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__label__wiki	0.885341	0.885341	Click to copyhttps://apnews.com/3a9a14533d1d43de8bde00d0e4486dcb Michigan files murder charges in 2012 meningitis outbreak HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan attorney general has filed second-degree murder charges against a pharmacist and the co-founder of a Massachusetts pharmacy who are blamed for a fatal meningitis outbreak. Barry Cadden was co-founder of New England Compounding Center and Glenn Chin was a pharmacist. They are currently serving federal prison sentences for convictions in a separate case related to the 2012 national outbreak. At least 76 people died and hundreds more became ill nationwide because of tainted steroids. The attorney general’s office charged Cadden and Chin in connection with 11 deaths in Livingston County. Spokeswoman Andrea Bitely says investigators connected the compounding pharmacy to Michigan clinics that were supplied with the steroids. Bitely tells the Livingston Daily Press & Argus that Michigan waited to file charges until after Cadden and Chin were prosecuted in Boston federal court. Information from: Livingston Daily Press & Argus, http://www.livingstondaily.com	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line870
__label__cc	0.726038	0.273962	Diamonds on the Bosporus by Aliki Kafetzopoulou Author Constantinople in 400 AD is the greatest city of its era—the throne of the Roman Empire with streets of marble and churches adorned in gold. But not all is right in the imperial capital: the empress Eudoxia has begun a persecution of the city’s great pastor and preacher, St. John Chrysostom. Diamonds on the Bosphorus—an historical novel for young people—is the story of the choice made by Christians throughout the centuries: to follow the path of Christ or the path of worldly glory. Nicephorus and his twin sister, Juliana, have dwelt their entire lives in the shadow of Constantinople on the shores of the Bosphorus—the majestic waterway connecting the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. As the children of the pious fisherman Theodotus, they have been raised in the Christian virtues, devoting themselves to serving others. Their greatest joy is to hear the divine words of the righteous bishop St. John Chrysostom. On the verge of becoming adults, Nicephorus and Juliana have their lives turned upside-down with the revelation of their true identities. Suddenly, the paths of these simple fishers have become irreversibly intertwined with intrigue in the imperial court and the persecutions raised against St. John. Aliki Kafetzopoulou (1924–2005) was a teacher in Athens, Greece, who devoted much of her life to works of Christian charity through the Orthodox lay sisterhood "Hope." She is the author of The Purple Mantle and several other popular books in Greek, aimed at the formation of the soul. christianity, early church history, historical fiction, 2nd - 12th St. Herman Press 1 The Mysterious Horseman 2 At the Goldsmith's Shop 3 At the Senator's Mansion 4 Sad News 5 The Secret 6 Innocent Victims 7 The Glory is Yours 8 The Big Decision 9 The Persecution Begins 10 A Friend on the Way 11 Gratitude Above Glory 12 A Prisoner, Yet Free 13 The Power of an Exile 14 History Has Written	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line872
__label__wiki	0.637064	0.637064	Bailey & Glasser clients achieve favorable settlement in long-running sale-leaseback disputes After achieving favorable rulings on certain summary judgment issues, Bailey & Glasser’s clients, Foresight Energy and its subsidiaries, Hillsboro Energy and Macoupin Energy, favorably resolved two lawsuits in which the companies faced damages claims exceeding $800 million. The disputes arose from complex sale-leaseback transactions and the application of certain terms of those transactional documents, including the force majeure, termination, and recoupment provisions. In addition, the disputes involved the hard-sciences aspects of spontaneous combustion and underground coal mine engineering, as well as the intricacies of the worldwide coal trade, coal qualities, and coal mine investment modeling. The publicly-announced settlement agreement involved an upfront payment by Foresight and Hillsboro of $25 million, coupled with a $225 million reduction in Hillsboro’s future lease obligations. Bailey & Glasser attorneys handled every aspect of both lawsuits, briefing every issue, arguing every motion, and taking and defending every deposition. Brian Glasser, Nicholas Johnson, and Jeffrey Baron led Bailey & Glasser’s team. “We are pleased to have reached a mutually beneficial resolution in these lawsuits,” said Robert Moore, Foresight’s president and CEO, in a statement. “These agreements provide us with long-term control of our coal reserves and operational flexibility at [the] Deer Run mine.” Bailey & Glasser has served as litigation and business counsel to Foresight Energy and its subsidiaries since its inception nearly 15 years ago.