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Tolui
For the village in Iran, see Tolui, Iran.
Tolui, (Classic Mongolian: ᠲᠥᠯᠦᠢ Toluy, Tului, Mongolian: Тулуй хаан, Chinese: 拖雷, Tolui Khan (meaning the Khan Tolui)) (c.1191–1232) was the fourth son of Genghis Khan by his chief khatun Börte. His ulus, or territorial inheritance, at his father's death in 1227 was the homelands in Mongolia, and it was he who served as civil administrator in the time it took to confirm Ögedei as second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (1206–1368). Before that he had served with distinction in the campaigns against the Jin dynasty, the Western Xia and the Khwarezmid Empire, where he was instrumental in the capture and massacre at Merv and Nishapur. He is a direct ancestor of most of the Ilkhanids.
Tolui Khan
Painting of Tolui Khan by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, early 14th century.
Regent of the Mongol Empire
25 August 1227 – 13 September 1229
Ögedei Khan
Sorghaghtani as Head of the Toluid appanages
c.1191[1]
1231 or 1232 (aged 40 or 41) [2]
Sorghaghtani Beki
Saruk Khatun
Lingqun Khatun
Nayan Khatun
Doquz Khatun
Möngke Khan (1209–1259)
Kublai Khan (1215–1294)
Hulagu Khan (1217–1265)
Ariq Böke (1219–1266)
Given name: Tolui (Тулуй)
Posthumous name
Emperor Rensheng Jingxiang (仁圣景襄皇帝, posthumously given in 1266)
Temple name
Ruizong (睿宗, posthumously given in 1266)
Borjigin
Börte Ujin
Tengriism
Tolui never used the title of Khagan himself; neither Genghis Khan nor his immediate three successors would ever use any reigning titles unlike the neighboring Chinese dynasties in the south. Tolui was awarded the title of Khagan by his son Möngke and was given a temple name (Chinese: 元睿宗; pinyin: Yuán Ruìzōng; Wade–Giles: Jui-Tsung) by his other son Kublai, when he established the Yuan dynasty a few decades later.
YouthEdit
During the rise of Genghis Khan, Tolui was too young to be involved in the battles. Tolui was almost killed by a Tatar when he was about five years of age. He was saved by his sister Altani and two companions of Genghis.[3] In 1203, His father bestowed on Tolui his wife Sorghaghtani, the niece of Ong Khan (a friend of Tolui's grandfather Yesugei). Their first son Möngke was born in 1209.
Early careerEdit
He first entered combat against the Jin dynasty in 1213, scaling the walls of Dexing with his brother-in-law Chiqu.
In 1221, Genghis Khan dispatched him to Khorasan in Iran. The cities in this area had revolted several times. The defenders of Nishapur killed Toquchar, the brother-in-law of Tolui in November 1220. Tolui's army evacuated Nishapur onto the plains. He ordered the total massacres of Nishapur and Merv.[4]
Genghis Khan's successionEdit
When Genghis Khan was deciding who should succeed him, he had trouble choosing between his four sons. Tolui had amazing military skills and was very successful as a general, but Genghis Khan chose Ögodei, who was more capable politically. Genghis Khan felt that Tolui would be too cautious to be an effective leader. Tolui was with his father on campaign against Xi Xia in 1227.
After Genghis Khan's death, Tolui generally supervised the Mongol Empire for two years. The Mongol nobles accepted this partly because of the tradition that the youngest son inherits his father's properties, and partly because Tolui had the largest and most powerful army in central Mongolia at the time. Tolui supported the choice of the next Khagan by election, and Ögedei was chosen, fulfilling his father's wishes.
Tolui campaigned with Ögedei in north China, serving as strategist and field commander in 1231–32. Two armies had been dispatched to besiege Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin. After most of the Jin's defences were breached, they returned north.[5]
According to The Secret History of the Mongols, Tolui sacrificed himself in order to cure Ögödei from a very severe illness during a campaign in China. The shamans had determined that the root of Ögödei's illness were China's spirits of earth and water, who were upset that their subjects had been driven away and their land devastated. Offering land, animals, and people had only led to an aggravation of Ögödei's illness, but when they offered to sacrifice a family member, Ögödei got better immediately. Tolui volunteered and died directly after consuming a cursed drink. However, Ata-Malik Juvayni says he died from alcoholism.[6]
Perhaps more important than himself was the role of his family, the Toluids, in shaping the destinies of the Mongol Empire. Through his Nestorian Christian wife Sorghaghtani Beki, Tolui fathered Möngke, Kublai, Ariq Böke, and Hulagu. The first three of these would all go on to claim the title of Great Khan, while Hulagu founded the Ilkhanate and Kublai the Yuan dynasty of China. It was the rivalry between Tolui's own sons, Kublai and Ariq Böke, that fragmented the power of the empire and set the western khanates against each other in the Toluid Civil War between 1260 and 1264.
Rivalry between the Toluids and the sons of Ögedei and Jochi caused stagnation and infighting during the regency periods after the deaths of Ögedei and his son Güyük. Möngke posthumously awarded his father the title of Khagan in 1252.[7] When Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty in 1271, he had his father Tolui placed on the official record as Ruizong. Tolui's line ruled Mongolia and south Mongolia from 1251 to 1635, and Mongolia until 1691.
He and his wife are honored beside Genghis Khan at the mausoleum constructed in the 1950s by the Chinese Communists in Inner Mongolia.
FamilyEdit
Tolui had many concubines and wives including Lingqun khatun[8] , but the chief one was Sorghaghtani Beki who was the mother of Tolui's four ruling sons.
Tolui's sons included:
Möngke, the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire.
Qutuqtu
Kublai, the Great Khan of the Mongols and the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.
Hulagu, the first Ilkhan of Mongol Persia.
Ariq Böke, Khagan claimant who was supported by the traditionalist Mongols against Kublai.
Bujek. He died earlier. Nothing is known much about him except his role in Mongol invasion of Europe in 1236–41 and Möngke's election in 1250.
Mukha
Satukhtai
Sabukhtai
See also: Family tree of Genghis Khan
Hoelun
Yesugei Baghatur
Börte
Temüjin (Genghis Khan)
Hachiun
Temüge
Belgutei
Behter
Jochi
Chagatai
Ögedei
Möngke Khan
Hulagu Khan
Ilkhanate
Northern Yuan dynasty
^ The Mongol Empire: A historical encyclopedia [2 volumes]:A historical encyclopedia: "Then in 1203, he was given the Kereit princess Sorqoqtani as a wife. At the time, Tolui was 12 or 13 years old."
^ Morris., Rossabi, (2012). The Mongols : a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. xxi. ISBN 9780199841455. OCLC 808367351.
^ The secret history of the Mongols
^ William Bayne Fisher, John Andrew Boyle, Ilya Gershevitch, Ehsan Yar The Cambridge History of Iran, p.313
^ Mote, Frederick W. Imperial China 900-1800, p.447
^ Kahn, Paul; Cleaves, Francis Woodman. The Secret History of the Mongols, p.xxvi
^ Weatherford, Jack. Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world, p.169
^ F.,, Broadbridge, Anne. Women and the making of the Mongol Empire. Cambridge. p. 233. ISBN 9781108424899. OCLC 1022078179.
House of Borjigin (1206–1635)
Born: 1191 Died: 1232
Genghis Khan Regent of the Mongol Empire
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Crawfurd, Thomas (DNB00)
←Crawfurd, John
Crawfurd, Thomas
by Thomas Finlayson Henderson
Crawley, Francis→
1341377Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 13
Crawfurd, ThomasThomas Finlayson Henderson 1888
CRAWFURD or CRAWFORD, THOMAS (d. 1662), author of a ‘History of the University of Edinburgh,’ was educated at St. Leonards College in the university of St. Andrews, where he matriculated in 1618 and graduated M.A. in 1621 (St. Andrews University Rolls). He was an unsuccessful candidate for the professorship of philosophy in the university of Edinburgh in 1625, but on 29 March of the following year he was inducted professor of humanity in the same university. On 26 Feb. 1630 he was appointed by the town council of Edinburgh to the rectorship of the high school. On the occasion of the visit of Charles I to Scotland in 1633 Crawfurd was appointed to assist John Adamson [q. v.], principal of the university, and William Drummond [q. v.] of Hawthornden in devising the pageants and composing the speeches and verses. These were published under the title ‘Εἰσόδια Musarum Edinensium in Caroli Regis ingressu in Scotiam,’ 1633. On 31 Dec. 1640 he returned to the university as public professor of mathematics, and on 3 Jan. following he was in addition made one of the regents of philosophy, the total annual salary granted him for discharging the duties of both chairs being six hundred merks (33l. 6s. 8d.) At the M.A. graduation ceremony Crawfurd introduced the custom of publishing ‘Theses Mathematicæ.’ In a document in the university library he is styled ‘a grammarian and philosopher, likewise profoundly skilled in theology, and a man of the greatest piety and integrity.’ He died 30 March 1662. Crawfurd's ‘History of the University of Edinburgh from 1580 to 1646’ was published in 1808, from the transcript in the university library made by Matthew Crawford from the original, which he states to be then in the possession of Professor Laurence Dundas of the university. He was also the author of ‘Locorum Nominum propriorum Gentilitium vocumque difficiliorum, quæ in Latinis Scotorum Historiis occurrunt, explicatio vernacula,’ which, edited with additions and emendations by C. Irvine, was published in 1665; and ‘Notes and Observations on Mr. George Buchanan's History of Scotland, wherein the difficult passages of it are explained, the chronology in many places rectified, and an account is given of the genealogies of the most considerable families of Scotland,’ 1708, printed from a manuscript in the Advocates' Library. All these works are in the library of the British Museum. In the Advocates' Library there are some manuscript notes of Crawfurd's on ‘Virgil.’
[Histories of the University of Edinburgh by Crawfurd, Dalzell, and Grant; Stevens's History of the High School of Edinburgh; British Museum Catalogue.]
T. F. H.
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Talley v. Stephens
Talley v. Stephens, 247 F. Supp. 683 (E.D. Ark. 1965)
by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
related portals: Case law of the United States.
In Talley v. Stephens, 247 F. Supp. 683 (E.D. Ark. 1965), the district court heard complaints raised by inmates in Arkansas prisons about corporal punishment, among other policies.
2726730Talley v. Stephens, 247 F. Supp. 683 (E.D. Ark. 1965)by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas1965
247 F. Supp. 683 (1965)
Winston TALLEY, William Warren Hash, and Vernon Sloan, Petitioners,
Dan D. STEPHENS, Superintendent of the Arkansas State Penitentiary, Respondent.
No. PB-65-C-33.
United States District Court, E. D. Arkansas, Pine Bluff Division.
[*684] . . . [*685] Bruce T. Bullion, Little Rock, Ark., Louis L. Ramsay, Jr., Pine Bluff, Ark., for petitioners.
Bruce Bennett, Atty. Gen., and R. E. Wallin and Fletcher Jackson, Asst. Attys. Gen., of Arkansas, Little Rock, Ark., for respondent.
HENLEY, Chief Judge.
This is a suit in equity brought by three inmates of the Arkansas State Penitentiary, namely Winston Talley, William Warren Hash, and Vernon Sloan, against Dan D. Stephens, Superintendent of that institution, for the purpose of restraining respondent from continuing certain prison practices which petitioners claim are violative of rights secured to them by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.[1] Federal subject matter jurisdiction is to be found in 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Petitioners contend, in essence, that they have been unconstitutionally subjected to cruel and unusual punishments, and that they have been denied unconstitutionally access to the Courts to secure redress of their alleged grievances. They do not question the legality of their confinements or claim that they are entitled to release from custody at this time.
Petitioners have been represented most capably by Bruce T. Bullion of Little Rock and Louis L. Ramsay, Jr. of Pine Bluff, appointed by the Court to represent petitioners without charge. The Court is grateful to Messrs. Bullion and Ramsay for their services.
All petitioners assert that they have been denied access to the Courts; Talley and Hash, and Sloan to some extent, contend that they have been subjected to severe corporal punishment which, in the case of Talley, includes alleged unlawful assaults by a fellow inmate, James Pike. Hash and Sloan contend that they have been forced to perform heavy manual labor on the Penitentiary farm which they were not and are not capable of performing. All petitioners complain also that they have been refused needed medical attention.
Respondent denies that Talley is entitled to any relief. Respondent originally took the same position with respect to Hash and Sloan, but now concedes, as will more fully appear, that the Court should enter a decree awarding them some relief.
Following a pre-trial conference held in September of the current year, the case was set for trial to the Court on Monday, October 13. On that date testimony was taken with respect to the Talley petition. The Court heard the testimony of Talley and that of a considerable number of inmate witnesses called by Talley and respondent, respectively. Assistant Warden Mose Harmon, Jr., who has had Talley in charge during much of his incarceration at the Penitentiary, was also heard.[2] Respondent did not testify, but he has made a number of statements in the course of the proceedings which the Court has taken into consideration.
At the conclusion of the hearing on the Talley petition, the Court adjourned the proceedings until November 1, at which time it was planned to take testimony in connection with the applications of Hash and Sloan. However, a few days before November 1 respondent [*686] filed two documents consenting to the entry of judgments in favor of those two petitioners, and no further evidentiary hearing was held.[3]
Both sides have filed memorandum briefs and both sides have requested or suggested certain specific findings of fact and conclusions of law. All of those requests and suggestions are denied, except to the extent that they are included in this memorandum which incorporates the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law.
Before discussing the merits some comment in connection with the jurisdiction and function of the Court in a case of this kind is in order.
Although persons convicted of crimes lose many of the rights and privileges of law abiding citizens, it is established by now that they do not lose all of their civil rights, and that the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment follow them into the prison and protect them there from unconstitutional administrative action on the part of prison authorities carried out under color of State law, custom, or usage. More specifically, prison authorities are not permitted to inflict upon convicts cruel and unusual punishments for violations of prison rules; they may not discriminate invidiously against a prisoner or class of prisoners; and they may not deny to a prisoner reasonable access to the courts to test the validity of his confinement or to secure judicial protection of his constitutional rights. See Cooper v. Pate, 378 U.S. 546; White v. Ragen, 324 U.S. 760; Ex parte Hull, 312 U.S. 546; U.S. ex rel. Knight v. Ragen, 7 Cir., 337 F.2d 425; McCloskey v. State of Maryland, 4 Cir., 337 F.2d 72; Childs v. Pegelow, 4 Cir., 321 F.2d 487; Roberts v. Pegelow, 4 Cir., 313 F.2d 548; Sewell v. Pegelow, 4 Cir., 291 F.2d 196; Coleman v. Johnston, 7 Cir., 247 F.2d 273; Mason v. Cranor, 9 Cir., 227 F.2d 557; Tabor v. Hardwick, 5 Cir., 224 F.2d 526; Coffin v. Reichard, 6 Cir., 143 F.2d 443. Prior exhaustion of available remedies in the State courts before relief is sought in the federal courts is not required. Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167.
On the other hand, convicts must be disciplined, and prison authorities must be given wide latitude and discretion in the management and operation of their institutions, including the disciplining of inmates. The Courts cannot take over the management of prisons, and they cannot undertake to review every complaint made by a convict about his treatment while in the prison. Cole v. Smith, 8 Cir., 344 F.2d 721; Snow v. Gladden, 9 Cir., 338 F.2d 999; Sutton v. Settle, 8 Cir., 302 F.2d 286; Williams v. Steele, 8 Cir., 194 F.2d 32, rehearing denied, 194 F.2d 917; Garcia v. Steele, 8 Cir., 193 F.2d 276. It must be recognized also that the administration of prison discipline must in many instances be summary, and that the punishment administered to a convict for a violation of prison rules may differ quantitatively and qualitatively from the punishment prescribed by a criminal statute and imposed initially by a court following an individual's conviction of a crime. See State v. Revis, 193 N.C. 192, 136 S.E. 346. [*687]
I.Edit
Taking up first the claims of Hash and Sloan that they have been required to do field work in excess of their physical capabilities, it is conceded, and the Court finds, that both of those men are laboring under serious physical handicaps, that their physical condition has been classified as "poor" by the prison physician; that despite their condition and classification thereof they have been required to engage in work which they are not physically able to perform. They have now been assigned to light work. Respondent has consented that injunctive relief should be granted to Hash and Sloan in this area, and such relief will be granted.
In this connection the Court has no difficulty with the proposition that for prison officials knowingly to compel convicts to perform physical labor which is beyond their strength, or which constitutes a danger to their lives or health, or which is unduly painful constitutes an infliction of cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States as included in the 14th Amendment. See Robinson v. State of California, 370 U.S. 660.
II.Edit
Not entirely unrelated to the claim of Hash and Sloan just discussed is the claim of all three petitioners that needed medical assistance has been withheld and that attendance at "sick calls" has been unreasonably restricted.
Proposed Conclusion of Law No. (14)A(b) submitted by petitioners is that respondent should be required to "furnish reasonable medical attention for injuries and disabilities, at all reasonable times, and to permit attendance at sick call at reasonable times * * * ." Respondent does not object to the Court drawing that conclusion, and it will be incorporated in the decree to be entered.
III.Edit
The Court next turns to the most serious complaint of petitioners, namely, the infliction of corporal punishment. As administered at the Penitentiary, that punishment consists of blows with a leather strap five feet in length, four inches wide, and about one-fourth inch thick, attached to a wooden handle or shaft about six inches long. Ordinarily, the punishment is inflicted by the Assistant Warden having in his charge the inmate to be punished. A prisoner who is to be whipped is required to lie down on the ground fully clothed, and the blows are inflicted on his buttocks.
Under governing provisions of Arkansas law control of the Penitentiary is vested in the State Penitentiary Board, which is an honorary board consisting of five members appointed by the Governor of Arkansas. In practice the Board has largely left the administration of the Penitentiary to the discretion of the Superintendent.
Act 76 of 1893, § 62, p. 121, Ark. Stats., 1947, § 46-158, makes it the duty of the Board to prescribe the mode and extent of punishments to be inflicted on convicts for the violation of prison rules, and it is a felony for any Superintendent, subordinate officer or guard having convicts in charge to inflict or cause to be inflicted on any convict any greater or more severe punishment than is prescribed by the Board, and if death results from the infliction of excessive punishment, the person responsible is deemed to be guilty of murder or manslaughter "as the case may be."
It is probably true that corporal punishment has been used at the Penitentiary for many years. However, its use was not formally authorized by the Board, at least as far as the record here reflects, until March 1962. At that time, which was before the commencement of respondent's tenure as Superintendent, the Board adopted a brief resolution authorizing the infliction of corporal punishment whenever in the judgment of the Superintendent it appears that such punishment [*688] is necessary to maintain prison discipline or to enforce respect for Penitentiary policies. The resolution did not prescribe the form of such punishment, or the extent to which it may be employed. Its administration in practice has been described.
There are no written rules or regulations prescribing what conduct or misconduct will bring on a whipping or prescribing how many blows will be inflicted for a given act of misconduct. The punishment is administered summarily, and whether an inmate is to be whipped and how much he is to be whipped are matters resting within the sole discretion of the prison employee administering the punishment, subject to the present informal requirement of respondent that the blows administered for a single offense shall not exceed ten.
Adult male inmates of the Penitentiary are confined at either Cummins Farm Unit, where petitioners are incarcerated, or at the smaller Tucker Farm Unit. As their names imply, the primary activity carried on at those farms is agriculture. Large quantities of food are produced for consumption by inmates of the Penitentiary and of other State institutions. In addition, field crops are produced for marketing.
The actual physical labor incident to the farming operations is performed by convicts, known as "rankers," who work ordinarily ten hours a day, six days a week without pay. The rankers, including petitioners, are guarded by other convicts known as "trusty guards," armed with shotguns, pistols, and high powered rifles. Those guards are frequently hardened criminals themselves.
The rankers are assigned to work squads known as "long lines;" each long line is under the supervision of an Assistant Warden who is a paid employee of the State. In addition, each line has assigned to it a trusty guard known as a "line rider." He performs not only a security function but also has some supervisory authority over the rankers, at least in the absence of the Assistant Warden.
The number of paid employees of the Penitentiary, in addition to the Superintendent, is very few. Since the Penitentiary farms have very little direct labor expense, they are entirely self-supporting and ordinarily show annual profits, if the value of the convict labor employed be disregarded.
Certain of the crops produced at the Penitentiary, including cotton and cucumbers, are harvested by hand. The amount of such a crop which an inmate will harvest during a given work period depends not only upon his physical condition, skill, and dexterity, but also upon his diligence and willingness to work. Those same factors influence both the quantity and quality of work performed.
No individual convict has set for him in advance a quota of work which he is expected to perform within a given time. A convict is expected to do "the best he can," and if his performance is not satisfactory to his Assistant Warden, he may be whipped. Here again the infliction of punishment is determined upon and administered summarily.
Petitioner Talley has been whipped on a number of occasions by Assistant Warden Harmon both for infractions of discipline and for insufficient work. Hash has been whipped at least once by Assistant Warden Chadick.
The evidence is sharply conflicting as to how many times Talley has been whipped since he came to the Penitentiary about 1961. He says that he has been whipped about 70 times. Harmon says that Talley has been whipped only six or seven times. Talley probably exaggerates; Harmon probably minimizes. In the Court's eyes that conflict in the testimony is not material.
The evidence also discloses that on two occasions Talley has been assaulted and beaten by James Pike, the line rider assigned to Talley's long line. Pike, an illiterate, is a convicted murderer serving a sentence for beating to death a warden at the Mississippi County Penal Farm where Pike was formerly confined on a misdemeanor charge.
[*689] The evidence is conflicting as to the reasons for the assaults of Pike on Talley and as to the extent of the injuries inflicted upon the latter. Again the Court finds it unnecessary to resolve those conflicts. Regardless of why or how severely Pike beat Talley, the Court finds that the assaults were committed by Pike in his capacity as line rider and were for the purpose of disciplining Talley. In connection with the first beating Talley unquestionably received injuries to his teeth which necessitated the furnishing to him of a partial denture.
Still further disclosed by the evidence is the fact that on occasions Talley has been whipped by Harmon on the report of Pike that Talley had done insufficient work. Pike's reports seem to have been acted upon by Harmon automatically and without investigation.
It is contended by petitioners that the infliction of corporal punishment in any degree and in any circumstances upon an adult human being, either as an initial punishment for crime or as punishment for an infraction of prison discipline by a convict, is abhorrent to the modern mind, and that whatever view of it may have been taken in times past it is today a cruel and inhuman punishment prohibited by the Constitution.
In evaluating that contention it should be said first that in present context it is beside the point whether the use of such punishment is good or bad penology, or whether its infliction is necessary to control Arkansas convicts or to run the Penitentiary efficiently, or whether the Judge of the Court, as an individual, approves of such punishment. The question is whether the use of the strap at the Arkansas Penitentiary is a cruel and unusual punishment in the constitutional sense.
The criminal code of Arkansas does not prescribe whipping as a punishment for any crime, and as early as 1884 the Supreme Court of Arkansas deprecated the whipping of convicts and refused to presume that the then Penitentiary Board had authorized it. Werner v. State, 44 Ark. 122. And the infliction of such punishment has been banned in many jurisdictions. It must be recognized, however, that corporal punishment has not been viewed historically as a constitutionally forbidden cruel and unusual punishment, and this Court is not prepared to say that such punishment is per se unconstitutional. See 18 C.J.S. Convicts § 11; State v. Revis, supra; Balser v. State (Del.), 195 A.2d 757; State v. Cannon (Del.), 190 A.2d 514; United States v. Jones, S.D.Fla., 108 F. Supp. 266, 270.
But, the Court's unwillingness to say that the Constitution forbids the imposition of any and all corporal punishment on convicts presupposes that its infliction is surrounded by appropriate safeguards. It must not be excessive; it must be inflicted as dispassionately as possible and by responsible people; and it must be applied in reference to recognizable standards whereby a convict may know what conduct on his part will cause him to be whipped and how much punishment given conduct may produce.
The Court finds that those safeguards do not exist at the Arkansas Penitentiary today, and until they are established the further corporal punishment of petitioners must and will be enjoined. It is not the function of the Court to undertake to prescribe appropriate safeguards; that is the function of the Board or of respondent subject to the Board's approval. For the guidance of those in charge of the Penitentiary the Court will say, in a general way, that it has particular trouble with the fact that there is no established schedule of punishments, that punishments are inflicted summarily and by Assistant Wardens who may or may not be men of judgment and temperate nature, and that Talley as an individual has been subjected to physical beatings at the hands of Pike. The Court is also troubled by the fact that the question of whether a convict has produced "sufficient work" during a particular period is left to the subjective judgment of the Assistant Warden, who may, at times, act uncritically [*690] upon the recommendation or report of the line rider.
IV.Edit
There remains for consideration the complaint of petitioners that they have been denied access to the Courts. The record indicates that prior to the tenure of respondent at the Penitentiary, the authorities of that institution certainly discouraged and perhaps prevented inmates from addressing petitions to the Courts either for the purpose of testing the legality of their confinements or for the redress of grievances within the prison. However, the policy of respondent has been to permit access to the Courts, both State and federal, and at the present time such access is theoretically both adequate and reasonable.[4]
It must be recognized, however, that a theoretical right of access to the Courts is hardly actual and adequate if its exercise is likely to produce reprisals, physical or otherwise, from Penitentiary personnel. And it must be recognized also that a complaint to a Court about physical mistreatment inside the Penitentiary is more apt to produce such reprisals than is a petition whereby a convict simply seeks release from the institution.
The Court regrets to say that the record discloses that reprisals have been visited upon Talley on account of his recourse to this Court and on account of his testimony in support of his claims.
Process in this case was served on respondent on August 6 of the current year. On the evening of that day after work in the fields had been concluded and after the rankers had been confined in their barracks, Pike, who has been mentioned, and two other inmates, apparently trusties or quasi-trusties, entered the barracks where Talley was confined and assaulted him and certain other prisoners who had been complaining about conditions in the Penitentiary and who refer to themselves as "writ writers."
The evidence also shows that for some days after August 6 the writ writers, including Talley, were put into special squads and were worked under the immediate supervision of a shotgun guard; on one occasion that guard discharged his weapon deliberately into the ground behind one of the working men and in such close proximity to him that a buckshot pellet penetrated the man's cotton sack.
While there is no evidence that respondent personally authorized or knew of the August 6 assaults on Talley and his associates, or that he ordered the formation of the special squads, and while it appears that respondent abolished the squads as soon as he learned of their existence, it does not appear that respondent has ever undertaken to discipline or reprimand the convicts concerned, or that Assistant Warden Harmon was disciplined or reprimanded, at least at the time, although he certainly knew about the special squads.
More serious in the Court's eyes is the treatment which Talley received on the day following his testimony in this case. It is admitted that on the morning of October 14 Talley and the other members of his squad were put to work picking cotton, and that after the work proceeded about 30 minutes Warden Harmon [*691] called Talley out of the long line and administered to him nine blows with the strap.
When that occurrence was reported to the Court, respondent was called upon to make an investigation and submit a report to the Court. In due course respondent submitted sworn statements of Talley and Harmon and of certain other convicts who witnessed the whipping.
According to Talley, Harmon administered the nine blows as a punishment to Talley for "lying in court." Talley says that Harmon stated that he considered that he still "owed" Talley about 25 strokes and that he had just as well "get started right now."
According to Harmon, Talley was whipped for "agitating work-stoppage and insolence." The Harmon version is that he was advised by inmates that Talley was urging his fellows to slow down or refuse to work and was telling them that "the 'people in Little Rock' were on his side and none of them would be punished because the Institution Officials were afraid to do anything." Harmon proceeds to state that on the morning of the 14th the men under his charge "all but quit work and a general rebellion appeared in the making or worse if something was not done to correct it. Talley's attitude was both openly defiant and insolent and, knowing that he was the ring-leader, I called him out of the Line and punished him for the above charges."
Harmon says that the punishment was not inflicted because Talley filed his petition or on account of his testimony. He concedes, however, that in the course of the punishment he remarked that "perhaps it would teach him not to lie in Court."
The affidavits of the inmate witnesses of the whipping to some extent corroborate Talley's version and to some extent corroborate that of Harmon. The truth is hard to determine. The Court thinks it probable that Talley was agitating to some extent, perhaps to an extent sufficient to justify punishment of some sort. On the other hand, he could not have done very much agitating prior to his whipping, and Harmon concedes that he at least took into consideration Talley's alleged "lying in court."
It was not the function of Harmon to pass upon the question of whether the testimony given by Talley was truthful or otherwise, and it was certainly not the function of Harmon to punish Talley for perjury, if any was committed. Moreover, at the time of the punishment now being discussed it was contemplated that a further hearing would be held in connection with the complaints of Hash and Sloan, and it might well have been expected that Talley would be called upon to give further testimony.
From its observation of the individuals involved the Court thinks that it was foreseeable to a penitentiary superintendent of ordinary prudence and foresight that following the October 13th hearing Talley might engage in some boasting or agitation and, on the other hand, that Harmon or Pike, or both, would visit some reprisal on Talley on account of his testimony. Although both risks were foreseeable, respondent apparently took no steps to prevent the occurrence of either.
In view of the events which have been described in this section of this opinion the Court finds itself unable to say that injunctive relief is unnecessary to protect petitioners in their access to the Courts. The granting of such access will be ordered and all reprisals against petitioners should they seek further access to the Courts or on account of their present proceeding will be enjoined.
V.Edit
The Court does not think that it should bring this opinion to a close without stating that nothing said herein should be construed as a claim that respondent personally is an evil, brutal, or cruel man or that he personally approves of all long standing practices of the penitentiary system. On the contrary, the record in this case reflects that respondent [*692] has undertaken with some success to ameliorate the condition of Penitentiary inmates in a number of areas of prison life. For his efforts in that connection respondent is entitled to a full measure of credit.
It is also true that the record does not disclose that respondent authorized or had personal advance knowledge of some of the events mentioned herein. However, it must not be overlooked that respondent is in charge of the Penitentiary and is responsible for the acts of his subordinates, including trusty guards. He is not relieved of that responsibility by personal ignorance of abuses practiced in fields and barracks.
A decree in accordance with the foregoing will be entered.
↑ Each petitioner tendered a separate petition, but the Court ordered all three petitions consolidated and filed as one case.
↑ The Court has been caused some difficulty by the fact that none of the inmate witnesses, including Talley, is particularly worthy of belief, and because of the patent interest of Mr. Harmon whose conduct as Assistant Warden has been called into serious question in the course of the proceedings.
↑ Counsel for petitioners contend that respondent is bound absolutely by the consents to judgment, including concessions made therein. To the extent that the consents concede facts, the respondent is bound by his concessions. The Court, however, in a case of this kind which affects the public interest will not accept legal concessions unless convinced that they are sound, and will not enter any judgment based on an unwarranted or improvident concession. The Court will call attention at this point to the fact that although this suit has not been prosecuted as a class action, it is inevitable that what is decided here with respect to the individual petitioners will have a collateral effect on the future treatment of other inmates.
↑ In the course of the proceedings respondent stated that it was the policy of the Penitentiary to screen petitions to the Courts for the purpose of preventing inmates from sending out petitions containing obscene, abusive, or otherwise objectionable allegations or statements. The Court pointed out at the hearing on October 13, and repeats now, that while respondent's motive in so screening petitions is understandable and laudable, the wiser course for him to pursue is to permit all petitions for relief to be sent out, regardless of their language or tone, and to leave it to the Courts to protect themselves from improper matter, which they can do. Respondent and his subordinates have the right, of course, and indeed the duty to make sure before sending out a petition that the addressee is in fact a judge or court official, and that the communication is related to a request for judicial relief. But, beyond that the Penitentiary authorities probably should not go.
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The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Reibey, Hon. Thomas
←Reeves, Hon. William Pember
Reibey, Hon. Thomas
Reid, Donald→
1444303The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Reibey, Hon. ThomasPhilip Mennell
Reibey, Hon. Thomas, M.H.A., M.A., eldest son of Thomas Reibey and Richenda his wife, daughter of Richard Allen, M.D., and sister of the late Sir George Wigram Allen, was born on Sept. 24th, 1821. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, in May 1840, but did not proceed to a degree. Mr. Reibey (whose father changed the spelling of the family name from Raby) married in Oct. 1842 Catherine McDonall, daughter of James Kyle, of Inverness, Scotland. He has represented Westbury in the Tasmanian Assembly since May 1874. Having acted as leader of the Opposition from March 1875 to July 1876, he acceded to office as Premier and Colonial Secretary in the latter month. He only, however, held power till August of the next year. He then acted as leader of the Opposition till Dec. 1878, when he became Colonial Secretary in Dr. Crowther's Ministry, which lasted till Oct. 1879. In July 1887 Mr. Reibey was elected Speaker of the Assembly, which office he held until 1890, when he was succeeded by Mr. N. J. Brown. Mr. Reibey was formerly in holy orders, and was preferred to be archdeacon.
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#NK elections
(3rd LD) N. Korea holds parliamentary elections
All Headlines 19:48 March 10, 2019
(ATTN: UPDATES with end of elections in paras 7-9)
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea held parliamentary elections Sunday, a key political event likely to cement national unity and leader Kim Jong-un's grip on power amid uncertainty over tough nuclear negotiations with the United States.
The communist state will elect new deputies for the 14th Supreme People's Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature, in the polls held every five years. They will replace those picked in the first parliamentary elections under the current leader in March 2014.
North Korean voters, aged 17 or older, cast their ballots between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Kim also participated at a polling station at Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang after arriving there at 11 a.m., the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The leader voted for Hong So-hon, the president of the university who is a parliamentary candidate.
"He gave a pep talk to (Hong), asking him to work well so that the university could fulfill its responsibility and obligation as the eldest son most trusted by the Party to make a breakthrough in improving science and education, invigorating (the) economy and bettering the standard of the people's living," the KCNA said.
"The count of votes for the candidates for deputies to the SPA registered in relevant constituencies is being carried out at constituencies across the country," the KCNA said in another English-language report.
As of 6 p.m., "all the electors registered on the voter rolls in all constituencies across the country for the election of deputies to the 14th SPA attended the voting, except for those abroad or working in oceans," it said.
Earlier, the news agency said 92.35 percent of all registered voters had cast their ballots as of 3 p.m.
The candidates include workers, farmers, intellectuals and soldiers that are striving to uphold leader Kim's ideology and leadership, and backing his push for national development, according to the state media. There is only a single candidate registered for each constituency.
Observers said that Pyongyang might use the political event to further reinforce national cohesion and have its people coalesce behind its ruler, particularly after last month's breakup of the Hanoi summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The second Trump-Kim summit on Feb. 27-28 ended without a deal as they played hardball over the scope of Washington's sanctions relief and Pyongyang's denuclearization. But both sides appear willing to keep their dialogue alive.
The Rodong Sinmun, the daily of the North's ruling Workers' Party, carried an editorial that stressed the election will manifest people's "fixed will to firmly trust and uphold" leader Kim.
"Every ballot cast for the candidates for deputies reflects the loyalty to firmly defend the unique idea of the great leaders on building people's power and their exploits," the editorial said.
"Each approval ballot is an expression of the fixed will to further cement the people's power and dynamically step up the building of a powerful socialist country," it added.
The voting is largely considered a formality. The official voter turnout was tallied at 99.97 percent for the last election, with 100 percent voting for the approved candidates.
The results of the 2014 elections were announced two days after the voting day.
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What Is Food Justice?
from Growing Cities Movie Plus 1 year ago Not Yet Rated
Erika Allen, Project Manager of Growing Power Chicago & daughter of famed urban farmer Will Allen, defines what food justice means to her. Check out what she has to say on this important concept & stay tuned for more sneak peeks from Growing Cities!!
This One Simple Graphic Explains The Difference Between Climate Science And Climate Politics
If you follow the news on climate change, you hear it over and over again: 97 percent of climate scientists agree that global warming is real and caused by human activity.
On Tuesday, geochemist James Lawrence Powell took that rhetoric even further, releasing a study finding that out of all 10,855 climate studies published in peer-review journals during 2013, only two of them explicitly rejected anthropogenic global warming. Put another way, that’s roughly .02 percent of published research that denies outright the existence of man-made climate change.
If those numbers sound staggering, it’s probably because of how little they affect the intense, non-scientific debate that often surrounds climate change in the political realm. Politicians tasked with making crucial decisions on national energy policy and air pollution have a propensity for ignoring the science. Approximately 56 percent, or at least 130 members, of the current Republican caucus in the House of Representatives deny the basic tenets of climate science. Sixty-six percent, or at least 30 members, of the Senate Republican caucus also deny the reality of climate change.
UN author says draft climate report alarmist, pulls out of team
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/27/us-climatechange-idUSBREA2Q1FX20140327
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:03pm EDT
(Reuters) – One of the 70 authors of a draft U.N. report on climate change said he had pulled out of the writing team because it was “alarmist” about the threat.
Richard Tol told Reuters he disagreed with some findings of the summary to be issued in Japan on March 31.
“The drafts became too alarmist,” the Dutch professor of economics at Sussex University in England said by telephone from Yokohama, Japan, where governments and scientists are meeting to edit and approve the report.
But he acknowledged some other authors “strongly disagree with me”.
The final draft says warming will disrupt food supplies, slow economic growth, and may already be causing irreversible damage to coral reefs and the Arctic.
“The report is a product of the scientific community and not of any individual author,” the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in a statement. “The report does not comprehensively represent the views of any individual.”
It said Tol notified it in September that he was withdrawing from the team writing the summary. He had been invited to Japan to help the drafting and is also the coordinating lead author of a sub-chapter about economics.
Tol, who has sometimes been at odds with other scientists in the past by pointing to possible benefits from global warming, had not made his pullout widely known until now.
The report will help governments prepare a deal to cut rising greenhouse gas emissions, mainly by shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energies, at a summit in Paris in late 2015.
RISK AND OPPORTUNITY
Tol said the IPCC emphasized the risks of climate change far more than the opportunities to adapt. A Reuters count shows the final draft has 139 mentions of “risk” and 8 of “opportunity”.
….(read more).
Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) Accuses Scientists of ‘Outright Fraud’
climatebrad
3/26/14: At a meeting of the House Science Committee, Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) tells White House Science Advisor John Holdren that he believes scientists are committing “outright fraud” and “bad acts” under cover of the peer-review process.
Kerry Emanuel Testifies In Defense Of Climate Science
Uploaded on Apr 1, 2011
3/31/11: MIT climate scientist Kerry Emanuel defends the science of climate change at a House Committee on Science and Technology hearing chaired by Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX).
House Science Committee of Climate Denial
3/26/14: The chair, vice chair, and other members of the House Science Committee express contempt for climate science at a hearing with White House Science Advisor John Holdren.
Rep. Rohrabacher House Floor speech regarding climate change
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNeZ-mT7gMg
RepDanaRohrabacher
Published on Jul 2, 2012 6-29-12
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Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center Staff
John Rumpler
Senior Director, Clean Water for America Campaign and Senior Attorney
On staff: 1988-1993; 2003-present
B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and Philosophy Prize at Tufts University; J.D. Northeastern University School of Law
John directs Environment America's efforts to protect our rivers, lakes, streams and drinking water. John’s areas of expertise include lead and other toxic threats to drinking water, factory farms and other sources of agribusiness pollution, algal blooms, fracking and the federal Clean Water Act. John has coordinated several successful campaigns to win a cleanup plan for the Chesapeake Bay, enact the federal Clean Water Rule, and implement state policies to curb runoff pollution. He has testified before Congress and co-authored several reports on fracking, agribusiness pollution and lead in schools' drinking water. He previously worked as a staff attorney for Alternatives for Community & Environment and Tobacco Control Resource Center. John lives in Brookline, Mass., with his family, where he enjoys cooking, running, playing tennis, chess and building sandcastles on the beach.
Full staff list
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Roosevelt Administration essays
Distinguished jurist, effective administrator, but poor politician, William Howard Taft spent four uncomfortable years in the White House. Large, jovial, conscientious, he was caught in the intense battles between Progressives and conservatives, and got scant credit for the achievements of his administration. Born in 1857, the son of a distinguished judge, he was graduated from Yale, and returned to Cincinnati to study and practice law. He rose in politics through Republican judiciary appointmen...
America's Huge Natural Resources And Market
Life Did Get Better For Many Americans In The 1930's. How Far Was Roosevelt Responsible For This Roosevelt and his New Deal pioneered the American recovery programme, however there were a number of other factors which contributed towards improving life for the American people. When Roosevelt came into power he had four main aims, get Americans back to work, protect their savings and property, providing relief for the sick, old and unemployed and get American industry and agriculture back on thei...
Speech By President Roosevelt
1. Source A is a speech made by Governor F.D. Roosevelt in 1930, when the Depression was really beginning to bite. He says that Central Government has a responsibility to those citizens who are in real trouble, or even starving, to help those people. Source B is another speech from Gov. Roosevelt, this time in 1932, while campaigning to become President. He says that the times call for bold, sweeping changes that will involve the forgotten man at the bottom of the pyramid. He is promising to reb...
Herbert Hoover And Theodore Roosevelt Great Depression
Most Americans suffered from Great Depression from 1929 to 1939. Herbert Hoover and Theodore Roosevelt were the two presidents during the years of the Great Depression. Many people see that Hoover failed and Roosevelt did not. Roosevelt and Hoover both tried to save the economy but both did not benefit everyone to the same degree. During the Great Depression, Hoover remained convinced that the economy was doing well and that the government should not interfere with it. In response, he focused on...
New Deal Administration Under Franklin Roosevelt
On July 2, 1932, at the Democratic National Convention, the crowd listened intently to the phrase", I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people". The New Deal name was soon applied to the program of reform and recovery instituted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During the early part of the Great Depression, the economy had ground to a halt as a result of the stock market crashing and the unemployment rates skyrocketed as businesses shut down. Only a very small portion of th...
Time For Roosevelt's Third Term
The world has known many great leaders, especially in the post-Civil War era. Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Harry Truman all rank with the most prominent leaders of all time. However, in my opinion President Franklin Roosevelt made the most difference out of anybody in this century. He began a new era in American history by ending the Great Depression that the country had succumbed to in 1929. Without him ending the Depression, who knows where this country could have gone? His ...
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Oral-History:Arthur McComas
About Arthur McComas
Arthur McComas was born in Baltimore in 1921. After high school, he worked for over a year at the Glenn Martin factory, and then took a month long course in basic electronics at Johns Hopkins University. In 1943, McComas began working at Bendix Radio, starting in the test department then becoming a lab technician in microwave engineering. He was drafted into the Navy in about 1944, serving two years and participating in the electronic training Eddy program. McComas returned to Bendix after leaving the military and was re-hired as a junior engineer. During the course of his long career at Bendix, McComas was involved in many projects including ASR-3, SAGE, weather observation radar, ARIA, ATCRBS, MLS, Mark 15 and ADVENT, and became part of management. He was also active in the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA), serving on many special committees for U.S. National Aviation Standards. McComas retired from Bendix in 1986 and holds eight patents.
In this interview, McComas talks about his long career at Bendix Radio. The many projects he worked on are discussed, along with the issues and challenges involved in avionics and aeronautics. Working with military and civilian customers – such as the Air Force, FAA and airlines – is also covered, along with the creation of standards and changes in air traffic control. McComas also talks about working with other Bendix divisions in Fort Lauderdale and Ann Arbor, the failure of certain projects, and the changes to the company in the 1980s. He also discusses how he saw himself more as an ‘employed entrepreneur’ than a manager, and mentions some of his colleagues such as Dick Abel, Fred Kitty and George Church.
ARTHUR McCOMAS: An Interview Conducted by Sheldon Hochheiser, IEEE History Center, 14 October 2010
This manuscript is being made available for research purposes only. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the National Electronics Museum and to the IEEE History Center. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the National Electronics Museum and the Director of IEEE History Center.
Arthur McComas, an oral history conducted in 2010 by Sheldon Hochheiser, IEEE History Center, Hoboken, NJ, USA and the National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, MD, USA
Interview: Arthur McComas
Location: National Electronics Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
Background and Glenn Martin
Okay. It's October the 14th, 2010. This is Sheldon Hochheiser of the IEEE History Center. I am here at the National Electronics Museum in Baltimore, Maryland interviewing Art McComas, who is going to tell us about his career at Bendix. Good afternoon.
McComas:
Good afternoon, Sheldon.
I'm pretty good. Little wet but otherwise unscathed.
Yeah, it's wet out there. If we can start with a bit of background. When were you born?
1921, July, in Baltimore.
Were you raised in Baltimore as well?
Born and raised in Baltimore city, yes.
What did your parents do?
My father was a building manager. Both my parents were very musical and had degrees in voice from the Peabody Institute and my mother also had a degree in piano. They had part time careers in churches, opera and other similar choral societies.
Were you interested in technology and gadgets or science as a youth?
I was, but I had no inclination toward electronics until I was offered a job in that field.
What led you from high school to the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft company rather than some other opportunity?
Well, I was fresh out of high school.
And I had no experience or special training, I had only a high school diploma from Poly which as most Marylanders know is a very highly rated technical high school. When I got around to looking for a job that was the only job available. While it was not to my liking, I had to take it because my family was not situated to consider college or for me to sit around and do nothing. I worked the night shift in the factory at the Martin company for about a year and a half at 20 dollars a week. That was my starting salary, a magnificent sum in those days I guess.
Of course, you also have to figure out what things cost in 1940.
And then you were at Glenn Martin for about a year and a half?
About a year and a half, yes.
And where did you go from there?
Well I left Martin because there was no possibility for advancement except in the factory. The company absolutely refused to transfer me into the engineering department.
Which is what you wanted?
Well, I felt I wanted to work in a more professionally oriented situation. I didn't have a profession, you understand. But the Martin factory just seemed like a dead end career path so I left.
Starting at Bendix, Radar, A.E. Abel
I soon found out that this was not a smart thing to do in the middle of a war and as an unemployed draft age teenager it was difficult to find work. Fortunately the Johns Hopkins University offered a course in basic electronics at the Homewood campus under the direction of Professor Ferdinand Hamburger. I think the objective was to train personnel to work in the Bendix plants. I took the course, which lasted about a month as I recall, and then Bendix Radio offered me a job.
That gave you the bit of experience, the bit of knowledge you needed to get the position at Bendix?
Yes. As little as it was, it was what I needed because electronics was a very unknown subject I guess you'd say.
So when did you start at Bendix?
I started Bendix in 1943, I'm not sure of the exact dates.
Well that's okay.
I was hired at the Towson plant but I first worked in the test department at a plant located on Monument Street in Baltimore where they assembled communications equipment for the British. I was soon put in charge of testing and calibrating UHF direction finder antennas which were placed across Great Britain and performed an important air ground communications service during the war.
Was this part of the radar system?
No, these weren't radars. These were communications systems including direction finders and command centers. Some of them were mobile and some were for fixed installations and those included portable plywood buildings. I worked there for about a year and then I requested a transfer to the Engineering Department at Towson
And you did this for about a year or so?
I believe it was about a year or so and I began to feel the need for advancing a little bit beyond the test department. I applied to transfer to the radar- engineering department. The word radar was effectively classified during the war so it was called the microwave engineering department. They were developing several radar systems there and I was hired as a laboratory technician.
Okay. So as a laboratory technician what role did you play in the building of these radars?
Well it varied, but I did more than just lab work. For example my boss, Sid Bainbridge, was having trouble getting drawings from the drafting department to put in the shop to have parts fabricated. So I said find me a drafting table which he did and I was able to help him in that way. I assembled and tested equipment and performed various functions like brazing waveguide and integrating the system in trailers, that sort of thing. Also I had a lot of microwave test equipment available to fool around with and I was able to learn a whole lot about things I would never have had the chance to fool with anywhere else. Also, I did some field work and systems integration tasks. One example of this happened when the engineers were busy getting their own pieces of gear ready to begin field-testing and someone happened to notice that the search antenna was not connected to the radar transmitter and receiver. So I was directed to figure out something quickly so field testing could begin. I designed and assembled a wave-guide run and showed it to the engineers who thought it was fine. Then the resident Navy officer came into the trailer took one look and said, oh no no - that won’t do at all. It turned out that my waveguide assembly blocked the spot he had picked for the coffee pot. So I was redirected to add whatever bends and twists it took to unblock the coffee pot space. I had the feeling when I finished that radar performance took a severe hit.
Who was your boss?
The chief engineer of that department was A.E. Abel - everyone called him Dick, a very interesting man. Very colorful.
Since he was colorful, can you tell me a bit about him?
Oh, I could tell you all kinds of stories. [Laughter] We all held him in awe, I guess because he was quite volatile. If he liked you, you could tell. If he didn't like you, you'd better watch out because sooner or later you would have a problem. I got along with him pretty well, at least I never had a problem with him. He would say and do things that today I guess would not be tolerated. I recall one story that circulated about him involving an incident at the brazing bench. We used to store carbon tetrachloride, which was used extensively for cleaning circuitry and also for filling the fire extinguisher and lacquer thinner in the same kind of red safety cans. One day someone had a fire on the brazing bench and the extinguisher was used. The lab supervisor told one of the female lab assistants to refill it. Sometime later there was another little fire and, when somebody used the fire extinguisher, there was a big fire. She apparently had refilled the fire extinguisher with lacquer thinner. Later a very authoritative gentleman strode into the reception area and asked the receptionist to release the door into the secure area. She asked to see his badge and he responded that he was from the FBI and was investigating the arson and didn’t need a clearance. Dick Abel observed this from his office and confronted the gentleman. A discussion ensued and Abel said it wasn't arson, it was just a simple mistake. To this the visitor responded “I'll be the judge of that,” and again started to enter the secure area. Abel got in the guy's face and said, “Get out of here and don't come back without the proper clearance.” He never came back as far as anyone knew.
Navy and Eddy Program
Was there a lot of pressure due to wartime needs to get things done quickly?
Oh, yes. I primarily worked on a ground control approach system or GCA. It's comprised of two radars, one that provides search data, and the other that gives precise range, azimuth and altitude position of the aircraft relative to the approach path for aircraft on approach. Radar displays in the trailer provide this data to controllers who then gave voice commands to the aircraft by radio. Bendix built the first GCA for the Navy, the MPN1. It was just being delivered about the time I was drafted. What had happened was that when I left Martin they attempted to change my mind about leaving by threatening that I was going to be drafted. Apparently they made sure that happened. I had only remained out of the service as long as I did because my father was terminal with a heart condition and they deferred me until he passed on. In any event, the MPN1 was built and we tested it at what had been the Curtis Wright Airport on Smith Avenue.
Smith Avenue here in Baltimore?
In Baltimore near Pikesville, yes.
So when did you get drafted?
I believe it was 1944. Again, my dates are a little cloudy.
Well, just get in the ballpark. Somewhere in the middle of the war.
What happened there was the Army was the logical place to go. I hoped for something a little better than what I expected to get from the Army and I learned that the Navy had launched a huge electronic training campaign. It was known as the Eddy program.
Right, several other people I've interviewed have mentioned that.
I think the electronics industry after the war grew up around the Eddy people. It was a very interesting experience. I went through boot camp and then I was sent to various Navy schools. In the course of doing that, I contracted scarlet fever, and that led to viral pneumonia and extended stays in various Navy hospitals.
So you spent an awful lot of your time in the Navy in the hospital?
A lot of it, yes. In those days, viral pneumonia was untreatable, they just put you to bed until it either got better or you died. I didn't see anybody die from it but I remember I had been going to a school, the Bliss Electrical School in Takoma Park, a suburb of Washington DC that the Navy took over as one of the primary schools in the Eddy program. I complained to the medical technician stationed there that I didn't feel well so he sent me over to the Bethesda Naval hospital. To get there I had to ride a public bus across Washington to get to Bethesda. They examined me and sent me back to the school on the bus. Two days later, I heard an ambulance siren and then these guys walk in with a stretcher. [Laughter] I was not allowed out of bed for 30 days.
That's quite a way to learn what the test results were. Did you manage to learn a good bit of electronics in the Navy?
Oh yes. It was a repeat of much of what I'd had at Hopkins and learned the hard way at Bendix. A lot of it had to do with Navy-specific equipment, but it was a good education. It served me well because I was unable to complete college for various reasons and what I had gotten from my experience at Bendix and training in the Navy and so forth stood me well throughout my career. And also my Poly education, I don't want to leave Poly out of it. Also after the war, I attended the Johns Hopkins University at night for a number of years but did not graduate.
Certainly going to a good technically oriented high school was very useful. Now were you in the Navy for two years?
I think it was about two years. As I say, much of it was spent in hospitals and classrooms.
Junior Engineer, Flightweight, Taxicab Radio
And then when you left the Navy you went back to Bendix?
Now I guess it was a standard procedure to rehire the veterans?
Well after the war things were beginning to slow down from the heated pace during the war, when hiring people and taking on anybody who could spell engineer. I guess I'd made an impression on Dick Abel because he hired me back as a junior engineer and I really had no qualifications for that job other than what he knew about me. That was the start of my engineering career.
So in a sense, that's how you became an engineer?
I probably couldn't spell the word, but I was one. [Laughter]
And what facility did you go back to at Bendix?
Oh, I went back to the Towson facility and by that time the organization had changed a lot. It had evolved from multiple departments to one big engineering department under Abel. I was thrown into the midst of this reorganization. Many engineers who were there when I left for the Navy were gone when I returned and I never knew why.
What was your first assignment when you came back as a junior engineer?
Oh, it was mostly factory follow up at first, but then I began to get into a little design work. The Bendix Corporation had somehow conceived the notion that everybody was going to have airplanes after the war and began things that didn’t survive the post-war economy.
There were lots of predictions floating around at the end of the war.
I understand this was one of Vincent Bendix’s fixations. He was primarily an entrepreneur. He didn't spend much time doing anything. He just started these things on a whim and if they flourished, fine, if they didn't, he'd move onto the next thing like washing machines, whatever. In any event, I got caught up in that because Bendix Radio had launched a line of inexpensive avionics for use in small airplanes that they thought everybody was going to have. Just about the time I arrived back at Bendix they let go of the engineers who had done all the design work because they began to see the smoke was clearing and these things weren't selling as fast as they had anticipated. I was put in the midst of this and I had to pick up support for the whole product line which was named Flightweight. It consisted of air to ground communications gear. I also designed a couple of radios, some of which went into production. But due to the post war economy and unrealistic expectations, the Flightweight product line was soon abandoned.
It stopped because it proved not to be something that was commercially viable.
And what was your reaction to working on a program that ultimately did not succeed in the marketplace?
Oh, I worked on a couple of them. Flightweight was the first one. Another had to do with taxicab radios. After the war, what was known as the King George transceiver, the SCR522, which had been built by the thousands by Bendix was put on the surplus market and being used by some cab companies. The SCR522 was about yay big, weighed probably 70 pounds, and provided four channel UHF tuning using a mechanical tuning device. Although they were cheap, around twenty-five dollars as I recall, they used a lot of 24-volt power and took up a lot of space so they were not what the cab market needed. So Bendix Radio launched a product line directed at capturing a large segment of this upcoming market. As it developed Bendix, unlike its usual practice of using engineers they already employed, hired an engineer from outside the company to develop this taxicab radio. I guess he knew what he was doing, but he designed this radio and then left Bendix. No one else had been privy to his work when I was assigned to work for him just a week or two before his exit. I never knew exactly why he departed but I remember that he told me that one of the senior engineers was out to get him and was spying on him. I concluded he was either paranoid or odd - I never quite figured him out. In any event, after he left I inherited this radio that didn't work very well.
So your job was then to get it to work.
Yes, and that involved a lot of lab and field work. Bendix had arranged for a field evaluation program with a local company, the Diamond Cab company, which was located in the Waverly section of Baltimore. I think about 50 or 100 or so units were manufactured and installed in Diamond’s cabs. Well, to make a long story short, they didn't work very well in the field. The failure pattern soon became obvious. After installation they'd work for a week or two and then die. So I spent much of my time at Diamond, the drivers all got to know me pretty well. After a while they'd pull in the shop, open the trunk and go get a cup of coffee.
And leave you to stare at the radio?
Leave me to stare. Well I soon figured out what was wrong with the radio and that fix became routine. The IF transformer coils had been wound on very unstable material and they simply drifted as heat exposure shrank the coils. So it was just a matter of retuning the IF’s and he's back on the street in five or ten minutes.
Did the project lead anywhere? Were you able to develop the radio so that it didn't need to be retuned every week?
No. Actually, although the radio was an attractive package, the price was right and I think the market timing was such that a slightly better piece of equipment could have been very successful, no question about it. But Bendix simply threw in the towel. We were building railroad radios at the time which were very large, heavy and quite expensive to manufacture. Much more expensive than the cab market would have supported. I think Bendix considered possibly attempting to develop a better product but it never materialized. So that experience led nowhere. I worked briefly on the railroad radio project under Bob Edwards. It was a successful product line for many years.
But the taxi radios proved not to be?
They proved not to be for Bendix. It was a case of where, it seemed to me, had they gone just a little bit further and improved product quality using tested materials and circuitry that they knew would work, the product line could have been highly successful. Instead, the market was abandoned and Motorola became the prime supplier for this type of commercial radio equipment.
ASR-3, ASR-4 and FAA
And what did you move onto after the taxicab radios?
Oh, let's see. I think I was assigned to military communications projects after that. I'm not exactly sure. I worked on some command sets for the Air Force. Then I moved on to radar. I was assigned to a chap by the name of Fred Kitty who had several new projects under way. One was a portable search radar for the Swiss and another for a cloud height finding K band radar nomenclatured the TPQ6 for Fort Monmouth. The most interesting aspect of that program was the antenna. Bendix corporate headquarters listened to an antenna expert consultant from Bell Labs who insisted that the antenna should use stepped lens technology. What no one seemed to realize was that such an antenna did not lend itself well to physical design and manufacturing processes. It turned out to be a monstrosity that failed to approach its design objectives by a wide margin and had to be replaced with a parabolic dish. After that we developed the ASR-3 airport radar for the FAA. The first system was installed at Friendship, now called BWI. That was an interesting experience.
What was interesting about it?
Well, Bendix had never been in the airport radar business and so we had to develop a new product. It went very well, actually. My assignments had to do with the indicator design and associated system integration tasks. I encountered a severe problem in finding a way to meet the FAA design specification which required the radar display to be capable of off-centering the origin by a full diameter of the display CRT. The state of the display art in those days was that the radar display was generated using a mechanically rotated yoke that surrounded the neck of the cathode ray tube and was synchronized with the antenna rotation. To achieve off-centering another set of fixed coils surrounds the rotating coil and DC currents are applied to its four coils to displace the display origin. I searched the industry for suitable display components but found nothing suitable. So in desperation I conceived the idea of constructing an off- centering yoke that provided a more symmetrical magnetic field pattern by overlapping the four coils. For this idea, I was granted patents in the US, the UK, Germany, France and Australia. The ASR-3 program transformed itself into a product that the US Air Force needed for an entirely different purpose. They were developing a national air defense system at the time and they needed a radar that would fill in the gaps between long range radars, the L-band lower frequency radars. And they needed something like the ASR-3 to do this. We were already in the production phase so to make matters simple, we just simply manufactured more of them, painted them a different color, and the Air Force purchased them.
So this was at Friendship?
Well, the first ASR-3 was installed there, yes.
Okay, but your customer was the Air Force, not the FAA?
Sorry, the ASR-3 customer was the FAA. The US Air Force purchased essentially the same radar system, minus the display components and called it the FPS-14.
Okay, because then you were saying the Air Force. You just got me confused.
Certainly the Air Force and the FAA are -
[Interposing] They are different entities.
But they are certainly both groups who need these sorts of radar systems.
They both need radar systems.
You got me confused a bit.
That's quite all right.
Our contract was with the FAA for the ASR-3. And that led the Air Force to buy basically the same equipment, which they called the FPS-14. Subsequently, the Air Force decided these produced too much ground clutter. So, we were contracted to develop a traveling wave tube coherent radar, the FPS-18. The Air Force bought oodles of those to use as gap fillers for the National Air Defense System. Interesting[ly] enough, the FAA then came back to us later and wanted to buy the FPS-18 (in ASR form of course) to replace all the existing ASRs. Bendix was willing to paint FPS-18s another color and sell them to the FAA as ASR-4s, but an interesting thing happened on the way to the bank. As a business strategy decision that turned out to be very bad, Bendix attempted to leverage its position on the ASR-4 for another purpose. I was talking earlier about the GCAs which the military used extensively throughout and after the war so naturally the FAA considered possible civil GCA service and they ordered several units which Bendix supplied and called them PAR-2s I believe. Some in the FAA, however, questioned the wisdom of taking on this operational responsibility, and possibly the liability of controlling airplanes to touchdown. So a huge battle went on within the government about whether they should do this or not. The technical elements in the FAA felt they needed better equipment to evaluate the operational application and so Bendix had been contracted to develop the PAR-2. It never quite met its specification so far as the antenna patterns were concerned. It had been specified right up to the theoretical limits. Bendix had delivered these systems but the FAA hadn't yet accepted them when the FAA made the decision to not provide GCA services. Bendix decided to apply a little strategy and said that they were not going to sell the FPS-18s unless the FAA accepted the PAR-2s. It was a pointless bluff because by that time the FAA couldn't go along. So they refused the offer and the FAA went out on a new contract for the ASR-4. We bid but lost and after that Bendix was effectively out of the airport radar business.
But still in the business with the Air Force?
Well yes. They continued to manufacture those and of course, we built a lot of long range radars for the Air Force, which I had no part in. But I knew about it. It was part of the radar department.
Now you were in the radar engineering department at this point?
And reporting still to Dick Abel?
SAGE, Weather Radar
So after this fiasco with the FAA, what did you move onto in your own work?
Let me think. I think after that, IBM under an Air Force contract, was building a huge control center for the National Air Defense System. They call it the SAGE system and it was huge.
Very famous.
Very famous. Our exposure, I was told, came about because the Air Force felt IBM didn't understand radar technology and yet they had to deal with it in these computers. So I think they pressured IBM into giving Bendix a subcontract for parts of the computer system. Well, we couldn’t spell digital at the time they did this but it was a cost plus contract. What we were tasked to do was to develop and build all the SAGE input equipment. This was quite extensive - it was handling the long range radar and gap-filler data plus some other things. The equipment was just unbelievably gigantic because this came before the availability of solid-state circuitry. In today's terms, you couldn't imagine something like that because everything was so huge, and consequently you had to deal with very high power levels because of the vacuum tube circuitry. These buildings were about a city block in size. They were huge reinforced concrete structures and had all kinds of gimmicks in them. I don't know whatever happened to them because after about a year I went on to other assignments. I think the SAGE system must have finally been buried because it was so huge and monstrous and they couldn't just hide it. I really don't know the history of what happened.
You had this small little piece and then -
We had this small little piece, which was very challenging. But what I wanted to say about it, in the course of working with IBM, they educated us in the emerging digital world. That really proved to be very important to Bendix's future. I found through experience that, contrary to the Air Force’s expectations, IBM had little regard for any ideas we attempted to give them.
Were you involved in weather observation radar?
Well, yes. Later on.
That's later, though?
Well actually, that had been earlier. I have discussed my work with Fred Kitty and the development of the ASR-3. Well, one day Fred came into the department, called us all who reported to him directly into his office. Then without opening any of the folders he handed each of us those papers associated with our assignments. Then with no further explanation, he said he was moving his office to another part of the building. We later learned that he had been indicted for a security charge, part of the aftermath of the McCarthy turmoil. After pleading guilty, Fred was sent to a federal prison. I later uncovered clear evidence that the violation he was charged with was a direct result of an error in the way that Bendix Radio processed security clearances and was certainly not due to any intentional fraud on Fred’s part. But that is a whole other story for another day.
George Church, whom I had known for many years, replaced Fred and took us in a whole new direction. George was a pilot and had a great interest in aviation matters. The military departments had been using weather radars on their aircraft for years, I guess starting during the war. I don't really know when it started. The technology was pretty well established, at least as far as the military was concerned. Bendix was heavily into the avionics field, having supplied about three quarters of all the avionic equipment in U.S. aircraft during the war and was trying to develop an entree to the commercial airline market, which it did ultimately with great success. Over time, Bendix became one of, if not the, biggest supplier of electronic equipment to the air transport industry. In any event, George Church, who had been an Air Force officer, conceived the idea of developing a weather radar product for the airline industry. The airlines were becoming interested because they could see how their schedules would benefit if they could fly around these weather disturbances and safety would be improved by not accidentally flying through them. So, George, Chuck Greenslit and others including myself launched an effort to try and sell the industry on this. It was a very interesting program.
What we actually did first was to examine the issue about what was the best frequency for this weather radar. There was a strong feeling in the industry, promoted mainly by United Airlines (UAL), in favor of C-band, which had been designated by the FCC for weather radar applications. C-band was no doubt well suited to ground weather observation, but Bendix identified several factors that favored the higher frequency X-band for aircraft application including higher resolution due to the limits imposed by the airframe on antenna size. Over time, Bendix became convinced that X-band was the better choice and participated in debates that were going on in Washington. The opposing view, maintained zealously by UAL and RCA, was that C-band provided greater penetration of the weather and thus permitted the pilot to see what was beyond the first heavy weather cells. This controversy went on for a year or two within the airline community, mainly through the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics or RTCA, which I later became deeply involved in.
In any event, George Church got us involved in a Navy supported flight test evaluation of the two frequencies. Bendix modified an X-band military weather radar that the Navy had installed in a four engine DC4 and I put together a monitor with a camera that allowed us to take time lapse photographs. RCA put together a C-band radar and installed it in a United Airlines four engine airplane. The nature of the program was to fly the two airplanes side by side and observe the same weather while simultaneously taking photographs which could later be compared. It was really very interesting because we would get together at United headquarters in Denver after each sortie and compare photographs. There is a lot of bad weather around Denver in the late summer where we did this. After I'd stay up all night developing our pictures in my hotel room, we'd project the pictures side by side on the wall. The first time we looked at them together we concluded there was really no contest, we won it cold. Well, it didn't quite turn out that way. There still remained controversy, as often these kinds of things do, and the technical aspects get all twisted up in politics and personal feelings. Bendix wound up being very successful with its X-band in most of the airline industry. United Airlines never flinched and retained the C-band forever - as far as I know they may still be using it. Virtually every other airline selected X-band because of its benefits. The best rationale that United ever presented was that they could see beyond those first cells. The FAA contradicted this view following a few near disasters when UAL planes entered heavy weather cells and chastised UAL publicly saying they were not supposed to go beyond the first cells, they were supposed to avoid them. So that is the history of air weather radar. In any event, we developed the weather radar, the RDR-1 and it became a huge product for Bendix. Strangely enough there always remained a strong mutual dislike between Bendix and United Airlines.
So your customers were basically all the airlines in the country except United?
Well, that included most foreign airlines.
Foreign airlines as well?
Yeah. Even the parts of the military bought our commercial products I think to use for their transport aircraft.
Now once it gets into that kind of production stage, does it move elsewhere, and then you're no longer involved?
Yes. The manufacturing phase became too big for Towson to handle. So they built a new plant in Fort Lauderdale and my boss, George Church, become its first general manager.
But you stayed here and moved on to other things?
Yes. Church wanted me to go, but Abel wouldn't allow it. That's what I was told at any rate. I really didn't want to go.
I was going to say, born and raised native here.
By that time I'd put down a lot of roots here.
That's what I was asking, I was suspecting that.
I was never actually given a choice. But I mean, I would have turned it down for sure.
But since Dick didn't want you to go, then you didn't have to ever confront the decision.
It never presented itself.
RTCA and Standards
Yes. So then, you're no longer involved with that particular program?
No, that wasn't quite true.
Okay, then tell me about your continued involvement once they opened the plant in Fort Lauderdale.
Well, once you get your feet wet in something it's hard to give it up. As I said earlier, I became involved in the activities of the RTCA, which formed many special committees. Eventually their main task turned out to be preparing national standards for aviation and that involved the military departments which Bendix Towson had a strong interest in. In preparing such standards, the government including those military branches that are impacted, the airline industry, and the manufacturers, had to come to agreement.
Were there representatives from all these groups on the RTCA?
Oh, yes, including all our competitors. We all met together, hashed out the details.
The main function of the RTCA was standards then?
I think it wound up that way. In the early days of the RTCA they were essentially doing that but it wasn't officially identified as a national standard. It was just sort of an agreement that was useful to the industry. I think there were some other things the airline industry agreed to. I don't remember what they were called at this time but they addressed certain problems that needed attention. I remember, for example, when I designed the cockpit indicator for the airborne weather unit, it was very densely packed. I put a pendant cable on it because that saved a little space within the cabinet itself but RTCA said, no, you can’t do that. You must have a connector mounted on it. Well, the connector took up maybe a half a cubic inch more space and that was important. I remember it because I had to go back and fix things like that.
Certainly when you're dealing with the confined space of an aircraft, any place you can save a little space.
Yes. Well it involved more than just space. I think it was the fact that airplanes are wired by one party and the equipment is built by another party and somewhere there had to be an interconnect and they didn’t want the installation to be constrained by the cable length. I participated in many RTCA special committees preparing U.S. National Aviation Standards. As a matter of fact, I was on a committee that was tasked to write the very first U.S. National Standard. It was the standard for air-ground communications equipment. The special committee was chaired by a British gentleman by the name of Featherstone. I don't know exactly why, but for some reason, he farmed out the main task – that of actually preparing the standard - to a subcommittee and RTCA appointed me the chairman of that subcommittee. It took a couple of years to get all the manufacturers, our competitors and so forth, to agree on everything. Eventually they did but Featherstone got all the credit for it. But that became the very first U.S. National Aviation Standard.
About when was this? Just ballpark is fine.
Oh golly, I suppose it was in the late-50s I'd say.
What was the ARIA program?
I think the acronym stood for the Apollo Remote Instrumented Aircraft.
So now we're moving well into the 60s?
Yes. I believe this was getting into the 60s.
Okay. Did I skip things?
Oh, probably. But you know, they all sort of blend together over time.
Well, that's okay.
At any rate, ARIA was part of the Apollo program. The Air Force was tasked to develop and operate KC-135 former tanker aircraft to do this. They were huge jet aircraft with seven-foot diameter steerable antennas mounted in the nose of the aircraft. The mission was to put these on station after each Apollo launch to fill in areas where the ground tracking stations might not have coverage. Well, the ARIA program had suffered a long political debate between NASA and the Air Force. The Air Force imposed a set of standards on the equipment that neither Bendix nor NASA felt was appropriate. At any rate, our contract was with the Air Force even though NASA played a part in it. We developed the instrumentation for these aircraft and got them operating. The problems that we had were mostly of a political nature. What happened at Bendix was that the project got off to a rocky start. The proposal had been prepared by a group of engineers who had been hired from outside the company because of their range oriented experience. When Bendix won the award the problem was that the proposal we won with was just nonsense. As a result, under the Air Force regulations, and even within the Bendix Radio organization, the program described in the proposal was unmanageable. The Air Force awarded the contract based on that original proposal and I was assigned to a team that had to make some sense out of what to do with this thing. I think it was a 20 million dollar program, so it was sizeable. I think our Vice President and General Manager became petrified about the potential consequences of failure and cost overruns. We were actually subcontracting to Douglas Aircraft who did the aircraft modifications at Tulsa, Oklahoma but were really directed by the Air Force. We were really the prime in terms of the mission system development and had the real problem. I say difficult because the proposal didn't reflect any understanding of how to build the equipment. What they had written was largely fiction. Still, we had to develop hardware and my task was to redesign the system to make it realizable. I had to take the proposal and convert it into another proposal and then sell that to the Air Force.
Which the original proposal was not?
Yes. And this was difficult because we went through cost negotiations and the Air Force officer who was directing the military side would ask a technical question based on the proposal we had submitted and I would answer from the document I had prepared and the answers often didn’t make sense. I never fully understood why the Air Force didn't just tell us to go away and forget about it, but they didn't. We wound up building it and it worked - eventually. But I think quite a few heads rolled in the wake of that program.
But eventually you were able to build something that worked?
Yes. Well I was off of it by that time.
After you got it started and got the contract renegotiated, then you moved on?
Okay, I get the timing.
Air Traffic Control, Aircraft Collision
We can back up, I think we must have skipped over a bunch of things between the weather radar and -
I think I'm talking too much already.
Well no!
If you can remind me, what did I talk about?
Okay, we talked about the weather radar for civilian aviation.
Yes, and the SAGE system.
The SAGE system. And then we skipped to ARIA and I think we must have jumped over a bunch of years there.
Oh. One thing I wanted to talk about was air traffic control. I think that's what you were maybe driving at.
Air traffic control had become a huge problem after the war because the airlines transitioned to jet aircraft which had different performance capabilities and operated at higher altitudes and moved much faster and more often. Things were changing rapidly but the air traffic control system was essentially operated by hand, you might say. They used radar information but it was processed mainly by hand. I need to clarify that when the term radar data is used in connection with ATC it really is not data from the skin reflected radar signals but from another system called the Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon (ATCRBS) system. I expect to say more about ATCRBS later. Our experience with the SAGE got me interested in the automation of the air traffic control system. During the Eisenhower administration a task force was set up at the White House to address the matter. I think it was called Airways Modernization Board. They issued an RFP for advisories or proposals on what could be done to fix it. I thought Bendix was in an excellent position from our knowledge of the SAGE system and processing radar data and that RFP looked like a great opportunity.
At the corporate level it was decided to send in help [for] us to prepare our proposal. This help from headquarters in Detroit arrived in the form of a portly gentleman who had a fixation about railroads. His total contribution to the proposal effort consisted of his idea that the ATC system should be operated in the same way as the railroads. Well, those of us attempting to prepare our proposal capitalizing on our radar processing experience by adding substance and detail to radar processing could see little if any way to adopt railroad methodology. We tried in every way to tell him this but he was unmoved by our arguments. At any rate, I made myself so very unpopular with him that he threw me off the proposal team. That was good from my perspective because I had no idea about how to write such a proposal. Here was an opportunity that could have put Bendix way ahead of a lot of the industry in ATC affairs and we had what it took to win, but we just kicked it. It was a great disappointment to me personally, and an embarrassment to Bendix.
Anything else from that period between SAGE and the civilian aircraft radar and your work with Apollo?
I'll have to tell you another story.
This matter originated during the airborne weather radar program and wound up some 30 years later with the TCAS program. It began when our avionics competitor, Collins Radio Corporation, announced that they would modify their weather radar to also provide collision prevention information to the pilot. And they began to take orders for it. Bendix Radio had a physicist working in its research department, Dr. John S. Morrel, who said, they really can't do that. Management asked him if could he prove his contention and when he said he could he was put to work preparing a paper. He then wrote a historic treatise that he named, “The Fundamental Physics of the Aircraft Collision Problem.” In this, he proved with irrefutable mathematical and scientific facts that the requirements were well beyond what any airborne radar would be capable of. In this paper, he also proposed a simple but elegant solution based on fundamental physical principles. Bendix Radio released this paper as a service to the aviation community and it pulled the rug out from under Collins Radio which was forced to withdraw its sales offer and cancel orders they had taken. Morrel simply showed that you needed more information and more precise information to predict a collision. You needed a lot of things that hadn't even been considered by Collins.
I got interested in the aircraft collision issue back in the weather radar era and this interest continued until my retirement. There was a great deal of discussion throughout the aviation community which continued for many years. It was fanned into flame by each accident or near miss. It seemed like everybody had a solution. There were all kinds of hare-brained ideas from supersonics to lasers. Bendix Avionics Division participated in an evaluation of a dedicated system using Doppler processing to derive collision probability data. I think it involved Bendix Avionics, RCA and United Airlines. Hardware was designed and tested and it worked. Bendix Radio did some flight-testing based on somehow deriving collision information using ground reflected signals The major fault with all of these schemes was that in order to implement such a system you had to equip every airplane in the fleet before there was any benefit. Well, anybody who has ever had anything to do with the industry knows you simply can't do that. Progress has to come progressively. The objective was to find a way to begin to do it and to provide some immediate benefits using what already existed and then to build on that. So as I say, this argument about what can and can't be done technically went on for many years even though Morrel had shown the way back in the 1950’s.
ATCRBS, Working with Airlines, TCAS
Through another assignment, associated with military IFF transponders, I got involved in the beacon system, generally called ATCRBS, which I referred to earlier. Beacon transponders are avionic devices that respond to signals from interrogators associated with the ground radars and provide the ATC system with the identity and altitude of aircraft in the system. The beacon system descended from military IFF systems of WWII and are required equipment for all aircraft operating within the ATC system worldwide. They respond to a signal from a special antenna that's mounted on (usually on top of) the ground radar antenna and rotates with it and sends its own interrogation signals to which the aircraft transponder replies and sends data about its identity and altitude back to the ground. The important thing is that the beacon system existed. So the name of the game became how to build a collision avoidance system around the beacon system. Dr. Morrel provided the theory and essential part of the methodology but the remaining challenge was how to implement it. His theory was based on the fact that two unaccelerated bodies moving on a collision course exhibit certain measurable physical characteristics. If one periodically measures the range between them and that range decreases at a linear rate or in other words has a first derivative equal to zero, they will collide. In a similar manner, if one also observes the angular bearing of each to the other, it also remains constant. So these two measurable physical parameters provide a measure of the probability of a collision. If either varies it indicates they are not on a collision course. Dr. Morrel felt that bearing measurement was at that time not within the state of the art but that range measurement was. He also showed that range difference measurements alone were adequate to support a collision avoidance system. In the mid 1970’s the industry had pretty much agreed that extending the use of the radar beacon system was the way to move forward. But all elements of the industry had not yet accepted this strategy and there were obstacles, I'm leading to a point here -
I know you are.
There were actually two problems that needed clarification. One involved the air traffic controllers who sensed an overlap and/or possible conflict with their activities. The answer to this concern was to demonstrate that the airborne detection worked well within the time line of the ground ATC system and provided an independent but compatible back-up to their functions. The other issue was the position taken by airline pilots who were not interested in range information. They wanted to see the other airplane, and if they could not see it through the windshield, they wanted to know what direction it was coming from so they felt they needed that information from any collision avoidance system. Through their union, ALPA, they insisted on this and so the discussions had bogged down for several years. They simply refused to accept a range only solution even though it had been clearly established to be safe and adequate. A possible entry point as I saw it was to find a way to satisfy the pilots. I had listened carefully to their arguments and I felt that it was possible to construct an aircraft antenna that would be precise enough to display the bearing to the pilots and to also support collision avoidance processing. I began to consult with one of Bendix’s antenna engineers, Allen Sinsky, an expert on phased array technology who suggested that an eight element array fed by a Butler matrix might do the job.
To make a long story short he built the antenna and I devised a system and through the RTCA primarily I promoted such a system to the industry. I applied for and was granted a patent for that system and we submitted an unsolicited proposal to the FAA based on the patent. That led the FAA to release an RFP for the development of a flight demonstration system. Bendix Radio won that award and a group of very bright youngsters led by Emory Reed developed the equipment which was installed in an FAA jet aircraft and demonstrated all over the world. It provided clear and convincing evidence that TCAS worked. However, the airlines and the FAA were convinced that the system could be safely simplified and so sometime later, under a separate contract, a simpler version - meeting the basic U. S. National Standard but lacking the precision antenna - was built by Bendix Avionics and installed on operational United Airlines aircraft. Operational evaluations were completed and that version became the model for the U.S. Standard for TCAS. Our original version still exists, at least on paper, in the National Standard, as an undeveloped super set of the U.S. National Standard and is identified as full or enhanced TCAS. The postscript to what I have talked about here is that subsequent to my retirement TCAS together with the Global Positioning System or GPS has opened up consideration of a whole new approach to ATC with shared responsibility for separation assurance. When this restructuring is fully implemented, the radar systems (that is the skin reflected radars) will likely cease to exist for ATC purposes although they may still be necessary to meet air defense needs.
Though ultimately it did not lead to a commercial product?
Oh yes, that is true, but it provided clear evidence that the system worked.
I'm confused because you're saying the airlines -
No, no, not exactly - what I am trying to say is that, in my opinion, this demonstration phase was arguably a form of bait and switch. What they saw and what the got in the TCAS Standard were not exactly the same, thanks mainly to the efforts of the airlines.
You're telling me you demonstrated this and the airlines didn't -
Well when I said Bendix, I need to explain that there were two Bendixes - one in the airline business was in Fort Lauderdale and the other in Towson which is tasked to pursue research and development and military avionics objectives. In the end the Fort Lauderdale operation benefited directly from Towson’s efforts and launched a huge new product line. And of course they had to go along with the airlines. I hope I have cleared up your confusion.
Of course, the manufacturing division in Fort Lauderdale was tasked to work with the airlines.
Okay. So you came up with this one proposal that had these eight to ten inch antennas that was a technologically excellent proposal. But the commercial system that was adopted and that Bendix was successful with?
Well, you could call it a subset of our demonstration system. The airlines simply had no interest in the more precise antenna, they wanted the simplest and cheapest collision avoidance system solution so they substituted a less precise four element array which still could provide pilots with some crude sense of direction to threats but would not be accurate enough to support collision threat processing.
Now was the less precise antenna also developed here in Towson?
No, it wasn't developed at Towson. It was suggested and promoted mainly by MIT Lincoln Laboratory in line with their support to the FAA. For the deliverable TCAS it was probably manufactured at the Fort Lauderdale facility. I was a member of the RTCA special committee that prepared the standard. Of course, I was pushing my idea but the airline industry fought it tooth and nail. Our point was that if you had two criteria, you should have less risk and greater confidence in the result of two assessments than one. But that was never really accepted. As my friend Frank White of the Air Transport Association said, better is the enemy of the good. At any rate, in the backwash of the demonstration phase Fort Lauderdale had to work with United Airlines to do an operational evaluation for the FAA. For whatever reason, which I think went back to the weather radar fiasco, Fort Lauderdale and United Airlines maintained a continuing level of mutual hostility. They didn't want to talk to each other. I got along with both so just before I retired I was asked to help them prepare their joint proposal to the FAA for the operational evaluation phase. I acted as a go-between [for] these two organizations and got a joint proposal ready to present to the FAA.
So you had to serve as a kind of intermediary between Bendix in Fort Lauderdale and the customer?
Right, but I don’t think there was much of a customer relationship at stake. They didn’t like each other and I don’t think United bought much of anything from Bendix. Also neither one of them knew how to write a proposal.
You knew how to write proposals and could talk to both. About when was this?
Oh my, this was probably in 1985. I can't remember dates very well.
Actually, that's quite sufficient. Over the years, how frequently did you work with the folks in Fort Lauderdale?
I worked with them off and on through the years. I got along with them fine because George Church was a personal friend and I had other friends down there. We often disagreed on matters but the way I saw it they were right from their perspective because they looked at customer relationships in a different way that we didn't have to concern ourselves with.
You're looking at trying to find the optimal technical solution, which isn't necessarily the same as what will fly in the marketplace.
Yes. There was another interesting sidelight to my efforts to sell my idea about TCAS. When ALPA (Airline Pilots Association) became interested in my concept they promoted it and asked me to do several things. First I was asked to meet with one of their technical committees in Miami, which I was able to do. Then they asked me to deliver a paper at their convention in Reno and also to testify before a congressional house committee. Bendix Radio management was apparently under pressure to curtail my activities in this area and would not approve my plans. I concluded that I had inadvertently stumbled into the middle of an old labor dispute between ALPA and the airlines - this was popularly referred to as the “Third Man in the Cockpit” issue. I think that my efforts were perceived by the airlines as providing support to ALPA regarding their demands for an additional crew member in the cockpit.
How did you find Bendix as a place to work through the 50s and 70s?
Excellent. It worked for me. I felt they missed some excellent opportunities as a result of corporate tinkering, but probably a lot of companies did similar things. Bendix Radio gave me a lot of freedom and support.
[End of tape 1, beginning of tape 2]
We just finished talking about the TCAS.
TCAS is now installed on all transport aircraft.
So that certainly proved to be a very successful program.
It did for the Bendix Fort Lauderdale division.
Change to Allied Signal and Honeywell
As you know the name Bendix has disappeared. Around 1982 the entire corporation transitioned first to Allied Signal and later, around 1989, to Honeywell when Bendix purchased controlling shares in Honeywell and then adopted the Honeywell name. Those of us retirees who still get together on occasion still use the name Bendix. I should note here that many of the times in my discussion I may have referred [to] a Bendix that did not legally exist. Many of us took the first transition - that is to Allied Signal - in stride but resisted as far as possible using that name.
Right. Bendix had been bought by Allied. Which then became Allied Signal, which then merged with Honeywell and the combined corporation took the Honeywell name.
Right, I get my pension check from - let's see - I get it from Honeywell, and I get my healthcare from Raytheon. I'm not going to try to explain that one, but it's very strange. That all went back to 1982 when one of the CEOs of Bendix - as you probably recall the great, what did they call it, PacMan war. Bendix bought controlling shares in Martin and Martin bought controlling shares in Bendix.
Yes, I certainly do know about that though I guess it's a bit outside.
It's outside of technology certainly.
MLS and GPS, Mark 15
The next thing you suggested I ask you about was MLS system.
The microwave landing system was another interesting experience for me. I forgot what activity I was winding up, but I was looking for something that we might pick up in the way of new business. A friend of mine in the Department of Transportation suggested we look into the microwave landing system, which was beginning to come into view as a possible replacement for the aging instrument landing system, ILS, that [had] been in use in the military and commercially throughout the world for years and years. ILS was not very precise and the equipment was huge because of the wavelengths that it used and various other factors. There was some concern that it needed some sort of replacement. The idea was to develop a system similar to the old GCA’s, except present the position data directly to the pilot so he remained in control of the airplane. The MLS program went through a number of stages. We started working with the FAA on it and oh, I don't remember exactly what happened, but we won a feasibility study. I was responsible for the proposal and the report in which we evaluated the available technology and chose some rudimentary equipment. I don't remember the exact program succession - I think it went through several stages at Bendix. I had moved on during the later phases but I remained on the RTCA Special Committee that prepared the MLS standard.
In the course of that activity it started to become evident to me that the MLS itself, even though it didn't yet exist, was dated because of the then emerging GPS system. GPS was beginning to make its way in a lot of fields. It occurred to me that the GPS could solve about 98 percent of the problems that the MLS was supposed to solve, the last two percent or so being that of automatically putting the rubber on the runway. I was aware that MLS was very hard pressed to do that. In addition, I also knew that pilots are very reluctant to give control at that stage of the flight to a machine. At any rate, GPS was making its inroads into a lot of applications and I could see it directly impacting the MLS. Notwithstanding, the FAA had launched a program, it had gone through evaluation phases, and had competitive equipments built. I began to tell our people that this program probably wasn't going to go to implementation. They didn't want to hear it because they'd already invested a great deal of time and money in it. I guess I made myself persona non grata to the MLS people because I went on to other things, that being the TCAS, among other things. I was also involved in the Mark 15, which was to replace military transponders, which had different requirements from the civil transponders.
About when was this MLS program?
MLS I guess was in the 70s sometime and it went through a number of phases. It became a big, big thing for Bendix. Actually, the real tragedy occurred when Hazeltine, I think, won the final big production contract. They built, I don’t know, many of these things but they never were accepted. I believe it was instrumental in putting Hazeltine out of business. I was thankful that we didn't win that phase. But you know, once you launch a program like that, it takes on a life of its own. There was no way that I could have affected it. So it went to its fruition, which is to say it died and went away. I think there still may be some isolated applications for MLS where very precise data is needed. But that was my experience with the microwave landing system pretty much. It went through a lot of phases. I wrote many of the proposals.
You mentioned the Mark 15.
The Mark 15 was the last military program that I worked on. It was a billion dollar contract to develop replacement transponders for the military departments which we were in competition [for] with Texas Instruments. It was an interesting program because we had to develop and test the systems with data that the government could look at and evaluate on an apples versus apples basis, which is not easy to do when you're working with a competitor. So as Program Test Director I spent a lot of time with Texas Instruments trying to figure out ways that we could do testing and evaluation on a comparable basis. Eventually, that program, for reasons I'm not savvy on, disappeared like a lot of other things. It went away. The biggest factor there being that it was a secure program. It had to be crypto-secure and that involved a lot of things that I don't really know anything about because I didn't have to deal with them myself. Cryptology is a different matter entirely.
FPS-85 and Phased Array
I want to mention another big program at Bendix Radio even though I had no part in it. [It] was a phased array radar, the FPS-85 which was constructed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to catalog space objects. I believe that system has operated, I am guessing now, for about thirty years, day and night, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I can't think of any other piece of military equipment that ever did that and kept working. It's been operational from the day it was turned on. It went through two iterations. It was built and was tested and then burned to the ground. I happened to be with my boss who was the director of engineering at the time.
Hochheiser: Who was?
Ken Molz. We were playing cards when he got the word that it had burned down. This is like a 12 story building, all concrete, steel, aluminum, and so forth. Its phased array looks south toward Cape Canaveral. It spawned a lot of phased array expertise at Bendix, which I had several opportunities to capitalize on in my work. At any rate, it burned to the ground and it was in the process of acceptance testing. I think the documents showed that it technically had been accepted, so they were the Air Force's embers instead of ours. Bendix was given a second chance and as you might expect, they did a better job the second time. I think Bendix should take a huge amount of pride in that phased array technology. There were many other phased arrays built by the military in the course of the ballistic missile intercept programs. They operated for a period and then they went away. I don’t know that any of them ever survived or what's being done today. I suppose that as long as that program keeps coming up on an international level, they'll keep trying to build these radars.
ADVENT System and Satellite Communications
What was the ADVENT system?
I guess I didn't talk much about satellite communications.
No, you haven't, so I brought it up.
That had an interesting history also. I had worked on command sets – radios - for some years, as I said, early on. My boss, the department head at the time, Bill Richardson, had a contract with the Wright Patterson Air Force Base to build a command set. There was a paragraph in that specification that required the radio to work with satellite communications systems. Well, this was at a time when nobody had satellite communications. The military departments were fighting a three way battle for which was going to get control and it was a huge political mess in Washington among the tri-service groups. Richardson called me in one day and said, I got this paragraph in my specification and I don't know what to do about it. I told him I have no idea either, but I will try and find out. So he put me to work and sent me out to Wright Patterson to spend some time with his customer. I got to know the customer very well however he didn't know either. [Laughter] He had simply been told to put the requirement in his contract. And so, working with him, we began to establish some sort of a mutual understanding of what it might be and what it wouldn't be. And we established some of its limitations. These understandings were very crude at the time, of course, but through our helpful relationship we were given a contract by the Air Force to build a SATCOM ground station. This was interesting because nobody knew anything about what it was required to do. We had the contract. It was cost plus, it was fine.
However, I think some people in the corporation began to see that this could turn into something big having to do with satellite communications and maybe we ought to get interested in this. I was given a new boss by our division, George Sanner, a very talented engineer. He saw the potential of where this could go better than anybody else in the division. They simply saw it as business as usual. The project was named STEER by the Air Force and it allowed us to explore virtually all of the military departments as to their plans and objectives. Unfortunately STEER went away when DOD turned the responsibility for SATCOM ground stations over to the Army. I had contacts at Fort Monmouth who called me one day and asked me to come up and tell them what we knew about SATCOM because they knew we were working for the Air Force. Sometime after that the Army initiated a large SATCOM program which they code-named ADVENT. Bendix Radio was at that time in an excellent position to win a major contract under ADVENT and we went after it aggressively.
