l'Archeveche (Arch bridge) in Paris, August 13, 2014. Attempts to stop people from placing locks on the city's bridges proved futile.
Credit: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images
A padlock addressed, "To my love Camille," adorns the Pont des Arts in Paris, January 4, 2013
Love locks attached to the railings of the Pont des Arts in Paris, August 14, 2014.
And more love locks on the Pont des Arts including a heart-shaped one.
Even more love locks on the Pont des Arts in Paris.
A soon to be bride, right, celebrates her bachelorette party on the Pont des Arts in Paris, July 2013.
The bridge is considered one of the most romantic spots in the city with the locks adding to the allure for those pursuing love.
A couple places a padlock on the Pont des Arts in Paris. May 29, 2015. The city municipality decided to remove the locks, put there by tourists to ensure everlasting love, from the bridge's fences due to the danger posed by their increasing weight.
Credit: Charly Tribaulleau/AFP/Getty Images
Love padlocks attached to the Pont des Arts in Paris, February 26, 2014.
A person is about to throw the key of a padlock into the Seine as hundreds of padlocks (love locks) rest on the railing of the the Pont de L'Archeveche (Arch bridge) in Paris, July 17, 2011.
Credit: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
Musicians on the Pont des Arts in Paris, July 2013.
The pedestrian bridges of Paris attracts tourists and locals alike for their beauty and the pure romance of the views over the Seine.
A man walks along the Pont des Arts, past love padlocks in Paris.
"On the Pont des Arts alone, 15 grills have had to be removed for safety reasons. Each of these panels were carrying nearly 500 kgs, more than four times the maximum weight," City Hall said.
Love padlocks on the Léopold-Sédar-Senghor in Paris, July 16, 2011. The symbolic tradition rapidly spread to other bridges in Paris.
The phenomenon has gained followers in recent years as couples seek to publicly mark weddings, engagements, and anniversaries in a permanent way.
Tourists stand on the Pont des Arts with its railings covered by padlocks in Paris, September 23, 2014.
Paris officials put up long panels on the city's iconic Pont des Arts in an attempt to stop lovers sealing their passion with padlocks attached to the bridge. Just over the busy summer period, tourists to the world's most visited city attached more than 700,000 love locks on several Paris bridges, said City Hall authorities.
Credit: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images
A woman looks at the love padlocks on the Pont Des Arts in Paris, August 19, 2013.
Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
A newly married couple hold hands on the Pont des Arts in Paris. In part because of the locks and their symbolism, the Pont des Arts became a popular spot for couples to have photos taken.
Credit: Thibault Camus/AP
A heart-shaped padlock rests on the Pont des Arts as boats move along the Seine at night in central Paris, February 5, 2014.
Credit: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
A man attaches one more lock to the lock-adorned Le Pont de L'Archeveche (Arch bridge) in behind Notre Dame in Paris, March 5, 2014.
A young American couple get engaged at the same spot they placed a lock on Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, formerly known as passerelle Solférino, one of 3 pedestrian bridges across the Seine in the city of Paris.
A love lock is seen here on the Brooklyn Bridge, one of thousands that have been placed along the bridge in New York City, February 13, 2013.
So, it may no longer be possible to symbolize your love with a lock on a bridge in the City of Lights, but there are still the monuments and bridges of New York, Venice, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Rome, and Baghdad, amongst other cities.
For more: CBS News video
Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Destiny #11
Peter Bogdanovich - a Director - born on Sunday July 30th 1939, in Kingston, New York, United States.
Freedom is the key to Peter's personality. Peter Bogdanovich loves travel, adventure, variety and meeting new people, and he longs to experience all of life. He also loves to be involved in several things at the same time as long as he is not tied down to any one area. Change is constant in his world, requiring adaptability and courage.
With his upbeat and often inspiring personality, Peter Bogdanovich makes friends easily and attracts people from all walks of life. He has a way with words and an uncanny ability to motivate others. Thus, Peter can be very successful and happy in sales, advertising, publicity, promotion, politics or any profession that requires communication skills and understanding of people.
Peter is multi-talented and possesses a variety of diverse abilities. However, discipline and focus are the true keys to his success. Without these, many of the tasks Peter begins will remain unfinished and he will fail to realize the true fruits of his abilities. With hard work and perseverance, however, the sky is the limit. Self-employment attracts Bogdanovich powerfully, yet his challenge is to settle into one area to cultivate his ability sufficiently to earn a living and attain success. Once Peter Bogdanovich finds his niche, the motivation and inspiration he supplies others with will bring him much in return, and he will find his friends and colleagues supporting and promoting him on the road to success.