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line876
__label__wiki	0.630004	0.630004	Science & Mathematics Engineering What is the hp of the largest electric motor.? Best Answer: NASA has a wind tunnel in their Langley Research Center that has a motor that is rated 135,000 horsepower. The electric motors that drive the propellers of the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth II are each rated at 59,000 horsepower. In Bath County, Virginia, there is a power generating station that pumps water up to a reservoir during the night and operates the pumps and motors as turbines and generators to generate electricity during the daytime. The motors each produce 563,400 horsepower. Motor manufacturer web sites: Siemens: induction motors up to 10,000 Hp http://www2.sea.siemens.com/Products/Ele... Siemens: synchronous motors up to 50 MW, 67,000 Hp http://www.automation.siemens.com/ld/ac-... TECO-Westinghouse: various types of motors up to 100,000 Hp http://www.tecowestinghouse.com/PRODUCTS... ABB: various types of motors up to 60 MW, 80,000 Hp http://www.abb.com/product/us/9AAC100566.aspx General Electric: synchronous motors up to 100,000 Hp http://www.geindustrial.com/cwc/Dispatcher?REQUEST=PRODUCTS&pnlid=4&id=acmotors Toshiba: induction and synchronous motors up to 50,000 Hp http://www.toshiba.com/ind/data/tag_files/Midium%20Voltage%20Motor%20Brochure_1573.pdf Source(s): http://www.drives.co.uk/fullstory.asp?id... http://www.dom.com/about/stations/hydro/... http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news... http://www.qe2.org.uk/engine.html EE68PE · 1 decade ago Largest Electric Motor Source(s): https://shrinke.im/a9vte dhannu · 3 years ago High Hp Electric Motor Source(s): https://shrinks.im/ba439 replogle · 3 years ago This Site Might Help You. Source(s): hp largest electric motor: https://tr.im/962Hd to get the Ford Excursion (or whatever you have) up to 75 only takes about 50 hp in the real world (less in theory). It's just slow. A couple of Netgain Warp 9 motors connected end to end by their shafts (one with the shaft sticking out both ends) ought to do it. Their continuous rated power is like 25 each. But they can put out 3 times that each, for short bursts. Take off from a stop would be better then the Triton v10, but after 15 mph the v10 is better. After 30 mph the 2 electric motors would start to feel like an under powered v6 or a strong 4 cylinder. After 60 mph it's just painfully slow. The DC electric motors like the Netgain are really strong at low rpm, but weaker at high rpm. You really need 4 motors, 2 motors end to end, direct driving each differential. Then you'll be putting out up to 300+ hp with full time 4wd. Then the truck would really move, especially off the line (not as fast as if you used a transmission, but still fast enough). Still a little slow from 50 to 70 though. You really need a better motor then the ones that are available to home builders. For some reason, all the best motors, like the Tesla Motors motor, and the UQM Powerphase 150, are available to OEM manufacturers only. They're both 3 phase AC induction motors. Their low rpm torque is less strong in proportion to their horsepower, but it's still pretty good, and they can rev higher and they have a wider power band. And they're both pretty got dam powerful. You can get 3 phase AC induction motors, like the HPGC AC50, or the Azure Dynamics AC55. But they're not nearly as good as the Tesla motor. They're really no better they their DC cousins. Less low rpm torque but higher reving, equal power to weight ratio, and they're more expensive. Their power does peak out at higher speeds, which is good for that portion of your driving, but not as good for the off the line take offs. They don't have sufficient torque to direct drive the differential, they require a transmission. But if you're using a transmission, the higher rpms don't make a bit of difference, you might as well pay less money for an equally powered, low reving DC motor. The Tesla motor has great low rpm torque and great top end power. That's the motor you want. Pamela · 3 years ago Largest electric motor is a linear motor. Made by Bombardier Corp. Used in world-wide rapid transit systems such as the one in Tokyo, Japan. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?... other than that, I have seen 4000 HP motors on the internet. billrussell42 · 1 decade ago Where can i get a LARGE hp electric motor? What are the consequences of running large electric 60 Hz motors (more than 100 hp) on 50hz current? Are there brushes in my 1 hp electric motor? Sailboat with electric trolling motor? What minimum kilowatt electric power is required to move and operate a 5-hp electric motor with full load.? Was it the discovery of electricity alone that accelerated our rate of material progress? I need help answering this statics problem? What is the name of a part of a commercial refrigeration system, that verifies that the refrigeration system has not gone below a certain? What is an OP Amp commonly used for in electronic circuits? Is it true that all microchips are is a silcon wafer with wires? Is there such thing as a potentiometer that I can plug into a wall and plug something like a fan into it so I can control the fans speed? When will someone invent microwave ovens that can be used with aluminum foil? Is this even possible? Please explain.? Is Tesla power wall economical? I live in Boston MA and heard that based on variable pricing in electricity it can pay off?	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line880
__label__cc	0.729326	0.270674	Family & Relationships Singles & Dating Are the dynamics of sex different when a circumcised guy has sex vs. when an uncircumcised guy has sex? Do circumcised guys have to have sex harder and faster because of the lack of the foreskin sleeve? ...because of the lack of foreskin providing a double gliding motion, and also because they're less sensitive in the head because of the keratinization (thickening) of the head (glans), so they need to thrust... show more Do circumcised guys have to have sex harder and faster because of the lack of the foreskin sleeve? ...because of the lack of foreskin providing a double gliding motion, and also because they're less sensitive in the head because of the keratinization (thickening) of the head (glans), so they need to thrust repeatedly harder and faster to acheive more sensation? This is a serious question because it deals with whether circumcision is not a good thing to do because it changes the fundamental dynamics of sex. Best Answer: I grew