When an RFP was issued for the development of ground stations we prepared to respond, however the corporation took a different approach. Even as we were working with the Army on it at our division the corporation decided [to] set up a whole new division in Ann Arbor, Michigan they named the Bendix Systems Division. They staffed this with college professors, recent graduates and other academics who were able to spend a lot of money but they didn't know much about the real world, at least that is what I concluded. The result was they built a big space test facility there in Ann Arbor which never got used as far as I know, or got used very little. When the Army RFP came out headquarters directed that the new division would be responsible for the proposal and the Radio Division was to assist them. Under the program, the satellite was to be built by GE and Bendix Systems Division was to develop the satellite package while the Radio Division was to build all hardware. Philco was building the telemetry equipment. I got involved in a lot of the interface discussions and soon discovered that the equipment from these three companies wouldn’t work together. Within Bendix we at Towson had great difficulty determining what we had to build for the ground stations. I recall following the engineer responsible for the design all over Ann Arbor to get some idea of the scope of our construction effort. When we finally cornered him he drew a block diagram on a bar napkin of the system showing “two flip flops and a NAN gate.” Subsequently this block diagram evolved into 19 full racks of equipment.
I got tangled up in that, but eventually we got these things solved. The equipment to be launched in the space vehicle was to be designed in Ann Arbor but Towson was to build it. After they designed this thing at Ann Arbor it didn't work so they sent it down to us and said, fix it. So we had the job of trying to fix something that was intrinsically [a] poor design. In the meantime, the launch schedule had been set up and everybody was working frantically to meet that. As it turned out, the launch vehicle - I think it was an Atlas Centaur Rocket - got scrapped or something. This let everybody off the hook. It was a great solution to most of these military screw-ups, you know?
So after all this work, then the project simply got cancelled?
Yes well, ADVENT got canceled. But what happened next was that NASA, which was interested in satellite communications, had been working with the Hughes Corporation. Hughes, as you know, was one of the SATCOM pioneers and they came up with a brilliant scheme for a synchronous orbit satellite using single sideband technology, the name of the program was Syncom. The Army then came to the Bendix Radio Division and said, we want you to develop two transportable ground stations to work with the Hughes satellite. They made it clear that they did not want any part of the Bendix Systems Division involved in the new contract. It was a very interesting experience.
In what ways?
It started out with the Air Force, and then with the Army, then with NASA and the Army. NASA couldn't understand why the Army specified certain things, such as the trailers having to pass the Munson road test. I don't know if you've ever heard of the Munson road test.
It's an Army test course at Aberdeen Proving Ground, or it used to be, I don't know what it is today. If, for an example, you took a commercial trailer and put it over that test course it would likely come out in pieces. It just destroyed anything you put on it. NASA couldn't understand why their equipment had to go through it. We didn't understand it either, but that was typical of what happened when the Army tried to put their stamp on anything. Hughes and NASA launched the first synchronous orbit satellite. As I recall it was placed in an inclined synchronous orbit - you know, it wasn't stationary like it is today because of the limitations of the propellant vehicles available at that time. We built two mobile stations with transportable 30-foot antennas. I was involved in that program. After that -
[Interposing] These were mobile ground stations?
Yes, two were mobile, one in New Jersey and one in Camp Roberts, California.
Okay. So it then got repositioned for Syncom?
Yes. Syncom was the first synchronous orbit satellite, a very successful program. As I say, my boss George Sanner could see where everything was going but the corporation saw it differently and took a different tack.
Ship Board Antenna, Management, ‘Employed Entrepreneur’
I did win a later program - the Navy wanted a ship board antenna to work with tactical communications satellites.
These were ship board antennas to communicate with satellites?
Yes, which at the time was a tough deal because Navy ship-board electronics testing is pretty brutal.
So I got a contract to build this equipment and I set up a new department. Then the company immediately sent me away to a sensitivity training course and by the time I got back, the department was largely out of control because it was one of the few available charges that were active within the division. People were loading on to it and as a result, my customer canceled the contract. I did salvage the antenna design for the Navy but I have no information on what became of it. I mean, the antenna structure which was conceived to pass the Navy ship board test - popularly known as the hammer blow test to simulate heavy gunfire shock. I can't think of anything I've omitted here.
You just mentioned a group. At what point in your career did you start managing people?
Well that was one of my weaknesses, I think. I was perhaps not very good at managing people.
But nonetheless, you did.
I had the responsibility. I guess results often weren't very good, at least that must have been the management’s view.
Why do you say that?
Well, I never progressed in the management area even though I professed to want to at the time. In retrospect I'm glad it didn’t work out because it probably would not have been wise since I have always been one who I guess would be characterized as telling it as it was. Not a desirable attribute for managers.
It's a different skill-set from being a good engineer.
I wasn't really that good an engineer, to tell you the honest truth. I was more of an entrepreneur, I guess, an employed entrepreneur. I think that many of the really good engineers I came in contact with were great at design but often could not see beyond the details while I think that, at least in comparison to most, I had some ability and incentive to think “out of the box” and to see the bigger picture, as it were.
Good at finding? Can you expand on that - what do you mean by employed entrepreneur?
Well, I took on the task of finding new business which function is normally conducted by marketing organizations. As an engineer I sniffed out where it was potentially and when I couldn't prove to anybody it was there I just pursued it more on a personal level for a long time before I would get any acknowledgement or support from the company. It sometimes led to contracts, which I didn't become involved in, probably for good reason.
Any particular notable such contracts that come to mind that we haven't talked about?
I'd have to go through my notes and I don't want to do that if I can spare you.
Then they don't come to mind?
OK, maybe MLS and TCAS were examples.
I did and that's led to most of the questions I've asked you. What was the APX-10?
The APX-10, I don't know. APX-10.
Am I reading correctly?
Oh yes. I believe that was the Navy weather radar unit that we modified and used in the weather flight test evaluation.
Allied, ATC and Surveillance
What effect if any did [the] Allied acquisition of Bendix in '82 have on your work or Towson in general?
Well, I can't think of anything notable. There were probably shifts in management as a result of our continued conflict with some of the other divisions. For example, the corporation must have realized the futility of the Bendix Systems Division operation and decided to terminate it. In its death throes it was turned over to Bendix Radio to complete some weird projects that they had begun there, and I was part of that and I guess I felt good helping to finally drive a stake through its heart.
There is one other area I would like to talk about related to air traffic control. I got the idea of a different way to use the ATCRBS system to greatly enhance the ATC system in terms of surveillance data integrity, accuracy, interference, data rate and general effectiveness. I was granted a patent for this in 1977, it was my last patent. Based upon it I submitted an unsolicited proposal to the FAA for a smart surveillance system. The basic premise was to deploy multiple small non-rotating phased array antennas as smart interrogators. Whereas the existing ATC system simply accepts whatever the fixed rotation rate antennas are able to provide, these agile units would be controlled by a centralized computer system and the activities of each would be varied to best satisfy the current needs of the ATC system for each aircraft. Trilateration and triangulation of the data from multiple sites would be integral features to achieve these ends. This multiple site technology, which was conceived by Jerry Woodall of Bendix, had been proven in a demonstration we performed under a DOT contract on the surface of Boston’s Logan Airport where we located targets with about a 10-foot accuracy. The conventional wisdom up to that time was that ATCRBS was limited to 400-foot accuracies. This plan would integrate the en-route, terminal and airport surface surveillance elements into a single system. Those responsible for FAA research planning at that time were greatly interested in this idea and attempted to fund it but apparently it was considered too much of a radical change from the direction they were going at that time and so nothing came out of my efforts. For many years I expected that this idea would eventually be developed but from what I have heard recently about future ATC planning, the role of surveillance now seems headed in an entirely new direction. The FAA, having been liberated from the requirement to insure safe separation of aircraft, an unanticipated consequence of TCAS, future surveillance is planned around “dependant surveillance” where each aircraft will derive its own precise location from GPS and sends this to the ATC system.
IEEE, Bendix Evolution
To shift gears a bit, as you know, I'm from IEEE.
Yes. I've been a member of the IRE since I was a junior engineer.
Yes, I know. Our records indicate that you joined back in 1947.
Yes, that would have been about right.
And I'd like to ask about your involvement with IEEE over the years. Were you involved in any way in conferences, papers, sections, societies?
I was active in display technology early on and went to several conferences. My interests transitioned to ATC and I presented a few papers. I remember one I gave in London on all-weather operations for the UK IEEE. There were many conferences I attended, but none of them stand out in my mind particularly. I was the local chairman for a Baltimore convention of the AIAA which eventually merged with the IEEE I believe.
In what ways did the Bendix operation in Towson evolve or change over your many years here?
It's a little hard to characterize. My perspective, from the Radio Division which was founded around 1937, was that it went from primarily manufacturing to a more research and development slanted organization after WWII. Whereas money came in easily during the war it became necessary to work at acquiring new business after the war. As a result, the people who were running the division when I started there were factory oriented, it transitioned to greater and greater technical orientation. The management transitioned to people with technical backgrounds. The best example is perhaps that of the Division Vice President and General Manager when I retired, Joe McCormick, who had reported to me at one time. A brilliant manager, he had taken a tiny contract with the Naval Research Laboratory, NRL, and turned it into a major product line that sustained the Towson operation for a number of years. NRL had internally built a military transponder it wanted to put into production – but without changing anything. This was difficult because it required a lot of refinement without identifying it as such. Joe was able to lead NRL through this and we manufactured tens of thousands of them. And that led to improved transponder versions that are used by all of the services. Eventually after Joe became general manager, Bendix evolved towards management that was sufficiently technical to understand the businesses that we were in. Prior to that, many times we had to deal through sales departments with managers who only worried more about political consequences than business needs.
Oh, that's okay.
Career and Retirement
How would you characterize your career as a whole, looking back?
I think I was successful in the sense that I'm happy with it. There are a lot of things that I wish I would have done differently, but in many cases I think if I had done so I probably wouldn't have had the subsequent experiences I had. So you've got to take the good with the bad. I guess I did very well for an engineer lacking a college degree. Later on, college degrees were necessary to even get in the door. I suppose in a sense I had to stay with Bendix because it had some knowledge of my value that others would not have seen had I decided to go elsewhere. In fact, I tried a couple times and I got discouraged because of various factors. Also, I had roots here and I didn't want to move around. I don't know what else to say about it. I'm happy with it. I've been retired 25 years almost.
Now did you retire in 1986 simply because you reached retirement age or was there some other factor?
No, there was really no other cause. I was happy with what I was doing at that time but I had other interests and I just wanted a change of pace. I had gotten into land development and community affairs which took a lot of my time. My wife and I liked to travel and I always loved to build things. I had expanded my home by many times and started more projects at home than I had time to complete while I was employed. I had a big piece of property and I wanted to complete some of my unfinished projects and have more time with my family. Bendix asked me to consult after I retired but after a few months I saw that consulting was not my cup of tea and I gave that up.
In what ways have you stayed active, kept yourself active?
Oh, my farming, construction, traveling and woodworking days occupied my time for many years but now they are over. Mostly now I fool around with computers and photography. I'm living in a condominium where I have one small room which is stuffed full of books, computers and associated toys. My wife says she's happy because she can close the door to it and nobody sees it.
[Laughter] Well, I started out with a whole stack of cards face up, they're face down.
Well you've done a good job, Sheldon.
Which means I've asked you everything that I could think to ask you. But at this point, is there anything that you would like to add that we didn't cover, that I didn't think to ask you?
I can't think of anything except to note I have a total of eight patents, some of which I have talked about. Other than that we have about covered everything I could think of.
Well in that case, I would say we're finished. I thank you very much for coming in and sharing your recollections with us.
Well you're quite welcome, Sheldon. I enjoyed your professionalism in putting the questions to me.
Well thank you.
Likewise.
Retrieved from "https://ethw.org/w/index.php?title=Oral-History:Arthur_McComas&oldid=149676"
1 About Arthur McComas
4.1 Background and Glenn Martin
4.2 Starting at Bendix, Radar, A.E. Abel
4.3 Navy and Eddy Program
4.4 Junior Engineer, Flightweight, Taxicab Radio
4.5 ASR-3, ASR-4 and FAA
4.6 SAGE, Weather Radar
4.7 RTCA and Standards
4.8 ARIA
4.9 Air Traffic Control, Aircraft Collision
4.10 ATCRBS, Working with Airlines, TCAS
4.11 Change to Allied Signal and Honeywell
4.12 MLS and GPS, Mark 15
4.13 FPS-85 and Phased Array
4.14 ADVENT System and Satellite Communications
4.15 Ship Board Antenna, Management, ‘Employed Entrepreneur’
4.16 Allied, ATC and Surveillance
4.17 IEEE, Bendix Evolution
4.18 Career and Retirement
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Protein offers protection against nerve degeneration in ALS model
Boston University School of Medicine
(Boston)--Increasing the levels of the anti-aging protein hormone Klotho improves the neurological deficits and prolongs life span in an experimental model with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In addition, brain immune cells called microglia play an important role in protecting the brain against inflammation and, likely, motor neuron loss in this model.
ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a devastating neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of upper and lower motor neurons, leading to progressive muscle atrophy and paralysis, which is fatal within three to five years of diagnosis.
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have previously shown that increasing Klotho protein levels is beneficial in experimental models of Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. "Here we now show that Klotho is also neuroprotective in an ALS model. Thus, increasing Klotho levels would be a logical treatment for age-related neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases," explained corresponding author Carmela Abraham, PhD, professor of biochemistry at BUSM.
Unfortunately, very few treatments are available to ALS patients today. "We propose that increasing the levels of the Klotho protein would significantly alleviate the neurologic manifestations, improve the quality of life and prolong life span in patients with ALS. If one was to extrapolate the results of this study, increasing Klotho by only 50 percent would prolong life by approximately 300 days."
According to Abraham, anything that increases Klotho levels is neuroprotective. For example, it has been shown that exercise increases Klotho. "This may be relevant for healthy individuals or patients newly diagnosed with ALS. Additionally, in the cases of familial ALS, family members who wish to be tested and discover that they are carriers of an ALS gene could start exercising or start Klotho boosting therapy, once it becomes available."
BUSM's Ella Zeldich, PhD, is the study's first author.
These findings appear online in the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience.
Funding for this study was provided by National Institutes of Health grants R01-AG052465 and R56-AG051638.
Gina DiGravio
ginad@bu.edu
@BUMedicine
http://www.bmc.org
Journal of Molecular Neuroscience
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12031-019-01356-2
One in 270 births have 'dual burden' of prematurity and severe maternal complications New York University
Cracks in the skin of eczema patients promote allergic diseases MediaSource
About 44% of high school seniors who misuse prescription drugs have multiple drug sources University of Michigan
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Dr. Santanu Chattopadhyay
Founder & CEO, NationWide Primary Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd.
Dr Santanu Chattopadhyay is an alumnus of INSEAD, Fontainebleau (2003) and Royal College of Physicians of London (1997) and holds a Master Degree in Internal Medicine from PGIMER, Chandigarh (1995). His career spans over two decades spent in clinical medicine, pharmaceuticals, clinical research and KPO/consulting industry in India and abroad. Although trained as Gastroenterologist and Internist, his passion lies in developing a robust Primary Healthcare system for India.
Dr Chatopadhyay founded NationWide, a pioneering chain of Primary Care clinics in 2010 and rapidly scaled it up to 35 clinics across Bangalore & Delhi-NCR in a short span of less than 4 years.
He has a track record of excellent leadership and building businesses from scratch and making them profitable in a short span of time in trans-cultural settings. He has previously worked in several internationally renowned hospitals and organizations such as Barts and the London Medical School, University Hospitals of Leicester, PGIMER (Chandigarh), Johnson & Johnson and Indegene Lifesystems.
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“It’s like a game for them, to see who can make our life worse the most.”
By EA Svenn.
“Ahlan wa sahlan!” Comes the familiar welcome as we meet with Abu Mahyoub on the porch of his small farm house. He greets each of us warmly and almost immediately begins handing around hot cups of thick, delicious cardamom laced coffee; perfect for taking the edge off the damp and chilly (by middle eastern standards) February morning. We’re in the midst of the rainy season and the Jordan Valley is covered in a rich verdant carpet of grasses and meadow flowers.
Abu Mahyoub on his porch. EAPPI/EA Svenn
“It’s been a good season this year?” I ask, as the conversation turns to the weather. “Yes. If only I could make use of it” comes a sullen reply from the man who minutes before was greeting us so enthusiastically. “It’s been months since I was last able to let my cows out”. Indeed, at a time when most farmers are out in the fields with their animals; Abu Mahyoub’s cows are all still in their muddy fenced enclosures beside his house. “This is not a good life for them.”
Some of Abu Mahyoub’s cows. EAPPI/EA Svenn
“Since the [Israeli] settlers and army started making trouble for us, nobody can take their animals out anymore. It’s too dangerous.”. Life has been getting progressively harder for this farming community since the construction of the illegal Israeli settlement outpost, in 2016, atop the next hill over from us. Just a few hundred meters away. “Those settlers are crazy” he explains, “they threaten us with weapons and attack our animals if they see us in the fields. Sometimes they come into the village and make trouble”.
The settlement outpost on the hillside. EAPPI/EA Svenn
“The army doesn’t help us. They just arrest us like we’re criminals” he continues. In 2017 an investigation by Yesh Din, an Israeli NGO which monitors and campaigns against human rights violations in the West Bank, found that: since 2005 only 3% of investigations of ideologically motivated crime against Palestinians (i.e. settler violence / harassment) have resulted in a conviction. What’s more, in the same report they note that between 2015 – 2016, the number of victims who were uninterested in filing a legal complaint increased from 30% to 42%. An indicator that many Palestinians are becoming increasingly skeptical of the Israeli Security Forces willingness/ability to support them (see earlier blog by EA Sophie, Violence with impunity).
“I have Tabu (ownership) papers for all of this land. Where is the justice?”. He shows us around his property, past the stacks of hay which he must purchase to feed his cows, afraid to take them out to pasture in his fields. Even the water he uses has to be bought in tankers from a nearby town, as the Israeli Authorities won’t grant him, or other Palestinians in the area a permit to connect to the nearby water main.
The haystacks, Abu Mahyoub is forced to purchase despite have acres of pasture land. EAPP/EA Svenn
Another villager, who asked to remain anonymous through fear of reprisals from the Israeli military, explained to us “I used to have 45 dunams (around 11 acres) near here for growing wheat and barley but the army keeps destroying it when they do training exercises”. Military training affects many communities in this area. The brigades often come at night and without warning, conducting exercises between the villager’s houses and in the surrounding fields. “It’s like a game for them,” he adds cynically, “to see who can make our life worse the most.” The entire area surrounding Abu Mahyoub’s house, which pre-dates Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank, has been declared closed as a military firing zone. There have been 60-70 injuries and fatalities in this community and surrounding villages since 1988.
Designating Palestinian land for these purposes establishes an intimidating and potentially dangerous Israeli military presence on the ground. It is also viewed by Israeli human rights organisation, B’Tselem as one of a number of ways in which Israel restricts Palestinian development:
“Israel uses its control over the area to quash Palestinian planning and building… Israel has blocked Palestinian development by designating large swathes of land as state land, survey land, firing zones, nature reserves and national parks.”
Whilst Abu Mahyoub and other Palestinians in the Jordan Valley find themselves with increasingly reduced access to land and other resources, Israeli settlements continue to expand.
Back on the porch, this time with sweet sage tea, Abu Mahyoub continues “Those of us who had somewhere to go to have left. It’s like a prison here, we’re trapped like animals.” That people are being forced to leave their homes, by a situation in which the State of Israel has created, amounts to forcible transfer of a population by an occupying power, an act which is internationally recognised as a war crime.
It is time to leave and Abu Mahyoub’s parting message rings in my ears as we drive away. “We need help from the international community. There is no other hope for us.”.
Not only is the situation these people endure a great injustice, it’s also a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. Particularly, but not exclusively, articles 13, 27, 49 & 55 of The Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory.
Find out more about the use of military closures to transfer agricultural land usage from Palestinians to Israeli settlers here.
Ask your MP/TD to raise the issue of Palestinians right of Access to Land and Livelihood with the Foreign Office/DFA
Ask the UK or Irish ambassador to Israel to raise the issues of settler harassment and IDF training in, and around Palestinian communities with the Israeli Government
This entry was posted in Military violence and harassment, Settlements, Settler violence and harassment. Bookmark the permalink.
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Finland Co-chairs with Jordan the Assessment of the UN Counter-Terrorism Strategy
One of the most important processes of the United Nations General Assembly this spring is the assessment of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In cooperation with Jordan, Finland co-leads the strategic assessment, which gives a visible role to Finland.
Finland and Mexico to host the meeting of the Global Network on Responsibility to Protect
The Ministries for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Mexico, in cooperation with the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), will host the 8th Annual Meeting of the Global Network of responsibility to protect in Helsinki, Finland between 12 and 14 June 2018.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Soini to meet Estonia's Minister for Foreign Affairs in Tallinn
Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Tallinn on 8 June in order to have a meeting with Estonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Mikser.
Executive Director of UNFPA Natalia Kanem to visit Finland
Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Natalia Kanem will visit Finland from 13 to 15 June 2018.
Finland to host a Combat Nuclear Terrorism meeting in Helsinki
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will host the executive meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) network that will take place in Helsinki on 11 to 12 June 2018.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Soini: African-Nordic cooperation to tackle global issues
Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will attend the African-Nordic Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Copenhagen on 6–7 June. In addition to the Nordic countries, the meeting is expected to gather representatives from about twenty African countries.
Finland acts in a changing world: Futures Review of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has been published
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ Futures Review Finland acts in a changing world has been published on 4 June. The key message of the review is that Finland is not a bystander, but rather an active influencer in international development.
New Ambassador to Abuja, side accreditation to South Sudan
At the presidential session on Friday 1 June, the President of the Republic decided to appoint Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Jyrki Pulkkinen to serve as Finland's Ambassador to Abuja, Nigeria, from 1 September 2018.
Minister Virolainen: The United States' decision to restrict imports of steel and aluminium from the EU is very unfortunate
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has placed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU. The tariffs on imports will enter into force on 1 June 2018.
Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs Workneh Gebeyehu to Finland
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Workneh Gebeyehu, will visit Finland on 5 June 2018.
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An Ideal Husband
Director: Oliver Parker
Actors: Ben Pullen, Cate Blanchett, Jeremy Northam, Julianne Moore, Minnie Driver, Peter Vaughan, Rupert Everett
Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok, the prophecy of destruction…
Gab de la Cuesta is a high-strung career woman who got recently engaged to her longtime boyfriend. Her well-planned life suddenly becomes complicated when she discovers that she is actually…
Horseplay
Desperate for a real news story, entertainment journalist Mui (Kelly Chen) goes to London to cover an antique auction in order to trace the path of Nine-Tailed Fox (Tony Leung…
Home with their newly-formed family, happy parents Dan and Jody are haunted by sinister, paranormal activities. Determined to expel the insidious force, they install security cameras and discover their family…
Blues Brothers 2000
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Music
High school kid, Thorvald, embarks on an effort to change the name of his school’s sports and academic teams from the “Vikings”, to something less offensive to Norwegians. It’s a…
A sorority moves in next door to the home of Mac and Kelly Radner who have a young child. The Radner’s enlist their former nemeses from the fraternity to help…
Natural Born Pranksters
The world’s three most notorious, ballsy, and outrageous pranksters come together for the first time to unleash the most epic pranks in an outrageous feature-film event. Jam-packed with cameos from…
When a struggling publisher discovers his only successful author is blocked he knows he has to unblock her or he’s finished. With her newfound success, she’s become too damn happy…
Lupin the Third: Princess of the Breeze – Hidden City in the Sky
The story is set in Shahalta, a tiny European city-state floating in the air with practically no contact with the outside world for years. The government is transitioning from a…
Genre: Action, Animation, Comedy, TV Movie
In this movie adaptation of the TV-Show by the same name, we join the three couples in a comedy about divorces, love, child longing, weird parents and unwritten bathing rules…
Trailer: An Ideal Husband
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ASU researchers named 2018 National Academy of Inventors Fellows
Posted by Amanda Stoneman | Dec 11, 2018 | Faculty
Arizona State University researchers Nathan Newman and Joshua LaBaer have been named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, the organization announced today.
Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional accolade bestowed solely to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and welfare of society.
“With this honor, Josh LaBaer and Nate Newman join the prestigious ranks of nearly 1,000 academic inventors worldwide who are recognized for scientific contributions that are having a significant impact on the world around us,” said Sethuraman Panchanathan, executive vice president of ASU Knowledge Enterprise Development and chief research and innovation officer at ASU.
“Both are leaders in their respective fields, creating jobs and inspiring scientists all over the world to pursue new ideas and solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.”
Nathan Newman
Solid state researcher invents for impact
Newman serves as the Lamonte H. Lawrence Professor of Solid State Science in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. His research focuses on the growth, characterization and modeling of novel solid state materials for microwave, photonic and high-speed applications.
“I’m honored to be recognized as an NAI Fellow for the diversity of my inventions and their impact on individuals’ lives outside of the academic world,” said Newman. “It’s truly a privilege to make ASU proud with this substantial distinction.”
During the course of a prolific career, Newman has been granted 13 U.S. patents for a wide range of applications, from high-powered electronics and ultra-low-power computing to direct energy generation from a nuclear source.
Most recently, Newman and his former graduate student received a patent for a method to switch microwave dielectric devices on and off. Dielectrics serve as a filter to selectively pick up specific signals while disregarding others.
Once optimized, the invention has the potential to revolutionize communication and Doppler technology, improving designs of just about all microwave electronic systems such as cell phones, radar, satellite, wireless radio and more.
Newman leads a team of about 25 researchers who are working to further solid state electronics and push the performance limits of materials and devices, which are of prime importance to funding agencies such as the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency. In 2018 alone, he has presented plenary, keynote and invited speeches on his recent research in Japan, Scotland, Serbia and China, among others.
“Nate’s work in nanoscience and the discovery of new materials is improving the effectiveness of microwave electronic systems,” said Panchanathan.
Additionally, Newman has exhibited a highly prolific spirit of innovation through his collaboration with Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek on an initiative called the Science Hub, or “SciHub.” The team enhances people’s limited scope of perception with modern technology to improve lives. In one project, Newman and his team are developing lighting solutions to help overcome color blindness.
Newman credits much of his success to his phenomenal research group, which has included more than a dozen senior research and visiting professors, several staff members and dozens of graduate, undergraduate and high school students. In particular, he recognizes the hard work and determination of an extremely talented engineering associate Richard Hanley, who constructed the inventions and made all this possible.
“My team works coherently together to make our dreams a reality,” said Newman. “I really owe it to them.”
Joshua LaBaer
Cancer fighter takes discoveries from bench to bedside
LaBaer is the executive director of ASU’s Biodesign Institute and director of the Biodesign Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics. He’s also a medical oncologist, adjunct professor and holds two chair positions at ASU.
As one of the nation’s foremost investigators in the advancement of personalized medicine, LaBaer is a pioneer of using blood-based autoantibodies as potential indicators of disease status in cancers and autoimmune diseases. His discoveries of novel biomarkers provide early warning diagnostics for those at risk of major illnesses. He holds eight U.S. patents licensed to five companies. A new blood-based diagnostic for breast cancer (Videssa Breast™) is one example of the impact of his work.
“Josh’s work in helping us understand biomarkers – the “fingerprints” of disease – will lead to more effective medical diagnostics and treatments,” said Sethuraman.
For more information about LaBaer’s work, please see the announcement on ASU Now.
ASU elite inventor ranks continue to grow
Newman and LaBaer join several other ASU faculty, including Charles Arntzen, Bruce Rittmann, Stuart Lindsay, Michael Kozicki, Sethuraman Panchanathan, Stephen Johnston and Deirdre Meldrum, who have also been honored as NAI Fellows in recent years, helping to further raise ASU’s reputation as a leader in innovation. Additionally, in a strategic effort to foster ASU innovation throughout its entrepreneurial ecosystem, ASU formed an NAI Chapter in March 2017 to recognize inventors and promote innovation across all disciplines of the institution.
Panchanathan was named an NAI fellow in 2013. In 2018, he was appointed vice president of the National Academy of Inventors.
Those elected to the ranks of NAI Fellow were nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, and support and enhancement of innovation.
NAI Fellows named on nearly 4,000 patents
On April 11, 2019, the 2018 NAI Fellows will be inducted as part of the Eighth Annual NAI Conference at Space Center Houston.
The 2018 NAI Fellows will also be highlighted with a full-page announcement in The Chronicle of Higher Education Jan. 29, 2019 issue, and in an upcoming issue of Science and Technology and Innovation, the journal of the NAI.
With the election of the 2018 class, there are now over 1,000 NAI Fellows representing over 250 research universities and governmental and nonprofit research institutes. The 2018 Fellows are named inventors on nearly 4,000 issued U.S. patents.
Included among this year’s NAI Fellows are more than 25 presidents and senior leaders of research universities and non-profit research institutes; 59 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; two inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame; five recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology & Innovation and U.S. National Medal of Science; three Nobel Laureates; 43 AAAS Fellows; 32 IEEE Fellows; and 22 Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, among other awards and distinctions.
About the National Academy of Inventors
The National Academy of Inventors is a member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with over 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. It was founded in 2010 at the University of South Florida to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The NAI publishes the multidisciplinary journal, Technology and Innovation. www.academyofinventors.org
Dianne Price, director of marketing and communications in the Biodesign Institute, contributed to this article.
PreviousMeet the Fulton Schools’ outstanding graduates of Fall 2018
NextSpecial delivery: An award to remember
Amanda Stoneman
Amanda currently serves as a science writer in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Prior to this role, she worked as a copywriter for five years in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and at G/O Digital (formerly GannettLocal). In 2013, Amanda earned a Bachelor of Arts in English (creative writing) at ASU. Now, she's pursuing a Master of Science in technical communication from the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts. Contact: anstonem@asu.edu | 480-727-5622 | Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Communications
Ants marching to a better future for human sustainability
No internet, no power, no problem. Solar library empowers schools abroad
Work to improve metals earns ‘young leader’ award
Engineering project aims at improving disaster response networks
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By Michael Murphy on February 11, 2014
THE WORLD’S FIRST gay comic strip was arguably Harry Chess: That Man from A.U.N.T.I.E., which first appeared in the Philadelphia homophile publication Drum from 1965 to ’66. The strip pits the hirsute pectorals of protagonist Harry Chess, secret agent #0068 7/8 of the Agents’ Undercover Network to Investigate Evil (A.U.N.T.I.E.), and his muscular but monosyllabic teenage “assistant” Mickey Muscle, against a series of colorfully evil and sexually naughty nemeses. Although its title was inspired by the 1964-68 television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the strip was a campy and (homo)sexually explicit spoof of the larger international espionage genre with its futuristic gadgets, shadowy acronymic organizations, and morally ambiguous secret agents whose exploits were regularly punctuated by gratuitous sexual encounters. But more than just another example of the mock-Bond phenomenon, Harry Chess demonstrates the important role of popular visual culture in the mid-1960s emergence of a gay liberationist sensibility in the U.S.
Harry Chess resulted from a fundamental shift in priorities and tactics within the Philadelphia-based Janus Society, one of a number of homophile organizations on the Eastern seaboard. In 1963 Janus elected as its president Clark P. Polak, a candidate who was openly critical of the organization’s past leadership, and promised a more structured, business-like organization with a strong community presence. But beyond organizational reform, Polak rejected the Janus Society’s strategies, which tended toward accommodation and assimilation, in favor of a gay-centered and sex-affirmative politics. In a 1966 Drum editorial, he described earlier homophile activists as “a group of Aunt Marys who have exchanged whatever vigorous defense of homosexual rights there may be for a hyper-conformist we-must-impress-the-straights-that-we-are-as-butch-as-they-are stance. It is a sell-out.”
Previous ArticleVampires Are Us
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Campiana
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Source : Sam Boal
Your crash course in... Ireland's exercise in damage limitation as it prepares for a no-deal Brexit
Amid political uncertainty in London, the State is bracing itself for the worst-case scenario.
By Laura Roddy Reporter, Fora July 9th 2019 3 min read
THE BREXIT BREATHER is over.
Amid uncertainty in London, this evening the government published its latest contingency plan, providing a blunt assessment of how Ireland could be hit as the country faces the ugly prospect of a no-deal Brexit.
Speaking earlier today, Tánaiste Simon Coveney didn’t try to sugarcoat the message as he warned businesses that they need to be prepared.
Ireland and its business community is bracing itself for the “profound” consequences of a no-deal Brexit, as the State tries to limit the damage.
Up to 55,000 jobs could be lost and the State’s finances could suffer a loss of up to €6.5 billion loss in the first year if the UK leaves without a deal, according to the document.
What will be the impact on trade?
The document states that arrangements have either already, or will, be put in place at the likes of Dublin Port, Rosslare Europort and Dublin Airport to provide for a disorderly Brexit and provision of infrastructure for any necessary checks.
While the contingency plan states that every effort is being made to prepare and put in place mitigation measures, it adds that there is little doubt that, at least initially, tariffs and checks and controls on UK imports will be disruptive to trade across the Irish Sea.
Ireland is working with the European Commission as it looks to deliver the twin objectives of avoiding a hard border and maintaining the integrity of the single market and customs union.
Irish exporters could also face issues in the immediate aftermath of a no-deal scenario as it is anticipated that the UK ‘landbridge’ could be hit by severe delays.
What sectors could be hit hardest?
The risk for Ireland is that – amid increased costs, tariffs and currency fluctuations – some businesses will face closure.
Exporting sectors – such as agri-food, indigenous manufacturing and tourism – will be hit hard while importing sectors, especially those dealing with just-in-time supply chains, such as parts of the retail sector, will also feel the impact.
The impact of UK import and export exposure for firms could also be compounded by currency volatility.
As the clock ticks down towards the Brexit deadline at the end of October, Ireland has to make a call on which of the two scenarios, as outlined in the government’s Summer Economic Statement, it will base this year’s budget.
The government intends to continue to work with the Department of Finance and the Central Bank of Ireland to review its contingency planning and focus on any new risks that may emerge as the Brexit deadline looms.
It will also roll out a communications campaign that will focus on encouraging and facilitating businesses to take action on getting Brexit ready.
The contingency plan also outlined other measures the government has taken to prepare for a no deal scenario – such as postponing the payment for VAT on goods entering the country at point of entry and instead having businesses submit a bi-monthly VAT tax return.
policy and economy
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Commentaryfarming
Land O’Lakes CEO: Farmers Are in Crisis—and America Isn’t Paying Attention
Beth Ford
Imagine, if you can, a computer virus that cut the productivity of Apple, Google, and Facebook in half. Or try to imagine Wall Street’s investment bankers seeing a season’s worth of deals washed away. Such calamities would dominate our nation’s news and drive swift political action. Yet that is precisely what America’s farmers face right now. And, as a country, we aren’t paying nearly enough attention.
Farmers are generally too proud and humble to speak out, but the truth is we are living through an extremely difficult period of market turmoil and natural disasters. Due largely to sustained low commodity prices, average farm income in 2017 was $43,000, while the median farm income for 2018 was negative $1,500. In 2018, Chapter 12 bankruptcies in the farm states across the Midwest that are responsible for nearly half of all sales of U.S farm products rose to the highest level in a decade.
And then the floods came to the Midwest. Farmers have been significantly delayed in their planting this year due to rain and soggy ground, and as the planting window closes, some will have to make a decision about whether to plant a crop this year at all. As of June 9, just 60% of America’s soybean acres had been planted in our highest-producing states, compared with nearly 90% typically planted by this time of year. And just 83% of the corn crop is in the ground in the most productive states, a number that should be pushing 100%.
These disasters would be catastrophic at the best of times. But the fact is the rural communities in which our farmers operate are also struggling because local businesses’ revenue and incomes are tied to farmers’ incomes and livelihoods. Farmers and rural families want the same things for their communities that we all do: access to quality education, health care, and technology, and strong local communities. There are challenges in these areas, as well.
Roughly one in three rural Americans, and one in four farmers, are without broadband access, cutting them off from services like telemedicine and educational tools. Many parents have to drive to the local McDonald’s so their kids can get Internet access to finish homework. Rural America faces a shortage of doctors—more than 100 rural hospitals have closed since 2010—even as they endure the regular dangers of farm life and the rolling tragedy of an opioid crisis. “Three in four farmers and farm workers (74%) are or have been directly impacted by opioid abuse, either by knowing someone, having a family member addicted, having taken an illegal opioid or having dealt with addiction themselves,” according to a survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation.
As the CEO of Land O’Lakes, one of the country’s largest farmer- and retail-member-owned cooperatives, I see these realities all the time. It is the privilege of my life to work with these families who in the face of such hardship demonstrate endless resilience, optimism, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Ninety-six percent of farms are family-owned. These are people who understand the cyclical nature of the industry and don’t give up in the face of setbacks. They protect and care for the land they want to pass on to their children.
But it’s not enough to count on farmers to tough it out. America needs to start listening to the voices of the heartland. It’s not just about feeling empathy for flood-ravaged communities. It is about recognizing our shared destiny. It is about remembering that agriculture is the bedrock of our economy and security. The products of urban America are essential. But without a thriving rural and farm economy producing abundant, affordable food for a growing planet, a foundational pillar of our strength as a country will collapse.
We need to look for ways to drive more investment and job creation in rural areas. For example, because trade is a cornerstone of a strong agricultural economy, Land O’Lakes continues to urge Congress to approve the USMCA trade agreement, while calling on the Trump administration to expand exports with existing trade partners. Policy is critical to help farmers at a time of crisis, a fact reflected in a strong bipartisan 2018 farm bill that improved the safety net for dairy producers and created new mental health assistance programs for farmers.
Policy must also be a catalyst for innovation. That’s why Land O’Lakes and other agricultural companies have supported public and private efforts to expand high-speed broadband access in rural America. And it’s why we’ve striven to deploy cutting-edge ag tech such as digital sustainability platforms to help farmers better safeguard and utilize their natural resources.
Fewer than one in five Americans live in rural areas, but they represent 44% of those serving in our military. When we need them, they stand up. Now it’s our turn to get on our feet.
Beth Ford is the president and CEO of Land O’Lakes, Inc.
More opinion in Fortune:
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—Upwork CEO: Why we scratched college degree requirements
—Does the SEC’s ICO lawsuit against Kik go too far?
—How to stop automation from leaving women behind
Listen to our new audio briefing, Fortune 500 Daily
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ARTIST ROOMS: Self Evidence Photographs by Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe
Posted on 9th April 2019 by Georgina
6 APRIL – 20 OCTOBER | SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
FRANCESCA WOODMAN (1959-1981) Francesca Woodman, Untitled, 1975-80 Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper, 15.60 x 15.60 cm (paper 25.20 x 20.30 cm) (framed: 45.80 x 40.20 x 2.00 cm) ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008 © Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman
‘If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.’ Diane Arbus
In the 21st century, the Selfie has become an extended form of advertising and validation, increasingly in step with corporate interest. People are the app for 24hr addictive consumption of who they aspire to be, driven by market demand, or perhaps more accurately, corporate engineered desire for the next upgrade. Rapid fire clicking and scrolling is the order of today, in how photography and images of self are consumed, liked and followed. The idea of ‘self-evidence’ in this Artist Rooms exhibition is extremely compelling and timely, examining ‘three of the twentieth century’s most influential photographers’ and reactions to their work from a younger ‘Snapchat’ generation. It’s a moment to take stock of the extraordinary work of Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe, what photography is in human terms and what it really means to take a shot.
2. FRANCESCA WOODMAN (1959-1981) Space 2, Providence, Rhode Island, 1975-1978 Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper, 13.90 x 13.90 cm (paper 25.20 x 20.20 cm) (framed: 45.80 x 40.20 x 2.00 cm) ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008 © Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman
The work of Francesca Woodman (1958-1981) provides a quietly subversive sucker punch opening to the show. This series of beautifully layered photographs are on an intimate scale, naturally inviting closer inspection and defying narcissistic, grandiose expectations of self-portraiture. From the telling age of thirteen, to her untimely death by suicide aged 22, Woodman explored an ever-shifting state of being and becoming. Using long exposures and slow shutter speeds, she retains a fluid sense of movement and obscures identity, effectively blurring the fixed time and truth certainty of her chosen medium. Woodman’s work is often described as “experimental”, however there is more deliberation and thematic consistency in her work than this label suggests. The way her photographs are staged are technically adept and complex, rather than angling towards brilliance by randomly shooting at it. As a student taking part in the Snapchat element of the exhibition very accurately observed, ‘Woodman has power over her own image.’ It’s an enviable position, given the state of unrelenting judgement and self-censorship metered out via the internet / smartphone in your pocket.
Woodman illuminates in Black and White what it is to be female, the dilemma and desire of being seen, which is still so socially/ culturally loaded, with the resistance of being an enigmatic, ghostly presence. That tension at the heart of photography, between fixing the moment, (becoming immortal, documenting or memorialising the subject) and acknowledging human mortality, is particularly poignant in Woodman’s work. I’ve always felt that she was “fixing the shadows” in her own heart/ mind, dancing death and the maiden style towards photographic illumination, as a statement of self-worth. With over 10,000 negatives and 800 prints, Woodman’s output was prolific, though only a small fraction of her work has ever been seen publicly, demanding further study and exposure. She’s a fascinating feminist, vulnerable before the camera certainly, but entirely on her own terms. Woodman resists reductive definition in fleeting glimpses, becoming one with a medium that reaches for permanence whilst standing on a cliff edge of mortality with every momentary shot. She effectively haunts her own images, using her body as a prop and vintage clothing to ambiguously alter time. Tonal shifts in her work have a psychological edge of loss, a sense of disintegration and elusiveness in striving to know who you are that is universally human.
In Space 2 Providence, Rhode Island 1976, Woodman evades identification as an individual, grappling with herself inside the frame, turning her head during a long exposure so that what remains is movement where we expect her face to be. This idea is attached to a body in relative focus, gesturing forward, hands open and semi-outstretched towards the viewer. Her work reveals how self is realised, grasping for something (and someone) just out of reach. In Woodman’s hands, photography is an act of control for the female protagonist/ artist, usually in decaying, abandoned building surroundings. An image that exemplifies this dynamic comes from the Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island 1976 series, where Woodman is seen semi crouched on the floor in a polka dot dress. One hand is raised to her mouth as if something has just happened in a gasp, the other held to her chest. A residual patch of patterned wallpaper against bare, plaster wall is echoed in her clothing, semi unzipped at the side, revealing a pale gape of flesh. Debris on the floor adds to the sense of unease, glancing sideways, somewhere between dark glam fashion shoot, personal recognition and implied violation. There’s knowing in the setup of the shot, and in Woodman’s eyes, that pose questions for the viewer about what they are seeing or witnessing. It’s a halt to the screen swipe that hits you between the eyes.
There’s nothing accidental about how Woodman simultaneously hides and reveals herself. This residual presence means that the viewer can never own or possess the subject completely. It’s a quality that feels like a psychological imperative of self-preservation and discovery in her work. Vintage dress and decrepit setting toys with youth and beauty. The gaze is self-determined and positioned ambiguously within the set. The photograph is a dialogue, not an answer, about who the subject truly is. Images taken as personal communications with her boyfriend are more fixed in terms of the designated viewer, but still float as enigmatically as Woodman’s handwriting before our eyes. She’s playing with what it means to take an image, with photography as mechanism, mirror and conscious choice.
1. FRANCESCA WOODMAN (1959-1981) From Angel Series, Roma, September 1977, 1977 Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper, 9.30 x 9.30 cm (paper 9.80 x 9.80 cm) (framed: 45.80 x 40.20 x 2.00 cm) ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008 © Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman
We have only begun to examine the work of Surrealist photographers such as Lee Miller, Claude Cahun, Dora Maar and Florence Henri in recent years. Woodman is an interesting inheritor of the inward facing camera in that respect. In From Angel Series, Rome 1977, we see the female protagonist, a shadow presence enveloped in large sheets of white paper, through a doorframe that reads like a proscenium arch. Another smaller door prop with a hand reaching round like a handle is as curious as Alice in Wonderland, drawing the eye further into the photograph. The overall framing is slightly skewed, like the geometric tilt of the figure, feeling to the edge of her paper costume with a bent elbow. The naked body/ self is screened by abstract form and tonality. What casts the eye across the foreground layer and deeper, through the doorway into the space beyond, is a tonal shift from left to right, from beached light to progressive darkness. This isn’t just physical or aesthetic but psychological. That emotional gravitas dances uneasily with the comic, play element of staging to create heightened, internal realism, or Surrealism. The shift in tone also evokes the passage of time inside the composition and in that moment of seeing. It is imaginatively fluid, rather than presenting an absolute image of self. This is one of the smallest images in the show, so you are compelled to approach it closely, like seeing through the crack of a door left ajar. In historical terms the door left ajar that Woodman is stepping through is Surrealist and conceptual.
As I’ve suggested in previous posts on Lee Miller and coverage of the Surreal Encounters: Collecting the Marvellous exhibition (SNGMA, June 2016) [i], Surrealism as a concept, rather than a movement, gave women unprecedented latitude for exploring Self. Woodman’s use of the female body embraces the essential negotiation between seeing and being seen, exemplified in the work of Miller. Contrary to popular belief, Surrealism isn’t about the dreamy fantasy, but confrontation. ‘The free form craft of association, placing contradictory ideas beside each other in denial of the absolute, asserts the political right to freedom of expression.’[ii] In the 1970’s, an era of activism, Woodman conceptually grasps the mettle and beauty of Surrealism in its purest form, which ‘brings us into confrontation with ourselves on an intensely psychological level; individually and collectively.’[iii] To photograph the self, disappearing and emerging in the same frame, celebrates that free, associative tension and also expresses an existential crisis of being. There’s a feeling of profound liberty and isolation in Woodman’s photography, the idea that ‘You cannot see me from where I look at myself’, as she expressed it. We are confronted time and again with her essential mystery and our own as human beings.
In the popular imagination, photography is the ultimate proof of existence- that we have lived, yet it documents a singular moment of life and the loss of that moment, for the individual, generation and era. Woodman’s Untitled, Concord, New Hampshire,1977, taken after the death of her grandmother, brings us to a moment of profound silence and lengthening shadow. It’s a spectral image of the living and past generations, in the framed family photographs illuminated on the table and in the seated female presence, defined almost entirely by shadow. Light is cast on the side of the face, hands and into the corner of the room. Influenced by the sequential, emotive work of Duane Michals (b 1932), Woodman creates a self-portrait grounded in observance of loss. Although it is a deeply personal response to her grandmother passing, what we are confronted with is our own mortality. At its birth photography was described as a process of ‘fixing the shadows’, a metaphor in tune with Woodman’s singular command of the medium.
DIANE ARBUS (1923-1971) The King and Queen of a Senior Citizens’ Dance, N.Y.C. 1970, 1970. Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper. 37.20 x 36.90 cm (framed: 50.80 x 40.60 cm). ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
The work of Diane Arbus (1923-1971) is defined by her approach to portraiture, the essential relationship between artist /photographer and subject. Her congruence in making images and identification with her subjects remains compassionate and contradictory. Arbus presents alternative ways of life to the white picket fenced American dream and her eye to eye stance behind the camera continues to introduce audiences to taboo subjects. Debates still rage about whether her depiction of marginalised individuals constitutes empowerment or exploitation. The argument in this show unfolds empathically as ‘a de facto self-portrait,’ in the form of her Box of Ten Photographs (1969-1971). These images convey how Arbus saw herself and how she wished to be remembered as an artist. The self-evidence in this self-edit is significantly greater than the individual, revealing aspects of American society and humanity that still resonate very powerfully today. However you regard her images, here the box is semi opaque and articulates her signature loud and clear.
These 10 original prints are her intended legacy and proof of life. They expand her enduring statement: ‘My photos are proof that something was there, which no longer is. You can turn away but when you come back, they’ll still be there looking at you.’
What seems to strike people, looking at the photographs she is famous (or infamous) for, those of disadvantaged people, perceived social outcasts or “freaks”[iv], is a combination of shame and pity, not coming from the subject, but as an aspect of self-projection on the part of the viewer. Photography as a medium is meant to reassure us, Arbus explodes that abject sentimentality completely. ‘I would never choose a subject for what it means to me. I choose a subject and then what I feel about it, what it means, begins to unfold.’ There is a sense of detachment in her initial approach, but also a powerful sense of connection and agency that endures in her work.
Images from Two American Families, published in the Sunday Times Magazine, Nov 1968, are a great example. It’s a revealing, uncomfortable juxtaposition that establishes where real tenderness lies. In A Young Brooklyn Family Going for a Sunday Outing, NYC, 1966 we see the family unit dressed proudly for a day off, though it is far from being carefree. The baby in a white playsuit and bonnet, gravitates towards the photographer with a hand semi outstretched. Her mother is naturally glamourous, offset by a weary, faraway expression that extends beyond the frame to what might have been. Her dark bouffont hair, Liz Taylor style eyeliner and flash of leopard print coat lining are contrasted with the baby held in front of her and the idea of motherhood experienced aged 16. The young father’s soft, serious gaze meets Arbus’s/ the viewer’s, holding the hand of their older child. There’s a feeling of youth confronting aged responsibility in the care of a child with learning difficulties. There’s also an edge of fractured separation, in individual familial gazes that do not meet each other. The descent of stairs creates an emotional trajectory, caught in the trap of the camera. We feel the unease of being brought so close in contemplation of someone else’s family unit, because it naturally causes us to reflect upon our own. This isn’t a private family snapshot, but documentary with ethical implications. That precarious line between viewer as witness and complicity of the gaze, in appreciation or ridicule, is part of Arbus’s potency as an artist. The human subject is unapologetically left open to scrutiny. Thankfully Arbus honours the complexity of that exchange.
The companion photograph, A Family on Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, NYC, 1966 widens the social commentary in comparison. It’s a we want what they have capitalist dream turned on its head, an indictment of American values where humour and tragedy collide. The expanded view is of aspirational property and status. The Mother, father and child are depicted at leisure on a lawn so large it feels more like a swimming pool they could collectively drown in. The mother resembles a Barbie doll, lying on a banana lounge in a swimsuit. It’s impossible to tell if her eyes are closed, or watchful beneath the fake lashes. Lying on a parallel sun lounge Dad looks like he’s having a breakdown, hand raised to his brow, like the cost of this upper middle-class suburban dream is all too much. The child in the background is bent over a paddling pool, which in relation to his parents, feels like a well he’s destined to fall and disappear into entirely. As Arbus stated; ‘They are a fascinating family. I think all families are creepy in a way.’ Western consumer/ popular culture engineers the desire for this lifestyle. Looking at Arbus’s take on identity, family and success, my first thought is seriously?! If there’s an aspect of absurdity and potential ridicule here, then its wrapped around a lie, rather than the human subjects. Arbus received two John Simon Guggenhiem Fellowship grants, to examine ‘American rites, manners and customs’ which I’d say was a perennial investment.
Arbus brings us face to face with the licence a camera gives you, prompting questions about how it is used, directed towards the self and/or others. Sometimes the closeup takes us to places that mainstream culture, or the powers that be, don’t think it should go. A Young Man in Curlers at home on W20th St, NYC, 1966, was a daring imagewhen it was taken and in many countries around the world still is. Arbus’s photograph of a Boy in a Straw Hat Waiting to March in a Pro-War Parade, 1967 with his “God Bless America” badge, could be straight out of Trump’s America if it weren’t for the period clothing. The irony being, that this face of youth, aged by forefathers’ ideals, is wearing a hat from an earlier period, popular in the 1920’s and 30’s- otherwise known as the Great Depression. Nostalgia and nationalism go hand in hand before the camera in a wholesome march towards aggressive dominance. The war in question is Vietnam, one of many invasions on foreign soil in the interest of putting “America first.” That plain belief is presented as an honest portrait, however as part of Arbus’s self-portrait it is deeply subversive. The problem with being hardwired for subversion is that you don’t achieve that level of awareness without digging the earth out from under yourself, acknowledging that you don’t belong to the status quo, even if “success” depends upon it. A photograph as Arbus described it is “like a stain.”
DIANE ARBUS (1923-1971) Xmas Tree in a Living Room, in Levittown 1963, 1963. Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper. 36.80 x 37.60 cm (framed: 50.80 x 40.60 cm). ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
I enjoyed the opportunity to revisit Arbus’s work as a self-portrait. The complete immersion of Retired Man and his wife at home one morning, NJ, 1963 (gelatine silver print) which is such a homage to normality, despite the nudity of both subjects and photographer and Xmas Tree in a Living Room, in Levittown 1963, reveal underappreciated facets of her personality. Xmas Tree never ceases to be both horrific and hilarious. It is devoid of any obvious human subjects, apart from the viewer, who is positioned in the foreground armchair, virtual reality style, with the viewer/participant’s hands resting on the edge of both arms. The discomfort is ours, seeing the celebratory, festive gaudiness of the tree, shoved into one corner of a disconcertingly clean and orderly suburban living room, which feels more like an internal void. Arbus is an artist who confronts us with belonging (or not) and this collection of self-evidence cements her legacy as a socially conscious artist, rather than a sensationalist, ghoulish collector of souls.
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (1946-1989) Self Portrait, 1983 Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper, 37.40 x 37.50 cm (framed: 50.80 x 40.60 cm) ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
Driven by ego and craft, the work of Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) presents a face to the world through role play and extreme duality. Mapplethorpe’s controversial S&M lifestyle and his death from Aids tends to draw focus away from his undeniable skill and sensitivity as an artist. Whatever attendant beliefs the viewer might bring to consideration of his work, the value of experience and the life of the photographer were of paramount importance the artist. This self-belief permeates all his work. The viewer may see it as destructive, immoral or offensive if they choose, however an image such as Self Portrait 1978 confounds notions of obscenity or moral judgement, because it asserts the individual’s right to be so powerfully. In this case, and in the context of the exhibition, the act is entirely self-directed. The photograph is an extreme confrontation and explicit provocation, in profane defiance of his Catholic roots, yet employing all the theatricality of a devotee. There’s no doubt that the play enacted between good and evil is dangerous, but for Mapplethorpe that’s the attraction- in art and in life. There’s no escaping that fact in his oeuvre. It’s woven into everything, from the delicate interplay of masculine and feminine in Self Portrait 1983 (printed 2009) to Self Portrait 1978 where the bullwhip reads like a devil’s tail. He’s a master of role play, perhaps best summed up by Self Portrait with Knife 1983, where we see him posturing with polarities- one hand raised, palm flattened in gesture of defence, while the other is extended to attack. The choreography could belong to no one else.
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (1946-1989) Self Portrait, 1980 (printed 2009) Photograph on paper, 35.20 x 35.00 cm; framed: 68.40 x 66.20 x 3.10 cm ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation 2014
There is a right to self-expression which Mapplethorpe asserts throughout his career, in all his varied personas and this is perhaps where progress has been made in the 30 years since his death. In the late 1980s, his retrospective The Perfect Moment was cancelled in one venue, while another found itself at the centre of an obscenity trial. This is the first time Mapplethorpe’s work has been displayed in the dedicated photography gallery at SNPG that bears his name, originally established with assistance by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. This is cause for celebration, as is the recent news of a patient in the UK who due to advances in Aids treatment is now free from infection. I imagine that had Mapplethorpe lived, he’d be enjoying the spoils of a culture that elevates the artist as celebrity, building his legacy and continuing to unashamedly explore every facet of himself.
Although we see his declining health in the later self-portraits, above all else it’s the sheer force of his personality/ego that remains to the last. In Self Portrait 1988 we see that self-possession in action, despite his dishevelled hair and pallor. The hand on his knee appears to grasp mortality, the other clenched purposefully by his cheek. Sitting cross legged on a black leather armchair in a silk robe and embossed slippers, he resembles an aging tycoon. A Hugh Hefner type, slightly tainted by scandal, the kind of entrepreneur so revered in American popular culture as a model of success. The ripple in his brow and questioning mouth, partially open as if about to speak, issues an underlying challenge to, and affirmation of, white middle-aged male dominance. It’s a fascinating image of wealth, respectability and mortal decay.
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (1946-1989) Self Portrait, 1988 Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper, 57.70 x 48.10 cm ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d’Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
In a later Self Portrait 1988, he delivers one of his most iconic images, the head of the artist receding into a dark ground, while his hand rests steadfast on a walking cane, carved with a skull. It’s a universal memento mori, an individual confronting death and Mapplethorpe making a statement of power in composition and tonality, even as he fades. He’s become the force that’s stalking him, that stalks us all, and he does so with immense dignity. Seeing this image always makes me think of Shakespearean tragedies like King Lear, Hamlet or Macbeth. The immensity of darkness engulfing the protagonist is absolute, yet Mapplethorpe still rules the frame. Immortalised in a signature moment of brilliance, something he never doubted possessing, he sits hand in hand with God and the Devil, between the darkness and illumination of his craft.
The final ‘Snapchat’ section of the exhibition, where school students, photography and art students have responded to the exhibition with images, text and filmed interviews was incredibly moving and insightful. What struck me most was the element of shock and surprise in relation to photography as a discipline, rather than tool and the degree of artistic agency identified in the work of Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe. The concept of ‘making the image instead of taking it’ felt like a generational penny dropping. I also felt an acute sense of loss, in terms of how human creativity and expression is being indiscriminatingly shaped by technology. I was left wondering if a Woodman, Arbus or Mapplethorpe would even be possible today, whether their bold self-determination would be too easily quashed beneath an avalanche of self-censorship.
As the students described; ‘technology has made us less free.’ ‘Everyone is able to see us’ and it has become more difficult to approach life online and day to day on your own terms.’ Examining the work of Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe, there’s a more audacious sense of identity in play and techniques that demand greater deliberation, in their handling of materials and negotiation with the subject. Taking the kind of portraits and self-portraits seen in this exhibition requires expanded self-awareness beyond the trigger- happy selfie. In the case of Arbus, you have to admit something other than your carefully censored self into the equation/ workflow. Self-portraiture comes with humility and admission of the ‘other’, rather than simple self-gratification or promotion of the individual. Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe, don’t just vainly declare ‘I am’ in their photography, but significantly alter our perception. They stand uniquely for themselves and for humanity in the process, in all its darkness and light. The beauty in this exhibition is self-reflexivity, realised unapologetically and with compassion through craft. Advancing technology has made photography available to more people than ever before, however it’s not the tool that creates art and critical self-reflection, but the human being standing behind the camera. I say standing, because that stance or attitude of self-awareness is so critical in framing the subject in the mind’s eye, before the image is taken. In a world awash with rapid clicks, evidence of that vital human faculty appears to be rapidly diminishing.
It’s a great pleasure to see this work brought together and to consider the responses of students to such unexpectedly radical images. This is a deeply affecting show, for the ways that Woodman, Arbus and Mapplethorpe confront their own truths about being human and for the questions the exhibition raises about ‘self-evidence’ in the 21st Century. This is photography as a matter of survival and in the words of one student, art that ‘makes you keep looking.’
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/artist-rooms-self-evidence-photographs-woodman-arbus-and-mapplethorpe
[i] Georgina Coburn Blogpost Surreal Encounters Collecting the Marvellous, June 2016 https://georginacoburnarts.co.uk/surreal-encounters-collecting-marvellous/ Georgina Coburn Collective Action, article for the Times Literary Supplement July 2016 https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/private/collective-action/ Georgina Coburn Blogpost Lee Miller and Picasso June 2015 https://georginacoburnarts.co.uk/lee-miller-and-picasso/ Georgina Coburn Blogpost Lee Miller A Womans War IWM, London Jan 2016 https://georginacoburnarts.co.uk/lee-miller-a-womans-war/
[ii] Georgina Coburn Blogpost Surreal Encounters Collecting the Marvellous June 2016 https://georginacoburnarts.co.uk/surreal-encounters-collecting-marvellous/
iii] Georgina Coburn Blogpost Surreal Ensounters Collecting the Marvellous June 2016https://georginacoburnarts.co.uk/surreal-encounters-collecting-marvellous/
iv] I use the word ‘freaks’ here in the context of Arbus’s statement which indicates an attitude of respect on the part of the artist; “There’s a quality of legend about freaks.Like a person in a fairy tale who stops you and demands that you answer a riddle. Most people go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They’ve already passed their test in life. They’re aristocrats.”
This entry was posted in American Photographers, American Photography, ARTIST ROOMS, Contemporary photography, d'Offay, Feminist, Francesca Woodman, gelatine silver print, History of Photography, Photography, Portrait, Portraiture, Robert Mapplethorpe, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Self, Self Evidence, Self Portrait, Self Portraiture, Selfie, Surrealism, Surrealist, Tate and tagged American Photographers, American Photography, ARTIST ROOMS, Contemporary photography, d'Offay, Feminist, Francesca Woodman, gelatine silver print, History of Photography, Photography, Portrait, Portraiture, Robert Mapplethorpe, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Self, Self Evidence, Self Portrait, Self Portraiture, Selfie, Surrealism, Surrealist by Georgina. Bookmark the permalink.
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The Interfax International Information Group has presented the X annual National University Ranking for the 2018/2019 academic year.
TOP 20 Russian universities according to Interfax:
1. Lomonosov Moscow State University
2. National Research Nuclear University MEPhI
3. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)
4. National Research University Higher School of Economics
5. St. Petersburg State University
6. Novosibirsk State University
7. National Research Tomsk State University
8. National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University
9-10. ITMO University
9-10. Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University
11. Peoples' Friendship University of Russia
12. National University of Science and Technology MISiS
13. Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N.Yeltsin
14. Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University
15. Siberian Federal University
16. Bauman Moscow State Technical University
17. Southern Federal University
18. Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
19. Far Eastern Federal University
20. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod
In 2019, 327 universities participated in the National University Ranking (compared to 288 in 2018). In addition, regional universities have become more active in communication with the ranking compilers.
The ranking includes all Russian high-profile universities: 29 national research universities, 10 federal universities, 33 flagship universities, 21 universities participating in Project 5-100 as well as seven non-state universities.
The different types of universities were evaluated: 96 classical universities, 100 technical universities and universities of technology (including universities of transport, architecture and construction), 19 economic and social universities, 24 agricultural universities, 20 medical universities, 26 normal and 5 law universities.
The group of universities participating in Project 5-100 now has evident characteristics of global universities and intends to come up with new achievements in R&D and educational programs by 2020. At the same time, a keen struggle can be predicted between the leaders and well-developed regional universities for the resources of national projects.
The six parameters were evaluated: brand, educational activities; research activities; social environment; internationalization (international cooperation); innovation and technology entrepreneurship.
In addition to the evaluation summary and parametric estimate of the Russian universities' activities, Ranking 2019 comprises a number of lists with estimates of the universities' activities in several important areas: work with schools and youth outreach, supplementary education programs, etc.
Several methodological improvements related to the assessment of innovation allowed the ranking compilers to look at medical, agricultural and law universities from a different perspective.
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On Mission Kashmir with Midnight’s child
by Sandip Roy | Nov 19, 2005 | Books, Entertainment | 0 comments
The Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote about the dawning of independence for India and Pakistan as
This stained light, this night-bitten dawn
This is not the dawn we yearned for.
The ghosts of that night-bitten dawn still haunt the subcontinent, perhaps nowhere more so than in Kashmir. Now one of midnight’s children, Salman Rushdie, has ventured into this star-crossed minefield with a doomed love story that brings a fundamentalist terrorist from Kashmir to an ambassador’s doorstep in Los Angeles. Rushdie spoke about his ninth novel, Shalimar the Clown, for the New California Media radio show UpFront.
You have said about this book that the love story came first, not the terrorism. Can you explain?
What really came first was this image of this little group of people caught between in this mixture of love and death. This triangle—the dead man, his killer, the dead man’s illegitimate daughter, the product of the illicit union between the dead man and his killer’s wife. I learned to trust them and follow where they led. And where they led was to a very large canvas.
But had you always thought the book would somehow go to Kashmir?
I always thought Kashmir would be part of Shalimar’s back story but how much I would actually need to go into it and dramatize it, I didn’t know. But at a certain point I thought I was being chicken. The point of the story, the heart of the story, was Kashmir, and one can’t leave out the heart. At that point one takes a deep breath and goes for it.
Was it hard to write about Kashmir?
It’s a place I feel deep connection to. Partly because my family is mostly Kashmiri. But it’s also a place I have come to care about deeply. Yes, it’s always difficult to write tragedy. I would get up on certain days and wish I could change the story. Let these things not happen to people I care about. Yes, it was very painful.
When were you last there? 1986-87?
That was when I met a group of traveling players out of whom I developed the characters of this book. I went on a research trip to Kashmir while doing a documentary for British television and met this group of actors and they, in their Kashmiri way, were very welcoming and brought me back to their village.
I stood in this beautiful little woodland grove where they were teaching children the tricks of the trade—tightrope walking and conjuring. I thought there was something magical about this life. But this was by no means an idyll. They were in very dire economic straits. This folk theater which had survived hundreds of years was in dire danger of extinction because of television and Bollywood. I felt for them. But I couldn’t use them in the documentary in the end.
When you talked to them off camera they would tell you all kinds of stories, many of which were horrifying or shocking. But when you would turn on the machine they would say we are just fine, we are very happy. They were so worried about reprisals from one side or the other. In the end I had to leave the sequence out of the documentary. So I took them away with me, having not used their story. And all these years later I found a way to tell that story.
Were you already feeling the rumblings of jihad?
The insurgency in Kashmir began less than 18 months after that meeting. You could very much feel its presence there. There was this negative electricity in the air. The strange thing was when I would come back to Delhi and Bombay and talk to people, writers, media people, they resisted the information. When I said people are very unhappy with Indian authorities and the appeal of the radicals is growing, it’s the only time in my life people would accuse me of being a Muslim communalist.
As a writer, when you play God, do you have to stop in your tracks and think, should I make the adulterous wife the Hindu or the Muslim?
I should say in this book I really didn’t feel I was playing God. I felt like in a way I was a servant of the characters because they were so vivid. The Hindu-Muslim stuff just arose out of the way the characters came to me. I wasn’t imposing a scheme on them.
But did you feel a pressure to be fair—to unleash a plague on both their houses, whether it’s Pakistani-trained Islamic radicals or the Indian army?
No, that’s what I genuinely think. Islamic radicalism has been active in Kashmir for the last 20-25 years. The Indian army has been active there for the last 60 years. Part of the tragedy of Kashmir is they got screwed from both sides—first by the Indian army, and then the jihadis, and they got crushed in the middle.
When a plane flies into the World Trade Center and thousands die, or a hurricane levels New Orleans, people lose any sense of control of their destiny. But in this book Shalimar is so precisely trying to control his destiny, plotting a journey that leads him somewhat improbably from a village in Kashmir to the ambassador’s doorstep in LA.
The subject has a particular edge these days—the question of whether we have control over our fates or not—because of events like the 9/11 attacks.
But that subject has always been one of the great subjects of literature. That question—do we make our lives or do our lives make us—is something which novelists have always asked themselves.
Even in Midnight’s Children, Saleem asks himself that question and the novel asks us that question about him. He has this comic idea that the whole of history is his fault but it becomes clear to us he may, in fact, be a victim.
In this book the characters do struggle to be in charge of their fates. Shalimar becomes almost manically determined that his life will be the thing he has chosen for it to be. His unfaithful wife, Boonyi, seizes what she thought was an opportunity to reshape her life by decamping with the American ambassador, Max, from this tiny village of limited opportunity and so she can dance on a big stage.
Max has repeatedly reshaped his life. He was a Resistance hero, but at the end of World War II he feels very disillusioned with old Europe. He feels the collapse of France to the Hitler forces was a sign of the decadence of old Europe, that it didn’t have the moral strength to resist something like Nazism. So he chooses to reinvent himself as an American and becomes a well-known American diplomat. In a way, the choices he makes are in the end the things that cut him down.
Is the death of Max the end of a certain world order?
The death happens at the fall of the Soviet Union. Max has been one of the people who has built the post-war world. He is an economist, he is very involved at the Bretton Woods meeting which set up things like the World Bank. Max sees himself as an architect of the modern world and believes there is something noble about the world being built in the aftermath of Nazism.
One can argue about whether the World Bank and IMF brought into being a more just world. But he believes he has created institutions that will survive him and will serve the human race in good stead.
But what he is seeing as the Soviet Union collapses is a radical questioning of everything he brought into being. And he says to his daughter, just before he dies, that everything will be washed away. And he fears, as we all fear who grow old and are on the edge of death, that our lives will have been for nothing.
Another character says, “the milquetoasts of secular nationalism had had their day and become sidelined irrelevances.” Do you believe that after the fall of communism it’s now the turn of secular nationalism to fall?
It’s the least bad of the options. I am not an idealist. I don’t believe there is a perfect world around the corner if only we knew how to get there. I think you have to look at the best available choice, but look at it with open eyes.
What happened in Kashmir, which is the context in which the general speaks, is that the original nationalist movement in Kashmir was not jihadist. It was a genuinely nationalist movement—its slogan was, Kashmir for the Kashmiris.
But that essentially secular movement was hijacked by the radicals by techniques including murdering the moderates. To this day you find jihadist groups targeting moderate Kashmiri leaders for assassination in order to polarize the situation. Their cause is served by polarization. They don’t want the middle ground.
After the bombings in London, some people said that the British concept of multiculturalism has allowed London to become Londonistan, sheltering violent extremists.
That’s not the fault of multiculturalism. The mistake was a deliberate government policy to allow radical Islamic groups to come in and set up shop in London. The justification was twofold—one was, if you did, you would be able to monitor them, and the other was, if you gave them safe haven they would not attack their own safe haven. On July 7 both those arguments went out the window.
Were you surprised that some of the bombers were “British lads”?
I was surprised and not surprised. I remember calling my oldest son, who is 26, and saying, you know, these are going to be British bombers. I felt it in my skin. But it’s still horrifying that people blow up their own country and it shows a degree of alienation and disaffection that’s genuinely alarming.
What has happened in England makes us all have to question that subject of belonging, that subject of primary loyalty. The truth is, if these British-Muslim boys were to actually go and try and live for six weeks in some Arab country they would be absolutely miserable. There is a fiction here about Muslim unity. We see everyday in Iraq the nature of that fiction with the hostilities between Shias and Sunnis. This is, if you like, to use an old term, a false consciousness.
But when the Blair government says it’s against the law to incite hatred, are you not deporting and punishing people for what they are saying, not doing? It was you who once said, “What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.”
Tony Blair is for many of us one of the great disappointments of our lives. When New Labor came to power, I, like many others, hoped for good things from what seemed to be an idealistic, clean-handed government. Now I don’t trust Blair and his new laws further than I can throw them.
But I have to say, I would not grieve at all about the expulsion of some of those Londonistan figures. Taking off my liberal hat for a moment, to throw out some of these firebrand mullahs who have been working up kids like these kids who blew themselves up, frankly, I wouldn’t give a damn.
But there is a problem when you define offense so broadly that you can kick out anyone whose face you don’t like. And given the authoritarian nature of the government one has to be very, very worried.
What kind of reformation in Islam are you talking about in the face of this firebrand extremism?
In a way, maybe the use of the word reformation was wrong. That makes people think about Martin Luther. The Christian reformation was a Puritan movement and that would be a movement in the wrong direction.
I was talking about a reform movement. The purpose of that would be to reclaim Islam from the radicals. Islamic radicalism had much less power 30 years ago. Muslim culture was much more tolerant and open. I think back to my grandfather, who was an extremely devout Muslim and went on the Haj to Mecca, but nevertheless was extremely open-minded and tolerant. That’s why I dedicate the book to him. Even though he was devout and I am not religious, he was a kind of a model.
But can a call for reform have legitimacy coming from a writer whose work millions haven’t read but consider blasphemous?
You are right. There are many who will never listen to anything I say because it’s me saying it. That’s fair enough. I am not asking to lead anything. I am not asking to even be a part of anything.
What I am saying is, if something like this does not happen, the danger is that all Muslims will begin to seem as if they are complying with the activities of the radicals. If there isn’t a strong rejectionist voice, many people, particularly in the diaspora, where Muslims are in the minority, will readily come to think that if you are not rejecting the stuff, that’s what you secretly think. That would be catastrophic.
But standing up to extremism is hard. In 1990 you yourself published a statement of remorse.
There were enormous pressures on me, including government pressure to make some kind of gesture. But I regretted doing it. I felt the thing that gives me credibility is, I say exactly what I think. And if I compromise that, I lose myself and that’s what I felt briefly at that moment. So I tried rapidly to un-say it. But I think there are voices out there beginning to speak up.
What’s the best thing the West, America can do to facilitate this reform? Stay out of it?
The danger is to do deals with the bad guys. I think the problem is, the West, for its own economic purposes, makes agreements and thus shores up regimes that would more easily fall. We support regimes that in another part of the forest we condemn.
In the end I don’t want this to be a story of what the West is doing to the East. Because I found all my life as a writer it was too easy to make that statement. The more interesting thing to say is, suppose this is our own fault, supposing we are doing this to ourselves. The reason why I try to stress the need for changes inside the Muslim world is not that I don’t believe there is racism, of course there is racism, it’s not that I don’t believe there is oppression, of course there is oppression. What I am saying is that to take responsibility for your life is a better way to live than to assume you are an endless victim.
You say now you are more drawn to themes of “worlds in collision.”
When I wrote Midnight’s Children I didn’t think like this. I thought I was writing about India and Pakistan and that was more than enough. As the world has gone on in this last quarter century, my characters need a different kind of explanation. The world has shrunk, part of that is communication, part of that is mass migration, part of that is economic globalization, and yes, part of that is international terrorism. For a combination of all these reasons, our societies in different parts of the world bleed into each other, sometimes literally, to a much greater degree than was ever the case.
So my stories have turned into these strange stories where to understand one bit of the world you have to understand another bit of the world. In a way it goes against the grain of the novel. The novel has something provincial in its nature. The novel wants to be put in a certain small town with a couple of merchants and an unfaithful wife and tell the story. But now the world isn’t like that.
Before you go, I hear you know some really good fatwa jokes.
They are all really bad jokes. The best-known one is, what’s blond and has big breasts and lives in Tasmania? The answer is Salman Rushdie, which unfortunately is not the case. (Laughs)
Sandip Roy-Chowdhury is on the editorial board of India Currents and host of UpFront, a newsmagazine show on KALW 91.7 produced by New California Media.
A Royal Romance
Living A Rock and Roll Jihad
Love In A Time Of War
The Heart is Like Glass
SeatoFire, BirdbyBird, SontoSon
Kashmir’s Mission (Im)Possible?
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Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v159y2017icp96-99.html
Asymmetric information and the property rights approach to the theory of the firm
Schmitz, Patrick W.
Patrick W. Schmitz
In the Grossman–Hart–Mooreproperty rights approach to the theory of the firm, it is usually assumed that information is symmetric. Ownership matters for investment incentives, provided that investments are partly relationship-specific. We study the case of completely relationship-specific investments (i.e., the disagreement payoffs do not depend on the investments). It turns out that if there is asymmetric information, then ownership matters for investment incentives and for the expected total surplus. Specifically, giving ownership to party B can be optimal, even when only party A has to make an investment decision and even when the owner’s expected disagreement payoff is larger under A-ownership.
Schmitz, Patrick W., 2017. "Asymmetric information and the property rights approach to the theory of the firm," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 96-99.
Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:159:y:2017:i:c:p:96-99
DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2017.07.026
Schmitz, Patrick W., 2017. "Asymmetric Information and the Property Rights Approach to the Theory of the Firm," CEPR Discussion Papers 12174, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
Schmitz, Patrick W., 2017. "Asymmetric Information and the Property Rights Approach to the Theory of the Firm," MPRA Paper 91460, University Library of Munich, Germany.
Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1999. "Foundations of Incomplete Contracts," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 115-138.
Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1998. "Foundations of Incomplete Contracts," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1846, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1998. "Foundations of Incomplete Contracts," NBER Working Papers 6726, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1998. "Foundations of incomplete contracts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19354, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1990. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1119-1158, December.
Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1988. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Working papers 495, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
Hart, Oliver D. & Moore, John, 1990. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Scholarly Articles 3448675, Harvard University Department of Economics.
Committee, Nobel Prize, 2016. "Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström: Contract Theory," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2016-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
Williamson, Oliver, 2009. "The Theory of the Firm as Governance Structure: From Choice to Contract," Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 6, pages 111-134, December.
Oliver E. Williamson, 2002. "The Theory of the Firm as Governance Structure: From Choice to Contract," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 171-195, Summer.
Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 691-719, August.
Oliver Hart & Sanford Grossman, 1985. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Working papers 372, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
Grossman, Sanford J. & Hart, Oliver D., 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Scholarly Articles 3450060, Harvard University Department of Economics.
Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver, 1985. "The Cost and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," CEPR Discussion Papers 70, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
Goldlücke, Susanne & Schmitz, Patrick W., 2014. "Investments as signals of outside options," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 683-708.
Ohlendorf, Susanne & Schmitz, Patrick, 2009. "Signaling an Outside Option," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 281, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
Goldlücke, Susanne & Schmitz, Patrick W, 2011. "Investments as Signals of Outside Options," CEPR Discussion Papers 8366, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
McKelvey, Richard D. & Page, Talbot, 2002. "Status Quo Bias in Bargaining: An Extension of the Myerson-Satterthwaite Theorem with an Application to the Coase Theorem," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 336-355, December.
Myerson, Roger B. & Satterthwaite, Mark A., 1983. "Efficient mechanisms for bilateral trading," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 265-281, April.
Roger B. Myerson & Mark A. Satterthwaite, 1981. "Efficient Mechanisms for Bilateral Trading," Discussion Papers 469S, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
Aghion, Philippe & Dewatripont, Mathias & Legros, Patrick & Zingales, Luigi (ed.), 2016. "The Impact of Incomplete Contracts on Economics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199826216.
Niko Matouschek, 2004. "Ex Post Inefficiencies in a Property Rights Theory of the Firm," Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 125-147, April.
Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Patrick Legros & Luigi Zingales, 2016. "The Impact of Incomplete Contracts on Economics," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/249190, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
repec:eee:ecolet:v:156:y:2017:i:c:p:15-17 is not listed on IDEAS
Hart, Oliver, 1995. "Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288817.
Patrick W. Schmitz, 2006. "Information Gathering, Transaction Costs, and the Property Rights Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 422-434, March.
Schmitz, Patrick W, 2005. "Information Gathering, Transaction Costs and the Property Rights Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 5417, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
Maria Goltsman, 2011. "Optimal information transmission in a holdup problem," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(3), pages 495-526, September.
repec:eee:indorg:v:52:y:2017:i:c:p:133-164 is not listed on IDEAS
Property rights; Relationship specificity; Investment incentives; Private information; Incomplete contracts;
D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law
L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures
All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:159:y:2017:i:c:p:96-99. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Dana Niculescu). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .
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Emailing Outside Of Office Hours: How Do I Handle It?
Author: Ms Deirdre Malone
Profession: Ronan Daly Jermyn
Employers should take note of the recent decision in Kepak Convenience Foods Unlimited Company -v- Grainne O'Hara, WTC/18/18 ( 19th July 2018)
Background The Organisation of Working Time Act (OWTA) directs that an employer shall not permit its employees to work more than an average of 48 hours in any period of seven days. There are additional restrictions in terms of daily rest and night working hours, but for the purpose of this query, it is the 48 hour maximum working week that is relevant.
The Facts Ms O'Hara brought a claim to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). She joined Kepak Convenience Foods Unlimited (the employer) in July 2016 as a Business Development Executive. She had a written contract of employment (40 hours per week over five days). The contract contained a clause directing Ms O'Hara to cooperate with the employer's procedures for monitoring the hours that she worked. This is because a large part of Ms O'Hara's role was on the road, being out of the office visiting customers, clients, suppliers etc.
Ms O'Hara's contract of employment terminated before she had 12 months' service (April 2017). Her complaint to the WRC was that she worked well in excess of 40 hours every week in breach of the OWTA.
OWTA Complaint Ms O'Hara's case was as follows:
She was required to make up to five site visits with customers/clients a day. She was required to input information regarding her sales on a computer or tablet (in respect of which she was fully trained, according to her employer). Ms O'Hara found the process overwhelming and too complicated. She was obliged to map out her weekly visit plan in advance and she had strict KPIs to meet. All of the above resulted in Ms O'Hara feeling that she had no choice but to catch up with incomplete work on her own time. She started to work from home, working late into the evenings and over weekends to complete her reports. Her evidence was that she was working approximately 60 hours a week in breach of the OWTA.
During the WRC hearing, the Company's evidence was as follows:
Ms O'Hara was wasting time doing unnecessary visits. Ms O'Hara was inputting information to the system incorrectly. Ms O'Hara was supposed to use an app which had a predictive text function to save time, however, Ms O'Hara insisted on using her laptop, which would take longer to input information. It was clear that the employer was never satisfied with the employee's performance on a weekly basis.
Ms...
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Survey analysis: One year after the Singapore summit
Ramon Pacheco Pardo
Tongfi Kim
Linde Desmaele
Maximilian Ernst
One year has passed since the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North KoreanChairman Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore. The summit marked the first meeting between the sittingleaders of both countries. There were also three inter-Korean summits between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim last year; only two had been held before since the end of the Korean War. Twelvemonths after the Singapore summit, however, diplomacy in the Korean Peninsula seems to have stalled following the failure of Trump and Kim to reach an agreement during their February 27-28 summit in Hanoi.
In this context, what do the publics of the US, China, Japan and Russia think about the situation in theKorean Peninsula? After all, these four powers have a keen interest in its geopolitics and Northeast Asia more generally. And public opinion has the potential to influence foreign policy decisions. With this survey, we shed light on the views that the publics of these four countries hold regarding the present and futureof the Korean Peninsula. The focus of the survey is inter-Korean relations, US-North Korea relations and policy towards North Korea.
The survey by Ipsos Mori was carried out in the period from 24th May – 4th June. It involved 1004 interviews in China, 1000 in Japan, 1099 in Russia and 1096 inthe United States, respectively.
Korea Chair Survey Analysis_June_2019.pdf 568.14 KB
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Home2016August
When games are written by straight men for straight men: the problem with Emily is Away [CW][TW][spoilers]
August 31, 2016 August 31, 2016 wundergeek doing it wrong Emily is Away, predictable misogyny, rape culture, WTF
[Note before I start, that I get pretty shouty about gaslighting, manipulation, and rape in this post. So please proceed with caution and care.]
One of the (many) problems of the male as default protagonist in any form of entertainment is that it’s left me cold for vast swathes of media, even media that is critically acclaimed. We’re told that male protagonists are more “relate-able”, and that men can’t be expected to identify with female protagonists. And leaving aside the blatant unfairness of that statement, it is true that women will identify with male protagonists – to a certain point. However, after a while, it just gets hard to care about media obviously aimed at men. For most of my life, I consumed stories mostly about men, but past a certain point you start to ask – why am I never reflected? Why should I care about this story about Yet Another Chapter In the Continuing Adventures of Manly Mans Doing Manly Things when the purveyors couldn’t give two shits what I think?
So. Hold that thought a moment.
I’ve been meaning to write about Emily is Away for a while now. I’d heard great things about it from various sources about the game and how the unique interface delivers compelling gameplay through moments like watching your typing errors be corrected or watching yourself delete or revise your comments. My vague impression of Emily is Away was that it was supposed to be a charming love story about two people whose relationship is witnessed through AIM, and that it was supposed to be well executed.
That was something that I was really interested in! I’ve written previously about how I wish that AAA gaming would make more games that aren’t just violence simulators with awesome graphics. And given that I met my husband online in a newsgroup, then migrated to having conversations via ICQ and IRC… the whole “relationship by AIM” thing was nostalgia that I was interested in revisiting. I felt like I was in the audience that this story was targeting – people who chatted on archaic chat platforms of the 90’s who have had an internet romance.
Unfortunately, when I actually played Emily is Away, I had the rug pulled out from under me, because once again I discovered that I’d been suckered into playing a game that was emphatically Not Written For Me. That frustration only got worse the more times I played it, trying to explore the different branches, because the more I played, the more it hit home that this was a game written by a man for an audience of straight men. Moreover, this post took days to write because I discovered that I have a lot to say about that. So.
Let’s dig into what I mean when I say that this game was written by a man for an audience of straight men. Starting with:
Problem #1: The men in this game are people, the women are props
At no point in this game do we ever get a feel for what Emily as a person is like. She never says anything personal about herself that isn’t about her connection to another dude. She’s going to Travis’ party. She’s getting messages from Brad. She’s dating Brad! But she sure asks lots of questions about YOU – the dude protagonist. (And yes you can put in a female name at character creation. It won’t change the fact that you’re still a dude, but we’ll return to that.)
Emily asks what you chose as your major, but you never ask about hers – nor does she ever talk about what she ends up studying. In the game, you talk about classes, about group projects, about what school is like for you – but YOU NEVER ASK EMILY and SHE NEVER TALKS ABOUT IT. Even when she opens up and says personal things, the only things she talks about relate to her connection with YOU, the protagonist, or her off-again-on-again boyfriend, Brad. Emily isn’t a person. She doesn’t feel “real”. She’s a shallow cardboard cutout. An obvious stand-in for the ultimate Nice Guy fantasy – what if my female friend actually did have feelings for me all along?
Worse, the only other female character in the game, Emma. And she gets ONE out of THREE possible character traits: kind, funny, or hot. Emily at least gets to have a second dimension through some trivial personal details, like the fact that she likes Coldplay and Snow Patrol – which is more than Emma gets. Emma exists in one dimension, because that’s the only dimension she’s ever given. NEITHER of them gets to be a real, three-dimensional person. Even more frustrating, it is VERY HARD not to have a romantic relationship with her.
Emma is depersonalized to the extent that at the end of the game, it’s revealed that you don’t spend time with Emma anymore; if Emma was someone you were pursuing romantically and you chose to go down the path that leads to a romantic encounter with Emily (which we’ll get back to in a sec), Emma rightly kicks you to the curb for ditching your plans with her to make a booty call with your friend from high school. (Seriously, major dick move.) But even if you don’t! Even if you don’t ditch Emma, or you and Emma are nothing more than friends, the ending is always the same. At the end, Emma starts dating someone else and doesn’t have time for you anymore.
Which, really, is the ultimate Nice Guy fear. That a woman they like will find someone else, someone who contributes more than just not being a shitty human being who sees her only as a sexual goal to be attained, and stop spending time with them.
In Chapter 5, when Emily asks how Emma is doing, and you reveal that you don’t see her anymore, you literally don’t have an option that indicates that you’re sad about not seeing her anymore. Even if you and Emma are really good friends who talk all the time earlier in the story, the only possible responses show a breathtaking lack of regard for Emma as a human being:
And that? Makes me pretty furious. Because I have BEEN the woman surrounded by men who are unable to see me as a person. I’ve been the woman that men call an ignorant judgemental cunt, or a fat jealous lesbian, or who say that I’m raising my daughter to be a dysfunctional lesbian – just because I have opinions they don’t agree with about games. I’ve been the female friend who realizes that her male friend, the friend that she felt close to, never actually cared about her – he just liked having someone around who admired his work and stroked his ego. And I’ve been the woman who had use her relationship status (“taken”) to fend off men she’d rather not speak to. Because I’m not enough of a person to have my wishes respected, but my husband is.
I have a lifetime of experience of being the fake woman, the cardboard cutout, the prop in a man’s self-centered reordering of the universe to be all about him. And maybe it’s completely unfair, but my knee-jerk reaction is that of course only a man could look at how Emily and Emma are presented and see the situation as “charming” or “romantic”, because so many men aren’t used to thinking of women as real people anyhow.
Problem #2: the game is NOT gender neutral
Technically, you can put in any name you want. There’s never any pronouns used, so the protagonist can be any gender the player wants… TECHNICALLY. In practice, however, the game and all the dialogue read as YOU ARE A HETERO DUDE.
I like playing immersively, so I used my name. I also decided that for my first playthrough, I wanted to just be Emily’s friend. And, you know, mostly that worked until about halfway through Chapter 3. Emily is sad about a bad breakup, which has cost her all of her friends – who sided with her ex, and reveals that she used to have feelings for the protagonist.
Which. You know. Nice Guy fantasy. But also, it is the most boringly cliched hetero romance moment ever, that I simply could not take seriously the idea that the protagonist was anything other than a straight dude. Seriously:
And look. I get it. The stars are romantic. I, too, have gone for a walk with my beloved and marveled at the stars. They’re large and unfathomable and we are but tiny ephemeral things whose connections will never matter on a cosmic scale. I get it.
But. That doesn’t change the fact that this is a literal retelling of a thing that happens in every other movie about a hetero romance movie ever[1]. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Scott Pilgrim, The Fault in Our Stars, Gregory’s Girl, A Beautiful Mind, My Girl… the list goes on and on.
Anyway, the moment where things go from mildly frustrating to totally fucking gross what the actual fuck just happened here occurs in Chapter 4, in response to events from Chapter 3. Which brings you to:
Problem #3: This game makes you a rapist, then tells you asserting healthy boundaries is JUST AS BAD AS THAT
See, during that conversation in Chapter 3, after Emily reveals that she had feelings for you, she asks if she can come visit you THIS WEEKEND OR NOT AT ALL, and you have several shitty options: 1) say no, you don’t think it would be a good idea, because Emily just told you about her past feelings and she’s coming off a bad breakup, so she can’t visit you AT ALL NEVER EVER. 2) Say “yes you can come visit” with no qualifications 3) Say yes you can come visit, but only as friends.
Because I was trying to play someone who didn’t have a relationship with Emily, I made the most neutral responses that I could when she was revealing her feelings to me, “I didn’t know you felt that way” and “you should have said something”. But when she asked if she could come visit, I said sure! Because she needed support, and in at the beginning it’s established that the two of you are best friends, even if the protagonist is too chickenshit to say it outright. (“You’re my best friend” is one of the things he deletes and corrects.) And sure it meant canceling on plans to do stuff with Emma, but I reasoned we’re all adults and Emma should understand “best friend is in trouble, needs support” – because it’s the compassionate thing to do.
After agreeing to the visit, I even said (the first time around) ‘sure, bring your booze’ when she asks about alcohol, reasoning we’d hang around campus and do shit and just get drunk enough to have fun and feel better about a shitty situation. There have been lots of times where I’ve hung out with friends in shitty situations and got drunk with them to help them feel better.
Which, you know, yay! Until Chapter 4, which opens a year after that visit, with Emily apologizing for not messaging in a while. She says she’s felt weird about things between you, and when pressed responds with the following:
I felt sick. Actually sick. “Of course I didn’t plan that” was the least skeevy response it would let me make, and it was still defensive and not okay. But then it went even further. Emily tells you about how in retrospect, it all seemed so planned. That you introduced her to all your friends, then took her back to your dorm room and got her drunk and you “hooked up”. And she’s felt weird and not okay about it ever since. And no matter what response you make, the protagonist types “you wanted to hook up”, then erases it and replaces it with “I don’t know”.
And THAT? That was like a bucket of cold water. Because “you wanted it” is what rapists tell their victims.
Literally nothing about how Emily describes the situation reads as consensual to me. The defensive responses, the fact that you can even claim to ‘not have noticed’ that things were weird, the fact that your initial impulse is to tell her that she wanted it. This doesn’t read like a misunderstanding between star-crossed lovers. This reads like a woman who is hurt and traumatized by something that she knows wasn’t okay, something that violated her trust in someone that she loved, and she’s trying to confront that without being ready to call what happened to her “rape”. Not yet.
While this whole thing played out, I couldn’t help but remember stories that I’ve heard from other women about having their trust violated by a friend who told them that they wanted it. I’ve heard and read so many stories, so many stories where a woman talks about being raped by a man that she loved and trusted, who told her that she wanted it, and who refused to accept that what he did was not okay when confronted later. And they read uncomfortably close to how this scene plays out. This scene that is supposed to be “romantic”. This scene where you find out that you are a rapist, and it happened offscreen, and you couldn’t do anything about it.