He is often a late-bloomer and needs to experience life before he can truly know and commit to his heart's desire. Peter Bogdanovich may be perceived as a wild child by adults and a source of concern by his family. However, he must not be obliged to hurry his choice of career or family. Peter's challenge is to learn the true meaning of freedom-from-within through his jurney. He should try to maintain an exercise program to keep his body in shape. The flexibility and durability of Bogdanovich's body will promote security and confidence within him.
Peter Bogdanovich is sensual and loves to taste all of life. Sex, food and other sensory experiences are essential to the enjoyment of his. He finds it difficult to commit to one relationship, but once committed, he can be as faithful as an old dog. More...
More flavors to Peter's personality
Peter Bogdanovich tends to be quite adaptable, and he finds it easy to fit into most social set ups and vocational fields.
There are no particular virtues that can cause an imbalance in Peter's personality and life, but he has to work hard and persistently to develop those special strengths that he desires to attain.
Learning to be wisely assertive is a major lesson to be taken by Peter Bogdanovich throughout his life.
Tour Peter's menu and gain more insight into his personality traits, relationships, strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, compatibility with you and with others, and much more.
July 17th 2019 is a hectic day for Peter Bogdanovich. It calls for quick action, decisions to be made, and for Peter's leadership.
Adventurous as Bogdanovich is today, he can grab the big opportunity that the day brings him.
Peter Bogdanovich's senses are on high alert today, and bring him multi-media experience of sounds, colors, and texture.
Other male celebrities born on the same day as Peter Bogdanovich
Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947)
An Austrian-American actor, filmmaker, businessman, investor, philanthropist, author, activist, professional bodybuilder who won Mr. Olympia contest seven times, and politician who served two terms as the 38th Governor of California (2003 - 2011)
Terry Crews (1968)
An American actor and former American football player, best known for playing Julius on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, for his Old Spice commercials, and films as Friday After Next, White Chicks, and The Expendables
Hirving Lozano (1995)
A Mexican professional footballer who plays as a winger for Dutch club PSV and the Mexico national team, and was named by Don Balón as one of the best players in the world born after 1994
Christopher Nolan (1970)
An English-American film director, screenwriter, and producer whose nine films have grossed over US$4.2 billion worldwide and garnered a total of 26 Oscar nominations and seven awards
Henry Ford (1863-1947)
An American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and implementor of the assembly line technique of mass production, hance developing and manufacturing the first automobile that many middle class Americans could afford
Paul Anka (1941)
A Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor who became famous in the late 1950s through 1970s with hit songs like "Diana", "Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby"
Jean Reno (1948)
A French actor who is fluent in French, English, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian, and has appeared in Crimson Rivers, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, The Pink Panther, Ronin, Les visiteurs, The Big Blue, and Léon
Michael Scott (1907)
Laurence Fishburne (1961)
An American actor, playwright, director, and producer, best known for his roles as Morpheus in The Matrix trilogy and Jason "Furious" Styles in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood
Simon Baker (1969)
An Australian actor and director, best known for his lead role in the CBS television series The Mentalist as Patrick Jane, and as Nicholas Fallin in The Guardian
Peter Bogdanovich personality profile | © Copyright 2009-2019 Celebrities Galore and Master Numerologist Hans Decoz
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Public invited to learn first aid skills following Paris terror attacks
A new app has been designed to provide life-saving information in the event of a major incident
Adam Care
A riot police officer stands by an ambulance near the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris, on November 13, 2015. A number of people were killed and others injured in a series of gun attacks across Paris, as well as explosions outside the national stadium where France was hosting Germany. (Image: DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images))
Members of the public are being encouraged to learn first aid skills in case they are caught up in a terrorist attack.
CitizenAID has been developed by military and civilian medics to teach people about how to provide potentially life-saving treatment before the arrival of emergency services in the event of an incident.
The information is available through an app and pocketbook and is designed to complement the "Run, Hide, Tell" guidance given by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office in the wake of the Paris attacks.
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The current threat level for international terrorism in the UK is currently at "severe", meaning an attack is highly likely.
The CitizenAID system is intended to give members of the pubic straightforward information on how to plan, prepare and react to an incident.
Its creators say it could prove most effective in the immediate aftermath of an attack when emergency services may be primarily concerned with removing a threat, rather than treating victims.
While many people may know how to react to a medical emergency such as a heart attack, they say a different response is needed to act effectively after a serious injury from bomb blast, gunshot and stabbing.
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Quick actions, particularly to stop bleeding through techniques such as applying a tourniquet, will save lives, they say.
Sir Keith Porter, professor of clinical traumatology at the University of Birmingham, is one of four clinicians behind the initiative.
He told the BBC: "I have treated hundreds of soldiers whose lives have been saved by simply the applications of tourniquets when they have been shot or blown up. Teaching individual soldiers these skills has saved lives.
"And I think it is essential we train the public in those skills and that is exactly what CitizenAID does."