up in Australia when most boys were cut but happened to have a few intact friends. I saw one of them masturbating when I was about 12 and realised that I was missing out big time. I deeply resent what my parents had done to me. There is no worse feeling in the world than knowing you've been mutilated for no good reason and that you will never feel the full sexual sensations that should be your birth right. Most circumcised males have no idea what they have lost and are not good sources of information about which is better. They don't know how a foreskin works http://circumstitions.com/Works.html and mistakenly think it would get in the way. Usually only circimcised males who have actually observed how an intact male masturbates, either in reality or in porn, have any idea that their own penis does not work as well as a natural one. Circumcision is the amputation of the foreskin, not extra skin but an integral part of the penis; measuring 15 square inches in an adult, over half the penile skin, including the most sensitive parts of the penis. The foreskin is packed with nerve endings, special anatomical features like the ridged band and has a unique elastic gliding action, allowing it to slide on itself and act like lube. This action is what most males use to masturbate with. Circumcised males use what skin they have left, except those who are cut so tightly that they have to use lube or just rub it dry. The intact male can stroke the entire length of his penis using his foreskin and also has the option to use lube too, if he wants to. During intercourse the foreskin acts like lube on entry and may act as a dam, preventing lubricating secretions escaping from the vagina. In one study women reported that sex with an intact partner was gentler and more satisfying since he doesn't have to thrust as hard to feel enough stimulation. Removing the foreskin turns the surface of the glans from an inner mucous membrane to outside skin. Newly circumcised adults usually go through some weeks of intense discomfort as the glans is constantly exposed to rubbing on clothing, until it develops a thicker keratin layer and becomes less sensitive. I detest being circumcised and can only guess at the sensations and functionality I have missed out on all my life. Source(s): http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.o... I will not post the link to the study "sexasnatureintendedit" because it has adults only photos and videos to illustrate it's many points about the differences in sexual function. http://circumstitions.com/ http://www.circinfo.org/ http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/ http://www.cirp.org/ GeoffB · 10 years ago Cutting off parts of the penis changes the dynamics of the penis and that it therefore changes the dynamics of sex. Much is said about desensitizing the glans. However, the glans is relatively insensitive, particularly to fine touch. It also goes a bit numb upon erection. As such, only having the glans for sensing is a problem. Circumcision destroys about 20000 fine touch and stretch nerve endings. It takes away the inner foreskin and the ridged band and often the frenulum. These parts of the penis are great for ones pleasure including pleasure from touch and stretch (that is why nutters like Kellogg wanted to chop em off, to curtail masturbation). These parts do directly contacts the vagina wall for very great pleasure all around. The only touch organ possessing as rich erogenous innervation as the foreskin is the clitoris. Circumcision deprives man of 2/3ds of the main erogenous zone constituted of the foreskin and the glans. Besides the loss of sensation (pleasure) the dynamics change is significant. This is the loss of the movement of the foreskin from being slipped all the way, or almost all the way, back to the base of the penis, and also slipped forward beyond the glans. If some adult really wants to do this to themselves, after understanding what they will lose, that is their issue. However, it is not acceptable to change the dynamics of the penis of someone else. It is not OK to take away erogenous tissue and remove capacity for pleasure from another human for LIFE. For the best answers, search on this site https://smarturl.im/aDKwD Arlene · 3 years ago Circumcision does indeed change the fundemental dynamics of sex. Humans can only have natural sex, what we evolved to, with a natural penis. It does indeed remove about 20000 fine touch and strecth nerve endings and a "cut" penis does not have a huge amount of the natural sensing capacity -- there is a loss of capacity for pleasure for good. I don't see how this change from nature can be good for either male or female. Natural; men do not do it sooner, the sensation does not cause PE but instead provides good feedback and helps time orgasm. In fact, cut men have more PE problems as some get wrong signals from the circumcision scar (the scar is the most sensitive part of the cut male) that causes premature ejaculation. There is a need for Americans to catch up with the rest of the advanced world, that DOES NOT do this to baby boys. The foreskin is not just skin and does not just protect the glans(head). Circumcision is now known to ablate the most sensitive parts of the male genitals. This surgery takes away the main male pleasure zones with about 20000 fine touch and stretch nerve endings amputated. The foreskin has several parts including the ridged band that is great for ones pleasure (that is why nutters like Kellogg wanted to chop em off, to curtail masturbation), Masturbation is important for a mans physical and mental health. The ridged band directly contacts the vagina for very great pleasure all around. The dynamics of sex and the actual mechanism of the penis are drastically changed by circumcision. The foreskin