So I went back and replayed it. Made the same choices up to that point, but then told Emily not to bring booze. But that still doesn’t make much difference. You still hook up, things are still weird and wrong, and in dubious consent territory. And this time when Emily calls you on it:
YOU SEEMED FINE?
BEFORE SHE VISITED SHE WAS CRYING TO YOU, LITERALLY CRYING ABOUT HER BREAKUP AND HOW SHE HATED EVERYTHING AND HER SCHOOL AND ALL HER FRIENDS HAD DUMPED HER. SO. NO. THAT IS WRONG. “I don’t know” is such a fucking disingenuous response, because the entire situation that led to this visit? The fact that you and Emily talk all the time, and have this long past together? You know. You fucking well KNOW she’s not okay. How could you not?
The only saving grace is that at least this time around it’s not rape, because Emily was sober and capable of consent. But this is some skeevy emotional manipulation bullshit, and then the fact that the protagonist claims ignorance of her emotional state after the fact? No. NO.
I’ve had my body used for the gratification of a man in a situation that I didn’t consent to. I shut down. I froze, I didn’t move or speak. But when I confronted my attacker later, he at least had the grace to be ashamed and own that what he did wasn’t okay and apologize. Because he knew. HE KNEW and he did it anyway, because in that moment what he wanted was more important than my safety.
And I’ve had men gaslight me. Men who I thought were friends and confidants, who turned my world upside down, tried to convince me that I was a monster because I insisted on trying to get them to see themselves in a critical light because I cared about them and wanted them to be better. Men who decided it was better to betray my trust and destroy my confidence in how I saw myself because it wasn’t compatible with them seeing themselves as the HERO OF THEIR OWN STORY.
So yeah. No.
[ahem] So that’s shitty option number 2. What about shitty options #1 (no you can’t visit ever) and #3 (yes you can visit, but only as a friend). Well, if you opt for #1, at the beginning of Chapter 4 Emily mentions that she had a breakdown after you wouldn’t let her visit and blames you for abandoning her in her time of need. Which. I mean. Fine. You know, having Emily be so emotionally fragile that she falls to pieces and goes crazy the instant a man isn’t there to validate her self-worth is shitty, but at least “you said you’d support me and didn’t” is a legitimate grievance, even if the situation that is presented is so stereotypical and gendered that I can’t even.
And if you opt for #3, Chapter 4 opens with Emily berating you about how things will never be okay because you “missed your chance” and “that was the moment” you could have gotten together and YOU BLEW IT. And the anger and recrimination is just as strong in that situation, the situation in which you asserted a healthy boundary and didn’t take advantage of a woman you cared about who was deeply vulnerable, as it is in situation #2 – in which you can become an actual rapist[2].
Because the problem, THE REAL PROBLEM, is that Emily has feelings toward the protagonist that aren’t positive. It doesn’t matter if they arise from a legitimate grievance, or you “not making your move”, or you taking advantage of her and possibly raping her. The outcome is always the same, because the protagonist’s actions don’t matter. What matters is that Emily is rejecting you, and that is the REAL tragedy.
Problem #4: No matter what choices you make, in the end you are always The Sad Nice Guy Abandoned By That Girl Who Should Have Chosen Him Instead
Chapter 5 opens by being the only chapter in which you have to message Emily first to talk to her. And during that conversation, Emily is obviously doing a slow fade. She’s not pulling her weight in the conversation, making terse responses, and not trying to keep it going.
Though of course the one exception to this is when she asks, unprompted, about Emma and the protagonist has the aforementioned hissy fit about how she had to get a new boyfriend and doesn’t spend time with him anymore. And it’s ironic that this, THIS, is perhaps the only thing that the author gets right. That dismissal of Emma as a person who has worth independent of her willingness to satisfy your boner is the moment when Emily shuts down and stops trying. You pepper her with questions about stupid shit. Concerts, summer plans, whatnot, and she gives you the soft rejection. Because that’s what women learn to do with men they have reason to be afraid of, to let them down easy so they don’t get stabbed.
But even then, he comes at it all wrong – because the tragedy isn’t what a what a sad, miserable human being you are. The tragedy isn’t that you’re an entitled dickmonster incapable of seeing women as real human beings with hopes and dreams and aspirations. The tragedy is supposed to be that you are SAD and CONFUSED and ALONE, and you don’t understand how you could be graduating college WITHOUT A WOMAN. Because our culture PROMISED YOU A WOMAN.
It’s infuriating to play through a game that misses the point so completely that it ends up in an entirely different universe of NOT THE GODDAMN POINT. And it’s disappointing, because honestly – I’ve had friendships fizzle out where one person stopped caring, friendships that have played out over messaging. And it sucks. It hurts, and it’s painful, and it leaves you bewildered and wondering what you did wrong. So that game? That game I would have played and enjoyed. But not this. Never this.
Emily is Away isn’t “touching” or “romantic”. It’s a disturbing highlight of how entitled men feel to women’s time and attention, and how willing men are to dehumanize someone in the pursuit of achieving their own romantic desires.
[1] And before you ask what makes that seem so hetero, looking at the stars is just romantic, right? That might be the case if Hollywood didn’t make the few gay love stories they produce tragic like EVERY GODDAMN TIME. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Brokeback Mountain, Rent, Love is Strange, Carol, Cracks, Aimée & Jaguar, Blue is the Warmest Colour (not death)… you get the idea
It’s pretty fucking impossible to think of a movie about a gay romance that ends happily. …like, to be honest, I’m a movie buff and I literally can’t remember one.
[2] And yeah, I know about Kyle Seeley’s response to Emily Short’s review, in which she raises the issue of ‘um, you are describing rape’. And in that response, he starts by telling Emily ‘she’s wrong’, ‘it’s not rape’. And then he handwaves and says well you know, he’s not saying Emily’s feelings are wrong or whatever. And then he fails to stick the landing with an ‘I’m sorry if you were offended’ nonpology. (“I’m sorry to anyone who interprets the story that way”). So no, if anything he just dug the hole deeper.
Handling difficult material as a GM: part 2
August 23, 2016 wundergeek doing it right inclusive gaming
A few months ago, the ever-fantastic Kate Bullock (who also has a Patreon for her blog that you should check out) said that she wanted to see someone write about this question: “How do I, as a person of privilege, include problematic content in my games safely and inclusively?”
And that is an excellent question! A really big, excellent question! So big that I ended up writing an entire post about player safety in regard to tabletop games and LARPs just to lay the groundwork for this post – because everything that I want to say about how to include problematic content responsibly hinges first on the concept of safety.
So. Let’s take it as a given that you read all of my previous post (if you haven’t, now would be a good time to do so), and move on.
Advice for people making games
I only have one point to make here, but it’s a biggie:
Talk to the people you’re writing about
Because I don’t like repeating myself, I’m going to quote myself from this old-but-still-totally-relevant series I wrote about how to write inclusive settings:
This is probably the scariest part of the process, but it’s also the most important. If you’re going to write about a group of people that you don’t belong to, it is imperative to speak to members of that group. This can be nerve-wracking for those who have privilege, because so often people in positions of privilege are fearful of examining that privilege. But it’s important because without this step, you’re just engaging in more thoughtless cultural appropriation.
So get a second opinion. And more importantly, listen to that opinion. They might tell you something that you don’t want to hear. You need to hear it anyway. Or they might give you the thumbs up. You don’t know until you ask!
If you are writing about people who don’t look like you (and you should be, at least sometimes, because only ever writing about people who look like you is boring as shit), you need to talk to the people whose stories you are going to tell. So if you’re writing a game about women and you’re a man, you need to talk to women. If you’re writing a game about mental illness, but are not yourself mentally ill, you’re going to need consultation from people who do have mental health issues. And if you’re writing a game set in a foreign country that you are not from and are not connected to (ie you’re writing a game set in India and are a white kid from Chicago, to use a hypothetical example), you need to talk to people from that background – after you do your research.
Because that’s the other thing to remember. If you are seeking someone out, you need to remember that they are the ones doing you the favor. Because no person from a marginalized group is OBLIGATED to educate people from outside that group. That’s what the internet is for. Do NOT go to someone and expect them to do all the heavy lifting with regard to teaching you about their culture just so you can do them the “favor” of writing a game about that culture, because that is bad allying. Instead, do your homework. Don’t write your first draft before you’ve done good, solid research. Once a draft is done, highlight areas of possible concern, and only then approach someone about getting an opinion – because handing someone several thousand words and asking for an opinion without any sort of focusing questions is not a good way to earn goodwill.
Lastly, when approaching people, remember that their time is important – you wouldn’t think it wasn’t important if you didn’t want their opinion, after all – and be prepared to offer some kind of compensation in return for their time. If it’s a friend or acquaintance, you can feel free to get creative – “hey, do you think you’d mind taking a look at a draft of a game I’m working on? I’m concerned about [things x, y, and z]. I’d be willing to trade babysitting so you and your partner could have a night out” is something that I would probably not say no to!
However, if no one in your immediate circle of contacts has the background that you need, consider that you may have to pay someone real actual money. Because nothing will get me to delete your email faster than sending me content unsolicited and expecting me to give you an opinion on it. And yeah, it can be scary pouring money – even a little money – into an early game draft when you don’t know what will come of it, and maybe that can be a reminder of why it’s so important to cultivate a social network of diverse, non-homogeneous designers.
That’s not to say that paying people to consult on a game draft can’t have benefits! being prepared to put your money where your mouth is is a great way of making a first impression, and if you are open and receptive to the conversation that results, the chances are pretty good that the consultant will go to bat for you later when it comes to helping promote the finished product.
Advice for people running tabletop games
Tell your players upfront if there are elements of the game that are problematic
Don’t be cute and hide things from your players to give them a more “intense” experience, because that’s a dick move. Tell them up front.
For convention games, this starts with putting a small disclaimer in the description of your game. Ie “this game deals with issues surrounding sexual violence” or “this game deals with bodily autonomy” or “this game deals with toxic masculinity”. When players are looking over the list of games, trying to decide which game they want to play in during a given time slot, that is shit they need to know. However, by the same token, don’t assume that they actually read the description. Maybe there was a scheduling mixup, or maybe a friend dragged them into the game at the last minute. Maybe the game they were scheduled to play got canceled and the organizers just tried to find them something to replace it. Which means you’ll also need to tell the players when they sit down what they’re getting in for.
Providing content warnings about problematic elements in your game isn’t “coddling” your players, or “insulating them from reality”. Providing content warnings lets people prepare themselves so that when the problematic content comes up, it isn’t a horrible surprise.
Of course, providing content warnings means that you need to have enough self-awareness to be aware of the shortcomings of a thing you love; just because you love a game doesn’t mean that it’s good for someone else. Be open about the pitfalls of the game you’re running without apologizing for it or being ashamed of it, and let your players make the decision that is best for them. Speaking from personal experience, a lot of the time I’m a lot more willing to engage with problematic content that gets close to uncomfortable areas for me when it’s labeled as such and disclosed up front, because that shows respect and concern on the part of the GM or facilitator.
Lastly, a lot of LARPs can have big twists or reveals. But if you’re running a LARP with such a twist, it’s still important to find a way to disclose potentially painful themes upfront and let people opt out. Because having triggering content sprung on you as a surprise is doubly awful in a LARP.
But – don’t put up with problematic behavior at the table
It’s important to note that some players will see content warnings as an invitation to be as “dark” and “edgy” as they can, or to treat the problematic content as a joke. If you have a player that is making light of what is meant to be a serious issue, X-card it hard and fast. And if they keep doing it, call them on it, and kick them out if you need to.
It feels shitty, but a bad player can be just as harmful as an irresponsible GM.
Don’t just replicate injustice. Be critical of it.
To use an example that drives me nuts, I hear lots of people say that Game of Thrones is feminist because it has lots of strong female characters. Which. No.
First, simply having strong female characters DOES NOT make something automatically feminist. But even more importantly, just replicating injustice is not the same thing as actually criticizing injustice. Without some sort of change that turns the situation on its head, all that you’re doing is reinforcing toxic social norms that already exist. To return to Game of Thrones, when you have entire plot threads that center on things like rape, sexual exploitation, and white saviors saving the awful brown people from their barbaric culture without any hint of irony or even the thinnest attempt at trope inversion, that is not criticism. That is mindless replication.
An example of a game which does do this well is Dogs in the Vineyard – a game about Mormon gunslinger teenagers in the Old West. You could play it as a mostly vanilla Western if you wanted, but the thing that makes Dogs special is the fact that the text covers gender and racial divisions in Faithful society and how they can lead to injustice – which is why it’s easy to use Dogs to create game content that focuses on social issues.
One of the best bits of GMing I’ve ever done was when I wrote a Dogs town where the heresy was literally feminism. (More specifically, there was a heretical cult of women who believed that women were people who got to do things other than have babies.) I had the cult leader take that feminism to monstrous extremes and left it to the players to decide how the hell they were going to sort everything out, which leads right into:
Related: If you’re going to engage in social commentary via moral dilemma, make it an open ended dilemma
IF you are engaging in social commentary by way of moral dilemma, DO NOT pre-play by deciding which option is the “right” option, because then it’s not a dilemma anymore. What you have is just high-handed preaching, which is boring as shit at best and condescending and insulting at worst. Putting the choice in their hands makes it engaging and thought provoking!
Present a moral dilemma and be prepared for what happens if: 1) your players choose side A 2) your players choose side B or 3) your players try to walk a middle ground, and then let the chips fall where they may.
Advice for people running LARPs
A lot of what I’ve said above applies to running LARPs too. But as facilitating LARPs is a very different beast from GMing tabletop, there are a few specific points to be made. Most importantly,
Remember: victimizers often need as much aftercare as victims, but they might not feel they have permission to say so
Some LARPs, especially Nordic LARPs, cast people in roles that are explicitly roles where they are villains, oppressors, or victimizers – and those can be really hard and emotionally challenging roles to play! This is especially true when what happens in play ends up mirroring a form of oppression that the player of an oppressor character has themselved experience. Often, this can be just as traumatic as playing a character who is themselves the victim.
In writing about my experience of playing Autonomy, the LARP that I wrote about teaching men to behave like women, women to behave like men, and then creating a situation where women punish men for their gender for forty minutes, I described it this way:
actually playing the game was agonizing. Because here I was, replicating an experience that has literally made me sick in the past, and I was doing it on purpose.
The instant the game was over and we sat down for the debrief, the very first thing I did was to cross my arms and ankles as I all but folded in on myself, going from masculine to feminine body language in an instant, and the very first words out of my mouth were a plaintive “I’m sorry”.
Because I should have known! I should have known that being “men” wouldn’t be “better”, because hurting someone the way that you’ve been hurt just because you can is a terrible feeling.
So it’s important to make it clear that players of villain characters will get just as much support and care as players of victim characters. It’s probably best just to state this as a ground rule of the debrief.
During debriefs, make sure everyone gets to talk, and that no one has their experience invalidated by someone else
The group of people that I LARP with have standardized how they run debriefs somewhat to include the following:
Everyone gets up to 3 minutes to talk about how they felt during the game and how they are feeling now; only individual statements, no conversations or responses
People can’t use their 3 minutes to invalidate or argue with someone else’s experience
General conversation happens only after everyone has had a chance to speak, and is highly structured. The moderator enforces turn taking and keeps one person or one group of people (men[1]) from taking over the conversation
Number 2 is more important than you’d think! The worst debrief experience I ever had was after a LARP in which themes of sexism were very prevalent. During the LARP, there was a moment in which two men – one of whom was physically much larger than me – stood over me and shouted at me until I stopped talking. So when it was my 3 minutes, I talked about how threatened I felt, and about how having masculinity intentionally performed at me is something I find very anxiety provoking.
When it was another male player’s turn to talk (this was not one of the two men who had done the shouting), he said that masculinity hadn’t been performed, gender had never been a part of that situation. Meaning, by extension, that my feelings and everything I talked about were all in my head. That they weren’t real.
I. WAS. FURIOUS. I ended up leaving the debrief – the first and only time I have ever done so.
Thankfully, the facilitator was receptive when I told him how I was doing afterward. And conversation with him and his partner, who is the owner of the space and organizes the games that we play there, led to including rule #2 as a default, to avoid future repeats.
If shit gets real, make yourself available for conversation after
Something that I have seen done by facilitators, and something I have done myself, is as simple as handing out cards with your contact info if one of your players feels like they need help processing the experience later, after they have left the game space. That’s not to say that it’s required, but if you feel comfortable at least handing out an email address, it’s something worth considering.
Some of the best, most educational conversations I’ve had – the ones that have opened my eyes to other perspectives or helped me see things in a radically new light – were conversations that happened well after a particular game had ended.
I don’t know how to end this but I think I’ve said enough.
If you made it this far, congratulations. I promise to get back to stuff with lots more pictures after this.
In the mean time, have a kitten in a pocket:
[1] If you feel like you need to argue this point with me, just. Don’t. I will throw science at you and you will lose
Handling difficult material as GM or facilitator: Part 1
August 18, 2016 wundergeek doing it right, tabletop RPGs inclusive gaming, LARP, safer spaces, safety tools
Before I get started, a note about my previous post:
Some asshat on the internet[1] wrote a screed about my last post calling me human feces and an actual lizard person. Why? Because I had the nerve to blog about a game that I’m making, with a MALE co-designer, btw, that has feminist themes. And somehow me and my SJWness and my making games about feminism is DESTROYING GAMING and will KILL D&D FOREVER.
Which, look internet MRA gamerbros. Calm your testes, okay? Literally no one is forcing you to think about, buy, or play my game. The existence of my game doesn’t THREATEN ALL OF D&D. Jesus. Calm down, okay? I wish I was that awesome, but I’m not.
Also, worth noting that a good half of his screed (when he wasn’t talking about what a pox I am on gaming) was devoted to bitching about how I CAN’T WRITE A GAME ABOUT TOXIC MASCULINITY BECAUSE I’M NOT A MAN. Which, you know, conveniently ignores the fact that I specifically gave credit to my male co-designer (the eminently fantastic Andrew Medeiros) at the end of the first paragraph. Whoops.
ANYWAY. Moving on.
Handling difficult material in game spaces you are responsible for
I write a lot here about how to be a responsible publisher, in terms of creating diverse and inclusive game content that doesn’t fuck up with regards to reductive stereotypes. I also write a fair bit about how to be a good ally, by way of common ally traps and how to avoid them. But a few months ago, a friend pointed out that she wanted to read about how to be a responsible GM – especially when running games for players with marginalizations that she doesn’t share. Between GenCon and being a full time student, I haven’t had as much attention to devote to blogging as I would have liked. But now that I find myself with a bit of breathing room, it’s a good time to look at the issue of safer gaming spaces and how to facilitate those spaces even when you’re handling difficult, intense, or potentially problematic content.
This post expanded a bit beyond what I was expecting, so today focuses more on safety tools and the space itself. Next time I’ll get into a bit more nitty gritty detail about techniques for GMs.
Also, I wasn’t able to work them in to the outline of this post, but Meguey Baker has written pretty extensively about two cultures of safety in play called I Will Not Abandon You and Nobody Gets Hurt. Most of the discussions around this are buried on forums like Story-Games and happened a long time ago, but I would be remiss in not acknowledging Meg’s work, as well as the work of others, in starting this conversation in the first place.
First: Always use safety tools
The three safety tools that I always, always, always use when running games are:
The X-Card (tabletop games)
Cut and Brake (LARP)
The Door is Always Open (LARP)
I don’t run games without them anymore; even if a LARP doesn’t mention Cut/Break or The Door is Always Open in the facilitator instructions, I still always introduce it to the players as part of the rules, because that’s how strongly I feel about it.
However, just having safety tools doesn’t actually solve anything. The use of safety tools at the table in convention spaces is getting to be pretty common; at GenCon we had printed X-Cards at every table, the files for which we actually got from Kate Bullock who runs Breakout Con. And every LARP that I’ve ever played at a convention has included Cut/Brake and The Door Is Always Open as part of the instructions on how to play.
And yet, despite the increasing prevalence of safety tools, we haven’t actually solved the issue of player safety. Simply putting a safety tool on the table (either literal or metaphorical) and telling people how it works IS NOT ENOUGH to get someone to use that tool when they need it. Because…
Second: People need to feel they have permission to USE safety tools
One thing I’ve noticed is that how I approach safety tools in games tends to vary widely based on who I’m playing with. For instance, in convention games, I’m far less likely to use safety tools, even when I’m not having a great time or am feeling uncomfortable with content that is coming up. I’ve written previously about an experience that I had running Zombie Cinema at GenCon 2014 for a brunch of bros who made sexism a running joke in the game. And despite introducing the X-Card during the game introduction, and despite that the sexist jokes were really bothering me, I didn’t say anything.
Similarly, also at GenCon in 2014, I played in an Apocalypse World longcon than ran all three nights of the convention. And it was an amazing game, but there was a moment in particular that stood out for me as deeply, starkly uncomfortable. There was this weird psychic contagion, and at one point one of the players failed a roll against an NPC. The GM had made it clear that if this happened, the psychic contagion was going to take control, and after the roll he gave the player a choice: either you’ll have to kill her or have sex with her. And I was really not okay. Because after a previous bad experience at GenCon, even implied possible sexual violence in a roleplaying game in a convention space was something that got close to some ugly emotional scars. But I let it go to see what the player would do, and he chose to kill the NPC, and play moved on and I didn’t end up using the X-Card.
Compare this with my use of the X-Card in campaigns with my local gaming group – the one I’ve been playing with for almost two years now, and you get a very different picture. During a campaign of Urban Shadows, I perma-X-Carded a friend’s demon clown character, who transformed into demon form by ripping off their skin and generally doing a lot of body horror shit. I told that friend they could mime their actions or do sound effects, but not both[2]. Or another time I actually X-carded how a scene had played out because I was having a really rough time with my anxiety and needed the session to end on a positive note.
Both of those instances are “smaller” uses of the X-Card – things that made me feel more comfortable but weren’t things that affected my overall fun or ability to feel emotionally safe. I could have managed just fine with the demon clown descriptions by plugging my ears – it wasn’t something that would ruin my fun completely. Similarly, X-carding how a scene wrapped up at the end of a session wasn’t something I needed to feel safe. But in both instances, I knew that my friends would understand that these were things that would make me feel more comfortable.
The difference between how I approach the X-Card in home games versus how I have approached it at conventions comes down to having a pre-existing relationship and having trust in the GM and the other players. Often, the situations where people need safety tools are not the situations where they feel they have that relationship with someone. When I run a tabletop campaign, I know my players. I know that I can narrate X in a way that will skeeve out player Y, but I also mostly know where to stop.
But I mostly don’t have that kind of relationship with players at con games. So when I introduce safety tools, I do more than explain how it works. I explain why it’s there.
For example. One of my favorite games to run at conventions if I have to do a two-hour slot is The Shab al-Hiri Roach at Hogwarts. The Shab al-Hiri Roach is a game of dark comedy in which you play bad people doing bad things, and transplanting that game into Hogwarts – a setting which canonically includes children, has the potential to cause some bad times. So when I’m introducing the game to folks, my X-Card speech looks a little something like this:
“Because Hogwarts is a setting which canonically includes children, I want to emphasize that we’ll be playing with the X-Card firmly in place. The X-Card is a safety tool that anyone can lift, point to, or tap whenever content comes up that makes them uncomfortable or they’d rather not see, and we’ll edit out that content without any judgement or recrimination. I’ll say right now that I’ll X-Card anything that involves harming children, but the X-Card can be used for anything – big or small.
I say all this not to be a downer, because The X-Card is actually a really important tool to help us have fun. When you’re playing a gonzo silly game at a convention, there’s no way you can know everything that makes the other players uncomfortable. So the X-Card is our safety net, in case something comes up, so that we can put our energy into playing and having a good time and not worrying about something that might come up and ruin our fun.”
Similarly, I was really glad when I ran a session of Unheroes when a player asked during setup if anyone had an issue with him playing very intensely, because he liked high-intensity, high-bleed experiences. I was able to say something like, “that’s a great question! I’m glad to hear you like to play that way but are aware that it might cause some people some issues. Here are some tools we’ll be using to help manage those issues, so you can feel comfortable playing intensely and other people have the tools they need if they start to feel uncomfortable. That way we’ll all be able to have fun together.”
So to break it down, I use language to sell why it’s good to have, if possible I include an example of content that I would use a safety tool for, and I talk about why everyone benefits from the use of safety tools in gaming spaces.
BUT. Even then it’s important not to forget that…
Third: The existence of safety tools don’t negate the need to keep an eye out for player safety
In the debrief after the Apocalypse World longcon where that really uncomfortable moment of “kill her or have sex with her” had happened, I talked about how uncomfortable that had been for me and that I had been really close to not being okay. And the GM nodded and said, yeah, I could tell. And I was so, so grateful that he’d picked up on it! Just as I was then really upset with the person who spoke up in response and said that if I hadn’t been okay, it would have been my fault for not using the X-Card.
And that was such a completely bullshit response that I couldn’t even. Because sometimes the situations making people feel unsafe are rooted in real, actual trauma, and one of the responses to trauma that is pretty fucking common is for people to freeze up or shut down. For me, my experience of being sexually assaulted at GenCon made the possibility of narrative sexual violence in a convention space feel very threatening. And luckily, in this instance, the triggering element in the game was something I could see coming, so I could prepare to X-Card it if it got too close. But sometimes triggers come at you hard and sideways, too fast for you to react, and you can find yourself shutting down and unable to use the very tool to get you out of the situation.
Which is why it is SO IMPORTANT as a GM to keep an eye out for this. And I promise you, you’re already better at this than you think.
As GMs/Facilitators, part of learning our craft is learning to recognize when your players are having fun. If you’ve been GMing for any length of time, you know the difference between a good con game and a bad one. When someone asks how your game just went, it’s the difference between “Eh, it was a B- game. Two players really loved it, but the third player really wasn’t feeling it” and “it was totally great! Everyone was super into it! The energy was high and we all had a great time!”
When a player switches from “having fun” to “not”, you should always check in – especially if that transition is sudden or abrupt. The reason could be entirely mundane – their blood sugar could have bottomed out, or they could have a headache coming on, or they might feel they’re not getting enough spotlight. But it could be something bigger.
You don’t need to make a big deal of it. Something as simple as “hey, you got kinda quiet, everything okay?” between scenes can make all the difference.
And that is where I stop for today
All of this was laying the ground work for the question I actually wanted to answer, which is – how do I include problematic content safely and inclusively? So we’ll get that next time.
However, because I don’t want “calm your testes” to be the preview image, have a picture of a baby rabbit:
[1] I won’t provide links, but his title image was a bald eagle in front of an American Flag, and his bio describes himself as a culture warrior. The self-satire, it hurts!
[2] They reminded me recently that I ALSO banned them from describing their actions while they acted them out, and I was like, “what really? I don’t remember that”. And then they started miming pulling the flesh off their face while also describing it until I was like “NOPE NOPE NOW I REMEMBER OKAY STOP YES I SAID THAT”.
How our game about women is inspiring conversations about masculinity
August 11, 2016 August 11, 2016 wundergeek tabletop RPGs inclusive gaming, The Watch
I’ve got a lot of things to catch up on post-GenCon, including assembling notes about my experience as an Industry Insider Featured Presenter so that I can write in detail about that – since it was an amazing experience. But today I wanted to take the time to reflect on some compelling conversations that I’ve had about masculinity as inspired by The Watch – the low-fantasy game about female and female-of-center soldiers fighting to retake their homeland from a nebulous threat called The Shadow that I’m currently co-designing with Andrew Medeiros[1].
Explanatory sidebar:
What is The Watch? Well, to go into a bit more detail, here’s how I’ve described it previously:
The Watch is a low-fantasy game about women (and other female-of-center people) who are fighting to retake their homeland from the Shadow – a darkly sorcerous threat that has the power to possess men and use them for its own violent ends. So much has already been lost to the Shadow – land, loved ones, and traditions. But your people have come together, forming a new fighting force from those able to resist the Shadow, which they call the Watch.
That you will defeat the Shadow is never in question. What you are playing to find out is how much will it cost you? On the day of the Shadow’s final defeat, who is it that you will say should have been standing beside you? Which of you will burn bright and fast, and which of you will hunker down and see this thing through to the end?
The Watch is a game that is Powered By The Apocalypse, meaning it uses the Apocalypse World system – albeit with a ton of hacks, modifications, and innovations. It’s currently in beta testing, and Drew and I will be looking to KickStart it in 2017.
[/sidebar]
Between the two of us, we ran a whopping seven sessions of The Watch, and I’m pretty excited about the fact that the people who played it were mostly male – by an overwhelming margin. (30 out of 35 total players, if you’re keeping score.) Admittedly, there’s always the potential for things to go a bit sideways when you have mostly men playing all female characters[2] (especially at a con game, where investment tends to be lower), but the guys who played it were super engaged with the premise – which was really gratifying! Especially in light of the difficulty that I’ve had getting men interested in playing The Starlit Kingdom, which is also kind of explicitly about women.
And sure, it would have been nice to have more women at the table. Both of the sessions I ran had five male players, and I always feel more comfortable when I’m not the only woman at the table. But there’s a pretty wonderful thing that happens with The Watch when you have a lot of men at the table because of this lovely little rule called Resist the Shadow.
PCs have to roll to Resist the Shadow “when [they] give the Shadow an opening into [their] heart by engaging in toxic behavior”, which is a reflection of internalized misogyny and the toxic scripts that people of all genders – not just men – internalize. But…
Well. …can you keep a secret, readers? Of course you can. I can trust you.
See, what I never actually say when I run the game is that the Shadow is actually patriarchy. Instead, I do a bit of a shell game when I introduce the game to men at the table – I tell them that the Shadow is toxic masculinity, and that’s why the men in this world are so vulnerable to the Shadow. Because the idea of “man” is what makes them vulnerable to its influence. And all of that is true!
But! Something that I’ve observed through running this blog and having conversations with men in other feminist spaces is that sometimes, it’s easier to get men to engage with conversations about patriarchy through coming at toxic masculinity. There can be a defensive impulse when conversations are framed around patriarchy, an impulse to say “not me – that’s other men”, because it’s hard to admit that a key part of your identity causes you to be complicit in harming others. I find that calling out behavior as “toxic masculinity” can make some men much more receptive, because that is more evocative of how toxic ideas of manhood are personally damaging. In other words, some men are a lot more willing to accept that unconscious attitudes cause you to harm yourself than they are to accept that those same attitudes cause you to harm others[3].
So. When I’m starting the game, I’ll read a few paragraphs of setting introduction, to explain the world and the situation. And then I’ll say to the players something like, “and spoiler alert – the Shadow is toxic masculinity”. People will nod, and we’ll move on and get right into playing, and then I get to sit back and watch for something fucked up and toxic. And when the men outnumber other players at the table, the chances are pretty good that I’ll get to tell someone to Resist the Shadow at least once[4] – which I love.
My favorite example of this from GenCon was an incident that happened in the first session I ran. I had used Shutterfly to print a bunch of photos off of Pinterest for players to pick a character image from at the table. One photo I included in the set was this picture, which I’d intended to set aside for a villainous sorceress – only I forgot and a player selected it for their super weird character. So when I introduced the sorceress character and described her in a way that was very similar – porcelain white skin, white hair – one of the players immediately jumped on it. His character started acting suspicious, then recruited the other PCs into helping him corner the weird PC – whereupon they started trying to interrogate the poor woman.
So I leaned forward and asked, “so just to be clear, you’re getting your other squad mates to help you police her behavior because of how she looks?”. The player in question agreed that was an accurate summary, so I said, “awesome. That’s super toxic. Please roll to Resist the Shadow.” The player looked surprised for a second, then nodded his agreement and rolled the move, and afterward we had a pretty cool conversation about it!
Another notable example happened a couple months ago where I was running (again at a convention) and one PC – played by a guy who looked to be in his early 20s – challenged another PC (played by Drew, actually) to a fight. So they started squaring off against each other, with all kinds of macho posturing for the benefit of the audience of NPCs surrounding them. Again I stepped in before things went any further. “Hey, guys. That’s some macho dick-measuring nonsense you’re engaged in. Roll to Resist the Shadow”.
Again I got surprised looks which were followed by nods of agreement. The rolls happened, and afterward we had a great conversation about macho posturing and about the difference between masculine bonding-through-insults versus bonding through real emotional intimacy. And it was during that conversation that Drew said that this game that we made to tell stories about women has actually been teaching him some great things about what toxic masculinity looks like – which mirrors my experience to a certain extent.
Obviously I won’t ever be able to fully understand what it means to experience toxic masculinity as a man. But through running this game so much and having these conversations, I’m getting a better feel for what it looks like. Which means that as a GM, I’m getting better at using The Watch to prompt those moments of introspection and reflection on patriarchy and toxic masculinity, and how it shapes our interactions. And that’s exciting! It’s a wonderful feeling, as a designer, to be able to run your game in a way that lets people have fun while also learning to see something that is normally unconscious from a different angle.
It’s also a cool feeling when you write a game intended to highlight a given issue, and you end up learning more about that issue than you’d expected. One of the great things about roleplaying game design is that roleplaying games are structured as a conversation. They only work well when everyone takes a turn talking and listening, and when everyone remains open and receptive to the experience and to each other. That kind of openness means that when you play with someone who comes at a familiar issue in a different way, it has the potential to put even concepts that feel like old hat into an interesting new light.
And all of this is just one of the many reasons why I’m excited to be working on this game[5]! I’m also excited about developing a game that requires you to tell stories of heroic military adventure starring women and non-binary people. And I’m excited to be writing a game that encourages queer content! And I’m excited to finally be working on a game that people actually want to play, unlike my weird harsh shit like Autonomy! Seriously. The Watch is already so good, and it’s not even done yet. I can’t wait to see what happens, and what awesome conversations it inspires next.
[1] Who, it should be noted, won a Silver Ennie at GenCon for his work as the co-designer of Urban Shadows! Well done!
[2] Several years ago, I ran a game of Zombie Cinema where some bros were playing women and they were the worst, most reductively stereotyped characters ever, and it was just painful.
[3] And, you know, that’s understandable. Privilege makes us believe that we aren’t complict in that harm, and even when we see the harm it makes us believe that our intentions (I didn’t mean to hurt you) matter more than the end result (I hurt you).
[4] Not because men are clueless or malicious! Simply because men are unaccustomed to doing the sorts of emotional labor around maintaining nontoxic group dynamics that women are commonly socialized into believing that they have to take on by default.
[5] Not to mention that Drew is generally an awesome collaborator who is fun to work with. That’s kinda nice too. I guess.
Project Update: The Watch (freebie)
August 11, 2016 August 11, 2016 wundergeek Uncategorized The Watch
Hi, folks
I’ve written previously about The Watch – the low-fantasy roleplaying game about female and female-of-center soldiers fighting to retake their homeland from a nebulous threat called The Shadow – here on my blog. This past weekend at GenCon, my co-designer Andrew Medeiros and I ran a whopping seven sessions of The Watch – and we’re really happy with how it’s shaping up! I plan on writing in more detail about how that went, but in the mean time, I need help from you – my readers!
There’s a limit to how far we can take this on our own. We’re looking for some external playtesting, and we’d like to be able to get feedback by mid-fall so I can look at getting the first draft of the book finished by the end of the year.
If you’d be interested in running either a one-shot, a con game, or a small campaign for some folks and are willing to commit to getting us some playtest feedback by September 30th, then please mosey over and fill out this form so we can get you set up with the latest version of the playtest documents.
Thanks for your time and attention!
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Articles Posted in Supreme Court of Hawaii
Umberger v. Department of Land & Natural Resources
September 6, 2017 by Justia Inc
Commercial aquarium collection pursuant to permits issued under Haw. Rev. Stat. 188-31 and the Department of Land and Natural Resource’s (DLNR) administrative rules is subject to the environmental review procedures provided in the Hawaii Environmental Policy Act (HEPA). The circuit court determined that, as a matter of law, aquarium collection is not an applicant “action” that triggers HEPA. The intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirmed. The Supreme Court vacated the judgments of the lower courts with respect to commercial aquarium collection permits, holding that aquarium collection pursuant to commercial and recreational permits issued by DLNR is a HEPA “action” and thus subject to HEPA environmental review. The court remanded this case to the circuit court for further proceedings to resolve the issue of whether recreational aquarium collection under section 188-31 and DLNR’s administrative rules is also subject to HEPA. View "Umberger v. Department of Land & Natural Resources" on Justia Law
Posted in: Government & Administrative Law, Supreme Court of Hawaii
Hyland v. Gonzales
Lanric Hyland appealed from a county clerk decision to the local board of registration for the County of Hawaii. The local board determined that Hyland mailed his appeal within ten days of service of the county clerk’s decision based in part on its determination that October 13 was a holiday, thus tolling his appeal deadline for that day. Nevertheless, the board ruled that his appeal was untimely because the board did not receive his appeal until after the deadline, and therefore, it was without jurisdiction to review the appeal. The intermediate court of appeals affirmed, but also determined that Hyland did not mail his letter within the ten-day filing period because the second Monday in October - recognized by the federal government as Columbus Day - is not a Hawaii state holiday. The Supreme Court vacated the decisions below, holding (1) the board had jurisdiction to consider the merits of Hyland’s appeal because the appeal letter was mailed within ten days of service of the county clerk decision; and (2) the second Monday in October is a holiday for purposes of the computation of time as to when an act is to be done under Haw. Rev. Stat. 1-29. Remanded. View "Hyland v. Gonzales" on Justia Law
Posted in: Civil Procedure, Government & Administrative Law, Supreme Court of Hawaii
Kilakila ‘O Haleakala v. Bd. of Land & Nat. Res.
The Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) granted a permit for the University of Hawaii to construct the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope at an area set aside for astronomical observations located within a conservation district near the summit of Haleakala on the island of Maui. Kilakila 'O Haleakala (Kilakila) challenged BLNR’s approval of the permit. Both the circuit court and the Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed BLNR’s decision. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the permit approval process was not procedurally flawed by prejudgment or by impermissible ex parte communication; and (2) BLNR validly determined that the telescope met the applicable permit criteria and was consistent with the purposes of the conservation district. View "Kilakila 'O Haleakala v. Bd. of Land & Nat. Res." on Justia Law
Posted in: Environmental Law, Government & Administrative Law, Supreme Court of Hawaii
Kilakila ‘O Haleakala v. Univ. of Hawaii
At issue in this case was a proposed project for constructing a new telescope at an area set aside for astronomical research located within a conservation district near the summit of Haleakala on the island of Maui. The University of Hawaii (UH) prepared a Management Plan containing guidelines applying to facilities within the astronomical site area. UH found that the Management Plan would not have a significant environmental impact and, therefore, that an environmental impact statement was not required. Kilakila ‘O Haleakala (Kilakila) brought a court action to challenge UH’s finding. During discovery, Kilakila sought to obtain documents and admissions from UH and the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) relating to the environmental assessment. UH and DLNR sought a protective order regarding Kilakila’s discovery request, contending that judicial review was restricted to the administrative record. The circuit court granted the protective order. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) while judicial review of the agency’s determination was not restricted to the administrative record, the circuit court did not err because the parties were permitted to submit documents beyond those contained within the agency record, and the court did not foreclose further discovery requests; and (2) UH’s conclusion that the Management Plan would not cause significant environmental impacts was not clearly erroneous. View "Kilakila 'O Haleakala v. Univ. of Hawaii" on Justia Law
Boyd v. Haw. State Ethics Comm’n
In 2010 and 2012, the Commission issued charges against William Boyd, a charter school employee, for alleged violations of Haw. Rev. Stat. 84-14 that occurred in 2006 and 2007. Boyd filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the Commission lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate proceedings against him because he was not an employee of the State subject to the code of ethics contained in Haw. Rev. Stat. Chapter 84. The Commission denied Boyd’s motion and concluded that Boyd was an “employee” as defined in Haw. Rev. Stat. 84-3. The Commission then concluded that Boyd committed several violations of Chapter 84 and imposed a total administrative fine of $10,000. The circuit court affirmed the Commission’s determination that Boyd as an “employee” under section 84-3 and was thus subject to the code of ethics in Chapter 84. The Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) affirmed the determination. The Supreme Court vacated the lower courts’ judgments and the Commission’s decision and order, holding (1) in accordance with Haw. Rev. Stat. 302B-9(a), charter school employees were exempt from Haw. Rev. Stat. 84-14 at the relevant time period in this case; and (2) therefore, the Commission did not have the authority to adjudicate the proceedings against Boyd. View "Boyd v. Haw. State Ethics Comm’n" on Justia Law
Posted in: Education Law, Government & Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law, Supreme Court of Hawaii
Green Party of Hawaii v. Nago
The Green Party of Hawaii and seven registered voters who voted in the 2012 General Elections (collectively, Green Party) filed this action seeking a declaratory judgment that certain methodologies and procedures used by the Office of Elections in the 2012 election were invalid under the Hawaii Administrative Procedure Act (HAPA). The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the Office of Elections, concluding that the challenged procedures were not subject to HAPA rulemaking requirements. The Supreme Court vacated the circuit court’s judgment in part, holding that the procedures used to determine that there will be a sufficient number of ballots ordered for each precinct for a general or primary election and the policy for counting votes cast on ballots for the incorrect precinct are rules under HAPA and, therefore, are subject to HAPA’s rulemaking requirements. View "Green Party of Hawaii v. Nago" on Justia Law
Posted in: Election Law, Government & Administrative Law, Supreme Court of Hawaii
Yoshii v. State, Univ. of Hawaii
Plaintiff, a State of Hawaii employee, was injured in an accident on the premises of the University of Hawaii Leward Community College one hour after he ended work for the day. The State denied Plaintiff’s claim for compensation on the basis that his injury was not work related. The Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board (LIRAB) determined that the State had presented sufficient evidence to overcome the presumption that Plaintiff’s knee injury was a covered work-related injury. The Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) affirmed. The Supreme Court vacated the ICA’s judgment and the LIRAB’s decision and order, holding that the LIRAB erred in concluding that the State rebutted the presumption that Plaintiff’s knee injury was a compensable work injury. View "Yoshii v. State, Univ. of Hawaii" on Justia Law
Posted in: Government & Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law, Supreme Court of Hawaii
Sierra Club v. D.R. Horton-Schuler Homes, LLC
Appellants, The Sierra Club and Senator Clayton Hee, challenged the Land Use Commission’s (LUC) reclassification of 1525 acres of Appellee D.R. Horton-Schuler Homes’ land from the agricultural state land use district to the urban state land use district. The circuit court affirmed the LUC’s findings of fact, conclusions of law, and decision and order. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the reclassification did not violate article XI, section 3 of the Hawai’i Constitution or Haw. Rev. Stat. 205-41 through -52; and (2) reliable, probative, and substantial evidence supported the LUC’s finding that the reclassification of the land at issue was consistent with the Hawai’i State Plan, would not substantially impair agricultural production, and was necessary for urban growth. View "Sierra Club v. D.R. Horton-Schuler Homes, LLC" on Justia Law
Posted in: Government & Administrative Law, Real Estate & Property Law, Supreme Court of Hawaii, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
Panoke v. Reef Dev. of Hawaii, Inc.
Appellant was injured while he was working for his former employer. Appellant made a workers’ compensation claim against his former employer and its insurance carrier (collectively, Defendants). The Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board (LIRAB) concluded that substantial evidence rebutted the presumption that that Appellant’s injuries were related to his work accident and, further, limited Plaintiff’s TTD benefits based on deficiencies in the certificates of disability submitted by Appellant’s attending physicians. The Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) affirmed. The Supreme Court vacated the ICA’s judgment and the LIRAB’s decision and order, holding that the LIRAB erred in (1) concluding that Defendants adduced substantial evidence that rebutted the presumption that Appellant’s injuries were covered work-related injuries; and (2) relying on the deficiencies in Appellant’s physicians’ reports in limiting Appellant’s TTD benefits. Remanded. View "Panoke v. Reef Dev. of Hawaii, Inc." on Justia Law
Hou v. Bd. of Land & Natural Res.
December 3, 2015 by Justia Inc
The University of Hawai’i at Hilo applied for approval from the Board of Land and Natural Resources (Board) to construct a thirty meter telescope on Mauna Kea on the island of Hawai’i. Despite objections, the Board voted to approve the permit, subject to a number of conditions. The Board further directed that a contested case hearing be conducted and included a condition in the permit that no construction could be undertaken until the contested case hearing was resolved. After the contested case hearing, the hearing officer recommended that the permit be approved. The Board adopted that recommendation. The circuit court affirmed the Board’s action. The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the circuit court and the permit issued by the Board, holding that, by voting on the permit before the contested case hearing was held, the Board violated the Hawai’i Constitution’s guarantee of due process. Remanded. View "Hou v. Bd. of Land & Natural Res." on Justia Law
Posted in: Government & Administrative Law, Supreme Court of Hawaii, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
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generica Christabel at MegaScene
The perfect read for a dark night, a cozy armchair and a warm fire in the fireplace.
Lynne Watson for MegaScene
“Christabel is part ghost story and part a traditional tale of good and evil. It is a story told over time, going back and forth from the days of colonial America to the modern business and financial district of New York City. It is also the love story of Christabel and Dina; a love that has lasted through time.
Just as the story of Christabel is told partly in the present, and partly in the past, so do the voices telling the story change. First from a first person narrative, and then to the third person. Through it all, we see the characters of Christabel, Dina, and the evil designer, Leo Goranson. Christabel and Dina first meet when New York City is still a colony, recently taken from the Dutch by the English. Christabel is a colonial girl, born in what is now Long Island. Dina is a member of the Manhattan tribe, who once controlled the area. Christabel and Dina, then called Rahdonee, meet and fall in love. Their happiness is interrupted by Reverend Gorony, the village pastor.
Now the reader moves in time to New York City where Dina Rowland, investment broker, is trying to line up capital for Leo Goranson, best known for his designs and for his fabulous model, Christabel. As Dina and Christabel meet the same sparks fly that were there hundreds of years ago. This time, however, it is Leo who is trying to keep them apart. How the fight between good and evil plays is the exciting climax to the intriguing novel.
Christabel is the perfect read for a dark night, a cozy armchair and a warm fire in the fireplace. It will definitely draw the reader in and keep the pages turning until the last page.” – MegaScene
Christabel, First Edition – Karin Kallmaker
All the Wrong Places at the Lesbian Review
...Steamy sex, family drama, and all the angst you could hope for with a main character falling for her straight best friend.
Once Upon a Dyke at Midwest Review of Books
Romantic, funny, thoughtful, and hot...
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I have always identified myself as a Chinese-American: “Chinese” as a reference to the ethnicity of my ancestors, and “American” as a reference to the country of which I am proud to be a citizen. However, it is difficult to identify as “Chinese” nowadays.
My parents were born and raised in Hong Kong, but when they came to America for college, the differences between the Hong Kongese and Chinese seemed negligible in the face of the larger Western culture shocks. In Hong Kong and China, the divide remains. I once tutored a Chinese Hong Kong University student who bitterly told me that he wanted to improve his English because the native Hong Kong students at HKU spoke perfect English and mocked him and the other mainland Chinese for their lack of fluency, and by extension, their perceived provinciality. Though its population is ethnically the same as and shares cultural customs with China, Hong Kong Westernized politically, economically, and culturally under British sovereignty.
Now, Hong Kong is fighting for its rights to democratic elections. When sovereignty over Hong Kong transferred from the British to the Chinese government in 1997, China promised democratic elections. What China is now offering Hong Kong is not democracy – it is competitive authoritarianism. In competitive authoritarianism, political competition exists, but is unfair. China, in vetting the potential candidates to limit choices to pro-Chinese options, is manipulating the election and undermining the democratic nature of elections in Hong Kong.
China may no longer be truly Communist (as communism is technically an economic concept, not a governmental one, and China’s economy is increasingly market-driven), but its government still maintains authoritarian control over the mainland populace, enforcing censorship and cracking down harshly on dissent, as demonstrated by Tiananmen Square, and more recently, Uyghur unrest in Xinjiang. Now, the question is how the Chinese government will react to Hong Kong, and the implications for a populace accustomed to social rights.
It is also increasingly difficult to identify as “American” in light of events on Hong Kong. Early settlers strived to appear as a “city upon a hill,” a beacon of morality. JFK, Reagan, and other American leaders referenced the image to describe America as a symbol of freedom and democracy. The American government committed to encouraging and protecting democracy around the world, especially during the Cold War. However, the American government only weakly censured Russian aggression in Ukraine and has not taken any official stance on the protests in Hong Kong.
While I understand that the United States cannot unilaterally make decisions on the international stage, there is a difference between compromising with other nations on market access for pork and beef, and compromising the beliefs on which the United States was founded to maintain trade relations.
The Hong Kong protesters have been referred to as the politest protestors, regularly picking up trash and even sorting recycling, and forming channels for emergency vehicles to pass through. However, their civility does not belie a lack of conviction. What they ask for is legitimate. They ask for a promise to be kept. As the final symbol of British subjugation of the peoples of Asia, Hong Kong learned about but could never fully access the rights and freedoms of the West. They deserve better than continued oppression under authoritarian rule.
Posted in Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch Tagged America, baby back ribs, cambodian, China, dinner, food, ginger, gluten free, grilling, history, Hong Kong, lemongrass, lunch, Occupy Central, opinion, recipe
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The Heroes of Nursing
By Catherine A. Rothenberger
All nurses are heroes in their own right, providing vital care to patients in hospitals fraught in recent years by fervent understaffing and budget cuts. But those nurses that have served during wartime efforts, among the ranks of the army and navy, should be particularly lauded for their dedication to both patients and staff during these chaotic, and often deprived, times.
One such example was Mildred Dalton, who passed away this March. Mrs. (Dalton) Manning was the last surviving ‘angel’ of the “Angels of Bataan and Corregidor”. These were army and navy nurses during World War II who, when the Japanese were overrunning the Philippines in early 1942, treated wounded, dying and disease-ridden soldiers under heavy enemy fire in one of the darkest chapters of American military history.
A total of 66 army nurses were taken into captivity by the Japanese after the Americans’ final outpost—on the island of Corregidor—fell in May 1942. They spent most of the war under guard at Japan’s Santo Tomas internment camp for foreign nationals in Manila, where they faced near-starvation and were ravaged by disease and malnutrition while treating nearly 4,000 men, women and children.
Mrs. Manning—Lt. Mildred Dalton during the war—and her fellow nurses subsisted on one or two bowls of rice a day in the last stages of their imprisonment. She lost all her teeth due to poor nutrition. These army nurses received Bronze Stars and a message of gratitude from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Nurses who have served in the military have created and advanced the profession of nursing to where it is today. Case in point, Florence Nightingale began her practice on the battlefield during the Crimean War, calling attention to the filthy conditions under which the soldiers were cared for. The healthcare system today could benefit from a few more of these nurse heroes.
As a former nurse myself, I’ve had the privilege of being taught and mentored by nurses who were veterans of the Korean War and Vietnam War. They had a no nonsense, ‘grab hold and do it’ attitude about patient care that was strong, practical and compassionate.
Now, in my career as a lawyer, I aim to provide the same compassionate care to clients who have been injured through no fault of their own. As Ms. Nightingale once said, “The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm.” She was right—and, like her nursing peers, kept patient safety at the forefront hospital care.
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Thrips of California 2019
This revised version of Hoddle et al. (2012) has been produced partly to overcome technical problems arising from Java software and partly to incorporate new information and images, together with some additional potentially invasive species.
Information pages are provided to 300 species in 108 genera, with the identification system discriminating 249 species. Of these species, 40 are as yet unrecorded in California but are potential invaders, whether interstate or from overseas.
They have been included for the convenience of quarantine services in USA. In contrast, the Thysanoptera fauna of the American continent north of Mexico has been estimated to comprise 700 described thrips species (Arnett, 1985), with 147 species recorded from Canada (Foottit & Maw, 2019). This identification system is based essentially on adult females, these being the most commonly collected individuals.
For larval thrips, the only modern identification system is to part of the Thripidae fauna of Europe (Vierbergen et al., 2010).
Posted By: Site Admin Last Updated: Jul 3, 2019 Views: 3948
Key Author(s): Mark S. Hoddle, Laurence A. Mound, Dena Paris Key Publisher: Lucidcentral Key Version: 2019 ed.
Key to the world species of Ips (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae)
About the key
A matrix key designed to allow maximum diagnostic inference from male or female specimens of Ips DeGeer, 1775, including damaged specimens.
Morphologically similar genera of Ipini, Orthotomicus and Pseudips, are included at genus level to help distinguish Ips from these other genera.
Numbers in parentheses in natural language descriptions indicate outlier values observed in only a few specimens.
Key accompanies an article in the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification (Douglas et al. in press). This article includes a dichotomous key, and illustrated diagnostic fact sheets for all Ips species and subspecies.
Douglas HB, Cognato AI, Grebennikov, V, Savard K. In Press. Dichotomous and matrix-based keys to the Ips bark beetles of the World (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae). Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification 38: 234pp. doi:10.3752/cjai.2019.38.
URL: https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/ips_de_geer/
Posted By: Site Admin Last Updated: Jun 28, 2019 Views: 109
Key Author(s): Douglas HB, Cognato AI, Grebennikov, V, Savard K. Key Publisher: Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification Key Version: 2019
A Key to the genera of Australian Jumping Spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)
Identification key: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/salticidae/
The key is intended to meet the needs of naturalists, biologists and taxonomists who wish to identify Australian jumping spiders. The character set has high redundancy (99 characters, 293 character states) allowing users to begin with whatever observable characters are available to them when using photographs, a high-powered hand lens or a microscope.
An information sheet attached to each genus provides a list of known species and information on evolutionary relationships, distribution, habits, a simplified diagnosis, and some key references. A series of diagrams and photographs (of living specimens and of aspects of the morphology, including palps and epigynes) is provided for each genus.
Further information and instructions for using the key can be found in the document attached to ‘Salticidae’ in the top right hand quadrant of the key.
Please send comments, or suggestions for improving the key, and requests for assistance, to barry.richardson@csiro.au.
The key can be cited as Richardson, B.J., Whyte, R. and Żabka, M. (2019). A key to the genera of Australian jumping spiders (Aranaea: Salticidae). https://apps.lucidcentral.org/salticidae/
Key Author(s): B.J. Richardson, R. Whyte and M. Żabka Key Publisher: lucidcentral.org Key Version: 1.0
Key to willow species and hybrids present in New Zealand
This key is illustrated with more than 2000 images of willow species and hybrids that are either wild or in cultivation in New Zealand, and the features that are used to identify them. Most illustrations are of willow clones grown in the national willow collection in Palmerston North maintained by Plant and Food NZ.
The key is designed for those with some experience in plant identification, and some features will need at least a strong hand lens (10x or better) to see features such as stamen filament hairs. It will be of use to bee-keepers, farmers with an interest in growing willows as bee food, and conservation estate managers who need to identify willows in the wild.
Writing of this key was funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund, Trees for Bees NZ, the Willow and Poplar Trust, Plant and Food NZ, and Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research.
Posted By: Site Admin Last Updated: May 27, 2019 Views: 252
Key Author(s): Glenny D, Jones T Key Publisher: Landcare Research Key Version: 2019
Invasive aquatic plants in Europe
This key is an identification tool for invasive aquatic plants and the close allies ('look-alikes'). Part of the species is traded as ornamental plants for ponds and aquaria. As such they may escape cultivation and start colonizing natural environments and become a pest.
A total of 78 species is included. All features are illustrated with botanical drawings so that no knowledge of botanical terms is needed, basic knowledge of plant morphology, however, is helpful. Distinguishing characters have been added for certain groups of closely related species. The keys link to complete species descriptions on the Q-bank – Plants website. All species are well illustrated by photographs showing distinguishing characteristics or invaded sites. The key is regularly updated with new species and new photographs. This key is also available in French and Dutch.
EPPO-Q-bank
EPPO-Q-bank – Comprehensive databases on plant pests and diseases covers the following organism groups that contain quarantine organisms:
Phytoplasma’s
The databases are managed by EPPO – the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization and curated by internationally known specialists and contain specimen-based information including molecular data. The website offers the possibility to blast, in single- or multi-locus mode, sequences for identification.
Key Author(s): R. Pot, J.L.C.H. van Valkenburg, H. Duistermaat, E. Boer Key Version: June 2017
Pennisetum key
This key is specifically developed for the identification of species belonging to the genus Pennisetum available on the European market. The reason for developing this key is the large number of Pennisetum species and varieties available and the difficulty of distinguishing them from each other. Since August 2017 one Pennisetum species, Pennisetum setaceum, is on the List of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list), which forms the core of Regulation (EU) 1143/2014. Pennisetum setaceum being on the Union list entails that sales, distribution and cultivation of this species is prohibited. Furthermore, this entails that the species shall not be brought into the territory of the European Union, and the species shall not be released into the environment (Regulation (EU) 1143/2014).
The key includes descriptions and photos of 10 Pennisetum species and 27 Pennisetum varieties. Seventeen features can be scored in random order to find the right species. The features are illustrated with line drawings to facilitate identification.
For each species two separate entries are included, one based on measurements of herbarium specimens and one based on GrassBase, the Online World Grass Flora. Two separate entries are included because sometimes there are discrepancies between the two sources, especially concerning quantitative traits. Entries based on our own herbarium specimens better match plants in cultivation, while descriptions from GrassBase better correspond with plants in the wild.
To all entries of plant species and varieties two descriptions are attached. One is the Natural Language Description, which is an automatically generated description based on the feature scores that underlie the key. The second, entitled Extensive Description, is a manually created description, which gives more precise plant features and includes some additional information.
All entries are illustrated with photos, which is recommended to use as a final control step of the identification process. For most species also microscopic photos are included, detailing floral characteristics.
European Union. (2014). Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. Official Journal of the European Union, 57, 35.
Key Author(s): M.E. Costerus Key Version: May 2018
Seedlings of invasive plants
This key helps to identify seedlings of invasive plants, so plants can be recognized in an early stage of development. The species included are those of invasive terrestrial plants and/or plants which are introduced as weeds in imported potplants.
A total of 92 species is included. All features are illustrated with botanical drawings so that no knowledge of botanical terms is needed, basic knowledge of plant morphology, however, is helpful. The keys link to complete species descriptions on the Q-bank – Plants website. All species are well illustrated by photographs showing distinguishing characteristics or invaded sites. Several species are also treated in the Key to the invasive terrestrial plants and/or the Key to the Weeds in bonsai plants. This key is also available in French and Dutch.
EPPO-Q-bank covers the following organism groups that contain quarantine organisms:
Posted By: Site Admin Last Updated: May 22, 2019 Views: 20643
Key Author(s): C. Tomas & H. Duistermaat, Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands Key Publisher: Lucidcentral.org Key Version: September 2017
Seeds of invasive plants
This key is an identification tool for seeds of invasive plants. The choice of species was based on an extensive survey of seeds and seed mixtures in trade, where the seeds of these invasive species were found as contamination.
A total of 143 species is included. All features are illustrated with botanical drawings so that no knowledge of botanical terms is needed, basic knowledge of plant morphology, however, is helpful. The keys link to complete species descriptions on the Q-bank – Plants website. All species are well illustrated by photographs showing distinguishing characteristics or invaded sites. This key is also available in French and Dutch.
Key Author(s): Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis (section NHN), Leiden & the Plant Protection Service, Wageningen Key Publisher: Lucidcentral.org Key Version: September 2017
Key to the invasive terrestrial plants in Europe
This key helps to identify the major invasive terrestrial plants in NW Europe. Invasive are those species that pose a threat to the biodiversity of the ecoregion. Species included are both those that already are known to be invasive in this region, as well as species known to be invasive elsewhere in comparable climatic regions. Moreover, look-alikes are included to distinguish closely related taxa. A total of 140 species is included. All features are illustrated with botanical drawings so that no knowledge of botanical terms is needed, basic knowledge of plant morphology, however, is helpful. The keys link to complete species descriptions on the Q-bank – Plants website. All species are well illustrated by photographs showing distinguishing characteristics or invaded sites. The key is regularly updated with new species and new photographs. Species that are imported in Europe as weeds in potplants are treated in a separate key. This key is also available in French and Dutch.
Key Author(s): H. Duistermaat, E. Boer, J. van Valkenburg, Hortus Botanicus Leiden.< Key Publisher: Lucidcentral.org Key Version: June 2017
Key to the weeds in imported bonsai plants in Europe
This key is an identification tool for weeds that are introduced in Europe as they are imported as weeds in bonsai or other potplants. As many potplants are produced in Asia and South America, many common weeds in those regions are included. The species treated in this key do not necessarily have invasive treats and some will not survive a European winter.
A total of 136 species is included. All features are illustrated with botanical drawings so that no knowledge of botanical terms is needed, basic knowledge of plant morphology, however, is helpful. Distinguishing characters have been added for certain groups of closely related species. The keys link to complete species descriptions on the Q-bank – Plants website. All species are well illustrated by photographs showing distinguishing characteristics or invaded sites. The key is regularly updated with new species and new photographs. This key is also available in French and Dutch.
Key Author(s): Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Netherlands, Naturalis Centre for Biodiversity, Leiden & National Plant Protection Organization the Netherlands, Wageningen Key Publisher: Lucidcentral.org Key Version: November 2017
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Ole Miss, Strap It Up, the Red Raiders are Coming Your Way.
Rob Breaux
Getty Images / Left: Butch Dill Right: Thomas B. Shea
Who: The Ole Miss Landshark Rebels and The Texas Tech Red Raiders
Where: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas.
When: Saturday, September 1st, 11 a.m.
Broadcast: On ESPN with Mark Jones and Dusty Dvoracek on the call.
What pregame show to listen to: 1340 The Fan’s Countdown to Kickoff from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, September, 1st.
I've had the promo Ric Flair cut on Ole Miss on my mind since the day it dropped on twitter.com. It was electric, yes, but can the Red Raiders be the badasses that Ric Flair thinks they are? Can the lowly Big 12 team picked 8th in the conference stand up to the SEC? We will find out on September 1st, 2018.
For what it's worth, here are my thoughts on the subject:
Let's first meet Ole Miss. They return seven starters from a sub-par defense. They have an all-american wide receiver and a quarterback who has 5 career starts. The offensive line returns four primary starters and has an NFL caliber left tackle. The 1,000 yard rusher from 2017 is in the NFL. They have two walk-on specialists and the defense gave up 270 yards per game on the ground in the SEC last year.
At first glance, they aren't too intimidating.
At second glance though, they aren't too intimidating.
That's not to say that the game won't be competitive, because it will be.
The reason the Red Raiders won't run away with the game is the Ole Miss passing attack. A.J. Brown is a legitimate first round talent and Biletnikoff favorite. D.K. Metcalf is a match up nightmare with his 6'4" frame. DeMarkus Lodge is a true deep threat. Jordan Ta'amu comes into 2018 as the starter who finished last season 3-2 as a starter in the final five games.
Those four guys, along with an above-average offensive line, are part of a formidable passing attack, with A.J. Brown as the catalyst. Brown caught touchdowns in seven games last season, the Rebels were 6 and 1 in those games.
So, the game plan is pretty simple for week one, if the Red Raiders can contain A.J. Brown, then they will win this game. Easier said than done.
The good news for Texas Tech is that containing an offensive weapon isn't a negative anymore. The Red Raiders, and their 10 returning defensive starters, are ready for the challenge.
The defense will have the opportunity to prove two things that they couldn't prove last year in week one. Can they defend the deep ball? Can they stop the pass in the 4th quarter? Those are the two biggest issues in this game. If either answer is no, the game could get out of hand the other way.
The Texas Tech offensive line has the opportunity to dominate at the point of attack. Kevin Johns and Kliff Kingsbury will have an opportunity to show off the brand new franken-air raid system that they want to run this season. With the ground attack working the passing success will follow and I see no reason that the offense can't reach the 34 points per game mark that Ole Miss allowed last season.
It's vital for Texas Tech to start fast, on both offense and defense, to win the turnover battle, and if Texas Tech can exert their will in the rushing attack, on both sides of the ball, the game won't ever feel out of hand.
The betting line for the game opened on Ole Miss as the favorite but has swung toward Texas Tech making the Red Raiders a 2.5 point favorite in the opener. The 67 point O/U seems high given the uncertainty of both teams on offense and the defense of the Red Raiders but I always take the over here and go chalk with Texas Tech winning 41-31.
If Ole Miss manages to get any more than 31 on the Red Raiders, win or loss, I think that will be cause for concern about the defense taking another step forward in 2018.
SportsRadio 1340 The Fan has an app now!
Filed Under: texas tech football
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Stephen Constantine: The man with the magic wand
Read to know the manager’s mindset and his insights after the team dual away victories over Cambodia and Myanmar. . .
Stephen Constantine is a happy man. The English coach is in his second stint as Indian National team manager and is making it count. Having defeated Cambodia 3-2 in an away friendly, Constantine made it one better with a sweet 1-0 victory in Myanmar in Asian Cup qualifiers, an away win in the country after 64 years.
Constantine has been thoroughly questioned on his choices and selection policy, but when the manager gets the desired results, there’s very little you can do as a critic. Aided by the ever-fighting Sunil Chhetri, Constantine said after the Myanmar game, “Myanmar had several chances to score, but we showed good spirit on the field today. We never gave up mentally and that aided us in our win. We had three to four chances in the match, but we could only take the one in the end. It was a very tight game and boys showed fantastic spirit to earn the win.”
Playing 12 versus 11 is difficult on the football pitch; ask a Galatasaray fan travelling to Fenerbahce. The Indian National team played its last two games in front of crowds to the tune of 70,000 and 20,000 and came out as victors, something which deserves a mention. Constantine laid out his views on the same.
“It reflects the maturity in the team. Although we are a young side, we have been together for more than two years. We know what to expect and because we have introduced so many players in the last two years, they have all have the experience to adjust to the crowd, their hostility, the travel schedule, the hanging around in hotels, airports, buses, etc. Unless you experience you can never adjust or do it. It’s not easy and it takes a particular kind of person to deal with it in a particular way. But unless you experience that, you never know how you are going to deal with it.”
Talking about his second stint, the former Rwanda manager said, “When I took over in my second stint, I had said that there will be will good days and much there will be bad days. We needed time to establish our character and needed to change some of our habits to get the Team to play to a level that suits India.”
Stephen takes a momentary pause and adds, “So far, some of the results have not been pretty while some of the games have been quite good. We know what is expected and we have added a bit of consistency to the game. There is a fierce competition for places in the squad and no stays guaranteed. But the boys want to be there, and because they want to be there, they give all they have and the ones who are doing that are getting the calls.”
The National Team has won its last six games on the trot, three of them away. The manager gives credit to the ‘Team First’ attitude and reflects, “It is not about who dribbled or who headed or who scored or who passed. Football is not just about who is in the spotlight or is in the thick of action. Rather is all about the unit – right from the players to the medical staff to the media officer to the equipment manager. They are all part of this as much are all the people working back in Football House in Delhi. Credit goes to all of them.”
Did the manager have a block about the Myanmar jinx which went back 64 years in history? “64 years is a long time -- a very long time indeed. I was told that Myanmar have always been India’s bogey team but I was never aware of this slice of history. The players were not born, nor was I.” Stephen continues with a smile, “I am happy that we have broken the Myanmar jinx which has plagued over the 64 years. I am also happy that we have got rid of the tag of ‘not being able to win away matches’ which we had for long.”
Stephen rightly suggests that this is one of the most important victories in recent Indian footballing history. He adds, “When you look at the game most people may think it’s not a major issue – Myanmar is not a powerhouse in Asian Football. But when you look at the significance and what it means to Indian football, this is perhaps one of the biggest wins in our recent history. When you look at from inside, it’s bigger than huge. We now need to build on this.”
India vs Syria Preview: Can the Blue Tigers eke out a win against the West Asian nation?
Has he ever seen his team taking a game lightly and ending on the wrong foot? He names the loss against Guam and adds, “The result against them (Guam) is something which I will not forget for a number of reasons. The complete disrespect which most people showed for Guam affected the team. We were way too confident and casual in our approach and we cannot allow this to happen again. I will not allow myself and players to be complacent again and fall into the trap.”
His substitution to bring on Udanta on the right wing worked wonders as the youngster made a brilliant run to cross for Sunil Chhetri to slot home. Talking about that, Stephen said, “Any coach makes substitution to try and change the game and our substitutions were brilliant on the field today. They really did the work for us.”
The National team will face Lebanon in an International friendly on 07th June and take on Kyrgyz Republic at home after six days. What next in the store, manager? “This win (against Myanmar) does not matter much. We still have to take six points to be able to secure qualification to the final of the AFC Asian Cup 2019,” adds Constantine signing off, ““India can defeat anybody on their day, but the job is still far from done. We have to stay focused and concentrate on the next game.”
Published: Thu Mar 30, 2017 03:31 PM IST
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y’all, I have been SO excited to share that I’m joining the @nbcthevoice family this fall as the 5th coach for the first ever “Comeback Stage”. It’s been such a new, fulfilling challenge and I’ve been beyond inspired by the artists I’ve gotten to meet and work with. I can’t wait for you to fall in love with them. ❤️🤗🥂
A post shared by Kelsea Ballerini (@kelseaballerini) on Sep 10, 2018 at 9:03am PDT
Kelsea Ballerini Joining ‘The Voice’ as Fifth Coach
NBC's The Voice is making changes, and they've brought in country's Kelsea Ballerini to help shake things up. The "Peter Pan" hitmaker revealed on Monday (Sept. 10) that she'll be joining Season 15 of the show as a bonus coach for the series' new "Comeback Stage."
"Y'all, I have been so excited to share that I'm joining the NBC The Voice family this fall as the 5th coach for the first ever Comeback Stage," Ballerini says in an Instagram post. "It's been such a new, fulfilling challenge and I've been beyond inspired by the artists I've gotten to meet and work with. I can't wait for you to fall in love with them."
The Comeback Stage is a brand-new concept for the singing competition show and is actually a separate show that will air on YouTube, The Voice app, Instagram TV, Facebook and NBC.com on the same day of the television broadcast.
Cassadee Pope Watching Her The Voice Win Is Everything!
Ballerini will mentor six artists who auditioned for The Voice, but couldn't quite get the red chairs to turn during the Blind Auditions portion of the competition. These lucky comeback artists will compete for a chance to enter The Voice's main competition show when the live rounds showcase the Top 13 come November.
Season 15's core coaches are Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson. Last month, it was announced that Keith Urban and Thomas Rhett will act as coaches' advisors during the Battle Rounds.
Season 15 of The Voice starts on Sept. 24.
The Most Successful Singers on The Voice? No. 1 May Surprise You!
Source: Kelsea Ballerini Joining ‘The Voice’ as Fifth Coach
Filed Under: Kelsea Ballerini, the voice
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Brett Young Plans to Keep Spilling Tea on His Personal Life
Brett Young isn't afraid to get personal. Mr. Sensitive isn't afraid to relive his most vulnerable moments in song or conversation to the point that — if you don't have the backbone for these emotional hemorrhages — it feels like oversharing.
His new album, Ticket to L.A. (Dec. 7), is brighter with more heart emojis than the at-times dark and beautifully moody debut that featured hits in "Mercy" and "Like I Loved You." It's just as personal, though. There are more songs about his relationship with now-wife Taylor Mills and one nose-to-tail autobiography. Like his eponymous debut, Ticket to L.A. ends with a savage heartbreaker that's begging you to draw conclusions.
But hold off on that. Young — a man who admits he still sleeps with his childhood blankie, who bawled several times during his wedding and who loves Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days — does have boundaries, but he knows that once the walls get too thick, he's finished as an artist.
"I don’t see another way to expect fans to connect to my music if they don’t feel like I'm connected to my music, and the only way I know to be connected is for it to be vulnerable and honest," the "Here Tonight" singer says. Not surprisingly, his personal tastes in music lean towards artists who are equally courageous with their emotions.
As Young started to become popular and his songs began to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart, the hot-and-cold nature of his relationship with Mills started to come into focus. They dated for six years and broke up before finally rekindling that old flame in 2017. The couple married last month in California. So much of Brett Young is inspired by her, and he admits hearing "You Ain't Here to Kiss Me" is not her favorite thing. Now married, he looks back on that turbulent time with pride knowing they treated each other well through it all.
"No one cheated. No one lied. No one did each other wrong — it just wasn't working," he shares.
A few fans were a little overzealous in defending him as they started a path to the altar, but for the most part they've been supportive and respectful. The truth is that no song tells the whole story — something to keep in mind as you play detective with this new project.
"Songwriting is kind of like those movies that say, 'based on a true story,'" he says. "If you just wrote down the details, there's not a lot of artistry there. When you listen to that first record, there's a lot of, 'based on a true story.'"
What Songs Were Inspired by Taylor? Find Out Here!
"Here Tonight" is a big love song on Ticket to L.A., but Young says he's most excited for fans to hear "Catch," a play on words he wrote with Ross Copperman and Ashley Gorley. I think we did it right.
"I think it's opposite of what we're used to, where a guy goes into a bar not trying to meet a girl and gets blown away by accident," Young says.
As a whole it's a less provocative album, which may be coincidence or by design. After all, just because he's cool with spilling relationship tea doesn't mean his wife is. "There are absolutely things that need to be private. The song keeps it at surface level," he says. "If I ever get to a point where I don’t want my fans to be interested in my personal life, I think that will be when I’ve run my course as an artist. I think that is by definition exactly what I do."
Country Music's Hottest Men Live Here:
Source: Brett Young Plans to Keep Spilling Tea on His Personal Life
Filed Under: Brett Young
Categories: Country News, Taste of Country Nights
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All good things must come to an end, though based on your personal opinions this awards season may not have been a good thing. Films came and went (First Man, Mary Poppins Returns, First Reformed) and others (Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, The Favourite) stayed to varying degrees of anger or pleasure. A Star Is Born kicked off the season as the de-facto frontrunner and fumbled when things started to get competitive; it hasn’t been able to regain any of the lost momentum as the season has drummed along.
Roma has seemingly taken its place, but there’s still a bunch of uncertainty swirling around its chances as an actual winner. With wins at the Golden Globes, the PGA and TIFF’s People’s Choice Award, Green Book is seemingly next in line despite a ton of controversy and valid criticisms against the film. Also not a stranger to controversy, Bohemian Rhapsody‘s success both financially and awards wise despite it being a terrible film continues to confound even the most tenured Oscar watchers. Do people really love Queen that much? Evidently, yes. The heat around Vice was extinguished the moment the embargo was let up. Eight nominations is nothing to balk at, but nobody seems to be rushing to give this Frankenstein of a movie any awards. There seems to be a lot of love for The Favourite, but it doesn’t sound like it translates into the widespread kind of love needed to succeed on the preferential ballot.
And then there’s Black Panther, which has both the box office receipts, critical acclaim to and a SAG ensemble win that makes it a worthy Best Picture winner. But a disappointing nomination count, despite a win at the Screen Actors Guild, is giving me pause from thinking it’s as big of a threat as the other aforementioned films.
With each film having their own list of pro’s and con’s, it feels like a huge toss up in predicting who will win. Nevertheless, I take a stab at it below.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
Will Win and Should Win: This has got to be an easy win for Vice. Though Adam McKay’s take on Dick Cheney’s story has proven to be divisive, one thing many agree on is Christian Bale’s transformation, which owes a lot to the makeup. Last year’s winner, Darkest Hour, had a similar narrative with Best Actor winner Gary Oldman transforming into Winston Churchill. I’m not a fan of the film, but I can’t deny that Bale is a dead ringer for Cheney (even if the performance doesn’t do much to support that). Though the less we talk about those tragic wigs Amy Adams is saddled with… the better.
Should Have Been Nominated: The Favourite! For God’s sake, if only because of Nicholas Hoult’s fantastic wig.
Best Film Editing:
Will Win: Whew, let’s just recognize how much of a flaming dumpster fire this category is, saved only by the inclusion of BlacKkKlansman and The Favourite. Though ‘Best Editing’ and ‘Most Editing’ mean completely different things, this category tends to reward the latter. Which is why, unfortunately, I’m predicting either Bohemian Rhapsody or Vice. I give the edge to the latter because it’s not only technically better (which isn’t saying much), but because the editing plays a huge role in the narrative. The Big Short was a huge threat to win this award in its year before it was (rightfully) thwarted by Mad Max: Fury Road.
Could Win: Again, don’t rule out Bohemian Rhapsody (voters allegedly LOVE this movie, lord knows why), but I could also see BlacKkKlansman taking this. It’s another movie that voters are clearly very besotted with, and has been a huge presence in the awards race all season long. It votes split between Vice and Bohemian Rhapsody, this could be the winner.
Should Win: The Favourite is so delicately edited you barely even notice it.
Should Have Been Nominated: Black Panther, Roma, If Beale Street Could Talk, Can You Ever Forgive Me? would have made for better choices than Vice, Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody.
Best Visual Effects:
Will Win and Should Win: This is a bit of a toss up. First Man should have been a lock in all of these tech categories, but underperformed. Though I didn’t love the movie as a whole, the sheer craft of it is impossible to deny; that moon landing sequence is a stunner, and should be a done deal…
Could Win: … but I could just as easily see Avengers: Infinity War or Ready Player One snagging this.
Best Original Score:
Will and Should Win: I know that a lot of people are predicting Black Panther, but I’m thinking (and hoping) the Academy rewards the clear choice, which is Nicholas Britell’s swoony, romantic and utterly heartbreaking work on If Beale Street Could Talk. A sequel of sorts to his work on Moonlight, Britell’s score is a huge part of the movie’s effectiveness. And after giving the shaft to the film (only three nominations?!), this would be a nice way to honor the movie.
Could Win: Black Panther could just as easily take this, and it wouldn’t be a bad choice either. But watch out for Isle of Dogs, which features work from our reigning champ Alexandre Desplat (who also won a few years before for The Grand Budapest Hotel).
Best Sound Editing:
Will Win: Bohemian Rhapsody won both the BAFTA as well as both Motion Picture Sound Editor awards. It’s probably locked to repeat here and in Sound Mixing.
Could Win: Watch out for A Quiet Place and maybe even First Man here.
Should Win: I would really be happy with anyone not named Bohemian Rhapsody taking this, but I have to say the tech on First Man was nothing short of exemplary, especially the sound editing and mixing.
Best Sound Mixing:
Could Win: Watch out for First Man here.
Should Win: See Sound Editing.
Best Costume Design:
Will and Should Win: The Favourite benefits from its period stylings, and for just being excellent in general. Specifically the way the costumes detail Abigail’s (Emma Stone) rise from rags to riches, and Lady Sarah’s (Rachel Weisz) excellent pants and dramatic eye patch.
Could Win: Watch out for Black Panther. The excellence in the craft of this movie runs so deep, and those costumes are just the tip of the iceberg.
Should Win: I would be happy with either Black Panther or The Favourite.
Should Have Been Nominated: Swap out Mary Queen of Scots for A Simple Favor.
Best Cinematography:
Will and Should Win: What a stacked category! That said, this has got to go to Roma. Not only is it stunning and the best in the category, but Alfonso Cuarón’s narrative of shooting the film by himself is undeniable.
Could Win: But watch out for Cold War, also stunning and shot in black and white. Its inclusion in the major categories came as a bit of a surprise, but there’s clearly a lot of love for this movie that runs deep within the Academy.
Should Have Been Nominated: It was never going to happen, but Pawel Pogorzelski’s work on Hereditary was every bit as stunning as it was horrifying. Similarly, James Laxton’s work on If Beale Street Could Talk swept me off of my feet and fully immersed me into 1970s Harlem.
Best Production Design:
Will Win: The craftsmanship of The Favourite is hard to deny, and much like with its costumes, it’s hard to imagine the period elements not being a major reason for voters to throw their support behind it.
Could Win: Again, like I had said with Costumes, Black Panther is meticulously crafted and could absolutely be a spoiler for The Favourite.
Should Win: I would be happy with either Black Panther orThe Favourite.
Best Original Song:
“All The Stars,” Black Panther
“I’ll Fight,” RBG
“The Place Where Lost Things Go,” Mary Poppins Returns
“Shallow,” A Star Is Born
“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings,” The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Will and Should Win: There’s no question that Gaga oOoOoOooOhHaAaaAaaaAAAAAAAA’d her way to an Oscar the moment that A Star Is Born trailer dropped. She also benefits from losing this category a few years ago for “Till it Happens To You,” and since Best Actress is probably going to Glenn Close, this can be the Academy’s way to honor her and the film.
Could Win: Maybe there’s a world where “All The Stars” upsets? (Probably not)
Should Have Been Nominated: I know everyone loves “Shallow,” and that Warner Bros. were originally planning a double campaign for “Shallow” and “I’ll Never Love Again,” but “Always Remember Us This Way” is the best song on the soundtrack for A Star Is Born and deserved more attention.
Best Animated Feature:
Will and Should Win: I think there’s real love for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s the best of the category from both a storytelling and animation standpoint. I know the Golden Globes don’t have any overlap with the Oscars, but its surprise win there and the sheer critical adoration will push it over the edge (I hope).
Could Win: Look. I don’t think anyone hates Incredibles 2. It’s fantastic, and not just because we’ve been asking for a sequel since the first one came out. It would be a great choice… in a year where it wasn’t up against Spider-Verse. Still, don’t rule it out. It made a ton of money, and the Disney of it all isn’t to be counted out.
Best Documentary Feature:
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Of Fathers and Sons
Will Win: Consensus (and the BAFTA) tells me that this is probably Free Solo‘s to lose.
Could Win: Perhaps given the timeliness of the material, RBG is a dark horse? It did make a lot of money as well. Don’t count it out.
Best Foreign Language Film:
Will Win: Many would tell you based on the acclaim and hype, Roma has this in the bag. But here’s the thing, no foreign language film has ever won Best Picture. I do think that will change this year (more on that later), however, I don’t think Roma will win both categories. I think the other black and white foreign language film, Cold War takes this. It came very very very close to landing a Best Picture nomination (and a Best Actress nomination according to insiders). It did, however, manage to land a Best Director nomination, edging out presumed favorites Bradley Cooper and Peter Farrelly. If The Academy feels that Roma is getting its due in Picture, Director and some of the below the line categories, this could be the best way for them to reward another film they have love for. Keep in mind director Pawel Pawlikowski’s last film, Ida, won this award back in 2014.
Could Win: Then again, they could just go ahead and give it to Roma. That’s not outside of the realm of possibility. However, those who love Shoplifters (which won the Palm d’Or at Cannes) really love it. That accounts for a lot when using the preferential ballot.
Best Original Screenplay:
Will Win: People who partake in awards season really love Green Book, it’s been made clear that despite the controversy and the middling reviews and box office performance. Backlash be damned, they will not be kept from showering love upon this film. And though it didn’t nab that Best Director nomination like we were dreading, I don’t think anything is keeping the film from winning a few awards. Even after a dreadful speech at the Golden Globes, I think this is Nick Vallelonga and co.’s to lose.
Could Win: Both The Favourite and Roma led the nominations, and should not be discounted.
Should Win: The Favourite. It’s the best by a country mile.
Should Have Been Nominated: Justice for Eighth Grade!!!!!!!!!!!
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Will Win: Put your money on BlacKkKlansman. Not only has Spike Lee never won a competitive Oscar before (crazy, I know) but the film has been an enduring favorite all season long. Not to mention, it was a hit.
Could Win: If Bradley Cooper isn’t going to win Actor or Best Picture, and he wasn’t nominated in Director, this could be a chance for the Academy to hand him an award for a crazy feat of feature filmmaking, that just so happens to be his debut as both director and screenwriter. It’s one of Hollywood’s most popular stories, and like BlacKkKlansman, it was a hit.
Should Win: It’s a great category, but I would love if either Can You Ever Forgive Me? or If Beale Street Could Talk took this home. Two films that have been criminally under looked all season long.
Should Have Been Nominated: Into the Spider-Verse, Crazy Rich Asians and/or A Simple Favor feel like better choices than The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (sorry not sorry Coen Brothers’ fan boys).
Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, Vice
Marina De Tavira, Roma
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Will and Should Win: It feels so crazy that the de-facto frontrunner, Regina King, has won nearly every award in sight and was shut out of both SAG and BAFTA. Her triumph at the Golden Globes definitely gave her a boost, and Emily Blunt’s surprise win for A Quiet Place over Amy Adams at SAG tells me this is not the role that will get her that elusive first Oscar. I’m not 100% confident the Academy will make the correct decision and give it to King, but at the same time it feels so obvious. She apparently received the most applause at the nominees’ luncheon, which does account for something…
Could Win: There’s a lot of whispers about surprise nominee Marina De Tavira. I will admit, I bought into the theory originally… but I think it’s kind of funny everyone is counting out Rachel Weisz. Sure, she’s won this award already. That said, it was awhile ago. This performance is completely different from the performance she won for, and in a movie voters clearly love. Maybe not enough to give Best Picture, but some craft prizes and an acting award? It tracks. Not to mention she won the BAFTA, where King was not nominated.
Should Have Been Nominated: Blake Lively’s work in A Simple Favor was never going to be nominated, but damn, what a fantastic nominee she would have made (for an actual supporting performance). Elizabeth Debicki’s turn in Widows being criminally ignored all season long feels like a slap in the face, and then there’s Michelle Yeoh from Crazy Rich Asians who, given the critical and commercial success of that movie, should have had the red carpet rolled out for her.
Best Supporting Actor:
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Elliot, A Star Is Born
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Sam Rockwell, Vice
Will Win: Get ready to refer to Mahershala Ali as a two time Academy Award winner.
Could and Should Win: Richard E. Grant not only turned in one of the best performances of the year, but his performance should be the standard for supporting performances to aspire towards. I’ve read a lot of interviews with voters that have him as their pick! I’m not optimistic enough to predict him, but I would love to be wrong.
Should Have Been Nominated: Critics tried (and failed) to bang the drum for Steven Yeun’s performance in Burning all year, but alas, the Academy was besotted for Sam Rockwell‘s near cameo in Vice instead. There were some whispers for Michael B. Jordan in Black Panther that never got as loud as they needed to, while last year’s Best Actor nominee Daniel Kaluuya crafted a truly terrifying villain without uttering a single word in Widows. Kaluuya’s co-star, Bryan Tyree Henry, was fantastic in both Widows and If Beale Street Could Talk. Alex Wolfe’s performance in Hereditary is one for the ages, even if it was completely ignored by every award body.
Best Actress in a Leading Role:
Glenn Close, The Wife
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Will Win: It’s her time! After being counted out in favor of Lady Gaga, Glenn Close will win that elusive Oscar after a one-two-punch from victories at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild.
Could Win: Olivia Colman also won at the Golden Globes and at the BAFTA’s, making her a formidable dark horse. Still, I think the passion behind giving Glenn Close an Oscar outweighs any other variable. Plus, there are some (very wrong) whispers about The Favourite not being a good representation of women!
Should Win: Melissa McCarthy is the best in the category and it’s not even close.
Should Have Been Nominated: Toni Collette! Toni Collette! Toni Collette! I will never stop being mad about A24 completely dropping the ball on what should have been a very robust campaign behind her extraordinary performance.
Best Actor in a Leading Role:
Christian Bale, Vice
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Will Win: Nothing can stop Rami Malek from poorly impersonating his way to an Academy Award.
Should Win: Bradley Cooper was done so wrong this season. Perhaps some of that is by his own hand, but if we’re talking about ‘Best,’ Bradley is head and shoulders above every other nominee in this category.
Should Have Been Nominated: John David Washington’s performance was the one from BlacKkKlansman that deserved to be singled out. I get that people like Adam Driver, but, really? Him? Did we watch the same movie?
Best Director:
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay, Vice
Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War
Will Win: Alfonso Cuarón has won every directing prize this season. The Oscar will be no different.
Should Win: It’s hard for me to argue with Cuarón’s win. Not only did he direct the hell out of Roma but he did it will doing several other things at once. You could make a case for all of the nominees (except McKay). Almost a perfect line up.
Should Have Been Nominated: I could talk about how Can You Ever Forgive Me? was shut out of several other categories this year, but it really bums me out that Marielle Heller could not find room amongst these five, especially when Adam McKay managed to steal a nomination. It’s such a subtle, masterful piece of directing; if Heller was a man, she would have easily found room.
Best Picture:
Will Win: Gun to my head, it’s Roma. It feels like a movie people can meet in the middle about, plus it’s great and will garner a lot of below the line support. Who doesn’t love Alfonso Cuarón?
Could Win: If the Netflix of it all, however, gets in the way of the Cuarón love fest (and they feel they rewarded it enough in other categories), Black Panther (SAG Ensemble winner) or Green Book (PGA and Golden Globe winner) feel like very viable threats. Each film has their own pros and cons. In the end, it’ll be the movie that is the least disliked that pulls ahead.
Should Win: The best of this bunch is The Favourite, easily. But if we’re talking about Best Picture being representative of impact on the year as a whole, it’s Black Panther.
Should Have Been Nominated: The inclusion of Bohemian Rhapsody, Vice and Green Book over If Beale Street Could Talk, Can You Ever Forgive Me? or even Into the Spider-Verse is absolutely embarrassing. That two of those have been pegged as spoilers for Best Picture? Even more embarrassing.
Posted in: Awards, Uncategorized | Tagged: academy awards, Black Panther, bohemian rhapsody, Film, green book, roma, the favourite, vice
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SciELO SA
/content/accreditation/scielo
Accreditation Contents
Acta Theologica
Acta Theologica is an accredited South African journal publishing independently refereed research articles of a high scientific standard in the Biblical Sciences, Theology and Science of Religion. Articles are published in English, Afrikaans, and occasionally in Dutch and German. All contributions are refereed anonymously with a view to possible publication by at least two other scholars who are recognized as specialists in the particular field of study.
African Human Rights Law Journal
As democratic practices and the protection of human rights struggle to become rooted in Africa, and more institutions dealing with human rights on the continent are being established, the African Human Rights Law Journal records and interprets developments in this area. The Journal deals with topics relating to human rights that are of relevance to Africa, Africans and scholars of Africa. In the process, the African Human Rights Law Journal hopes to contribute towards a jurisprudence rooted in African soil. The Journal appears twice a year. Recent articles have dealt with the death penalty; corruption; the rights of the child; the new partnership for African Development. A peer edited journal.
African Journal of Disability
African Journal of Disability, the official journal of CRS, AfriNEAD and CEDRES, introduces and discusses issues and experiences relating to and supporting the act of better understanding the interfaces between disability, poverty and practices of exclusion and marginalisation. Its articles yield new insight into established human development practices, evaluate new educational techniques and disability research, examine current cultural and social discrimination, and bring serious critical analysis to bear on problems shared across the African continent.
Emphasis is on all aspects of disability particularity in the developing African context. This includes, amongst others:
disability studies as an emerging field of enquiry
rehabilitation, including vocational and community-based rehabilitation
community development and issues related to disability and poverty
disability-related stigma and discrimination
legal, policy, human rights and advocacy issues related to disability
the role of arts and media in relation to disability
disability as part of global transformation agendas
disability and postcolonial issues
globalisation and cultural change in relation to disability
environmental and climate-related issues linked to disability
disability, diversity and intersections of identity
disability and the promotion of human development
African Journal of Laboratory Medicine
African Journal of Laboratory Medicine, the official journal of ASLM, focuses on the role of the laboratory and its professionals in the clinical and public healthcare sectors,and is specifically based on an African frame of reference.