CitizenAID founder Brigadier Tim Hodgetts said the initiative should not scare people.
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"We are empowering the public," he told the BBC.
''By giving them a step-by-step system we take away the anxiety because the decisions are already made and the right decisions in the right order can save lives."
The free app is available via the Google Play or the Apple App Store. The pocket book can be bought for £1.99 from medtree.co.uk and spservices.co.uk. More information can be found here .
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Campus Circle > Film > Projections
Film: Projections
Singin' In the Frame: A Gene Kelly Retrospective: March 25-28 @ Aero Theatre
By Candice Winters
Gene Kelly in An American in Paris
(Credit: Handout/MCT)
A couple of months ago, the ever-popular and always entertaining sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” was hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt of (500) Days of Summer fame. As an avid “SNL” viewer, I stayed up just to see what he could bring. Actually, I might have watched it on Hulu the next day.
Regardless, Gordon-Levitt did something very different for his opening monologue. He didn’t just crack joke after joke about his love life in a well-composed ballad like Taylor Swift did earlier this year. He didn’t make fun of the wild rumors that he had breast implants (Britney Spears, anyone?).
No, the serious actor did something just as funny and more admirable. He took on one of America’s best and most well loved movies, a film that made dancing an acceptable art form for Hollywood once again. He parodied a scene from Singin’ in the Rain (1952), and he did one heck of a good job with it.
Which begs the question: Why has it taken over 40 years for the musical to make a comeback? You know what I mean – lately every movie seems to be either about superheroes, a sequel or a musical. I’m not complaining, but the resurgence of this genre forces the viewer to look back at the original movers, shakers and singers in remembrance and admiration for what they brought to film.
In my opinion, the father of the modern musical is Gene Kelly. He was born in August of 1912 and has starred in, directed and produced over 20 beloved musicals like Cover Girl (1944), An American in Paris (1951) and Singin’ in the Rain (1952). If you don’t know Gene Kelly, it’s time to meet the master of dance who nearly single-handedly introduced ballet into American homes as an acceptable and commercialized form of dance.
Brought to you by the American Cinematheque and hosted by the Aero Theatre, Singin’ in the Frame: A Gene Kelly Retrospective features four consecutive days of double features with an emphasis on, you guessed it, Gene Kelly and his musicals that enchanted audiences for an entire decade.
On Thursday, March 25, The Pirate (1948) and Brigadoon (1954) will be screened. The Pirate stars Kelly as a circus clown pining for a demure maiden (Judy Garland) who thinks he’s actually a pirate. In Brigadoon, Kelly discovers a magical village in this adaptation of Lerner and Loewe’s Broadway hit.
Friday, March 26, sees An American in Paris, the 1951 Oscar Best Picture winner featuring irresistible Kelly as a struggling painter in Paris, caught between the romantic aspirations of a wealthy patron (Nina Foch) and his true love (Leslie Caron). Right after, The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort) (1967) will be shown in its original format. The film is a near literal love letter to American musicals and romance in general. Catch Gene Kelly in some of the most memorable moments in musical history.
Spend your Saturday, March 27, at the theater because Singin’ in the Rain (1952) will be screened as the first part of this double feature. It was co-directed by Kelly, who also stars as silent movie idol Don Lockwood. With the advent of ‘talkies’ or movies made with sound, his character’s career is jeopardized until he finds the lovely Debbie Reynolds to star opposite of him. If there is one Kelly movie to see, it’s this classic, which is as funny today as it was back in 1952.
Summerstock (1950) is the second Saturday screening. Kelly stars along Judy Garland again in this film all about bringing the fever of the entertainment industry to a small farm.
Finally, On the Town and Anchors Aweigh close the double feature marathons on Sunday, March 28. On the Town (1949) sees Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin as three sailors on leave in New York. They find romance and dance across the town on their big day off. You know Anchors Aweigh (1945) as the film in which Kelly dances with Jerry the Mouse in a combination of live-action and animation. This film is another example of Kelly’s pristine choreography.
After a pretty hefty St. Patrick’s Day week and spring break in Cabo, relax and let Kelly dance away your cares for you.
Aero Theatre is located at 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. For more information, visit americancinematheque.com.
Article posted on 3/22/2010
American Cinematheque's September Calendar Screens Classic Arthouse Fare and More!
AFI Fest 2012: Nov. 1 - Nov. 8
Screamfest: Oct. 14-22 @ Grauman’s Mann Chinese Theater
Pilipino American Film Festival: Oct. 13 & 14 @ Fowler Museum, UCLA
Film Independent at LACMA: Oct. 13-27
E.T.: Sept. 24 @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Star Trek and more.
Bicycle Film Festival: Sept. 8-11 @ Downtown Independent Theater
Film Events this Week: Aug. 31 - Sept. 6
Film Events This Week
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