can normally be slipped all the way, or almost all the way, back to the base of the penis, and also slipped forward beyond the glans. This wide range of motion is the mechanism by which the penis and the orgasmic triggers in the foreskin, frenulum, and glans are stimulated. The only touch organ possessing as rich erogenous innervation as the foreskin is the clitoris. Circumcision deprives man of 2/3ds of the main erogenous zone constituted of the foreskin and the glans. JackieNo · 10 years ago Not just the "foreskin sleeve," as you put it. The foreskin is not just "extra skin," but it is very specialized tissue. The foreskin has about 20,000 specialized nerve endings, and the inner foreskin is mucosal in nature to retain the sensitivity/smoothness of the glans and surrounding tissues. It's what nature intended to give the male the most complete sexual experience----in both feeling and function. Obviously the vascular and neural damage that is circumcision will diminish a male's feeling and function. The disruption of normal sensory feedback will inhibit not only the enjoyment of sex, but control over ejaculation. And the damage from circumcision varies wildly, with the scars from the wounds located anywhere on the penis from just below the glans to 1/2 or even 2/3 of the way down the penile shaft. Because the damage is so extensive, and can be so different from one individual to the other, the resulting lack of sensory input can result in either premature ejaculation, or even the inability to ejaculate in normal sex. Damaging a penis doesn't increase sexual ability-----that isn't so hard to comprehend. And as far as the female is concerned, the dry, rough texture of the circumcised penis, combined with the lack of a foreskin's motion during sex is more abrasive to the vaginal walls. Nothing good comes from circumcision, except to the unscrupulous doctors who make money from mutilating males. Circumcision is a fraud and a hoax. A foreskin is not a birth defect; it is a birthright. e w · 10 years ago The foreskin is also beneficial for the female too as it provides a natural lubrication, leading to less dryness and friction. The forskin also 'bunches up' a little and stimulates the nerves at the entrance to the vagina, where the elusive g-spot is. Women dont know what they are missing out on by refusing entire men. Esp when the reasons they give (unclean, ugly) are unfounded and based purely on ignorance and misinformation. Edit: Steve X: Cant feel his partner if he's entire??? what on earth are you going on about about now?? You really are grasping at straws to justify your own disappointment in your body arent you? Not to mention the inferior sex life that you have decided that your own sons will have. Congratulations. Source(s): RN/sex health/family planning Lol · 10 years ago If you are not circumcised, stay that way until you have sufficient sexual experience to make a determination of any problems. As far as sensation goes, most of the sensation is on the underside of the tip (the glans). There is no thickening in that area and the sensitivity is high. Source(s): personal experience Ehm.. Premature ejaculation can be cured with natural methods. One really good one you can follow is http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=565 When a man is suffering from premature ejaculation, he is often climaxing before his partner and in the case of most men it is difficult if not impossible for them to continue intercourse after ejaculating. That’s because chemicals are released when a man ejaculates and these are the same chemicals that make a person feel sleepy and/or not aroused. It’s not that they have suddenly lost interest; just their brain is telling them that the sex is over. This effect is more prominent after intercourse than after masturbation because intercourse actually causes four times more of these chemicals to be released. If premature ejaculation occurs frequently, it can lead to embarrassment for the man and sexual frustration for both partners. well just about every one has told you all the fact as to why circumcision is a bad idea and they are correct as for sex it's self (speaking from a women's point of view) not only as someone else said does it feel much better during vaginal penetration but its also better for oral, anal and best of all to play with it's so much easier and more interesting but from the female point of view there is another advantage that is that because circumcised men have lost so many nerve endings that during masturbation by a female the amount of feeling which they receive at the penis is not enough so they have to fantasise at the same time which means they tend to be very quiet as this takes concentration to run sexual fantasy's through their head so there is a distinct lack of intimacy (and communication)whilst a female is masturbating a circumcised male which if you interrupt it sets his orgasm back. where as the natural male is free to express his pleasure with moans, movement and talk plus there is also the visual element with a circumcised penis it's just "there" nothing moves nothing changes it like rubbing a dildo where as the natural penis is exciting it moves (foreskin)opening and closing over the gland watching it slide back and forth over the smooth purple gland is so much more pleasurable for the female so you see circumcision does not only rob the poor guy on the physical side but it spoils it for the female both physically mentally and emotionally if you have your foreskin do not part with it for anyone kid 85% of the world do not mutilate their children so that means 85% of females around the world prefer the natural penis there is a guy who comes on here and because he supports circumcision but has no logical argument to support his claim (because