Emphasis is on all aspects that promote and contribute to the laboratory medicine practices of Africa. This includes, amongst others:
biomedical scientists and clinicians
medical community, public health officials and policy makers
laboratory systems and policies (translation of laboratory knowledge, practices and technologies in clinical care)
interfaces of laboratory with medical science
laboratory-based epidemiology
laboratory investigations
evidence-based effectiveness in real world (actual) settings
African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine
African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine (PHCFM) welcomes submissions that encourage scholarly exchange between family medicine and primary health care researchers and practitioners across Africa, whilst providing a contextual and holistic view of family medicine as practised across the continent. The journal is indispensable for primary health care practitioners, family medicine specialists and academics from both the developing and developed worlds, and offers an engaging insight into the growth of these disciplines from a distinctly African perspective
PHCFM seeks to publish innovative research and clinical reviews in all aspects of primary health care and family medicine in the African context including, but not limited to:
district health care
rural health care
prevention of disease and disability
community-oriented primary health care
education and training of professionals and health workers in family medicine and primary health care
Submissions in English (full article) and French (full article) will be considered for publication.
African Natural History
African Natural History is a new research journal published by Iziko Museums of Cape Town. It takes the place of the Annals of the South African Museum, which has been discontinued. This journal will add to the knowledge of the natural world and promote its conservation.
Bothalia - African Biodiversity & Conservation
The journal aims to disseminate, to a wide audience, knowledge, information and innovative approaches that promote and enhance the wise use and management of biodiversity in order to sustain the systems and species that support and benefit the people of Africa. The journal publishes original research findings, as well as reviews, commentaries or perspectives, strategies and short communications. Special focus issues emanating from symposia or conferences that fall within the scope of the journal may also be published.
Curationis
Curationis is the official journal of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa.
Curationis is a scholarly research journal that aims to provide a forum for the exploration of issues and experiences relating to, and supporting, nursing and midwifery best-practice development through research learning and problem-based knowledge sharing across the African continent.
The knowledge gained and shared by authors and reviewers who publish research results in Curationis supports the grounds for decision makers on matters regarding health, health care, nurses and nursing. The journal therefore serves as a repository (archive or store) of relevant data that enhances the practice of responsible and professional nursing, caring and midwifery.
The journal will seek to publish innovative research and reviews on all aspects of nursing and midwifery with particular emphasis on the developing African context, including, but not limited to best practices, research, and policy roles of nurses and midwifes and the settings in which they practice. The intention of the publishers are to encourage authors to provide stimulating and thought-provoking information based on research that will further the improvement, management and development of nursing in Africa.
Aspects that are typically covered in the publication include, amongst others:
role of nurses, midwifes and health care workers
education and training of workers in the nursing profession
support and advisory services provided by nurses and midwifes in forming public awareness of health matters
guidelines in dealing with public perceptions and views regarding diseases and health matters
prevention of diseases
community-oriented nursing and health care
challenges encountered in the nursing profession
De Jure
De Jure is a general law journal, accredited by the Department of Higher Education & Training.
It publishes original research concerned with the development and dissemination of cutting-edge legal research, both national and international. The scope of the journal is wide and supports legal academics, practitioners and scholars.
Education as Change
Education as Change is an accredited, peer reviewed scholarly journal that publishes original articles reflecting critically on issues of equality in education and on the ways in which educational practices contribute to transformation in non-formal, formal and informal contexts. Critique, mainly understood in the tradition of critical pedagogies, is a constructive process which contributes towards a better world.
Contributions from and about marginalised communities and from different knowledge traditions are encouraged. The articles could draw on any rigorous research methodology, as well as transdisciplinary approaches. Research of a very specialised or technical nature should be framed within relevant discourses. While specialised kinds of research are encouraged, authors are expected to write for a broader audience of educational researchers and practitioners without losing conceptual and theoretical depth and rigour.
All sectors of education are covered in the journal. These include primary, secondary and tertiary education, adult education, worker education, educational policy and teacher education.,
Fundamina : A Journal of Legal History
Fundamina is published biannually as the mouthpiece of the Southern African Society of Legal Historians and articles presented for publication are peer-reviewed by national and international subject specialists.
HTS : Theological Studies
HTS has published original research concerned with the dissemination of the results of theological research of national and international scholars since 1943.
The journal has a wide multi-disciplinary scope and supports theologians, philosophers, scholars, ministers of religion and specialists in religious and socially related subjects by providing them with research results.
The journal covers theology in its broadest sense and therefore publishes articles linked with a variety of other study fields, and has a multi-disciplinary, multi-church, inter-faith, and multi-religious focus and scope. Articles cover, among others, aspects of religious studies, philosophy, ancient Semitic and classical languages, sociology and ethics. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies is committed to the capacity building of young scholars.
Practical Theology is at home studying communication acts that serve the gospel of the Kingdom. These are not only communication acts of the congregation but also actions of the faithful outside the formal context of the congregation. In fact the field of study touches on the actions on the congregation in worship, the congregation in training and the congregation in its functioning.
Health SA Gesondheid - Journal of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences is an open access, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary and interprofessional scholarly journal that aims to promote communication, collaboration and teamwork between professions and disciplines within the health sciences to address problems that cross and affect disciplinary boundaries.
The journal publishes original articles on issues related to public health, including implications for practical applications and service delivery that are of concern and relevance to Africa and other developing countries. It facilitates the gathering and critical testing of insights and viewpoints on knowledge from different disciplines involved in health service delivery.
The journal offers the breadth of outlook required to promote health science education, research and professional practice.
The journal with its interdisciplinary scope attracts interest from a wide audience of scientists and health professionals working in the areas of health care management, health care economics, policy making, nursing, psychology, sociology, ethics and education.
Historia is a refereed publication aimed at promoting current research in South African and African history, historical method, philosophy, theory and historiography.
In die Skriflig
In die Skriflig is 'n teologiese blad wat streef na die beoefening en uitbouing van die reformatoriese teologie op 'n wetenskaplik verantwoorde wyse tot diens van die kerk en koninkryk van God.
Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology
The Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology is intended to provide scholars in the southern hemisphere with an avenue through which they can express their scholarship. The Journal also serves as a networking opportunity for scholars in the region as they undertake their research. Similar avenues exist in the Northern Hemisphere (Europe and North America). The IPJP is intended primarily as a forum for Southern African, Indian, Australian, Asian, New Zealand and Pacific Island scholars to discuss a broad range of phenomenological issues. However, contributions from Northern Hemisphere phenomenological scholars will also be considered. The underlying assumption of the Journal is that phenomenology provides researchers with a unique research philosophy which allows them to explore issues central to the question of being human. It enables the richness of human experience to be explicated. We particularly seek to support and encourage those scholars who feel the need for a further dimension in their research which enables them to explore topics whose import lies beyond the reach of measurement and calibration, and in areas such as human meaning, experiences, values, and truthfulness. We envisage the Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology as providing established scholars and students with an avenue for publishing written material and undertaking new exploratory research in areas such as social relationships, bodily experience, emotional sentiment, mental states, and the contemporary contexts in which these take place.
Jamba : Journal of Disaster Risk Studies
Jàmbá (meaning disaster in Yoruba) is a journal in the field of disaster risk reduction, aimed at serving as a platform for discussion and debate in this relatively new field. The ACDS also aims to produce a publication that will be of use to practitioners. We encourage anyone active in the field of disaster risk reduction, such as academics, practitioner and students to contribute papers to Jàmbá.
Journal of Energy in Southern Africa
The journal has a regional focus on southern Africa. Manuscripts that are accepted for consideration to publish in the journal must address energy issues in southern Africa or have a clear component relevant to southern Africa, including research that was set-up or designed in the region. The southern African region is considered to be constituted by the following fifteen (15) countries: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Within this broad field of energy research, topics of particular interest include energy efficiency, modelling, renewable energy, poverty, sustainable development, climate change mitigation, energy security, energy policy, energy governance, markets, technology and innovation.
JESA is inter-disciplinary, with contributions accepted from energy studies, and related disciplines including: engineering, economics, sociology, political science, history, geography, public policy, science and technology studies, environmental science, international relations. Multi-disciplinary submissions are particularly welcome.
Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering = Joernaal van die Suid-Afrikaanse Instituut van Siviele Ingenieurswese
The Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering is a peer-reviewed, technical journal that is distributed internationally.
Journal of the South African Veterinary Association
The Journal of the SAVA serves two particular objectives:
To provide veterinarians in South Africa and elsewhere in the world with current scientific information across the full spectrum of veterinary science. Its content therefore includes reviews on various topics, clinical and non-clinical articles, research articles and short communications as well as case reports and letters.
The Journal of the SAVA also serves as a medium for practitioners, academics, researchers as well as State Veterinarians and veterinarians employed in industry and other scientists to document their observations and publish research results. Thus, along with other journals, a record of scientific veterinary knowledge is established for current use and reference purposes.
Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Koedoe : African Protected Area Conservation and Science
Koedoe, the official journal of the South African National Parks (SANParks), furthers the understanding of complex social-ecological systems, protected areas and conservation in general, in order to improve human ability to sustainably manage natural resources. The journal defines key practices that will ensure biodiversity in protected areas and with natural resources that are faced with pressure from growing human populations and the interaction with global environmental changes. The journal fosters scientific advances in evidence-based policy and management approaches to assist with context-specific actual management challenges.
Emphasis is on all aspects that promote and contribute to the scientific (biological) and environmental (ecological and biodiversity) conservation practices of Africa. This includes, amongst others:
conservation movement, seeking to protect plants, animals and their habitats
conservation ethic of resource use, allocation, exploration, and protection
habitat conservation
wildlife management, multidisciplinary practices, including conservation of species and their habitats
marine conservation, the protection of ecosystems in oceans and seas
conservation authority
This journal provides novel, stimulating and baseline scientific information on all forms of protected areas, from large state national parks to small regional and local game and nature reserves, as well as from cultural and environmental heritage areas to private conservation areas.
Koers : Bulletin for Christian Scholarship = Koers : Bulletin vir Christelike Wetenskap
Koers is an interdisciplinary journal. Articles from all fields of academic research are therefore welcomed, with the proviso that articles should contain a statement of point of view based in principle. The subtitle of Koers is “Bulletin for Christian Scholarship”. The basis of Koers articles is thus Christian – but room is left for justified differences in opinion.
Kronos : Journal of Cape History
Law, Democracy & Development
Law, Democracy & Development is aimed at legal practitioners, academics, social scientists, students and all others engaged in the formulation and implementation of development policy within the framework of a democratic constitutional order.
Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies
Literator is a journal of national and comparative linguistics and literature. It publishes research articles on specific languages and specific literatures (like Afrikaans, English or Tswana), but also articles that compare different languages and literatures and other cultural phenomena across language and cultural boundaries (e.g. different manifestations of Post-modernism, the interaction between visual arts and literature, the representation of the Anglo-Boer War in literature, nick-names among students, language attitudes and language policy).
Missionalia : Southern African Journal of Mission Studies
Missionalia is the journal of the Southern African Missiological Society (SAMS). It is published three times a year. Missionalia, contains articles, book reviews, and abstracts from a wide range of missiological journals
Volume 34 introduces a few changes to our journal. As from this issue, Missionalia will be published for the Southern African Missiological Society (SAMS) by AcadSa Publishing, a recently established academic publishing house.
Old Testament Essays
Publishes articles on all aspects of Old Testament literature, theology, archaeology and society.
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research
The Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research is published by the Agricultural Research Council, ARC-OVI and the University of Pretoria.
The journal publishes papers reporting on original research covering all aspects of veterinary science. It specializes in diseases and disease vectors of livestock and wildlife on the continent of Africa, with results of more than local interest.
Phronimon
Phronimon is the bi-annual journal of The South African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities. It publishes work of a high academic quality and encourages articles which meet the highest standards of philosophical expertise, while at the same time remaining accessible to readers from a broad range of philosophical disciplines. Although preference is given to articles relating to ancient Greek philosophy, the editorial board appreciates contributions from scholars in the human sciences as a whole with the intention of providing an international forum for interdisciplinary research, debate and discussion. The journal encourages and actively pursues diversity of viewpoints of contributors. Thereby it is in no way committed to any school of thought, party, method or style within the humanities.
Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
Pioneer in peer reviewed open access electronic publishing, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal publishes contributions relevant to development in the South African constitutional state. This means that most contributions will concern some aspect of constitutionalism or the law relating to development. The fact that the South African constitutional state is the focus does not limit the content of PER to the South African legal system, since development law and constitutionalism are excellent themes for comparative work and international law. Therefore, contributions on any aspect or discipline of the law are welcomed.
Reading & Writing - Journal of the Reading Association of South Africa
Reading & Writing – Journal of the Reading Association of South Africa is an open access, peer reviewed inter-disciplinary and inter-professional scholarly journal that explores how literacy is defined, enacted and promoted in a range of institutional, socio-cultural and disciplinary contexts', particularly within Africa and other developing countries.
The journal publishes original articles that provoke debate, explores issues and posit solutions about literacy interventions, practices and education. It focuses on and relates to transnational and translocal literacies associated with immigrants and mobile people in African settings. The aim is to design literacy practices in education to stimulate community based socio-economic transformation and development in Africa.
The journal offers the breadth of outlook to promote interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches that can stretch and invigorate our send of what concepts and approaches are productive in the field of literacy education.
SA Crime Quarterly
The SA Crime Quarterly, published by the Institute for Security Studies, provides concise analysis of developments in crime trends, and the state's response. The SA Crime Quarterly has replaced the Nedbank Crime Index.
SA Journal of Industrial Psychology
The journal is an independent publication for scientific contributions to the field of Industrial Psychology, i.e. organisational behaviour, human resource management, employment relations, vocational guidance, career development, ergonomics and consumer behaviour. Theoretical, empirical and applied articles will be considered for publication.
SA Journal of Radiology
The SA Journal of Radiology is the official journal of the Radiological Society of South Africa and the Professional Association of Radiologists in South Africa and Namibia. The SAJR is a general diagnostic radiological journal which carries original research and review articles, pictorial essays, pictorial interludes, case reports, letters, editorials, radiological practice and other radiological articles.
Scriptura : Journal for Contextual Hermeneutics in Southern Africa
Scriptura is an independent journal which publishes contributions in the fields of Bible, Religion and Theology refereed by peers. It is international in scope but special attention is given to topics and issues emerging from or relevant to Southern Africa. Scriptura publishes contributions in English but also in other languages relevant to the Southern African region (such as Afrikaans, Xhosa, Sesotho, Zulu, French and German).
South African Dental Journal
The Journal provides a platform for both Scientific publication and for the dissemination of news pertinent to the members of the Association. Essentially the policy is, as far as possible, to publish research and clinical papers submitted by South African Authors although we will occasionally accept papers from elsewhere.
The Journal appears on ten occasions during the year and is an automatic membership benefit in the Association.The Journal is, in fact, the only accredited Dental publication in Southern Africa and therefore offers an important resource for research in the country. In addition, and included in each issue are short communications dealing with specific aspects of dentistry together with a regular column of information provided by the Association. The Journal also offers members the opportunity for meeting the requirements of Continued Professional Development by providing a Questionnaire each issue which is accredited for points.
South African Journal of Agricultural Extension
Because of the multi-disciplinary nature of Agricultural Extension, contributions from other learned disciplines can also be considered for publication in the South African Journal of Agricultural Extension on condition that the articles under consideration have sufficient bearing on Agricultural Extension.
The scope of Extension Research includes development communication, behavioural change, technology transfer, innovation transfusion, knowledge/information systems, development approaches/strategies/methodologies, institutional/group dynamics and project development and evaluation.
South African Journal of Animal Science
The South African Journal of Animal Science is a peer-reviewed journal for publication of original scientific articles and reviews in the field of animal science. The scope of the journal includes reports of research dealing with farm livestock species (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, poultry and ostriches), as well as pertinent aspects of research on aquatic and wildlife species. The main disciplines covered are nutrition, genetics and physiology. Papers dealing with production aspects of animal products and sociological aspects of well-defined livestock production systems are also invited, provided that they are scientific by nature and have been carried out in a systematic way.
South African Journal of Chemistry
Original work in all branches of chemistry is published in the South African Journal of Chemistry. Contributions in English may take the form of papers, short communications, or critical reviews.
South African Journal of Child Health
Published by Health and Medical Publishing Group. The SAJCH is a medical child health journal. It carries research articles and letters, editorials, clinical practice and other child health articles and personal opinion, South Africa health-related news, obituaries, general correspondence, and classified advertisements.
South African Journal of Childhood Education
The South African Journal of Childhood Education (SAJCE) is a peer-reviewed journal that provides a forum for the dissemination of research in childhood learning and development and the care and education of children from birth to 12 years. The journal is interdisciplinary in scope and seeks to stimulate the exchange of ideas in a variety of subjects, contexts, and issues in childhood education and child care. The editors welcome articles that show evidence of robust empirical research that is also theoretically strong. SAJCE aims to be a scholarly forum in a specialised field that has long been neglected in the South African and regional educational research community.
South African Journal of Communication Disorders
The South African Journal of Communication Disorders publishes reports and papers concerned with research, and critically evaluative theoretical, philosophical and conceptual issues dealing with aspects of human communication and its disorders, dysphagia, service provision, training and policy.
South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
The South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences (SAJEMS) is a leading publication for interdisciplinary research in economic and management sciences, with a special focus on the African continent. SAJEMS publishes and disseminates academic articles that contribute to the understanding of African markets and the behaviour of economic agents operating in those markets, including consumers, firms and regulators. In addition to applied research on African markets and market participants, the editorial board invites authors to submit interdisciplinary research that breaks down common intellectual silos and prepares a new path for debate on the operation and development of markets in and around Africa.
SAJEMS is a refereed scientific journal and is accredited by ISI Thomson in their Social Sciences Citation Index and by the South African Department of Education. SAJEMS is also indexed and abstracted in EconLit, the electronic database of the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL); the relevant JEL classification number appears with the abstract of each article.
The journal publishes at least one issue each year. Articles are published online when ready for publication and then printed in an end-of-year compilation. Additional issues may be published for special events (e.g. conferences) and when special themes are addressed. All published articles are assumed to represent the views of the authors; neither the editorial board of the journal nor the University of Pretoria accept responsibility for those views.
South African Journal of Education
The South African Journal of Education (SAJE) publishes original contributions from any of the disciplines in Education in any of the official languages of South Africa.
South African Journal of Industrial Engineering
The South African Journal of Industrial Engineering publishes articles with the emphasis on research, development and application within the field of Industrial Engineering. In this way it aims to contribute to the further development of this field of study and to serve as a vehicle for the effective interchange of knowledge, ideas and experience between the research and training oriented institutions and the application oriented industry.
South African Journal of Information Management
The purpose of the South African Journal of Information Management (SAJIM) is to publish high quality, peer reviewed articles four times a year in numbered issues. The fact that the journal is published only in electronic format makes the full use of hypertext and hypermedia applications possible.
Disciplines included are, inter alia, Knowledge management, Record management, Strategic management, Information economy, Records management, Information systems management, Data mining, Data warehousing, Relevant applications of information technology.
South African Journal of Psychiatry
The journal is the leading psychiatric journal of Africa. It provides open-access scholarly reading for psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and all with an interest in mental health. It carries empirical and conceptual research articles, reviews, editorials, and scientific letters related to psychiatry. It publishes work from various places in the world, and makes special provision for the interests of Africa. It seeks to serve its readership and researchers with the most topical content in psychiatry for clinical practice and academic pursuits, including work in the subspecialty areas of psychiatry.
South African Journal of Science
The South African Journal of Science is a multidisciplinary journal published bimonthly by the Academy of Science of South Africa. Our mandate is to publish original research with an interdisciplinary or regional focus and to provide a forum for discussion of news and developments in research and higher education. Authors are requested to write their papers in a manner and style that is intelligible to specialists and non-specialists alike.
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About Lake Superior Reserve
© Wisconsin Coastal Management Program
Home Link About Lake Superior Reserve
Research, education, outreach and stewardship along Lake Superior’s coast
The Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve is a member of the National Estuarine Reserve System, a network of 29 reserves across the United States designated for long-term research on coastal resources and the human populations those resources support. The Lake Superior Reserve is one of only two estuarine reserves in the Reserve System located in the Great Lakes. This makes the research we and our partners conduct all the more vital to the understanding of freshwater resources and the health of the Great Lakes, which hold more than 20 percent of the Earth’s surface freshwater.
Our reserve is centered on the St. Louis River Estuary between Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota. However, we envision a Lake Superior where all coastal watersheds and estuaries are understood, valued and thriving. To accomplish this, we prioritize work on climate change, water quality, healthy ecosystems, strengthening communities and developing a sense of place.
The Reserve works in partnership to improve the understanding of Lake Superior’s coast and estuaries. We address issues affecting the watershed through integration of research, education, outreach and stewardship.
St. Louis River Estuary
The Lake Superior Reserve spans more than 16,000 acres on the Wisconsin side of the confluence of the St. Louis River and Lake Superior—the largest and most pristine of the Great Lakes. The Reserve adjoins the Superior-Duluth harbor, which has been the economic center of the Twin Ports region for over a century and remains the largest freshwater port in the world.
Located on
Barker’s Island
in Superior, Wisconsin
14 Marina Drive
Superior, Wisconsin 54880
National Network,
The Lake Superior Reserve works in partnership with scientists from many local, state, tribal and federal agencies, including the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute and Wisconsin Coastal Management Program.
Our landowning partners are the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, City of Superior, Douglas County and the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Several other partnering agencies, from both Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the Fond du Lac Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa also sit on our Reserve Advisory Board.
We work with researchers from local universities, Wisconsin and Minnesota natural and cultural resources agencies and from federal agencies, such as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System includes 29 reserves in 23 states and Puerto Rico
Designated in 2010
Designated in 2010, the Lake Superior Reserve is a part of the larger National Estuarine Research Reserve System. The reserve system was established through the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act and protects more than 1.3 million acres within 29 reserves in 23 states and Puerto Rico. Each estuarine reserve is managed in partnership between its home state and the NOAA. The Lake Superior Reserve is the second reserve designated on the Great Lakes.
What is an estuary?
In the most general terms, an estuary is an ecosystem, comprising both the biological and physical environment, that has developed in a region where rivers meet the sea and fresh-flowing river water mingles with tidal salt water to become brackish, or partly salty. However, several types of wholly freshwater ecosystems have many characteristics similar to what we think of as traditional brackish estuaries.
For example, along the Great Lakes, river water with very different chemical and physical characteristics mingles with lake water in coastal wetlands that are affected by tides and storms just as estuaries along the oceanic coasts are. These freshwater “estuaries” also provide many of the ecosystem services and functions that brackish estuaries do, serving for example as natural filters for runoff and as nursery grounds for many species of birds, fish, and other animals.
Whether salt- or freshwater, estuaries have certain properties that make them distinctive and extremely valuable to the larger natural system, as well as to human health and well-being.
What is the National Estuarine Research Reserve System?
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of 29 coastal sites designated to protect and study estuarine systems. Established through the Coastal Zone Management Act, the reserves represent a partnership program between NOAA and the coastal states. NOAA provides funding and national guidance, and each site is managed on a daily basis by a lead state agency or university with input from local partners.
We do not currently have any openings. Check back or follow us on Facebook to learn about open positions when they're posted.
River Rovers Nature Play Group
Lake Superior Estuarium Organizer: Deanna Erickson
River Rovers gets kids outdoors, maybe wet and dirty
Jun 29th, 2019, Duluth News Tribune
Lake Superior Estuarium Gets Kids Excited About Nature
Jun 20th, 2019, FOX 21 KQDS
New Environmental Research Fellowship Program Seeking Applicants
Jun 20th, 2019, NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management
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SUBSCRIBE TO EIR
This article appears in the July 12, 2019 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Drugged-Up America
by Robert Ingraham
[Print version of this article]
EIR
The cover of Dope, Inc., commissioned by Lyndon LaRouche, which analyzes the scope and size of the international illegal drug-trafficking empire. LaRouche laid out a war strategy against these London-based death merchants that would work, a war strategy that got considerable traction in the early 1980s.
The mass drugging of the American people is a secret hidden in plain sight. Over a span of four decades, Americans have consented to a deluge of drug usage. The responsibility for this lies at the feet of the pro-drug Wall Street establishment, the pro-drug news media, pro-drug politicians, the pro-drug psychiatric profession, and drug-saturated Hollywood. An environment has been deliberately created in which everyday drug usage is seen as acceptable, if not normal or even desirable. This is the 21st Century fulfillment of the “soma” vision of British oligarch Aldous Huxley.
Estimates are that in 2017, more than 30.5 million Americans had used an illegal drug within the last 30 days. At least 47 million Americans had used an illegal drug within the last twelve months. That is 15% of the total population. Additionally, those figures do not include either the millions who legally consume a wide variety of mind-numbing prescription drugs, or the millions of alcohol addicts.
If one were to add in the number of people who legally use opioids (such as OxyContin), anti-depressants (such as Prozac, Zoloft, or Celexa), anti-anxiety drugs (such as Xanax), and ADHD drugs (such as Ritalin or Adderall), then the total figures for “drug usage” skyrocket. The numbers are staggering.
Let us be clear: This is the deliberate mass drug enslavement of the American people. Nothing like this has existed anywhere in the world, of this scope or magnitude, since the enforced opium addiction of tens of millions of Chinese by the British monarchy in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.
Much attention is given, and rightly so, to the crime and deaths which result from illegal drug trafficking. Yet, much more devastating damage is being done. A minimum of 25%—or perhaps a much, much higher number—of the American people are now being stupefied by drugs. Their minds are impaired. Their cognitive reasoning is damaged. Ask yourself, would we have a society today in which tens of millions oppose nuclear power and embrace the anti-scientific fraud of global warming were it not for the widespread drugging of the population? Would we have a culture dominated by Hollywood trash and mindless video games were it not for widespread drug usage? Or, more to the point, what percentage of the deluded demonstrators demanding that Donald Trump be removed from office have consumed a mind-altering drug within the last thirty days?
Reasoned discussion, which is only possible through higher cognitive functioning, a mandatory pre-requisite for the existence of a republic, is being erased from our society.
In This Case . . . Figures Don’t Lie
The consensus among government reports is that 25 million Americans have used marijuana within the last 30 days (including 35% of high school seniors) and 41 million within the last 12 months. Current figures show that, among “regular users”—i.e. those who have used the drug within the last thirty days—there are:
• 1.5 million cocaine users,
• at least 1 million heroin users (compared with 300,000 in 2003),
• 900,000 methamphetamine users,
• 3 million Ecstasy (MDMA) users,
• 2 million users of hallucinogens, and
• perhaps as many as 4 million users of illegal opioids.
If one were to expand this to include “casual users,” i.e., those who have used marijuana within the last year, the figures would double, or in some cases triple.
There is also the following to consider.
When the LaRouche political movement published the book, Dope, Inc.: Britain’s Opium War Against the U.S. in 1978, the explosion in use of legal psychiatric drugs was still two decades into the future. Today, the “legal” drugging of Americans is beyond epidemic proportions. The first anti-anxiety drug Valium was introduced in 1963, but the real revolution came with the introduction of the powerful anti-depressant Prozac in 1988, i.e., the acceptance of the idea that psychological and emotional “well-being” could be achieved through swallowing a pill. This re-definition of mind-altering drugs as “medicine”—which today includes marijuana—has been key to the mass drugging of the population.
According to figures supplied by IMS Health, a company that provides information, services and technology for the healthcare industry, 79 million Americans are now taking some form of drug for emotional or psychological relief. That’s 25% of the entire U.S. population. This includes
• 37 million taking anti-anxiety drugs,
• 41 million taking anti-depressants,
• 11 million taking drugs for attention deficit disorder, and
• 7 million taking anti-psychotic drugs.
One in eight Americans now takes an antidepressant medication; among women in their 40s and 50s, the figure is one in four. Many people have multiple prescriptions for a variety of these drugs. Additionally, in 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for narcotic opioids (e.g., OxyContin), which is more than enough to give every American adult his or her own bottle of pills.
The powerful anti-anxiety and anti-panic drug Xanax today ranks #1 as the most prescribed psychiatric drug in America. As of 2015, doctors were writing nearly 50 million prescriptions for Xanax every year—that’s more than one Xanax prescription every second.
The drugging begins at an early age. In the age group 0-5 years, 200,000 are already on ADHD drugs, 110,000 are on anti-depressants, and 725,000 are on anti-anxiety drugs. Over one million children are on drugs by the time of their sixth birthday. An astounding 20% of high school-age boys—ages 14-17—in the United States have been diagnosed with ADHD, and 10% of high school-age girls have likewise been diagnosed.
These are powerful drugs. During the last thirty years, Dr. Peter Breggin has authored a series of books, including Toxic Psychiatry; Talking Back to Prozac; Talking Back to Ritalin; and Medication Madness. In his work, Dr. Breggin had documented a widespread deterioration of mental functioning in the users of these drugs. He has described a condition which he calls “medication spellbinding,” wherein severe mental impairment occurs without the drug user noticing it. The same could certainly be said for marijuana users.
Obama the Drug Pusher
In October 2009, Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden issued a memorandum to federal prosecutors, directing them that they should not enforce federal anti-drug laws (the Controlled Substances Act) against individuals or institutions which are in “clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.” Thus, Barack Obama became the first U.S. President to accept the definition of marijuana, a Schedule I controlled substance, as a “medicine.”
This federal endorsement of marijuana was taken a step further in 2013 when Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole issued a memo to federal prosecutors in all fifty states declaring that the Obama Administration would not challenge laws legalizing marijuana in Colorado, Washington, or any other state which chose to violate federal drug laws.
In March 2015, following the legalization of marijuana in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Colorado, Barack Obama conducted an interview with Vice News. He stated that he was “encouraged” by recent actions at the state level to give greater access to marijuana. This Presidential endorsement, combined with federal non-enforcement of the nation’s anti-drug laws has resulted in seven additional states—California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Vermont, Michigan, and Illinois—legalizing marijuana in the past two and a half years.
Barack Obama, together with his wife Michelle and his bizarre political bedfellow Valery Jarrett, have established a headquarters in Washington, D.C. from which to organize an effort to block and destroy President Donald Trump. This unholy trio are linked in their efforts with Nazi-sympathizer George Soros, the billionaire who is now personally bankrolling the attempt to create a “color revolution” in the United States by deploying thousands of deluded foot soldiers into the streets of American cities in violent anti-Trump demonstrations.
Since 1994, George Soros has spent more than $200 million of his own money to legalize drugs in the United States. During the last twenty years, almost every state ballot initiative for drug legalization or “decriminalization” has been financed by Soros, some almost entirely by him, and Soros has not limited his efforts to marijuana legalization. He has also spoken out—and financed ballot initiatives—for the decriminalization of all “hard drugs,” including heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines.
In a December 2015 interview with the Russia-24 TV channel, Viktor Ivanov, the head of the Russian anti-drug agency FSKN, charged that Soros’ efforts for drug legalization in the United States, was developed for export to foreign countries, particularly intended to effect drug legalization in Mexico and other Latin American nations, where propaganda is being spread by Soros-controlled NGOs.
What Obama Has Wrought
Between 2009 and 2016, under Barack Obama:
• Marijuana use went up 100%.
• Methamphetamine use increased 62%.
• Heroin use increased 200%.
According to a report issued by the CDC, in 2012 the number of people using heroin for the first time was 156,000, nearly double the number of people in 2006. This increase has been driven largely by young adults aged 18-25.
On Feb. 23, 2017, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released data showing that overdose-related deaths increased from 38,329 in 2010 to 52,404 by 2015, a 27% increase in five years. Over the same period, heroin-related deaths quadrupled, going from 3,036 in 2010 to 12,989 in 2015, all of this under the Obama regime.
Numerous studies have documented that this frightening explosion of drug usage correlates directly to states that have legalized the Obama-approved “medical” use of marijuana. A 2014 report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, titled “The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Marijuana, Alcohol, and Hard Drug Use,” documents a 27% increase for marijuana use in states that have legalized medical marijuana.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Multiple Cause of Death 1999-2017 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released December 2018.
Since the 2012 outright legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, attempts have been made to calculate the effects of legalization on drug usage (as well as in the additional states that subsequently enacted marijuana legalization). Initial studies have shown a sharp increase in drug usage among the population. Millions of youth are now being told that marijuana is a “medicine,”—like the pills that mother takes for her “well-being”—or at the very least it is acceptable to use, now that it has been legalized. The societal and cultural barriers to drug usage are being removed.
As for prescription drug use, under Obama, the overall use of psychiatric drugs to numb and pacify the population has increased dramatically. Since 2008, there has been an 87% increase in the use of anti-depressants, a 100% increase in children under age 10 taking anti-psychotic medications, and a 40% increase in the number of girls being prescribed ADHD medications. There has been an explosion in the use of prescription opioids, accompanied by the development and marketing of new opioids. The United States makes up only 4.6% of the world’s population, but consumes 80% of its opioids.
Start From the Top
So, what is to be done?
The first step must be to recognize the paramount role of the major British and American banking institutions in the global drug trade. This role is not merely one of avaricious “money laundering.” The London and Wall Street apparatus is the command center for the intended drugging of the population, and none of the major drug cartels could function without the protection and support of Wall Street and the City of London.
In 2009, Antonio Maria Costa, then the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), identified the fact that the international banks had become “drug dependent.” He said:
In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor. Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities. . . There were signs that some banks were rescued that way.
Speaking in Washington, D.C. in 2011, Viktor Ivanov, the Director of the Russian Federal Narcotics Service, went even further:
Drug money and global drug trafficking are actually not just valuable elements of, but as donors of scarce liquidity, a vital and indispensable segment of the whole monetary system.
Ivanov went on to say that Russia and the United States must work in tandem to effect—
the drastic transformation of the international financial system. . . . To a certain extent, we are observing a revival of the logic of the Glass-Steagall Act, adopted in the U.S. in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression, which separated the deposit and investment functions of banks.
However, he added, “restrictions to prevent the attraction of criminal money are required even more. In other words, liquidation of the financial bubble alone will not be enough. … The key way to liquidate global drug trafficking is to reformat the existing economy and shift to an economy that excludes criminal money” and moves instead “to an economy of development, in which decisions are based on development projects and long-term targeted credits.”
The first action which must be undertaken to combat the drug scourge is to enact into law the restoration of Franklin Roosevelt’s Glass-Steagall legislation, along with accompanying actions which ruthlessly bring to an end the last two decades era of unregulated banking and financial speculation. The predatory practices of the “too-big-to-fail” banks in London and New York—the headquarters of Dope Inc.—have brought the trans-Atlantic financial system to ruin. The restoration of Glass-Steagall is essential for the creation of a Hamiltonian Credit System needed to finance a national economic recovery, but it will also have the salutary effect of destroying the financial operations and structures which control and bankroll the international drug trade.
The tens of millions of drug users in the United States are the victims of Britain’s modern Opium War against the United States. By adopting the measures which LaRouche enunciated in 1985, together with enactment of Glass-Steagall legislation as well as strict enforcement of federal drug laws, the amount of drug consumption can be drastically curtailed. The availability of drugs will be sharply reduced, and the message that has been sent out by Barack Obama for the last eight years that “Drugs are OK” will be reversed. A contrary social dynamic will be created. The question then becomes how to move forward, how to create a better culture and a better society than that which currently exists.
Even far greater challenges—and greater opportunities—could then be posed to young Americans. A true Hamiltonian economic policy will provide the means to take on stupendous projects, including a rapid return to space exploration, in partnership with other nations. An upward optimistic perspective can take hold. The potential for a profoundly positive change in culture would then become possible. Human minds begin to function again. Reason awakens. Cognition is improved.
There is no reason to incarcerate drug users. Again, they are the victims. Simply cut off their supply, and move as many of them as possible into an FDR economic recovery effort. This approach should also apply for many “lower level” individuals involved in the drug trade, if their crime is non-violent and their desire to escape the drug lifestyle is genuine. The only necessary caution is to avoid excessive leniency until the drug cartels are crushed. Forgiveness after a war is laudable; during the war it is suicidal.
For those with serious problems of addiction or severe psychological problems, rehabilitation clinics should be the first step. According to a report by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), almost 23 million Americans aged 12 and older need treatment for drug or alcohol use, but only 2.5 million have received treatment at a specialty facility.
For the controllers and the military command structure of Dope, Inc., no mercy must be permitted.
Leading bankers and financiers involved in drug money laundering or drug transactions, either directly or through connivance, should be stripped of their ill-gotten gains, prosecuted, and jailed. No one should be immune, including CEOs and others in executive positions. During their 2012 plea bargain, the top officials of HSBC openly admitted that they had knowingly laundered billions of dollars in drug money. Not one of them spent a day in jail.
All high level officials and major players in drug gangs and drug cartels should be similarly treated. This falls under the heading of “military procedures,” and it will necessitate cooperation with a variety of other nations.
Any state or local government official, elected official, or law enforcement official who defies federal law in regard to the War on Drugs, i.e., commits treason, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The issue of “states’ rights” was settled on the bloody battlefields of Gettysburg and Shiloh. The same approach might be necessary for some within the nation’s major news media.
Responsible individuals, again including top corporate officers within the pharmaceutical industry, who have wittingly participated in the mass drugging of the American people, should be indicted and prosecuted. Procedures which govern the availability of powerful psychiatric drugs must be radically overhauled.
Such ruthless action will cripple the command structures of the enemy and destroy their ability to continue to operate. At the same time, it will accomplish a great shift in the morale of the American people. It is time to resurrect the methods of Ferdinand Pecora who jailed Wall Street bankers in the 1930s. If the CEOs of major financial institutions are marched in handcuffs off to prison, together with the leaders of the major drug cartels, everyone will know that this war is deadly serious.
In his 1985 Mexico City address, Lyndon LaRouche stated, “Special attention should be concentrated on those banks, insurance enterprises, and other business institutions which are in fact elements of an international financial cartel coordinating the flow of hundreds of billions annually of revenues from the international drug traffic. Such entities should be classed as outlaws according to the ‘crimes against humanity’ doctrine elaborated at the postwar Nuremberg Tribunal.”
What LaRouche said then was true, and it remains true today.
This section was adapted from an article by Robert Ingraham, “How to Win President Trump’s War on Drugs” published in the EIR of March 3, 2017. For further historical background and deeper discussion of how to solve the drug epidemic, see the full article.
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Burke Memorial Library Blog
The Library 100: Summer Reading Possibilities
by Lauren Jensen on 2019-05-06T11:29:00-05:00 | Comments
OCLC, a worldwide library cooperative, of which Spring Hill College is a member, recently released The Library 100. The Library 100 is top 100 novels of all time found in libraries worldwide.
In their FAQ for the project, OCLC went into detail on how the 100 title list was assembled:
"How did you rank the novels on this list?
Materials in libraries are described and tracked in WorldCat in two ways. Any specific work of literature, music, art, history, etc., has an associated catalog record. This describes the item in a general sense. Every copy of the same book, for example, shares the same record. WorldCat also tracks library holdings, which indicate that a specific library has (or holds) at least one copy of that item.
The Library 100 is based on the total number of holdings for a specific novel across all libraries that have registered that information in WorldCat. When a library tells OCLC, “We have a copy of that book available,” that counts as a holding, and in the case of The Library 100, counts as +1 toward its ranking on the list.
It’s important to note that many types of libraries from all over the world use WorldCat, not just public libraries. That includes college and university libraries, school libraries, government libraries, law libraries, medical libraries, and other “special” libraries such as those for museums or private corporations. This list represents not just what is popular in public libraries for reading today, but what universities and schools keep in their collections for teaching, research, and literature studies.
In many cases, the novels on this list have been translated dozens of times; The Little Prince, for example, is available in 78 languages through WorldCat. In addition, there are often hundreds or even thousands of editions and variations of novels. OCLC researchers use a technique called “clustering” to sort through the 2.7 billion items in WorldCat to see if a particular edition of a book counts as a copy of one novel or another.
Please note that this process includes a small margin of error. There are so many editions and versions of books that some will be missed or miscataloged. By and large, though, the relative ranking of these novels is highly indicative of what libraries worldwide have on their shelves. These clustering processes are very thorough, and they’re using data that is unique to libraries and unique to WorldCat.
How did you decide what counts as a “novel”?
We began with a list of everything in WorldCat that counts broadly as “fiction,” sometimes called “works of the imagination.” From there, several sets of known categories were removed, including children’s books, poetry, drama, folklore, comics, short stories, and more. From there, what’s left is much closer to what modern readers would think of as “novels.”
The final list was reviewed by an editorial team at OCLC, as certain works can fall into a “gray area.” Some libraries, for example, might categorize a book as a novel, but others refer to it as a novella or a work of drama. In the end, a very few items simply required us to make a call one way or the other.
We ranked novels—rather than all forms of fiction—because it’s more helpful from a reader’s perspective. When looking for a new book to read, you’d rarely compare it to an epic poem or children’s cartoon book. But it can be useful to compare a fantasy novel from the 19th century (Alice in Wonderland) to one from the late 20th century (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)."
Find more information online:
The Library 100
The Library 100 FAQ
The Library 100 Checklist - Determine how many books you have read
Many of the titles listed on the list are available in Burke Library and the Teacher Education Library at Spring Hill College. They might make a good summer reading project!
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Library closed Friday afternoons in June & July
June Database of the Month: Oxford Reference Online
Library Closed for Memorial Day Weekend
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Home Gadgets Apple Offers iCloud Subscribers Serious Storage For 2 Months
Apple Offers iCloud Subscribers Serious Storage For 2 Months
Free storage is something that many people want and need because they tend to use up all of their internal storage rather quickly. This is why they often invest in the cloud. It’s off-site storage that can essentially be accessed from anywhere.
Apple has got the service, it’s known as iCloud and there’s a promotion going on that will allow people to get 200GB of free space for two months. The feature is for iCloud subscribers, it’s only going to run them a tiny $2.99 a month.
There is, in fact, a catch though, it’s only for people who have not signed up for iCloud yet and they need to be a United States customer. This means that most people using Apple devices can’t take advantage of this cool feature.
While the storage amount might be high, you’ll never really use it all, at least if you are an average user. This is just giving you more than you need so that you think it’s a good deal. In fact, it’s not uncommon for companies to do this, Google apparently has an unlimited storage data system that you can buy and pay for by the month, although it’s a little more pricey.
That said, Apple is giving the customer a pretty good bang for their buck. At just $2.99 per month, someone can get a large amount of storage that they will never fully use. This means that it’s great for people who tend to do a lot of recording or photo taking on their phones.
One thing that many people might dislike is the fact that it’s only for users who are new. So, it’s clear that Apple is targeting people who don’t really use their service which means even fewer people are going to be able to take part in this opportunity.
It’s kind of sad but a reality, Apple doesn’t want to give it to everyone because then it turns into the norm. It basically just comes off as a way of getting new people to join the world of Apple.
Earlier this year, Apple introduced a free month of iCloud services on the 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB to new subscribers of the service. On top of that, Apple even gives 5GB free to new users, which kind of defeats the purpose of buying more storage unless absolutely needed.
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10 Good Things Done By Evil Dictators
K.W. Hales April 20, 2016 0
History is filled with evil dictators who ruled through fear and violence, a scourge to their subjects and other nations alike. But, much like a broken clock is right twice a day, some of the most infamous dictators have occasionally done something right. This list is not remotely intended to excuse the atrocities of the men involved, just to point out that hell can freeze over just enough for bad men to do good things.
10Hitler Led One Of The First Anti-Smoking Campaigns
Photo via Wikimedia
Introducing a health program that saved the lives of 20,000 women would be a huge achievement for any politician. Well, unless that politician was Adolf Hitler, a man who infamously ordered the mass murder of at least 11 million people he considered undesirable, including Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, communists, and the disabled. A mere 20,000 really does pale in comparison.
The health program in question was actually one of the earliest government anti-smoking campaigns. Hitler was obsessed with the idea of an Aryan “master race” and viewed smoking as a threat to the health of the German people. He often boasted that he had quit smoking in 1919 and appeared on anti-smoking leaflets warning that “every German is responsible to the whole people for all his deeds and omissions, and does not have the right to damage his body with drugs.”
Meanwhile, Nazi scientists were encouraged to research the dangers of smoking. In 1939, Franz Muller produced the first epidemiological study linking cigarettes to cancer. By 1943, German researchers had conclusively shown that smoking causes lung cancer. Sadly, the studies were forgotten in the chaos that followed the war and it took another decade before American researchers started to reach the same conclusions. Still, the Nazi anti-smoking campaign is estimated to have saved the lives of at least 20,000 women (who were targeted more than men, often with “police force”). Which, again, rather pales considering that many of the same doctors who led the anti-smoking program also organized a euthanasia program that killed at least 200,000.
9Genghis Khan Introduced Laws And Religious Freedom
What is there to say about Genghis Khan that hasn’t already been said about the bubonic plague? Erupting from the Mongolian steppe, his forces raced across Eurasia, destroying ancient empires and killing an estimated 40 million people (around 11 percent of the global population). According to Julia Pongratz of the Carnegie Institution For Science, the slaughter Genghis unleashed removed 700 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere. That’s right, Genghis Khan killed so many people that it noticeably effected the carbon output of the Earth.
But Genghis wasn’t just a destructive maniac—he was intent on building a Mongol nation. In 1208, he captured a Uygur scribe named Tatar-Tonga, who adapted the Uygur alphabet to create the first alphabet for writing the Mongol language. Genghis also created a legal code and applied it throughout his empire. Astonishingly, Genghis insisted that these laws should apply to himself as well as his subjects. In a world where monarchs were considered to be above the law, this was an incredible step (his heirs dropped it almost immediately). Genghis even made his adopted brother supreme judge and encouraged him to keep a record of all legal decisions.
The Khan also granted religious freedom to everyone within his empire and gave tax exempt status to places of worship. He was known to be very spiritual himself, often praying before campaigns, and enjoyed discussing religion and philosophy with scholars like the Taoist Qiu Chuji.
8Ashurnasirpal Threw History’s Greatest Party
Ashurnasirpal II was a powerful Assyrian king who ruled from 883–859 BC. He also loved skinning rebels alive. In one instance, he proudly boasted that he had “flayed as many nobles who had rebelled against me and draped their skins over the pile [of corpses]; some I spread out within the pile, some I erected on stakes upon the pile. I flayed many right through my land and draped their skins over the walls.”
He was also known for burning his enemies alive, gouging out their eyes, or leaving them in the desert to die of thirst. Even by the standards of the time, this was a little excessive. But when not in a flaying mood, Ashurnasirpal could be quite generous to his subjects. Among other things, he threw them possibly the biggest party the ancient world had ever seen.
The festival was to celebrate the creation of a new city called Kalhu. According to Assyrian inscriptions, some 69, 574 people were invited from all across the empire and beyond. For 10 days, Ashurnasirpal “gave them food, I gave them drink, I had them bathed, I had them anointed. Thus I did honor to them and send them back to their lands in peace and joy.” Even the menu has survived, listing 1,000 oxen, 14000 specially imported sheep, 10,000 fish, 10,000 eggs, and 500 gazelles.
Interestingly, scholars have noted that Ashurnasirpal didn’t have any political need for the festival—no other Assyrian ruler held a similar one—and probably just did it because he wanted to show off his new city and have a huge party.
7Gaddafi Started The Biggest Irrigation Project In The World
Muammar Gaddafi took power in a bloodless coup in 1969. Sadly, the rest of his time in power would be rather less bloodless. Libya became a nightmarish police state, where enemies of the regime were regularly imprisoned and murdered. Even fleeing overseas didn’t help, as Gaddafi became known for sending assassins after Libyan dissidents living abroad. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of terrorism. Most notoriously, Libyan agents were blamed for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland, killing 270 people. He was violently overthrown in 2011, leaving a country ravaged by civil war.
So did Gaddafi do anything for the people of Libya? Well, under his leadership Libyans did get free education, healthcare, and electricity, plus subsidized housing and transport. On the other hand, Libya was a country of six million people and $32 billion in yearly oil revenues, yet boasted 30 percent unemployment and widespread poverty. With that context, Gaddafi’s social programs look less like government generosity and more like the bare minimum needed to placate the population while the elite siphoned off billions of dollars.
But Gaddafi could boast at least one genuinely impressive project. Libya is one of the driest countries in the world, dependent on sparse rainfall along the coast, underground aquifers, and expensive desalination projects. When Gaddafi took power in 1969, many coastal aquifers had been polluted by seawater. The city of Benghazi was virtually without drinkable water. So Gaddafi developed the Great Man-Made River Project, a hugely ambitious plan to pump water from giant aquifers in the isolated south to the populated north of the country.
The first two phases of the project were completed in the ’90s, bringing a reliable supply of fresh water to 70 percent of Libya’s population. This required a network of 1,300 wells and 5,000 kilometers (3,000 mi) of pipes. The system is capable of pumping five million cubic meters of water per day and the aquifers are large enough to supply water for the next 1,000 years. There were plans for the system to be expanded “turn the desert green” and create large farms in previously unproductive areas. However, work slowed in the ’90s due to sanctions imposed after the Lockerbie bombing and stopped entirely during the Libyan civil war of 2011, when NATO bombing destroyed a key factory.
6Fidel Castro Revolutionized Healthcare And Education
After taking power in 1959, Fidel Castro turned Cuba into a one-party dictatorship, forced tens of thousands of Cubans into exile, executed a number of dissidents, and threw many others into prison. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have described his government as one of the worst human rights abusers out there. But deplorable as Castro’s rule was, he can boast some genuine achievements.
For example, the US and Cuba have roughly equal life expectancies, despite the US spending 20 times as much per capita on healthcare. This can be attributed to the national healthcare system put in place by Castro, which saw great success despite the fact that half of Cuba’s doctors had fled the country immediately after he took power. In 1959, nearly a quarter of Cuba’s adult population were illiterate. Today, adult illiteracy is almost nonexistent.
After the revolution, Castro’s regime gave land to landless farmers, created new housing to replace slums and shantytowns, and introduced a system of universal education. Cuba also does a good job in hurricane preparedness. Each block in Cuba has a captain assigned to it, in order to help with evacuations (which are mandatory), while government buses and trucks bring people to designated shelters. The results speak for themselves: when Hurricane Gustav hit Cuba, not a single person died. The same hurricane then killed 26 people in Louisiana, causing US diplomat Wayne Smith to conclude that “there is a lot the United States can learn from Cuba’s hurricane response system.”
5Napoleon Pioneered The French Legal Code
Hero to some, devil to others, Napoleon led France through some of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts since the Thirty Years’ War. An estimated two million people died as a direct result of his wars, while another million civilians were probably indirect casualties of the campaigns. The fighting was particularly brutal in Spain, where Napoleon’s forces carried out widespread executions of suspected guerillas.
Despite such brutality, Napoleon was at least a semi-fan of enlightenment principles. For example, he promoted the system of laws known as the Napoleonic Code, which is now considered one of the most influential documents in world history. The Code entrenched the principle that all male citizens should be considered equal, without hereditary class privileges, and outlined the rights and duties of citizens in society. It also established religious freedom and guaranteed that the government would respect private property. Variations of the code were eventually adopted by most countries in Europe and South America, and it was a huge influence for reformers in Asia as well.
However, the Code did have its flaws. Among other things, it ruled that women should not share equal rights, but rather should be considered subordinate to their husbands. These aspects of the code had to be fought by early women’s rights campaigners across the world.
4Augusto Pinochet Still Influences Chile’s Economy
During the reign of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, over 3,000 people were permanently “disappeared.” His regime also imprisoned tens of thousands and brutally tortured at least 28,000 of its perceived enemies. Among those tortured were current Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and her mother.
Under Chile’s socialist president Salvador Allende, wages grew and many sectors of Chile’s economy were nationalized. However, by 1972 the economy had begun to stagnate and inflation reached 500 percent at its peak. In 1973, Pinochet, who was commander-in-chief of the army, came to power in a bloody CIA-backed coup that resulted in the death of Allende. He soon recruited a team of economists from the University of Chicago to restore economic stability to Chile. Trained under Milton Friedman, “the Chicago Boys” proposed a neo-liberal economic policy, including the removal of trade barriers and state regulation of commerce, as well as low income taxes and a program of privatization.
What happened next is subject to debate. Some people have termed the period “the Chilean Economic Miracle” as inflation fell from 375 percent in 1975 to 9.9 percent in 1982. Chile’s GDP grew by 8 percent in 1977 and 1979 and a staggering 10 percent in 1989. However, Pinochet’s detractors point out that the GDP actually fell by 16 percent in both 1982 and 1983, as part of an economic crisis that virtually wiped out the country’s financial sector. The economic growth that did occur mostly benefitted the upper class, hugely increasing income disparity. However, Pinochet’s economic reforms did eventually result in overall economic growth and largely remain in place today. Meanwhile, the richest 20 percent of Chileans still earn 14 times as much as the poorest 20 percent.
3Zia-Ul-Haq Oversaw A Booming Economy
Under Pakistani strongman Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s hardline Muslim regime, state persecution was normal, with women, political dissidents, and minorities particularly likely to be targeted. One notable example was his treatment of the Ahmadiya sect, who had their worship criminalized and were often sentenced to death for breaking blasphemy laws.
But Zia-ul-Haq did oversee a period of sustained economic growth. During his time in office from 1977–1988, GDP growth averaged six percent per year, agricultural income grew by four per cent a year, and manufacturing saw growth of 9 percent per year. Part of this was due to the liberalization of the economy, which encouraged private-sector growth. Several public industries were also denationalized (the banks were a notable exception). He also encouraged free trade. Following his death in a plane crash in 1988 (his dentures alone survived the fireball in recognizable form), a “million-strong crowd” turned out for his funeral procession, lauding him as a “great Muslim.”
2Rafael Trujillo Encouraged Stability And Prosperity
Rafael Trujillo rose to power in 1930 and would rule the Dominican Republic with an iron fist until he was assassinated 1961. Like everyone on this list, Trujillo was one of the worst human beings the world has ever seen. His forces tortured and murdered anyone who opposed him, throwing the bodies to sharks. In 1937, he ordered the murder of an estimated 20,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. Trujillo’s thugs fanned out across the borderlands, demanding that peasants say the tricky Spanish word perejil (“parsley”). Anyone deemed to have a Haitian accent was immediately killed.
Unsurprisingly, Trujillo was not popular, but the Dominican Republic did at least see some increase in the standard of living during his reign. There were improvements in sanitation and his regime built hospitals, roads, and schools. Of course, there was a catch, as Trujillo and his cronies creamed off a significant part of the public works budget through kickbacks and embezzlement. Furthermore, Trujillo paid off all debt, kept the currency stable, and built or improved airports and public buildings. In terms of his successes, the Encyclopedia Britannica put it best: “Competent in business, capable in administration, and ruthless in politics, Trujillo brought a degree of peace and prosperity to the republic that it had not previously enjoyed.”
1Periander Was Known As A Wise But Cruel Ruler
Periander was the tyrant of the Ancient Greek city of Corinth from around 627–587 BC. According to Herodotus, when Periander took the throne, he sent a messenger to another Greek tyrant asking for advice. The tyrant led the messenger to a field and walked through it hacking down the tallest ears of wheat. Periander got the message and murdered or exiled the most talented citizens of Corinth, who might one day lead a challenge to his rule.
His cruelty soon came to shock his fellow Greeks. For example, some of his ships once docked on Samos while taking the sons of 300 leading citizens to Sardis to be castrated and sold into slavery. The Samians were so horrified by this that they told the children to take refuge in the temple of Artemis and forcibly prevented the Corinthian soldiers from retrieving them. Periander himself was said to have killed his own wife by kicking her when she was pregnant. Afterwards, he felt remorseful—so he had the concubines he blamed for the fight burned alive.
Despite his cruelty, Periander did a great deal to improve the city he ruled. He forged alliances with Greek and non-Greek states alike and greatly improved trade with the western Mediterranean. He negotiated peace between Athens and Mytilene and established colonies on the Balkan peninsula. He sponsored the construction of a dragway across the Isthmus of Corinth, allowing ships to be pulled across in order to cut down on transport times. Poets were invited to his court and the Doric architectural style was established during his reign. After his death, he became known as one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece and was credited with writing a collection of some 2,000 verses.
K.W. Hales is a freelance writer from Chattanooga, TN.
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Interior Designers can definitely be some of the most inspiring people within the industry. Every design professional aspires to be groundbreaking and bolder than the others, thus leaving their signature in the design world. 100 interior designers were bold enough to be picked by us. After an amazing part one, we bring you part two of our incredible Top 100 Best Interior Designers list!
Marcel Wanders is a leading product and interior design studio credited with 1,900+ iconic projects. Under the creative leadership of Marcel Wanders, who is supported by Gabriele Chiave since 2014, the multi-disciplinary team of 40 breathes creativity across a multitude of projects.
March & White
The March&White international design house is based in London, New York and LA. Architecture and interior design are their focus as is excellence in the field. The diversity of interior design projects all feature elegance, creativity and intelligence. With a worldwide reputation, the always impeccably detailed, using the finest materials and the being the most elegant possible this international design house presents famous projects such as Café Royal, GQ- Bachelor Pad, a Notting Hill apartment, among others.
Mark Cunningham
Renowned for his curated, yet comfortable interior compositions and singular style, Mark has worked on a wide range of projects, including residential interiors, hotel design, architectural consulting, and commercial concepts all over the world.
Marmol Radziner
Founded in 1989, Marmol Radziner is a unique design-build practice led by architects. Since its conception, the firm has developed a reputation for innovative design and precision when it comes to their construction standards. They offer interior design services, as well as custom furniture design and fabrication thanks to their in-house designers and master craftsmen who can create environments at any level of customization.
Martin Brudnizki
With his designs showcased throughout the world, Martin Brudnizki has become one of the industry’s most sought-after interior designers. Swedish-born designer Martin Brudnizki is the founder of Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, which specializes in restaurants, bars, hotels and private clubs, having created many well-known interiors around the world.
Martyn Lawrence Bullard is a multi-award-winning Los Angeles-based interior designer renowned for his broad range of styles and eclectic, yet sophisticated and inviting interiors. Martyn has been consistently named as one of the world’s top 100 interior designers by Architectural Digest, featured permanently in Elle Decor’s A-List, and named one of the top 25 designers by The Hollywood Reporter. A popular television personality, Martyn starred in the hit Bravo series, Million Dollar Decorators and hosted Channel 4’s Hollywood Me in the UK, along with a multitude of design television programs spanning over 65 countries.
MasQueEspacios
MasQueEspacios is an award-winning creative consultancy created in 2010 by Ana Milena Hernández Palacios and Christophe Penasse. Combining the two disciplines of their founders, interior design and marketing, the Spanish design agency creates custom-made branding and interior projects through a unique approach that results in fresh and innovative concepts.
At the forefront of international design, Mathieu Lehanneur is one of the few designers of his generation to be able to embrace so many fields of creation: from objects to architecture; from art to products; as well as unique piece hand-made technology. He innovates with spectacular and magical projects that mix design, science and art for the well-being of his users.
Michael Smith is considered one of the most original and respected talents in today’s design industry. With an international profile of residential, hospitality and commercial clients, Smith’s style is a seamless blend of European classicism and American modernism. His design firm, Michael S Smith Inc, was launched in 1990 in NYC, and since then it has been expanding from projects solely for private clients to his line of fine furniture and fabrics named “Jasper”.
Nini Andrade Silva
Nini Andrade Silva is one of the most prestigious interior designers in the world. Nini’s work has international recognition, having placed the name of Portugal alongside the biggest and best designers in the world while being the creative mind behind multiple hotels. With an impressive work across the globe, Nini saw her work being distinguished several times while also becoming a constant presence in prestigious publications worldwide.
Oliver Burns
Oliver Burns is a luxury interior design firm that specialises in prime and super-prime property and believes that luxury is an art: the culmination of thoughtful, ethical concepts carefully combined with their distinctive aesthetic to create a unique lifestyle.
Patricia Urquiola focuses on modern style with feminine accents and unexpected elements. The Spanish designer and architect design products that are both playful and elegant. From her studio in her adopted home of Milan, Urquiola works for exclusive brands in Italy and the rest of the world.
Pepe Leal
Pepe Leal holds a degree in History of Art, and after completing different interior design courses at the Polytechnic School in London, he returned to Spain. His first exhibition at Casa Decor 98 earned him the respect of the critics, as well as a privileged place in the world of decoration. He has been slowly rising ever since 1996 due to all the great projects he has been involved in.
Peter Marino
This is one of the historical names of North-American and New York’s Interior Design Industry. He founded in 1978, in New York City, the now prestigious Peter Marino Architect PLLC, an internationally acclaimed architecture, planning and design studio that also has several offices around the United States of America in major cities like Philadelphia or Miami. Marino is recognized worldwide for his stunning and powerful modern contemporary style that can be seen in amazing projects around the world.
Peter Mikic
Peter Mikic is a London based interior designer, originally from Melbourne, Australia who moved to London in 1990. Having worked for a number of fashion designers, he then moved into interiors in 2006. Peter has since been featured in AD Collector top 100, House and Garden Top 100 and top interior designers in Elle Decoration.
Philippe Starck is a French designer known for his wide range of designs, including everything from interior design to household objects to boats to watches. He has also worked as an architect.
In 1986, the Italian architect, art director and designer Piero Lissoni, together with Nicoletta Canesi, founded the interdisciplinary studio Lissoni Associati in Milan, focusing on architecture as well as interior and product/light design.
Pierre Yovanovitch
Extreme luxury tempered by a restrained, purist sensitivity defines the “Made in France” signature of interior designer Pierre Yovanovitch whose projects stand out for their refined sense of architectural scale over ostentation and fickle design trends.
Pierre-Yves Rochon
Pierre-Yves Rochon (PYR) was founded in Paris in 1979 to create interior design solutions for luxury hospitality and residential environments. Every aspect of the guest experience is enhanced by the seamless integration of each property’s location, culture and history with its design. Their design philosophy centres on creating a refined, comfortable atmosphere that celebrates elegance and warmth while providing a timeless backdrop for an ever-changing modern culture.
Studio Piet Boon is an internationally renowned design studio, recognized for its multi-disciplinary design services and it’s a remarkable talent of balancing functionality, aesthetics and individuality into one of a kind design experiences. Shifting boundaries and setting new standards.
Ptang Studio
Ptang Studio Limited was established in 1997 and engages in a diverse scope of projects ranging from small scale residential to show flat design and to large scale commercial works; such as corporate headquarters and movie launching functions.
Rafael de Cárdenas
Rafael de Cárdenas is the mastermind and founder of Architecture at Large (RDC/AAL) a multidisciplinary practice founded by the designer in 2006. Based in New York City and working globally, they provide services within design and interiors, art advisory, furniture design and brand development on commercial and residential projects.
Ramy Fischler
Ramy Fischler, a Belgian designer based in Paris, has developed an eclectic creative practice. He is graduated from the Ecole Nationale supérieure de création Industrielle ENSCI-Les Ateliers, and laureate of the Académie de France in Rome in 2010. Later, the interior designer joined the Villa Médicis where he considered, in situ, how visitors and artists are received within this legendary place and became interested in the history of furniture and their association with power. That research gave rise to several exhibits in Italy and Paris.
René Dekker
René Dekker its internationally acclaimed designer for providing the ultimate luxury brand. His work transcends the ordinary and rewards with opulence and glamour. With a skills base and expensive that cover the spectrum of design, development, and deliverability, they can create spaces that embody pure luxury and achieve. His uncompromising art of style has been at the forefront of luxury interior design for years.
Ricardo Casas
Founded in 2009 RCD (Ricardo Casas Design) is a design office dedicated to the development of furniture, interior architecture and product design. Through observation, exploration and research as methodology and process, they advise our clients’ projects, fulfilling all expectations and needs with innovative and cutting-edge solutions for each assignment.
Richard Mishaan
The Mishaan touch, stylistically, is an expansive one, which is not surprising—he himself is an expansive person. His combined knowledge of fashion, architecture, and interior design, plus his cultural roots, give him a deep understanding of luxury and quality” Pamela Fiori, Editor-in-Chief, Town & Country.
Richmond Interiors
The Richmond furniture collection is for the most part produced in the own factory in Romania, only a small part consists of import from the Far East. Through years of experience and the production in the own factory, where the furniture is manufactured using the best professionals and the latest machines, Richmond Interiors can deliver the best quality.
Robert Couturier
Robert Couturier made design history in 1987 when the billionaire financier Sir James Goldsmith, who could have engaged an architect and decorator in the known world to do his bidding, followed his legendary instincts and entrusted the 32-year-old Couturier with what would amount to the single greatest private commission of modern times: the pre-conception, execution, and continuous embellishment – down to the last gilded detail – of Goldsmith’s 20,000-acre kingdom on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.
Founded in New York in 1984 by one of the top interior designers and architects of the US, David Rockwell, the interior design studio creates the most extraordinary contract and artistic designs all around the world. With offices in New York, Madrid and Shanghai, this Design Group specializes their professional range in a wide array of work from luxury hospitality, cultural, and healthcare projects, to educational, product, and set design. A masterful example of luxury architecture! Currently, he works with Shawn Sullivan, his Partner, and Studio Leader.
Rose Uniacke is an interior designer, a designer of furniture and lighting – for individual clients as well as for her showroom – and a dealer in both antiques and pieces by other, usually well known, designers.
Ryan Korban
Ryan Korban jumped to the spotlight of the Design Industry and, since his luxury debut, his work and style have been making headlines on the Top Design Magazines of the world. His inspiration for the stunning design projects come from Monet paintings to Helmut Newton photographs, he creates seductive, wondrous spaces that surpass trend to redefine traditional design for a new generation. Without any formal training, Korban developed his unique aesthetic, characterized by a mix of luxury, old-world romance, and urban cool!
Sabine Kober
Sabina Kober is one of the best interior designers and stylists from Germany. She has studied Harp, Church music and Conductorship at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. Now with a long professional career as Interior Designer, she finds her inspiration to create rooms in the harmony and aesthetics she finds in the music.
Sarah Lavoine
Sarah Lavoine is a renowned interior design that created her interior design studio, Maison Sarah Lavoine, in 2002. Working on a wide variety of projects, from private homes (houses, lofts, apartments), to public spaces (hotels and restaurants), she quickly forged strong convictions about the use of space, light, and colour. Her signature style also incorporates a mixing of styles and origins, elegance and comfort, it is the embodiment of a cosmopolitan Parisian spirit.
Steven Leach
Steven Leach Group are your partners in creative solutions. With offices in Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo this firm is the most established Interior Design Consultancy Firm in East Asia.
Studio Peregalli
Based in Milan, Studio Peregalli has a reputation for creating some of the most luscious and evocative interiors in the world. The duo’s hallmark is the layering of different styles and combinations of patterns and historical techniques to create something that is in constant dialogue with the past while looking remarkably new.
Studioilse
Ilse Crawford is a designer, academic and creative director with a simple mission to put human needs and desires at the centre of all that she does. As a founder of Studioilse, together with her multidisciplinary, London-based team, she brings her philosophy to life. This means creating environments where humans feel comfortable; public spaces that make people feel at home and homes that are habitable and make sense for the people who live in them.
Inspired by architecture, art, fashion, and travel, Suzanne Kasler designs spaces and products that are luminous, distinctive, and timeless. Suzanne’s designs always reference the past but move towards the future with an edited and discerning eye on the present.
Born 1941 in Osaka, Japan. Self-taught in architecture. Established Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in 1969. Major works include the Church of the Light, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and Chichu Art Museum. Awarded the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) Prize for the Row House in Sumiyoshi in 1979, Japan Art Academy Prize in 1993 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995.
Tara Bernerd
British designer Tara Bernerd is the founder of the interior architectural practice, Tara Bernerd & Partners. Based in London’s Belgravia, the practice works on a global platform and prides itself on its intelligent approach to interior space-planning and design.
Taylor Howes
Founded in 1993 by Karen Howes, Taylor Howes is an international design practice based in London recognised as a Great British brand that has received over 15 awards and accolades. Karen Howes is the Chief Executive, and manages this working studio, overseeing the creation of elegant bespoke interiors and expanding the brand to establish its reputation as one of the world’s most prestigious interior design practices.
Tom is a restless innovator who works mainly in lighting, accessories and furniture. From his departure point in the early eighties welding salvaged steel into radical furniture, he has constantly reinvented himself through a series of different design lives – working with luxury Italian goods with Cappellini, Creative Director at Habitat and Artek, creating Plastics company Eurolounge and finally instigating his own eponymous brand in 2002 to rethink the product designer’s relationship with industry.
Tristan Auer
Tristan Auer is a prevailing force in the interior design world who came of age under icons Christian Liaigre and Philippe Starck. He is an entrepreneurial interior architect who founded his own studio in 2002, which specializes in ultra-high-end residences, boutique hotels and retail, as well as bespoke furniture design.
Victoria Hagan
Since founding her firm over 20 years ago, Victoria has designed an extensive number of versatile projects throughout the country, from the most elegant urban residences to casual weekend retreats, noted residential developments, and innovative corporate interiors.
Vincent Van Duysen was born in Lokeren, Belgium, in 1962, and undertook a degree in Architecture at the Higher Institute of Architecture Sint Lucas, Ghent. Afterwards, Van Duysen worked in Milan collaborating with Aldo Cibic, after which, he worked with Jean De Meulder in Antwerp, Belgium.
Viterbo Interior Design
Founded in 1971, Viterbo Interior Design is an international interior design reference with the mission of designing unique projects that have a positive effect on their client’s well-being.
Waldo Fernandez
For over 35 years, Cuban born Waldo Fernandez has managed all elements of his own interior design practice, working on various projects all over the world. Those projects include many high-end private residences, restaurants, hotels on both coasts, numerous Hawaiian estates, riding stables, executive offices, yachts and private planes.
Wilmotte & Associés
Architect, city planner and designer, Jean-Michel Wilmotte was born in 1948 in Soissons, France. He founded his own architecture company, Wilmotte & Associés, in Paris, in 1975.
Yabu Pushelberg is an international design firm, with studios in Toronto and SoHo, New York, founded in 1980 by Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu. Focused teams of design and project management personnel specialize in interior, furniture and product design for the hospitality and retail industries. The company also does residential projects.
ZMIK
ZMIK’s goal is to create unique, bold and accurate spacial environments. As a Studio for Spacial Design, they design spaces as well as spacial strategies and plots. They focus on creating identity, individuality and communication in space.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this article. Did you like our picks for our top 100 best interior designers? Which name do you think we’ve missed in our picks?
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The Riigikogu strengthened child health protection
08.02.2017 / Press releases, Plenary assembly
At Wednesday’s sitting, the Riigikogu approved with 79 votes in favour (2 abstentions) the Act on Amendments to the Health Services Organisation Act, initiated by the Government, which amends the procedure for the appointment of a family physician for new-born children and gives medical students access to the health information system.
With the first amendment to the Act on Amendments to the Health Services Organisation Act (318 SE), initiated by the Government, the Government wishes to strengthen child protection by preventing and reducing illnesses in children, and the risk of not having access to a doctor, arising from social circumstances. The amendment ensures that family physicians receive information on all new-born children and thereby it is possible to observe all children until they attain 18 years of age, according to the requirements of child health surveillance.
According to the Act, a new-born child is automatically included in the practice list of the family physician of his or her mother. So far, parents have had to submit a relevant application for entry into the practice list of a physician; when the amendment enters into force, the child will be entered into the practice list of a family physician on the basis of an application by the maternity hospital. When updating the data in the list of the Health Insurance Fund, the family physician will become aware of the new patient. If the mother is not on the list of any family physician, the Health Board will appoint a family physician for the new-born child.
Also, the Act gives fourth-year graduate medical students who work as doctor’s assistants access to the e-health information system. The amendment will allow students who are assistant doctors to see information on previous illnesses of patients and thereby to better assist the doctor, to carry out more thorough initial examinations of patients, and to prepare the necessary documents and preliminary prescriptions.
Member of the Centre Party Faction Dmitri Dmitrijev, who took the floor during the debate, pointed out that one of the most important aims of this Act is to ensure equal health protection for children by automatic registration of all children in the practice list of a family physician because it is important that children in need are identified as early as possible. He noted that the Act was a step towards better protection of our human resource.
Helmen Kütt from the Social Democratic Party Faction said that the Act eliminated today’s situation where we have nearly 700 children of under 3 years old who are not on the practice list of any family physician. She also pointed out that the Act gives fourth-year graduate medical students access to the e-health information system. In Kütt’s opinion, such access allows the students to see a patient’s important health information. She said that this provides the possibility for a student assisting a doctor to carry out more thorough initial examinations of patients, and to prepare the necessary documents for the doctor. Kütt noted that, from the patient’s point of view, care will be available more quickly.
The Riigikogu passed three other Acts:
The Riigikogu passed with 86 votes in favour (1 abstention) the Act on Amendments to the Insurance Activities Act and Other Associated Acts (275 SE), initiated by the Government. The Act will strengthen the protection of retail investors and increase their trust in packaged insurance investment opportunities and insurance-based products, for example, investment funds, unit-linked life insurance contracts, structured products, and investment deposits.
The new requirements are regulated in the relevant EU Regulation. The Act ensures national implementation of the Regulation. The EU Regulation is directed at manufacturers of such investment products (except pension products) – fund managers, investment firms, insurance undertakings, special purpose vehicles, credit institutions – and persons selling and advising on such products. The activities of financial supervisory authorities are also regulated.
According to new requirements, a key information document must be drawn up which provides the customer with a concise overview of the nature, features and risk profile of the investment product, and the costs of the product. The document drawn up in a standardised format allows the customer to compare different products. Comparing investment products this way, and obtaining a clearer and more comprehensible overview of the products helps make considered and more rational choices.
On 14 December last year, the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, amending the Regulation on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products as regards the date of its application, was adopted and it will apply from 1 January 2018.
The Riigikogu approved with 86 votes in favour (1 abstention) the Emergency Act (205 SE), initiated by the Government, which specifies the responsibility of the authorities related to crisis management, and the definition of emergency, and attaches importance to the performance of risk communication. The Act also provides for organisation of the regulation of vital services, and specification of the principles of the regulation of the organisation of state operation stockpile.
Under the Act, the tasks of the authorities participating in crisis management are specified based on the principle that every authority would perform its crisis management tasks and would be responsible for the performance thereof, and that every ministry and authority is responsible for crisis management in its sector or sphere of responsibility.
The Act also specified the assessment of the risks of emergencies, and the provisions concerning the management of resolving emergencies. The aim of the specification of the assessment of risks is that risk analyses would become more detailed, in order that they could be used better when planning prevention and readiness activities. The provisions concerning the management of resolving emergencies are amended in order that it would be possible to resolve an emergency quickly and effectively regardless of which authority manages the resolving of the emergency.
The Act adopted attaches importance to the organisation of risk communication as an important part of preventing and preparing for emergencies. For the purposes of the Act, risk communication means informing of inhabitants of the threats and hazards causing the emergency and of the potential consequences of the emergency. Its aim is to raise the awareness of the inhabitants and to increase their preparedness for potential emergencies.
The regulation of state operation stockpile is specified in order to create an operation stockpile regulation in Estonia that is based on factual circumstances and thereby is sufficient for resolving emergencies.
As regards vital services, under the Act, the general aim is to ensure a situation in which the state resources are used to ensure continuous operation of the services that are indeed vital, that is, necessary to satisfy the primary needs of the population at a time of crisis. The aim is also to ensure readiness for interruption of a vital service, not only for a natural disaster, a catastrophe or some other such event.
The Riigikogu approved with 88 votes in favour the Act on Amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Act (292 SE), initiated by the Social Affairs Committee, which provides for the rights of employees and officials to apply for insurance benefit in the case of a lay-off if the employer has not submitted an application to the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund within the period provided for in the Unemployment Insurance Act.
If the employer has not submitted an application for insurance benefit within five days after the end of the employment or service relationship, employees and officials have the right to submit such application themselves, in order to receive unemployment insurance benefit.
Under the current Act, only the employer can submit an application for insurance benefit.
The Act provides for the conditions and procedure for application for the insurance benefit of employees and officials upon lay-offs, and the list of the necessary data specified in an application. The term for the review of an application of an employee or official is also amended.
The Minister of the Environment Marko Pomerants presented the Development Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change until 2030:
The Minister pointed out that adaptation to climate change is taken to mean the management of the risks caused by the variability of the climate, and a framework for action to increase both society’s and ecosystems’ preparedness and resilience to climate change.
“Although the impacts of climate change are not so extreme in Estonia as they are in many other countries in the world and in Europe, according to climate scenarios, floods and summer draughts are likely to significantly increase in frequency, coastal erosion will increase and coastal installations will be endangered, and storm damages will increase also in Estonia by 2100. The duration of periods of ice and snow cover, and the sea and inland water levels are also affected,” the Minister said. He added that we can encounter climate changes already now.
“So far we have mainly been dealing with the liquidation of consequences of extreme weather conditions in Estonia, but in the future it will be possible to better foresee the dangers caused by climate change and to take them into account, thanks to the development plan in question,” Pomerants pointed out.
“Considering that climate change affects the economy, the environment and the whole society, it is certain that taking action now is cheaper – implementing preventive measures to reduce the negative impacts of climate variability – and significantly more reasonable than liquidating the damages caused by floods or storms later,” the Minister said. “We can also regard the positive tendencies accompanying climate change, such as the growth of agricultural yield and summer tourism and the potential of renewable energy, as a competitive advantage for the Estonian state,” he added.
The Minister said that the national development plan for adaptation to climate change is also a necessary prerequisite for meeting the requirements for receiving European Union structural assistance.
“The strategic objective of the Development Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change is to increase the readiness and capability of the Estonian state at the regional and local level to cope with the impacts of climate change,” Pomerants noted.
Valeri Korb, who made a report on behalf of the Committee, gave an overview of the discussion that had been held in the committee. He pointed out that the issue of the use of oil shale in electricity production had arisen in the Committee.
The reporter noted that although climate changes are not so extreme in Estonia as they are in many other countries in the world and in Europe, it is still a necessary development plan because it will contribute towards the improvement of the readiness and capability of the Estonian state to cope with climate change, as well as the competitiveness of the Estonian state.
Two Bills passed the second reading:
The Bill on Amendments to the Military Service Act, the Imprisonment Act and the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure (346 SE), initiated by the Government, will provide for the possibility that if a disciplinary arrest is imposed on a serviceman, he or she can serve it also in a detention house of the police, besides the detention houses of the Defence Forces.
The nearest detention house of the police will be chosen for execution of an arrest, where possible. Lodging in a detention house will be organised by the Defence Forces, and the cost of detaining a serviceman under arrest will also be compensated from the budget of the Defence Forces. An estimated up to 100 servicemen per year are sent to the detention houses of the police to serve a sentence, and the average duration of detention is seven days. The main reasons for punishment by detention are use of alcohol or drugs; unauthorised absence from service; use of violence in military service; embezzlement of cartridges and imitation devices obtained in the course of military training; and repeated disobedience.
The amendment will, above all, enable more purposeful use of state resources. By using the detention houses of the police, the Defence Forces will not have to additionally invest in the construction or maintenance of its own detention premises, and personnel costs will also be saved.
The National Defence Committee had submitted five motions to amend the Bill by consensus, and had made some linguistic corrections. The motions to amend are mostly intended to specify the Act. As a result of a motion to amend, it will be possible to suspend an arrest for participation in training also for example in a warship where there is a room for serving arrests. It was also specified that the Bill under discussion needs a majority vote of the members of the Riigikogu, that is, a minimum of 51 votes in favour, to be passed at the third reading.
The Bill on Amendments to the Seafarers Employment Act and the Community-scale Involvement of Employees Act (329 SE), initiated by the Government, which transposes two European Union directives. One of them concerns the organisation of working time in inland waterway transport, and the other concerns the employment rights of seafarers to obtain information from the employer and to be involved in the resolution of issues that concern their interests.
An amendment to the latter directive creates the possibility to form a European Works Council for crew members of ships carrying goods by sea who work for community-scale undertakings.
‘Community-scale undertaking’ means any undertaking with at least 1 000 employees within the Member States and at least 150 employees in each of at least two Member States. In Estonia, AS Tallink Group satisfies these criteria.
‘European Works Council’ means an employee representative body composed of employees from each Member State where the undertaking operates. The aim of Works Council is to ensure that employees are informed of what is going on in the undertaking, and to give them the possibility to express their opinion in issues affecting the employees’ interests. At present, this possibility is ensured in all other sectors in which a Community-scale undertaking operates.
The Ministry of Social Affairs had submitted two motions to amend the Bill. First, with the amendments to the Seafarers Employment Act, the obligation to enter into a contract under public law for the provision of medical long distance consultation services free of charge that has so far been the obligation of the Ministry of Social Affairs will be transferred to the Health Board as of 1 January 2018. The obligation added will involve no additional cost for the Health Board. The other motion to amend is connected with the first one and provides that, in connection with amendment of the Bill, implementing provisions must also be amended.
Eight Bills passed the first reading:
The Bill on Amendments to the Packaging Act (358 SE), initiated by the Government, will transpose into Estonian law the directive “limiting the use of plastic bags”. The intention is to reduce the use of lightweight plastic bags to 90 plastic bags per person per year by the end of 2019. This number is intended to be brought down to 40 by the end of 2025. The deadline for the transposition of the directive was 27 November 2016.
When the Act enters into force, other packaging options apart from plastic bags will have to be offered to customers in stores, which is already being done, too. For example, paper, cloth and mesh bags but also reusable plastic bags are offered.
Starting from 2019, handing out free larger plastic bags will be prohibited in stores. This concerns for example the plastic bags handed out for purchases in large numbers during sales campaigns. The exemption will remain in force according to which smaller lightweight plastic bags can be used as primary packaging for loose food, for example when buying meat or vegetables, or for hygiene purposes when buying milk in plastic packaging.
The Bill on Amendments to the Youth Work Act, the Republic of Estonia Education Act and the Hobby Schools Act (341 SE), initiated by the Government, will create the basis for the implementation of an additional state’s supporting system for hobby education of and hobby activities of young people. The aim of the additional state support is to improve the availability of hobby education and hobby activities for 7-19-year-old young people and to offer more varied participation opportunities. Hobby education and hobby activities must be available for young people in at least three spheres: culture, sports, and natural and exact sciences and technology. According to the Bill, when calculating the amount of the additional funds allocated to rural municipalities and cities, various components will be taken into account, such as the number of young people, the number of young people with disabilities, the number of young people aged 7-19 who live in families who have difficulties in subsistence, the financial capability of the local government, and the regional availability of hobby education and hobby activities. The support allocated to local governments will constitute 95 per cent of the total additional state funds for hobby education and hobby activities, according to the Bill. The rest is intended for the promotion of cooperation between local governments, advising and monitoring, as well as for management organisations of hobby-areas to improve the quality of hobbies.
The state will begin to additionally support hobby education and hobby activities from September next year. In the state budget strategy for 2017–2020, 6 million euro have been planned for that in 2017, and 15 million per year starting from 2018. The Cultural Affairs Committee was appointed as the lead committee.
Heljo Pikhof from the Social Democratic Party Faction, Heidy Purga from the Reform Party Faction, Märt Sults from the Centre Party Faction, Krista Aru from the Free Party Faction and Raivo Põldaru from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction took the floor during the debate.
The aim of the Bill on Amendments to the Foreign Service Act and the Civil Service Act (324 SE), initiated by the Government, is to increase the flexibility of the regulation of the establishment of the rate for the representation allowance paid for a family member accompanying an official.
The Bill will eliminate from the Act the percentage rates for increasing the representation allowance of an official for an accompanying child and a non-working accompanying spouse, and will provide for the establishment thereof at the level of a Regulation of the Government of the Republic. At present, these percentages are also established by a Regulation of the Government. The amendment is in accordance with the general salary policy where salaries are no longer regulated by Acts, but at the level of Regulations.
The Bill on Amendments to the Securities Market Act and the Financial Supervision Authority Act (359 SE), initiated by the Government, will implement in Estonia the EU market abuse regulation establishing rules to avoid abuse of the securities market, including the stock exchange, in order to prevent illegal activities in trading in securities. Market abuses mainly appear as violation of the rules for the use of inside information, or market manipulation. This harms the transparency and reliability of the market, and the interests of investors.
The Bill will extend the competence of the Financial Supervision Authority. For example, under the current Act, the Financial Supervision Authority can issue a precept to request performance of the obligation of disclosure. According to the Bill, the Financial Supervision Authority will be able to disclose information if this has not been done in compliance with the requirements, or to correct false information that could influence the price movement of securities in the market. Also, it may warn the public of an infringement committed, to preclude investors from proceeding from false presumptions when carrying out transactions. This way the Financial Supervision Authority can respond to infringements more rapidly and flexibly.
At the same time, the Financial Supervision Authority will have the obligation to draw up and make public the procedure for processing the notifications of infringements received. There is no such obligation in the current Act, a notifier does not know for example if and how the Financial Supervision Authority plans to contact him or her to obtain additional information.
The Bill will raise the penalty payment rate for market abuses. In the event of an infringement by a natural person, the maximum rate will rise from 2 million euro to 5 million euro, and in the case of a legal person, from 10 million euro to 12 million euro, respectively. For the first infringement, a penalty payment of up to 5000 euro can be imposed on a natural person, and for following occasions, up to 50 000 euro. In the current Act, the rates are 1200 and 3200 euro, respectively. For legal persons, the penalty payment will be increased from 3200 euro to up to 32 000 euro for the first occasion, and from 32 000 to up to 100 000 euro for following occasions.
The Bill on Amendments to the Social Welfare Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (360 SE), initiated by the Government, will repeal the Juvenile Sanctions Act. The social rehabilitation service will be made available for children with a substantial and diverse need for help. Under the Bill, local governments will have the right to apply for a court to refer a child to a closed child care institution if it is impossible to help him or her in any other way and his or her behaviour is dangerous. If a violation of law is due to the child’s need for help, in the future, he or she will get help from the child protection system. The Bill will eliminate juvenile committees.
Psychologist, physiotherapist, speech therapist, doctor, nurse, occupational therapist, creative therapist and special education teacher can offer the social rehabilitation service to a child. Usually at least three such specialists deal with a child.
So far, juvenile committees have referred children to a school for students who need special treatment due to behavioural problems, but such decisions have been based on the child’s violation of law, and not the essential need to help the child. The Bill provides that a child’s freedoms can be restricted only to the minimum extent necessary and all activities must be oriented towards the child being able in the future to avoid behaviour that harms the child or others.
Juvenile committees have conducted proceedings on violations of law, and have also offered help to children. However, due to the format of committees this is not the best solution, as help and support to the child is not long-term or constant. It is possible to deal with the child in a significantly more child-friendly manner in the child protection system.
The Bill on Amendments to the Tobacco Act (357 SE), initiated by the Government.
With the amendment of the Act, its scope of regulation will be extended, in order to prevent and reduce the spread of addiction and health damage arising from tobacco products and related products in the society.
The prohibition of the display of tobacco products and related products, and the prohibition of the presentation of trademarks thereof on retail sales premises will be added. Exemptions will remain in place for specialised retail outlets, ships servicing international lines, and shops located in closed territories of airports and ports. Besides, the Bill will extend the provisions concerning sales promotion in the current Tobacco Act to products related to tobacco products (e.g. they must not be offered as a prize in a draw, an award or some other good), and the prohibition to sell products related to tobacco products in the same sales packaging with some other product (e.g. mobile phone bag or ashtray).
The Bill will restrict the availability and consumption of e-cigarettes. In addition to child care institutions, in the future, the use of e-cigarettes will be prohibited in all other places where smoking is prohibited (e.g. catering establishment and shops). In addition to the current prohibition on cross-border distance sales, there will be a prohibition on national distance sales of tobacco and related products, incl. electronic cigarettes. This means that in the future these products cannot be purchased via means of communication (e.g. e-commerce or catalogue).
The Bill will also establish requirements for the contents and purity of non-nicotine liquid for electronic cigarettes (e.g. liquid must not contain vitamins, caffeine or other substances that are associated with energy and vitality), and flavours other than those of tobacco will be prohibited in electronic cigarettes.
The Bill provides for an obligation to demand that the client who purchases tobacco or related products present an identity document, except in the case of a person who is obviously an adult or who is known to the seller. The Tax and Customs Board will be given the right to purchases for monitoring compliance to establish sale of illicit tobacco, and police officers will be given the right to purchases for monitoring compliance to establish sale of tobacco products or related products to minors, together with the right to involve persons of at least 16 years of age in making purchases for monitoring compliance as necessary.
The Act enters into force pursuant to general procedure. Regarding the prohibition of promotion, the prohibition of display and presentation of trademarks, the prohibition of national distance sales, the prohibition on flavourings in electronic cigarettes (only the smell and taste of tobacco are permitted), the prohibition of the sale of products related to tobacco products in the same packaging with other products, and the extension of the labelling requirements for existing packagings also to publications included in packages, the transitional period lasts until 1 January 2019.
The Bill on Amendments to the Liquid Fuel Act (361 SE), initiated by the Government, will transpose the EU’s obligation according to which by 2020, fuel produced from renewable sources, that is, biofuel, must account for 10 % of the total fuel energy in transport fuels consumed in Member States. As at 2015, the share of fuel from renewable sources, mainly green electricity, accounted for 0.2 per cent in transport in Estonia.
The Bill provides that the proportion of biofuel in fuel delivered from excise warehouse must be the following: as of 1 May 2017, at least 3.3 per cent per litre allowed for use; as of 1 April 2018, at least 6.4 per cent per litre allowed for use; as of 2019, at least 8 per cent, but at least 6.4 per cent per litre allowed for use; and as of 2020, at least 10 per cent, but at least 6.4 per cent per litre allowed for use.
Biofuel is produced from renewable sources such as waste, animal and vegetable fats, non-food cereal, rape seeds, algae, etc. In our neighbouring countries, it is produced for example in Finland and Lithuania.
As in Latvia there is no obligation to add biofuel to diesel fuel in winter in 2017 and 2018, according to the Bill, it will not be obligatory to add biofuel to diesel fuel during the period 1 November 2017 – 31 March 2018.
Majority of the vehicles in use in Estonia have no problems using fuels with added biofuel. Vehicles that have not been designed to use petrol with added biofuel can use 98 octane petrol. The ministry will provide on the website of the Road Administration a survey of vehicles in which fuels with added biofuel is not recommended.
When the amendments enter into force, a price rise of nearly 0.5 euro cent per litre can be presumed for petrol, and ca 1–1.5 euro cent per litre in the case of diesel fuel. The price rise may be 1–2.9 euro cent per litre in 2018; 1.2–3.6 euro cent per litre in 2019, and 1.5–4.5 euro cent per litre in 2020, compared to the prices in November 2016. The price forecast is based on the prices of ethanol and high-quality biodiesel fuel in November 2016. Considering that as recently as a few years ago the potential price rise was nearly twice as high, the obligation to add bioadditives may not change the liquid fuel prices at all in the near future, the explanatory memorandum notes. The Economic Affairs Committee was appointed as the lead committee.
The purpose of the Bill on Amendments to the Natural Gas Act (350 SE), initiated by the Government, is to increase the energy security of Estonia, make Estonian gas market more open, and promote competition between sellers.
In order to increase the energy security of Estonia, a gas supply regulation will be established regarding household customers and undertakings who produce heat for heating dwellings according to which the system operator must maintain gas supply in a quantity that meets the requirements set out in the relevant EU Regulation.