there isn't one) he reverts to childish name calling and one of his favourite things he says is " who wants an anteater between their legs" WELL I DO YES PLEASE ME ME ME YES PLEASE!!!!!! any day rather than circumcised one. @HBCaliDude As a bisexual uncut man who has had many experiences, with both men (cut & intact) & women, the arguments you present are so absolutely without basis & only reveal a guy who made a decision (probably peer pressure/insecurity) and now is trying desperately & pathetically to justify it with lies. Sad. -- · 5 years ago For sandwich-lovers, use spinach or swiss chard leaves instead of a wrap, skip the piece of cheese, and load up on the veggies. micah · 3 years ago Are the dynamics of sex different when a circumcised guy penetrates/thrusts vs. w/ an uncircumcised guy? Does sex with an uncircumcised guy feel different? Circumcised vs Uncircumcised Sex - Do "uncut" guys ejaculate faster compared to "cut" men... Women: Sex with uncircumcised vs circumcised? Are you interested in girls sexually? What is my face shape?.? How do I up date accounts? What countries have the best-looking fair-skinned girls there? Should I end things with my boyfriend of 3 years? I found out my girlfriend smoked weed? My boyfriend is pressuring me to have sex? Why do I love smelling hot mens feet?? Was I just a bootycall? As a girl, should I be driving an hour for a first date?	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line881
__label__cc	0.520744	0.479256	President Trump (c 2016-2020?) Trump Assassination Leads to Civil War II and Invasion Is this likely to be a headline coming soon to the USA? Don’t get me wrong. I like Trump and think he has done a phenomenal job so far. If he can keep up the pace of his first month in office for eight years then it will bring prosperity back to Americans for a decade or two longer and push back the coming collapse. But we live in a different time now than the glory days shown in those black-and-white photos from just after we won WWII. I’ve talked to many of the Boomer generation who remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when the news of the JFK assassination came out. But I have not yet met a Boomer who was glad JFK was assassinated. Today, how many people in America do you think would be celebrating in the streets if Trump was assassinated? And when you look at the whole “NeverTrump” crowd on the Republican, conservative, and evangelical end, I don’t think the celebrating would be solely leftist. Framing The Argument I’m not going to look into a crystal ball and pretend to tell exactly how and why this will come to pass and who will be responsible. Rather, there are only a few questions that must be answered and upon those answers we can decide, “Does it seem more likely than not that Trump will be assassinated prior to serving eight years as president?” The follow-up is, “What would happen after that?”. The answer is spine chilling and will bring you back to that gut wrenching feeling you had when Obama was elected in 2008 or re-elected in 2012. Remember that feeling of impending doom? Feeling like you were out of position? After reading this in depth article you’ll understand that now is the time to continue your preps in earnest! The questions we must answer are as follows: Does an “establishment” group exist; a group interested in preserving the bureaucratic system as is; a group of elites we might call the political class or ruling class or bi-factional party? Does this establishment have something to gain from a collapse or a fundamental transformation of America? Does Trump’s populist nationalism that propelled him to victory oppose the gain of these elites? If the choice is put to Trump, is he more likely to change and play along with establishment agenda, or continue to be a rebel and a thorn in their side? If the answer to the first three are all “Yes,” and the fourth is that Trump will not change and play along, then is assassination the option of choice for elites to remove him? If Trump were assassinated, would it lead to civil war? In the chaotic time of Civil War II, would foreign powers take advantage and invade the US? Also, prior to working through this logical chain I need to address a question at the front of many people’s minds, “Is this just a bunch of wacko conspiracy theory lunacy?”, or is this 1963 all over again? Part I: A Brief History of Conspiracy Theory The order will come from the highest of the Elite! First, “conspiracy” is a solid and extremely common legal concept. Think of any time you’ve heard about someone being charged with “Conspiracy to commit [certain crime].” At the base definition, it is simply any secret coordination of multiple parties to bring a certain outcome which would be undesirable to others if they knew about it. Second, the smearing of theories about conspiracies occurring in the echelons of power and government was specifically a CIA counter-intelligence and disinformation method coined in 1967 and verified in the NYT in 1976 via an FOIA request. Full details can be read here, including a scan of the original CIA intelligence strategy document. Here’s the key summary of the psychological warfare tactics recommended by the CIA dispatch to help fight leaks: Claim that it would be impossible for so many people to keep quiet about such a big conspiracy Have people friendly to the CIA attack the claims, and point back to “official” reports Claim that eyewitness testimony is unreliable Claim that this is all old news, as “no significant new evidence has emerged” Ignore conspiracy claims unless discussion about them is already too active Claim that it’s irresponsible to speculate Accuse theorists of being wedded to and infatuated with their theories Accuse theorists of being politically motivated Accuse theorists of having financial interests in promoting conspiracy theories In other words, the CIA’s clandestine services unit created the arguments for attacking conspiracy theories as unreliable in the 1960s as part of its psychological warfare operations. Claim # 2 above has been used extensively to counter the 911 Truth Movement most notably framed in scientific testing and reported by AE911Truth, made up of thousands of Architects and Engineers across the world that agree that the Towers were downed by internal explosives positioned by others unknown as of yet. It’s amazing how much we see this in use today to defend unpopular government actions. I frequently see this problem in many liberal “fact-checking” sites where when politicians stood accused of some nefariousness or wrongdoing; the “fact check” consists of pointing at the official statement released by the accused politician and declaring the matter settled. Did the DOJ under Eric Holder engage in gun-running under Operation Fast and Furious? Well, Eric Holder says they didn’t therefore they didn’t and those are the facts. (Riiiight…) Third, today there is a long list of confirmed conspiracies which were once denounced as “unbelievable conspiracy theories.” For me, one of the most shocking recent revelations was that the Lusitania was in fact carrying munitions and the German submarine was justified in sinking her. [Quick review for the history impaired: Prior to the US entering WWI, a passenger cruise liner named the Lusitania departed NY, headed for Liverpool, and was sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German submarine for supposedly carrying munitions to Germany’s enemies in the war. The British government denied that any munitions were aboard and moral outrage over the evil German sinking of the innocent passenger ship spiked enlistments in Ireland and Britain and helped move the US to enter the war. Documents declassified 30 years after the fact revealed that in 1982 the British government stepped in during a series of planned dives to explore the wreckage because it did in fact carry A LOT of munitions still posing a severe safety risk to exploration. So, Germany was justified in the sinking, and for almost a century anyone who suspected the British government was lying just to trick the US into joining the war was smeared as a conspiracy theorist. The “conspiracy theorists” were right and the official story recorded in history books was a lie.] For more on conspiracy theories proven right or confirmed as true, here’s a list of 33 drawn up by Info Wars in 2010, and another list of 10 written in 2014 (slight overlap). Some of the more surprising items on the lists: North Vietnam did NOT actually attack US Naval warships in the Gulf of Tonkin, providing the basis for the US to enter the Vietnam War. The US military DID in fact conduct medical experiments on black service members during the Tuskegee Syphilis Study For Operation Northwoods, the CIA had planned to stage phony terrorist operations in the US to frame Cuba and draw the US into war and the plan was supported by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Sound a little like 9-11?) JFK rejected the plan and denied promotion to its author, and was assassinated not too long thereafter. Speaking of JFK, were you aware there was a 2nd congressional investigation running from 1976 to 1979, which concluded that contrary to the earlier Warren Commission findings, there was definitely a conspiracy involved? Unfortunately, the who, what, why, and how remains unknown today. Will Trump have the Character to stand up to the Elite? Will he become a martyr for Freedom, or will he become one of them? Time will tell. Confirmed: the US Government began spying on Americans prior to 9/11; the Patriot act (already written years before!) simply made legal what had already been illegally going on. Connected, the decision to attack Iraq predated 9/11; the 9/11 attack simply gave justification for the desired war. During US Senate hearings by the Church Committee in 1975 on illegal CIA assassination activities, the CIA revealed a “heart attack gun” which shot a tiny dart loaded with shellfish toxin, leaving a mark no more noticeable than a mosquito bite after the dart dissolved. If that’s the tech from 1975, what have they put into operation since then? (The Vault 7 leaks show work on hacking car control systems for modern undetectable assassinations). David Rockefeller proudly admitted his role in pushing for a “New World Order” with one world government and the work done to bring it about via the Council on Foreign Relations over the course of most of the 20th century. Altogether: first conspiracy is a sound and widely prevalent legal concept with frequent convictions. Second, in 1967 the CIA formalized counterintelligence propaganda methods to smear departures from the official story as baseless conspiracy theory. Third, there is a long list of supposedly baseless “conspiracy theories” deviating from the official story – theories which history has eventually confirmed as correct. Conspiracy doesn’t necessarily mean there is a single shadowy organization calling the shots around the globe through most of history. But if one group wants to bring down America for religious reasons, another for financial benefit, another for social reasons, and another for military reasons, they may all be acting independently. Or some may be working together under the principle that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Is there a conspiracy to assassinate Trump? If there exist at least two members of government or its agencies plotting to do it and make sure the “official story” covers up the truth, then the answer is yes. I’m sure with all the Obama holdovers, one-world-government