In the interests of energy security, the Bill will provide for an obligation that gas supply may be stored only in a European Union country. Gas supply will be used when there is a severe disruption of supply in the gas system. According to the Bill, a more detailed requirement will be provided for the gas system operator, who is Elering Ltd, to maintain a gas supply for household customers and undertakings who produce heat for heating dwellings, to ensure at least 30-day security of gas supply in the event of a supply disruption.
With a view to make Estonian gas market more open and to promote competition between sellers, the system operator will be obliged to develop a gas market data exchange platform that allows customers to receive periodic overviews of gas consumption and that enables to switch gas sellers. The Bill will regulate amendments to the obligation to maintain balance according to which the gas system balance will be maintained in units of energy at the agreed pressure of 1 atm and temperature of 0°C.
The administrative burden of gas sellers will be reduced with the provision of the Bill according to which only registration obligation will be required of them, instead of a licence. Gas seller who sells gas to household customers will no longer have to coordinate the standard terms and conditions of a contract of sale with the Competition Authority. It will be sufficient for the seller to publish the standard terms and conditions on its website.
The explanatory memorandum notes that gas constitutes a relative low percentage – below 5 per cent – in Estonia’s energy balance. The district heating sector is the major user of gas in Estonia with 40 per cent, followed by industry with 23 per cent. Household customers use natural gas to the extent of 12 per cent of the annual gas consumption. The proportion of gas is increasingly decreasing in district heating in Estonia, gas boilers are being replaced with woodchip boilers. For example, in Tallinn, district heating is produced from gas to the extent of 60 per cent until today. This proportion will decrease already to less than a half next year, and in a few years’ time gas will be used only to cover peak loads – gas will then account for 20 per cent of the fuel necessary to produce district heating in Tallinn.
Estonia is essentially an energy island in terms of gas – we are physically separated from the gas system of the rest of Europe. The same holds true also for Finland and Latvia. The majority of the gas used in Estonia is supplied by Gazprom.
The sitting ended at 7.48 p.m.
Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian) http://stenogrammid.riigikogu.ee/en/201702081400
Video recordings of the sittings of the Riigikogu can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/riigikogu (NB! The recording will be uploaded with a delay.)
Riigikogu Press Service
Marie Kukk
631 6456; 58 213 309
marie.kukk@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee
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The Riigikogu passed the Act lowering alcohol excise duty rates 13.06.2019
The Riigikogu heard a European Commissioner-designate 12.06.2019
The Bill lowering alcohol excise duty rates passed the second reading in the Riigikogu 11.06.2019
The Riigikogu started the last regular working week of its spring session 10.06.2019
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We’ve Entered Full Clownworld
https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/weve-entered-full-clownworld/
My friend John Barnwell recently described the news media of our times as akin to “being in a wind tunnel”. This was true until the FBI’s arrest on Friday of the “MAGABomber”, Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr., a homeless retired male stripper living out of a van that’s elaborately festooned with Trump stickers. Now, we’ve entered full Clownworld.
A few grains of ricin the size of table salt can kill an adult human. On October 2nd, envelopes that tested positive for ricin were mailed to President Trump, Defense Secretary James Mattis and to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson. Two days later, police arrested former US Navy sailor, William Clyde Allen III of Logan, Utah in connection with those mailings. This story received next to no media coverage.
What has received wall-to-wall coverage on the Mainstream Media is a so-called “mail-bombing spree”, in which 13 packages containing prop pipe bombs were allegedly sent through the US Mail from Sunrise, Florida, without any of them being postmarked and all apparently having been hand-delivered to each targeted location, from NYC to California and in between.
(image from https://www.rt.com/usa/442176-cnn-pipe-bomb-photos/)
Bomb squads would have been called in to extract and to safely detonate the bombs. However, none of these “bombs” were detonated, likely because they couldn’t be. Some were even officially reported to be “incapable of exploding”. Nevertheless, FBI Director, Christopher Wray took great pains during a press conference to stress that the IEDs were “not hoax devices”.
A fingerprint and a DNA match on the scotch tape used to seal the packages and on file with the FBI allowed the case to be solved at breakneck speed. Sayoc was initially cooperating with investigators, telling them that the pipe bombs wouldn’t have hurt anyone and that he didn’t want to hurt anyone.
Sayoc has been charged with 5 Federal Crimes: 1) interstate transport of explosives, 2) illegal mailing of explosives, 3) threats against former presidents and other persons, 4) threatening interstate commerce and 5) assaulting current and former Federal officers. He is looking at 48 years in Federal Prison if convicted. At least he’ll have a roof over his head.
Joe M, the creator of some viral videos about QAnon has expressed his skepticism of the official story and the details which make him suspect that this story is a Clownworld False Flag in these additional points:
1) The MSM seemed to be on message with this story from the outset, with their coordinating headlines, which immediately referred to “bombs”, when these so-called bombs had no activator, no trigger and weren’t composed of any explosive substances.
2) The package sent to John Brennan at CNN had its contents taken out and photographed extensively, without any concern for safety.
3) The media has lead us all to believe that these packages actually arrived at the residences of Obama and the Clintons. The USPS does not deliver mail to anyone under Secret Service protection. All of their mail gets delivered to a Secret Service field office. If these packages were delivered to their private homes, they were not delivered by the US Postal Service.
4) Sayoc’s profile showed that he was a Democratic voter but shortly after everyone began posting about this, his profile was updated to Republican – but now, all of his social media accounts have been taken down.
5) Pictures of the “Trump stickers” on Sayoc’s rear window are totally mismatched from one picture to the next. Is this why the FBI put a tarp over the van, when they took it away to their lab? Additionally, as many have noted and as anyone who has ever lived in Florida will tell you, the extreme heat and humidity there are absolute murder on a car. Yet, all of Sayoc’s Trump stickers are totally pristine.
(pix from https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-suspected-bombers-van-needs-to-be-seen-to-be-believed/)
6) An odd detail which may or may not mean anything is that the stamps affixed to the packages are 2016 “Forever” stamps, not 2018.
7) Cesar Sayoc Jr. had multiple aliases, including Cesar Altieri Randazzo and Cesar Anthony Altieri.
8) The corrupt Broward County Sheriff, Scott Israel is in charge of this investigation…the same Scott Israel in charge of the Parkland shooting.
9) Sayoc was a mailroom clerk at Parkland High School!
10) His social media accounts were still up early Friday and someone took a screenshot of one of his characteristically semi-literate posts, which Sayoc made back in 2016: “I would like to wish my great friend from Academy 9 yrs military school Ricki a happy birthday and lifetime from CIA. Congrats on your invention and many successes my brother.”
The person who he was congratulating was Enrique “Ric” Prado, then a 25-year veteran of the CIA, serving six overseas posts, including Station Chief in a deliberately unspecified Muslim country. Domestically, he was Chairman of Operations for the DCI’s Counterterrorist Center for Ambassador Cofer Black during 9/11 attacks and subsequent war on terrorism and as a Deputy on the original Bin Laden Task Force as well as a recipient of the Distinguished Career Central Intelligence (the highest award given to senior officers), as well as CTC’s George HW Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism, among others.
11) This is pretty crazy. On October 26th, 2012, Trump tweeted a warning of an “Obama bomb” that would throw the 2012 election. On October 26th, 2018, he tweeted again about “bomb” stuff that could throw the 2018 election!
There are many unanswered questions and Dave from the X22 Report does a good job of asking them in this video.
Maybe they should have looked at those who have threatened to bomb the Whitehouse, Madonna. Along with the numerous threats made against Trump’s life, I would think those people should have been on the list of suspects. But then, it’s Ok to threaten the US President and send ricin to him and his family, and most of us never hear about it. Everytime someone does something against the Democrats, it is big news, even if the bomb could have never exploded. What a world we live in! I guess money buys everything.
Speaking of money, I was checking out the sponsors of the different political entities here in GA. All of the anti-gunners accepted donations from George Soros, Alexander Soros, or both. WTF? Soros don’t have anything to do with GA. I bet they give to all of the anti-gun legislators in your state too!
Posted in Americans, Atlanta, Banksters, blast, Bullshit, censorship, Danger, dems, explosion, Fake, False Flags, FBI, Globalists, injustice, Investigation, legal | Tagged bomb, clownworld, DiNeiro, MAGAbomber, Mattis, ricin, Soros, Trump | Leave a comment
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This entry was posted by Nealc on June 19, 2018 at 4:43 pm
The land of pasta, pizza, the Pantheon and Pisa is still one of our favourite travel destinations. With so many places to visit in Italy, it’s no surprise that tourists have been flocking to this romantic, architecturally-blessed, foodie heaven for centuries.
From the wood fired ovens of Sicily and the sumptuous wines of Tuscany to the crumbling ruins of Rome and the romantic canals of Venice, Italy has enough to seduce even the most sceptic of travellers. Those who believe that “Italy is too touristy” are often still intoxicated by the cobblestone back streets, the passionate street music and the picturesque cafes that spill out onto the streets at every corner.
This is a place that you will fall in love with and it’s almost a guarantee that you will return here. We spent over a month in Italy and we’re still dying to go back. In this article, I’m going to highlight not just the places we’ve visited, but all of the best places to visit in Italy. One day, we will see them all and hopefully this list will give you some ideas for your next trip to Europe’s big boot.
When To Visit Italy
The best time to visit Italy really depends on what part of the country you plan to visit, what activities you want to experience and how much you can handle the heat! If you’re into winter sports, then the low season might be for you, but if you want to experience Italy with fewer crowds and a goldilocks temperature, then shoulder season is probably the best time to go.
May-July & September-Mid-October (Plus a peak over Christmas)
Summer is the high season in Italy, but August is so hot that fewer people actually visit during this time, however this is when Italians go on holiday. Because they tend to travel to other parts of Europe, there is actually more availability for hotels around this time, but the head can definitely be opressive, especially in the south.
Mid-May to July is a very busy season in Italy because the weather isn’t too hot, but not too cold and all hotels and sites are open. The beaches are warm enough for swimming and people are planning their first holiday of the year after Christmas. This would be considered peak season. Again after the summer heat dies down, there’s a secondary peak in September when people come to enjoy the fall colours and temperate weather.
Of course, different places to visit in Italy have different climates, but generally this is a great time to go.
March – Mid-May (Easter is super busy) & October – November
Shoulder season is our favourite time to visit Italy, particularly late March and April, when the weather warms up a bit (perfect for sightseeing), and there aren’t too many travellers. The hotel costs are also much lower around this time, but beware of Easter when the country (particularly Rome and around Vatican City) becomes extremely busy. Hotel prices soar and it’s hard to find rooms. Other than the few days around Easter though, the country is not too busy, the sites aren’t packed and the hotel prices are great.
In general, no matter what places to visit in Italy you choose, shoulder season is our favourite time to go to Italy.
August (too hot) as well as December – February (outside of Christmas and Carnival)
Winter is low season in Italy mainly because it’s really cold and most people choose to visit warmer destinations during this time. Many hotels and some sites actually close down in the low season, but those that remain open often have huge discounts. It’s nice to enjoy the cities and sites without the crowds, but sometimes the ambiance dies along with the tourism season. If you’re into winter sports however, this is the time to visit.
Getting Around Italy
Our favourite way to get around to different places to visit in Italy is by train, but there are also good bus connections, decent domestic flights and some affordable multi-day, multi-city tours. Trains however, are comfortable, affordable and offer the best way to see the Italian countryside when getting from point A to point B.
If you’re looking to book tickets online, check out GoEuro. They search loads of different partner websites to find the best rates on buses, trains and planes across Italy and the rest of Europe. They also have a super-useful app that makes it easy to book trains and navigate the transportation options in Italy.
I like using their app to search for transport options between destinations because you can easily bring up options between two cities (ie: Rome and Venice or any other places on this list) and then you can simply switch between the tabs in the results to compare the prices and times between buses, trains and flights. They also have a good list of destinations and a good blog with different places to visit in Italy, what to do, what to expect and where to eat.
Places To Visit in The North of Italy
Perhaps nowhere in the country is the Italian connection to the soil, the food, the wines and zest for life as prominent as in the north of Italy. If you’ve only visited Venice, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, but outside of the quiet canals and growing casino scene of Italy’s biggest tourist draw, there lies hidden villages, dramatic coastal terrain, inspired cuisine and near perfectly preserved architecture. Here are our favourite places to visit in northern Italy!
Technically pronounced chinkway tayreh and meaning “5 islands” Cinque Terre is a region that appears on most people’s travel bucket list. So famous is this group of five historic towns along Northwest Italy’s Ligurian Coast. The tiny villages of Manarola, Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia and Riomaggiore used to be little more than fishing villages, but today they attract thousands of visitors from around the world and together form one of Italy’s main tourism draws, Cinque Terre.
Most tourists choose to hike between the villages along one of the many picturesque trails that weave their way through the towns, up and down the hills and along the dramatic coastline. Now designated as a Unesco World Heritage site, Cinque Terre is well-preserved, well-signed, well-trodden, and well-worth a visit! It’s no wonder why so many people list Cinque Terre as one of their favourite places to visit in Italy.
Riomaggiore: The largest of the five villages in Cinque Terre and the unofficial capital of the coast, brilliantly colored buildings all corall down a steep ravine towards a tiny harbor. Be sure to see this place at sunset when the place is aglow in the late afternoon sun.
Manarola: A bustling fishing village surrounded by the colorful grapevines that produce the famous Cinque Terre wine, Manarola is the perfect place to experience what everyday village life looks like in the region.
Corniglia: Surrounded by stunning vineyards and perched atop a 100 meter high cliff, this tranquil village maze of cobbled streets and stone terraces is the only one of “the big 5” towns in Cinque Terre that doesn’t have direct access to the beach, but it’s the only place where you can get that perfect picture of all 5 villages together from this high-altitude viewpoint.
Vernazza: Narrow lanes known as caruggi make up a romantic labrynth of stairs, terraces, balconies and ampitheaters all facing the brilliantly blue Mediterrenean Sea. Check out the Piazza Marconi and come in the afternoon when the pastel-colored buildings are at their brightest.
Monterosso: Always in the shadow of the more charming villages in Cinque Terre, Monterosso still has it’s worthy qualities aside from being the most easily accessible town and the only one with a proper beach. It also has lovely lemon trees and you can purchase fish right from the fishermen in the harbour.
Best Tours of Cinque Terre:
Instead of listing each of the wonderful villages in Tuscany, I’m just going to list the entire region and tell you that you should spend at least a week here, exploring the many villages, vineyards, cathedrals and cobblestone backstreets. I highly recommend basing yourself in Florence and then travelling out from there. Florence is still one of our favourite places to visit in Italy, and while it’s a very special city, it is the surrounding villages and landscapes that really add to its allure.
See Also: What To Do in Florence – Our List of 21 Awesome Things To Do
There are some amazing tours available which I’ll list below. We did a wine tour that also brought us to many nearby villages which was a great way to see the region while sipping on some of the vintages that made this area of Italy so famous. If you choose to rent a car for your visit, you could also explore on your own, but I found the guides to be invaluable for learning about the history, culture, cuisine and viticulture of Tuscany.
Are you a foodie? Check out our pick of the best restaurants in Florence!
Florence: The perfect base. Florence’s Duomo is truly a sight to behold. They also have some great walking and wine tasting tours within the city. Without a doubt, Florence is one of the best places to visit in Italy.
Siena: A classic medieval hill town in Tuscany famous for its large fan-shaped piazza the Piazza del Campo, which features an imposing bell tower, the Torre del Mangia.
San Gimignano delle Belle Torri: This small medieval town dates back to the 8th century and is probably the most famous of Tuscany’s small towns. San Gimignano boasts 14 medieval towers and romantic narrow alleyways and all overlooking picturesque olive groves and lush vineyards.
Best Tuscany Tours:
Best known for its high-end fashion factories, bougie boutiques and super shopping, Milan also has some of the countries most stunning architecture and historical sites as well as it’s best bars and most chic cafes (usually Milanese don’t distinguish between the two).
There’s a considerable amount of rain in Milan and the locals often don’t speak English, but that’s never deterred the enormous number of tourists who flock to this haven for high fashion hand bags and top-end restaurants. Take your time and get lost in the lesser known areas of Brera, Corso Como, and Navigli and find a Milan that is miles away from what you likely expected before your arrival.
Castello Sforzesco: The former fortress and residence of Milan’s most powerful rulers is now a campus for some of the city’s best cultural institutions.
Duomo: Milan’s Duomo is considered the largest and most fascinating Gothic complex in all of Italy, which is no surprise because it took about 500 years to build!
Monumental Cemetery: A cemetery may not have been at the top of your list of places to visit in Italy, but once you see the architecture that makes up the Monumental Cemetery, you’ll see why it’s considered such a must-see site.
Best Tours in Milan:
For some reason, despite all of they hype for this infamously romantic canal village in Italy, we weren’t overly impressed. Don’t get me wrong! Aesthetically, Venice was absolutely breathtaking and is still one of the places to visit in Italy that you shouldn’t miss. The narrow cobblestone streets all lining the beautiful and peaceful canals. The quiet sound of paddles stroking the water, the stone bridges that cross, the open plazas and the overall ambiance of the city was lovely, but it seemed to be missing something.
See Also: Things to do in Venice (video)
To us, Venice felt so touristed that is was almost completely devoid of what makes Italy so amazing. Even the local businesses here were run by foreigners with many Russians buying up gorgeous old buildings and converting them into large hotels or (even worse) casinos. On the surface, Venice is still a breathtaking place to visit, but as you dig a little deeper and find out that many Venetians have sold up and moved to the mainland and very little true culture actually remains here, the place becomes somehow tainted.
That’s not to say it shouldn’t still be on your bucket list of places to visit in Italy, but you may find that it lacks the food, culture and day-to-day life of places like Rome, Naples and Florence.
Canal Tour: You have to hop on a boat and be gently paddled around the canals for at least an hour. If you don’t, you’ll be the only tourist to ever visit Venice without actually venturing on a traditional gondola.
Piazza San Marco: Packed, chaotic and oh so beautiful, this piazza is home to Saint Mark’s Basilica. It’s a breathtaking place to be, but just know that the lines here are enormous! If you actually want to go inside the basilica, join a tour so you can skip the horrendous lines.
The Grand Canal: The main canal in Venice, this is a great place to chill, stroll, enjoy an aperitivo or a gelato and people watch.
Best Tours in Venice:
Filled with fantastic flea markets, tasty aperitivo , an Egyptian museum and lovely back streets, Turin is another rain-prone tourist hub with a lot to offer visitors. If you expect to spend a lot of time enjoying cultural activities and excursions, you should definitely pick a special tourist card. These are sold at ticket kiosks and many hotels around the city and can save you a lot of money on entrance fees around the city.
You may feel like you’ve temporarily stepped into Paris as you meander through the bougainvillea draped, cobble stoned streets and tuck in to tiny cafes for espresso and pastries, but Turin has a personality all its own.
With a history of chocolate, booming contemporary art and architecture, a growing live-music scene and innovative food and wine culture, Turin has enough to keep you busy for a while.
Piazza Castello: Also known as Castle Square, you’ll find this site in the centre of the city. It is surrounded by arcades on three sides, each of which were built in a different period.
Palazzo Reale: Actually the home of the royal family from 1660 until the Unification of Italy in 1861. The State Apartments in the Palazzo provide a fascinating glimpse into the architecture, history and life of old.
The Egyptian Museum: Perhaps an Egyptian museum wasn’t the first place to visit in Italy that came to mind when planning you’re trip, but thanks to Bernard Drovetti, the French Consul General in Egypt during the Napoleon wars, this museum has the largest collection of Egyptian relics and sculptures outside of Egypt.
Still one of the country’s most intriguing and intoxicating, yet undiscovered cities, this Italian Riviera gem should definitely be on your list of places to visit in Italy, especially if you like to get a little bit off the beaten path.
Sitting right on a one of Europe’s best stretches of coastline, Genoa boasts fantastic art, culture, history and architectural marvels. The former Republic of Genoa ruled over the Mediterranean waves during the 12th to the 13th centuries and this history is still vividly etched into the endless labyrinth of twisting caruggi (narrow streets), pasted in the gold-leaf halls of Palazzi dei Rolli and painted with the gentle brush strokes of Caravaggio.
Piazza de Fararri: Featuring a stunning central fountain and fringed by a bold mix of 19th-century architecture, this is one of the city’s most beautiful plazas.
Porta Soprana: Just a few minutes from Piazza De Ferrari, the Porta Soprana represents some of the last standing examples of a once great city wall. Today the two towers and arched gateway make for a great walk and beautiful photos.
San Lorenzo Cathedral: Also known as Genoa Cathedral, the church of San Lorenzo has architecture that may remind you of the Florence Cathedral, with a lovely striped marble stone facade.
Lucca: This hidden gem is just a short train ride from Florence and features cobblestoned streets, elegant palaces and churches all surrounded by an imposing Renaissance-era fortification wall that is now the perfect place for a stroll or a bike ride.
Best Tours in Genoa:
Bologna is a newly-booming tourist hub which sees more and more visitors each year. Dispite it’s size, the city is very easy to visit thanks to its beautifully appointed and impressively columned medieval grid-like design. If you enjoy delicious cuisine, unique character, elegant shopping and quirky architecture, then Bologna is for you.
The city’s gastronomic specialties include pasta and sausages, but you can truly get lost in the cuisine of this important Emilia-Romagna capital. It’s no wonder that the city has been bestowed the apt moniker of La Grassa (“the fat one”) as you’re likely to leave a bit heavier than when you arrived!
Thanks to its easy accessibility, beautiful old town, cool vibe and fun nightlife, this is one of the up-and-coming places to visit in Italy and many digital nomads are now flocking here to live and work long-term.
All’Osteria Bottega: If you want a true foodie experience in Bologna, don’t miss this amazing osteria. Try the culatello di Zibello ham, Petroniana-style veal cutlets (breaded, fried and topped with Parma ham and parmigiano reggiano with a sumptuous salty broth).
Quadrilatero: Still holding onto its ancient tradition, the old market of Bologna was one of the greatest developments in the Middle Ages and kept its trade and bustling energy throughout the centuries. Wander around and watch as goldsmiths, butchers, fishermen, meat curers, Barbers and painters go about their business under the high vaulted ceilings.
Torre degli Asinelli: The leaning towers of Bologna are a group of medieval structures in the center of town. The two most prominent ones, known as the Two Towers, are the landmark of the city and shouldn’t be missed on a visit.
Best Bologna Tours:
Do as the locals do and arm yourself with an ice cream as you stroll along one of Verona’s most famous shopping streets, the Corso Porta Borsari. Gaze up at the breathtaking and shockingly well-preserved Roman gate as you pass under its great arches before slowly making your way to the quiet Piazza dei Signori.
Verona is known as city of love thanks to its magnificent Arena and its association with Shakespeare’s love story, “Romeo and Juliet.” This Unesco listed world heritage site is Italy’s fourth-most-visited city making it one of the most important tourist destinations in the country.
Arena di Verona: You may have already had the Colosseum in Rome as one of your top places to visit in Italy, but what if I told you that Verona has its own version which is just as impressive and often regarded as well-preserved? Don’t miss the Arena di Verona. Built just 30 years after the death of Christ, this remarkable structure has stood in impeccable condition for nearly 2000 years and awaits your oohs and awes as it has millions before you.
Castle Vecchio: Located on the banks of the River Adige, this 16th century castle is an important structure in the city as it once served as its primary defence and was regarded as the greatest feat of engineering during the time of the Scaliger Dynasty.
Basilica of San Zeno Maggiore: Located on the western side of the Adige River, this brilliant basilica is one of the most important religious buildings in Verona and was the fictional venue for the marriage of Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare’s famous novel.
This riverside city of Parma may be synonymous with fine food (think: Parma ham and Parmesan), but it also satisfies appetites for art, music and history boasting brilliant architecture and wonderful wine. Tapping into many of the things that make an Italian city so special – religious monuments, art, architecture, theatre, music, and history – this compact metro-area is actually very easy to walk, so many visitors choose to get around by foot.
Eating Parma-ham and Parmesan: Obviously you don’t want to leave Parma without the sampling some of the city’s magnificent meat and choice cheeses. See the food and wine tours below for the best way to find, learn about, taste and purchase these Parma specialties and more.
Galleria Nazionale: The National Gallery of Parma focuses on artwork from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Inside you will find some works by van Dyck, Da Vinci, Barbieri, Allegri, and many others.
Cattedrale di Parma: Take a walk around the 11th century dome of Romanesque Cathedral of Parma to find beautiful frescos by Antonio da Correggio. Together with the Baptistery of Parma, the Cattedrale usually hosts art exhibitions and educational workshops.
A city at a crossroads, this impressive and historically important port town has been captured by Romans, Venetians and the Hapsburg monarchy and the Germans during WWII. Despite, or perhaps because of this tumultuous past, the city has formed a unique and vibrant culture that enjoys a blend of Austrian, Italian and Slovenian influence.
Geographically isolated from the rest of the Italian peninsula, it’s no surprise that Trieste is a place all of its own, and despite not having a single site worthy of writing home about, it’s still an enchanting place to visit in Italy and has been an escape for writers, exiles and misfits over the years. Today, it’s Slavic, Jewish, Greek, Germanic and Italian cultures intertwine to create city of cafes, bars, buffets and wines.
Bagno Marino Lanterna: Hiddne bhind the Trieste’s abandoned 19th-century lighthouse, this pebbly beach is worth checking out, despite being segregated by gender!
Castello di Miramare: Commanding a rocky outcrop 7km outside of town, Castello di Miramare was built in the 1800’s for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and his wife.
Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia: The main square in Trieste, this piazza is set at the foot of the hill with the castle of San Giusto and facing the Adriatic Sea. It is often said to be Europe’s largest seaside square and is definitely worth a visit… in fact, it would be hard to miss this one!
This rich industrial city sits between the foothills of Valtrompia and Lake Garda. More famous for its manufacturing of weapons and kitchen accessories than it is for any facet of tourism, the city itself is home to several interesting museums and little else. So why is it on this list of places to visit in Italy?
Well, many people choose to visit Brescia as a less touristy part of their itinerary and find charm in the fascinating old town, which attempts to compensate for the city’s otherwise unappealing urban sprawl.
The narrow streets of the old town are where you’ll find some important Roman ruins (some of the best examples in the entire province of Lombardy), a few nice restaurants, some beautiful frescos in the corridors of the medieval monastery and a wonderful collection of 2000 year old architecture.
Tempio Capitolino: These old Roman ruins are the last remains of what was once the city’s public forum during the Roman Empire, built by the emperor Vespasian.
Old and New Duomo: This extraordinary pre-renaissance church has an enormous stone dome and large crucifixes that date back to the 12th century. While you’re here, pop in next door to the city cathedral which was built over 150 years ago and boasts the third largest dome in Italy.
The Castle: Built in the pre-Roman times and last fortified by the Venetian overlords of the 16th century, this castle was once the city’s stronghold and it still houses museums of armory and provides breathtaking views of the Valtrompia alps which fringe the city itself.
Perhaps best known for the Monza Race Track (often home to the Formula 1 Grand Prix), this city lies just 20km north-east of Milan and is often considered a satellite town that has been pretty much fully incorporated into the fashion-capital. Despite the rather large shadow of nearby Milan, Monza still impresses (its very few) visitors with lovely architecture and a deep and rich history.
Villa Reale: Built between the years of 1777 and 1780, this former summer home for Italian royalty was actually modelled after Vienna’s Schonbrunn Palace and boasts a lovely 3500 square meter interior that is covered in frescoes, stucco work and intricate gilding.
Duomo: Yes… there’s another duomo on this list of places to visit in Italy, but this green and white striped facade is home to the Iron Crown (a medieval treasure apparently made from one of the nails used in Christ’s crucifixion), as well as a show in the chapel and some nice frescoes and a gothic interior.
Museo e Tesoro del Duomo: Containing what is often regarded as Europe’s best collection of religious artwork, the Monza Cathedral Museum is a site not to be missed during your visit and is indeed worth the short trip from Milan. Among the best pieces are a priceless collection of Lombard gold and an intricate stained glass rose window that is thought to date back to the 15th century.
The beautiful town that sits on the lake of the same name, Como is a place you can spend a few days. The dramatic and impressive surrounding mountain landscapes, the pristine, calm waters of the lake and breathtaking architecture like that of the 14th century cathedral and the Basilica di Sant’Abbondio, make Como one of the best places to visit in Italy for sure.
This isn’t the only village on this beautiful lake, so once you’ve finished soaking up the gothic ambiance of Como itself, take to the waters of Lake Como and enjoy a peaceful boat ride to visit one of the other lakeside towns such as Bellagio, Lierna and Dervio which all offer lovely views across the lake and the plenty of options of places to relax in a fine restaurant or sip an espresso in a bustling café.
A Boat Ride: As I mentioned above, a trip to Como wouldn’t be complete without a ride on a boat to a neighbouring village. The surrounding mountain scenery is best viewed from the water.
Funicular: The beautiful ride up the Funicolare Como-Brunate is definitely worth the €5.60 round trip.
Walk the waterfront: The city is famous for its beautiful waterfront promenade. In fact, this small stretch of road and walkway might prove hard to pull yourself away from!
Gothic Como Cathedral: With out a doubt this is one of the most important buildings in the region. It is commonly described as the last Gothic cathedral built in Italy.
For sure by now in this list, we’ve started to list some places to visit in Italy that you never thought you’d find on your itinerary, and while Udine may not compete with the likes of Rome and Florence as far as tourist attractions go, but beneath the sprawling urban suburbs you’ll find hidden a beautiful medieval center with grand Venetian archways, Roman columns and Grecian statues carved to perfection and preserved over the ages.
The old town is pretty untouched and delightfully untouristed, but also very lively as there are some great bars, restaurants and cafes and a surprisingly buzzing nightlife.
Udine Castle: Perched on a legendary god-built hill smack dab in the center of the historical area of Udine, this 16th-century castle took nearly 50 years to construct and now houses the History and Art Museum of the City of Udine.
Udine Cathedral: Consecrated in 1335 as Santa Maria Maggiore and later damaged by an earthquake in 1348, the Duomo di Udine (Cattedrale di Santa Maria Maggiore) is a Roman Catholic cathedral and is currently the seat of the Archbishop of Udine.
Piazza Libertà: Also known as Piazza della Libertà (previously known as the Piazza Cantarena), this is the oldest square in Udine and makes for a great place to stroll or grab an ice cream cone, sit on a step and people watch.
Places To Visit in The South of Italy
Barely sitting in the south, Rome is the nation’s capital, likely your jumping off point to the country and most definitely one of the best places to visit in Italy. There’s just something about this city. From the vibrant art to the buzzing street life scene, the thumping wine bars and the impressive Romanesque architecture, this capital boldly holds up its hand proclaiming to be one of the world’s most romantic, energetic and fascinating cities… and we have to agree.
See Also: Where To Stay in Rome
Note: The lines to see the sights in Rome can be extremely long. If you don’t want to waste your entire holiday standing in line with thousands of other people (yes, literally thousands), we highly recommend you take a tour. Walks Of Italy is our favourite tour operator in the country and they have the best tours of Rome, including the Vatican, the Colosseum, Trastevere and all of the main sights. The best part is… they skip the lines!
Trevi Fountain: Coming around the corner to spot the Trevi fountain is likely an experience you’ll never forget. How a fountain can inspire such emotion, awe and chaos is beyond me.
Trastevere Neighbourhood: This is without a doubt one of the most romantic places to visit in Italy, if not the world. Tiny cafes and restaurants spill their tables onto cobblestone streets, each with their own adorable entrances so beautiful that you’ll find yourself tempted to have 6 lunches a day.
The Colosseum: Best visited with a tour (skip the lines), we loved our time spent at the Colloseum. Before visiting, we had no idea that it sat smack dab in the middle of the urban rush that is Rome, but upon walking down a back street, through a park and simply stumbling across the Colosseum, our jaws dropped and our hearts sank. This is Rome and it boldly throws its iconic structures at you from all angles.
Pantheon: What’s that you say? Another of the worlds most iconic structures in the same city? Yes… the Pantheon is stunning and a must visit.
Vatican City: Okay… not technically “Rome” and, as its own country, not even technically “Italy”, if you can make your way through the dense crowds to actually buy a ticket, the Vatican is a sight to behold.
The list goes on and on…
See Also: Our Ultimate Guide To Rome
Best Tours in Rome:
The Amalfi Coast
Located in the Campania region of Southern Italy, this UNESCO World Heritage site covers 34 miles of dramatic coastal terrain, soaring cliffs, lush vegetation and technicolored Italian villages. The positively alluring turquoise waters of the Mediterranean reflect the pastel coloured buildings and create a picture-perfect scene that will force you to take out your camera and fill up a memory card full of postcard-like photos.
Many people choose to hike between the villages on the Amalfi Coast. There are some tours that you can take, or you can head out independently. Just beware that in the summer months of July and August, the heat can be unbearable. Pack plenty of sunscreen, a hat and lots of water. The Amalfi Coast is one of the top places to visit in Italy for sure.
Sorrento: The grand daddy of tourist towns in the area, Sorrento sits perfectly perched on a cliff looking out towards Vesuvius with a charming little fishing village down below.
Positano: Out of all the towns in Italy that seem to tumble down a hill and into the sea, Positano is undoubtably the most beautiful. The pastel-colored homes seem to cling to an impossibly steep cliff as they spill into the Mediterrenean below.
Capri: The whitewashed town of Capri is breathtaking and definitely worth a visit.
Best Amalfi Coast Tours:
Despite a devastating earth quake and subsequent tsunami that killed 84,000 people?? in 1908 the 3,000-year-old city of Messina has flourished to become a thriving university town and a major transport and trade hub in Northern Sicily’s Ionian Coast. At first the city may appear to be dull, edgy and a bit grimy, with graffiti’d walls, empty stores and abandoned factories, but beneath the rather rough exterior lies an interesting Italian port town intersected by wide boulevards and sprinkled with a few historical buildings and decent cafes.
Messina will likely be your introduction to Sicily as many of the ferries drop tourists off here, and while there is a few sights to keep you here for a day or so, there are definitely more appealing places in Sicily and indeed on the Ionian Coast.
Museo Regionale: A beautiful looking building located about half way up Messina’s sickle-shaped harbour, there’s a decent art collection inside, as the beautiful works of Caravaggio.
Duomo: One of the city’s redeeming qualities, the Messina Duomo is located in front of the beautiful piazza of the same name. Inside you’ll find Italy’s largest pipe organ.
Piazza Del Duomo: If the Duomo itself is one of the few sites worth visiting in Messina, then the Piazza where it sits definitely falls into the same category. A beautiful place for a stroll or to sit and people watch, look up at the enormous bell tower and stand in awe under the world’s largest astronomical clock.
A city truly preceded by its reputation, Naples was likely on your itinerary, or at least on your radar before reading this list of places to visit in Italy. Famous for its crime rates and pizza, the city is gritty, at times grimy, somewhat dangerous, edgy and scruffy, in a way that may be interpreted as charming and charismatic or chilling and chaotic.
The birthplace of pizza is also one of the places in Italy where travellers are recommended to keep their guard up. If you’re smart and ask your hotel or guest house where to and where not to go, you should be fine. If you’re out late at night, take a taxi rather than walking back to your hotel.
Get out and explore Naples. Tuck into tiny restaurants and pizza joints for some of the country’s best food. Pop into ancient roman ruins that boast the world’s oldest and best-preserved frescoes and get lost in a maze of graffiti pasted buildings. Check out two (yes two) royal palaces and shop to your heart’s content in one of the cities many artisan shops.
Eating Pizza: There are a ton of sights to see and places to visit in Naples, but you’re not not going to eat pizza right? This is probably at the top of everyone’s list when visiting Naples. Some places to consider include: Sorbillo (Centro Storico), Gorizia 1916 (Vomero) & Pizzeria da Attillo (Montesanto).
Certosa e Museo di San Martino: One of the best examples of Boroque architecture found anywhere, this museum and former monastery complex was finished and inaugurated under the rule of Queen Joan I in 1368.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale: The National Archaeological Museum of Naples is one of the country’s most important museums and houses an inspiring collection of ancient roman ruins from Greek, Roman and Renaissance time, particularly the artifacts that were discovered in nearby Pompeii.
Best Tours in Naples:
Pompeii is one of the most popular places to visit in Italy. This famous Roman city was once buried under 12 feet of volcanic ash for nearly two thousand years following the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The city is now strictly a tourism stop that is best visited as a day trip from nearby Naples. A guided tour is highly recommended so that you can truly understand the history and significance of this ancient city.
Parco Nazionale del Gargano
It’s not just cities, villages and towns that make up this list of the best places to visit in Italy, the Gargano National Park in the Foggia province of southern Italy named after the mountain which stretches to the sky in its core. This is the heel of Italy’s boot jutting into the Adrian sea and it makes up part of a 30,000-acre national park including an Umbrian Forest which contains some of the country’s oldest trees.
There are some great lodges in the national park and many people choose to spend a few days here, enjoying the nature and hiking around the many trails. The Gargano Promontory boasts a diverse ecosystem and stunning environment with a variety of beautiful places to visit including long pebbled beaches and picturesque medieval villages.
Town Hop: The coastline of Gargano is blessed with a charming collection of small hillside towns and villages. Spend a day or two hopping from one place to the next. Some of the best villages include Peschici, Vico Del Gargano and Vieste.
Beach Hop: While you’re at it, you might as well enjoy some of the stretches of sand and pebbles along the Adriatic! Arriana Beach Club is a great place to chill out and have a drink.
Grotto Tour: Check out the cool coastline topography by joining a grotto tour and get a better understanding for how the Gargano coast has been etched over the millenia.
There’s not all that much “to do” in Lecce, but the intoxicating old town makes for the perfect place to stroll around and get lost. Narrow cobblestone streets intersect each other under the shade of bougainvillea branches and stone balconies. The smell of fresh bread and pastry seems to waft from every corner and there’s enough gelato stops that you shouldn’t have to walk too far without a cone in hand.
Only in the past few years has Lecce’s humble and charismatic nature started to appear on the travellers radar, but once you visit, you may see why so many people choose this as one of their favourite places to visit in Italy.
Roman Amphitheatre and Piazza Sant’Oronzo: A massive amphitheatre that once sat over 10,000 people, this beautiful stone structure still houses the odd concert. If you’re in town for one, don’t miss it!
Lecce Cathedral: Originally built in 1744 and rebuilt in the 17th century, this cathedral sits in Lecce’s most beautiful piazza and is surrounded by beautifully ornate buildings including the bishop’s residence.
Basilica di Santa Croce: The cities best example of a baroque church, the building itself is worth a look, especially the grand columned interior, but when you’re done, pop by the nearby street which has a row of excellent wine bars.
As more travellers start to flock towards the Italian boot spur of the Puglia region, Bari is seeing more and more visitors these days. The city’s main highlight is still its historical center. Once completely enclosed by medieval walls, the old quarter is a great place to get lost. Inside the now only partially remaining walls, you’ll find churches, small quaint piazzas, narrow streets and a few lovely theaters.
Bari Cathedral – Originally from the 7th century and reconstructed in the 12th this Romanesque and Baroque style structure can be seen houses beautiful 14th-century frescoes and still has some traces of the original mosaic floor.
Castello Svevo: Originally constructed in 1131 there’s an interesting Museum of Gypsum Works and an exhibition space inside.
Seaside Promenade: The perfect place for a stroll along the sea just outside the historic center walls. Come here in the morning when you can have the opportunity to spot fishermen hauling out their catch and selling it to standers by in the small fishing harbour near the Margherita Theater.
If you’re looking for places to visit in Italy that are comparatively less touristy, then you’ll definitely find Ischia to be right up your narrow cobblestoned alley. Nearby Capri (which we list later in this post) is beautiful without a doubt, but many visitors are put off by the hordes of tour buses, day trippers and tour groups that descend on the city every day.
If you’re looking to get away from the chaos of Capri, then Ischia is just 15 minutes away and provides a much-needed retreat for the few who know to venture to the volcanic outcrop in the Bay of Naples. Most people land on the island and make a bee-line for the most popular northern towns of Ischia Ponte, Forio and Lacco Ameno. The latter two are probably the prettiest towns, while the former two have great bars and restaurants.
There are enough cool little villages and towns on the island to take up a few days of your itinerary.
Porto Ischia: Named for its port, this is the principal town of the island located on the northeastern coast of Ischia. The city of Porto Ischia is the jumping off point for most visitors as this is where most ferry services land on the island.
Ischia Ponte: The opposing book end to Porto Ischia that squish together a long promenade of pastel-colored buildings, Ponte offers visitors some beautiful sites, including Castello Aragonese.
Lacco Ameno: Home to beautiful bathing pools and gardens, this is definitely one of the main villages the tourists end up visiting on the island of Ischia.
Home to one of southern Italy’s most famous festivals, Festa di Sant’Agata, Catania boasts a bold and beautiful Baroque historical center, wonderful food, a buzzing nightlife, excellent street markets and dramatic views of Mount Etna which towers over the city’s rooftops.
This is Sicily’s second largest city after Palermo and there’s enough charm and excitement to keep you here for a few days. Get lost in the historical center and trip over uneven cobbled sidewalks as you gaze up in awe at sites like Cattedrale di Sant’ Agata and the Fontana dell’Elefante (a stunning fountain).
Basilica Cattedrale Sant’Agata: A true masterpiece of Norman and Baroque architecture, this massive church is located in the centre of the old town within the lovely Piazza Del Duomo.
Ursino Castle: Sicily boasts many fine castles which serve as reminders of a time of conquest, attack and defence under the rule of Emperor Frederick II, but Ursino Castle still stands in impeccable condition with all four of its original walls and towers still standing.
Mount Etna: An active volcano that towers over the city, Mount Etna stands at a height 3329m and is considered the tallest active volcano in Europe, recently blowing her top back in 2015 when locals actually saw visible lava spewing from her snow-capped peak.
Without a doubt one of the top tourist destinations in the Bay of Naples, Capri has charmed visitors for centuries and continues to do so at a growing rate. The city’s sheer cliffs rising out of the Tyrrhenian Sea make for a luxurious escape where travellers are cooled by the near-constant breeze, yet warmed by the glorious summer sun that bathes the Sorrentine Peninsula.
Don’t worry, if you get too hot, there’s nothing more refreshing than a swim through one of the many nearby grottos. Or, why not slip out of the heat and into one of the city’s many tiny bars for a tasty aperitivo or gelato. The city is compact and delightfully accessible thanks to a great public transport system and lovely pedestrian walkways.
A swim in the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra)
People-watching in La Piazzetta
Sipping a glass of fresh, delicious limoncello
Best known for its beaches, being the gateway for the Abruzzo region and as the birthplace of the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, the city of Pescara is fringed by the dramatic snowy peaks of the Apennine Mountains. Within the city sixteen kilometer stretches of wide sandy beaches and superb food and wine explain why it is a favourite vacation spot for young Italian travelers seeking to take advantage of Pescara’s double edge tourism sword – beach-side chilling and outdoors adventure.
The Beach and Viale della Riviera: This 16-kilometer stretch of squeaky clean sand along the Adriatic coast is what attracts so many visitors. The long promenade known as Viale della Riviera is the beating tourism heart of Pescara and makes for the perfect place for a long stroll or a sandy picnic.
Ponte Del Mar: The sea bridge is another excellent place for a walk and you really can’t miss it on a visit to Pescara. Built in 2009, this 466 meter long bridge is still one of the longest pedestrian and cycle bridges in Europe and purposefully resembles a sail with a leaning mast, it spans the mouth of the Pescara river and connects the beaches north and south.
Explore the old town: The old part of Pescara is made up of two short parallel streets lined by traditionally built south Italian houses. The birthplace of Gabriele d’Annunzio has been turned into a museum and is worth a visit.
Sitting boldly along the Adriatic coast just north of Bari in southern Italy, the large town of Barletta has a few interesting historic monuments including the largest known bronze statue from Ancient Roman times, Colossus, and the Barletta castle, but is also boasts some decent beaches and a less touristy vibe.
With a decent population of 90,000 or so inhabitants, modern Italian suburbs and a bustling port, Barletta isn’t a major tourist destination, but it is a pleasant place to stop for lunch or for a stroll and makes for a good day trip from Bari. The historic town centre is nice enough, and there are some good restaurants in town, but many people who visit Barletta also pair it with a visit to the more attractive fishing village of Trani to the south.
Collosus of Barletta: The largest bronze statue from Ancient Roman times
Barletta Castle: Surrounded by an original moat that has now been transformed into gardens, the castle entrance is to the south of the Piazza Castello square and accessed via a lovely stone bridge.
The Municipal Museum and Art Gallery: Here you’ll find some masterpieces by Giuseppe de Nittis, a native painter to Barletta and one of the leading exponents of Italian paintings in the late 19th century.
The small port town itself isn’t somewhere that immediately jumps off the map and forces itself amongst the “must see places in Italy” on one’s travel itinerary, but the balmy stretch of palm-fringe coast actually creates a delightfully relaxing atmosphere. It’s also a good place to base yourself if you want to check out the lovely nearby towns of Monopoli, Alberobello and Ostuni, all of which can be reached by train or train quite easily in an hour or two.
The Port: The city is centered around the port and the area provides great walking and boat spotting opportunities.
The Roman Column: This gleaming white column stands above the stairs that lead to the waterfront promenade.
Brindisi Cathedral: Located in the Piazza Duomo (another don’t miss spot in Brindisi) this 11th century cathedral was built in Romanesque-style. If you’re looking at Brindisi Cathedral and thinking there’s no way it’s 1000 years old, that’s because the original structure was leveled by an earth quake in 1743, so what you see now is the beautiful 17th century reconstruction.
The capital and largest city in Sicily, Palermo stands as a testament to beautiful Baroque architecture and a mix of cultures – a direct result of historical occupation by all of it’s neighbours. It is a romantic, sensual city that changes continually, is full of energy and has reclaimed its place among Europe’s best cultural cities.
You’ll want to spend a few days here, soaking up the atmosphere, getting lost in the back streets and feeling the rich culture of Sicily as well as an international flavour. The city is alive, buzzing, intoxicating and addictive. You may want to stay longer than you planned. This is one of the must see places in Sicily for sure.
Mercato di Ballarò: Fabulous market like Mercato di Ballaro exist in Palermo thanks to cultures mixing here for centuries. Get lost in a maze of frantic energy, tasty produce, meat, olives and cheese.
Cappella Palatina: If you only see one chapel during your visit to Sicily, make it this one (but be sure to wear shoes and long pants as there is a dress code). Inside you’ll find brilliant gold mosaics, a stunning marble floor and a wooden ceiling that is carved with intricate Arabic-style honeycombs.
Teatro Massimo: If Capella Palatina is the only chapel you see in Sicily, then Teatro Massimo should be your only opera house. This stunning six-tiered art-nouveau structure is Europe’s second-largest opera house and one of Italy’s most prestigious theaters.
Best Palermo Tours:
The capital of the province of the same name, Catanzaro itself isn’t the most visually stunning city in Italy.. to say the least. But it does have some redeeming qualities. If you head out of town, you can find the gorgeous Cascata Campanaro that is surrounded by hiking trails and some lovely scenery.
Aside from some cool bridges, nice green spaces, nearby natural scenery and some good restaurants, there’s also a decent beach at Catanzaro Lido.
Cascata Campanaro: A beautiful waterfall outside of town that is definitely worth visiting. There are some great hiking trails nearby as well.
Catanzaro Lido: The best beach in town, a great place to chill on the sand and relax for an afternoon, or go for an early morning stroll (before it gets too hot).
The Biodiversity Park: This was once the city’s top tourism draw and still may just be. It’s a great place to walk around and spend an afternoon. Inside you’ll find botanical gardens, a military museum and a playground.
Concluding The Best Places To Visit in Italy
While this list is long and includes many off-the-beaten path places to visit in Italy, it’s by no means exhaustive. This is one of the world’s best travel destinations and somewhere that everyone should visit at least once.
If we had to narrow this list down to our absolute favourite places to visit in Italy, I would say that you shouldn’t miss Rome, Florence, Naples, Tuscany and Bologna. What places did we miss? What are your favourite places to visit in Italy? Share with us in the comments below!
The post Places To Visit in Italy appeared first on Goats On The Road.
Tags: Italy, Places, Visit
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College Spotlight – University of Texas-Austin
University of Texas-Austin, founded in 1883, is a public institution located a quarter mile away from downtown Austin on a 434-acre campus. Ranked among the best colleges in the U.S., it is also one of the largest schools in the country. The energetic city of Austin is known for its food scene, its lively music, and its outdoor activities. The university is divided into 18 schools and colleges, with the college of Liberal Arts being the largest among them. UT’s graduate programs are also highly ranked and well regarded. These include the School of Architecture, McCombs School of Business, Cockrell School of engineering, School of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, College of Education, School of Social work, and the College of Fine Arts.
University of Texas- Austin is located near downtown Austin, Texas
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Total enrollment: 50,950
Endowment of $3,341,835,840
18:1 student–faculty ratio
The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 95%
48% of students are male, 52% of students are female
Estimated Tuition
In-state tuition and fees: $9,806 (one school year)
Out-of-state tuition and fees: $34,676 (one school year)
Room and Board: $11,456 (one school year)
19% of students live in residence housing that is affiliated, owned, or operated by the university
81% of students live off campus
Freshmen are not required to live on campus their first year; they may choose to live in Austin proper
UT-Austin competes in the Division I Big 12 Conference
UT-Austin has one of the largest Greek systems in the country, two of the largest student publications among colleges, and more than 900 student organizations and clubs.
The school mascot is Bevo the Longhorn.
With a student ID, students can travel for free on the capitol Metro buses.
Hundreds of study abroad programs are available to students with the most popular destinations being China, Spain, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom.
Notable alumni include actor, Mathew McConaughey, former first lady, Laura Bush, and former baseball pitcher, Roger Clemens.
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When asked to describe what academics are like at University of Texas-Austin, one student described, “Academic difficulty at UT differs greatly from major to major and college to college. If you take the initiative, professors will know who you are. Even in the largest classes I have had (ranging from 400-500 students), my professors have known my name, my major, and even what I want to do with my life. The best way to accomplish this is to sit in the front, go the their office hours, and simply let yourself be known. You will need these professors for letters of recommendation for grad/law/med school, so make sure you get to know them (and make sure you make a good impression).”
For students who are interested in attending a large campus that exhibits a lot of school pride, especially in its football and athletic teams, and for students who are interested in living in the heart of a great metropolis, University of Texas-Austin offers these qualities to its student community.
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Company Implements DailyPay to Boost Employee Retention
April 30, 2019 /in Uncategorized /by Carolyn Dingee
As the aging population continues to grow, so does the need for care services. But supply isn’t keeping up with demand when it comes to the caregivers required to provide those services, creating unrivaled competition for workers.
To win over prospective employees, companies must differentiate themselves. For BrightSpring Health Services, that means offering daily pay to service providers, whose profession is often characterized by low wages.
Is semi-monthly or bi-weekly payroll a thing of the past? Traditionally agencies only paid employees 24 or 26 times a year because the payroll process was so complicated. Now with fully automated time and attendance systems that eliminate the costs and risks of paper timesheets and integrate tightly with payroll, that concern may be misplaced
“Traditionally in our organization, we’ve paid people in a semi-monthly cycle, and that’s the way we’ve always done it,” Rexanne Domico, president of services and neuro rehabilitation at BrightSpring. “The idea really came up when we started talking about how do we pay more frequently? How can we crack that code?”
Louisville, Kentucky-based BrightSpring, which was formerly known as ResCare, is one of the largest providers in the United States employing over 20,000 caregivers, Domico said.
“The problem sometimes for this workforce is the ability to access pay when they need it,” she said.
With one in four caregivers living below the poverty line, that could discourage prospective caregivers and force them into different, more short-term lucrative lines of work. For example, candidates could receive immediate money waiting tables or earn higher wages working for Amazon, which raised its minimum wage for all employees to $15 last year.
“We fully believe that the companies able to attract and retain caregivers are the companies that are going to see the growth in the coming months and years in the space,” Domico said. “The ability to solve [for pay challenges] for this workforce is … a huge answer to this problem.”
Digging Into Daily Pay
BrightSpring began exploring its daily pay initiative about a year ago. The program, which is called “Pay Out,” went live at the end of 2018. It allows employees across the organization — not just caregivers — to access pay as it’s earned.
Already, about 9,000 employees are using Pay Out, Domico said, and the program is achieving what it’s meant to: attracting employees and improving retention.
“We are seeing a lot of interest when we’re talking with our applicants about Pay Out,” Domico said. “We see caregivers saying they’re picking up additional hours because they can get paid for those hours quicker than working somewhere else. We also see some early impact on retention with the people who are engaging in daily pay.”
New York City-based DailyPay, a financial solutions company, helps BrightSpring provide the benefit to employees.
DailyPay serves a number of companies in the health care space, including home-based care providers, such as BrightSpring and Menlo Park, California-based home care provider Care Indeed. Vera Bradley, Sprinkles Cupcakes and hundreds of other companies are also clients.
“It is not uncommon for a home healthcare company using DailyPay to see 30% to 50% of its caregiver population enrolled in this benefit,” DailyPay CEO Jason Lee “These same companies have seen on average a 50% reduction of annualized turnover among the population of DailyPay users. The story is very clear: DailyPay is a benefit that caregivers are willing to stay for.”
To take advantage of daily pay, caregivers must first download an app on their phones. After employees complete a shift and BrightSpring confirms the hours, workers can access their wages immediately. When payday comes around, employees are given the remainder of their paycheck.
“It’s very new for us, so some of the results are pending, but I think what’s important in highlighting the program is just the actual determination to do something that’s different and see what the results are going to look like,” Domico said. “Through doing that, we’re likely to be able to attract more people to work, which attracts more opportunity for different types of contracts and relationships with different payers. That’s really what we’re after.”
“DailyPay is a no-cost to the employer benefit,” He said. “It is free to enroll into the service, and there is only a fee when an employee transfers money on the platform. There is a flat ATM-like fee of $1.99 for next day transfer or $2.99 for an instant transfer. This is usually employee paid, but it can be employer subsidized as well.”
Meanwhile, for BrightSpring, daily pay is a commitment to both industry disruptors and caregivers.
“You can either spend more money trying to attract and retain caregivers — or you can just try to do it better,” Domico said. “That’s where we really landed.”
Daily pay also requires real time attendance. Employee hours can be approved daily, processed into payroll and marked paid. Disputed hours can be withheld and paid later.
https://mitccontractor.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Contractor-Workforce-Management-Logo.png 0 0 Carolyn Dingee https://mitccontractor.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Contractor-Workforce-Management-Logo.png Carolyn Dingee2019-04-30 08:19:092019-04-30 08:19:11Company Implements DailyPay to Boost Employee Retention
Improving Communication in Your Company 2018 MITC In-House Payroll or Payroll Service?
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George Marshall Medical Museum
Worcester Medical Museums
Where Worcester's significance to medicine and healthcare can be discovered.
Seventy Years of the National Health Service
In 2018 the George Marshall Medical Museum celebrated 70 years of the National Health Service. This page commemorates those celebrations, with links to resources and artefacts in our collection which were donated or loaned to us as part of this project.
As a first year student nurse I was one of many who lined the driveway of Park Hospital (Davyhulme, Manchester) forming a Guard of Honour as the Health Minister, Aneurin Bevan, and our Matron walked to the main entrance and a key was turned, announcing to all that the National Health Service was now available. Clement Attlee’s Labour Government created the National Health Service after the Second World War as part of ‘cradle to grave’ welfare state reforms. I am sure that most of us have benefited at some time from this service. Sadly things have altered over the years and now many of the services are not free. However, sixty years on it still functions. My training hospital has changed its name and now is known as Trafford General. On the 26th November 2005 I cut a piece out of a newspaper saying: “IT’S AN ODD WORLD” Trafford General, the Hospital that heralded the start of the NHS is facing a huge budget shortfall and to save money a quarter of its buildings could be bulldozed for a 200 space car park.
— Muriel Cunningham, former Worcester Royal Infirmary
BEFORE THE NHS
Receipt for Free Ambulance Service for 10 miles, 1938.
Although a full-time ambulance service had been established (in London) just before the twentieth century, not everyone could have access to this service. This ambulance ticket belonged to the mother of one of George Marshall Medical Museum’s volunteers, Muriel. Kept by Muriel as a memento, it shows us that ten years before the NHS, her Mother paid a sum of 1 shilling for an annual subscription which allowed the family to receive 10 miles of travel by ambulance, should they need it.
With the advent of the NHS in 1948 there was a requirement for ambulances to be available to all who needed them. Click here for further notes about historical influences on the ambulance service in the UK.
As a girl, Muriel also remembers receiving this letter in 1940 as a thank you for her contribution of one shilling towards the cost of a mobile x-ray unit after a Children’s Hour appeal.
arrival in worcestershire…
Click here to see a photograph of the medical staff outside the Worcester Royal Infirmary in 1948.
Written and Researched by Anastasia Maria Ciccocioppo, ERASMUS and Student of University of Bologna
Modern-day expectations of healthcare were not clearly conceptualised at the time a national service was being contemplated. When did things change? How did they change and why? The ‘appointed day’ or the day that would change the way medical care was organised in the United Kingdom was to be 5th July 1948, and we are now celebrating its 70th Anniversary.
In his book The Birth of Clinic the social theorist Michel Foucault said that “The first task of the doctor is […] political: the struggle against disease must begin with a war against bad government”. He might have been thinking of a situation such as the one in Britain, post war. Looking back to November 1946, the Second World War had just ended, the last of the wounded were being returned home and Minister Aneurin Bevan is ready to issue the National Health Service Act. The plans of the Minister in his political battle for a suitable and efficient health system called for one solution only: a universal and simplified access to primary healthcare.
Many doctors initially disagreed with the idea of the NHS and openly beseeched the Minister to take a step back when a choice still seemed a possibility. They may have overstated their case that “some doctors appear unable to recognise the danger resulting from this loss of liberty…”. This sentiment in Worcestershire did not differ from the one of fear felt nationally and this was especially evident when, in regard to a circular announcing the passage of the Infirmary’s administration to the Regional Hospital Board in Birmingham, it was unanimously moved by the last Management Committee that the circular lie on the table, as a sign of protest! This scene, that at first might appear amusing, powerfully demonstrates the disagreement felt at the time.
From 5th July 1948, the new-born South Worcestershire Management Committee, appointed by the Regional Board, had as its headquarters the Worcester Royal Infirmary, and it was to become responsible for a large group of hospitals. The table and graph show analysis of expenditure and allocation of beds 1950-1951 in the hospitals under the Committee’s control. The apprehension felt by the Management Committee is understandable; they became the ‘nerve centre’ for healthcare, taking control of over 2000 beds in the county with more than 1000 of them for patients with poor mental health.
But the very real and significant change was felt by the people - the citizens, and especially the poor. Before the NHS act, access to a doctor was free only to male workers who earned less than the established amount (£2/week) and even this didn’t guarantee coverage for their families which included wives and children, often left on their own.
The importance of this revolution in British medical care was positively felt first by the common person who acquired the taste for being “looked after”, and then eventually by the medical profession which found itself, in many cases, to be part of a positive wider system that served well both user and supplier.
the nursing times
Donated by a member of the public during our celebrations in 2018, this edition of The Nursing Times published just in time for the birth of the new National Health Service has some interesting comments by and for the Nursing profession.
How to use the NHS
For those born before the days of the National Health Service, there are a few artefacts which can help us to piece together, if only in a small way, what life could have been like for members of the public trying to work out their place in the new system. One such item, currently on display at The Infirmary is a beautiful prescription notice board, pictured here on display next to a set of baby weighing scales and a terrific atlas of skin diseases!
The board is on a long-term loan from a retired Worcester Anaesthetist who works closely with the George Marshall Medical Museum. It would once have stood in the window or counter of a small chemist’s, who were eager to show to their existing and prospective customers that they could indeed hand in their GP-signed prescription note to that particular chemist to be given their prescription at a subsidised rate. You’ve probably seen a copy of “The New National Health Service” pamphlet (left) telling members of the public (“rich or poor, man, woman or child”) what the NHS is and how they “got it”, and we have a copy of this pamphlet in our archives which was collected by the original Curator (and Consultant Surgeon and General Practitioner) Mr. George Marshall. However, the notice board is a rare object in the museums, which helps to show the relationship between customer and supplier at a changing time for all.
The prescription board on display at The Infirmary Museum.
a timeline of the nhs in worcestershire
Click here to open your timeline. With thanks to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
During 2018 visitors to George Marshall Medical Museum were asked to write down their memories of the NHS. Here is a small selection of those memories.
A selection of poems written by Julia Barnes in 2018. Click on each one to enlarge.
In 1966 at the age of 16, my first interview ever! This was to be a Cadet Nurse at Worcester Royal Infirmary. I was so nervous - terrified even! Following the interview was the start of a two year Cadet Nurse course. This involved working in different departments and wards (if you were lucky), learning how they all impacted on patient care.
Martin Hulme, who interviewed me for the Cadet Nurse course, was instrumental in bringing the course to Worcester Royal Infirmary. I went in at 18 to do my three year state registration, passing my hospital final exams, then the state registration exams and finally became a staff nurse. I enjoyed every minute of my training and grew up and matured in what seemed a short amount of time.
The health service has progressed in so many ways, but unfortunately has regressed in many others.
— J Mountford
The NHS helped me when my mom had a seizure and was rushed to hospital. She was treated for sepsis!
— S Skelding
My mother trained in the 1920s at Scarborough before antibiotics and remembers fishermen dying from infected fingers from fishing hooks. Also she remembered a women fitting with severe eclampsia and when she worked in Ilkley as a theatre nurse a boy of 17 died from a haemorrhage after a tonsilectomy.
— E Gibbons
The NHS has inspired me and my other friends to do a Stand up to Cancer Bake Sale. We thought of it ourselves. We are only in primary school. We are doing it on Friday 1 March 2019.
— Aneka, Siena, Sasha and Gene
The NHS helped my grandparents who had cancer.
In 1998, this coin was released by the Royal Mint to celebrate 50 years of the NHS.
The following programme and photographs were given to the George Marshall Medical Museum by Mrs Judith Smith in 2018. On Friday 3rd July, 1998, Judith and colleagues attended the celebration at Westminster Abbey as representatives of Worcester Royal Infirmary. This service was also attended by HRH Prince Charles.
On 5th July, a service of Thanksgiving was also held at Worcester Cathedral, at which Judith was an usher in uniform. This was followed by tea and cake at the Bishop’s Palace.
You may click on the individual images to enlarge them.
The Infirmary opens Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturdays 10am to 4pm.
George Marshall Medical Museum opens Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, except for bank holidays.
Both venues are FREE and tours can be arranged by appointment and can open for visitors outside of usual opening times.
George Marshall Medical Museum 💉
Cholera of India, 1822: "This terrible epidemic is spreading westward. It is already on the very confines of Europe… https://t.co/WDgqRY2DOw
The Infirmary 💉
We need YOUR help! https://t.co/iGrGykEMRj
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SEBASTIAN BACH On His Ex-Bandmates In SKID ROW: ‘They F**king Hate Me’
July 9, 2019 July 9, 2019 Reeder
In a new interview with Billboard, former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach says that he hasn’t been able to get in a room with his former bandmates to discuss a possible reunion because “they f*cking hate me.”
But he’s still hoping a reunion is in the cards someday. “For the fans, and for me as a fan, yes, I’d like to do it. My father died at age 57, and his father also died at 57 — and every time I go online, somebody in rock is dying or getting cancer or just getting too old to do it anymore. I don’t know if I’ll be around for the next 30 years, so why not do it while I’m still physically capable?”
Asked what it would take to get to that point, Bach said: “If they’d just let my manager, Rick Sales, take them out to dinner, the [original] band would be on the road again. But they don’t like dealing with managers. Unlike them, it is physically and mentally impossible for me to be mad at somebody for so long — 23 years! That’s like being mad at someone from grade school. But it’s a thin line between love and hate. I don’t love anything about the situation now with the band. But I love everything about when the [first SKID ROW] album came out.”
Bach will celebrate the 30th anniversary of SKID ROW’s acclaimed, self-titled breakout debut album with a U.S. Tour where he’ll be performing the record in its entirety plus other songs from his celebrated catalog.
The tour will kick off in Nashville, TN on August 30th and will end in Pinellas Park, FL on November 2nd. Tickets and VIP Meet N’ Greet upgrades go on sale Friday, June 7th at this location.
In a statement from Bach: “In 1989 we put out the first record Skid Row. 30 years later, people still dig the music we created in a garage all those years ago. In commemoration of this 30th Anniversary digital deluxe release, my band is going to perform the first SKID ROW record, in its entirety, on the road, LIVE this fall!
“It’s going to be fun to do something that has never been done live before! We are looking forward to seeing you all for this one time event! Note: This concert is 100% live in every way! All real! All the time! No tapes! No fakes! Come and see a real rock band while they still exist! We give it to you straight from the heart ‘cuz that’s the only way we know how! See you on the road!”
Released in the winter of 1989, SKID ROW’s self-titled record is one of heavy rock’s most successful debut albums, landing in Billboard’s Top 10 and going on to sell millions of copies around the world.
The record transformed the band from local New Jersey quintet into a global phenomenon whose rebellious attitude and jaw-dropping talent set the bar and tone for rock music in the late 80’s and early 90’s. SKID ROW’s singles, “18 and Life,” “Youth Gone Wild” and “I Remember You,” are among the decade’s most recognizable rock anthems that still receive heavy airplay on radio stations across the country.
The group again achieved commercial success with its second record Slave to the Grind (1991) certified multi-platinum, reaching number one on the Billboard 200.
sebastian bach skid row
VEKTOR Frontman Comments On His Wife’s Allegations Of Sexual Assault And Physical Abuse
CLUTCH Premieres Music Video For Cover Version Of ZZ TOP’s ‘Precious And Grace’
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Announcement, Editorial
Passing of a Legend: William J. Latzko 1928 -2018
October 29, 2018 admin 3 Comments
It is with great regret that we announce the passing of William J. Latzko. Bill was one of the founding members of the NY/NJ Metropolitan Section and will be missed. Bill left us on October 23, a few days shy of his 90th birthday.
William J Latzko, Ph.D., 89, Died on October 23, 2018 from complications of prostate cancer at Englewood Hospital, Englewood, New Jersey. He had been a resident of West New York, North Bergen and Teaneck, New Jersey. He was born October 28, 1928 in Rheydt, Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1939. He attended Fordham University, where he was Captain of the Fencing Team, and received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 1950. MBA, Rutgers University, 1956; Rutgers ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking, 1978; Doctor of Philosophy, Kennedy-Western University, 2000. He is a member of Delta Pi Sigma and Beta Gamma Sigma.
He served as a first lieutenant United States Army Chemical Corps 1950-1953, Korea, earning a bronze star and unit combat citation for service under fire. He was a Life Member of the American Legion.
Dr Latzko began his commercial career as a chemical engineer at US Testing, progressing to a plant management position at the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company, followed by Director of Quality Control at Mundet Cork Corp until moving to become Director Management Science at CBS’s Columbia Record Company, New York City, until 1970. Vice President, Quality, Irving Trust Company, 1970-1983. He retired from banking and founded Latzko Associates, a management consultancy specializing in quality issues. In 1986 he published his first book, “Quality and Productivity for Bankers and Financial Managers (Quality and Reliability)”
In 1987, Dr. Latzko became an Adjunct Professor of Management Systems at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business. He received the Bene Merenti medal in 2007. He retired in 2016. He also taught at Columbia University and George Washington University.
Dr. Latzko was a Fellow of the American Society for Quality. A certified quality engineer, he was actively involved with the NJ/NJ Metropolitan Section of the ASQ, where he was section chair from 1976-1978 and again from 1999-2000. He received the Ellis R Ott award in 1984. Instrumental in the creation of the W Edwards Deming Award for quality, he received it in 1996. He was the author of more than twenty published papers on management quality. A long time associate of Dr W Edwards Deming, Dr. Latzko helped in Deming’s work with his clients and at many four-day Deming seminars. He was one of the few people in the world recognized by Deming as a ‘master’. He has applied Deming’s theory of management to help both government and companies affect a transformation or be well underway toward this goal. In 1993 Dr Latzko with his co-author wrote the definitive analysis of Dr Deming’s widely recognized Four Day seminar, the aptly titled “Four Days with Dr. Deming: A Strategy for Modern Methods of Management”
Dr. Latzko was a lifetime member of the American Philatelic Society, receiving his 50 year pin in 2017. For over 25 years, he has been a member of the Royal Philatelic Society London. He was a long time member of the Collectors Club of New York City. His last publication before his death was in the summer of 2018 regarding the stamps of Stellaland.
Bill Latzko was on the Board of Directors for the United States Fencing Association (previously Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA)) 1954-1986, member executive committee, 1964-1986, national secretary, 1964-1972, national treasurer, 1982-1986. Cadre member of the United States Olympic fencing team, 1968, 1972. Board of Directors United States modern pentathlon, San Antonio, 1960-1965. He and his wife, Constance “Connie “Latzko, helped run fencing competitions from the local to the international level. As a judge with the Federation International d’Escrime, he officiated at many international fencing competitions at all levels including Modern Pentathlons, World Championships, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Married to his beloved wife Connie from 1950 until her passing in 2014. He is survived by his daughter Victoria, his son Alexander, six grandchildren, and one great grandchild.
Those who wish may donate in Bill’s name to Peter Westbrook Foundation
October Section Meeting: Improving Operations Using the 5 Lens Methodology
Sustainability and Quality
Program: Intro to Quality in Aerospace Manufacturing
Social Darwinism across a Wire: The Criticality of Quality Management from a Distance in the Modern Supply Chain
Anheuser-Busch (A-B) Newark Plant Tour Event Report
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3 thoughts on “Passing of a Legend: William J. Latzko 1928 -2018”
Dave Sherman says:
Bill was a mentor and a friend. He forgot more about Quality than I will ever learn. I will miss his incredible but true stories and his terrific sense of humor. He was the most interesting man in the world! My wife and I will miss him.
Ciro Casimiro says:
It was an honor to meet Bill and a pleasure working with him in the membership committee!
I have learned a lot from him and I will always value his great mind!
RIP Bill and we will miss you greatly in our ASQ NY/NJ section.
Ciro Casimiro
Satish Laroia says:
I can’t say enough about his contributions to the Metro Section in particular and ASQ as a whole. He was always ready to help others.We are going to miss him.
Satish Laroia
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« The Aaron Clift Experiment - An interview with the prog keyboardist Aaron. "We all have a light and dark side and can make either a part of who we are." | Main | Merrell Fankhauser - An interview with the surf music pioneer. "I feel very blessed and lucky to still be doing what I love, making music." »
Derek Piotr - An interview with the electronic music composer. "We're in this life for satisfaction... we're not in this life to be understood."
Derek Piotr
Derek Piotr is a Polish born electronic music composer who now resides in Connecticut. In his teens, he became increasingly interested in electronic sounds as well as world music and started experimenting and creating compositions on his laptop. Through trial and error and perseverance, his compositions began to take on a unique identity. With a few albums under his belt, Derek has just released a new album entitled "Bahar". On this new collection of electronic compositions, Derek decided to add woodwinds while still maintaining the classic static sounds and unusual voice loop phrasing from past releases. I recently conversed with Derek about his music.
R.V.B. - Hello Derek, how are you doing today? What a beautiful day we have here in the northeast.
D.P. - Yes, it's amazing. I'm is Connecticut right now.
R.V.B. - Are you anywhere near Bridgeport?
D.P. - I'm about a 40 minute drive away.
R.V.B. - You're right across the pond... as they say. Thanks for taking the time to speak with me. Were you born in Poland?
D.P. - Yes I was.
R.V.B. - When did you come to the United States?
D.P. - I was really young and I don't remember it at all. I was about 2 or 3.
R.V.B. - What kind of music were you exposed to at a young age?
D.P. - I came to music super late. I remember being in school and everybody else had a band. It wasn't until I was 15 or 16, when I got into electronic music. My dad had a couple of rock records. There wasn't much listening that went on in my house but I did have this CD ROM called Encarta encyclopedia. It had a multi-media library. The wall of music tour on that, was really important to me. I was listening to music from Asia and Africa, and that was really kind of interesting to me. As I got older, I started listening to pop music. I listened to Bjork at some point and through the local record store, I was recommended to people like Autechre and Underworld, and some weirder electronic music. I really didn't listen to music at my own speed until I was 13 or 14. That was the stuff I started with. I knew the record store owner in our town really well. His name was Dennis and the store was called "Disc & Dat."
R.V.B. - With that starting point, did you take any music courses in high school and in college?
D.P. - Yeah. I was always in the choir from middle school until high school. I took clarinet for a while and when I was in my senior year I took advanced placement music theory. I went to Columbia for a little tiny bit to do music theory. I figured out pretty fast that it wasn't for me. I think because I make electronic music, it felt like the theory part was a little restricting. I was already making electronic music before I got into the theory stuff. I felt I could do my own thing with it.
R.V.B. - As far as electronic music... when you start out to compose a piece or a song, do you start out combining sounds and then build on top of it?
D.P - 9 out of 10 times yeah. Generally I don't record that much. I have a library of sounds that I use. I make folders every month with short pieces that I make. Then I go in and edit them. It's hard to say what fits and what doesn't because sometimes in the space of two weeks, I'll use the same recording... the first and second time it doesn't happen and the fourth or fifth time it does happen. There is no logic as to why. I have certain sounds that I like, like cutting up voice up into really tiny fragments. I listen to a lot of glitchy' music. I like noises and glitches. I guess there are esthetic properties that I look for but I think sometimes my songs turn out more like songs and sometimes they turn out a little more abstract. There's never a clear cut reason as to why. I couldn't tell you why one song needs a chorus and one song barely has any voice in it at all. It's whatever wins at the end of the day that I'm working on... a genre or a form. It just takes on whatever life it's gonna take on. Sometimes it's easier to tell if it's going to be a pop song. Then I'll have to make the chorus its own section. So that's a little bit different, but then sometimes I'll just cut my voice a hundred different ways and that turns into part of the instrumental of whatever I'm working on.
R.V.B. - I think it's very interesting. I get it. You have to have kind of an open mind. I know a lot of my classic rock buddies wouldn't get it. You add a variety of things and you don't stay within the 12 tone box.
D.P. - Right. Not just the 12 tones with that, but I think I'm looking for something that's compelling and hopefully something that's beautiful at the end of the day. I'm using any means to that end. It's not that I ignore the 12 tones. I'm using whatever tools in the box that I can to make something. I use everything beyond 12 tone scales. I use every scale imaginable and every sound imaginable.
R.V.B. - What comes out is something very unique.
D.P. - Yeah, I guess so. When I started making work, I thought John Cage was the thing and Bjork had her heyday and people were kind of exposed to stuff that was pretty out there. I still get people that don't really know how to describe my music. When I started, I thought people would sort of have an angle on it already. I still is something really unique for people... which is great. It feels super tame to me. I just feel like I'm making pop music.
R.V.B. - I see that you interned with Meredith Monk? Can you describe that experience that you had with her?
D.P. - She was really sweet. She wasn't around that much, but the few times I interacted with her she was very generous and kind. Her office was a little different than a lot of other offices because it was very close-knit. The people that work for her... they don't feel like they work for her... they feel like they work with her. It's like a family. There was not that much pressure. I guess I was really struck by how laid back and generous the whole experience was. I did the basic intern tasks there... I'd get a DVD, or I'd ship a package, or make an Excel spreadsheet. There was always an opportunity to learn about her work... about what she had done and what she was doing now... where she was. There was anecdotes every morning on what had just happened. It was a very friendly atmosphere.
R.V.B. - Did the experience of working with her inspire you in any of your music?
D.P. - I hadn't been using words in that much but I had been using some in the earlier recordings that I had done. She made me realize that you don't need words when you make vocal music and you can still tell a story. That was pretty freeing. I think the pressure of needing to say something and needing to know what you're saying and being really clear about your message can really freeze you up. You don't always know what story to put out there. A lot of her music is vocal but there aren't any words in it. It gave me the confidence not to... A - either use words or B - if I do... they always don't have to make clear cut sense.
R.V.B. - You've made a few albums in your young career and your latest is "Bahar". With the previous releases leading up to Bahar, are there any similarities or differences that you tried to get across?
D.P. - I think I look for certain sounds. I like certain forms of editing that's pretty consistent with what I do, but I haven't really used my music education in any way. When I make music, I don't really worry about what key it's in or chords to use. I don't notate anything. It's all a lot of samples and a lot of voice, so I can kind of do whatever I want. For this record, I wanted to go back to when I played clarinet. I really, really like woodwinds. Strings are kind of boring for me and I think brass can be a little bit tricky to use it right. I thought I could do an album that had a lot of woodwinds in it. Just through necessity, I have to communicate with players and I have to score things out. This is the first album that I ever implicated anything for my solo work. I had to give people scores so that they could play it. That was a little bit of a departure from what I had been doing. I never really enjoyed looking at that standpoint of my music... theory wise. It ended up being healthy for me to have some structure because now if I do a performance, I can have a player use the sheet music that I wrote. It's nice to have that consistency.
R.V.B. - I heard the woodwinds on a few tracks. My opinion about the clarinet... my daughter played the clarinet and it's a beautiful sounding instrument. I think it's an underrated instrument and I know back in the day with Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and the Dixieland revival era, it used to be more prevalent. It's nice to hear it again in music.
D.P. - There are very few records that I can think of that have a lot of woodwinds in them. I did listen to some older music when I was making this record. I have a whole woodwinds playlist and of course there's some electro-acoustic stuff like oboe and tapes. Yeah, there is very little pop music with woodwinds in it. It's kind of weird. I wish people would use it more. It's really pretty.
R.V.B. - It definitely has a nice sound. Now you chose the name "Bahar" for your current record. I know it has multiple meanings. Why did you choose that name?
D.P. - I was listening to a lot of Turkish music and I kind of had a mental image of a Turkish desert. I was listening to a lot of clarinet and flute music from Turkey, so maybe this is why? I spend a lot of time on google translate because I like learning about languages. I knew the record should come out in the spring and feel like spring, so I wondered what the Turkish word for spring was? It's bahar. It also means Sea in Maltese. I thought woodwinds are pretty fluid sounding and I liked the idea of it to be a large body of water also. I like to find a word that has more than one meaning for my album titles. Sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesn't. I like the mental images that those both can be. It's great that it's a dual language word.
R.V.B. - The album cover is an abstraction of a spring and you also made a video of "Spring Revealed". They're both water related.
D.P. - Right. I had this idea that it was like a desert with this wealth of fruit and a well spring would kind of arrive in the desert and solve all of these problems... this utopian mental image. I have a friend... Antye Grele-Tipatti, and she lives in Finland. We've worked together on a few projects and she has always done ink calligraphy and has written poetry out with ink. She recently got into digital video editing. I totally fell in love with it. She put up a webpage and had some examples. They were live tour visuals for her husband because he plays shows. She processes video in real time and makes it into an organic... not quite nature, not quite techno tour, visual thing. I loved all of the screenshots that I saw... the still images that she put up. She was in New York last year and I asked her if she would do an album sleeve for me... and she said she would. I had this darker desert yellow backround, blood red fruit fig, Turkish situation in my head. I gave her the colors that I wanted. She said she needed short video in order to loop the video and process it. What she ended up giving me was so close to what I saw in my head... both with the colors that I chose and seeing her work. It came out as close as she could get it without reaching into my head and grabbing it. I was really happy with it.
R.V.B. - It's a very interesting image. The video is not quite a spring, and it looks like a larger body of water which was mixed in with geographic images and an outer space feel.
D.P. - The guy who directed that video had done another video for me a while ago, and we stayed in touch. I did want to have a video for the opening track and have that well/spring image. I did the fruit thing but I didn't have the spring covered. So I asked him if he would do a video for me. We had to use stuff that was in the public domain. He found more of a waterfall thing, but I was really happy with how that video turned out.
R.V.B. - Now the song titles on the album... you have some earthy things like "Springs Revealed", "Day Residue", "Forest Floor", but all of a sudden something like "Tennis" comes out? How did that come about?
D.P. Well, there's a weird suburbia undertone on this album, and I'm not really sure why? For instance "Sprawl"... when the forest appears and lets in some light, I'm talking about a housing development. With "Tennis", I had this image of someone in a suburban environment where all the houses look alike and are really close together, and they're jumping roof to roof in tennis shoes. I made the sounds in the song like a ping pong effect... back and forth. Like someone playing tennis. It's a nice clash with the more earthy stuff.
R.V.B. - Will you be able to perform these songs live?
D.P. - I'm working with one of my friends who's a better composer than I am. He studied composition, whereas I didn't. He's taking my small scores from parts on the album and dusting them off and adding arrangements and new compositions to the songs so that they are performable continuously. We have about 4 songs scored out so far and we did a few test performances with them and they sounded pretty good. There's definitely room for improvement but I think we are going to focus on doing a lot more in a couple of months, and then doing more performances of the whole thing this fall. I've also performed a few solo electronic versions of it, but that's more like backing track stuff which is how I normally perform. It was a big goal to me to try and get it to be performable in an acoustic situation and close the laptop. I hadn't done that with my solo work and I felt like I'm at a point where I could. Sometimes I need a little sound design in there just to tell the whole story but by and large, they can just be performed with an ensemble.
R.V.B. - It's not unusual to see someone perform with a laptop these days. The whole DJ fad is in full swing.
D.P. - Right. Well I guess it's more like I'm maybe getting bored or maybe the people that don't perform with laptops want to, like Radiohead who switched from guitars to electronics. I'm trying to switch from electronics to instruments. I think you just want to change it up. I don't think that one is better than the other. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.
R.V.B. - Right. Well I think you're on the right track and your music sounds really, really nice. I've enjoyed listening to it in the last few days.
D.P. - Thanks. There's a quote that's out there and I don't know if I'm saying this right but "We're in this life for satisfaction. We're not in this life to be understood." Not everyone is going to understand you 100% of the time.
R.V.B. - True. Everybody see's art in a different way. Thanks for taking this time to talk with me. It looks like you're off to a good start to your young career. You're on to something. Enjoy the rest of your day.
D.P. - You too.
This interview may not be reproduced in any part or form with out permission from this site.
For more information on Derek Piotr visit his website http://derekpiotr.com/
For information or to advertise on this site contact musicguy247(at)aol(dot)com
Posted at 08:25 AM in Derek Piotr - Electronic Music Composer | Permalink
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The Official Music Educator Twitter List Is Updated!
Joseph M. Pisano
The official Music Educators to Follow on Twitter (a Twitter Music PLN) has been updated. It has been a number of months since this list has been updated at MusTech.net and the release of new Music Education Tweeters to Follow List will be welcome and refreshing for many. Unfortunately, TweepML (the easy to follow Twitter list site) is down until February so it cannot be updated at the moment. The Twitter Music Education List will be updated there as soon as we are able to gain access again.
The official Music Education Twitter list is now up to 75 and it has also been re-checked and verified to make sure that all people listed are currently valid and active Music Education Tweeters. The Twitter Music Education list, along with sites like the MusicPLN.org, are very important aspects of the online Music Education Community and vital for keeping valid, interesting, and related information about Music Education and Music Advocacy propagating on the Internet. If you are a Music Educator or interested in Music Education and Music Advocacy issues, please follow this list and join our Web 2.0 Music Education Community today.
You may find the updated list directly on MusTech.Net (and much more information about it) by using the following URLS:
http://mustech.net/projects/musictwitter
http://mustech.net/musictwitter
You may also find this list easily on Twitter here:
http://twitter.com/pisanojm/mused
Please Re-Tweet This Post and the list!
Joseph M. Pisano, Ph.D. is an industry innovator, education clinician and lecturer, trumpeter and conductor, and the creator of many education websites. He is currently the Vice President of Innovation and Engagement at Keystone Ridge Designs, Inc. After twenty-three years as a professor and administrator at Grove City College, he made the move into industry in 2018. As one of the youngest full professors in Grove City’s history, he served in various roles over his tenure including the Technical Director of the Pew Fine Arts Center, Assistant and Associate Chairs of Music and Music and Fine Arts, Director of Music and Fine Arts Technology, Director of Jazz Studies, Stage Manager, and he finished his tenure as the Director of Bands where he directed the college’s Symphonic Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Marching Band, Pep Bands, and various small ensembles.
He been named a TI:ME Teacher of the Year, received the JEN Jazz Educator Award, the PA Citation of Excellence, and named a “member for life” of the PA Intercollegiate Bandmasters Association. He is a past Vice President of the Technology Institute for Music Educators, an associate member of the American Bandmasters Association, a past President of the PA Intercollegiate Bandmasters Association, and a member of various education and music honoraries. He has written for numerous publications including DCI Magazine, Teaching Music Magazine, and was the Educational Editor for In-Tune Monthly Magazine for eight years; he has contributed hundreds of articles to various publications. He is an active conductor, trumpeter, clinician, and educator. Find out more at his website jpisano.com.
#biography #bio #josephmpisano #josephpisano #musiced #musiceducation #industryleader
https://mustech.net
Category : Featured, Music Advocacy, Music Education
Tags : advocacy, Music Education, music tweet, rand, tweeters, twitter
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Sarah Silverman Talks ‘Jesus is Magic’!
Sarah Silverman Talks Jesus is Magic!
in Interviews
The comedian opens up on her stand-up film
She's crass, she's rude, she's offensive, but Sarah Silverman is one of the funniest commedians today. And she's taken her stand up act to the big screen in Jesus is Magic. The title is a little ironic considering Sarah is Jewish, but that's just what you'll find out about her. She offends everyone, from Holocaust survivors to rape victims.
She sat down with MovieWeb to talk about her raw sense of comedy. How does it feel to bomb with such offensive material? She'll let you know; check it out:
Do women ever give you a hard time about making jokes about rape?
Sarah Silverman: No, I'm sure there are people who don't appreciate it; with all these topics, I'm not making fun of rape, I have jokes with rape in it. I'm sure if I was a woman who was recently raped, I wouldn't appreciate jokes about it. But like I always say ‘if you take the ‘e' off of rape, you'll see it gets a bad rap.' (lots of laughter) Right? No, that's terrible; I don't think it's funny, but it's funny because it's totally not funny.
What's some of your new stuff?
Sarah Silverman: I'm doing stuff on Kaballah and Scientology and a little bit more racial stuff, for good measure.
Has anyone ever waited for you after a show because you were too racist?
Sarah Silverman: Yes, I learned pretty early is I never defend my material; it's for other people to if someone is offended. It's so subjective, and if you don't find it funny, it's definitely going to be offensive. There was a couple times where I was escorted out of the back of the Improv. I can't cater to everyone's needs and what they're going to be offended by; that's one freedom I have.
What were you hoping to accomplish by doing this movie?
Sarah Silverman: Get famous! (laughter) Yeah, get famous! (laughing) No, I was doing my live show; my friend wanted to watch the show from the wing. I flicked my tear to him and he pretended to catch it and pleasure himself with it and I was just dying laughing, and I thought this could be a really cool visual thing. It was that one moment that I thought that this would be a great idea for a movie.
When you bomb with your material, is there any way to get the audience back?
Sarah Silverman: I often can't get the audience back; lately I've just been giggling. I just recently did a corporate event, and was booked at the last minute and it was this show opening the new Nokia Times Square Stage. The show was like Mary J. Blige, Sean Paul, Eddie Griffin; I wasn't even on the bill. They shot it for MTV, I hope that none of my stuff got on it. It was all of that MTV picture perfect 17-year old fake audience and I remember saying to one of the producers ‘Oh, I'm going to bomb.' And he said to me ‘Oh, no, these are all kids, but in the back are all Nokia executives. I go out, and I realize me and Eddie are booked so in between the concerts they can switch out the drums and tune up the bands, so the band is tuning up behind, but the audience really can't hear. I was doing pretty well at the beginning; Nickelback was also on the show. The lead singer of the band has this really long blonde hair, so I said ‘I just met the lead singer of Nickelback backstage; she's beautiful!' (lots of laughter) And I had ‘em going for a while and then I started going into ‘I wrote an open letter to Martin Luther King…' and they started going ‘Uh-uh, no she didn't, no way.' But I started giggling, and I got through it; I had two friends with me, and I thought maybe they'd chime in, but it was downhill from there. I went backstage and Eddie Griffin came up to me and said ‘That was great, that was f-ing courageous and you just say what's on your mind.' He said something like ‘You're just like Lenny Bruce or like me; you say what's on your mind.' (lots of laughter) But he was so nice; he told me ‘These kids don't know, they hear buzz words and that's it.' It meant a lot to me, because he really has his finger on the pulse of that community. So I decided to watch Eddie; I braved the audience and stood on the side of the stage. He comes on, and maybe one joke into his set, the band starts tuning up. And we can hear it, but the audience really can't. But he sticks his head behind the curtain and screams ‘Shut the f*ck up' and really has the crowd going. Then he turns around and goes ‘The black man comes on they're on and they're tuning their instruments, meanwhile the white girl comes on and she's talking about Martin Luther King,' (laughter) and the audience is like ‘ahhhhhh.' (lots of laughter) Everyone around me is like ‘yeah, in your face.' (lots of laughter) I'm like ‘Oh my gosh.' I'm not upset about that, but it's just about that one line and how perfect; he knew the crowd was ready for it.
When did you know you had a different way of looking at the world?
Sarah Silverman: In the outcast of my family, I didn't have this one stand out. My dad was one of those dad's who thought it was funny to teach his kids swear words; my first words were ‘bitch, bastard, damn, sh*t' and that's what my dad taught me. But I got such a reaction from such an early age from saying those swear words that it hit me, damaged me in some way. I like to think of myself as ‘hot-larious' (laughing) I'm cute, but I'm totally approachable. I don't think I'm making up this only-American feel.
How does it work with Jimmy (Kimmel) coming up with material?
Sarah Silverman: We never fight over jokes; there's so much that he gives me because he can't say it on ABC. I'm established enough that I'm ok with him giving me a bit if it's good. He's a great writer, and so prolific beyond what you can see on network television.
Have you ever had a bit that was so bad, even your fans were offended?
Sarah Silverman: Yeah, but if I say that you're going to know which one, and I can't answer that. But someone was saying they saw me at the M Bar, and I totally bombed, but that's what happens, you have to try out your new stuff. Sometimes that happens, but you have to try it a couple more times, depending how much you like it, how personal it is.
Jesus is Magic opens in limited theaters November 11th; look for it in more cities in the weeks to come. It's directed by Liam Lynch; it's unrated.
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Sci Fi Greenlights ‘Painkiller Jane’ and ‘Stoner’
Sci Fi Greenlights Painkiller Jane and Stoner
Sci Fi has given the go-ahead to Painkiller Jane, a female superhero action series based on the comic book created by Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada. It centers on a young researcher trying to make a difference as the world faces its greatest drug addiction epidemic. It will premiere in January.
The network has also announced that it is developing Stoner, which centers on a slacker who is thrust into the limelight as the newest superhuman celebrity but must decide whether to reveal that he actually has no superpowers.
Plus, Sci Fi is developing Witch Doctor, a comedy drama that mixes the worlds of medicine and the supernatural with "warm human comedy." It is from Ben Edlund, the creative force behind the comic book series The Tick.
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Here We Go Again! [Special Screenings, Nov. 1-8]
Matt Coker | Posted on November 1, 2018 October 31, 2018
Mamma Mia!. Photo courtesy Universal Pictures
They Live. When I saw that Roddy Piper of pro fake wrestling fame headed the cast of this John Carpenter movie in 1988, I figured it must suck so very, very hard. But the tale of an aimless wanderer who picks up a pair of sunglasses in LA that allow him to see things as they really are is actually a pretty solid horror-comedy worthy of its cult status. Keith David and Meg Foster co-star. The Frida Cinema, 305 E. Fourth St., Ste. 100, Santa Ana, (714) 285-9422; thefridacinema.org. Thurs. Nov. 1, 2:30, 5:30, 8 & 10 p.m.; Fri., 10 p.m. $7-$10.