supporters, and bureaucrats wanting to protect their piece of the red tape jobs from Trump’s axe, we can surely find two such people. Until and unless they succeed, it is only politics as usual. Part II: Establishment Workings Is there an “establishment?” If there is, then what we are talking about would involve individuals on both sides of the political spectrum working together to engineer an outcome. One of the most recent and interesting iceberg tips comes from looking at the rise and fall of Milo Yiannopoulos, a former senior editor at Breitbart News (up until recent scandal). There are two ways of looking at the rise of the strange personality of Milo, and it depends on whether you think he tells the truth about himself. Milo (if Honest) If he is telling the truth, then Milo rose to notoriety by being one of the only journalists to actually give neutral coverage of the GamerGate controversy. For those not plugged in to electronic entertainment, Gamergate was a battle over integrity in news media in late 2014. It began when it was spilled by a jilted ex-boyfriend and game journalist that a particularly terrible game designer (Zoe Quinn) and her products (i.e. Depression Quest, a “video game” with no video elements and no game elements which helps the player explore the woes of clinical depression – woohoo, sign me up to be entertained by that in my leisure time!) only got positive reviews through the large number of journalists she was sleeping with. It turned out to be the tip of the iceberg but all discussion was shut down and censored, even on politically incorrect sites like Reddit, and then nearly every game news source simultaneously launched articles attacking their prime readership as backwards misogynistic hatemongers. A subsequent leak revealed pre-planned coordination between the publications for the series of articles in order to browbeat their readers into accepting the journalists’ political agenda. If this sounds familiar, its because we’re now seeing the same pattern for the sixth time (GamerGate being the first) now at the national political level with all the discussion of fake news. Left-leaning sources continue to paint the entire GamerGate saga as an episode of mass misogyny by hateful intolerant commoners who won’t get on the right side of history. Supposedly, anyone (male or female) who wants female characters in their entertainment to be extremely feminine must hate females. And now on the national scale, if you didn’t vote Obama and you don’t cheer for the domestic terrorist group Black Lives Matter it can only be because you are an uneducated racist who’s likely to lynch the next black person you meet. The Alt-Left are such morons. You might be asking, “I don’t care about video games. Why should I care about GamerGate?” Well, because since then you might have noticed that the NFL has crammed in so many pink ribbons and discussions of breast cancer and the woes of domestic violence that you’re left wondering, “Why does the NFL spend so much less time on football now?” You’re now supposed to be thinking about something other than football and love of the game. Answer: because the same progressive religion wants to make every entertainment outlet of yours, whether games or rock music or sci-fi/fantasy books or movies or football, stop being about entertainment and instead lecture you about the necessity of having politically correct thoughts. Maybe that also explains ESPN’s rapidly dwindling revenues. Kneel before your new Goddess. So Milo got his start giving honest coverage of a free speech issue that was important to the average Joe when every other media source was working overtime to smear or censor the discussion. His defense of conservative values and free speech catapulted him into the limelight as he was invited to speak all over the country in defense of the same values underlying Trump’s rise to power. His odd personal quirks like being openly brash about his homosexual love of black men only augmented the demand, since here was a guy who should be playing the victim card (immigrant/mixed-race/homosexual/victim of sexual assault/raised by single parent) at DNC rallies and instead is defending conservatism. It’s a lot like conservatives rushing to get speaking engagements for that one white guy who married/adopted/is best friends with a black person because surely he can safely address problems about race from a conservative viewpoint without being called a racist. Right? Nevertheless, if you’ve watched him in hostile interviews with mainstream media, he has a Trump-level ability to smoothly take the media’s gotcha-questions and twist them back at the media to their own embarrassment. The final fireworks of Milo’s popularity were: violent riots at UC Berkley to prevent his last speech, an invitation to appear on Bill Maher’s show for a debate, an invitation to deliver a keynote address at CPAC, and a forthcoming book about free speech which was Amazon’s #1 Best Selling Book – on preorders alone! Milo (if Dishonest) The other opinion on Milo’s rise to notoriety is that he was a plant designed to make movements on the right look bad. Other than initial coverage of GamerGate, he didn’t write much about technology despite his job title at Breitbart. His depraved predilections and brash vulgarity would seem to contradict his being a popular speaker for the right to seek out as a speaker at colleges and CPAC. Was someone on the left funding his campus visits in order to embarrass and denounce those on the right? A Suspicious Fall from Glory Milo was crushed in the public eye in less than 24 hours on Sunday night and Monday morning, 19 and 20 FEB2017. A group called the Reagan Battalion published heavily edited excerpts from a year-old Youtube video making it look like Milo endorsed pedophilia. Jake