Never Heard. Josh Webber’s drama has a father (David Banner) accused of murder and incarcerated for a crime he swears he didn’t commit; his son (Romeo Miller) growing up on the streets of Los Angeles without a dad’s guidance; and the boy’s mother (Robin Givens) and grandmother (Karen Abercrombie) raising him alone. AMC Fullerton 20, 1001 S. Lemon St., Fullerton, (714) 992-6962; AMC Orange 30 at the Outlets, 20 City Blvd. W., Orange, (714) 769-4288; AMC Tustin Legacy at the District, 2457 Park Ave., Tustin, (714) 258-7036; Cinemark Century Stadium 25, 1701 W. Katella Ave., Orange, (714) 532-9558; Cinemark Century 20 Huntington Beach, 7777 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach, (800) 967-1932; Edwards Aliso Viejo Stadium 20, 26701 Aliso Creek Rd., Aliso Viejo, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Big Newport 6, 300 Newport Center Dr., Newport Beach, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Brea Stadium West 10, 255 W. Birch St., Brea, (714) 672-4136; Edwards Foothill Towne Center Stadium 22, 26602 Towne Center Dr., Foothill Ranch, (949) 588-9402; Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21, 65 Fortune Dr., Irvine, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Metro Pointe Stadium 12, 901 South Coast Dr., Costa Mesa, (714) 428-0962; Edwards Long Beach Stadium 26, 7501 E. Carson, Long Beach, (844) 462-7342; Regal La Habra Stadium 16, 1351 W. Imperial Hwy., La Habra, (562) 690-4909; www.fathomevents.com. Thurs., Nov. 1, 7 p.m. $12.50.
Soufra. The inspiring, unifying documentary follows Mariam Shaar, who has spent all of her 69 years in a refugee camp south of Beirut, and other refugee women from throughout the Middle East launching a catering company called Soufra, which is Arabic for buffet. Art Theatre, 2025 E. Fourth St., Long Beach, (562) 438-5435; arttheatrelongbeach.org. Thurs., Nov. 1, 7 p.m. $8.50-$11.50.
Thunder Road. According to the Frida, Jim Cummings’ award-winning film “follows Officer Jim Arnaud (Cummings), a decent man struggling with relationship and anger issues. After he loses his mother, he endeavors to do a better job raising his young daughter Crystal (Kendal Farr).” The Frida Cinema; thefridacinema.org. Fri., 2:30 & 5:30 p.m.; Sat., 12:30, 2:30, 5 & 7 p.m.; Sun., 11:30 a.m., 2, 4, 6 & 8 p.m.; Mon.-Thurs., Nov. 8, 2, 4 & 6 p.m. $7-$10.
Biotech Science Theater 3000: Jurassic Park. Santiago Canyon College Biotech presents the first of what is hoped to be an annual event in which live science commentary accompanies a popular film. First up is Steven Spielberg’s 1993 sci-fi thriller based on Michael Crichton’s novel. Things go screwy on an island where cloned dinosaurs roam free in a wildlife park. Santiago Canyon College, Room SC105, 8045 E. Chapman Ave., Orange, (714) 628-4900. Fri., light refreshments, 6 p.m.; program, 6:30 p.m. Free.
Coco. Image courtesy Disney Pixar
Coco. It’s an outdoor screening of the 2017 computer-animated Disney Pixar hit about a 12-year-old (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) who is sent to the Land of the Dead. He will remain there forever unless he can return to the Land of the Living before Day of the Dead ends. Lake Forest Sports Park, 28000 Rancho Pkwy., Lake Forest; ca-lakeforest.civicplus.com. Fri., activities, 6 p.m.; screening, dusk. Free.
The Public Image Is Rotten. Tabbert Fiiller’s documentary examines John Lydon/Johnny Rotten’s career after the Sex Pistols, which has included fronting Public Image Ltd (PiL), a genre-jumping group that has lasted 15 times longer than the pioneering punk-rock band. The Frida Cinema; thefridacinema.org. Fri.-Sat. & Wed., 7:30 p.m. $7-$10.
Planet of the Apes: 50th Anniversary. Charlton Heston stars in this 1968 classic that you damn dirty apes have surely seen, but probably never on the big screen, where it becomes even more epic. The Frida Cinema; thefridacinema.org. Sat., noon, 2:30 & 5 p.m.; Sun., noon, 2:30, 5 & 7:30 p.m. $7-$10.
Dragon Ball Z Saiyan Double Feature. Fathom Events and Toei Animation present the U.S. debuts of fully remastered animes dubbed into English. Dragon Ball Z: Bardock—The Father of Goku is about a low-class Saiyan soldier who unexpectedly inherits the ability to see into the future. Great, right? Wrong: His life takes a dramatic turn for the worse! Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn has an industrial disaster in Other World unleashing a monstrous beast and a dangerous plan to attack it. Only an unprecedented act of teamwork can save the universe. Audiences are also treated to special content and an exclusive Dragon Ball Super trading card (while supplies last). AMC Orange 30 at the Outlets, (714) 769-4288; AMC Tustin Legacy at the District, (714) 258-7036; Cinemark Century Stadium 25, (714) 532-9558; Cinemark Century 20 Huntington Beach, (800) 967-1932; Cinemark at the Pike Theaters, 99 S. Pine Ave., Long Beach, (562) 435-5754; Edwards Aliso Viejo Stadium 20, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Big Newport 6, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Brea Stadium West 10, (714) 672-4136; Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Long Beach Stadium 26, (844) 462-7342; Regal Garden Grove Stadium 16, 9741 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove, (844) 462-7342; www.fathomevents.com. Sat., 12:55 p.m.; Mon., 7 p.m. $12.50.
Three Tales. The documentary video opera, which was composed by Steve Reich with video by Beryl Korot, recalls three well-known events from the 20th century that reflect on the growth and implications of technology: the Hindenburg explosion, the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests and Dolly the cloned sheep. The performance features two sopranos, three tenors, a string quartet, percussion, keyboards and prerecorded audio that includes actual interviews. Scottish Rite Center, Ernest Borginine Theatre, 855 Elm Ave., Long Beach, (562) 470-7464; longbeachopera.org. Sat., 6 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 p.m. $49-$110.
Repo! The Genetic Opera! The costumed shadowcast troupe Addicted to the Knife returns to dance and lip-sync to the 2008 horror-musical opus filled with dirty, gory excess, family melodrama, mysterious illnesses, mind-blowing future-drugs, designer organ repossessions, a few surprising cameos, and a superabundance of bloody stabs and slices. The Frida Cinema; thefridacinema.org. Sat., 11:30 p.m. $7-$10.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The pioneering midnight movie starts with the car of sweethearts Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) breaking down near the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry). The transvestite scientist’s home also hosts a rocking biker (Meat Loaf), a creepy butler (Richard O’Brien) and assorted freaks, including a hunk of beefcake named “Rocky.” Live shadow-cast troupe Midnight Insanity performs. Art Theatre; arttheatrelongbeach.org. Sat., 11:55 p.m. $8.50-$11.50.
Mamma Mia! The Movie 10th Anniversary. Relive the 2008 musical set on a colorful Greek island with a wealth of ABBA songs. A bride-to-be (Amanda Seyfried) discovers in the diary of her mother (Meryl Streep) that one of three men could be her father. So the young woman invites the trio to the wedding . . . without informing her mom. The special featurette Meryl’s Big Number also screens. AMC Orange 30 at the Outlets, (714) 769-4288; AMC Tustin Legacy at the District, (714) 258-7036; Cinemark Century Stadium 25, (714) 532-9558; Cinemark at the Pike Theaters, (562) 435-5754 (no Sun., 4 p.m. show); Edwards Aliso Viejo Stadium 20, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Foothill Towne Center Stadium 22, (949) 588-9402; Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Long Beach Stadium 26, (844) 462-7342; Regal Garden Grove Stadium 16, (844) 462-7342; www.fathomevents.com. Sun., 1 & 4 p.m.; Tues., 4 & 7 p.m. $12.50.
Free Screening With Director Sim Jae-myung. Center for Critical Korean Studies presents a film directed by Sim Jae-myung, who is better known as the CEO of Myung Film; the producer of Cart, Venus Talk and Architecture 101; and an outspoken advocate for female filmmakers. UC Irvine, McCormick Hall, Humanities Gateway 1070, First Floor, Campus and West Peltason drives, Irvine, (949) 824-6117. Mon., 2 p.m. Free.
Big Trouble In Little China. In John Carpenter’s cult classic from 1986, Kurt Russell is hard-boiled truck driver Jack Burton, who gets caught in a bizarre conflict in (and below) San Francisco’s Chinatown involving an ancient Chinese prince, a crime lord and a beautiful green-eyed woman who grew up to be a Sex and the City MILF. The Frida Cinema; thefridacinema.org. Mon.-Tues., 2:30, 5, 7 & 9 p.m. $7-$10.
V for Vendetta. James McTeigue’s socio-political commentary based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel featured Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman blowing up Britain. The Frida Cinema; thefridacinema.org. Mon., 8 p.m. $7-$10.
Chappaquiddick. Photo courtesy Entertainment Studios
Chappaquiddick. FPL Arthouse presents John Curran’s drama that quietly arrived in U.S. theaters on April 6 and left, although critics did generally praise the effort. In 1969, Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) drives his car into Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara). The film mostly revolves around the Kennedy family’s response. Fullerton Public Library, 353 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, (714) 738-6327. Wed., 6 p.m. Free.
Tehran Tourist. UC Irvine’s Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, in collaboration with the Iranian American Women Foundation, shows the second experimental documentary by UCI Anthropology Professor Roxanne Varzi, who participates in an audience Q&A and reception afterward. Shot mostly with a handheld iPhone 4s, the film moves in and out of political landscapes to introduce American audiences to an Iran few have been privy to. UCI, McCormick Hall, (949) 824-6117. Wed., 6 p.m. Free.
Superman. It’s the 1978 movie that helped to usher in today’s cinema takeover by comic-book heroes. Having acquired great powers from the Earth’s sun, Krypton transplant Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) pits his superhero abilities against master criminal Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), who plots the greatest real-estate swindle of all time. Regency South Coast Village, 1561 W. Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 557-5701. Wed., 7:30 p.m. $9.
Fly Away Home. The Thursday Matinee film series, whose theme this month is “Birds of a Feather,” continues with Carroll Ballard’s 1996 coming-of-age tale about a girl (Anna Paquin) who loses her mother in a car accident and struggles to find her place in her new home with her oddball inventor father (Jeff Daniels). Their relationship changes as they work together to teach motherless geese how to fly south for the winter. Bring snacks and beverages but no booze and ABSOLUTELY no bird feed. Fullerton Public Library, (714) 738-6327. Thurs., Nov. 8, 1 p.m. Free.
Hymn—Sarah Brightman in Concert. The world-renowned soprano celebrates her new album, Hymn, by performing songs from it live for the big screen from the Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps. AMC Tustin Legacy at the District, (714) 258-7036; Cinemark Century Stadium 25, (714) 532-9558; Cinemark Century 20 Huntington Beach, (800) 967-1932; Edwards Aliso Viejo Stadium 20, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Brea Stadium West 10, (714) 672-4136; Edwards Foothill Towne Center Stadium 22, (949) 588-9402; Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21, (844) 462-7342; Edwards Long Beach Stadium 26, (844) 462-7342; www.fathomevents.com. Thurs., Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m. $12.50.
Twisted Pair. The fifth feature film from writer/director Neil Breen has him playing identical twins who become hybrid artificial-intelligence entities. They get torn in different directions to achieve justice for humanity. The Frida Cinema; thefridacinema.org. Thurs., Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m. $7-$10.
Matt Coker
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.
CategoriesFilm, Special Screenings TagsBig Trouble In Little China, Chappaquiddick, Coco, Dragon Ball Z, Fly Away Home, Hymn—Sarah Brightman in Concert, Jurassic Park, Mamma Mia!, Never Heard, Planet of the Apes, Repo! The Genetic Opera!, rocky horror picture show, Soufra, Superman, Tehran Tourist, The Public Image Is Rotten, They Live, Three Tales, Thunder Road, Twisted Pair, V for Vendetta
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Duchene: When push comes to shove, people help people
Giving BackPlayer Features
Matt DucheneOttawa Senators
“There are lot of bad things going on in the world these days, but when push comes to shove, people help people.”
Matt Duchene sensed something bad was coming well before he arrived at Canadian Tire Centre for the Ottawa Senators' home exhibition game against Chicago on September 21.
“Even driving to the rink, it felt like my truck didn’t want to move because the wind was so bad,” he recalled. “I got out of the truck and my suit was blowing all over the place. It was weird because it was kind of overcast, but still really, really hot. It was strange weather, so it didn’t surprise me what happened.”
The ‘what’ he speaks of were the tornadoes that ripped through communities in Ottawa and Gatineau (Quebec) just over a week ago, leaving behind a trail of destruction in their wake.
“When I heard of the devastation, I was in shock,” said the 27-year-old forward who is set to begin his second season in a Senators jersey. “I think all of us were. To hear that people lost their homes… it’s just horrible.”
So Duchene and his teammates did what hockey players do – they stepped up immediately to help those in need.
A locker room conversation amongst the group quickly turned into a spontaneous fundraiser.
“We all started thinking about what we could do to help out,” recalled Duchene. “One thing we did really quickly was to get an envelope and start collecting cash. Our goal was to collect $10,000 and we got there very fast. We have a few different organizations that are going to match us, so that number could go higher pretty quickly. Obviously, it’s a small dent in the grand scheme of things, but we – the (team) foundation, the organization and the players – are looking at what else we can do. We’re ready to continue to help everyone that was affected.”
The team unveiled plans for a month-long food drive that will take place at each event and Senators hockey game at Canadian Tire Centre until the end of October.
As the efforts of the first responders, the employees at Hydro Ottawa and Hydro-Quebec and the Canadian Red Cross continue to provide relief efforts for citizens the region, the Ottawa Senators Foundation launched a GoFundMe campaign.
Along with a $100,000 donation from the Ottawa Senators Foundation, the GoFundMe campaign has raised over $340,000. The NHLPA and NHL also jointly contributed $25,000 to the cause.
Ben Milks (@Brian5of6), a Senators superfan and social influencer, raised money from the sale of his team-inspired merchandise that was donated to the GoFundMe initiative.
Duchene and his teammates are looking at other ways to assist those impacted by the tornadoes.
“We’re very blessed to do what we do and this is a tough go for these people,” said Duchene. “They’re our fans and we need to support them the best we can. The other thing we’re planning on doing is picking a day, after we practice, where we go and help the volunteers who are working hard to clean things up – whether we’re bringing food to them or getting our hands dirty ourselves – and do what we can. We’re not finished helping. It’s a small community, but it’s a strong community. I feel like it’s our responsibility to do whatever we can.”
The widespread support, from near and far, doesn’t surprise Duchene.
“Especially up here in Canada, everybody is always willing to lend a hand to help each other. I think you’re seeing that right now.”
My Top 5 | Matt Duchene
Although Matt Duchene’s light on playoff experience, the Columbus centre is making the most of his third shot at the big prize.
My Hometown: Matt Duchene
Just before Duchene and Team Canada take to the ice for their first round-robin game of the World Cup of Hockey, the 25-year-old spoke with NHLPA.com about his beloved hometown.
Duchene All Smiles In Helping Haven
Matt Duchene has developed a strong friendship with five-year-old Haven Anderson as she battles cancer
It’s A Canadian Thing
NHL Players amongst the growing throng of fans cheering and showing their support for Canada’s only MLB team
Football Is No Passing Fancy
As huge sports fans, Matt Duchene & his Avalanche teammates are loving the return of NFL football
WHAT THE HOCKEY WORLD SHOULD KNOW ABOUT JAROME IGINLA
Matt Duchene & Ryan O’Reilly share their thoughts on teammate & future Hall of Famer, Jarome Iginla
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All of the identified studies focused on LNSs for pregnant and lactating women through antenatal care–based and –affiliated delivery platforms (97–101). These studies relied on antenatal care to recruit mothers but delivered the intervention through home visits. There was no evidence evaluating use of LNSs for women who were not pregnant or lactating. The majority of studies evaluating LNS interventions involved children with severe or moderate acute malnutrition. Although LNS supplementation could be an intervention to provide essential nutrients to women and girls, it is expensive. Filling energy gaps using local foods or other commodities can often be done at a lower cost (97). LNS supplementation should be limited to contexts in which cheaper, more sustainable solutions are not available.
Research is a priority in terms of improving women's health. Research needs include diseases unique to women, more serious in women and those that differ in risk factors between women and men. The balance of gender in research studies needs to be balanced appropriately to allow analysis that will detect interactions between gender and other factors.[6] Gronowski and Schindler suggest that scientific journals make documentation of gender a requirement when reporting the results of animal studies, and that funding agencies require justification from investigators for any gender inequity in their grant proposals, giving preference to those that are inclusive. They also suggest it is the role of health organisations to encourage women to enroll in clinical research. However, there has been progress in terms of large scale studies such as the WHI, and in 2006 the Society for Women's Health Research founded the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD) and the journal Biology of Sex Differences to further the study of sex differences.[6]
In the stereotypical Ozzie and Harriet family of the 1950s, men ruled the roost while women ruled the roast. That's no longer true (if it ever was), but in most households women are still in charge of nutrition. They stock the pantry, plan the menus, and fill the plates. In most households it's a good thing, since the average woman knows more about nutrition than the average man. But when it comes to optimal nutrition, there are differences between the sexes. The differences are subtle, but they may affect a man's health.
Infrastructure ↓ water point distance, ↑ time savings, ↑/NC women's hygiene, ↑/NC water quality, ↓/NC diarrheal morbidity, ↓ intestinal parasite prevalence, ↑ school attendance, NC wage employment ↓ water point distance, ↑ time savings, ↑/NC women's hygiene, ↑/NC water quality, ↓/NC diarrheal morbidity, ↓ intestinal parasite prevalence, NC wage employment, ↑ participation in income-generating activities ↓ maternal mortality, ↓ water point distance, ↑ time savings, ↑/NC women's hygiene, ↑/NC water quality, ↓/NC diarrheal morbidity, ↓ intestinal parasite prevalence, NC wage employment, ↑ participation in income-generating activities ↓ water point distance, ↑ time savings, ↑/NC women's hygiene, ↑/NC water quality, ↓/NC diarrheal morbidity, ↓ intestinal parasite prevalence, NC wage employment, ↑ participation in income-generating activities
Omega-3s: These essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA, play many roles in the body, including building healthy brain and nerve cells. Some studies show that omega-3s, especially DHA, can help prevent preterm births. Even women who don't plan to have children should be sure to get plenty of omega-3s. These healthy oils have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, the number one killer of women.
Wood, Susan F.; Dor, Avi; Gee, Rebekah E.; Harms, Alison; Mauery, D. Richard; Rosenbaum, Sara J.; Tan, Ellen (15 June 2009). Women's health and health care reform: the economic burden of disease in women'. D. Richard. Washington DC: George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services, Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
Women and men have approximately equal risk of dying from cancer, which accounts for about a quarter of all deaths, and is the second leading cause of death. However the relative incidence of different cancers varies between women and men. In the United States the three commonest types of cancer of women in 2012 were lung, breast and colorectal cancers. In addition other important cancers in women, in order of importance, are ovarian, uterine (including endometrial and cervical cancers (Gronowski and Schindler, Table III).[6][120] Similar figures were reported in 2016.[121] While cancer death rates rose rapidly during the twentieth century, the increase was less and later in women due to differences in smoking rates. More recently cancer death rates have started to decline as the use of tobacco becomes less common. Between 1991 and 2012, the death rate in women declined by 19% (less than in men). In the early twentieth century death from uterine (uterine body and cervix) cancers was the leading cause of cancer death in women, who had a higher cancer mortality than men. From the 1930s onwards, uterine cancer deaths declined, primarily due to lower death rates from cervical cancer following the availability of the Papanicolaou (Pap) screening test. This resulted in an overall reduction of cancer deaths in women between the 1940s and 1970s, when rising rates of lung cancer led to an overall increase. By the 1950s the decline in uterine cancer left breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death till it was overtaken by lung cancer in the 1980s. All three cancers (lung, breast, uterus) are now declining in cancer death rates (Siegel et al. Figure 8),[121] but more women die from lung cancer every year than from breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers combined. Overall about 20% of people found to have lung cancer are never smokers, yet amongst nonsmoking women the risk of developing lung cancer is three times greater than amongst men who never smoked.[119]
This staff here is very kind, but the facilities are just bizarre, especially for a Boston gym. The equipment is clearly very used, and the gym itself is in a basement which isn't very inspiring. Everything is in a big, open area, so people are running on treadmills behind you as you're participating in a group class. Very weird. I love supporting a local business, but this place needs a bit of a facelift. There are so many gyms in Boston with beautiful facilities and equipment, although a bit more expensive, but you truly get what you pay for.
You can get calcium from dairy products like milk, yogurt and cheese, canned fish with soft bones (sardines, anchovies and salmon; bones must be consumed to get the benefit of calcium), dark-green leafy vegetables (such as kale, mustard greens and turnip greens) and even tofu (if it's processed with calcium sulfate). Some foods are calcium-fortified; that is, they contain additional calcium. Examples include orange juice, certain cereals, soy milk and other breakfast foods. Talk to your health care professional about whether you should take calcium supplements if you don't think you're getting enough calcium from food sources.
*~ Update~*: Julie personally called me to go over my comments and how valid they were and to express regret I wasn't going to continue my membership. I think it's a big deal when people call you back to genuinely follow up on your experiences and feedback. She offered to send me a class pass or month membership to make up for my experience and even went over in detail how all my concerns were going to be addressed. I really look forward to returning as a member soon.
Not being able to do a pull-up doesn’t mean you shouldn’t step up to the bar. Simply hanging on for as long as possible can improve your upper-body strength, Montenegro says. Concentrate on keeping your body as still as possible, and you’ll naturally recruit your abs, hips, and lower back in addition to your arms, she explains, or slowly move your legs in circles or up and down to further engage your abs.
Although canola oil appears to be good for the cardiovascular system, two Harvard studies have raised concerns that ALA might be bad for the prostate. In 1993, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study of 47,781 men published a major evaluation of dietary fat and prostate cancer. It found that saturated fat from animal sources such as red meat and whole-fat dairy products was linked to a 2.6-fold increase in prostate cancer. But the study also provided some disquieting news about ALA: Men who consumed the most ALA were 3.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than those who had the lowest dietary intake.
Even just that single-page layout in Women’s Health is a huge step in the right direction. Seeing more normal-size women on the pages of fashion magazines and catalogues may actually be more inspirational than urging readers to take “more ‘me time.’” It’s also another area where women’s health magazines are surpassing the men’s version: The only non-cut men in Men’s Health are seen in “before” pictures in fitness makeovers. This is despite the fact that 90 percent of men are “overfat,” as the magazine itself reported. Non-six-pack men aren’t missing from the magazine because they’re difficult to find, same as non-size- 2s on the women’s side.
Hysterosalpingography (HIS-tur-oh-sal-ping-GOGH-ru-fee): This is an x-ray of the uterus and fallopian tubes. Doctors inject a special dye into the uterus through the vagina. This dye shows up in the x-ray. Doctors can then watch to see if the dye moves freely through the uterus and fallopian tubes. This can help them find physical blocks that may be causing infertility. Blocks in the system can keep the egg from moving from the fallopian tube to the uterus. A block could also keep the sperm from reaching the egg.
For example, these magazines may want to look at one of their likely advertisers, Athleta. The clothing line that specializes in stretchy yoga wear came under fire last year when it had decidedly non-plus-size models display the line’s plus-size clothing. Athleta followed up an apologetic statement by adding some non-“straight-size” non-supermodels to its latest clothing line, and receiving accolades from catalogue readers on Twitter.
As the table above shows, some of the best sources of calcium are dairy products. However, dairy products such as whole milk, cheese, and yogurt also tend to contain high levels of saturated fat. The USDA recommends limiting your saturated fat intake to no more than 10% of your daily calories, meaning you can enjoy whole milk dairy in moderation and opt for no- or low-fat dairy products when possible. Just be aware that reduced fat dairy products often contain lots of added sugar, which can have negative effects on both your health and waistline.
Improvements in maternal health, in addition to professional assistance at delivery, will require routine antenatal care, basic emergency obstetric care, including the availability of antibiotics, oxytocics, anticonvulsants, the ability to manually remove a retained placenta, perform instrumented deliveries, and postpartum care.[11] Research has shown the most effective programmes are those focussing on patient and community education, prenatal care, emergency obstetrics (including access to cesarean sections) and transportation.[41] As with women's health in general, solutions to maternal health require a broad view encompassing many of the other MDG goals, such as poverty and status, and given that most deaths occur in the immediate intrapartum period, it has been recommended that intrapartum care (delivery) be a core strategy.[39] New guidelines on antenatal care were issued by WHO in November 2016.[51]
Nutrition education, including communication and counseling to raise awareness and promote nutrition-related knowledge and behaviors aligned with public health goals, was found to increase women's knowledge and improve women's dietary diversity and protein intake (15–21). It also reduced energy intake of overweight women over a 9-mo period (22). However, evidence for the effectiveness of nutrition education interventions showed mixed impact on biological and anthropometric markers of women's nutritional status (14–16, 18, 23–29). This could be due to lack of statistical power given the small sample sizes of the reviewed studies. For adolescent girls, nutrition education was found to reduce odds of overweight, and improve knowledge, dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behavior (27, 29, 30). This was particularly true for nutrition education that lasted longer than 12 mo (29). Nutrition education was also more strongly associated with changes in health outcomes in studies evaluating childhood obesity treatment, rather than childhood obesity prevention (29).
The recommended daily intake for vitamin E is 15 mg. Don't take more than 1,000 mg of alpha-tocopherol per day. This amount is equivalent to approximately 1,500 IU of "d-alpha-tocopherol," sometimes labeled as "natural source" vitamin E, or 1,100 IU of "dl-alpha-tocopherol," a synthetic form of vitamin E. Consuming more than this could increase your risk of bleeding because vitamin E can act as an anticoagulant (blood thinner).
Not everyone who is underweight suffers from an eating disorder, but anorexia and bulimia are serious health problems in this country; an estimated 500,000 women suffer from anorexia, and 1 to 2 million women struggle with bulimia. Women with anorexia nervosa starve themselves and/or exercise excessively, losing anywhere from 15 percent to 60 percent of their normal body weight. Some die. Women with bulimia nervosa binge on large quantities of food—up to 20,000 calories at one time—and then try to get rid of the excess calories. Some purge by inducing vomiting, abusing laxatives and diuretics or by taking enemas. Others fast or exercise to extremes.
Potdar RD, Sahariah SA, Gandhi M, Kehoe SH, Brown N, Sane H, Dayama M, Jha S, Lawande A, Coakley PJ et al. Improving women's diet quality preconceptionally and during gestation: effects on birth weight and prevalence of low birth weight—a randomized controlled efficacy trial in India (Mumbai Maternal Nutrition Project). Am J Clin Nutr 2014;100(5):1257–68.
Sleeping seven to nine hours a night for five days straight may stave off bags under your eyes as well as saddlebags on your thighs. When women get enough sleep, they don’t take in extra, unnecessary calories to stay awake, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read: Adequate beauty rest can help you pass up pick-me-up snacks and head off added pounds.
Not surprisingly, many integrated health services were delivered in health clinics and facilities. Many women faced barriers to health facility–based care for nutrition, such as distance, time, quality of care, stocking of supplies, and the capacity and nutrition knowledge of healthcare professionals (105, 119). These barriers need to be taken into consideration to enhance the coverage of integrated health care services. Universal health care mitigated cost barriers to seeking health care, but did not address all of the barriers noted here (105, 109, 114, 120–123).
Many WASH interventions targeted mothers and their caregiving behaviors for children. However, these interventions were applied to entire households and not individual household members. Larger community-based hygiene and sanitation initiatives broadly reached more people in the community (131). However, certain populations such as the elderly and young children might have limited access to public infrastructure, such as public latrines, particularly if there are physical and economic barriers to accessing them (136).
Getting enough water also is important. Many experts recommend at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily—more if you exercise frequently or are exposed to extremes of heat and cold. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasize drinking more water and other calorie-free beverages, along with fat-free or low-fat milk and 100 percent fruit juices, instead of calorie-packed regular sodas.
Home visits ↑/NC knowledge about hygiene and sanitation, ↑ hand-washing, ↑ water quality, ↓/NC diarrheal morbidity, ↓ intestinal parasite prevalence ↑/NC knowledge about hygiene and sanitation, ↑ hand-washing, ↑ water quality, ↓/NC diarrheal morbidity, ↓ intestinal parasite prevalence ↓ maternal mortality, ↑/NC knowledge about hygiene and sanitation, ↑/NC hand-washing, ↑ water quality, NC waste disposal, ↓/NC diarrheal morbidity, ↓ intestinal parasite prevalence ↑/NC knowledge about hygiene and sanitation, ↑ hand-washing, ↑ water quality, ↓/NC diarrheal morbidity, ↓ intestinal parasite prevalence
CCTs have been more thoroughly evaluated for nutrition outcomes, particularly in Latin American countries. They were associated with improvements in women's knowledge of health and nutrition, as well as their self-esteem, participation in social networks, control over resources, and decision-making power (5, 202). Although intrahousehold allocation for women is not clear, CCTs increased household food expenditure and were associated with improved household dietary diversity, including increased household consumption of animal protein, fruits, and vegetables, and reduced consumption of staples and grains (14, 192, 202). There was also some evidence that household expenditure on fats and sweets also increased significantly (202). However, these findings were not consistent and some evaluations showed no significant increase (14, 202, 203). Despite this, in Mexico, there was evidence that in-kind and cash transfer programs resulted in excess weight gain in women who were not underweight (5, 93). This warrants future research given the burden of overweight and obesity among women.
Schools (“condition” and delivery platform) ↑ food expenditures, ↑/NC food share, ↑ HH food consumption, ↑ dietary diversity, ↑ HH intake of fruits, vegetables, and ASF, ↑/NC intake of fats and sweets ↑ knowledge about health and nutrition, ↑ food expenditures, ↑/NC food share, ↑ HH food consumption, ↑ dietary diversity, ↑ HH intake of fruits, vegetables, and ASF, ↑/NC intake of fats and sweets, ↑ participation in social networks, ↑ self-confidence, ↑ control HH resources ↑ knowledge about health and nutrition, ↑ HH food security, ↑ food expenditures, ↑/NC food share, ↑ HH food consumption, ↑ dietary diversity, ↑ HH intake of fruits, vegetables, and ASF, ↑/NC intake of fats and sweets, ↑ participation in social networks, ↑ self-confidence, ↑ control over resources ↑ knowledge about health, NC hypertension, ↓ missed meals, ↑ health care utilization
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Home/Celebrity Net Worth/Celebrities/Pam Oliver Net Worth
Pam Oliver Net Worth
Pam Oliver Net Worth 2019: Wiki Biography, Married, Family, Measurements, Height, Salary, Relationships
Pam Oliver net worth is
Pam Oliver salary is
Pam Oliver Wiki Biography
Pamela Donielle Oliver was born on 10 March 1961, in Dallas, Texas USA, and is a sports caster, best known for being on the sidelines during National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) games. She’s worked with various broadcasting networks such as Fox and ESPN, but all of her efforts have helped put her net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Pam Oliver? As of late-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $6 million, mostly earned through a successful career in broadcast journalism. She reportedly earns $2 million annually as part of the NFL’s broadcasting team, and she’s also worked on the radio. As she continues her career it is expected that her wealth will increase.
Pam Oliver Net Worth $6 million
When she was young, Pam’s family moved around the United States because her father was part of the United States Air Force. She lived in California, Florida, Washington, Michigan, and Texas. As she grew up, she preferred watching sports shows instead of children’s shows, and also watched a lot more news shows compared to children’s shows. She later attended Niceville High School and excelled at various sports. She played basketball, tennis, and was part of the school’s track and field team. After matriculating, she went to Florida A&M University where she continued competing in track, and became a college All-American in the mile relay and the 400-meters. She graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism during 1984.
During her early career, she moved several times between TV and radio stations. In 1985 she joined WALB in Albany, Georgia, starting her career as a news reporter. After a year, she moved to WAAY-TV in Alabama, and then WIVB-TV in Buffalo, New York. In 1990, she then joined WTVT in Tampa, Florida, then started to focus on sports, becoming a sports anchor. She then moved to KHOU-TV a year later, continuing to work as a sports anchor. In 1993, she became a part if the ESPN television network and two years later moved to Fox Sports as a sideline reporter. She would join Pat Sumerall and John Madden as part of the network’s number one broadcast team. She also joined TNT in 2005 to be a sideline reporter during the NBA Playoffs. Her net worth was rising steadily.
In 2014, it was reported that it would be the last season Pam would report on the sidelines of the NFL, as she would be moving to the #2 NFL broadcasting team. However the following year, it was then announced that her sideline reporting job had been extended through the 2016 season while she was working as a part of the #2 broadcasting team. For her various achievements, Oliver was awarded the “Outstanding Woman in Journalism” award by Ebony.
For her personal life, it is known that Pam has been married to freelance producer Alvin Whitney since 1990. She was criticized during a Seahawks and 49ers NFC Championship Game when her hair was said to be like that of Star Wars character Chewbacca; she made a comment later on that people should focus more on her work rather than her appearance.
Full Name Pam Oliver
Salary $2 million
Date Of Birth March 10, 1961
Place Of Birth Dallas, Texas, United States
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.77 m)
Profession Sportscaster
Education Niceville High School, Florida A&M University
Spouse Alvin Whitney (m. 1990)
Parents John Oliver, Mary Oliver
Nicknames Pamela Donielle Oliver
TV Shows Fox NFL, NBA on TNT, Fox NFL Sunday
60 Minutes Sports 2013-2015 TV Series documentary Herself - Correspondent (segment "The Stars in Stripes") / Herself - Correspondent (segment "Sneakerhead") / Herself - Correspondent (segment "Big Vince") / ...
Super Bowl XLVIII 2014 TV Special Herself - Sideline Reporter
Enlisted 2014 TV Series Herself
The Best Man Holiday 2013 Herself
A Football Life 2013 TV Series Herself
Super Bowl XLV 2011 TV Special Herself - Sideline Reporter
Cubed 2010 TV Series Herself
D.L. Hughley Breaks the News 2009 TV Series Herself
2009 NFC Conference Championship 2009 TV Movie Herself - Sideline Reporter
Super Bowl XLII 2008 TV Special Herself
2005 NFC Championship Game 2006 TV Special Herself - Sideline Reporter
Super Bowl XXXIX 2005 TV Special Herself - Sideline Reporter
NFL on FOX 1997-2002 TV Series Herself - Sideline Reporter
1998 NFC Championship Game 1999 TV Movie Herself - Sideline Reporter
The NBA on TNT 1988 TV Series Sideline Reporter
as Herself
NFL on FOX (1997-2002)
as Herself - Sideline Reporter
2005 NFC Championship Game (2006)
$2 million $4 Million $6 Million 1961 1961-03-10 5 ft 9 in (1.77 m) 6000000 African American Alvin Whitney Alvin Whitney (m. 1990) American Dallas Florida A&M University John Madden John Oliver Journalist March 10 Mary Oliver Niceville High School Pam Oliver Pam Oliver Net Worth Pamela Donielle Oliver Pat Sumerall Richest Celebrities Sports commentator Sportscaster Texas TV Journalist United States United States of America
Sonia Kruger Net Worth
Ken Stabler Net Worth
Tristan Tales Net Worth
Brendan Coyle Net Worth
Joe Hachem Net Worth
Gattlin Griffith Net Worth
Rob Kardashian Jr. Net Worth
Che Fengsheng Net Worth
Ezekiel Elliott Net Worth
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Stroke Burden Varies Considerably Around the World
Pauline Anderson
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2011/07/05/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.018820.abstract
July 12, 2011 — Stroke mortality and disease burden relative to ischemic heart disease varies considerably around the world, with certain developing countries carrying a higher relative stroke burden, a new comprehensive global analysis shows.
“The most striking finding of this study was that even though heart disease was number 1 in terms of mortality burden as a whole worldwide, there are a substantial minority of countries where stroke is a larger burden than heart disease and many of these countries are in the developing world,” said lead author Anthony S. Kim, MD, assistant professor of neurology, University of California, San Francisco.
China has an “eye-opening” stroke mortality rate, say researchers.
China in particular is a “big outlier” when it comes to stroke burden relative to heart disease, said Dr. Kim. “The high mortality from stroke in this nation far outpaces ischemic heart disease, which is the exact opposite of the situation in the US, where heart disease outstrips stroke as a cause of death.”
The new study suggests that the greater stroke burden in developing areas of the world may be due to lower national income and vascular risk factors.
The study was published online July 5 inCirculation.
Researchers used data on mortality and rates of disability-adjusted life-years lost from stroke and ischemic heart disease from 192 World Health Organization (WHO) member countries. They also accessed national estimates of risk factors developed by the WHO Burden of Disease Program and income data from World Bank estimates.
Stroke Mortality
The study showed that mortality rates due to stroke varied from country to country. The rate ranged from 25 per 100,000 in Seychelles to 249 per 100,000 in Kyrgyzstan.
Although heart disease mortality rates generally exceeded those from stroke across the globe, 74 countries, many in Africa and Asia, had stroke mortality rates that were higher. For example, Kiribati, a small island nation in the South Pacific, had a mortality rate due to stroke of 143 per 100,000 that was 11 times higher than that for heart disease (13 per 100,000).
Kiribati’s ischemic heart disease mortality rate was the lowest, but at the other end of the scale, rates were relatively high in the Middle East and Europe. The highest rate was 456 per 100,000 in Turkmenistan. Azerbaijan had a heart disease mortality rate that was more than 3 times higher than that due to stroke: 2933 per 100,000 vs 843 per 100,000.
China was at the top of the list in terms of mortality from stroke compared with heart disease, coming in second only to Kiribati. China had a stroke mortality rate of 157 per 100,000, compared with a heart disease mortality rate of 63 per 100,000. It’s not clear from this study why China would be such an outlier, but other research shows the rate could be related to a higher proportion of hemorrhagic strokes vs ischemic strokes, Dr. Kim said.
He pointed to Japan as an interesting parallel. “In the past, Japan had a very similar pattern of stroke being more of an issue than heart disease, but as that society has developed over the past few decades, the pattern is looking more and more like a typical US western pattern, so heart disease has become more of an issue.”
Dr. Kim speculated that this change might be due to improved treatment of extremely high blood pressure. “That may also be borne out in China, where very high blood pressures of folks that are undiagnosed and untreated may contribute more to stroke than to heart disease.”
Disease Burden
Disease burden from stroke also varied globally, ranging from 175 disability-adjusted life-years lost per 100,000 in Seychelles to 2078 life-years lost per 100,000 in Kyrgyzstan. Disease burden from heart disease ranged from 145 years lost per 100,000 in Kiribati to 4259 years lost per 100,000 in Afghanistan.
Worldwide, disease burden from heart disease was greater than the burden from stroke, but this was not the case in 62 countries (32%), including China, Mongolia, Haiti, and Thailand, where the burden from stroke was greater.
Vascular risk factors such as diabetes, cholesterol levels, and body mass index played a role in the differences in relative rates of stroke mortality, but living standards also contributed.
“People tend to assume that the differences in the relative amounts of stroke and heart disease are mostly driven by differences in risk factors; so less well-controlled hypertension, diabetes, and the other typical risk factors for vascular disease would explain the differences in burdens,” said Dr. Kim. “But one of the surprising findings of the study is that availability of resources as measured by national income has a much stronger influence on disease burden. This is because it probably affects other aspects that are separate from just the biology, including access to care and access to treatment.”
The burden of stroke and heart disease in developing countries highlighted by this study is something of an eye-opener because these diseases are often considered illnesses of the western world. The finding runs contrary to the “typical notion” that infectious disease is the primary burden in developing nations, said Dr. Kim.
The recognition of this burden should help prioritize public health resources and determine where to allocate such resources for prevention and treatment, said Dr. Kim. “Knowing about the distribution as well as identifying outliers, and then maybe later going back in and understanding what’s going on in those particular countries to make the relative disease burden so different than the overall pattern, could be informative,” Dr. Kim said.
United Nations Meeting
In an accompanying editorial, Sidney C. Smith Jr., MD, professor of medicine and director of the Center of Cardiovascular Science and Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the global variation in cardiovascular disease mortality and the high stroke burden in some lower-income countries should be topics for discussion at a major upcoming United Nations meeting.
The aim of the September meeting is to determine priority actions and interventions in response to rising rates of noncommunicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease around the world.
Quite striking.
The meeting “represents an unprecedented opportunity for those involved in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease and all other concerned parties, including the member nations of the United Nations and their health ministries, to act and initiate priority programs and interventions that can avert the evolving pandemic of cardiovascular disease and address the devastating worldwide effects of non-communicable diseases,” wrote Dr. Smith.
Approached for a comment on the study, Seemant Chaturvedi, MD, professor of neurology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said the paper is a reminder of the significant geographic variation in stroke and heart disease rates.
The high stroke burden in China is “quite striking,” he said in an email to Medscape Medical News.
“Further studies are needed to address which treatable risk factors are most prevalent in each country,” said Dr. Chaturvedi. “For example, in some countries, diabetes may be the main target whereas in other locales, treating hypertension and smoking cessation may give the biggest bang for the buck.”
Dr. Kim, Dr. Smith, and Dr. Chaturvedi have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Circulation. Published online July 5, 2011.
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The road goes ever on
For the last few days, my wife and I have been slowly working our way through the commentary tracks for the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which sometimes feels like as long of a journey as any of the characters undertake. So far, we’re sticking to the primary commentaries for each movie, featuring Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, which barely scratches the surface of the material available: each film has three other commentaries for members of the cast and crew, adding up to something like twelve hours of additional listening, not to mention the countless documentaries, featurettes, and galleries on the three bonus discs. (It’s a borrowed box set—my brother-in-law lent it to us over Christmas—and I doubt we’ll get through even half of it before it’s time to give it back.) It also makes me feel as if I’m a decade late to the party. The commentaries for each movie were recorded and released shortly before the following installments appeared in theaters, which serves as a reminder of how more than ten years can seem to slip by in a flash, as well as a fascinating glimpse into how Jackson and his collaborators felt about each picture at the time.
It’s obvious, for instance, that they regard The Two Towers as the weakest movie in the trilogy. Part of this is due to the fact, as Jackson notes, that it’s arguably the least interesting of the original three volumes, with quintessential second-act problems blown up to a massive scale, but it also appears to have suffered during the production process. Shooting began using a relatively early version of the script, and the filmmakers admit that if they had been given more time, they might have reworked certain elements, particularly Frodo and Sam’s interminable sojourn with Faramir. Postproduction and promotional duties for Fellowship also left them with a tighter working schedule than before. As a result, there’s a mildly defensive, even apologetic tone to many of their comments, which explicitly respond to criticisms that the movie received after its release. We’re repeatedly invited to let certain scenes “play out” in our heads with certain controversial elements removed, so we can see why, for instance, it was the right call to give Aragorn a fakeout death scene at the end of the warg attack, or why Faramir’s character needs to be rewritten to make him more tempted by the Ring.
These are all valid points, but they also point to a weakness in The Two Towers that, in turn, goes a long way toward explaining why the two parts we’ve seen thus far of The Hobbit are so much less satisfying than their predecessors: it’s written from the head, not the heart. The Two Towers plays less like a story that demanded to be told in its own right than as an ingenious solution to a series of narrative conundrums. On paper, the calls that Jackson and the others made are absolutely right: the big climaxes of Shelob and the confrontation with Saruman were best postponed to the next movie—or, in Saruman’s case, cut out of the theatrical trilogy altogether—and other stories had to be pumped up to take up the dramatic slack. The result, though, is a movie where we can sense the pieces being assembled into a passably coherent whole, rather than one that unfolds under its own momentum. That’s true of The Hobbit as well, except that the seams are even more visible. Jackson and his collaborators deserve a lot of credit for pulling off these movies at all, but it’s a bad sign when we’re equally aware of the logic taking place behind the scenes as of the events unfolding on the screen itself.
And this makes me strangely hopeful about The Hobbit‘s final installment. The two movies released so far have been watchable but underwhelming, and that’s largely because they’ve been thought through rather than felt: a lot of their energy is devoted to inventing satisfying climaxes where none existed before, figuring out an approach to transitional material, and giving characters enough to do while keeping important parts in reserve. In theory, There and Back Again shouldn’t suffer from the same issues—its climaxes are already there, and most of the heavy lifting has been done by the earlier chapters. It’s even possible that the first two movies will seem stronger in retrospect. (I’m also looking forward to the inevitable fan edit that cuts the trilogy together into a single three-hour movie, which I suspect will become the version of choice for a lot of casual viewers.) That’s the funny thing about these films: because we have so much other material to draw upon, from the original books to the extended cuts to the vast amount of conceptual art, they still feel like works in progress. More than any other movies I know, they’re capable of being endlessly revised in our heads, or of allowing us, as Philippa Boyens says in her commentary, to dream of what might have been.
Tagged with Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers
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Home \ Thought Leaders \ The NCIS own goal is good, but not enough
The NCIS own goal is good, but not enough
The recent Supreme Court judgment in which the Court of Appeal declined an appeal by the Director General of the Namibian Central Intelligence Service (NCIS) is certainly welcomed but limited. The NCIS Boss approached the High Court last year seeking to interdict The Patriot newspaper and its then editor from publishing information relating to the alleged properties of the NCIS. Following the failure at the High Court, the NCIS boss then approached the highest court in the land to review the decision of the High Court. The appeal was also unsuccessful, much to the excitement of many media practitioners. However, the end is not near.
I pause for a moment to commend the NCIS Director General for exploring the available legal avenue in the quest to safeguard what he believed to be lawfully provided-for rights, rather than resorting to some arbitrary actions as witnessed in some jurisdictions. The legal challenge has afforded interested parties an opportunity to hear the courts providing commentary on the operations and activities of the media in the country.
The Supreme Court wasted little time in reminding the NCIS that it was not sufficient for the spy agency to stroll into court and launch “a mere recitation of the sections of the legislation” in an effort to protect certain “classified information” without disclosing same to the court. The court must assess the nature of the information sought to be protected in terms of the law against other constitutionally guaranteed rights such as the right to the freedom of expression and the press. Put slightly differently, the court is not powerless when a state agent claims that national security is threatened, but it is the court that must determine whether the alleged facts and details do indeed warrant the contemplated protection. I therefore associate with the views of my brother Bernhard Tjatjara titled “Weathering the storm? The Case of The Patriot” and published on 17 May 2019, stressing that guidance from the court on what would constitute national security would have been useful. Maybe in an appropriate case, when certain facts are presented before it, guidelines on factors to be considered when determining national security shall be given. Hopefully that day is not far into the future.
The biggest worry for the media fraternity and those wishing to see the full enjoyment of the right to the freedom of expression and the press is that section 4 (1) (b) of the Protection of Information Act (Act No. 84 of 1982) is still part of the Namibian lawbook and the NCIS could place reliance on it any day. The affected party might not be as stubborn and resolute as The Patriot, to take the matter to final adjudication and hence might be threatened into muted silence. Further, definitions given to terms such as “prohibited place” and “security matter”, might have to be revised to factor in on-going anti-corruption drives and the need for enhanced transparency and accountability in the activities and operations of security agencies such as the NCIS. Through its Constitution, Namibia has opted for the protection of national security and subscribing to an open and democratic society, where in fitting circumstances one shall yield for the other.
I therefore call on all interested parties such as the Editors Forum of Namibia and the various media houses to mobilise resources and challenge the constitutionality of section 4 (1) (b), to determine whether the provision has indeed overstayed, following the constitutional dispensation, ushered in on 21 March 1990. The broad nature of the provision, coupled with the definition accorded to some terms might not be consistent with the ideals captured in the Constitution. At present, there appears to be a blanket gag on the disclosure of any matter relating to the activities and operations of the NCIS. Therefore, such disclosure might be held as unlawful, even when it is in the best interest of the public, such as disclosing and exposing corrupt deeds disguised as legitimate activities of the NCIS. This is in view of the fact that there has not been a public attempt by the NCIS to explain how the reported donation to an association of its former employees was made and the legal basis for such donation of taxpayers’ money. This could be rooted in the possible misplaced belief that the NCIS does not owe the public a duty of accountability, especially in relation to how it expends public resources allocated to the spy agency.
It is therefore submitted that the failure of the NCIS in the courts was primarily owing to its seemingly arrogant approach by failing to take the courts into confidence and disclosing the factual basis for the information it sought to suppress from publication. Hence the earlier “own goal” reference. Leaving a real possibility for a properly argued section 4 (1) (b) application to succeed in future, even before the constitutionality of section 4 (1) (b) has been determined.
Simply reporting about legal hurdles relating to the full exercise of the right to freedom of expression and the press year on year is not enough; it is time that these limitations are lawfully challenged and hopefully jettisoned for want of constitutional compliance.
Home \ Thought Leaders \ The NCIS own goal is good, but not enough - New Era Live
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CHOP Leverages EHR data to identify cancer patients for malnutrition
Mon Nov 5, 2018 By: Antoine Tags: chop ehr data malnutrition cancer patients
Researchers leveraged the software to monitor changes in the anthropometric measurements to assess each hospitalized patient’s risk of malnutrition.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has announced it has developed what it calls the first automated pediatric malnutrition screen tool using EHR data.
In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics, the tool analyzed anthropometric measurements in the hospital’s Epic EHR— height, including body mass index, length and weight—for inpatients in the pediatric oncology unit at CHOP for a little more than a year, representing about 2,100 hospitalizations.
Researchers leveraged the software to monitor changes in the anthropometric measurements to assess each hospitalized patient’s risk of malnutrition. For those pediatric cancer patients determined to be at risk, the automated program categorized their risk as mild, moderate or severe depending on the severity.
In the study, 47% were classified as at mild risk, 24% as moderate risk and 29% as severe—consistent with clinical experience and other research. Also, the overall prevalence of malnutrition was determined to be 42% for the study period, which was also consistent with previous studies.
Charles Phillip, author of the study and a pediatric oncologist at CHOP says that the test study demonstrates the feasibility of using EHR data to create an automated screening tool for malnutrition in pediatric inpatients. He added that further research is needed to formally assess this screening tool, but it has the potential to identify at-risk patients in the early stages of malnutrition, so we can intervene quickly. “In addition, this tool could be implemented to screen all pediatric patients for malnutrition, because it uses data common to all electronic medical records,” he says.
Phillips notes that estimates vary—depending on the type of pediatric cancer—but as many as 60% of patients will have some form of malnutrition during therapy. He also points out that there is currently no universal standardized approach to screen children in hospitals.
“Electronic health record data is incredibly important,” concludes Phillips, who adds that the automated tool provides alerts to hospital clinicians so they can quickly conduct medical interventions if deemed necessary. An email to providers lists the patient’s name, medical record number, unit, as well as malnutrition severity level.
Ultimately, Phillips would like to “fully internalize” the tool into CHOP’s Epic EHR. “We’re thinking very carefully about how to best integrate this into sustainable clinical decision support.”
Healthcare IT Expert
New Resource Portal at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia(CHOP) Offers Genomic, Clinical Data Resources to Pediatric Health Researchers, Families
Calling Out Health Equity on Martin Luther King Day 2019
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This Is a Love Story
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Better yet, it’s two love stories.
The first started in fall 1945, when first-year Gerald Rauenhorst was looking for a date for the upcoming St. Thomas homecoming dance. Gerry’s older brother Bob suggested he reach out to “that cute girl” at St. Catherine’s, Henrietta, who was from Bird Island, Minnesota, the neighboring town to Olivia where Rauenhorst grew up farming with his family.
“She said ‘yes,’ and I’m really glad she did,” said Mark Rauenhorst, one of their seven children.
Gerald and Henrietta were partners in every way during their 60-year marriage, including growing the Rauenhorst construction business into a successful company, The Opus Group. They lived out the convictions of their Catholic values through the raising of their family, ethical business leadership and the community-impacting philanthropy of their GHR Foundation.
“You would be hard pressed to find a family that has done so much for this community,” said Father Larry Snyder, St. Thomas vice president for mission, who worked extensively with the Rauenhorsts when he was with Catholic Charities.
And they were generous benefactors to Gerry’s beloved alma mater, St. Thomas, where he developed the understanding for leading “a fully integrated life in which success was rooted in faith, family and giving back to the community through both business and philanthropy,” daughter Amy Rauenhorst Goldman said.
Through the Rauenhorsts’ relationship with St. Thomas, the second love story played out over 70-plus years as they impacted the school in countless ways with a constant generation of ideas on how to move St. Thomas forward, such as the Aristotle Fund, Center for Family Business and endowed chairs, as well as the leadership and support for those ideas.
“I can’t think of anyone who St. Thomas would owe a greater debt of gratitude to than Gerry and Hanky Rauenhorst, with the possible exception of I.A. O’Shaughnessy,” said former St. Thomas President Father Dennis Dease, who counted Gerry as one of his closest friends.
Dease recounted his annual beach walks in Florida near the home of longtime board member Rauenhorst, who was “like a popcorn machine” of ideas about St. Thomas’ growth. The incorporation of so many of those ideas – from opening a business school in downtown Minneapolis, to bringing a law school back to St. Thomas, to evolving from a college to a university – speaks volumes to Rauenhorst’s leadership. He wanted other people to have the benefit of everything St. Thomas could offer, which for him as a first-generation college student was very influential.
“I love this place, this University of St. Thomas,” Rauenhorst said not long before he died in 2014, four years after Henrietta.
“He was so thankful for not only the skills that he learned, but that he learned in an environment of faith, of values,” Mark said.
“My dad would really point to St. Thomas as just transformational for him,” Goldman added.
$50 million gift funds GHR Fellows program
With that transformational experience in mind, GHR Foundation, now chaired by Goldman, a St. Thomas trustee and the foundation’s CEO, has moved to the next stage in helping the university move forward yet again. The foundation and St. Thomas have developed GHR Fellows program, a highly competitive program for undergraduate students majoring in business, which will welcome its first cohort in fall 2019.
“I’m really excited that GHR Fellows program will animate the campus with students and alumni that embody Gerry’s spirit,” President Julie Sullivan said. “They will be selected based on their embracing of that spirit, wanting to envision new possibilities, wanting to advance the common good, to be people of integrity.”
The students will emulate that entrepreneurial and ethical spirit, and learn how to use them to be successful. Students will have a dynamic wraparound of programming alongside their St. Thomas education, including full-tuition scholarships for four years; a fully funded January Term study abroad experience; access to unique summer internships and C-suite community, business and university leaders; customized service learning and social entrepreneurship opportunities; and eventually, membership in a GHR Fellows alumni network of fellowship and support.
“The people who are given the opportunity to go through this program are high achievers with high potential, and this program will give them the skillset to advance that. … Students graduating from this program will be fast-tracked into leadership roles,” said Joe Reardon ’78, ’01 MBA, managing director at Versique Executive Search and Consulting, one of the top-ranked search firms and executive recruiters in Minnesota. “I had never heard of a program like this before. I’ve heard of programs with a heavier focus on internships, but that’s one small piece of what these students will be exposed to.”
A large part of the program’s development focused on infusing GHR Foundation’s four pillars – ethically minded, innovative, community engaged and globally aware – with the Fellows programming. As Sullivan pointed out, those pillars already aligned with the St. Thomas mission.
“That’s clearly a part of our educational mission here, to develop these skills and have people apply them to imagining these new possibilities,” she said.
With an emphasis on bringing professional experience into students’ education, GHR Fellows will help prepare students to be effective, ethical business leaders.
“They will be exposed to entrepreneurial ways of doing business as undergraduates, will be connected to business leaders within our community, and understand that they can be an ethical businessperson as well as be a successful businessperson,” Goldman said.
For U.S. Bancorp CEO Andy Cecere ’82, the Fellows program is exactly what the companies of the Twin Cities and beyond are seeking.
“It matches the needs of companies, which are great, together with the opportunities for students, and puts St. Thomas in the middle of it. GHR Fellows is doing the right thing,” he said.
With 15-person cohorts each year, a high level of personal attention will be geared toward each student’s growth and development as they benefit from mentoring relationships, individual leadership plans and coaching.
“These are all tactics employed by executives well into their career. Starting these practices early on and enabling students to see the benefits they provide is going to put them in position to accelerate that growth process,” Reardon said. “I coach executives on starting a lot of things included in the curriculum, and many executives don’t start until 20 years into their career or more.”
The Fellows program is coupled with St. Thomas’ long tradition of creating ethically minded leaders who make it their business to advance the common good. It is no surprise, then, to hear how such a strong partnership with GHR Foundation is once again helping St. Thomas move forward into the future, creating another chapter in these ongoing love stories.
St. Thomas Kicks Off $200 Million Scholarship Initiative
With its seminal $50 million commitment to cultivating ethical business excellence in St. Thomas students, GHR Foundation kicked off a drive to infuse $200 million into scholarships over the next eight years.
“Reducing student debt is a priority for St. Thomas,” President Julie Sullivan said.
In the 2016-17 academic year, 99 percent of St. Thomas first-year students received financial aid, yet too many students still have unmet financial needs. With $200 million scholarship support, St. Thomas expects to double the scholarship endowment, thereby providing a sustainable source of scholarship funds to help decrease the amount of students’ unmet financial need.
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Tag Archives: Native American
Domestic, Race
Acknowledging Columbus’ Painful Legacy
Totem Pole, Washington state
The Trail of Tears took place nearly 200 years ago, and thousands of Native Americans died during this forced migration. Yet, in the United States we don’t often reflect on this black mark in our history. We do annually reflect on the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the America’s in 1492. An arrival that marks the start of the European colonization of the continent, as well as the subsequent death and subjugation of indigenous people and the establishment of the Atlantic slave trade.
Today marks Columbus Day — a federal holiday since the 1930s. It wasn’t until I heard of Howard Zinn’s The People’s History of the United States (published first in 1980) that I began to reconsider the American history I’d learned as a child (which painted Columbus as a curious explorer and civilizing cornerstone). The arrival of Columbus in the Bahamas marked a dramatic shift in our nation’s history, but whether it should be celebrated or not is a question in a growing debate. Some activists have sought to change the focus of the holiday towards, “Indigenous People’s Day.”
In observance of the colonization and genocide that followed Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, I’ve gathered a few stories worth checking out today.
1. On Columbus Day, Indigenous Urge Celebration of Native Culture and Teaching of Americas’ Genocide: Democracy Now filmed this segment in Fort Lewis College, which hosts a large Native American student population and an event today called, “Real History of the Americas.” Three women affiliated with the college talk about alternative histories, identity, and cultural trauma experienced by generations of Native Americans.
2. Stand on the Side of Love with Native Women: This blog posted a reminder today about the tenuous position of the Violence Against Women Act facing congress. It’s fitting on what some call “Indigenous People’s Day,” that we remember the disproportionate rates at which Native Women continue to experience sexual assault and violence. One in three Native Women is estimated to be raped in her life.
3. Columbus’ Legacy of Categorization: The Yale student paper published a really interesting column from a Native American student addressing his take on Columbus day and his own identity. He explains how he struggles when people ask him, “How Native are you?” This piece indicates where we still have room for improvement in addressing our history of colonialism and it’s insidious, lingering effects.
4. Columbus Day Vs. Indigenous Peoples’ Day: How About Happy Immigration Day?: Mediaite addressed the conflict of whether or not today should be a holiday. Author Philip Bump dismisses some of the arguments for Indigenous People’s Day with the explanation “People are — and always have been — selfish jerks… Our forefathers were oppressed and were oppressors.” He suggests forgetting the controversy and celebrating the diverse fabric of America caused by immigration. It’s an interesting piece, but it feels dismissive for the sake of a rosy conclusion.
Regardless of the name of the holiday, it’s important for Americans to observe the reality of our history. Acknowledging historical trauma on the Columbus Day holiday provides national validation and healing for part of our tumultuous history and a voice for our Native American fellow citizens.
What are your thoughts on Columbus Day? Is it antiquated? Is it important to maintain?
Tagged Columbus Day, Commentary, Empowerment, Historical Trauma, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Native American, Racism, Recovery, Tribal
Domestic, Health, Race, Women
Delving into the issue of Sexual Assault in Native Populations
Last spring, Jacqui Callari-Robinson visited Sawyer County in Wisconsin, which hosts the Lac Courte Oreilles tribe and the Oakwood Haven shelter for victims of domestic and sexual violence. She worked with a focus group of women to determine what services tribal communities needed to protect against these issues. Ten women of various tribes throughout the state participated and shared their own experiences.
All ten of the women were victims of sexual assault. They did not receive physical or emotional treatment, nor legal justice. Callari-Robinson holds onto this memory as she strives for full sexual assault response coverage throughout the state. I too grasped onto this story.
Callari-Robinson, the director of health services for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault (WCASA), keeps an eye on all the SANE certified nurses and SART teams throughout the state. SANE stands for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, a national certification for nurses who conduct forensic exams and collect evidence from victims of sexual assault. The exams play a crucial role in the medical treatment of victims and subsequent cases against their perpetrators. Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART) consist of medical personnel, law enforcement, and advocates within a community who work together to help victims of assault.
Many of the eleven Native American tribes in Wisconsin do not have SANE nurses or SART programs on their reservations. Callari-Robinson forged relationships over the last 14 years with tribal community members and advocates to try to develop these programs.
My discussions with Callari-Robinson mark the beginning of my investigation into domestic violence and sexual assault programs in Indian country. A report from Amnesty International pulled me further into this issue. Maze of Injustice documents the high volume of indigenous American women who experience assault. This report came out in 2007, and the CDC confirmed in their 2010 Survey that native women still experience assault more frequently than women of other races.
Why is this problem so pervasive in Native communities? Maze of Injustice reports that in our American history of colonialism rape became a tool of conquest placing Native women in a position vulnerable to abuse. And some Native Americans report that they inherited abuse practices from colonizers. Boarding schools which indoctrinated indigenous youths with a punitive system taught them to be ashamed of their culture. When these “reformed” Natives returned to their communities as adults, they brought punitive methods with them. C.J. Doxtater, an Oneida member and employee of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence shared this theory with me, and the anecdote that Native children who spoke their indigenous language were punished with pins in their tongue.
Many Native groups have sprung up in response to reports of high numbers of sexual and domestic abuse against Native American women and children including Mending the Sacred Hoop, a group based in Minnesota. They strive to disrupt the cycles of abuse that affect Native communities. Other groups addressing this issue include American Indians Against Abuse in Wisconsin and the national Indian Health Service. These groups work hard to address sexual assault and domestic violence on tribal land. Prevention of abuse remains a priority. And considering the focus group with ten out of ten women retaining the trauma and memory of abuse, these organizations work for healing and recovery on the individual and cultural level.
Tagged Commentary, Domestic Violence, Native American, Rape, Recovery, Reservation, Sexual Assault, Tribal, Women's Health
Three Different Tribes, Three Different Systems
Image by Salvatore Vuono
Amanda Rockman stood back from the podium during her keynote address, as dictated by her nine-month-pregnant belly. Rockman spoke at the Coming Together of Peoples Conference, just seven years after she graduated from the UW Law School
“I can remember being in law school and thinking, ‘Jeeze, I really hope that’s me someday giving that keynote address,’” said Rockman. “[I thought] when I go, I’ll have long, grey hair.”
Rockman, despite her lack of grey hairs, plays an important role in the Ho-Chunk tribe as an associate trial judge. Rockman presented about the Ho-Chunk Healing to Wellness Court, a drug court operated by the tribal judiciary that provides an alternative to prison.
The wellness court offers a non-punitive treatment that works to “restore traditional values,” explained Rockman. The Ho-Chunk Nation consists of pockets of land throughout the state, but the Healing to Wellness program serves native and non-native offenders in Jackson County.
The court has special jurisdiction allotted by the legislature, and the program includes community service requirements, cultural activities, education, and rehabilitation services.
The Ho-Chunk tribe has assumed more judicial responsibility while also developing their tribal police force. As Wisconsin remains a Public Law 280 state, the tribe is not allowed to prosecute felonies. Rockman and other Native American law specialists strive for more sovereignty for law enforcement and prosecution.
The Menominee tribe in Wisconsin regained full criminal jurisdiction over misdemeanor and felony crimes. Anecdotes from the Menominee prosecutor at the conference, however, made it clear that tribes with criminal jurisdiction are still working out kinks in their judicial systems. They still have limits on the length of sentenced prison terms as well as ongoing struggles with funding and staff support within tribal legal systems.
The Lac Courte Oreilles tribal police are co-deputized with the Sawyer County police. The tribal police address misdemeanors on the reservation while the county takes on the rest. Because of this relationship the tribal and county police can also work together.
Tribal communities maintain a balance of cooperation with and independence from local law enforcement and jurisdiction, and each tribe faces unique issues. Each tribe has different revenue, and while many of them have casinos for community income, geographic location often affects the success of the casinos. Location, funding sources, and relationships with local law enforcement all affect how tribes are able to address crime on their reservations.
Ho-Chunk’s drug court illustrates a tribal judiciary working to better the tribe and surrounding community through rehabilitation. The Healing to Wellness Court allows the Ho-Chunk to address the addictions that drive repeat crimes, rather than repeatedly provide the same punishments to the same offenders.
As CJ Doxtater, Oneida member and advocate at Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, explained, “we don’t throw our people away.”
Rockman outlined all the logistics and challenges that face the growing Healing to Wellness Court and touched on the growing responsibility assumed by the Ho-Chunk judiciary and law enforcement. Despite the challenges, Rockman felt good about gaining sovereignty for the tribal nation and working to improve the community.
“I think it’s really important for Ho-Chunk people to have the ability to become a part of our society, as opposed to just shame and guilt,” said Rockman. “What I’ve seen from the participants has been nothing but hope.”
Tagged Empowerment, Jurisdiction, Legislation, Native American, Sovereignty, Tribal
Commentary, Domestic, Health, Women
Tribes Fight Violence Against Women
Enjoy News from the Margins’ first podcast! M. Brent Leonhard, tribal attorney and supporter of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), presented on the impact of VAWA on tribal sovereignty. He spoke at UW-Madison for the Indigenous Law Students Association’s Coming Together of Peoples Conference on March 23, 2012.
Tagged Abuse, Commentary, Domestic Violence, Empowerment, Girls, Jurisdiction, Legislation, Native American, Rape, Sexual Assault, TLOA, Tribal, VAWA, Women's Health
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6 people dead, 20 injured as storms ravage northern Greece
Jul 11, 2019 04:02 am News 71
Powerful storms raged over Greece's northern Halkidiki region Wednesday, leaving at least six people dead and 20 injured as trees and electricity pylons toppled over, power was knocked out, and roads were blocked.
Police and fire services said the deaths occurred late Wednesday in three separate incidents.
Two elderly Czech tourists were killed when strong winds and water swept away their travel trailer, according to police.
Elsewhere in the region, a woman and an eight-year-old boy, both Romanian nationals, were killed after a roof collapsed on a restaurant in Nea Plagia. A man and a young boy, both Russians, died after a tree collapsed near their hotel in the seaside town of Potidea, authorities said.
"It is the first time in my 25-year career that I have lived through something like this," Athansios Kaltsas, director of the medical centre in Nea Moudania, where many of the injured were treated for fractures, told Greek television.
"It was so abrupt, and so sudden."
Kaltsas said patients taken to the clinic ranged in age from eight months to over 70 years old. Some suffered head injuries from trees and other falling objects, he said.
The Halkidiki region, a three-finger peninsula near the northern city of Thessaloniki, has multiple seaside resorts and is popular with tourists in the summer.
'Extremely unusual' weather
The fire service said it rescued 30 people from buildings due to the bad weather and that personnel outside the affected region were on standby in case more rescues were needed.
Earlier, in southern Greece, eight migrants, including two children, were injured when high winds blew a tree down onto a tent at a camp for migrants and refugees in Oinofyta, about 60 kilometres north of the Greek capital, Athens. Everyone who was injured was hospitalized.
Greece has set up dozens of migrant camps across the country following 2016 agreements that limited travel of asylum seekers to other European Union countries.
The strong winds, combined with temperatures of 37 C, also fanned three large wildfires in southern Greece.
Such severe weather in Greece is "extremely unusual" for this time of year, said meteorologist Klearxos Marousakis. Summers in the European country are typically hot and dry. Meteorologists forecast it would continue to rain in the area into Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, authorities declared Halkidiki in a state of emergency, and Greece's newly appointed citizens' protection minister was due to visit early on Thursday.
people injured storms ravage northern greece
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Slowing Down to Speed Up
Workers in the Fast-paced High Tech Industry Are Learning the Value of Slowing Down
What started as a grassroots effort among a few colleagues to meditate during the lunch hour has now grown into an officially supported 10-week long program at Intel.
Now in its third year, the Awake@Intel program imparts on participants concepts such as mindfulness, intention and relational intelligence. Many other companies are also deploying similar courses.
It may seem paradoxical that taking a moment to slow down and be mindful would be beneficial to environments where agility is paramount, but elite athletes such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Derek Jeter practiced mindfulness techniques to help them focus on the way to earning their championship titles.
Those same mindful practices are helping workers at Intel, many of whom are engineers, lower their stress levels, boost focus and increase productivity, say the program instructors. The benefits, besides an individual’s wellbeing, are far-reaching. Stress costs U.S. businesses upwards of $300 billion annually, according to the American Institute of Stress.
“The idea is to give people a set of fundamental skills that they can use at anytime, anywhere, to help them deal with stressful situations,” said Lindsay VanDriel, a platform strategist in Intel’s Software and Services Group and a co-founder of Awake@Intel. “Instead of having their brilliance diluted across multiple projects all the time, they can bring all of their brilliance into laser-like focus, go deep and apply that into one project.”
Intel is among a growing list of companies, such as Google, General Mills, Ford and LinkedIn, to offer classes on mindfulness. For health insurance company Aetna, the idea came from its CEO Mark Bertolini, an active practitioner of yoga and meditation. Aetna now offers a 10-week program to teach thousands of its employees mindfulness and yoga. In 2012, the company saw a 7.3 percent reduction in medical claims, which translated to $9 million in savings. Aetna also saw an additional 62 minutes of productivity per week for each worker, worth around $3,000 per worker per year.
Intel employees Lindsay VanDriel and Qua Veda are the co-founders of Awake@Intel, a mindfulness program.
Led by VanDriel and another Intel employee Qua Veda, who is a market research analyst in IT, the Awake@Intel program is now taught at Intel’s campuses in Hillsboro, Oregon and Folsom, California, and there are plans to expand it to offices in Chandler, Arizona; Santa Clara, California; and Bangalore, India, by the end of the year. Intel locations in Costa Rica and Japan have also expressed interest in running Awake@Intel.
While mediation practices are an integral part of the course, the majority of each 90-minute Awake@Intel session involves participants journaling thoughts, discussing concepts, and sharing problem-solving techniques.
The results are measurable. According to Veda, in the early stages of planning the program, Intel management identified nine key areas to survey relating to feelings of stress, ability to focus, engagement in meetings, creativity and innovation, among others.
“We saw a positive 2-point shift on a 10-point scale on all indicators, and we’ve replicated that over the years,” said Veda. “We have very consistent results even across different groups.”
Focused Problem-Solving
Anand Sharma, a software engineer who completed the Awake@Intel course in April, found that practicing meditation has alleviated headaches and increased energy. In turn, he realizes the benefits while at work and detailed an instance where he and his team had a meeting to make a critical decision regarding an upcoming software release.
“The team was not sure about delivering a key component that was expected from us in the next few weeks,” said Sharma, noting that the team was already stretched thin and working on multiple tasks in parallel. On top of that, the 30 minutes scheduled for the meeting stretched to two hours. “At the end of two hours we had a solution which we could not have imagined. This was only possible with patience and empathy.”
Those positive results have even found their way to skeptics who never previously practiced meditation and mindfulness. Brian Cockrell, an Intel software engineer who participated in Awake@Intel in 2013, went into the program “very skeptical,” but discovered it “was very down to Earth and not at all new agey.” The mindfulness concepts even helped Cockrell devise a solution to an engineering problem far more quickly than expected by filtering out distractions.
Nearly two years later, Cockrell says that even though he doesn’t practice daily meditation, he still applies the concepts he learned from the class.
“The core concepts are still with me. I set an intention most days in order to organize my busy personal and work life,” Cockrell said. “I shut off email and turn off instant messenger frequently so that I can concentrate. I am mindful about not constantly using my phone when I’m with family and friends so that I can be engaged with them.”
More Mindful Managers
It’s not only engineers who are finding new ways of working. Managers such as Matthew Bruce, an engineering manager in the IoT group, are finding that mindful practices are helping them become more effective in their leadership roles.
“It starts with your conversations with your employees and the way you relate to them,” said Bruce. “You invest in a lot of people, and you don’t want them to burn out and go on to something else. If you’re constantly focused on whether or not the person you’re talking to has met expectations, then you’ve dehumanized the relationship.”
Interest in mindfulness on the rise, according to data from the American Mindfulness Research Association. (The blue bar represents general publications on mindfulness; the red bar is medical publications on mindfulness.)
Photo: Bea Rataj
When asked whether or not there is anything wrong with the results-oriented culture at Intel, Bruce replied, “It’s not broken on one level that says only results matter, but just because it’s not broken, doesn’t mean it can’t be optimized. As a manager your goal is for long-term, sustainable output.”
Bea Rataj, a localization manager in IT, said that mindful and presence concepts helps her engage better in daily meetings. “My mind is clearer. I remember more about what was being said. I understand things better and can provide better input.”
“I used to come home tired, grumpy, frazzled and wasn’t much fun to be around. Now I come home just tired,” Rataj continued. “More importantly, the quality of tired is that of having done a good day’s work and feeling satisfied with it. I have felt more engaged and am actually looking forward to work the next day.”
Awake Inside and Out
Besides offering the program at more Intel campuses, the Awake@Intel co-founders are looking to help specific groups both inside and outside the company. “There are about 2,000 veterans at Intel and I would like a special offering for them,” VanDriel noted.
Graduates of Awake@Intel are also reaching outside of the company on their own personal time, to places such as high schools or working directly with at-risk youth groups, to share mindful concepts.
“It’s an inspiring example of how employees can be empowered and engaged to make something great happen,” said Veda.
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Vienna Austria Makeup Courses
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Vienna Austria Makeup Artist Courses
There are a few cities that can compare to the imperial grandeur of Vienna, which used to be the center of the Habsburg monarchy. The Lipizzaner stallions still perform graceful routines. Among the old buildings in Vienna, the Schonbrunn Palace and the Imperial Palace stand out. They are seen as the bastions of Viennese imperial power. You can visit the Hofburg to see the Imperial Treasury and Sisi Museum. These two museums feature exhibits of items from the Habsburg Empire.
Vienna is also known for its modern design. In the past ten years, a product design industry has evolved in the country. You can discover the history of Vienna’s design industry by visiting the Museum of Applied Arts or the Leopold Museum.
The city also has contemporary and postmodern architectural designs that blend with the historic ones. One good example of modern museum architecture is the MuseumsQuartier, which is constructed in a public space around the former stables of the horses of Habsburg. Contemporary design buildings include the Twin City Liners boat landing and the Hauptbahnhof, which is the main train station of the city.
While taking Vienna Austria makeup courses, you will discover the musical treasures of the city as well. A vast number of great musicians and composers were born, lived or worked in the city. The Musikverein and Staatsoper continue to play music from Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Bruckner, Brahms, Johann Strauss, and Schubert, just to name a few. The historic churches in the city also perform music of Handel and Bach.
It is hard to find a more livable city than Vienna. The city serves the best coffee brews, wines, and traditional foods. It also boosts of an efficient transport system that can take you from one point in the city to another.
Start a career in the beauty industry in the city by enrolling in one of the Vienna Austria makeup courses. The Vienna Austria makeup online courses allow you to learn the proper way of applying makeup and a lot more.
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Wingman Wednesday by trunkprc on January 3, 2018 add comment
Photo Credit: Lesley Bryce
* Feature originally ran on 04/28/17
It’s a super terrific day and here’s why. Echo Kellum who plays superhero Mr. Terrific on The CW’s “Arrow” stopped by TrunkSpace to let us pick his brain about his skyrocketing career, including his laugh-inducing work on standup stages across the country where many first fell in love with the Chicago native.
With “Arrow” set to return for a sixth season in the fall, Kellum will be continuing his crime fighting ways, but in the meantime we sat down with the “Girlfriend’s Day” star to discuss the first time he suited up, navigating the passions of the fanboy landscape, and… Mr. McGibblets!
TrunkSpace: What was going through your head the first time you saw yourself in the full Mr. Terrific persona?
Kellum: For me, I grew up loving comic books and knowing that I wanted to be an actor, it’s always been a huge goal of mine to be any type of superhero. (Laughter) So, to do it with a character like Mr. Terrific… going through the audition process and then seeing him become a character to finally putting on the suit to getting his suit upgraded and to finally getting his feel out in the field… it’s been such an amazing world-changing experience for me. Like, I’m actually on a show that my friends actually like for the first time ever. (Laughter) It’s such a cool, wonderful thing to be a part of and every day I count my blessings and I’m just so grateful that I’m getting to bring this character to life.
TrunkSpace: It definitely seems like that in this day and age, the holy grail for an actor is getting to play a superhero character because not only does it look like a hell of a lot of fun to play, but it usually means a recurring role, right?
Kellum: Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. And that was another thing… the fact that they wanted me to come on as a series regular was huge. I was so thankful for that.
TrunkSpace: And congratulations are in order because you’ve been picked up for next season as well.
Kellum: Yeah. Season 6!
TrunkSpace: We know you probably can’t give away too much with how the current season winds down, but is it safe to say that you’ll be back next year as a part of season 6?
Kellum: You know, they keep telling me I will, but you never know. (Laughter) It’s like, “I’m back!” and then dead on episode 2. You’re like, “Nooooooo! Why?!?!” (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: We’d imagine it can be pretty intimidating stepping into a show that already has an established on-set atmosphere and tone. How long did it take for you to feel at home and a part of the “Arrow” family?
Kellum: If I’m being honest, like the first day I walked on the set, I felt so at home and at ease and that was mainly because of Emily Bett Rickards. And then meeting all of the other actors and everybody involved with the show… they really did make it so easy and seamless and just a wonderful experience to be a part of. They treat you like one of their own and when I became one of their own, it felt so right. They treat every guest star, every recurring character… they treat with such respect and class and humility. It really just makes you feel welcome.
And in the other aspect of that, as far as the character… I think he’s still trying to find his way. He’s still trying to get to that place where he feels like he’s a working cog in the team and somebody who they can really count on. I think the fans are still trying to figure that out too and connect with him more. It’s been a really cool journey.
TrunkSpace: Do you have him figured out as a character? Do you feel like you’re in the headspace of Curtis Holt?
Kellum: Yeah. I really do. And thankfully we have some amazing writers who really come up with so much great material work-wise. But yeah, I really do feel like I’m in the headspace of how they want Curtis and where they’re going with him. Obviously he’s definitely a different iteration of the comic book persona, but I kind of like to think of him as early stage Mr. Terrific… Michael Holt kind of until he gets himself together. Because on this show, obviously he’s a little more awkward and quirky. It’s really about finding that balance where he can still be this awkward, silly guy, but then still kind of be badass in other aspects too.
TrunkSpace: You mentioned that fans were still trying to figure Curtis out and connect with him. Were you comfortable stepping into this world where people are already so attached to these characters as lifelong fans and as such… particularly in the social media age… aren’t afraid to speak their minds?
Kellum: Oh yeah. They’re my people. (Laughter) I know how they can be. I think when it all boils down to it, mostly everything you see is positivity. When you’re fortunate enough to be in a position that any of us are in while in this industry to work on a hit show or a show that people are passionate about, you’re going to get both ends of the spectrum from everyone. It’s just how it works. And if we weren’t in that position we’d be getting zero ends of the spectrum from no one. You just have to be thankful that you’re working out there and living your dream, doing the best you can, and getting paid pretty good to do it. So for me, it’s definitely a thing where you’ve got to take it all in and be thankful for the good love that’s coming in and learn from the negativity that’s coming in and just keep pushing forward.
TrunkSpace: Is there anything in your life, either growing up or now, where you could relate to that passionate comic book fanbase? Is there something that you were drawn to in that same passionate way?
Kellum: For me, definitely anything in the X-Men realm as far as comics go, but really it was video games. For me, video games were my life saver. Video games were the things that I geeked out the most about as a fanboy. I was definitely tough when they would make different adaptations of video games to movies. I’d be like, “What the heck… why isn’t this great?” (Laughter) So I can definitely understand some of the hate. If I would have had Twitter then, I might have let a couple of actors know it. (Laughter)
So I can definitely understand the passion, but the thing is, if you don’t have passionate people about it, it’s not a popular project and you’re probably going to be canceled.
TrunkSpace: What’s so cool about video games today is that it’s now an accepted medium for established actors to voice characters in that world. Is that something you’ve dipped your professional fanboy toy in the water of yet?
Kellum: I have not had the opportunity to perform in a video game, but that’s definitely an aspiration. I would love to voice some video game characters. I definitely want to get into that.
TrunkSpace: You established yourself first in the industry as a comedian. That’s a medium where you write and perform your own material. Was it an adjustment delivering lines from other writers when you made the transition into acting?
Kellum: You know, honestly for me it wasn’t an adjustment because I’ve always considered myself an actor first and a comedian second. Acting was kind of something I just started doing when I was 5 years old in church plays, so I’ve always been saying people’s words. (Laughter) But when I got into comedy, it was like, “Oh, I can say my own stuff.” But it feels very normal and natural to be getting scripts and just going for it, but I also just love ripping and improvising and creating new stuff on it too. But I think I definitely kind of look at myself as an actor first.
TrunkSpace: So how much time do you still save for yourself on the writing/standup side? Are you still currently writing?
Kellum: I always write. I’ve never stopped writing standup material, even when I’ve taken a year or two off. I need to get back into it more… definitely something in the next year. I definitely want to be doing more shows, especially when I’m shooting in Vancouver. I want to be out there pushing the pavement and hitting up a lot of shows. But I never stop writing. I’m always writing. I’ve just got to perform more.
TrunkSpace: Do you think you’ll transition that writing skill set into television and film where you can develop projects for yourself?
Kellum: Oh yeah. Absolutely. I’m writing a feature right now that I hope to shoot next spring when we wrap season 6.
TrunkSpace: It definitely seems more accepted within the business for actors to diversify and be a little bit of everything these days. You’re not as specifically labeled as you would have been two decades ago, for example.
Kellum: It’s true. And what’s funny about that is that it’s not even about being allowed but it’s how you survive now. You can’t depend on just the one thing. Back in the day you’d book one commercial and you’re good for the year. You have to be out there completely diversifying yourself. You have to be into acting and into writing and into director. You have to do it all. You have to be a multihyphenate nowadays.
TrunkSpace: Well, and they always say content is king, but when you’re an actor and developing your own content, you also then control your own destiny.
Kellum: Very true. 100 percent true. You get to really say “yes” or “no” and determine the flow of how you want things to go.
TrunkSpace: It does seem like standup is one of the few mediums were you literally control every aspect of things. Even in music, you’re still having to give some control away, even if that control is not ownership based.
Kellum: Yeah. That’s why I think standup is the toughest form of entertainment to tackle. Because it is just you. In music, like you say, even if you don’t have someone else, you have an instrument to help you. You have your singing voice to help you. You have all of these other tools. In standup, it’s just you and your words and are you funny. Period. Also, a very solitary experience, but it’s so worthwhile.
TrunkSpace: It must have prepared you for the social media age a little bit because standup audiences seem like the first iteration of the internet troll.
Kellum: (Laughter) Oh yeah. Standup audiences were definitely the first trolls. 100 percent.
TrunkSpace: Finally, you’ve got to tell us how Mr. McGibblets came to be?!?!
Kellum: Mr. McGibblets! (Laughter) “The League!” I auditioned for it and it’s just a fun little role. I was a big fan of the show. Love Nick Kroll. Yeah, they just had me come in and do a little one-off. It was great.
TrunkSpace: See, it wasn’t Mr. Terrific who was your first superhero role. It was Mr. McGibblets!
Kellum: (Laughter) Truth right there!
“Arrow” airs Wednesdays on The CW.
Tags : arrowcomedycurtis holtecho kellumemily bett rickardsfeaturedgirlfriend's daymr mcgibbletsmr. terrificstandupsuperherothe leaguewingman wednesday
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Tag Archives: Roger Taney
Citizenship, Belonging, and the Experiences of Amero-Africans in West Africa: An Analysis of William Innes’ Early History of Liberia
Posted on May 12, 2018 by Ordinary Philosophy
Rev. Dr. William Innes of Edinburgh
In 1831 and again in 1833, Waugh and Innes of Edinburgh published a history of Liberia by ‘Minister of the Gospel’ William Innes.[1]
In his Liberia: Or, The Early History & Signal Preservation of the American Colony of Free Negroes on the Coast of Africa, Innes describes the founding, structure, and struggles of this West African colony, founded in the early 1820’s as a haven for free and previously enslaved people of African descent and for ‘recaptives’[2] rescued from the newly illegal transatlantic slave trade.[3] Innes was an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh, an ‘independent’-minded Presbyterian and then Baptist minister, one-time chaplain of Stirling Castle, missionary, bookseller, and author of over two dozen books and other publications, mostly on religious topics. The titles of his publications, such as Reasons for Separating from the Church of Scotland (Dundee, 1804), Christianity, the Only Effectual Support Under the Afflictions of Life (Edinburgh, 1810), Domestic Religion, or an Exposition of the Precepts of Christianity Regarding the Duties of Domestic Life (Edinburgh, 1822), and Instructions for Young Enquirers (Edinburgh, translated into Gaelic 1827) indicate why this otherwise mostly theological writer decided to write a history of a colony.[4] As we shall see, this reform-minded man viewed Liberia as a worthy project within the larger goal of uplifting lives as well as souls.
Although Innes’ account includes some discussion of the hardships faced by the colonists trying to build a community in and wrest a living from this unfamiliar and somewhat hostile territory, he presents a generally positive view of the experience and prospects of the Liberian colonization project. Indeed, Innes seems anxious to convince his readers that the colony could not only exist and thrive, but that it should. As we shall see, Liberia is, to Innes, a project of community-building in line with ordered nature and with American beliefs in democracy, self-sufficiency, and the sense of social harmony necessary for a united and healthy political community. In interrogating this text, then, we are led to ask: how are ideas about citizenship and belonging implied and described in Innes’ history of Liberia, how do they relate to the lived experiences of Amero-Africans in the United States and Liberia, and how are these ideas challenged?
Innes commences his history with a discussion of the historical conditions in which this colonization movement arose. The American Colonization Society (ACS) was founded in November of 1816 as a benevolent institution dedicated to the long-conceived but as yet unsystematic scheme of colonizing black inhabitants of the United States to Africa, the continent of their ancestral origin.[5] As Innes and many others saw it, including many abolitionists and proslavery advocates alike,[6] black people could never live peacefully side by side with white Americans. Innes writes that all black persons are ‘branded by their colour as an inferior caste.’[7] He argues that so long as they live as an ‘inferior’ class within the general community of free persons, both black and white will suffer the ill effects of living in a mixed-race society, made up as it is of people with necessarily disparate natures and irreconcilable interests.[8] So long as people of African descent live within the mainstream white American community, the majority of the former will remain ‘idle, ignorant, vicious’ as a result of their disfavor, and cites as an example of this that ‘in many cases the free negroes are a great annoyance to the community, often living by pilfering the property of their neighbors.’[9] Therefore, Innes explains, the only way that people of African descent can create communities to which they naturally belong is to form them separately from white communities, and the best place to do so is by establishing their own communities in the continent of their ancestor’s origin. In doing so, they can enjoy the rights and privileges of citizens with others who share their place in the racial hierarchy. [10] In his majority opinion for the United States Supreme Court 1856 decision in the Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sandford case, which exacerbated the divisive political issues of slavery and race that helped spark the United States’ Civil War,[11] Chief Justice Roger Taney agrees with Innes’ theory of natural racial separation. He likewise believes that human beings are manifestly and naturally separated into inferior and superior races that cannot form a united political community.[12] Ideas such as Innes’ and Taney’s permeated political debate and policy in the United States for decades to come, widely disenfranchising black Americans and relegating them to second-class citizenship throughout the nation.
W.E.B. Dubois, Photograph taken by J.E. Purdy in 1904, public domain via Library of Congress
Yet the colonization scheme as described above is a manifestation of paradoxical ideas about belonging and citizenship rather than a straightforward, across the board rejection of the rights or abilities of black persons to enjoy political power, despite Taney’s assertions to the contrary. According to Innes, Taney, many in the ACS, the U.S. government, and so many Americans, people of African origin who were brought to American shores to labor, to raise crops and buildings and in every other way contribute to the economy and to the material well-being of United States citizens nevertheless do not belong within the political community nor could ever be citizens themselves. Yet advocates of colonization such as Innes believed that people of African descent were or could become citizens in Africa even if they were not born there. This was and continued to be believed by many of African descent as well. W.E.B. DuBois, African-American historian, racial theorist, and proponent of the pan-Africanist ‘vision’[13] of Africa as the natural homeland for all people of African descent, describes Africa as ‘fatherland,’ and ‘motherland.’ DuBois concedes that he has only a ‘tenuous’ connection to Africa ‘in culture and race’, like most people colonized to Africa in Innes’ time. African scholar M.B. Akpan points out that Amero-Africans (acculturated Americans of African descent who settled in Africa) who went to Liberia were vastly different from native Africans in about as many ways as they could be, in dress, language, religion, taste in food, clothing, housing, art, and so on.[14] Yet some, like DuBois, perceived themselves as bound to Africa by an essential ‘kinship.’[15] For Innes and others, this kinship is entirely racially based; for DuBois and many pan-Africanists, ‘the real essence of this kinship is its social heritage of slavery; the discrimination and the insult; and this heritage binds [us] together…’[16]
Innes and proponents of Amero-African colonization, Taney and other racial hierarchists, and pan-Africanists like Dubois share a belief that there is something about a common African descent and shared experiences, however combined with ethnic descent and acculturation from elsewhere, which creates a natural community. Such natural communities, in turn, create opportunities for citizenship that cannot be enjoyed at all, or at least not fully, in any other context. These ideas are in tension throughout Innes’ account of how West African colonies came to be and the way they persisted despite significant challenges and hardships. These challenges arose within the colonies themselves and from conflicts between colonists and the ecology, and between colonists and their native African neighbors. Innes’ account of the difficulties faced by the Liberian colonists differs significantly in many respects from later scholarship and from other contemporary accounts. In Innes’ account, these difficulties are relatively minor compared to the benefits the colonists enjoyed as citizens of a new community to which they rightly belonged.[17] The contrast between Innes’ account and other contemporary accounts backed up by later scholarship[18] imply that Innes’ driving concern to use Liberia as a positive example of how racially-based communities are formed biased his very favorable presentation of the colony.
Regarding their prospects for acceptance and inclusion within the mainstream American social and political community, Innes describes his perception of the state in which non-enslaved people of African descent find themselves:
…[T]roughout the non-slaveholding states, the negroes form a distinct race, branded by their color as an inferior caste; regarded with a species of loathing when thought of as companions, and for ever shut out from the privileges of the white men by whom they are surrounded. Be it prejudice, or founded on reason, the feeling of dislike mutually exists… .No matter what may be their industry and sobriety; no matter what their attainments in science, or their character for morality, they can never hope to pass the broad line of demarcation, or assume a station of equality with the other members of the community.[19]
Frederick Douglass ca. 1847-52, Samuel Miller, American 1822-1882, Art Institute of Chicago, public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Racial hierarchists like Taney share the ‘species of loathing’ which Innes describes. Today, Innes’ and Taney’s descriptions of race relations are difficult to read, especially Taney’s. For one, they conflict with contemporary thoughts and sensibilities about race which are, in the main, orders of magnitude more optimistic about the likelihood that people of various races and ethnicities can meaningfully share and participate in communities as social and political equals. For another, they don’t ring true, especially in Taney’s harsh Dred Scott account of the social and political issues of race in America. After all, there were many mixed-race communities in which black Americans lived relatively safely and peacefully alongside their white neighbors even given the national tensions over issues of race. Leading black abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass settled in one such community, New Bedford, Massachusetts, following his escape from slavery in Maryland in 1838.[20] Taney’s opinion reads very much like a partisan political document and presents a wholly dismal picture of both the capabilities and prospects of people of African descent.[21] Innes’ commentary, on the other hand, presents a more mixed though still racially hierarchical view. On the one hand, he implies in the selection above and makes clearer elsewhere that he believes people of African descent are fully capable of ‘industry and sobriety,’ of morality, of worthy and admirable attainments, of being ‘provident’ and ‘respectable,’ of conducting ‘affairs of empire,’ and so on.[22] Yet Innes does not believe they are capable of this, on the whole, so long as they live in communities among their white racial ‘superiors.’[23] Removal from white society and colonization with others of their own racial heritage, then, is the answer.
Yet all the qualities that Innes enumerates as making people belong within communities and which he characterizes as those of good citizens, he already ascribes to Americans of African descent. We can see this most clearly in the passages in Innes’ history where he describes the contrast between Amero-African colonizers and the beneficial and ‘civilizing’ influence that they exert on their native Africans neighbors. In matters of language, religion, dress, morality, ability, education, and so on, they are in turn, deems Innes, superior to their native African neighbors and the latter, recognizing this, wish to emulate them.[24] We can also recognize Innes’ conflicting views in the terms he chooses to refer to the Amero-African colonists and the native African peoples in their territorial conflicts. When describing the participants and victims of battles, Innes refers to Amero-Africans and their native African allies in such terms as ‘woman’, ‘men,’ ‘persons,’ ‘mother’, ‘the people’, and so on. By contrast, Innes refers to native Africans primarily by terms such as ‘barbarian,’ ‘savage’, ‘enemy’, and ‘wretches’, characterized by ‘moral deformity.’[25] This implies that for Innes, civilization can depend on culture, virtues, religious beliefs, and modes of comportment rather than race. The very qualities that make people belong to a community and become good citizens can and are often held by Amero-Africans whatever side of the Atlantic. As we can see in the selection above, Innes concedes this even as he explains why black people cannot belong within American white communities. He allows that black individuals can and do ‘rise above their degraded brethren’ and exhibit such good-citizenship qualities as ‘character for morality’ and ‘industry and sobriety,’ capable of ‘mak[ing] attainments in science’ and so forth.[26] Innes, then, presents two very distinct conceptions of belonging, citizenship, and race which are, if not in direct conflict, at least in tension with one another.
Clipping from The African Repository and Colonial Journal, V. XIII 1837, describing the efforts of William Johnson to settle his former slaves in Liberia, public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Perhaps Innes resolves these conflicting ideas about race and belonging to his own satisfaction through his appeal to divine approval. Innes, as a ‘Minister of the Gospel,’[27] looks for and finds signs of God’s will that the Liberian colony survive. He argues that God must approve of removing black people to Liberia because the preservation of Liberian colonies is unlikely otherwise given the obstacles they faced, which in turn shows divine approbation of this racial separation.[28] The idea of divine arrangement of peoples into natural types and nations which pervades Innes’ history resembles such racially hierarchical theories as Taney’s. However, Innes’ view of racial ordering displays more divine benevolence for the black race even as it is extremely patriarchal. Innes perceives a divine will that all people of African descent be redeemed through their separate political and religious institutions. This will best be brought about first by separating the races into naturally sympathetic racially divided communities, and then locating those communities in places where they can spread the gospel of Christ to others of the same race who have not yet received it through the establishment of colonies. The colonizers were then placed in a position to help bring about the divine will in the world such as providing a Christian example to their African neighbors[29] and helping to end the ‘evil’ and ‘dreadful malady’ of the slave trade.[30]
Yet Innes’ overall sunny take on the lived experience of the Liberian colonists contrasts with contemporary and later accounts of the Liberian experiment. Douglass, for example, is skeptical of the glowing accounts of the colony’s success as well as of its prospects of helping to end the slave trade; he questions the motives and therefore the accuracy of those offering glowing accounts of the colonization effort’s success.[31] Innes’ account is one which invites such skepticism. He considers the ‘signal preservation’ of the colony a sign of God’s approval but does not consider the severe hardships that he chooses to cite such as supply shortages, attacks from neighboring tribes, difficulties raising crops, the fact that they had to wrest the colony’s land concession from Dei ‘King Peter’ at gunpoint, and the high rates of disease and death as signs of God’s disapproval.[32] Innes seems to minimize the hardships in Liberia as he follows every mention of them with an immediate qualification or comparison, such as citing the early American colonies’ struggles or remarking that the Liberian colonies could have suffered worse.[33] He goes so far as to dismiss symptoms of illness as mere climatic adjustment reactions of healthy bodies, though he does admit that many died.[34] According to historian Claude Andrew Clegg, however, the colonists often suffered extremely high rates of hunger, disease, privation, and mortality.[35] Clegg also cites many examples of the colonists’ difficulties, including the telling example of Emily Hooper, a young colonist who, after an extraordinarily difficult and expensive effort on her father’s part to obtain her freedom and fund her journey to Liberia, decided to return to slavery rather than further suffer the hardships of the colony. This episode was a great embarrassment to the ACS.[36]
In addition to the evidence of hardship and mortality in many reports, accounts like Innes’ are roundly challenged by argument and even ridicule. One particularly scornful and influential critic of the colonization scheme was Douglass. Indeed, except for the fact that he actually refers to [news]paper accounts in his ‘Persecution on Account of Faith, Persecution on Account of Color’ address delivered in Rochester, New York in 1851, it would be reasonable to assume that Douglass was referring to Innes’ history when he observed: ‘Papers that never speak of colored men in this country but to abuse and slander them, speak in the most flattering terms of …Liberia.’[37] To Douglass, arguments such as those offered by Innes and American statesman Henry Clay, who recommend the removal of black people from American society due to idleness, lawlessness, and other perceived flaws invite a counter-question: ‘Suppose we should admit… that we are degraded and dissolute, as a class; are there no other degraded and dissolute people?… Who talks of their expatriation?’ to which he answers: ‘No one.’[38] Douglass also mocks the idea that colonization movement will weaken slavery as an institution. It’s the presence of free black people in slave states that help weaken slavery by demonstrating to the enslaved that there is another way they can live in America. Removing free black people to Africa, argues Douglass, removes this constant and substantial threat to slaveholders’ desire to rule unchallenged over a docile, resigned slave population.[39]
Liberian Senate drawn by Robert K. Griffin, Monrovia, 1856, public domain via the Library of Congress
Throughout his early history of Liberia, Innes wavers but does not stray far from his theme of Liberia as a natural home for Americans of African descent. His explanations for how and why Amero-Africans, acculturated to the United States in language, morals, religion, dress, and overall ways of life nevertheless belong in a land which most have never seen are not, as we have seen, entirely consistent. Why Amero-Africans can only successfully gain a sense of belonging and engage as citizens in a place where they are outsiders in every way except skin color is also not satisfactorily explained; indeed, Innis presents Liberia as if it were the only alternative to black Americans continuing to live in a state of political and social exclusion and oppression in mainstream white American society. Innes offers the ‘signal preservation’ of the Liberian colony as proof of its value to God and humankind as well as of its eventual success, but glosses over any consideration that the terrible hardships and dangers that the colonists had to face were evidence to the contrary. Others such as Douglass, however, perceive the flaws in the explanations and evidence that Innes offers, and presents both counterevidence and counterarguments that helped undermine support for the colonization project over the decades of its existence.[40]
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Akpan, M. B. “Black Imperialism: Americo-Liberian Rule over the African Peoples of Liberia, 1841–1964.” Canadian Journal of African Studies/La Revue Canadienne Des études Africaines 7, no. 2 (1973): 217-36.
Clegg, Claude Andrew. The Price of Liberty: African Americans and the Making of Liberia. 2004.
Douglass, Frederick. Autobiographies. New York: Library of America, 1996.
Douglass, Frederick, and John R. McKivigan (project director). Frederick Douglass Papers: Digital Edition. Accessed 20 March 2018 at http://frederickdouglass.infoset.io/
Douglass, Frederick, and John W. Blassingame. The Frederick Douglass Papers. Series 1, Speeches, Debates and Interviews; John W. Blassingame, Editor. Vol.1, 1841-46. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1979.
Du Bois, W. E. B., and Herbert Aptheker. Dusk of Dawn. 1975.
Scott, Hew. Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, Vol. IV: Synods of Argyll, and of Perth and Stirling. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1923.
Geiss, Imanuel. The Pan-African Movement. London: Methuen, 1974.
Innes, William. Liberia: Or, The Early History & Signal Preservation of the American Colony of Free Negroes on the Coast of Africa. Waugh & Innes; M. Ogle, etc., 1833. Accessed 20 March 2018 at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044051050987
Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.
United States Supreme Court, Roger Brooke Taney, John H Van Evrie, and Samuel A Cartwright. The Dred Scott decision: opinion of Chief Justice Taney. New York: Van Evrie, Horton & Co., 1860. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, Accessed 21 March 21, 2018 at https://www.loc.gov/item/17001543/
West, Richard. Back to Africa: A History of Sierra Leone and Liberia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.
[1] Innes, William. Liberia: Or, The Early History & Signal Preservation of the American Colony of Free Negroes on the Coast of Africa. Waugh & Innes; M. Ogle, etc., 1833, frontispiece
[2] Clegg, Claude Andrew. The Price of Liberty: African Americans and the Making of Liberia. 2004 p. 37
[3] Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. London: Oxford University Press, 1961 p. 51
[4] ‘William Innes’ in Scott, Hew. Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, Vol. IV: Synods of Argyll, and of Perth and Stirling. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1923 pp. 325-326
[5] West, Richard. Back to Africa: A History of Sierra Leone and Liberia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971 p. 93
[6] Clegg p. 3-4, Staudenraus pp. 2-7
[7] Ibid. p 102
[8] Innes pp. iv-v, 101-103
[9] Ibid. p. iv
[10] Ibid. pp. 102, 106-107
[11] Clegg pp. 174, 195-196
[12] United States Supreme Court, Roger Brooke Taney, John H. Van Evrie, and Samuel A. Cartwright. The Dred Scott decision: opinion of Chief Justice Taney. New York: Van Evrie, Horton & Co., 1860 pp. 18-19
[13] Geiss, Imanuel. The Pan-African Movement. London: Methuen, 1974 p. 5
[14] Akpan, M. B. “Black Imperialism: Americo-Liberian Rule over the African Peoples of Liberia, 1841–1964.” Canadian Journal of African Studies/La Revue Canadienne Des études Africaines 7, no. 2 (1973) p. 219
[15] Du Bois, W. E. B., and Herbert Aptheker. Dusk of Dawn. 1975 pp. 116
[16] Ibid. p. 117
[17] Innes pp. 87-89
[18] Clegg pp. 226-229
[20] Douglass, Frederick. Autobiographies. New York: Library of America, 1996 pp. 353ff
[21] Taney pp. 17-18
[22] Innes pp. 77, 86-87, 91
[23] Ibid. pp. 101-102, 176
[24] Innes p. 83, 86-89
[25] Ibid. pp. 57-65
[26] Ibid. p 102
[27] Ibid., frontispiece
[28] Ibid. pp. vi-vii, 37-38, 62, 64, 72, 91
[29] Ibid., pp. 112-115
[30] Ibid., pp. 9-10, 108-112
[31] ‘Persecution on Account of Faith, Persecution on Account of Color: An Address Delivered in Rochester, New York, on 26 January 1851,’ North Star, 30 January 1851, in Douglass, Frederick, and John R. McKivigan (project director). Frederick Douglass Papers: Digital Edition, pp. 300-302
[32] Innes, pp. v-vi, 16-21, 38-39, 93-95, 101, 108-111; Clegg, p. 37; West pp. 114-115
[33] Innes., pp. 91-92
[34] Ibid., p. 93
[35] Clegg, see descriptions and figures in chapter 7 of The Price of Liberty, ‘To Live and Die in Liberia,’ pp. 201-248
[37] Douglass, ‘Persecution,’ p. 302
[38] ‘Henry Clay and Colonization Cant, Sophistry, and Falsehood: An Address Delivered in Rochester, New York, on 2 February 1851, North Star, 6 February 1851, in Douglass, Frederick, and John R. McKivigan (project director). Frederick Douglass Papers: Digital Edition, p. 323
[39] Ibid., p. 322
[40] Staudenraus, pp. 249-250
Posted in Enlightenment Scotland, History of Ideas, Politics, Religion, The One & the Many, Written by Amy Cools | Tagged Abolitionism, African, African American experience, American Colonization Society, Amero-African, Amero-Liberian, Antislavery, belonging, caste, citizenship, Colonization, community-building, Dei, Democracy, Disenfranchisement, Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sandford, Edinburgh, Frederick Douglass, Henry Clay, history of Liberia, King Peter, Liberia, pan-Africanism, Race, Racial hierarchism, Repatriation, Roger Taney, self-sufficiency, The Dred Scott Decision, W.E.B. DuBois, West Africa, William Innes | 1 Comment
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Balkans, Egypt, Iran, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Video
Russia and Turkey’s Gas Deal can Save Europe and the World (I)
More in Balkans:
Bill Clinton in Kosovo 24/06/2019
How Yugoslavia Was Destroyed In Kosovo 19/06/2019
Behind The Project Of A Greater Albania 15/06/2019
The status of South Stream and the newly announced Russia-Turkey gas deal is much more than it seems. It is primarily about putting the brakes on what has slowly been developing into the next world war.
This new deal may also represent a serious culmination of Russian, Chinese, and Iranian efforts to realign the entire bandwidth between the Adriatic Sea and India. This has ramifications not only for the EU, Bulgaria, and Turkey, but also Syria, Egypt, Israel, Iran, China and most of Latin America. Its effects reach far beyond the scope of this report, and includes currency wars, and military alliances.
Thus, this turn of events may be massive, and the culmination of the success which Iraq, Iran, and Syria have had, with their allies, in rolling back ISIS. Additionally, this comes on the heels of the big changes in Egypt, which saw Turkey’s main ally in the war on Syria removed. It also represents a major revival of the Russian effort to build an alternative route to the line going through Ukraine. That line has been the subject of numerous problems as the Ukrainians had been difficult partners. The recent outbreak of hostilities within Ukraine has made them an even less reliable partner, pushing the need to speed up the process of an alternative Russian gas route into high gear.
Let us begin with the reality as it has been presented. On December 1st, Russia declared to the world that it had dumped the South Stream project because the European Union had decided that it did not want it.
The EU can be said to have decided this simply because it placed too many barriers on the project, mostly surrounding two factors.
The first factor was a constraint placed on the project by the Third Energy Package (TEP), which was passed in the EU in 2009. This was done much after the South Stream project had already been proposed in 2007, and the tentative agreement already inked. This change of conditions after the fact
The Third Energy Package was passed in 2009 but applies also on a South Stream project that was signed in 2007.
means that Russia has not abrogated any of its commitments, either morally or legally. This is important in terms of Russia’s other numerous important trading and strategic partners, both in the region, and in the world. No one will see that Russia pulls the plug on deals it makes.
In fact, Russia showed both good faith and due diligence in all spheres of the South Stream negotiations and construction process. The initial terms of South Stream were made under conditions prior to the latest round of restrictions placed upon Russia, on top of the Third Energy Package. In other considerations, as the project evolved, some elements of the TEP were interpreted in a way which still made the South Stream a viable project. This means that the signatories to the South Stream tentative agreement cannot be held retroactively accountable for newer restrictions to the execution or workability of said agreement, which were unforeseeable at the time of the deal. As the deal evolved over time, the manner by which the restrictions imposed by TEP were interpreted, also figured into the entire project.
The second factor is that Bulgaria had been under extraordinary pressure to conform to EU dictates in this arena. The Bulgarian reluctance to buck EU dictates was understood by Putin, which is reflected in the exact words that were used to describe the failure on the Bulgarian end. By and large, blame was placed on the EU for pressuring Bulgaria. At the level of diplomacy, this gives the Bulgarians an important out, which will figure into this analysis, shortly. Simultaneously, given how power is popularly understood, the Bulgarian government is being held by Bulgarians – who mostly wanted this project for a range of obvious reasons – as being primarily responsible. The Bulgarians were also thinking they had an option, which was snapped away from them with this Russian-Turkish deal. This will also figure into the scope of things to come, that we will describe.
Various news agencies around the world ran with the simple headline that Putin had cancelled South-Stream. Some agencies and analysis groups viewed this as a show of Russian weakness, and others of Russian strength. On the balance, just looking at the headlines as wholly descriptive, we can determine that Russia has acted out of strength. They are actually leaving room for flexibility, and has hinted at conditions for workability.
We are justified in saying this for three main reasons.
The first is that Putin made the statement, it was not made by Europe or for him by others. This means that he was not responding to a question or unforeseen circumstance, but rather this was a calculated pronouncement and made at a time of his choosing. The words were chosen quite carefully. His exact words must be examined.
“Bearing in mind the fact that we have not yet received Bulgaria’s permission, we think Russia in such conditions cannot continue this project,”
He continued on,
“If Europe doesn’t want to realize this, then it means it won’t be realized. We will redirect the flow of our energy resources to other regions of the world.”
The first clause of the first quote, uses the word ‘yet’. Alternate words that would eliminate any room for consideration would have been ‘Bearing in mind the fact that we will never receive Bulgaria’s permission.’.
In order to clarify the open nature that is communicated here, he says ‘in such conditions’. That is, under these conditions, but not other conditions. In other conditions, logically if follows, perhaps something is possible. But, also, perhaps not.
In the second quote, he uses the word ‘If’. Not ‘Since’, or ‘Because’, but ‘If’. In short, “if” they don’t want to realize this, it won’t be realized. If they do want this realized, then perhaps it can be realized. Or not.
Also in this second quote is a statement which runs counter to the actual concept behind the Russian-Turkish gas deal. Indeed it does aim to direct the flow to Europe, and not other regions of the world as such. Recall that the Turkish hub is on the European side, near the Greek border. Russia’s Ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov was clear when he said, “The gas pipeline thread may go in any direction from the Turkish hub,”
These statements furthermore seem to align not only with developments in Ukraine, but also in Syria, which we will elaborate on here as well. This also means that the statement ought to be viewed in light of how Russia makes its official statements, which are almost always multi-layered messages.
Secondly, most news stories and news analysis also somewhat correctly mentioned that Putin simultaneously had been in Ankara where he ironed out a deal with Erdogan. Putin announced that he and Erdogan had come to terms on increasing the volume of the Blue-Stream pipeline to Turkey, and creating a new pipeline to Turkey. It is chiefly important here to mention that such a high level meeting means that there is much more to this than an energy deal.
After all, if this was the sole subject of the meeting, such a deal could have been made between Gazprom’s Alexei Miller, or even one of his subordinates, and their Turkish counterparts. However, importantly is the fact that Turkish energy minister Taner Yildiz has gone on record saying that final terms have not been made. A number of outstanding issues remain, apparently, such as the price of gas. Russia has offered a 6% discount, but Turkey may end up with two or three times greater than that figure (18%). Still, Turkey has enabled Russia to make an important announcement at a critical time. Turkey is no doubt aware that this relates to the two aforementioned conflicts. Still relevant are the more banal and well publicized economic concerns concerning solvency in the EU as well, including decreased demand.
Additionally, Russia has publically announced a $40-bn+ gas deal with India, as well as commitment to build nuclear power facilities. Interestingly, India and Russia planned as far back as August, and perhaps April of 2014, to make this announcement in December. This lends credence to the ‘strategic nature’ hypothesis of Putin’s well timed announcement on Turkey. ”An announcement on this initiative is expected to be made in December when the two leaders meet at the India-Russia annual summit to be held in New Delhi.”.
It is possible that an outstanding issue may relate to how Turkey’s previous plans can be combined with a new Russian-Turkish pipeline, which we will also explore in this report.
Third, as we will explain here in greater detail, this plan removes some of the alternate projects which Bulgaria and the EU thought they could rely on resurrecting, or further developing, in the final event of a Russian pull-out from the South Stream project. Perhaps they had even intended for the Russians to further build in the Black Sea, only to pull the plug at a later phase, and ultimately have their efforts be for nothing, at great expense for Russia.
In truth, it is both too soon and too hard to tell what will happen exactly.
What Putin stressed was that the decision on whether or not this project can work was Europe’s to make. This is an open door.
This seems to really contradict Putin’s statement about not having gas go to Europe. Indeed, what we have actually been presented is, for the European project, a rebranded South Stream which now may also simply be combined with Nabucco. This is because the new proposed line to Turkey goes to the European region of Turkish Thrace.
What we are to make of this depends on how we understand larger questions about the world we live in.
The reality of the ‘cancellation of South Stream’ is an example of a creation of a simulated hyper-reality to dissemble the actual reality of the situation. This meme has now bounced off of all media walls, including alternative media and new media. It has created an echo-chamber truth of its own. We can understand that there are numerous targets of this weaponized bit of information, within the context of the information war at hand.
It should be no surprise that things are not what they seem. We live in an increasingly complex world which witnesses an increasing sophistication in the multiple layers of meaning, which are embedded in official statements as they are reported. We can say that the increasing bellicosity in general parallels the increased complexity of these messages.
The details of the proposed deal with Turkey are of some significance. But we can only say with certainty, that what is important at this stage is that the plans seem credible insofar as they are workable.
Russia has officially gone on a media campaign to sell the workability of the Russian-Turkish Stream plan. In a map provided to the public by RT, Russia’s English language state news agency, we can see clearly what the intended message is.
Given that the main Russkaya CS plant which was built to handle the capacity of the South Stream line will still be used, and together with this, and the portions of pipe which have already been laid outside of Bulgaria that can still be used, the 5-bn Euros already spent on the project can be easily switched for similar use in a Russian-Turkish Stream scenario. That alone foils one part of a possible US backed EU ploy to lure Russia into an ultimately dead-end project, which would have had the real potential of destabilizing the political structure inside of Russia itself.
If an actual Russian-Turkish stream is built, this will be the case, that Russian efforts have not gone to waste. But what is most critical at this stage is that it adds credence to the Russian announcement. Looking at the map we can see that this is not simply a pipeline to Turkey. It is not simply a different deal, now aimed at Turkey.
No, clearly this is a repackaged South Stream pipeline which now simply routes 150km south of the Bulgarian South Stream proposal, and through Turkey instead. It also combines, now, elements of the Turkish Nabucco plan, as it now involves Greece and Macedonia, before it would turn north through Serbia, as well as having the potential to reconsider the Southern Corridor, as we will explore later in this report.
Perhaps under Russian consultation of this possibility, we can understand why Serbia began construction not in the south-east where it would have connected to the Bulgarian line, but rather in Novi Sad in the north. This pipe laid in Novi Sad would be the route of either a South Stream or a slightly revised Nabucco in its new incarnation as the Russian-Turkish line. Taken together, this new plan is the Russian-Turkish deal.
Indeed, we can see that with some modification, Russia and Turkey has proposed to combine the Nabucco and South Stream projects. This was actually proposed by Chief Executive Officer of Italian energy company Eni, Paolo Scaronione, the Italian project company involved in South Stream, at an early stage of negotiations. While mainstream reporting gave a number of reasons why this proposal was initially rejected, what we know for certain is that the logistics and workability of such a plan to combine these two projects have been known about for several years.
Trans Adriatic Pipeline
It is interesting to consider then, that in retrospect, after all of the intrigue and blood spilt over this contest, that the Scaronione plan based on cooperation, collaboration, and peace, would be the one that actually worked out. Moreover, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which was sometimes a variation of the Nabucco plan, was also a variation of South Stream.
The more one looks at this, given the considerable weight which is given to the opinions of Scaronione, the more one must entertain the possibility that this Turkish reversal was in the works from the start. Turkey always seemed to play its role with NATO against Syria, but in retrospect we can see that they did not ‘retaliate’ as expected when Syrian air defenses shot down the Turkish fighter jet, among other things. They did not move against Syria as robustly as they could have, and they never entirely shut the door on Iran. From the start, they did not freely allow just any mercenary or jihadi passage from Turkey into Syria, and even arrested (and captured caches) those connected to Libya (Belhaj) and Europe, funded by the Saudis and Qataris.
Joaquin Flores is an American expat living in Belgrade. He is a full-time analyst at the Center for Syncretic Studies, a public geostrategic think-tank. His expertise encompasses Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and has a strong proficiency in Middle East affairs. Flores is particularly adept at analyzing the psychology of the propaganda wars, and cutting through the noise of ‘information overload’. In the US, he worked for a number of years as a labor union organizer, chief negotiator, and strategist for a major trade union federation.
Source Center for Syncretic Studies
Gas to Europe
Russia Turkey deal
South Stream
The Third Energy Package
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Know The Exciting History Of Hunting In America
Hunting August 23, 2016 May 11, 2018 No Comment
Yes, this exciting sport has an interesting history behind it. The main aim of hunting transformed originated years back in America. This article will show you the exciting history of hunting in America.
In early years, primitive man used to practice hunting to fulfill their hunger. Nowadays, civilized people do this as a sport. American used earlier bows and arrows for many centuries. But now, the methods and equipment have changed.
People in America consider hunting as a powerful tool. It connects them with the natural environment.
The origin of hunting
Hunting was done by people earlier just to fulfill their hunger. It became an adventurous sport for the hunters. They used trained dogs and leopards to hunt.
Before the 1850s, American natives didn’t go into the wildness for leisure. But later the scenario changed.
The ancient nobles of Babylonia and Egypt were the first ones who used to hunt for sport. In the Middle Ages, only the people of noble class in Greece and Rome. They could hunt for pleasure and not the common man.
Even in England, people of noble classes used to practice Boar Hunting till the 17th century.
Americans used to live in cities, and they started feeling no more in touch with nature. So, they began hunting for fun. Hunting proves them the hardiness of a man. Apart from killing animals for food and fun, people started practicing it to prove their manliness, skill, and character.
Hunting for Americans was a way to show their sportsmanship. They felt proud after hunting any trophy. Hunting also meant class for the people of America.
Americans in the early days used to shoot for fun and food as well. With the increase in America’s population, the need for food that rises to the need intensive agriculture. This need decreased the habitat for wild animals and due to the reduction in the number of wild animals. The practice of hunting got restricted.
The laws of hunting
Due to uncontrolled and unlimited hunting, wildlife in America seemed to be in danger. The passionate hunters could not resist themselves from hunting. And they requested the court of law to allow them to kill with a set of rules.
The laws included regulation of hunting. Keeping in mind the management of wildlife, controlling the predators and improving the habitat. The seasons to hunt also limited as per the law. Few closed seasons were announced when people could not kill.
The hunting laws also restrict the number of animals. They hunt in one day even during open seasons. These rules were necessary to maintain the wildlife in America. Hunters could still practice their hobby with a restriction imposed by the government.
(How to become a professional hunter?)
NDP Change Hunting Laws Update
The importance of hunting
In America, hunting has always been a larger-than-life sport. There are many popular personalities in the field of hunting who have been showcasing their hunting talents.
Hunting allows you to connect with the natural environment and wildlife much better than any other activity. It gives the hunters a chance to interact with the environment.
In America, hunters become conservationists. They provide billions in the fund and also protect the natural wildlife. The future generations can enjoy the lovely nature.
The hunters in America have created an enormous economic engine. They also have provided a great financial support to the country. Hunting is not only their passion but this love has provided lots of jobs in the country.
The people who go on a hunting trip support around thousands of jobs. Both of the restaurant owners and other businesses also take advantages from the passionate hunters.
Economic benefits from hunting
Hunting has added to the economy of America. The passionate hunters visit the places in open seasons. They are responsible for the business of these areas. Few people visit these natural habitats for fun and enjoyment.
Hunting benefits the economy by the following methods:
During the hunting seasons, all the airports in America are full of hunters. The airport is full of camouflage printed bags and gun cases.
The local shop owners and the land owners of the hunting areas also benefit from the hunters who in turn again add to the economy of America.
In America, hunting is still an important part of culture. Hunters are the only people who fund the wildlife conservation by purchasing licenses, guns, and ammunitions.
Expeditions like safaris also take advantages from this.
The gun manufacturers keep on adding new features to their guns to attract the hunters from all over the world. Manufacturers offer different types and size of guns for various types of hunting.
The trainers who teach the new hunters few hunting skills also earn from this.
The spirit of hunting has not only kept the adventure alive in people but has also benefitted the country in many ways. The professional hunters who love this sport take great pride in owning good quality hunting rifles.
Hunting is not only entertainment, but it also has lots of advantages. According to a survey in the United States, there was more than 33,000,000 people are interested in hunting. And they practice it on a regular basis. This number was just 10 percent of the population.
Apart from adding to the economy of the country hunting has other benefits which include recreation purposes. If not done in a limited way it may lead to endangerment and extinction of many animals.
Hence, hunters can practice their hobby keeping in mind the pressure of the environment. Limited hunting can continue for a long time.
WHAT YOU NEED TO ADD TO YOUR BACKPACK HUNTING GEAR LIST
WHAT IS THE FIRST STEP IN CLEANING A FIREARM SAFE
HOW TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL HUNTER?
America history of hunting
How To Gut (Field Dress) A Deer Step By Step For The Very First Time
How To Hunt Skunks Without Being Sprayed At?
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"The Cartographer of No Man’s Land"
P.S. Duffy is the author of The Cartographer of No Man’s Land, a debut novel that takes place during the First World War in Nova Scotia and the Western Front in France. She lives in Rochester, MN, had a long career in neurologic communication disorders, and now splits her time between writing fiction, reading history, fiction, and essays, and writing in the neurosciences for Mayo Clinic. She says that at her age she is happy to have the word “debut” applied to anything she does.
Duffy applied the Page 69 Test to The Cartographer of No Man’s Land and reported the following:
The Cartographer of No Man’s Land takes place during the First World War and is told through the eyes of Angus MacGrath, a lieutenant on the Western Front in France, and his 13-year-old son back home in a fishing village in Nova Scotia. When Angus’s best friend and brother-in-law goes missing at the front, Angus defies his pacifist upbringing and enlists to find him. Hoping to be a military cartographer in London, he is instead sent directly to the infantry. An initially reluctant soldier, he continues his search, but now for some greater purpose. What he eventually discovers about Ebbin makes sense only in the context of war. At home, his young son is coming of age without him and, like all the characters in the book, must navigate the shifting ground of war’s uncertainties and lasting effects.
Page 69, in full:
Arras Sector, France
“February 18th, 1917,” Angus wrote at the top of the tablet in his lap. He ran a filthy hand through his filthy hair. The sack of censored letters slumped beside him on the frozen ground of the dugout. Some he’d censored himself, as was required of junior officers—a task he found embarrassing, and one which Publicover sailed through on the winds of duty. I get through mine in ten minutes flat, he told Angus. Just scan for anything that reveals location or tactics and for grievances against King and country, the CEF, or the top brass. No need to get bogged down with memories of apple blossoms or hopes for Aunt Bertie’s recovery.
In the process Angus had learned a few things about his men—that some, like Boudrey, could barely write; that Katz, McNeil, and Wertz could turn a phrase with ease; and that some wrote no letters at all. Many were homesick, some heartsick, but they generally refrained from self-pity. Survival demanded that someone, somewhere had it worse.
There was about an hour of daylight left, Angus figured, maybe twenty minutes of it to himself. By midnight, he’d be gone. His men …
Page 69. Hmm … wasn’t there a “Page 99 Test” awhile back? Because that page is good. It’s great, in fact. It contains all a reader needs to be intrigued, moved, astounded. I actually haven’t looked at it, but I’m sure that’s true. Page 69, on the other hand, is an interlude (sigh) between action on the home front and the Western Front. In a trench in the last hours of daylight, Angus has finished censoring letters and struggles to write his own. It presages a moment later in the book when Angus will again censor letters, but under very different circumstances. Why not? “Who better to blot out truth?” he’ll say to himself.
But here we learn merely that he’s survived his first two weeks on the front line and that despite being the reluctant soldier, he takes his duty to his men seriously. There’s a passing reference to their stoicism and to Publicover, the good-looking19-year old lieutenant, who is a stronger officer than Angus at this point, and whose boyish enthusiasm belies the ice in his veins. I happen to love him so I’m glad he’s on page 69.
By the midnight hour alluded to at the bottom of the page, this quiet moment and Angus’s world will be rocked by a young private who runs amok, then straight into No Man’s Land toward the German line. The previous page has Angus’s son, Simon Peter, also in fading daylight, staring in wonder at a painting by Angus—strange and more alive than any his father had painted before—of a boy and his father in a rowboat. That thread of connection is there in the boat, in Simon Peter, and in Angus sitting on his crate trying to write home. It is the love story of the book.
Learn more about the book and author at P. S. Duffy's website.
Writers Read: P. S. Duffy.
"Dead Eye"
Mark Greaney’s debut international thriller, The Gray Man, became a national bestseller and was nominated for a Barry Award in the Best Thriller category. The follow-up Gray Man thriller, On Target was also nominated for a Barry Award in the Best Thriller category. Ballistic, the third in the series also received glowing reviews including a rave from the New York Times comparing flipping the pages of the Mark Greaney thriller to “…playing the ultimate video game!”
Greaney applied the Page 69 Test to Dead Eye, the fourth book in the series, and reported the following:
Page 69 of Dead Eye does a fine job of capturing the feel of the novel. Dead Eye is the fourth novel in the Gray Man series, chronicling the adventures of ex CIA paramilitary operations officer Court “Gray Man” Gentry as he lives off the grid as a freelance assassin.
On page 69, Russ “Dead Eye” Whitlock, himself a former CIA operative, is on the hunt for the elusive Gray Man in the Baltic port city of Tallinn, Estonia. Dead Eye is supposedly following the orders of a shadowy private military company in D.C., but on page 69 we see he has called an audible by coming to Tallinn, using his own tradecraft to anticipate Gentry’s arrival here.
He lifted his Steiner binoculars to his eyes and checked out to sea, monitoring the small vessels as they came in, and then he shifted back to a spot a half mile below his position. At the mouth of the port near the massive Tallink Ferry terminal was a choke point that anyone who had disembarked from a vessel in the port would need to pass on the way into town, and this was the main focus of Whitlock’s attention. Most people leaving the docks did so in groups; clusters of three to ten men, heavily bundled in coats and hats to protect them from the cold sea air. They would then head to buses or cars and trucks in one of the parking lots in the area.
Russ ignored these groups; he was on the lookout for a loner.”
Russ soon finds Gentry in his sights, and the game is afoot. His motivations drive the story, but a female Mossad officer, American paramilitary teams, CIA executives, and Gentry’s incredible skill all ensure plenty of twists and turns in the novel.
Learn more about the book and author at Mark Greaney's website and blog.
The Page 69 Test: The Gray Man.
My Book, The Movie: The Gray Man.
"Dollface"
As clichéd as it sounds, Renée Rosen is a former advertising copywriter who always had a novel in her desk drawer. When she saw the chance to make the leap from writing ad copy to fiction, she jumped at it. A confirmed history and book nerd, the author loves all things old, all things Chicago and all things written.
Rosen applied the Page 69 Test to her new book, Dollface, A Novel of the Roaring Twenties, and reported the following:
So I took the test and honestly, I was kind of disappointed on where I landed. Not that I don’t love the scene of Vera and her mother at the lunch counter, but it’s just not representative of the book as a whole. The scene is absolutely necessary but page 69 doesn’t capture the spirit of Dollface, which is the story of flapper who falls in love with two mobsters from rival gangs during Prohibition Chicago. Other than “water closet” and “bloomers” you’d have no idea that this book is about gangsters and the Roaring Twenties. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean.
A woman stepped out of the water closet and we noticed that she had accidentally tucked the back of her dress up inside her bloomers. I glanced over at the woman, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the expression on my mother’s face. I turned and looked at her. She was trying not to laugh, but her shoulders were shaking. That’s when I surrendered and started laughing, too.
Learn more about Dollface at Renée Rosen's website, blog, and Facebook page.
My Book, The Movie: Dollface.
Writers Read: Renée Rosen.
"Sorrow’s Knot"
Erin Bow was born in the Midwest and studied particle physics in college, eventually working at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. She then decided to leave science to concentrate on her love of writing. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband, James, and their two daughters.
Bow applied the Page 69 Test to Sorrow's Knot, her new YA novel, and reported the following:
It will appeal to the eighth-grade boy in all of us to learn that page 69 of Sorrow’s Knot [below left; click to enlarge] is the dirtiest page in the book. Go ahead and snicker. But seriously, this double entendre about Cricket’s ineptness at shooting a lance through a rolling hoop is as off-color as this particular novel gets.
But this page stands out in other ways, too, at least to me. There’s a story behind it.
I wrote this scene, and a handful of others, on a retreat in November 2012. Besides the odd copy edit, they were the last things I did to the book. I added them to give a glimpse of the deep core of happiness inside my characters.
I mean, this is a book called Sorrow’s Knot. It’s mostly about death. It was clearly never going to be a laugh riot. But still, when you deal only with the character’s problems, it’s easy for the readers not to get to know them as people. For instance, Otter (who is the lead character) has a sly sense of humor and is given to practical jokes. I, as a writer, am always aware of that. But if you as a reader only get to spend time with Otter on the worst days of her life — if you only get to see the plot — you might not get to see her sense of humor. You will like Otter less than I do.
So, paradoxically, the last thing I did to make this a better book was add scenes that don’t contribute to the plot at all. Kestrel and Cricket pledging okishae on page 80 (okishae is sort of like married, except no one does it and everyone thinks they’re weird). Otter and Kestrel swimming in the hot spring. The bit where they stuff the pillow. The bit where they catch, then eat, the comically stupid goose.
So enjoy the slightly dirty joke on page 69, internet. It’s making the whole book warmer.
Learn more about the book and author at Erin Bow's website and blog.
"Apparition"
Trish J. MacGregor is the author of 36 novels and as TJ MacGregor won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for original paperback in 2003. Apparition is the third book in the Hungry Ghost trilogy, and takes place in the mystical city of Esperanza, Ecuador, high in the Andes.
She applied the Page 69 Test to Apparition and reported the following:
Apparition begins with a brujo – a hungry ghost – materializing next to Tess Livingston as she’s in her car. No brujo has been seen in Esperanza since the defeat of Dominica’s tribe four years ago, but this one looks as real and solid as any living human and claims to be Dominica’s brother, Ricardo. When he threatens Tess and attempts to seize her, possess her, she fights back and escapes, completely freaked out by what has just happened.
In the final, fierce battle between the living and Dominica’s tribe of the dead, the living were helped by Light Chasers. These evolved souls, who brought Esperanza into the physical world 500 years ago, have deferred their passage to a higher plane in order to guide and protect the living and to guard the city against brujo incursions. Tess calls on her dad, Charlie, a member of the chaser council, but he doesn’t appear. She speeds on to the restaurant where she and her partner, Ian Ritter, are supposed to have dinner.
But while they’re eating outside, a monstrous wave of blackness sweeps up the hillside toward the restaurant’s deck. Everything the black wave touches simply disappears. As parts of the deck and the people on it are swallowed up by the blackness, pandemonium erupts and shrieks that the brujos have returned riddle the air. One thing is clear to both Tess and Ian: their time in Esperanza may be nearing an end.
On page 69 of the book, the 13 members of the chaser council are meeting to cast a vote about the fate of Esperanza. The head of the council, Newton, has just told them that in the last 48, hours there have been thousands of brujo seizures worldwide, that they’re using an abandoned hotel in the city as their portal to other countries. He insists it’s time to remove Esperanza from the physical world because the city itself is the brujo’s portal to the living.
Charlie has just learned that several chasers, whom he believes to be spiritually corrupt, experimented on their own with taking the city back into the nonphysical world and their experiment went awry. He now understands what happened at the restaurant. Dozens have died, dozens more were seriously injured. He’s irate and calls for a private vote.
Excerpt page 69:
“All in favor of a private vote,” said Franco, “raise your hand.”
Ten out of thirteen hands shot up. Newton glanced around nervously, apparently realizing for the first time that he might not have the support of the majority. Maria and Simon, Charlie thought, looked pissed. “A private vote it is,” Charlie said. “Write ‘yes’ if you favor what Newton is proposing and ‘no’ if you’re against it. Then put your vote in the center of the table.”
Charlie quickly scribbled “no” on his piece of paper, slid it out into the middle of the table. Within minutes, all votes were cast. Charlie shuffled them, then he and Maria began to turn them over. Yes votes along the top, no votes beneath.
Once the votes were all turned over he tried not to gloat. “Six yes, seven no.” Too damn close. Charlie suspected that Pilar and Alan or Dan had voted with his group. He knew that Newton and Maria would be lobbying behind the scenes to get one of them to change a vote. But for now, Esperanza had won a reprieve.
“Keep in mind,” Franco said, “that some of us who voted no might change our vote if provisions are included – something replaces Esperanza and people are given a choice.”
“Damn unlikely,” Maria muttered.
“You’d rather kill thousands?” Franco snapped, staring at her.
“It’d be easier.” Maria snatched her bag off the table, got up, and marched out of the café.
This scene makes it clear that even supposedly evolved souls may be corrupted by power and that politics is pertinent in the afterlife!
Learn more about the book and author at Trish J. MacGregor's website.
The Page 69 Test: Esperanza.
My Book, The Movie: Esperanza.
The Page 69 Test: Ghost Key.
My Book, The Movie: Apparition.
Writers Read: Trish J. MacGregor.
"Murder on the Orient Espresso"
Sandra Balzo is an award-winning author of crime fiction, including nine books in two different mystery series from Severn House--the Maggy Thorsen Coffeehouse Mysteries and Main Street Murders, set in the High Country of North Carolina. Balzo's books have garnered starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, while being recommended to readers of Janet Evanovich, Charlaine Harris, Mary Daheim, Joan Hess and Margaret Maron. A Wisconsin native, Balzo now splits her time between South Florida and North Carolina.
She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Murder on the Orient Espresso, and reported the following:
‘Spry old fellow,’ Prudence said.
‘The engineer? Oh, he’s quite the character.’ Missy checked her watch. ‘I do worry that we’ll get back to the station too early, though. You know, before the crime is solved?’
‘Maybe someone should make an announcement,’ I suggested. ‘Requesting that Potter and the rest of the “cast” come to this car.’
There was a flaw, of course, in my plan: Laurence Potter obviously didn’t want to appear. Missy, however, didn’t seem to see it. ‘That’s a wonderful idea, Maggy. Zoe should—’
‘Zoe? Why not you?’ Prudence prodded. ‘You do most of the work, anyway. Why let her take all the credit?’
Missy blushed, tugging down her dress. ‘Oh, no, I prefer to work behind the scenes. I couldn’t.’
‘You couldn’t what?’ Zoe, perhaps instinctively, had magically turned up, too.
‘Maggy suggested that we make an announcement . . .’
‘Maggy?’ Zoe repeated.
I raised my hand. The woman was either stupid or trying to rile me. I was betting on the latter.
‘Oh, right,’ Zoe said distractedly, her attention drawn to the commotion in the corner, where a huge man dressed in a zoot suit was trying to climb onto the table.
Pavlik, having been thwarted in his effort to save the day by venturing into the Everglades, slid out of the booth. ‘You!’ he said in a thundering voice. ‘Down! Now!’
The big man ignored him. With the train’s swaying movement he looked like an overweight, overdressed mob surfer trying to position his feet for one last Big Kahuna of a wave. Worse, he was a decade off in his costume. The high-waisted trousers and long coats with wide lapels and padded shoulders were popular in the forties, not the thirties.
‘Off the table, Fred!’ Zoe bellowed.
‘Fred’ got off. Pavlik shrugged and returned to our table.
‘Zoe, we think you should cut the cake,’ Prudence suggested. ‘Sop up some of the alcohol.’
‘Too late,’ Missy said mournfully.
‘Too late to sop up the alcohol or too late to cut the cake?’ One more Orient Espresso martini on an empty stomach and I’d be up on a table. Or under it.
The first thing I want to say about Page 69 of Murder on the Orient Espresso is that I really do know the difference between single and double-quotes. Severn House in London publishes my Maggy Thorsen Coffeehouse Mysteries (Orient Espresso is #8 in the series), and the Brits use single quotes where we use double and vice versa.
The second thing you should know is that in this scene, the fictional "Fred" is dancing on the edge -- the uneasy calm before the literal and figurative storm.
You see, Wisconsin coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen has accompanied her main squeeze, Sheriff Jake Pavlik, to South Florida, where he's speaking at a mystery-writers' conference. Maggy is anticipating a romantic arrival in their hotel suite, but the opening night event turns out to be a re-enactment of Agatha Christie’s classic, Murder on the Orient Express.
As night falls, conference organizer Zoe Scarlett rushes Maggy and Pavlik onto an excursion train into the Everglades along with the rest of the guests. Zoe's assistant, Missy Hudson, explains to the jet-lagged couple that Pavlik is to play the murder victim, Ratchett. Guests of Honor Rosemary Darlington and Laurence Potter will be Mary Debenham and Hercule Poirot, respectively. The rest of the guests are dressed in period costume and the idea is to solve the crime and return to civilization.
Maggy hopes that will be soon. But you don't always get what you want.
Things rapidly begin to fall apart. It's obvious that reviewer Potter and author Darlington despise each other, though whether that's because of a rumored affair or Potter's denouncement of Darlington's long-awaited comeback novel as "badly-written pornography," nobody seems to know. A young man turns up, claiming that Laurence Potter stole his manuscript and, on page 69, a torrential rain storm is about to strike.
And then there's the python…
Learn more about the book and author at Sandra Balzo's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
My Book, The Movie: Triple Shot.
"Left"
Tamar Ossowski resides in Needham, Massachusetts. She is married and has three children, one of whom was born with special needs and could spell before he learned to speak. She wrote the novel Left to explore the possibility that you can only become the person you are supposed to be once you truly embrace the person you already are.
Ossowski applied the Page 69 Test to Left and reported the following:
Left is the story of a mother who goes on the run with one child and abandons the other. It is the story of what remains once the unthinkable has happened.
One minute Franny has a mother and a sister and the next she is left in the care of woman whom she barely knows. Without explanation, her family suddenly vanishes. Learning to adapt would be challenging for any child but what happens when that child also happens to be autistic?
As time passes she begins to accept her fate even though she vows never to give up hope that one day her family will return. Leah, the woman caring for her, takes her to an indoor swimming pool at the university where she works (page 69) in an attempt to lift her spirits. As the scene progresses, it becomes clear that Leah is starting to care about Franny despite the fact that she covers her ears every time the toilet flushes, rearranges the letters of the alphabet out loud, and rocks back and forth when the world gets too intense.
Soon, protecting Franny becomes the only thing that Leah cares about. All she wants is to make sure that Franny is happy and even though Franny feels safe, it is clear that she still misses her mother. She asks Leah if she knows why her mother left and if she is ever coming back. She asks it in her little shaky nine-year-old voice. Those are the days that are the hardest.
Those are the days that secret keeping becomes suffocating.
Learn more about the book and author at Tamar Ossowski's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
My Book, The Movie: Left.
"Lost Luggage"
Jordi Punti is a writer, translator, and a regular contributor to the Spanish and Catalan press. Punti is considered one of the most promising new voices of contemporary Catalan literature. In 1998 he published his first book of short stories, Pell d’armadillo (Proa, 1998) that won the Serra d’Or Critics’ Prize.
Punti applied the Page 69 Test to Lost Luggage, his first novel, and reported the following:
Here's the text you'll find on page 69 of Lost Luggage:
It seems that the gentleman from Logroño was a great lover of taxidermy. Every Friday afternoon he went off, like an explorer setting out on a hunt, to pay a visit to the taxidermist’s that used to be in the Plaça Reial. He gazed and gazed again upon the exhibited items and, from time to time, when one of them stole his heart, spent some money and brought it home. Senyora Rifà tended to receive the new acquisition with a wrinkling of her nose—“dust and more dust,” she said to herself—but immediately set about looking for somewhere to put it. She saw each new adoption as a sign of permanence. As long as the animals were there, she reasoned—and it wasn’t as if they were going to be escaping all by themselves some fine day—it would never occur to the gentleman from Logroño to leave her.
She was wrong, of course.
She was wrong because on her return from the market one September morning, that time of day when the house was empty and she listened to the serial on Radio Barcelona while she was cooking lunch, she found a folded piece of paper on the dining-room table. The gentleman from Logroño informed her, with immoderate stylistic flourishes, that he’d been obliged to hasten back to his home town. His two daughters, together and in concert, had attempted suicide. He’d write with further news as soon as he could. Lots of kisses, et cetera. Senyora Natàlia Rifà shuddered at the situation and felt sorry for the man. She then noticed the reek of Dandy Male and realized that the paper she was holding in her hands was perfumed. What a strange thing. Who would perfume such a sorrowful note unless he was soliciting forgiveness for something? She rushed to the room that the gentleman from Logroño still rented in order to keep up appearances and flung open his wardrobe. Empty. Fearing she was going to faint, senyora Rifà flopped onto the bed. Immobile on top of a chest of drawers, a ferret mocked its landlady with a scornful leer.
In the first few weeks, senyora Natàlia Rifà pinned her hopes on the stuffed zoo, but her longing for a letter postmarked Logroño gradually dwindled away to nothing. One evening at dinnertime, after two months of resisting renting out the man’s room, she realized that looks of compassion were being exchanged between her lodgers.
Lost Luggage is a story told by Christopher, Christof, Cristòfol and Christophe --four half-brothers, sons of the same father and four very different mothers. They live in Frankfurt, Paris, London and Barcelona and they unwittingly share the fact that their father, Gabriel de la Cruz, abandoned them when they were little and they never heard of him again. The novel begins when Gabriel is officially considered a missing person and the police contact the Christophers. As they come together for the first time, they start to tell by turns all what they know about their father, looking for some clues in the past. Gabriel was a truck driver who in the 60's and 70's traveled around Europe moving furniture with two colleagues. As the story unfolds, we discover a man who during thirty years of driving was able to escape the darkness of Franco dictator's Spain and to explore a luminous Europe --a long journey full of emotions, funny situations, families left behind and some capital decisions that account for a whole life. As a novel built through many perspectives, Lost Luggage takes pleasure in the art of storytelling. On page 69, we find the story of Natàlia Rifà, the owner of the guest house where Gabriel goes to live as a teenager, after he leaves the orphanage where he grew up. On the same day that Gabriel takes a room into the guest house, we learn the story of Senyora Rifà, a spinster that fell in love with a visiting gentleman who stayed in the boarding house. That man had a thing for taxidermy and little by little put a stuffed animal in every room of the guest house. She accepted it as a sign of love, but one day the man leaves her alone with the quiet zoo. Gabriel is accepted and he gets "the Ferret room."
Learn more about Lost Luggage at the publisher's website.
Writers Read: Jordi Punti.
"Burnt Black"
Ed Kovacs is the author of the critically-acclaimed Cliff St. James mystery/crime series published by St. Martin’s Press. He spent two and half years living in New Orleans beginning in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and he co-founded a security company there that taught defensive tactics and other techniques. Kovacs has studied martial arts, holds many weapons-related licenses, certifications and permits, and is a certified medical First Responder. He is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, American Legion Post 299, the International Thriller Writers association, and the Mystery Writers of America.
Kovacs applied the Page 69 Test to Burnt Black, his third Cliff St. James Novel, and reported the following:
As I scan page 69 of the Advance Reader's Copy (ARC) of Burnt Black, I see a break between scenes. So I have the last paragraph of one scene, and the first graphs of the next.
In that ending paragraph, a mysterious late-night stalker escapes from NOPD Homicide Detective Cliff St. James. It concludes a spooky, almost freaky scene where St. James was trapped in a succubus-type nightmare. So the sense that this case won't be easy to solve and that things are not as they seem gets reinforced. Good.
Burnt Black is not fantasy or sci-fi, but my detectives have to wrestle with some occult killings that seem to defy logic. Considering the long legacy of voodoo and spiritualism in New Orleans, where the novel is set, bizarre doings might be de rigueur to the average cop. But there's bizarre, and then there's over-the-top crazy/weird, and it's the latter that challenges my detectives.
There's no dialogue on page 69, but since I wrote this series in first person, some of St. James' inner musings regarding his detective partner and would-be lover, Honey, suggest suspicion and foreshadow a radical change in their relationship which occurs near the end of the book.
Other narrative is focused on the plot, and on touching base with the familiar—the familiar on page 69 being St. James' penchant for riding a bike. In a series, it's important to keep consistent habits, since readers expect it. I try to balance the things that readers have come to expect from my hero with out-of-left-field surprises, since, after all, I have to keep them guessing in a mystery.
Learn more about the book and author at Ed Kovacs's website.
My Book, The Movie: Storm Damage.
The Page 69 Test: Storm Damage.
The Page 69 Test: Good Junk.
Writers Read: Ed Kovacs.
"The Séance Society"
Michael Nethercott's work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year, Gods and Monsters, and Crimestalkers Casebook. He is a past winner of The Black Orchid Novella Award, The Vermont Playwrights Award, and The Nor’easter Play Writing Contest. He lives with his wife in Guilford, Vermont.
Nethercott applied the Page 69 Test to his new traditional mystery novel, The Séance Society, and reported the following:
The 69th page of The Séance Society is actually very representative (no surprise to Page 69 theorists!) It touches on ghosts, quirky characters, interrogation, and the sharp wit of Mr. O’Nelligan, my gentleman sleuth—all main aspects of the novel.
At this point in the story—set in 1950s Connecticut—Lee Plunkett, a semi-adequate private eye, has enlisted the aid of the Irish-born O’Nelligan to investigate murder among a group of ghost-seeking spiritualists. In this scene, they confront that stalwart of traditional whodunits—the polished British butler. Far from being a submissive servant, Trowbridge is a pretty strident, well-spoken fellow who holds his own against his interrogators. Here he’s asked about his view of spirits. The belief or non-belief in the supernatural is very much central to the book’s plot. Lee Plunkett is our narrator:
“I don’t squander my time on phantoms,” Trowbridge said dryly. “None of their lot has deemed it necessary to contact me, and I return the favor by ignoring them. It’s a satisfactory arrangement.”
“I see,” my colleague responded. “Then that would number you, along with Miss Chauncey, as one of the household’s skeptics.”
“I can’t speak for the girl. I imagine she believed whatever Mr. Lloyd instructed her to believe. Not much backbone to that one. But then, off course, backbone is certainly not a
requirement for the position of secretary.”
“And what of the position of butler?” Mr. O’Nelligan was taking on this snooty son-of-a-gun. “What characteristics would you deem essential for your own vocation?”
Trowbridge didn’t flinch. “Discretion, precision, and a sturdy deportment, to name but a few. Oh, and I almost forgot detachment. Yes, detachment goes a long way. And, lastly… it never hurts to be English.”
The Irish and English have, of course, a complicated relationship, as evidenced by the tension between O’Nelligan and Trowbridge:
The glove had been thrown. These two men, born of nations with a shared history of armed strife, now stood staring each other down. I instinctively took a step back to distance myself from their standoff.
Here, as in much of the novel, Lee is more than content to have his Celtic colleague play point-man in the investigation. After all, Mr. O’Nelligan is the one with the real deductive chops.
Just when I feared they were about to respark old tribal violence, Mr. O’Nelligan drew himself back into detective mode.
“On Friday evening, approximately an hour prior to your employer’s death, you spent a few minutes alone with him. What was the nature of this visit?”
Did the butler do it? I’ll say only this: Trowbridge is one of numerous colorful, eccentric suspects who frequent the old gothic mansion where murder occurred. My influences are the Golden Age mystery writers—Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, Rex Stout—who established the genre. And a ghostly subplot never hurts...
Visit Michael Nethercott's website and Facebook page.
"Never Laugh as a Hearse Goes By"
Elizabeth J. Duncan is a winner of the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. She was shortlisted for the Agatha and Arthur Ellis Awards.
Duncan applied the Page 69 Test to Never Laugh as a Hearse Goes By, the fifth novel in the Penny Brannigan series, and reported the following:
Page 69 finds us at the opening of Chapter 12 in Never Laugh as a Hearse Goes By. It’s only half a page, so this will be proportionally brief!
We join Bishop Michael Blaine in progress as he wraps up the morning session of a clerical conference being held at the stunningly beautiful Gladstone’s Library in North Wales. His secretary, Minty Russell, laughs to herself as he promotes the idea of a modern Church in Wales taking a strong, supportive stand on the role of women clergy.
This progressive thinking from the man who treated his own wife with such cold disdain and didn’t think her capable of doing much of anything.
In this brief passage we see the bishop through Minty’s unsympathetic eyes. The group breaks up and the bishop reminds everyone that lunch is at 1 p.m. Keep reading! Someone has a lunch date with death!
Visit Elizabeth J. Duncan's website and blog.
The Page 69 Test: The Cold Light of Mourning.
The Page 69 Test: A Brush with Death.
Read--Coffee with a Canine: Elizabeth J. Duncan and Dolly.
Writers Read: Elizabeth J. Duncan (January 2013).
"Rituals"
Mary Anna Evans has degrees in physics and engineering, but her heart is in the past. Her series character, Faye Longchamp, lives the exciting life of an archaeologist, and Evans envies her a little.
Longchamp's growing list of adventures include Artifacts, Relics, Effigies, Findings, Floodgates, Strangers, Plunder and, new this month, Rituals.
Evans applied the Page 69 Test to Rituals and reported the following:
Ah, yes. The Page 69 Test. It’s terrifying. Until I take a peek at page 69, I never know whether I will find my finest work or whether I will find drivel. Even if I wanted to think ahead and plant a single page of genius there, I couldn’t. Who knows how the book will be printed? I find out what’s on page 69 at about the same time the rest of you do, when the printed copies are distributed and the first ones land on my doorstep.
I confess to being happy about the Page 69 Test for Rituals. It is, in its entirety, part of a monologue in the voice of one of my favorite guest characters, Antonia Caruso, a retired schoolteacher who spent decades moonlighting as a magician with the delicious stage name of “Toni the Astonisher.” Toni is a young retiree, but she is still several years older than me in chronological age. In our hearts, though, Toni and I will always be curious children who are everlastingly charmed by the mystery of how the world works. For that reason, Toni and I both majored in physics, and neither of us is very tolerant of people who are unwilling to believe the things that observation and reason prove to be true.
I have been told by one of my respected readers that Toni is the character who most reminds him of me. There are surely large chunks of me buried in Faye, and this person has not read Wounded Earth and has thus not met Larabeth McLeod, but yes. If I had never married or had children, I might have been a physics teacher who moonlighted in entertainment, although I would likely have been a writer or musician, rather than a stage magician. And I have a physicist’s regard for truth, so I might well have sounded like Toni Caruso when she assesses two women who claim to be able to talk to the dead, Dara Armistead and her mother Tilda:
Dara Armistead is not her mother. She resembles her mother in no way, beyond the fact that they are both tall, strong-willed women. I know for a fact that she lacks her mother’s integrity.
Any reader of my eventual book will know that I do not believe Tilda Armistead had psychic powers, because I do not believe that anyone has them. Still, intellectual honesty requires me to repeat this mantra daily: “I could be wrong.”
It is possible that I am wrong in my belief that the physical world is all there is. It is possible, though I think it’s highly unlikely, that some people can communicate with our dearly beloved ones who have passed to the other side. If so, then I admit the possibility that Tilda Armistead was the real thing. I do not give Dara Armistead that much credit, because there is no question that she is a fraud.
It is no wonder that the two women didn’t speak for the last fifteen years of Tilda’s life. It’s more surprising that their relationship lasted as long as it did….
Imagine how a crusader for truth like Toni would react to news of Tilda Armistead’s murder. Imagine, in particular, how she would react to evidence that points to Tilda’s daughter, Dara the Fraud, as a prime suspect. And imagine how well a woman with Toni’s crisp intellect would get along with Faye Longchamp, my no-nonsense archaeologist, and her extraordinary daughter Amande. This is a novel full of extraordinary women. (And Joe. No book about Faye is complete without her soulmate.) It reaches all the way back to America’s suffragettes for inspiration. I think Toni, Faye, and Amande would have made those brave women proud.
Learn more about the book and author at Mary Anna Evans' website and blog.
The Page 69 Test: Floodgates.
The Page 69 Test: Strangers.
My Book, The Movie: Strangers.
The Page 69 Test: Plunder.
Writers Read: Mary Anna Evans.
"The Desperate Adventures of Zeno & Alya"
Jane Kelley is the author of the middle-grade novels Nature Girl and The Girl Behind The Glass. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their daughter.
Kelley applied the Page 69 Test to her latest middle-grade novel, The Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya, and reported the following:
“Dr. Jones says you’re ready to start the second phase of chemo next Tuesday.” Mrs. Logan tried to sound like this was a good thing.
“The second phase?”
“They want to make sure they got it all.” Mrs. Logan smiled and squeezed Alya’s hand.
Alya lay back against the pillow. The fabric rubbed her tiny hairs the wrong way. They had just started to grow. They shouldn’t have bothered. They were only going to fall out again anyway. What was the point when the doctors would always say that Alya needed more and more treatments? What was the point of anything when everybody everywhere in the whole wide world was eventually going to die?
This sad passage is most definitely not representative of the novel. But it does do a good job of describing what Alya refers to elsewhere in the book as “the monster in the corner of her room.” Alya is only eleven years old, but being treated for leukemia has forced her to confront the possibility of her death. Is it any wonder that she struggles with despair?
This passage is the shadow, the dark line that gives depth to the rest of the colors in the book. And there are plenty of colors. First and foremost, there is Zeno. The book is half his––and he isn’t even mentioned on page 69. He’s an African grey parrot with a red tail. He thinks a little too well of himself. Well, he does speak 127 words, including a few in Greek. His owner was a professor of Greek Literature, so Zeno occasionally quotes the Greek philosopher Zeno. A lot of the humor in the story comes from Zeno’s mistakes. He doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does. For instance, he refers to a statue of an angel as a Parrot-Man.
Many other colors in the book are created by Zeno’s adventures. As he flies around Brooklyn, he is challenged by other birds. He has to escape from a cage. He has to find his way home through a storm. He has to learn the real meaning of “home.” But most importantly, he has to find his way back to Alya’s window. His brusque arrogance is exactly what she needs to snap her out of her despair.
Sometimes we all need that––even if we don’t have leukemia. If I read page 69, would I keep reading? No! Why would I want to feel depressed? And yet, I might be glad to confront these ideas in the safety of a story. In middle-grade novels, a girl’s hair always grows back. The parrots find their way home. And friends help each other forget that death is part of life.
Learn more about the book and author at Jane Kelley's website and blog.
"The Whole Golden World"
Kristina Riggle lives and writes in West Michigan. Her debut novel, Real Life & Liars, was a Target "Breakout" pick and a "Great Lakes, Great Reads" selection by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. The Life You’ve Imagined was honored by independent booksellers as an IndieNext “Notable” book. Things We Didn't Say was named a Midwest Connections pick of the Midwest Booksellers Association. Keepsake earned a "Highly recommended" starred review from Booklist.
Riggle applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Whole Golden World, and reported the following:
Excerpt of Page 69 from The Whole Golden World. As this snippet begins, Rain (the character, not the weather) is hiding in the bathroom, trying to pull herself together.
The door opened too fast, because someone was pushing it open from the outside, too.
“Rain!” Alessia exclaimed. She pushed her way in and shut the door with both of them still inside. Rain peered longingly at the door, wishing she could turn into mist and walk through Alessia and get out of there, though her friend was only concerned, as a friend should be.
Rain’s one daring move all her life was to take a trip to Italy alone with some of the inheritance from Gran, and she’d befriended Alessia over late-night bottles of prosecco in that instant way some girls can click, especially girls outside of their normal lives, like at summer camp. Alessia had made good on her promise to visit Rain in the States, and in short order she had met and married TJ’s brother.
Those long, prosecco-soaked nights seemed far away now.
I wanted my character of Rain – wife of TJ, the teacher arrested for a sexual relationship with his 17-year-old student – to have friendships feature in her story arc. Alessia here is one of those. I had complete freedom with the friend when I conceived of her; she had no pre-determined story of her own. For no particular reason, I harkened back to my own Italy trip, with my husband, in 2000. During that trip, we had a tour guide in Rome named Alessia. She was a pretty blonde not much older than me. So why not make Rain’s friend Italian? And, in doing so, I added a new dimension to Rain, because how would she meet this Italian friend? And how does this friend stay in her life? These answers to these questions helped form my main character.
Alessia is not the clichéd wise friend who has all the answers and cracks sarcastic jokes for comic relief. Nor is she universally supportive of every move Rain makes. In this way she provides both support and conflict, which is how friendships often work in real life.
She doesn’t often appear in the pages, but I try to make all my characters interesting and unique, even if they are usually offstage. If nothing else, it’s more interesting for me to write Alessia from Italy who turned out to be my main character’s sister-in-law, as opposed to a bland sidekick.
Learn more about the book and author at Kristina Riggle's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
Read--Coffee with a Canine: Kristina Riggle & Lucky.
"The Price of Innocence"
Lisa Black spent the five happiest years of her life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office she analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now she’s a certified latent print examiner and CSI for the Cape Coral Police Department. Her books have been translated into six languages. Evidence of Murder reached the New York Times mass market bestseller’s list.
The Price of Innocence is Black's latest novel featuring forensic scientist Theresa MacLean. The author applied the Page 69 Test to the new novel and reported the following:
The Price of Innocence begins with Theresa and Frank caught in an explosion possibly aimed at a local inventor/entrepreneur, the northeast version of Bill Gates, named Bruce Lambert. Ignoring her bruises and forced to relinquish the investigation to the feds, Theresa tries to dive back into normalcy at work only to have a cop assassinated nearly at her feet. These two apparently unrelated cases begin to move closer and closer together as Theresa encounters the unpredictable world of methamphetamine production, an attractive and mysterious man, a circle of new money and power and a conspiracy of silence going back twenty years.
On Page 69 of the book, a second explosion has just occurred at the factory/proving ground of the billionaire genius, and once again Theresa has just barely escaped serious injury--but she had been present only for a completely un-job-related reason: she and the billionaire are both alums of Cleveland State University and he had been hosting a small alumni reception and tour. This minor detail forms the loose connection between Theresa, Lambert, and the mysterious David Madison.
Page 69 is illustrative of the book as a whole because it shows Theresa in typical action--doing all that needs to be done, efficiently, professionally, while putting her own feelings and worries aside until she has the time and freedom to deal with them.
‘You almost got blown up for the second time this week?’ Frank demanded.
‘It sounds bad when you say it like that.’ She had been all right until now, calling the lab, retrieving her camera to take photos of the charred storage closet outside the fishbowl workroom, helping the EMT move a badly burned technician and forbidding him to move the engineer he pronounced dead, trapped beneath one of the overturned robots – they were much larger up close – all the while trying not to ponder why the area she had been in only ten minutes beforehand had turned into a smoking hole.
But now the tremor in her cousin’s voice made her realize that neither one of them had even begun to deal with the close call they’d had at the Bingham building. She had grown accustomed to the physical threats of the job, and mostly of Frank’s job, by not thinking about it – after all, there was little she could do to control it. But clearly that would not be sufficient, not for this round.
Not to mention that a few lines before, she discovers an important clue--that the explosive used is the same as the compound used in the first explosion. Its roots go back even further, to her alma mater and David Madison’s tenure there--which will become more significant to her life, and safety, than she would ever have dreamed possible.
Learn more about the book and author at Lisa Black's website.
"Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child"
At fifteen Maria T. Lennon left Santa Barbara to study at The American School in Switzerland. She continued her studies at Brillantmont in Lausanne, got kicked out, then went on to London to complete her A levels. She was accepted to the London School of Economics and studied International Economics and Politics of International Aid. After graduating, she moved to Italy where she ate and drank enormous quantities. She also taught summer school at The American School in Genova, an elementary school. Lennon later moved to Paris and wrote her first novel. When she returned to Los Angeles, she quit all bad habits and continued working on her novel, Making It up as I Go Along, which was published in 2004.
Lennon’s screenplay about the Red Brigade was a third place finalist in Francis Ford Coppola's screenwriter's competition. Today, she lives in Laurel Canyon and has four children and a dog named Frida.
Lennon applied the “Page 69 Test” to her most recent book, Confessions of a So-called Middle Child, and reported the following:
Yes! Page 69 [inset right, click to enlarge] is where it’s at.
Take a quick browse and see what you’ll discover about my not-so nice heroine in the making.
The book is short—major bonus for kids.
You can tell Charlie is the middle-kid right away and both her younger and her older siblings are super annoying.
She sees a shrink- this is LA you know.
She goes to a new school where being different may or may not be cool.
She hates the spotlight.
This is an issue book—Charlie definitely wants to stop bullying—that’s funny as you know what.
Teachers, parents and grandparents should buy this book for their kids. It’s a teachable book for 4th, 5th and 6th grade.
Girls can be super mean you know.
Believe it or not Charlie is a role model for all girls.
It’s realistic fiction set in the Hollywood Hills. Your kids will love it. Trust me. I have four of my own.
Learn more about the book and author at the Confessions of a So-called Middle Child website, and follow Maria T. Lennon on Facebook and Twitter.
Read--Coffee with a Canine: Maria T. Lennon and Frida.
My Book, The Movie: Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child.
"Two Serpents Rise"
Max Gladstone has been thrown from a horse in Mongolia and nominated for the John W Campbell Best New Writer Award. Two Serpents Rise, his second novel, is about water rights, human sacrifice, dead gods, and poker.
Gladstone applied the “Page 69 Test” to Two Serpents Rise and reported the following:
The sun died, devoured by the rolling ocean. Dresediel Lex bloomed from its death, like a flower on a grave. Pyramids and skyspires cast light into darkness. The arteries of commerce glowed. In an office atop the obsidian pyramid where he once broke the gods, the King in Red sipped coffee and watched the city his power made possible, the city his radiance illuminated.
The lords of the earth and the bums in rags and tatters hid from that light, under ratty blankets or in the perfumed caves of nightclubs and dance halls. Across town by the shore, five students doffed their clothes and ran naked into cold dark water. Dresediel Lex by night was a brilliant menagerie. The animals trapped inside scraped at the bars of their cages.
Caleb arrived early at the Rakesblight Center, a black square box a thousand feet on each side and four stories tall. Animals were bought here, butchered, and sold—unsuspecting pigs herded a hundred at a time into rooms that smelled nothing at all like death, so well did the center's Craft scrub away the stench and spiritual taint of slaughter. From those rooms the pigs' corpses moved to wheels and metal jaws and conveyor belts. By the time their meat reached the sale floor, it had become cold flesh in a small box, nothing left to suggest it once squealed or rooted in muck.
Two years before, the King in Red had bought the place from Illyana Rakesblight, the Deathless Queen who designed the center to replace the fallen Goddess of Plenty. After the purchase, Illyana retired to an island she raised from a distant ocean, and the King in Red assumed her role. Each knife and abattoir became an extension of his power. Caleb's job had been to review the plant and ensure RKC would profit enough to 0ffset operating costs. The center was a good investment, he decided…
I think Page 69 of my novel Two Serpents Rise makes a pretty good case for my new book Two Serpents Rise. The story follows wizards in pinstriped suits, skeletons with investment portfolios, and one basically human risk manager trying to figure out who poisoned the water supply of his desert city. All of these make an appearance, at least temporarily, in the page above.
We're introduced to a panorama of Dresediel Lex, from the dreaded skeletal King in Red atop his pyramid office building to a few college kids cavorting in the surf. We also see the fundamental horrors that maintain the world of the book—and we see how people relate to them on a daily basis.
And at the end we revolve back to Caleb Altemoc, the poor bastard who's trying to do his job in the middle of all this insanity, advancing toward the rooftop of an unsettling building for a confrontation with a source he doesn't quite trust.
I'd keep reading. I hope you would, too.
Learn more about the book and author at Max Gladstone's website and Twitter perch.
"Engines of the Broken World"
Jason Vanhee lives in Seattle, Washington.
He applied the “Page 69 Test” to Engines of the Broken World, his first novel, and reported the following:
I could have been lucky with this challenge; my book isn’t very long, so we’re already into the meat of it by page 69. But that exact page? Not so much. We’re in the middle of something: four people are talking, something horrible has happened, but we’ve come in too late to see exactly what, and one page doesn’t carry us out of the scene either. We’ve got bad news: “In a few days, every one of us was going to die, or vanish into something that wasn’t, into a cold and dead fog.” But there’s nothing to suggest why that could be happening. We’ve got a grim situation with a woman who’s in very bad shape, but we miss hearing out what that shape is. So the overall book we don’t get too much of. But we do get something of the characters: Merciful’s desire to act like a woman grown, and her endless curiosity even when it’s a bad idea; Gospel’s meanness; and the essential goodness of the Minister, tempered by one mention of how it was listening in, like it’s always listening. So does page 69 work to tell you the story of the novel? Not really. Would it keep you reading, though? Well. It should, even if only because of all that it hints at. But as the author, it’s very hard to judge, isn’t it?
Visit Jason Vanhee's blog, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
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Home Nursing News Mary Eliza Mahoney: The First African American Qualified Nurse
Mary Eliza Mahoney: The First African American Qualified Nurse
The life and legacy of Mary Eliza Mahoney
Frieda Paton, M.Cur, RN
Mary Eliza Mahoney – First African American Graduate Nurse in the US
Mary Eliza Mahoney became the first professionally qualified black nurse in 1879. Besides being acknowledged as an excellent nurse, she continued throughout her life making her mark as an activist for the rights of minority nurses and women.
Mary Eliza Mahoney. Image by Wikipedia
Mary Eliza Mahoney was born on May 7, 1845, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, to freed slave parents who had moved north wanting to live in an environment with less racial discrimination. Mahoney’s small stature – weighing in at around 90 pounds – did not limit her energy and drive. She was a deeply religious woman, which was also the reason why she aspired from a young age to become a nurse.
Mahoney started work at the New England Hospital for Women and Children at age 18 and worked there for 15 years as a cook, maid, and washerwoman before starting her training as a nurse. At the age of 33, Mahoney was the first black woman to be accepted into the Hospital’s 16-month training program in 1878.
New England Hospital for Women and Children was the first institution in the US to introduce a formal nurse training course in 1872. The hospital was founded and staffed entirely by women physicians, and it’s possible that this other minority group – women in medicine – gave Mahoney the opportunity because they were also victims of prejudice.
Out of a class of 40 entrants, Mary Eliza Mahoney graduated as one of only four students to complete the intensive program and became the first black professionally qualified nurse. For the next 30 years, she worked mainly as a private duty nurse in the homes of wealthy white families. She was praised for her efficiency and calm approach and her reputation spread to the extent that the received calls for her services from across many US states – including Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and North Carolina. Throughout her career, she took pride in her work, driven by the belief that it was important to prove that there was no place for discrimination in the nursing profession.
From 1911-1912, at age 66, Mahoney took up the position of supervisor at the Howard Orphan Asylum for Black Children in New York after which she retired in Boston. She remained involved in activism for nurses’ and women’s rights. At the age of 76, she was one of the first women in Boston who registered to vote after the passing of the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote.
After a three year battle with cancer, on January 4, 1926, Mahoney passed away at age 81. She was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Massachusetts.
The legacy of Mary Mahoney
Mahoney was also active in nursing organizations, and it has been said that she seldom missed a national nurses’ meeting. In 1896, she became one of the first black members of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada (later renamed the American Nurses Association).
Mahoney recognized the importance for nurses to stand together in improving the status of blacks in the profession. She was a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) – an organization with the aim of advancing the interests of colored nurses and eliminating racial discrimination in the profession. At the first NACGN convention in 1909, Mahoney delivered the welcome address in which she made a passionate plea against inequalities in nursing education and called for demonstrations to have more African-American students admitted to nursing schools.
In Mahoney’s honor, the NACGN established the Mary Mahoney Award in 1936 to recognize contributions to advancing the interests of black nurses. The medal was continued after the organization merged with the ANA in 1951. Today the ANA presents the award “in recognition of an individual nurse or group of nurses for special efforts they have made towards increasing diversity and inclusion within the nursing profession.”
Helen Sullivan Miller, a recipient of the medal in 1968, was inspired to visit Mahoney’s grave in Everett, Massachusetts. After it took her some time to find the simple marker, she launched a drive for a proper monument to Mary Eliza Mahoney and the gravestone was dedicated in 1973.
Mahony was inducted into the American Nurses Hall of Fame in 1976 and into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993.
“Today’s minority nurses stand on the shoulders of Mary Mahoney,” said May Wykle, one for the recipients of the medal and dean and professor of nursing. “She was a true pioneer in nursing, and we owe a debt of gratitude for her being a determined role model.”
American Nurses Association (ANA)
Helen Sullivan Miller
History of Nursing
Howard Orphan Asylum for Black Children
Mary Eliza Mahoney
New England Hospital for Women and Children
Frieda Paton is a registered nurse with a Master’s degree in nursing education. Her passion for nursing education, nursing issues and advocacy for the profession were ignited while she worked as an education officer, and later editor, at a national nurses’ association. This passion, together with interest in health and wellness education since her student days, stayed with her throughout her further career as a nurse educator and occupational health nurse. Having reached retirement age, she continues to contribute to the profession as a full-time freelance writer. In the news and feature articles she writes for Nurseslabs, she hopes to inspire nursing students and nurses on the job to reflect on the trends and issues that affect their profession and communities - and play their part in advocacy wherever they find themselves.
Gracie McNeal, MS, RN February 14, 2019 at 12:14 AM
There is/are some problems with this article. First, check the dates on the comment regarding her parents moving north after the Civil War. The Civil War ended in 1865, yet the author’s comments seem to indicate a different date. Second the comment, the fact that she, “graduated one out of only four of a class of 40 is also confusing. Were there only 4 how completed the full course of study or what? As a person who is somewhat familiar with Mary Eliza Mahoney, I am attempting to understand, but these problems of the author are very distracting and do not lend credence to the whole article.
Frieda Paton February 20, 2019 at 4:08 PM
Hi Gracie,
Thank you very much for your comment. That Mahoney’s parents had moved after the Civil War was indeed my mistake and it has been corrected.
Concerning the fact that Mahoney was only one in four to pass the course had me sitting up as well when I first read it, but it was confirmed in numerous sources. It seems that it was the general pattern for the course which was very though – the majority of the students fell out along the way. The numbers differ slightly between sources, some saying that she was one in three who completed, and with the original number of students varying between 39 and 45. A source quoting the figure I mentioned in the article, and which appears to be a reliable source, has been linked in the article.
Matt Vera, BSN, R.N. February 25, 2019 at 5:48 PM
Thanks for clarifying this, Frieda.
10 Nurse Advocacies and Campaigns You Need to Know
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NZADDs Info Update 21 August 2013
21/08/2013 31/08/2013 terence
A feasting fortnight is coming-up for those of us interested in aid and development – see below for three important events between 4 and 18 September.
It is not often New Zealanders get the chance to come together to think and talk about our government’s aid policy. Don’t miss your opportunity to do so at the 4 September Forum, ‘Looking Forward: New Zealand Aid Beyond 2015’. ‘Is there a future for aid, and if so, what does it look like?’. Our keynote, Professor Stephen Howes of the Australian National University’s Development Policy Centre will speak to this question. Aid professionals and political party spokespeople will then share their thoughts about the future of NZ aid policy.
The event is being held in Lecture Theatre 2, Government Buildings (between Stout Street and Lambton Quay), Pipitea Campus, Victoria University of Wellington. The second page of this PDF has a good map.
We’ve had a couple of changes to the programme. Barry Coates, Executive Director of Oxfam NZ joins the first panel discussion. In the second political party panel, the Hon. Maryan Street will now speak on behalf of the Labour Party and MP John Hayes will speak on behalf of the National Party. Download the new programme here.
Please RSVP if you’re coming so we can order you tea and cake: admin@nzadds.org.nz
Climate Confusion: A Public Talk, 12:30-1:30pm, Thursday 5 September
‘Climate Confusion: why the international climate change negotiations have unravelled, and what, if anything, can be done about it?’. In 2009 (Copenhagen) and 2010 (Cancun), the world decided to move away from a top-down (Kyoto) approach to a more flexible bottom-up approach to tackling climate change. But in Durban (2011), we decided (apparently) to go back to a top-down approach. Subsequent negotiations, however, have revealed deep splits between powerful countries. How did we get into this mess, and what are the prospects for getting out of it?
Come and hear Professor Stephen Howes of the Australian National University tackle this question: 12:30 – 1:30pm, Thursday 5 September, Railway West Wing, Room 501, Pipitea Campus, Victoria University of Wellington. The Institute for Governance and Policy Studies will host this talk. Event details here.
Hear Duncan Green Talk About Insights of Models of Change
Duncan Green is visiting New Zealand and will speak in both Auckland (18 Sept) and Wellington (16 Sept) (more logistics details here). Duncan will explore the latest research and innovative thinking on change models for prosperity in an unequal, warming world. .
Duncan is the Senior Strategic Advisor for Oxfam Great Britain and Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex, UK. He is the co-author of the impressive book ‘From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States Can Change the World‘, which led to the creation of his Poverty to Power blog.
Meanwhile In Australia…
In between elections and PNG ‘Solutions’ it’s been an interesting few weeks for aid-related events here in Australia. You can find a summary of some very good commentary, which helps make sense of it all, here on the Development Policy Centre’s Blog.
Jo for NZADDs admin
Previous Article Update 4 August 2013
Next Article The Bad News from Australia
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WSOP 2015 Phil Galfond Gets Bracelet Number Two
Nick Schulman failed to win the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship for the third time and had to settle for second place.
WSOP.com
Event #28A: MONSTER STACK $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Hoyt Corkins is on track to make a challenge for his third WSOP bracelet as Day 3 of the Monster Stack has concluded with Corkins as the chip leader with 9.3 million chips. Kevin Kung is in second place with 29 players remaining from the initial field of 7,192.
As expected in such a large field event, most of the players who still have chips are relatively unknown. Scotty Nguyen and this year’s event #20 winner Ben Zamani both made the money, but then soon exited. New PokerStars Team Pro Aditya Agarwal busted out shortly after.
Event #29: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship
Seven years after winning his first WSOP bracelet, Phil Galfond has added a second and an extra $224,383 to his bank balance.
Facing a daunting final table, with Dan Smith as the chip leader at the beginning of the day, Galfond steadily accelerated his game to take the top spot after a heads up battle with Nick Schulman. Schulman has won this event twice in the past, so Galfond had to press every possible advantage.
“Normally in tournaments you tend to sort of shy away from spots because there are going to be better situations to get your money in. When I was heads up with [Schulman], I’m going to take every spot that presents itself. There’s no huge edge later. Just try to play every hand as best you can,” he said later.
Galfond also made the final table of the Limit version of this tournament—event #7—finishing in 4th place and last year he finished 2nd.
Dan Smith ended up in third place, followed by Eric Seidel and John “Pearljammed” Turner.
Event #30: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Kai Yang is the chip leader with 21 players left, but online tournament legend Chris Moorman is not far behind in third place, as event #30 goes into its third day.
Despite his online success, Moorman does not yet have a WSOP bracelet. Ranking Hero’s new Heroscore ratings list Moorman in 8th place, the highest ranking achieved by a primarily internet player. Moorman does have plenty of live experience, and has well as over $2 million in WSOP cashes. He came close to winning a bracelet in the 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event, finishing in second place.
Bertrand “ElKy” Grospellier is one of the players who survived Day 2, and he is playing for his second WSOP bracelet. Antonio Esfandiari is also in with a chance, starting the day further down the field in 15th place.
Event #31: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
After Day 1 Mike Gracz was close to the bottom of the leaderboard, but by the end of Day 2 he had leaped to the top, finishing with a chip stack of 901,000.
“I really feel like I put on a short-stack clinic today,” Gracz said after play ended. “I’m feeling really good about this tournament.”
Two three-time WSOP bracelet winners remain in the 17 player strong field including Jeff Madsen and Robert Mizrachi who won his third bracelet in event 3# just a fortnight ago.
Event #32: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed
550 players entered the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed event which began on Monday. The event has drawn more than its fair share of big names, with Phil Helmuth trying for bracelet number 15 and many others hoping to build up their bracelet collection.
Former Main Event champions Joe Cada and Martin Jacobson both entered, but the top spot on the leaderboard after day 1 went to British player Simon Deadman. Tuan Le and Jennifer Tilly are both sitting with big stacks, in 3rd and 5th place respectively. 190 players remain to fight for the $2,585,000 prize pool.
Event #33: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
Greg Raymer provides a familiar face at the top of the pack after Day 1 of event #33. The 2004 Main Event champion has 71,400 chips but there are still 121 players remaining from the starting field of 388.
Fresh from his victory in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship, Phil Galfond spent most of the day as a short stack, however the last few hands of play provided him with just enough chips to start Day 2 with some confidence.
One of his fellow final tablers in the Championship event, Jon Turner is well ahead of him in this low buy-in version, and Allen Cunningham and Brian Hastings are also Day 1 survivors.
The entire prize pool of $257,850 is barely more than the first prize Galfond took home earlier, but with a bracelet at stake the competition will be just as ferocious.
Antonio Esfandiari Bertrand Grospellier Chris Moorman Dan Smith Erik Seidel Greg Raymer Jeff Madsen Jennifer Tilly Jesse Martin Joe Cada Jon Turner Martin Jacobson Michael Mizrachi Nick Schulman Phil Galfond Scotty Nguyen WSOP
Jocelyn Wood, Editor Joss is a graduate in English from the University of Birmingham and has a Master’s Degree in Organisational Development from the University of Manchester. His career path has taken him from the British Army, through business & finance to seven years as a successful professional poker player. His experience of the European Union, law, accounting, finance, regulation and online poker provide the basis for his insights in the PRO specialist categories of Industry and Law & Regulation. As CEO he steered his own company through full Financial Services Authority regulation, and was asked by Morgan Stanley to take their UK mortgage business through the same process. Although British, he lives in Arequipa, Peru, set high in the mountains and surrounded by volcanoes. He is married to a Peruvian and has three children.
pokerfu.se/vjhb
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If Sports Articles were Written Like LARP Articles
Football’s Final Solution to American Colonial History
A Native American Team, A Team of Colonists. What Could Go Wrong?
To be fair, the players knew there would be violence. Everything leading up to the game had warned them of loud noises, flashing lights, and of course, brutal conflict with the enemy. Bill Belichick, the leader or “Head Coach” of the New English Patriots – a football faction devoted to defending the Boston area against its rivals – had warned players repeatedly that “the other team will be out for blood. They will seek to dominate you.” In a pre-game ritual with notable similarities to a prayer circle, Belichick gathered his armored players and reminded them that their whole lives had been leading up to that moment, and that nothing else mattered to the Patriots now – not family, not friends, nothing but destroying their opponents.
Even if their opponents were the Redskin Clan of Washington, D.C., champions of Native America.
Tom Brady, 37, originally from San Mateo, California, was one of the Patriots players who had traveled to New Orleans to participate in this year’s Super Bowl, a grand tournament of football that features the two best factions, or “teams”, in the Nationwide Football League. The game is a carefully designed mixture of absurdities: two teams take the field at a time and try to control a ball (which is actually more of an oval), and attempt to aggressively push back the enemy team until they reach the End Zone, an area that signals the defeat of the other team. With each trip to the End Zone, a team “scores” – adds numbers to a complicated electronic board overlooking the field – a variable amount of points, depending on how they reached the scoring area. The game is intensely violent, with frequent strong physical contact between players, but a referee is on hand to keep more extreme violence from breaking out, and players wear helmets and protective armor, or “pads”, in order to minimize damage. At the end of the game, the team that inflicted more End Zone damage to their opponent is declared the winner, regardless of penalties or overall performance, making football a game where the end – or End Zone – certainly justifies the means.
In this league, 32 team factions compete in weekly battles, or “games”, around the country, as they attempt to accumulate the highest number of victories. Aside from the Patriots and the Redskin teams, some others include the Iggles of Philadelphia, represented by a giant bald eagle, and the Cowboys, a Texas faction the boasts almost religious devotion among its followers, who identity themselves by wearing prominent blue stars on their clothing. Players themselves divide into units, or “lines”, such as the Offense Line, which handles more aggressive play; the Defensive Line, which attempts to block access to the team’s End Zone; and the Specialty Team, which handles situations such as returning enemy kicks and “punting”, an act that sends the game ball high into the air to render an opposing player helpless to an oncoming charge.
“I knew it would be rough,” said Brady, a smiling brunette with movie star good looks who works in advertising during the off-season and who was raised Catholic but has since left the religion due to its conflict with football’s holy day of Sunday. “But I had no idea what was really about to happen. We’re playing as Patriots, and we had to go out there – in front of the whole world, for the biggest game of the year – and ‘destroy’ the Redskins? I didn’t think it would go that far. I really didn’t.” As a Quarter Back, Brady acts as his team’s offensive general, using a complex language of codes and maneuvers that he must memorize before every week’s battle to tell is teammates which offensive maneuvers they have to use in order to reach the enemy’s End Zone. “Then [Coach Belichick] kept stressing that we had to demolish their Red Zone defense, and I caught myself thinking – is he really saying ‘Red Zone’ about the Redskins? I didn’t expect it to go to a racial level like that.” The young man shook his head, adding that it still gave him nightmares to think about re-creating genocide as sport.
Nationwide Football League hierarch Roger Gooddell disagreed with the characterization of the Super Bowl as a racial metaphor. “You have to understand these things in context,” he stressed, wiping his brow guiltily as he made his denials. “Football is just a game. If players and fans want to take other messages away from it, that’s their business. We’re here to have fun and promote the sport.” When asked about the inescapable connection between the teams battling on the field and the parallels to American history and Native American genocide, Gooddell refused to comment.
OK, that’s about as much of that as I can stand.
Let me just say that this was posted in response to this article, which was written about the infamous “Coney Island” Dystopia Rising module that ran back at Dexcon 14. In the interest of full disclosure, while I was a player in the game at the time, I did not participate in the module myself. However, as someone who can claim close friendship with both the staff of Dystopia Rising as well as a number of its players, not to mention someone who helped write the live-action rulebook and some setting materials, I can tell you that my blood pressure went up steadily as I read it.
Simply put, the article is written with so many easily-corrected errors that I find it hard to take it seriously, and the sad part is, that’s the sort of standard I’ve seen time and again with reporting about LARP. Nobody seems to care if you get your facts right, when getting your facts straight is, oh, I don’t know, the entire point of journalism. It would be one thing if this article ran right after the event – that still doesn’t really excuse it, because journalism, but I could see if you got a game term slightly wrong, or if you presented a core concept of the game a little off because it hadn’t been explained to you properly at the time you participated. It’s still not right, but at least I could see it. I’m no stranger to deadlines.
Oh yeah, and actually going out to cover events and gather material firsthand helps too. Especially if you’re going to report on something as potentially explosive as what some might call making a game out of the Holocaust. Just a thought.
The thing is, Dexcon typically happens over the Fourth of July weekend. But the Dexcon referred to in this piece was held in 2011 – so we’re already at three years and counting, not exactly a good start for factual accuracy (especially when the correspondent didn’t personally attend the event in the first place.) It’s plain that some research was done after the fact, including seeking out players and experts for quotes and opinions. Which means there has been more than enough time to get the game information right too. And yet judging from the number of errors in the article regarding the game world, player characters involved, and the mechanics of the game itself, that wasn’t considered a priority. Which is baffling, because if you wrote a sports article the same way – just tossing around incorrect game terms, team names, player positions and so on – you’d be laughed out of sports journalism. But apparently it’s OK to do it with geeks and their silly games, because who cares but the geeks, right?
Now, you might say – and with some fairness – that the purpose of the article was to talk about the game as a representation of disturbing material in general and the Holocaust in particular, and therefore the game terms aren’t important because the real focus is the social issue at hand. Trust me, I get you on that. I understand there’s a bigger picture at work here. But that doesn’t mean you get to slack on the basic task of getting the facts straight, because journalism for one, and because you never know if getting a fact wrong might also change the story. Even if you think “who can possibly care if one ‘strain’ in an imaginary world sees itself as better than others” you still have a responsibility to report it correctly, because it might actually matter in terms of creating the game experience you’re reporting on. Plenty of topics are complicated to cover and tough for outsiders to decipher – but communicating them clearly and correctly is part of your responsibility as a journalist when you take on that story. You can’t just pick the parts of the story you like or more easily understand and get them correct, then hand-wave the other stuff. As the great Lester Freamon once wisely noted, “All the pieces matter.”
To go back to the football analogy I kicked off with – see what I did there? – if you are writing an article about the very real controversy concerning the Redskins team name, you still have to get the football details right. Even if the main thrust of your piece is about the deeper issues of racism and cultural appropriation involved in the dialogue, and you hardly spend any time discussing the game at all, you still can’t make up player positions, misspell team titles, or screw up your identification of people involved and their roles in the situation. Why not? Because journalism is supposed to care about all of the facts, not just the ones you think are most relevant to your position. When you don’t care to get those things right, it shows you care less about the facts than you do about how you’re trying to fit them together, and that’s a bad sign in a journalist.
If you don’t want to discuss game play or mechanics, fine I guess, just leave them out.
Don’t skim them and get the details wrong.
I do give the author some credit for going out and talking to some players as well as larp authorities before going to press. That’s more than we’ve gotten in some articles in the past. And I do think there was an honest question raised at the heart of this article – what does it mean to represent a real life horror such as the Holocaust in a roleplaying game? A lot of games include some pretty dark material, and maybe it’s a good thing to stop and check every once in a while, to see that players are OK and make sure what is presented is handled responsibly. And yet the lack of attention to details in this article makes it hard to see it as a piece that really tried to understand Dystopia Rising or its players, but rather went for a slightly more sensationalist route, and in so doing missed a chance to really try to understand all the aspects of the story.
Which is a genuine shame.
Back in 1997, the legendary horror gaming company White Wolf published a supplement for their Wraith game line entitled Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah, which was specifically centered on how the infamous concentration camps appeared in the dark and twisted afterlife world of the game. When it was announced, an anti-defamation organization threatened possible legal action for what they saw as a trivializing of the Holocaust. The author, my longtime friend and mentor Rich Dansky, responded by inviting their representatives to come see how the material in the book was presented as well as how it was handled in play. They showed the representatives an early copy of the book, then let them watch him run a game session using the material. They came away convinced that it did not trivialize the Holocaust or exploit it for cheap entertainment, but rather helped hammer home the grim loss and terrifying horror of the situation in a way that readers and players would not easily forget. It’s an example I wish more people followed when it comes to looking at games and wondering if they’re handling difficult material responsibly.
That is how to responsibly handle a situation like this, on all sides.
In the end, you can debate the elements included in the module, and you can decide for yourself whether you think it’s appropriate for games to tackle subjects like the Holocaust. That’s fine, and as LARP changes and grows as an art form, I’d argue it might even be necessary. I just wouldn’t use this particular article as your starting point, because if it can’t be bothered to report the game accurately, what are the odds you’re getting the real picture?
OK. I’m done. If anyone needs me, I’ll be at home, rooting for the Iggles.
This entry was posted on September 3, 2014 by petewoodworth. It was filed under Uncategorized .
musicalgal123
The Coney Island Mod she was referring to in the article was Dexcon or Dreamation a few years ago. Even before the Stanford Prison mod. This article is years after the mod ran which makes it even more so annoying. I love your critique on it.
I realized that shortly after posting. Corrected!
Pingback: Dystopia Rising in the Tablet | FairEscape
I started writing a response here in the comments, then it got so very long and out of hand that I instead turned it into a blog post, rather than clog up the comments on yours. (If anyone is curious, it’s here: http://fairescape.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/dystopia-rising-in-the-tablet/).
To sum it up: I agree that the writing style was odd (the quotations seemed excessive) and that there are some odd inaccuracies and misleading statements. (I disagree that it will ever be necessary to use LARP to tackle the subject of the Holocaust, but that is neither here nor there.)
I’d be curious to hear what you consider to be the inaccuracies — I spotted a few myself, but I’m not too familiar with Dystopia Rising, so I wonder if your list of inaccuracies is rather different from mine.
I’m curious about the Wraith game line you mentioned — I can’t seem to find any article or anything on an anti-defamation league reactions to it. Would you happen to know of a link where I might read more information on this? I found some information on the game line itself, but not on any organization’s response.
I really like your point by point takedown of the generalizations the author made about LARP – necessary and thorough, well done! As for the specific points regarding Dystopia Rising, a lot of it had to die with mis-identification of characters in the scenario – the author had the wrong person playing a character, gave incorrect character names and titles, and in one instance had someone playing two roles at once – as well as some quotations which seem … well let’s just call it highly unlikely given the people who supposedly said them. Combined with some off the record conversations I’ve had with some of folks mentioned in the story, I consider it a flawed narrative.
As for the Wraith story, it never really went public – fortunately organization contacted White Wolf before they went public, so it was all handled privately. If I hadn’t been working for them around that time, I probably wouldn’t have heard anything about it. I know that’s not really satisfying, but due to the organization investigating before going public, there wasn’t much controversy on record.
Well, thorough, maybe. Necessary… maybe not.
I guess I’ll just have to check out the Wraith supplement for myself, then!
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She looks human, but she’s not — Michelle Carter
Posted on September 3, 2015 by pathwhisperer
Teen eggs on “boyfriend” to commit suicide, just for the jollies.
“Texts reveal that a teen pressured her friend into committing suicide
After 18-year-old Conrad Roy III died of carbon monoxide poisoning in his car, prosecutors released text messages that allegedly show Roy’s friend, Michelle Carter, pressuring Roy to kill himself. She told him that his suicide would not cause emotional distress for his parents.
Carter, now 18, is being charged with involuntary manslaughter. The Bristol County District Attorney’s office released the text messages in a response to a motion filed by Carter’s lawyer to dismiss the charges. Carter now faces 20 years in prison. According to documents obtained by PEOPLE, Carter sent messages to Roy that read:
“You just have to do it. Tonight is the night. It’s painless and quick.”
After Roy expressed that he was hesitant about killing himself and unsure if he wanted to go through with it. Carter allegedly responded:
“You always say you’re gonna do it, but you never do. I just want to make sure tonight is the real thing.”
Carter allegedly wet on to assure Roy that his parents would be understanding about his suicide. She told him that they would be able to accept Roy’s decision given his negative mental state. She said via text:
“I think your parents know you’re in a really bad place. I’m not saying they want you to do it but I honestly feel like they can accept it.”
In the texts, Carter helped Roy come up with a suicide plan. They decided on carbon monoxide poisoning after Carter explained that it would be fast and painless. She sent a text that read:
“You lose consciousness with no pain. You just fall asleep and die.”
Despite encouraging him to kill himself, Carter allegedly called Roy “the love of my life, my boyfriend. You are my heart. I’d never leave you.” When Roy texted Carter that he was ready to go through with the suicide, she texted:
“Good because it’s time, babe. You know that. When you get back from the beach you’ve gotta go do it. You’re ready. You’re determined. It’s the best time to do it.”
According to the documents, Carter and Roy spoke on the phone for over an hour as she persuaded him to remain in the vehicle even as the carbon monoxide began to run. After the suicide was complete, Carter allegedly texted a friend:
“His death is my fault. Like, I honestly could have stopped it. I was the one on the phone with him and he got out of the car because [the carbon monoxide] was working and I [expletive] told him to get back in.””
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/08/31/texts-reveal-that-a-teen-pressured-her-friend-into-committing-su/21229762/
More: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,39428.msg598943.html?PHPSESSID=0c2971a09a8172063a93e47230844515#msg598943
This entry was tagged conrad roy, genetic psychopath, michelle carter, murder by suicice, nonhuman human, psychopath, psychopathic manipulation, psychopathic motivation. Bookmark the permalink.
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3 thoughts on “She looks human, but she’s not — Michelle Carter”
Babs says:
Let me tell you about my ‘best friend’ (weren’t those the words to a popular family program?), I forget which. Well, let me tell you about my Best Friend: in name only (if that).
I think the psycho in my life was worse than this Carter chick, because instead of repeating evil to me she was ‘able’ to get me to believe that it was MY original thought to do the things she wanted me to do. That is the totally frightening thing about psychopaths. They are capable of getting others to think that it was their own idea…
Carter was ‘out there’…and kind of dumb when you consider it. Psycho AND Stupid.
Look at her life now.
I actually have had people say to me, “You should kill yourself”, but they said it once, not repeatedly. And it was in response to my wreck of a life. It still does not excuse these people. It is totally inappropriate and cruel to suggest to anybody, so don’t get me wrong.
But this Carter chick needs to be in prison.
pathwhisperer says:
Yes she isn’t the brightest bulb in the bunch. Also, it seems she doesn’t know she is a psychopath. In this snake-hearted era, she apparently felt free to act as she wished.
pornocracy says:
“Courtship of Eddie’s Father”
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Is #MeToo Anti-Men?
Ignoring fundamental differences between men and women while demanding that men behave differently is no solution.
Culture Beat · Feb. 6, 2018
The #MeToo movement, spurred on by the alleged desire to expose and fight against men who sexually abuse and harass women, has, for some, already become yet another feminist tribal battle cry in their ongoing obsession of pitting women against men. An unintended consequence of any serious movement is that it devolves into a kind of pop-culture fad, where the promotion of an image or idea is more important than the telling of truth. One of the unintended messages from the #MeToo movement is the promotion of the extreme feminist idea that all men are essentially predators due to the so-called “patriarchy” within mainstream culture. This message follows that cultural “maleness” must be resisted, and put down because it produces unjust things like inequality and sexual harassment.
So while the movement recognizes the problem of sexual harassment and abuse it refuses to accept commonsense cultural safe guards that help to protect women against abuse. For example, Vice President Mike Pence has been much maligned over his long-time practice of refusing to be alone one-on-one with a woman who is not his wife. Feminists complain that this standard may hamper a woman’s ability to move ahead. The Miami Herald recently reported that female lobbyists and staffers have found that “many male legislators will no longer meet with them privately.” Jennifer Green, a lobbyist, noted, “I had a senator say, ‘I need my aide here in the room because I need a chaperone,’” She elaborated, “I said, ‘Senator, why do you need a chaperone? … Do you feel uncomfortable around me?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘anyone can say anything with the door shut.’”
Of the #MeToo movement, Claire Berlinski recently wrote that it is “a frenzied extrajudicial warlock hunt that does not pause to parse the difference between rape and stupidity.” In fact, she added, “It has become a classic moral panic, one that is ultimately as dangerous to women as to men.”
It makes both logical and common sense for men who find themselves in positions of power to protect themselves from even the perception of indiscretion. The truth is that men and women have always played different roles within society, and no amount of cultural manipulation or denial of fundamental differences will remove this reality. Men are men and women are women, no matter how much the transgender movement may claim otherwise. To deny this is to deny both biological and experiential truth. Sexual attraction and tension are facts of life. No amount of politically correct social reengineering will remove this from either the workplace or society at large. If men feel they are being targeted, why would they not act to protect themselves?
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PBR Canada’s Elite Monster Energy Tour Invades the Maritimes for the First Time with Two Events
By: Kacie Albert Wednesday, February 28, 2018 @ 7:23 AM
Tickets for the PBR Canada Monster Energy Tour events in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick on sale Friday, March 2 at 10 a.m. AT.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan – For the first time, PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Canada will buck into the Canadian Maritimes with the elite Monster Energy Tour, stopping in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Scotiabank Centre on May 26, followed by Moncton, New Brunswick at the Moncton Coliseum on June 2.
The stop in Halifax will mark the elite Monster Energy Tour’s debut event in the city and the league’s first trip back to Nova Scotia’s capital in more than five year years. In May 2011 the Touring Pro Division hosted the Halifax Invitational won by Matt Triplett (Columbia Falls, Montana), now one of the PBR’s consistently top-ranked riders.
With this year’s event part of the cross-Canada, nationally-televised Monster Energy Tour, riders will be vying for an increased amount of world points. While Touring Pro Division events award the overall winner 60 points, the winner of this season’s Monster Energy Tour event will earn 120 points.
As part of the Monster Energy Tour, riders will also now have the opportunity to earn added prize money, with the stop collectively awarding $20,000.
One week later, the Monster Energy Tour will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick for its first event in both the city and province.
The Monster Energy Tour features Canada’s elite, alongside some of the league’s top international athletes, squaring off against the rankest bucking bulls from North America. Fans will witness exhilarating 8-second rides and wrecks throughout the action-packed event as the PBR’s courageous riders face off against their 2,000-pound, animal-athlete opponents.
The inaugural trip for PBR Canada’s Monster Energy Tour to the Maritime Provinces comes on the heels of one of the most fiercely contended national title battles in league history.
Coming down to the final outs of the 2017 PBR Canada Finals, Zane Lambert (Westbourne, Manitoba) overcame a 500-point gap in the national standings, going 1-for-2 on the last night of the season-culminating event, to earn the event title and his second PBR Canada Championship. Lambert is the only rider to win the Finals event multiple years, let alone in back-to-back seasons, having first won in 2016, and is only the second rider in PBR history to hold multiple Canadian titles.
Brock Radford (De Winton, Alberta) finished second in the season-end rankings after leading the majority of 2017 compliments of his historic four consecutive event wins on the nation’s Touring Pro Division.
Joining Lambert and Radford as riders anticipated to compete are Justin Lloyd (Tisdale, Saskatchewan) and Lonnie West (Cadogan, Alberta), the lone two Canadians to win regular-season Monster Energy Tour events in 2017, taking the titles in Toronto and Abbotsford, respectively.
In both Halifax and Moncton the bull riding action will begin at 7:00 p.m. AT on Saturday, May 26 and Saturday, June 2, respectively.
At each event, all riders will attempt one bull each in Round 1. The Top 10 will then advance to the Championship Round for one more ride and a chance at the $20,000 available in prize money.
In addition to competing for points towards the Canadian national standings, riders will also have the opportunity to earn world points in an effort to earn a berth onto the elite 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast.
Tickets for the one-day events go on sale Friday, March 2 at 10 a.m AT. They range in price from $25 to $70, standard fees may apply.
For the Halifax event, tickets can be purchased at the Scotiabank Centre box office and Atlantic Superstore ticket outlets, online at ticketatlantic.com, and by phone at (877) 451-1221.
For the Moncton stop, tickets can be purchased at the Moncton Coliseum box office, online at tickets.moncton.ca, and by phone at (888) 720-5600.
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Why Physical Therapy?
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Joe Kundrat, PT, DPT, Clinic Director
Joe KundratPT, DPT, Clinic Director
Joe Kundrat, PT, DPT, is a physical therapist and the Clinic Director in Redmond.
Joe completed his undergraduate degree at Michigan State University and his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree at Shenandoah University in Virginia. He specializes in the treatment of orthopedic conditions and has special interest in shoulder and spine rehabilitation. His treatment philosophy incorporates a personalized approach focused on manual therapy and exercise.
Outside the clinic, he enjoys spending time hiking, camping, mountain biking, running, and golfing. Joe was a collegiate rower at Michigan State University.
Ryan Kaser, PT, DPT
Ryan KaserPT, DPT
Ryan was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska and received her undergraduate degree in natural sciences from University of Alaska Anchorage. She then relocated to Sacramento, California and received her physical therapy degree from California State University, Sacramento. She is also certified as a strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS).
Ryan’s areas of interest include orthopedic conditions, post-surgical rehabilitation, athletic injuries and return to sport, fitness, and overall wellness.
When she’s not in the clinic, Ryan enjoys spending time with her fiancé and two dogs, running, skiing, snowboarding, hiking, and traveling.
Kristine MacLean-Talbot, PT, DPT
Kristine MacLean-TalbotPT, DPT
Kristine is a physical therapist at the Peak Performance Physical Therapy in Redmond.
Kristine completed her undergraduate degree, Master’s degree, and Doctorate degree in Physical Therapy at Husson University in Bangor, Maine.
She specializes in treatment of orthopedic conditions and has special interest in knee, shoulder and spinal rehabilitation, pregnancy and post-partum related pain/dysfunction, and post-surgical care.
Outside of work, Kristine enjoys spending time in the wilderness with her two young children, husband, and fun-loving dog.
Sara Grafil, PT, DPT
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Sara Grafil, PT, DPT, is a physical therapist at our Redmond clinic.
Sara received her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from San Francisco State University and her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.
Sara’s areas of interest include general health promotion, fall prevention, athletic injuries and orthopedic conditions, with special interest in the shoulder, knee, and ankle.
Outside the clinic, Sara enjoys hiking, stand up paddle boarding, yoga, and roller derby. When not doing these, you can find her listening to live music or at a local brewery enjoying a beer with her friends and family.
Jennifer Rost, PT
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Jennifer Rost, PT, is a physical therapist at our Redmond clinic.
Jennifer completed her Physical Therapy degree at the University of Montana.
She enjoys treating a wide variety of orthopedic injuries and has a particular interest in sports rehabilitation.
Outside the clinic, she enjoys hiking, fishing, playing and coaching volleyball, time with her family, and supporting her girls in their many sport and school activities. Jen was a collegiate volleyball player while attending the University of Montana.
Kate Holmer, PT, DPT
Kate HolmerPT, DPT
Kate Holmer, PT, DPT, is a physical therapist at our Redmond clinic.
Kate received her Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of Northern Iowa and her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Des Moines University.
She is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and enjoys treating a variety of musculoskeletal and balance disorders by incorporating therapeutic exercise and manual therapies to improve functional movement to help patients achieve their goals. Her areas of interest include manual therapy, strength and balance training, and aquatic therapy.
Outside of her work as a therapist, Kate is likely to be found with friends rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, or enjoying a sunset over the beautiful Cascades of Central Oregon.
Kelly Nottingham, PT, DPT
Kelly NottinghamPT, DPT
Kelly received her undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech and her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree at Shenandoah University in Leesburg, VA. During her clinical internships, Kelly took advantage of traveling throughout the country practicing in a variety of physical therapy settings.
Kelly’s experience and interest ranges from vestibular rehabilitation, to orthopedic post-surgical cases, to overuse and sports-related injuries. One of her professional goals is to obtain a specialty certification in manual therapy and/or orthopedics in order to further advance her practice.
Though she was born and raised in Virginia Beach, VA, Kelly fell in love with Bend and the Pacific Northwest while visiting family over the past several years. When she’s not in the clinic, her hobbies include riding horses, flying, camping, trail running, yoga, snowboarding, and floating down the cool Deschutes River with her friends in the summertime.
Kelsey Quam, PT, DPT
Kelsey QuamPT, DPT
Kelsey received her bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy from University of Puget Sound and her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Regis University in Denver, CO.
Kelsey enjoys treating a variety of orthopedic conditions with a focus on manual therapy and movement system impairment. She provides a patient-centered approach that addresses each patient’s unique goals and helps them return to function.
An Oregon native, Kelsey enjoys skiing, mountain biking, running, and exploring the Cascades when she’s not in the clinic.
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Home Op-Eds Kerry Continues Tradition of Appeasing Saudis
Kerry Continues Tradition of Appeasing Saudis
by Amitabh Pal
Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Saudi Arabia this week underscores yet again the United States's willingness to ignore the darker side of the medieval monarchy.
A few years before Kerry, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton munched on lamb and rice with King Abdullah. Back in 2005, President Bush hosted the Saudi monarch at his Crawford ranch. (And then there was President Obama's supposed kow-towing before Abdullah, which became a rightwing meme.)
This constant show of respect to the Saudi monarchy is a travesty, since Saudi Arabia is a famously repressive theocracy, with an almost complete lack of rights for its people.
"Saudi Arabia in 2012 stepped up arrests and trials of peaceful dissidents, and responded with force to demonstrations by citizens," states Human Rights Watch in its annual report on the year gone by. "Authorities continue to suppress or fail to protect the rights of nine million Saudi women and girls and nine million foreign workers. As in past years, thousands of people have received unfair trials or been subject to arbitrary detention."
And yet the lure of cheap oil and arms deals makes the United States look the other way.
"The United States did not publicly criticize any Saudi human rights violations except through annual reports," Human Rights Watch wryly notes. "The United States concluded a $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia, its largest anywhere to date."
The major problem is that not only do the Saudis impose their model on their own people, they also propagate it worldwide on the strength of their oil money. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated in a December 2009 leaked diplomatic cable that entities in Saudi Arabia were the "most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide." Clinton said "the groups funded included Al Qaeda, the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba" (the group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks), according to Reuters.
A small sampling of the effects of Saudi poison can be seen in Pakistan, where anti-Shiite violence has claimed hundreds of lives this year alone, including a bomb blast over the weekend that killed almost fifty people in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. Reuters reported last year that the major extremist organization responsible for much of the sectarian violence in recent years has Saudi links and funding.
Even in Syria, the main topic of Kerry's discussion with the monarchy, Saudi influence has been harmful.
"As it has in other conflicts throughout the Muslim world, Saudi Arabia is expanding its influence in the Syrian conflict by arming and funding those elements of the opposition whose aims are limited to the establishment of a narrowly defined Sunni, Salafist government, one that takes its religious inspiration from the Wahhabi government in Riyadh," writes Frank Mirkow in a blog for The Hill. "In addition to narrowing the base of support for the Syrian opposition, Saudi support for the religious extremist segments of the opposition will strike a blow against the future of a Syrian democracy. No nation is more singularly unsuited to the fostering of a pluralistic democracy in Syria than the tribal absolute monarchy of Saudi Arabia."
But the perhaps most unforgiveable recent act of transgression by the Saudi government was its invasion of neighbor Bahrain at the invitation of the regime there two years ago to squelch the pro-democracy uprising in that country. The Obama Administration acquiesced in this outrageous act due to a mix of security considerations, Iranophobia, and oil. Dozens have died and hundreds jailed over the past two years in the long night that has descended over the country.
It's shameful that even in the face of this attack on democracy, the United States feels the need to oblige the Saudis.
If you liked this article by Amitabh Pal, the managing editor of the Progressive magazine, please check out his article entitled "Departing Pope Has Misrepresented both Islam and Christianity."
Follow Amitabh Pal
Follow Amitabh Pal @amitpal on Twitter.
Opinion Foreign Policy
Amitabh Pal
Amitabh Pal of Madison, Wisconsin is writing a book about the global rise of right-wing populism, including in the United States and India.
Read more by Amitabh Pal
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Susan Brooks & Sheila Jackson Lee
Compare the voting records of Susan Brooks and Sheila Jackson Lee in 2017-18.
Susan Brooks
Represented Indiana's 5th Congressional District. This is her 3rd term in the House.
Represented Texas's 18th Congressional District. This is her 12th term in the House.
Susan Brooks and Sheila Jackson Lee are from different parties and disagreed on 68 percent of votes in the 115th Congress (2017-18).
But they didn't always disagree. Out of 1154 votes in the 115th Congress, they agreed on 366 votes, including 44 major votes.
Here are the votes they agreed on
Sept. 6, 2018 — Ensuring Small Scale LNG Certainty and Access Act
Sept. 5, 2018 — Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act
June 28, 2018 — Making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes
June 22, 2018 — Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act
June 6, 2018 — Water Resources Development Act of 2018
May 24, 2018 — National Defense Authorization Act FY 2019
May 16, 2018 — Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act
May 16, 2018 — Protect and Serve Act of 2018
April 18, 2018 — Taxpayer First Act
April 18, 2018 — 21st Century IRS Act
April 17, 2018 — Protecting Children from Identity Theft Act
April 13, 2018 — Volcker Rule Regulatory Harmonization Act
March 20, 2018 — Alleviating Stress Test Burdens to Help Investors Act
Feb. 27, 2018 — Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act
Dec. 7, 2017 — Small Business Mergers, Acquisitions, Sales, and Brokerage Simplification Act of 2017
Nov. 30, 2017 — Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act
Oct. 12, 2017 — Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017
Sept. 6, 2017 — Providing for the concurrence by the House in the Senate amendments to H.R. 601, with an amendment.
July 28, 2017 — Department of Veterans Affairs Bonus Transparency Act
July 25, 2017 — Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act
July 19, 2017 — Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act
July 14, 2017 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018
June 23, 2017 — Accelerating Individuals into the Workforce Act
May 25, 2017 — Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017
May 4, 2017 — To amend the Public Health Service Act to eliminate the non-application of certain State waiver provisions to Members of Congress and congressional staff
On Motion to Concur in Senate Amendments Nos. 2 and 3, and in No. 1 with Amendment
May 3, 2017 — HIRE Vets Act
April 28, 2017 — Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2017, and for other purposes
April 27, 2017 — Fannie and Freddie Open Records Act of 2017
April 26, 2017 — Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act
April 6, 2017 — Supporting America’s Innovators Act
April 5, 2017 — Self-Insurance Protection Act
March 22, 2017 — Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017
March 17, 2017 — To improve the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire and retain physicians and other employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes
March 8, 2017 — Making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes
Feb. 14, 2017 — Red River Gradient Boundary Survey Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — National Flood Insurance Program Extention Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Correct Enrollment to S. 3628
Dec. 21, 2018 — To redesignate Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge as the Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, and for other purposes
On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Concur in the Senate Amendment
Dec. 21, 2018 — 9/11 Memorial Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic and Empowerment Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Protecting Girls’ Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Tropical Forest Conservation Reauthorization Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — 75th Anniversary of World War II Commemoration Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make certain corrections in the enrollment of H.R. 4174
Dec. 21, 2018 — Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Federal Personal Property Management Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — GAO-IG Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 770 Ayrault Road in Fairport, New York, as the “Louise and Bob Slaughter Post Office”
Dec. 21, 2018 — Department of Transportation Reports Harmonization Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — To make technical corrections to provisions of law enacted by the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, and for other purposes
Dec. 21, 2018 — To amend the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 to provide flexibility with respect to the leaseback of certain Federal real property, and for other purposes
Dec. 21, 2018 — To amend the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 to ensure that the Public Buildings Reform Board has adequate time to carry out the responsibilities of the Board, and for other purposes
Dec. 21, 2018 — Designating room H-226 of the United States Capitol as the “Lincoln Room”
Dec. 20, 2018 — To reauthorize the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route, and for other purposes
On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Concur in the Senate Amendments
Dec. 20, 2018 — Stigler Act Amendments
Dec. 20, 2018 — Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs as the “Douglas Fournet Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic”
Dec. 20, 2018 — VA Website Accessibility Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond to Health and Wellness Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — NASA Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships
Dec. 20, 2018 — RBIC Advisers Relief Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Stephen Michael Gleason Congressional Gold Medal Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Vehicular Terrorism Prevention Act of 2018
Dec. 20, 2018 — Taxpayer First Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act
Dec. 20, 2018 — Clean Up the Code Act of 2018
Dec. 20, 2018 — Ashanti Alert Act of 2018
Dec. 20, 2018 — Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018
Dec. 20, 2018 — Waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules, and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules
Dec. 19, 2018 — Museum and Library Services Act
Dec. 19, 2018 — Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act
Dec. 19, 2018 — To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain facilities, easements, and rights-of-way to the Kennewick Irrigation District, and for other purposes
Dec. 19, 2018 — National Quantum Initiative Act
Dec. 19, 2018 — Water Infrastructure Improvement Act
Dec. 19, 2018 — SECURE Technology Act
Dec. 19, 2018 — BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act
Dec. 19, 2018 — Traumatic Brain Injury Program Reauthorization Act
Dec. 19, 2018 — Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2017
On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree, as Amended
Dec. 13, 2018 — Calling on the Government of Burma to release Burmese journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo sentenced to seven years imprisonment after investigating attacks against civilians by Burma’s military and security forces, and for other purposes
Dec. 11, 2018 — Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Land Transfer Act of 2017
Dec. 11, 2018 — PREEMIE Reauthorization Act
Dec. 11, 2018 — Improving Medicaid Programs and Opportunities for Eligible Beneficiaries Act
Dec. 10, 2018 — George W. Bush Childhood Home Study Act
Dec. 10, 2018 — Urging the Secretary of the Interior to recognize the historical significance of Roberto Clemente’s place of death near Pinones in Loiza, Puerto Rico, by adding it to the National Register of Historic Places
Nov. 30, 2018 — Federal CIO Authorization Act of 2018
Nov. 29, 2018 — National Flood Insurance Program Further Extension Act
Nov. 27, 2018 — Democratic Republic of the Congo Democracy and Accountability Act of 2018
Nov. 27, 2018 — Global Fragility and Violence Reduction Act of 2018
Nov. 16, 2018 — Strengthening Coastal Communities Act
Nov. 13, 2018 — Gulf Islands National Seashore Land Exchange Act
Nov. 13, 2018 — To rename the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge as the Congressman Lester Wolff National Wildlife Refuge
Sept. 28, 2018 — Providing for the concurrence by the House in the Senate amendment to H.R. 6, with an amendment
Sept. 25, 2018 — Expanding Contracting Opportunities for Small Business Act of 2018
Sept. 25, 2018 — Encouraging Small Business Innovators
Sept. 13, 2018 — Making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes
Sept. 13, 2018 — Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act
Sept. 12, 2018 — To authorize early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska
Sept. 12, 2018 — Every Kid Outdoors Act
Sept. 12, 2018 — Walnut Grove Land Exchange Act
July 26, 2018 — National Defense Authorization Act FY 2019
July 25, 2018 — VA Hospitals Establishing Leadership Performance Act
July 23, 2018 — Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act
July 23, 2018 — National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act
July 18, 2018 — To authorize the National Emergency Medical Services Memorial Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes
On Motion to Instruct Conferees
July 18, 2018 — Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018
July 17, 2018 — Protecting Diplomats from Surveillance Through Consumer Devices Act
July 17, 2018 — Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018
July 17, 2018 — JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018
July 10, 2018 — Options Markets Stability Act
July 10, 2018 — Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act
On Closing Portions of the Conference
June 27, 2018 — National Defense Authorization Act FY 2019
June 26, 2018 — Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act
June 26, 2018 — Prevention of Private Information Dissemination Act of 2017
June 25, 2018 — Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act of 2018
June 25, 2018 — Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act
June 19, 2018 — Stop Excessive Narcotics in our Retirement Communities Protection Act of 2018
June 19, 2018 — Securing Opioids and Unused Narcotics with Deliberate Disposal and Packaging Act of 2018
June 13, 2018 — Improving the Federal Response to Families Impacted by Substance Use Disorder Act
June 13, 2018 — Assisting States’ Implementation of Plans of Safe Care Act
June 12, 2018 — Safe Disposal of Unused Medication Act
June 12, 2018 — Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act
June 8, 2018 — Meadows of North Carolina Part B Amendment No. 15
June 7, 2018 — Norman of South Carolina Part B Amendment No. 39
On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment
June 6, 2018 — Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant Program Authorization Act of 2018
June 5, 2018 — Camp Nelson Heritage National Monument Act
June 5, 2018 — Susquehanna National Heritage Area Act
June 5, 2018 — To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing the birthplace of James Weldon Johnson in Jacksonville, Florida, as a unit of the National Park System
May 23, 2018 — Engel of New York Amendment No. 43
May 23, 2018 — McGovern of Massachusetts Amendment No. 10
May 23, 2018 — Garamendi of California Amendment No. 5
May 23, 2018 — Gabbard of Hawaii Amendment No. 3
May 23, 2018 — Nolan of Minnesota Amendment No. 2
May 21, 2018 — Veterans Opioid Abuse Prevention Act
May 21, 2018 — Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act of 2018
May 21, 2018 — Servicemembers Improved Transition through Reforms for Ensuring Progress Act
May 15, 2018 — Expressing the sense of the United States House of Representatives that Congress and the President should empower the creation of police and community alliances designed to enhance and improve communication and collaboration between members of the law enforcment community and the public they serve
April 26, 2018 — Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act
April 25, 2018 — Music Modernization Act
April 24, 2018 — Recognizing and supporting the efforts of the United Bid Committee to bring the 2026 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup competition to Canada, Mexico, and the United States
April 18, 2018 — Justice for Victims of IRS Scams and Identity Theft Act of 2018
April 16, 2018 — To designate a National Memorial to Fallen Educators at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas
April 16, 2018 — Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act
April 10, 2018 — Combat Online Predators Act
April 10, 2018 — End Banking for Human Traffickers Act of 2018
March 22, 2018 — Strengthening Local Transportation Security Capabilities Act of 2018
March 22, 2018 — Strengthening Aviation Security Act of 2018
March 22, 2018 — Vehicular Terrorism Prevention Act of 2018
March 19, 2018 — Kennedy--King National Commemorative Site Act
March 14, 2018 — Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018
March 13, 2018 — Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act of 2017
Feb. 27, 2018 — Mimi Walters of California Amendment No. 2
Feb. 26, 2018 — Action for Dental Health Act of 2017
Feb. 26, 2018 — Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2017
Feb. 14, 2018 — Calling on the Department of Defense, other elements of the Federal Government, and foreign governments to intensify efforts to investigate, recover, and identify all missing and unaccounted-for personnel of the United States
Feb. 14, 2018 — Hamas Human Shields Prevention Act
Feb. 13, 2018 — To extend the Generalized System of Preferences and to make technical changes to the competitive need limitations provision of the program
Feb. 13, 2018 — Lexington VA Health Care System
Feb. 7, 2018 — Ukraine Cybersecurity Cooperation Act of 2017
Feb. 7, 2018 — War Crimes Rewards Expansion Act
Feb. 5, 2018 — Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018
Jan. 30, 2018 — Financial Institution Living Will Improvement Act
Jan. 29, 2018 — To establish requirements for use of a driver’s license or personal identification card by certain financial institutions for opening an account or obtaining a financial product or service, and for other purposes
Jan. 29, 2018 — Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act
On Motion to Fix the Convening Time
Jan. 18, 2018 — Global Health Innovation Act of 2017
Jan. 17, 2018 — Expanding Investment Opportunities Act
Jan. 17, 2018 — Connolly of Virginia Part A Amendment No. 2
Jan. 17, 2018 — Family Self-Sufficiency Act
Jan. 16, 2018 — Alex Diekmann Peak Designation Act of 2017
Jan. 16, 2018 — Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2018
Jan. 11, 2018 — Counter Terrorist Network Act
Jan. 10, 2018 — DHS Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of 2017
Jan. 9, 2018 — Screening and Vetting Passenger Exchange Act
Jan. 9, 2018 — Post-Caliphate Threat Assessment Act of 2017
Jan. 9, 2018 — Supporting the rights of the people of Iran to free expression, condemning the Iranian regime for its crackdown on legitimate protests, and for other purposes
Dec. 21, 2017 — No Human Trafficking on Our Roads Act
Dec. 21, 2017 — Jobs for Our Heroes Act
Dec. 20, 2017 — United States and Israel Space Cooperation Act
Dec. 19, 2017 — Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act
Dec. 19, 2017 — Supporting Veterans in STEM Careers Act
Dec. 19, 2017 — Women in Aerospace Education Act
Dec. 18, 2017 — Keep America’s Refuges Operational Act
Dec. 18, 2017 — STEM Research and Education Effectiveness and Transparency Act
Dec. 7, 2017 — Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance and Defense of Democratic Governance Act
Dec. 7, 2017 — Expressing concern and condemnation over the political, economic, social, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela
Dec. 6, 2017 — Condemning ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and calling for an end to the attacks in and an immediate restoration of humanitarian access to the state of Rakhine in Burma
Dec. 6, 2017 — Enhancing Veteran Care Act
Dec. 5, 2017 — Stopping Abusive Female Exploitation Act of 2017
Dec. 5, 2017 — Secret Service Recruitment and Retention Act of 2017
Nov. 28, 2017 — Superior National Forest Land Exchange Act
Nov. 28, 2017 — Fowler and Boskoff Peaks Designation Act
Nov. 15, 2017 — To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 520 Carter Street in Fairview, Illinois, as the “Sgt. Douglas J. Riney Post Office”
Nov. 15, 2017 — To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 430 Main Street in Clermont, Georgia, as the “Zachary Addington Post Office”
Nov. 15, 2017 — Connected Government Act
Nov. 14, 2017 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018
Nov. 13, 2017 — Federal Acquisition Savings Act of 2017
Nov. 8, 2017 — Veterans Fair Debt Notice Act of 2017
Nov. 8, 2017 — Veterans Crisis Line Study Act of 2017
Nov. 7, 2017 — Risk-Based Credit Examination Act
Nov. 6, 2017 — VA Management Alignment Act
Nov. 6, 2017 — To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish assistance for adaptations of residences of veterans in rehabilitation programs under chapter 31 of such title, and for other purposes
Nov. 1, 2017 — Encouraging Public Offerings Act
Oct. 31, 2017 — South Carolina Peanut Parity Act of 2017
Oct. 26, 2017 — Iran Ballistic Missiles and International Sanctions Enforcement Act
Oct. 24, 2017 — Otto Warmbier North Korea Nuclear Sanctions Act
Oct. 24, 2017 — International Narcotics Trafficking Emergency Response by Detecting Incoming Contraband with Technology Act
Oct. 23, 2017 — Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Cards Act
Oct. 23, 2017 — C-TPAT Reauthorization Act
Oct. 12, 2017 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018
Oct. 11, 2017 — FITARA Enhancement Act of 2017
Oct. 11, 2017 — To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 324 West Saint Louis Street in Pacific, Missouri, as the “Specialist Jeffrey L. White, Jr. Post Office”
Oct. 10, 2017 — To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 25 New Chardon Street Lobby in Boston, Massachusetts, as the “John Fitzgerald Kennedy Post Office”
Oct. 10, 2017 — To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4514 Williamson Trail in Liberty, Pennsylvania, as the “Staff Sergeant Ryan Scott Ostrom Post Office”
Oct. 5, 2017 — McClintock of California Substitute Amendment No. 3
Oct. 3, 2017 — To reauthorize the National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program, and for other purposes
Oct. 2, 2017 — Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park Redesignation Act
Oct. 2, 2017 — Udall Park Land Exchange Completion Act
Sept. 25, 2017 — North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act
Sept. 14, 2017 — Joint Counterterrorism Awareness Workshop Series Act
Sept. 13, 2017 — Meadows of North Carolina Amendment No. 172
Sept. 13, 2017 — Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico Amendment No. 160
Sept. 13, 2017 — Clark of Massachusetts Amendment No. 154
Sept. 13, 2017 — Norman of South Carolina Amendment No. 77
Sept. 13, 2017 — Polis of Colorado Amendment No. 76
Sept. 12, 2017 — Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Boundary Modification Act
Sept. 8, 2017 — Carbajal of California Amendment No. 57
Sept. 8, 2017 — Palmer of Alabama Amendment No. 56
Sept. 7, 2017 — Biggs of Arizona Amendment No. 29
Sept. 7, 2017 — Yoho of Florida Part B Amendment No. 110
Sept. 7, 2017 — Grothman of Wisconsin Part B of Amendment No. 99
Sept. 6, 2017 — Babin of Texas Part B Amendment No. 58
Sept. 6, 2017 — Brooks of Alabama Part B Amendment No. 33
Sept. 6, 2017 — Carter of Georgia Part B Amendment No. 17
Sept. 5, 2017 — To direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow certain issuers to be exempt from registration requirements, and for other purposes
Sept. 5, 2017 — Financial Stability Oversight Council Insurance Member Continuity Act
July 26, 2017 — Jackson Lee of Texas Amendment No. 56
July 24, 2017 — Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act
July 20, 2017 — DHS Authorization Act
July 17, 2017 — Granting the consent and approval of Congress for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland, and the District of Columbia to a enter into a compact relating to the establishment of the Washington Metrorail Satefy Commission
July 17, 2017 — Granting the consent and approval of Congress for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland, and the District of Columbia to amend the Washington Area Transit Regulation Compact
July 17, 2017 — Sergeant Joseph George Kusick VA Community Living Center
July 14, 2017 — McGovern of Massachusetts Amendment No. 43
July 14, 2017 — Byrne of Alabama Amendment No. 17
July 13, 2017 — Garamendi of California Amendment No. 1
July 13, 2017 — McClintock of California Part B Amendment No. 14
July 13, 2017 — Conaway of Texas Part B Amendment No. 2
July 12, 2017 — Medical Controlled Substances Transportation Act
July 11, 2017 — To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire approximately 44 acres of land in Martinez, California, and for other purposes
July 11, 2017 — To authorize, direct, facilitate, and expedite the transfer of administrative jurisdiction of certain Federal land, and for other purposes
June 28, 2017 — Robert Emmet Park Act
June 27, 2017 — To authorize the expansion of an existing hydroelectric project, and for other purposes
June 27, 2017 — Santa Ana River Wash Plan Land Exchange Act
June 27, 2017 — Solemnly reaffirming the commitment of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s principle of collective defense as enumerated in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty
June 26, 2017 — Active Duty Voluntary Acquisition of Necessary Credentials for Employment (ADVANCE) Act
June 26, 2017 — Veterans Expanded Trucking Opportunities Act of 2017
June 23, 2017 — Krishnamoorthi of Illinois Amendment No. 4
June 20, 2017 — Reducing Unnecessary Barriers for Relative Foster Parents Act
June 20, 2017 — Improving Services for Older Youth in Foster Care Act
June 12, 2017 — J. Bennett Johnston Waterway Hydropower Extension Act
June 12, 2017 — To extend a project of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission involving the Cannonsville Dam
June 6, 2017 — Condemning in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks in Manchester, United Kingdom, on May 22, 2017, expressing heartfelt condolences, and reaffirming unwavering support for the special relationship between our peoples and nations in the wake of these attacks
June 6, 2017 — Condemning the violence against peaceful protesters outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence on May 16, 2017, and calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and measures to be taken to prevent similar incidents in the future
May 24, 2017 — VA Scheduling Accountability Act
May 24, 2017 — PRIVATE Act
May 23, 2017 — Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017
May 18, 2017 — Honoring Hometown Heroes Act
May 17, 2017 — Removing Outdated Restrictions to Allow for Job Growth Act
May 16, 2017 — Strengthening State and Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act of 2017
May 4, 2017 — Korean Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act
May 3, 2017 — To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act concerning the statute of limitations for actions to recover disaster or emergency assistance payments, and for other purposes
May 3, 2017 — Disaster Declaration Improvement Act
May 2, 2017 — FEMA Accountability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 2017
May 1, 2017 — Follow the Rules Act
May 1, 2017 — Small Business Capital Formation Enhancement Act
May 1, 2017 — Fair Access to Investment Research Act of 2017
April 27, 2017 — Johnson of Georgia Part B Amendment No. 2
April 27, 2017 — To repeal the rule issued by the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration entitled “Metropolitan Planning Organization Coordination and Planning Area Reform”
April 26, 2017 — Deutch of Florida Amendment No. 1
April 25, 2017 — Aviation Employee Screening and Security Enhancement Act of 2017
April 25, 2017 — Relating to efforts to respond to the famine in South Sudan
April 3, 2017 — North Korea State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act of 2017
April 3, 2017 — Condemning North Korea’s development of multiple intercontinental ballistic missiles, and for other purposes
March 27, 2017 — Pacific Northwest Earthquake Preparedness Act
March 27, 2017 — To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to submit a report regarding certain plans regarding assistance to applicants and grantees during the response to an emergency or disaster
March 24, 2017 — Department of Homeland Security Acquisition Innovation Act
March 22, 2017 — Securing our Agriculture and Food Act
March 21, 2017 — Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Technical Corrections Act of 2017
March 21, 2017 — Transparency in Technological Acquisitions Act of 2017
March 20, 2017 — DHS Acquisition Authorities Act of 2017
March 20, 2017 — DHS Multiyear Acquisition Strategy Act of 2017
March 20, 2017 — Reducing DHS Acquisition Cost Growth Act
March 15, 2017 — To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to amend the Definite Plan Report for the Seedskadee Project to enable the use of the active capacity of the Fontenelle Reservoir
March 15, 2017 — Arbuckle Project Maintenance Complex and District Office Conveyance Act of 2017
March 7, 2017 — To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Pago Pago, American Samoa, the Faleomavaega Eni Fa’aua’a Hunkin VA Clinic
Feb. 28, 2017 — Krishnamoorthi of Illinois Amendment No. 6
Feb. 28, 2017 — DeSaulnier of California Amendment No. 2
Feb. 27, 2017 — To facilitate the addition of park administration at the Coltsville National Historical Park, and for other purposes
Feb. 27, 2017 — Mount Hood Cooper Spur Land Exchange Clarification Act
Feb. 13, 2017 — BRAVE Act
Feb. 13, 2017 — HIRE Vets Act
Feb. 6, 2017 — Black Hills National Cemetery Boundary Expansion Act
Feb. 6, 2017 — Bolts Ditch Access and Use Act
Jan. 30, 2017 — Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park Boundary Revision Act of 2017
Jan. 23, 2017 — Kari’s Law Act
Jan. 23, 2017 — Anti-Spoofing Act
Jan. 9, 2017 — Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2017
Jan. 9, 2017 — Improving Access to Maternity Care Act
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James E. Clyburn & Jacky Rosen
Compare the voting records of James E. Clyburn and Jacky Rosen in 2017-18.
James E. Clyburn
Represented South Carolina's 6th Congressional District. This is his 13th term in the House.
Represented Nevada's 3rd Congressional District. This is her 1st term in the House.
James E. Clyburn and Jacky Rosen are from the same party and agreed on 89 percent of votes in the 115th Congress (2017-18).
But they didn't always agree. Out of 1020 votes in the 115th Congress, they disagreed on 112 votes, including 42 major votes.
Sept. 28, 2018 — Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018
Sept. 27, 2018 — American Innovation Act of 2018
Sept. 7, 2018 — Community Safety and Security Act
July 25, 2018 — Restoring Access to Medication Act
July 25, 2018 — Increasing Access to Lower Premium Plans and Expanding Health Savings Accounts Act of 2018
July 24, 2018 — Protect Medical Innovation Act
June 15, 2018 — Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act
June 14, 2018 — THRIVE Act
May 10, 2018 — Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act
March 21, 2018 — Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2018
March 15, 2018 — Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act
March 15, 2018 — Regulation At Improvement Act of 2017
March 6, 2018 — Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act
Feb. 8, 2018 — Mortgage Choice Act of 2017
Jan. 17, 2018 — World Bank Accountability Act of 2017
Dec. 20, 2017 — Corporate Governance Reform and Transparency Act
Dec. 19, 2017 — Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2017
Dec. 14, 2017 — Strengthening Oversight of Iran’s Access to Finance Act
Dec. 14, 2017 — Privacy Notification Technical Clarification Act
Dec. 13, 2017 — Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act
Dec. 7, 2017 — Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2018, and for other purposes
Dec. 1, 2017 — Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act
Nov. 14, 2017 — 21st Century Flood Reform Act
Nov. 3, 2017 — Community Health and Medical Professionals Improve Our Nation Act of 2017
Nov. 2, 2017 — Protecting Seniors Access to Medicare Act
Sept. 28, 2017 — Control Unlawful Fugitive Felons Act of 2017
June 21, 2017 — Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act
June 15, 2017 — Broader Options for Americans Act
June 13, 2017 — Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act
May 25, 2017 — Protecting Against Child Exploitation Act of 2017
May 19, 2017 — Probation Officer Protection Act of 2017
May 18, 2017 — Thin Blue Line Act
April 4, 2017 — Encouraging Employee Ownership Act
March 2, 2017 — Regulatory Integrity Act
March 1, 2017 — SCRUB Act
Jan. 12, 2017 — SEC Regulatory Accountability Act
Jan. 10, 2017 — Helping Angels Lead Our Startups (HALOS) Act
Sept. 4, 2018 — Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program Authorization Act
June 28, 2018 — Foster of Illinois Amendment No. 24
On Motion to Recommit with Instructions
June 20, 2018 — Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act
June 15, 2018 — Thornberry of Texas Part A Amendment No. 4
June 7, 2018 — Connolly of Virginia Part B Amendment No. 27
May 23, 2018 — Polis of Colorado Amendment No. 50
May 23, 2018 — McKinley of West Virginia Amendment No. 13
May 23, 2018 — Amodei of Nevada Amendment No. 8
May 10, 2018 — Titus of Nevada Amendment No. 3
April 18, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 5444) Taxpayer First Act, and providing for consideration of the (H.R. 5445) 21st Century IRS Act
On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments with an Amendment
Jan. 30, 2018 — Child Protection Improvements Act of 2017
Jan. 20, 2018 — Waiving a Requirement of Clause 6(A) of Rule XIII with Respect to Consideration of Certain Resolutions Reported from the Committee on Rules, and Providing for Consideration of Motions to Suspend the Rules
On Motion to Table
Nov. 14, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 2874, the 21st Century Flood Reform Act; and the conference report to accompany H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018
Nov. 2, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bill H.R. 849, Protecting Seniors Access to Medicare Act.
Oct. 11, 2017 — Providing for consideration of S. 585, the Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017; providing for proceedings during the period from October 16, 2017, through October 20, 2017; and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules
July 27, 2017 — Nadler of New York Part B Amendment No. 38
July 20, 2017 — Grijalva of Arizona Part C Amendment No. 3
July 13, 2017 — Tom Rooney of Florida Amendent No. 6
July 13, 2017 — Blumenauer of Oregon Part B Amendment No. 8
July 13, 2017 — Nadler of New York Part B Amendment No. 6
July 13, 2017 — Jayapal of Washington Part B Amendment No. 5
July 13, 2017 — Polis of Colorado Part B Amendment No. 4
June 28, 2017 — Hudson of North Carolina Amendment No. 4
June 23, 2017 — Davidson of Ohio Amendment No. 5
May 24, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 1973, Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017; providing for consideration of HR 1761, Protecting Against Child Exploitation Act of 2017; providing for proceedings during the period from May 26, 2017, through June 5, 2017
May 22, 2017 — Strengthening Children’s Safety Act of 2017
May 22, 2017 — Global Child Protection Act of 2017
April 28, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 99) making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2017, and for other purposes
March 2, 2017 — Farenthold of Texas Part A Amendment No. 2
Feb. 28, 2017 — Plaskett of Virgin Islands Amendment No. 4
Jan. 10, 2017 — Velazquez of New York Part B Amendment No. 1
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Markwayne Mullin & George Holding
Compare the voting records of Markwayne Mullin and George Holding in 2017-18.
Represented Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District. This is his 3rd term in the House.
George Holding
Represented North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District. This is his 3rd term in the House.
Markwayne Mullin and George Holding are from the same party and agreed on 95 percent of votes in the 115th Congress (2017-18).
But they didn't always agree. Out of 1162 votes in the 115th Congress, they disagreed on 62 votes, including 2 major votes.
Dec. 21, 2018 — National Flood Insurance Program Competition and Extension Act of 2018
July 18, 2018 — O’Halleran of Arizona Amendment No. 27
Nov. 8, 2017 — Rush of Illinois Amendment No. 4
Sept. 13, 2017 — Lewis of Minnesota Amendment No. 167
Sept. 6, 2017 — Budd of North Carolina Part B Amendment No. 32
July 27, 2017 — Cartwright of Pennsylvania Part B Amendment No. 43
March 1, 2017 — Moore of Wisconsin Amendment No. 11
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Scott Taylor & Ralph Norman
Compare the voting records of Scott Taylor and Ralph Norman in 2017-18.
Represented Virginia's 2nd Congressional District. This is his 1st term in the House.
Ralph Norman
Represented South Carolina's 5th Congressional District. This is his 1st term in the House.
Scott Taylor and Ralph Norman are from the same party and agreed on 93 percent of votes in the 115th Congress (2017-18).
But they didn't always agree. Out of 811 votes in the 115th Congress, they disagreed on 59 votes, including 8 major votes.
On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment with an Amendment
March 22, 2018 — TARGET Act
Jan. 11, 2018 — Rapid DNA Act of 2017
Nov. 14, 2018 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 6784, the Manage our Wolves Act; and providing for proceedings during the period from November 19, 2018, through November 26, 2018
July 18, 2018 — Jody B. Hice of Georgia Amendment No. 69
July 18, 2018 — Gosar of Arizona Amendment No. 63
July 18, 2018 — Goodlatte of Virginia Amendment No. 50
March 22, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to H.R. 1625, Consolidated Appropriations Act and the TARGET Act; and providing for proceedings during the period from March 23, 2018, through April 9, 2018
Sept. 14, 2017 — Jackson Lee of Texas Amendment No. 223
Sept. 7, 2017 — Goodlatte of Virginia Amendment No. 50
Sept. 7, 2017 — Thompson of Pennsylvania Amendment No. 15
Sept. 7, 2017 — Castro of Texas Part B Amendment No. 75
Failed by a margin of 8 votes.
Sept. 6, 2017 — Smith of Missouri Part B Amendment No. 56
Sept. 6, 2017 — King of Iowa Part B Amendment No. 15
July 27, 2017 — Blackburn of Tennessee Amendment No. 62
July 26, 2017 — Takano of California Amendment No. 7
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Episode 19: John Miles On The New Wilderness Bill
Subscribe to Rewilding Earth Podcast: Android | Email | Google Podcasts | RSS
John Miles, Author, Conservation Historian, Rewilding Institute Board Member
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a win like the one that is expected to be signed by the President soon. The conservation community is buzzing about the Charles Dingell Jr. Conservation Management and Recreation Act, and rightly so.
The legislation permanently continues the federal Land Water Conservation Fund, which helps pay for critical conservation efforts nationwide. Oh, and it adds 1 million acres of new wilderness designation.
Organ Mountains, NM. From National Monument to designated Wilderness area.
Something of this scope hasn’t been passed since President Barack Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The legislation designated an additional 2 million acres in nine states as wilderness, representing the largest expansion of protected wildlands in over 25 years.
This stuff doesn’t happen often. What does it mean to the conservation community and public at large to see bipartisan support for such a bill during one of the most divisive times in American history? And what will it do to inspire new conservationists to join the ranks in protecting what we have while advocating even more wildlands protection in the future? Find out on this episode of Rewilding Earth!
About John Miles
David Brower, then Executive Director of the Sierra Club, gave a talk at Dartmouth College in 1965 on the threat of dams to Grand Canyon National Park. John, a New Hampshire native who had not yet been to the American West, was flabbergasted. “What Can I do?” he asked. Brower handed him a Sierra Club membership application, and he was hooked, his first big conservation issue being establishment of North Cascades National Park.
After grad school at the University of Oregon, John landed in Bellingham, Washington, a month before the park was created. At Western Washington University he was in on the founding of Huxley College of Environmental Studies, teaching environmental education, history, ethics and literature, ultimately serving as dean of the College.
He taught at Huxley for 44 years, climbing and hiking all over the West, especially in the North Cascades, for research and recreation. Author and editor of several books, including Wilderness in National Parks, John served on the board of the National Parks Conservation Association, the Washington Forest Practices Board, and helped found and build the North Cascades Institute.
Retired and now living near Taos, New Mexico, he continues to work for national parks, wilderness, and rewilding the earth.
John D Dingell Jr. Conservation Management and Recreation Act
How such a bipartisan success could come out of this Congress
Similarities between conservationists and Coyotes
Patterns in conservation history
Extra Credit: Read a breakdown of what’s in the bill here.
The Rewilding Institute (TRI) mission is to explore and share tactics and strategies to advance continental-scale conservation and restoration in North America and beyond. We focus on the need for large carnivores and protected wildways for their movement; and we offer a bold, scientifically credible, practically achievable, and hopeful vision for the future of wild Nature and human civilization on planet Earth. |Subscribe | Join The Movement |
Posted by Rewilding
March 8, 2019 in Rewilding Earth Podcast
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The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988 Book Review
An icon, by its nature, is symbolic. Herein lies the difficulty for creatures of flesh and blood who are declared icons. This is an impossible standard to meet, and yet it is one we set for public figures on a regular basis. Just as regularly, they disappoint. As I read The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988 I became aware of the gap between image and reality. This gap exists not because of anything Prince failed to do. It exists because of an ideal I created, an ideal that was important to me. Therein lies the peril of reading the biography of someone we idealize.
The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988, is a responsibly-researched and well-written book. It offers an impressive amount of information about musicology and the music industry. The book’s authors, Alex Hahn and Laura Tiebert, delve deeply into the background and early life of Prince. They do so without engaging in pop psychology. Whatever conclusions may be drawn about Prince’s psyche, the authors leave that work to the reader. This is appropriate.
Any disappointment readers might feel about this book will likely come from the fact that it does not bring Prince’s biography up to the present. Of course, the authors don’t promise to do that. Even so, as the book concluded I wanted to read beyond, to understand how Prince ended up overdosing in the elevator of his home. The Rise of Prince: 1988-2016 would therefore be welcome.
The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988 does not induce snap judgments about the performer’s personality. The narrative crafted by Hahn and Tiebert is too textured for that. One unavoidable conclusion, though, is that Prince did not form enduring bonds with associates. He guarded his prominence in the music world and in public. Those colleagues who distracted, even innocently, from his star stature, did not remain in his close circle.
Prince was a natural-born artist, the son of two performers. His talent was noted in early childhood and his unique skills recognized throughout his career. The most surprising part of this biography for me was that ambition for commercial success was a prime motivator in his life.
Whatever mix of natural talent, inspiration and ambition led to his output, Prince had an undeniable influence on the music of his time, and on musicians who came after. He was a human being, and a legend. The difficulty of reconciling these two realities becomes clear in The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988. The authors’ relative success in achieving this reconciliation makes the book a worthwhile read.
May/2017
May 26, 2017 May 31, 2017 by A. G. Moore Categories: A. G. Moore, Biography, Book Review, Music, PersonalititesTags: Art, Creativity, Prince, Reviews 2 Comments
Culture vs. Copyright: A Diary of a Naive Philosopher, Book Review
Art Literacy
2 thoughts on “The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988 Book Review”
The Past Due Book Review says:
I will have to look into this since, like a lot of people, I am intrigued by yet ignorant of much of Prince’s life. Great review!
rhythmprism says:
Thank you. I, too, was intrigued. The book has a lot of background information about the family’s past, which found interesting from a historical perspective.
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In 2014, Gomez fired her parents as her managers and signed with the WME and Brillstein companies.
The album received minimal promotion and failed to achieve much commercial success, selling 35,506 equivalent album units in the United States during its first week of release, and entered the Billboard 200 at number twenty-four.In August 2009, a 17-year-old Gomez became the youngest UNICEF ambassador ever, passing fellow songstress Hayley Westenra, who was 18 when she was chosen.In her first official field mission, Gomez traveled to Ghana on September 4, 2009 for a week to witness first-hand the stark conditions of vulnerable children that lack vital necessities including clean water, nourishment, education and healthcare.I'm just looking to send a good message." It was announced on July 14, 2011, that Gomez had signed a license agreement with Adrenalina, an extreme sports and adventure-themed lifestyle brand, to develop, manufacture, and distribute the actress's fragrance. In January 2014, it was reported that Gomez had spent two weeks at Dawn at The Meadows, which is a treatment center in Wickenburg, Arizona that specializes in treating addiction and trauma in young people.Despite initially neglecting to comment, Gomez confirmed in 2015 that she had been diagnosed with the auto-immune disease, lupus, and that she had cancelled the tour and entered rehab to undergo chemotherapy.
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Rudresh Mahanthappa
Hailed by Pitchfork as "jaw-dropping, one of the finest saxophonists going," alto saxophonist, composer and educator Rudresh Mahanthappa is widely known as one of the premier voices in jazz of the 21st century. He has over a dozen albums to his credit, including the acclaimed Bird Calls, which topped many critics' best-of-year lists for 2015 and was hailed by PopMatters as "complex, rhythmically vital, free in spirit while still criss-crossed with mutating structures." Rudresh has been named alto saxophonist of the year for six of seven years running in Downbeat Magazine's International Critics' Polls (2011-2013, 2015-2017), and for five consecutive years by the Jazz Journalists' Association (2009-2013) and again in 2016. He won alto saxophonist of the year in the 2016 JazzTimes Magazine Critics' Poll and was named the Village Voice's "Best Jazz Artist" in 2015. He has also received the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, among other honors, and is currently the Anthony H. P. Lee '79 Director of Jazz at Princeton University.
Full bio: rudreshm.com/about/
Unfiltered Universe and Agrima: New Jazz releases reviewed, Vol 5, No 2 (January 2018)
Follow Rudresh
rudreshm.com
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Home / Categories / History Essay / Genocide Essay / An Issue Of Greek Genocide
An Issue Of Greek Genocide
History Essay
Genocide Essay
The Turkish nationalist movement was a revolutionary reform group that centralized its existence on eradicating the regime of the infamous Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid ll. The Turk’s movement premise was to inaugurate a government that was just and constitutional, and to dethrone Abdulhamid once and for all. The goal became more transparent as time progressed, and in 1889 a conspiracy towards Abdulhamid caught the attention of everybody in the city, and as a result, a revolution was being constructed by the minds of college students to overthrow Abdulhamid.
Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "An Issue Of Greek Genocide" essay for you whith a 15% discount.
The most notable mastermind behind this conspiracy was Ahmed Riza, who was apart of a Young Turkish movement known as the Committee of Union and Progress. This committee’s ideology was one of a sturdy, collective government without the presence of foreign influences.
Moving along towards the actual genocide, the Ottoman Empire provoked the mass extermination of the Greeks. Within the time period between 1914 to 1923, the disruption and consequences of World War I, the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey’s predecessor, was all subject to a systematic and organized annihilation according to an article written by the Institute on the Holocaust&Genocide in Jerusalem. This genocide in simple terms was orchestrated to assure the abrupt ending of Turkey’s Greek population. This act was a joint collaboration of two governments; the perpetrators were the Young Turks and the nationalists of Kemalists. This mass extermination consisted of death marches and massacres all across Ottoman Turkey, as they were described. The total number of those who perished is close to one million Ottoman Greeks, and appalling number noted by historians.
Impact Of Genocide On Rwandan Families
The Rwandan genocide of 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic majority in east-central African nation of Rwanda murdered 800,000 people,Most of them were Tutsi minority. The Rwandan Genocide was a mass slaughter of Tutsi in Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War which had a big impact. This act could have been prevented if the president [...]
Genocide Essay Pages: 1 Words: 370 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/07/11
Causes of the Rwandan Genocide
Causes of the Rwandan Genocide In April 1994, a terrible time for the country of Rwanda only got worse; the Hutu tribe which inhabited a large portion of Eastern Rwanda started a mass killing of many Rwandans, most of them being of the Tutsi ethnicity, a minority group in Rwanda. Sparked by Hutu nationalists in [...]
My Attitude To The Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan genocide was one of the most savage, brutal, and barbaric moments in human history, as well as the quickest killing spree to date. Within two weeks, an estimated 100,000 Rwandans had been killed, then, a few weeks later, 200,000 more. Over the course of 100 days, at least 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus were [...]
Genocide Essay Pages: 5 Words: 1523 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/07/11
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‘The Big Lebowski’ Spinoff Officially Coming to Theaters Next Year
First discussed years ago — and apparently filmed years ago too — then largely forgotten until recently — John Turturro’s spinoff to The Big Lebowski about his outlandish character Jesus Quintana is finally headed to theaters. Screen Media will release the movie in theaters in 2020.
Here was Turturro’s statement on the news:
It feels like a good time to release a transgressive film about the stupidity of men who try and fail and try better to understand and penetrate the mystery of women. I look forward to working with Screen Media and bring our work and the character of the Jesus to American audiences.
The film was shot under the title Going Places, the same name as the French comedy it’s supposedly a loose remake of. Screen Media will debut the movie, which Turturro directed as well as stars in, under the new title The Jesus Rolls. (I guess Nobody F— With the Jesus was probably a bit too risqué.)
In a previous interview, Turturro described the film as “an exploration of Jesus getting out of jail. It’s a comedy but a very human comedy,” The Coen brothers, who wrote and directed The Big Lebowski, weren’t involved in the movie, but they did give Turturro their blessing to make it.
Gallery — The Best Comedy Movie Posters Ever:
The Best Films of the Year So Far
Source: ‘The Big Lebowski’ Spinoff Officially Coming to Theaters Next Year
Filed Under: Going Places, John Turturro, The Big Lebowski
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Home › Podcast › Your Health with Dr. Kim Tripp: Heart, Part 2
Your Health with Dr. Kim Tripp: Heart, Part 2
By Editor on March 29, 2018 • ( 0 )
After an extensive career in the botanical garden and plant science world, Dr. Tripp is now an osteopathic physician joining the practice of Andrew M. Goldman, D.O. Dr. Tripp has always been dedicated to the study of nature, in her first career through the study of plants. Her scientific work included research on plant conservation and she has traveled the world studying and collecting plants in service to conservation work. Before her training as a physician, she received her B.S. and M.S. from Cornell University, and her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. She completed her plant science post-doctoral work at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and served as the Director of the Botanic Garden of Smith College, and Director of the New York Botanical Garden. Now she has completed her training as an osteopathic physician, graduating with her D.O. degree in 2011.
How did this change come about? In 2007, after thoughtful consideration, Dr. Tripp made the inspired decision to change her career and become an osteopathic physician. Her inspiration for this career change was the combination of learning about and experiencing osteopathic medicine as a patient of Andrew Goldman, D.O. and weekly volunteer with Hugh Ettlinger, D.O., St. Barnabas Hospital, Bronx, NY. The work of osteopathic medicine is extremely compelling to Dr. Tripp. The reward of caring for people by finding and supporting their health became a new calling for her and moved her to want to become an osteopathic physician.
Dr. Tripp graduated from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2011 with awards and recognition for her excellence and talents in osteopathic manipulative medicine. She completed her required post graduate osteopathic medical education in excellent standing at both Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, MA and St. Barnabas Hospital, Bronx, NY.
Dr. Tripp has distinguished herself throughout her training in osteopathic medicine. In addition to receiving numerous awards and scholarships as an osteopathic medical student and resident, she is an invited member of A Still Sutherland Study Group and the Biobasics teaching faculty. Now she brings her love and extensive knowledge of nature, her remarkable dedication to health and wellness for all, and her compassionate gifts in the practice of osteopathy to the practice of Andrew M. Goldman, D.O.
Your Health With Dr.Kim Tripp
Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:26:22 | Recorded on March 29, 2018
‹ Your Health with Dr. Kim Tripp: Heart, Part 1
Mike Cozzi at Large with Sports – March 30 ›
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Home › Podcast › Marshall Miles Interviews Oskar Espina Ruiz, Artistic Director, Music Mountain Concerts Aug 11 & 12
Marshall Miles Interviews Oskar Espina Ruiz, Artistic Director, Music Mountain Concerts Aug 11 & 12
By Editor on August 6, 2018 • ( 0 )
Oskar Espina Ruiz has performed at major concert halls and festivals to high critical acclaim, including concerto performances at the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia, and recitals in New York City, Washington DC, Moscow, Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
During the 2017-2018 season he is appearing in concert in Australia, China and the US, is getting back to the recording studio to record works by Arriaga and Isasi, and will work on a new clarinet concerto dedicated to him by composer Alfonso Fuentes, to be premiered in 2019.
Oskar Espina Ruiz has appeared as soloist with the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony (Russia), St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic (Russia), Orquesta Sinfónica de la Ciudad de Asunción (Paraguay) and Bilbao Symphony (Spain). His chamber music collaborations include the American, Shanghai, Cassatt, Escher and Daedalus string quartets, the Quintet of the Americas, pianists Victoria Schwartzman, Benjamin Hochman, Ursula Oppens and Anthony Newman, cellist David Geber (founder, American String Quartet) and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra artists.
He has recorded for the Bridge, Kobaltone and Prion labels, receiving high critical acclaim by fellow clarinetists Richard Stoltzman and Charles Neidich for his solo recording “Julián Menéndez Rediscovered.” He has been described by the press as a “masterful soloist” and a “highly expressive” clarinetist.
He holds a DMA from Stony Brook University, where his major teachers were Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima.
Currently he is artistic director of the Treetops Chamber Music Society, in Stamford, CT, and the Music Mountain Festival in Falls Village, CT. From 2009 to 2011 he was on the clarinet faculty at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, in San Juan, PR, and since 2011 is clarinet artist faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, in Winston-Salem, NC, while keeping a busy concert schedule.
Galvanized Jazz Band
The “best Jazz Band in the State” (Connecticut Magazine) “gets your blood running” (Jazzbeat) with hot dixieland, New Orleans jazz, blues, rags, stomps, struts, spirituals, swing, and classic popular songs from the past century. CONCERT & DINNER PACKAGE available, including 5 PM dinner at the Falls Village Inn, a Litchfield County landmark—Classic American comfort fare, seasonal—and 6:30 PM Twilight Concert at Music Mountain. The Concert & Dinner Package must be purchased by 3 PM on Friday prior to concert.
Amernet String Quartet
Chauncey Patterson, Viola
Ronald Thomas, Cello
Schubert: Quartettsatz in C Minor, D. 703 (1820)
Schubert: String Quartet in E Flat Major, D. 87 (1813)
Richard Strauss: String Sextet from Capriccio Op. 85 (1940-41)
Tchaikovsky: String Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70 “Souvenir de Florence” (1890)
Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:10:29 | Recorded on August 6, 2018
‹ Weather with Anthony Jay – August 6
Arthur Schwartz the Food Maven – Aug 6 – Tomatoes; Iceberg Lettuce; Russian Dressing; Thousand Island Dressing ›
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French Quartet Juniore In Photographs @ The Stereo, Glasgow
by Federica La Marca | Photography
French quartet Juniore are back touring Europe this year and I knew that I could not miss their show this time. Having previously played at The Mono in Glasgow in 2018, they were now at The Stereo, which they affectionately called “The Mono’s older sister” on stage....
Slough Feg In Photographs @ Bannerman’s Bar, Edinburgh
When Slough Feg announced their summer European tour for 2018, it was an unexpected but welcome surprise for fans of the California-based power metal band. Having started in the 90s, Slough Feg are still touring across the U.S. and Europe. They played for the first...
U.S. Girls Electrify The Stereo In Glasgow
by Federica La Marca | Live Reviews
U.S. Girls, the project started up by Canadian-American Meghan Remy, is currently on their In A Poem Unlimited tour around Europe, named after their latest album. They visited Scotland on the last leg of their tour and played The Stereo in Glasgow. Accompanying Remy...
Pinkshinyultrablast Enchant The Broadcast In Glasgow
One of Russia’s foremost shoegaze bands, Pinkshinyultrablast (PSUB), are currently touring the UK in support of their new album, Miserable Miracles, which releases on the 4th of May. On the first leg of their tour, they performed at the Broadcast in Glasgow on the 2nd...
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Reading & Leeds Festivals today reveals Foo Fighters, Twenty One Pilots, The 1975 and Post Malone as its 2019 headliners – and just four of twenty-two names announced to play at Reading’s famous Richfield Avenue and Leeds’ legendary Bramham Park next August bank holiday weekend from 23rd -25th. Tickets go on sale Friday 23rd November at 9am, available here.
Foo Fighters @ Glastonbury 2017 (Kalpesh Patel)
Following up their sold out shows at the London Stadium (twice) and Manchester’s Etihad, the world’s biggest rock band, Foo Fighters, will make their triumphant return to headline Reading and Leeds in 2019. With nearly 30 million records sold, and fresh from packing out the world’s biggest venues – Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee will bring their three-hour-plus rock marathon master class back to headlining Reading/Leeds, a tradition they began in 2002. Expect every one of the tens of thousands voices in attendance to be raised with every deafening chorus as Foo Fighters run through dozens of classics spanning their massive catalogue, from their 1995 debut through 2017’s ‘Concrete and Gold’ which went to Number 1 in more than a dozen countries including the UK and US.
21 Pilots full on show with lights, CO2 and confetti for a packed Portsmouth crowd
Grammy Award-Winning Twenty One Pilots (Ohioans Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun) will be bringing their incendiary live show to Reading and Leeds fresh off the back of their worldwide Bandito tour and career-defining show’s at London’s Wembley Arena. The alternative, electro-rockers have inspired a global movement with their flair for dramatic spectacle and world conquering ambition. The duo, now in their Trench album era of their career, have seen fans become super fans and set the bar high for a new generation and definition of pop and rock crossover stars.
Making their Main Stage headline debut are The 1975. The Manchester four piece have had a phenomenal rise to fame over the past few years, selling out shows across the world and releasing their critically acclaimed second album I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it, which debuted at Number 1 in the UK and the US. The album was also nominated for the Mercury Prize Album of the Year and was the catalyst to their 2017 BRIT Award win for Best Group, sealing their status as international superstars.
Their new album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships is out this month with the second in the two-part release planned for Summer 2019. Following a run of UK arena shows in January, Reading & Leeds will be another chance for their loyal legion of fans to see the band’s now iconic live show. Following on from their landmark performance headlining the BBC Radio 1 Stage in 2016, this is set to be another milestone performance, cementing their status as one of the biggest and most exciting bands in the world.
Undoubtedly one of the hottest names in the world right now, Texan superstar Post Malone returns to headline Reading & Leeds on his second ever appearance. ‘Posty’ has been on an unprecedented trajectory of success, this year drawing some of the biggest crowds over the entire festival weekend and is now the first act since Nirvana to go from afternoon to top of the bill with a sophomore album in consecutive years. Since being catapulted into fame, the post-modern popstar has had hit after hit including the inescapable Better Now, Psycho and the aptly named Rockstar and is ready to claim the headliner status.
Tom Ogden of Blossoms performing at The Roundhouse Camden on 23 March 2017
Stockport’s finest heroes of northern indie rock Blossoms are back with a bang, following their recently released album ‘Cool Like You’ which has been dominating the charts. The Amazons who hail from Reading itself have been riding a huge wave of success, with a swelling fanbase and critical acclaim they’ve graduated from ones to watch to festival favourites. They’ll also be joined by The 1975 label mates Pale Waves who are set to get the crowd dancing with their glistening, wistful goth-pop following the outstanding critical success for their debut album My Mind Makes Noises.
Dan Smith fronts the band Bastille live at Redfest 2013 on Saturday 27th July.
London alternative-rock quartet Bastille will be storming the stage with hits from their two Number 1 albums, Bad Blood and Wild World, including the trailblazing single Pompeii and current global smash Happier, as well as songs from their hotly anticipated forthcoming album Doom Days. In addition, YUNGBLUD will be returning to the festival after a rave performance in 2018 and is sure to bring something even more exhilarating to fans next summer.
Marking their first European announcement, The Distillers return to Reading and Leeds in 2019. They will be joined by Boston based rock trio PVRIS led by frontwoman Lynn Gunn. Other Stateside stars joining the bill are Texan pop-punk pioneers Bowling for Soup who have delivered infectious power pop music to the world for over two decades.
Lynn Gunn, Singer of PVRIS
With hundreds of acts set to play, Reading and Leeds will again be the unmissable festival weekend of the summer – defining and celebrating the sounds of modern ground-breaking music, as well as a world-class comedy line up.
Fans can be the first to hear further line-up announcements, artist news and much more by signing up to the newsletters at www.readingfestival.com and www.leedsfestival.com or via the official Reading and Leeds Festival app, available to download now on Android and iOS.
Barclaycard pre-sale tickets are available now from www.ticketmaster.co.uk/readingandleeds-barclaycard/
General tickets on sale on 23 November from www.readingandleedsfestival.com
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Why Dark Phoenix Isn't Being Made Into an MCU Film
by Stephen M. Colbert
– on Sep 27, 2018
The newest X-Men installment, Dark Phoenix was subjected to several weeks of reshoots in the 11th hour of production in the face of Fox's merger with Disney, but that doesn't mean it's being retrofit into Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity as some have speculated. Fox's X-Men universe finds itself in a peculiar place, after hitting big with Logan and Deadpool, the X-Men shared universe finally seemed to be coming to life, with the promise of Dark Phoenix and New Mutants on the horizon, when news of the Disney acquisition came through, stirring confusion over just how the future of the franchise would be handled.
As the eventual integration of the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe approaches, fans are growing more and more curious about how the characters will all be introduced to existing continuity, it certainly won't happen by shoehorning the two universes together through last-minute reshoots.
Related: Dark Phoenix Trailer Breakdown - Story Reveals & Secrets You Missed
The primary reason for this is that it's simply not legally allowed. Disney has said that any Fox movies that go into production before the completion of the merger will be allowed to release as planned, and that's the case for Dark Phoenix. Additionally, Fox assets don't yet belong to Disney, so collaboration to bring the universes together would be a lawyer's nightmare to arrange in the middle of an ongoing acquisition.
Legal concerns aside, it simply doesn't make sense to incur the complication and expense of reshoots designed to add this version of the X-Men into the MCU when Marvel Studios is more likely to simply reboot the whole universe in order to eliminate baggage from the old franchise (which already soft rebooted itself due to its own continuity issues) and make casting and tonal decisions that are more cohesive with existing MCU films.
There are a multitude of ways to connect the universes, or simply keep them separate as "alternate dimensions," but still crossing over for major team-ups, but the appeal of the MCU has always been the "it's all connected" (at least on the big screen) shared storytelling. Keeping the existing X-Men separate betrays that fundamental quality of the MCU, and incorporating the characters and canon into the existing MCU story is too complicated, leaving a blank slate and total recasting as the best option.
If the franchise is unlikely to see another sequel and facing a hard reboot by Marvel Studios, then Dark Phoenix finds itself in a struggle for relevance, which is what makes the reshoots so interesting. It doesn't make sense to put so much effort into making changes to what is, in effect, a lame duck movie, unless the point of the reshoots is not to set the franchise up for the future, but to usher in its conclusion. The X-Men franchise as we know it won't be continuing, so they might as well modify the ending to wrap things up on their own terms. Based on the use of a cover of "The End" by The Doors as the music in the first trailer, that might be exactly what they're trying to do.
The reported purpose of the reshoots is to improve the 3rd act with additional action as well as add some additional scenes and reshoot some existing scenes, so hopefully it serves to make it stand on its own as a satisfying conclusion to one of the first modern live-action comic book franchises. We will see these characters again, but not like this, so here's hoping it's a satisfying send-off.
MORE: X-Men: Dark Phoenix: Every Update You Need To Know
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) release date: Jun 07, 2019
New Mutants (2020) release date: Apr 03, 2020
Tags: x-men dark phoenix
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Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas
Providing North County with Unparalleled Medical Care
Since 1978, Scripps Memorial Hospital, Encinitas has delivered quality clinical and surgical services to San Diego’s North County. The hospital is best known for their Primary Stroke Center- the first of its kind in North County. Scripps Memorial Hospital, Encinitas, also provides 24-hour emergency services, OB-GYN, maternal health and infant health services, and a regionally recognized brain injury program.
With over 138 beds and a wide variety of specialty services, this sprawling Encinitas hospital is designed to fit every patient’s needs.
Chapel or meditation room
354 Santa Fe Drive
Visiting hours may be adjusted based on the patient's needs or wishes.
The ER is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Parking is free. Valet parking is $5.
Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Jay L. Blake, DNP, of MedDerm Associates, and an affiliated practitioner with Scripps Affiliated Medical Groups, has some…Read more›
10 Things To Do At Comic-Con 2019 Without a Badge
It’s that time of year again: when fans from all over the country make their way to San…Read more›
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July in San Diego is loaded with fun, engaging events. We’ve got the best list of affordable and…Read more›
Get the Facts About Food Poisoning
Practice food safety to prevent foodborne illnesses What do the following foods have in common? Chicken, beef, fresh…Read more›
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Dreamer….one man’s legacy…one family’s purpose…
Today my father would have been 98 years old.
At his bedside in 1998, twenty years ago, he quietly revealed to my older sister his story of approaching the Golden Gate Bridge on the deck of a ship, she barely old enough to stand at his side as they passed under the monument that signified his entry into America.
“We will have a good life here,” he whispered into her ear.
He was a silent man, of very few words. We three sisters had never heard this story, his last spoken before his last breath 24 hours later in the US Army hospital where I was born.
His entry into the port of San Francisco was gained through his service as a Philippine Scout in World War II, and his survival after escaping from the Bataan Death March. After his escape, he journeyed 60 miles by foot, emaciated with malaria back to his home in the province. Slowly he recovered in a nipa hut, his home, until the liberation in 1945, when he jumped onto the US Army trucks rolling past on the road back to Manila to join the US forces and Mac Arthur in Leyte.
From America he would send stipends to his mother in the province. She proudly had a gate made to the entrance of her home that said, “Sgt. Jesus C. Bermudez, US Army.”
My father was the gatekeeper for others to come to this country, the one who would open the doors decades later as a sponsor for his brother and his family, my mother’s sisters and their families, to pursue the good life that my father dreamed of as he passed under the Golden Gate Bridge: A house. A car. An education.
Over years, decades of waiting for papers, affidavits, job opportunities, these dreams materialized not only for my father but for generations to follow.
Our children set foot on the the shores of our Philippine homeland, the land of my father, for the first time last Christmas. The children and grandchildren and nephews and nieces of my father, their Lolo (grandfather), gathered on the on the island of Boracay to serve on a medical and dental mission to the Ati people, an indigenous tribe in the Philippines.
These first and second generation Filipino Americans of my father are living the American dream he longed for: homes in Malibu, Newport Beach, Seattle, Orlando. Cars he dreamed of: Porsches, Ferraris, Mercedes Benz. Educations to be proud of: USC, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Baylor, Ohio State. Careers to make him proud: doctors, dentists, accountants, software engineers, NFL producers.
On the dirt roads of my parents homeland, fifty of us—brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, nephews, nieces — gathered under a makeshift shelter and thatched grass huts of a remote village to bring medical and dental care to a people who had been outcast and isolated for the darkness of their skin.
We called it the Kamay Project: Kamay means hand in Tagalog, the Filipino language. Our families were joining hands and resources to help the Ati people. We saw 230 patients that day, giving basic medical and dental care, distributing medicines we had collected, sharing bible stories and balloons with the children, and the biggest draw, playing basketball with the kids.
Shoulder to shoulder,
Hands extending to extract a tooth, to take a blood pressure reading, to lift a child up on a shoulder, to pass a basketball up for a shot.
Hands extending over generations, language, economics.
Hands reaching out to give out reading glasses, medicines, toys, balloons.
The recipients were not the only ones receiving a gift.
The ones handing out received smiles and hugs
reciprocally greater in exchange.
Kamay is also the word that describes the Filipino tradition of eating by hand. Food is spread out on the table on banana leaves. The great granddaughter of my father’s mother, a rising Filipino chef just honored at the James Beard house in NYC, prepared a traditional meal of fresh dried fish, shrimp, pancit, and rice.
As our family worked together side by side, elbow to elbow to present the food, arranging it artfully atop banana leaves on rickety wooden tables, my cousin, one of the dentists, grabbed my hand. Earlier that day he had extracted and examined teeth for over one hundred patients.
He grinned at me from ear to ear, the way I first remember his smile when he was eight years old and just had arrived from the Philippines. He had the same bright, hopeful look in his eyes as the children gathering all around us. At their age, his mom and his three siblings lived with us for nine months preparing for a new life in America.
“You know we all would not be here it was not for your mom and dad,” he said, nodding towards the tables where our siblings, my cousins, our children, and spouses stood shoulder to shoulder side by side presenting the New Years Eve dinner for the villagers.
We hugged.
We cried.
Drops of rain pattered on the tin roof of the shelter. Wind blew water through glassless windows. A storm was brewing just off the island. But nothing would dampen that evening of smiles and laughter and feasting and dancing and music as generations and lifestyles and bloodlines merged, a night of celebration.
Today, we honor and celebrate you dad, for it was your hand that opened the gateway for us to give.
In six weeks you will receive your gift, the highest honor paid by this country you love: the Congressional Gold Medal.
You and your comrades will receive a bronze copy of the Congressional Gold Medal recently awarded to Filipino and American soldiers of the Bataan Death March. You will be recognized for your sacrifice for the atrocities you endured to defend this country and the American Flag.
The flag that was draped around your casket and handed to your widow during a 21 gun salute.
The flag that you cheered for with your cancer ridden lungs, shouting “USA! USA!” during your last Winter Olympics in 1998. We watched them as a family from the shores of Hawaii, the closest we could get your homeland. You were too weak to go to the Philippines one more time.
Decades later, we have returned.
For more information on the Kamay Project, an ongoing outreach to the children and families of the Ati village in Boracay, Philippines, please go to kamayproject.org
Family Life, Immigrant family, Inspiration, Life Lessons, mission Family, the kamay project 5 Comments
← A House, a Home…after devastation from a flood.
Anthem….…..a tribute to our Filipino fathers who received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor →
5 thoughts on “Dreamer….one man’s legacy…one family’s purpose…”
Well done! Way to honor your father.
vina mogg
Thank you Chris, we are blessed to have two fathers who served greatly, I hope your father is getting stronger!
crisyinaarie llave
So blessed to be a part of this project.
Very beautiful Vina! I am going to share this with my family.
Thank you Cookie, it was all such a life changing experience i’m glad we all shared together
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Television Television
In Oklahoma, He's The (Weather) Man
October 31, 2009 Gary England has been at News 9 in Oklahoma City for over 35 years. He is the commercial weather man credited with issuing the first televised Doppler weather radar bulletin for a tornado, and has created what can only be called a meteorology empire in a state that sees lots of severe weather. He even had a bit part in the movie Twister.
Can You Make Your Baby Smarter, Sooner?
October 28, 2009 Disney's offering refunds to millions of parents who purchased Baby Einstein videos, hoping to give their infants an educational jump-start. Videos have been discredited, redirecting emphasis on the importance of interaction between parents and babies for proper development.
India Reality TV Show Searches For Next U.S. Baseball Star
October 28, 2009 More than 60 years after Jackie Robinson became the first major African-American baseball player, racial barriers are still being broken in the world of baseball. Rinku Singh, a javelin thrower, became a baseball player after signing up for an Indian reality TV show titled "The Million Dollar Arm." The game show was out to find the next great Indian baseball player. Singh did not win the contest, but he was recently recruited to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team. Rinku Singh talks about his newfound fame and his journey to baseball field.
CNN Slips To Last Place In Prime-Time Programming
October 26, 2009 CNN's prime-time programs finished fourth and last among the cable news networks in October. CNN's programs finished behind not only Fox News and MSNBC, but also its own sister network HLN.
Soupy Sales Remembered For More Than Pies
October 24, 2009 Entertainer Soupy Sales died this week at age 83. He became a star of early children's television, when the goal was to entertain, not teach anything — unless it was how to throw a pie in your face. Burt Dubrow, television producer and friend of Sales, joins host Scott Simon to share a few memories.
Remembering Soupy Sales
October 23, 2009 Comedian Soupy Sales died Thursday in Bronx, N.Y., at age 83. Sales is best known as the host of the 1960s' kids' TV program, The Soupy Sales Show. The comedian married slapstick and double-entendre, making him popular with both children and adults.
How Do Reality TV Families Get Cast?
October 21, 2009 The silver balloon that drifted 50 miles across Colorado last week may have been part of an elaborate hoax cooked up to land the Heene family a reality show, authorities say. Reality show guru Bill Hayes, founder and president of Figure 8 Films, discusses how reality TV stars are selected.
Tween Sensation Raven-Symone Tells What Keeps Her Grounded
October 21, 2009 When Raven-Symone — born Raven-Symone Christina Pearman — made her debut on the hit NBC sitcom "The Cosby Show," audiences quickly fell in love with the three-year-old. She went on to become a tween sensation, later starring in her own Disney sitcom "That's So Raven," and several films. Now in her early twenties (and already with a few business ventures under her belt), Symone shares insight from her journey and how she has managed not to take herself too seriously.
Soap Operas Boost Rights, Global Economist Says
October 21, 2009 A pervasive technology is reshaping the world. And it's not Facebook, or Twitter, or anything else on the Web — it's television, says economist Charles Kenny. From Brazil to India, commercial television makes life better and helps strengthen civil rights, Kenny says.
Balloon Boy's Transfixing Effect On The Media
October 19, 2009 The saga of "Balloon Boy" (or Falcon Heene, as he's known to his new friends at the Larimer Co., Colo., sheriff's office) proved irresistible to the media last Thursday — especially the 24-hour cable news channels, which went into commercial-free crisis mode for more than an hour.
Comedian Susie Essman Plays 'Not My Job'
October 17, 2009 Essman — who is best known for swearing at Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm — plays a game called "You're sanctified, beatified, and a really nice guy." Three questions about saints of the Catholic Church.
When Is The Best Time For Baseball Playoff Game?
October 15, 2009 The Philadelphia Phillies face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday in baseball's National League series. The game, which is being played in Los Angeles, is scheduled to start at 8:07 p.m. EDT. In the past, Major League Baseball has been criticized for scheduling games that start too late for East Coast viewers. John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal says Major League Baseball uses television ratings numbers to determine when to schedule games.
Why Marketers Are Wooing Women All Wrong
October 15, 2009 Comedienne and Current TV host Sarah Haskins wants to know why sponges in TV commercials have sexy male accents, mops end up in desperate love triangles, and all women wear pearls? She'll talk about her latest episode of Target Women, which lampoons marketing strategies aimed at the female demographic.
Obama Administration Takes On Fox News
October 14, 2009 The White House is taking direct aim at Fox News, the news organization that is the home to the most potent collection of its conservative critics. The network also happens to be the nation's top-rated cable news station.
Style Guide: The word "modern" has become a sort of all-purpose descriptor on reality television's design shows. But in the world of art and design, "modern" refers to the modernist movement — such as (from left) Kandinsky's paintings or Frank Lloyd Wright's designs — and not the latest fashions on Project Runway. Credits, from left: Michael Kappeler/AFP/Getty Images; Gene J. Puskar/AP; Brian Zak/Sipa Press/AP; Richard Drew, AP hide caption
Credits, from left: Michael Kappeler/AFP/Getty Images; Gene J. Puskar/AP; Brian Zak/Sipa Press/AP; Richard Drew, AP
Reality TV's Thoroughly 'Modern' Mistakes
October 14, 2009 Judges on shows like Project Runway use the word "modern" frequently — and lazily. In the world of art and design, "modern" means Kandinsky or Picasso, Schoenberg or Stravinsky — an approach and an aesthetic that signifies something that's more than merely "contemporary." Hearing "modern" tossed around on reality design shows makes modernism experts cringe.
More from Television
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