Tapper of CNN shortly thereafter chastised CPAC for having invited so awful a man to speak at their rally, and Milo was promptly disinvited by CPAC. Hours later, Simon & Schuster cancelled the book deal. The next day in a press conference, Milo announced his resignation from Breitbart in order to protect the integrity of their work. If you look at Milo as a dishonest leftist plant to discredit the right, why would they crush him when he was doing so well? Why not wait until after the CPAC speech so they could tar all of CPAC? If you look at Milo as honest about who he is, then his is yet another scalp claimed by the establishment to stop Americans from noticing how much free speech and other rights they’ve lost over the last few decades. Here’s where the takedown starts to stink. Jake Tapper was revealed in the Wikileaks emails to be in close coordination with the Democrats. His pouncing on CPAC was suspiciously quick. An anonymous journalist leak to 4chan early on Monday morning (look for ID: UQ3+mU2r in the thread) gave an inside scoop on the move and motives and that folks should expect a steady drumbeat of ‘Milo the pedophile’ and ‘Milo must be disinvited from CPAC.’ He also mentions journalists working to gather dirt to take down many other strong right figures like Ann Coulter, and even mentions Alex Jones of InfoWars as a whole other beast in their eyes. Hours later, CPAC caved and disinvited Milo. I’m not giving purchase links for this one… Simon & Schuster strangely grew a conscience and apparently walked away from their quarter million dollar advance on a book that was the #1 Bestseller on Amazon before it was even released. Strange, given that they still list the controversial book about oral sex orgies, “Rainbow Party” in their catalog since it was commissioned by a Simon & Schuster editor in 2005, and still recommend it for 14 year olds to read. I knew some bookstore owners back when it came out and remember their shock and revulsion at the recommendation to shelve it in the kids’ section. How a business that is fine with trash like that would suddenly say no to all that money they were going to get via Milo (despite knowing about his personal vulgarity) baffles the mind. And who is this “Reagan Battalion” that kicked off the whole event? The Daily Dot did some digging on this organization which appears to be a conservative news aggregator. They found ties to an independent presidential candidate in 2016 named Evan McMullin, from the NeverTrump movement, boasting of approval by the Reagan Battalion and ads from the Reagan Battalion promoting McMullin, though they deny any connection today. What’s more, the Reagan Battalion website contained links implicating it as a reformation of the Stop Donald Trump PAC which backed Rubio during the primaries, registered with the FEC by a leading Democrat activist, and their former website redirects to a page for a large Democrat grassroots activist group nicknamed as “The Tea Party of the Left.” But all those connections are formally denied. As to Milo’s actual comments, in the full context they are not nearly as bad as the edited video made it seem, though they still embrace a level of depravity. Yet compared to a liberal darling like George Takei or Lena Dunham (please don’t click either link unless you have a strong stomach), Milo’s comments were positively milquetoast. The Milo story is a lot to digest, I know. How does this point to an establishment? Because it is one recent and fresh example out of many possibilities (I’ll touch on a few more later) through which we see collusion (aka conspiracy) of supposedly independent media groups and the subjects they cover to push political agenda via GamerGate (echoed in several other entertainment and media fields), now being repeated again at the national level with collusion between mainstream media sources and politicians. We see NeverTrump elements who push supposedly conservative causes (like National Review and other “conservative” publications who were heavily critical of Trump) and candidates (like Rubio from the “Gang of 8”) teaming up with far left Democrat elements to destroy those like Milo who point to the crumbling American values and freedoms. Establishment as an Evil Twin To help get the point across, here’s a thought exercise for you. In the world of Christendom, there are many different factions of Christianity. There are some players of titanic size like the Roman Catholic Church, many players of moderate size like the Lutherans and the Southern Baptist Convention. And there are countless small players like all those dedicated but independent churches who do not answer to a formal authority structure. It is easy enough to state that the Pope of the Roman Catholic church is one of the biggest movers and shakers in the world of Christendom. But just because an evangelical witnesses to a man waiting for an airplane, it does not mean that his actions were somehow directed by the Pope himself and are a key move in the Pope’s plan to make the world Christian (or Roman Catholic). It doesn’t even mean the evangelical answers to the Pope or gives the slightest thought to the Pope’s motives and desires. So think of progressivism or globalism or leftism (Alt-Left) as an evil twin of Christianity. Many of its followers act with religious zeal. They even burn heretics (today called racists, or sexists, or homophobes) by doxxing them online, SWATting their house, and pestering their employer until the offender is unemployed and unemployable. George Soros is likely one of the biggest players. In his league you also have men like Rockefeller, Rothschild, Ted Turner, and various billion-dollar corporate CEO’s who increasingly run their company more like a leftist PAC than a business (Amazon, Starbucks ‘wants to hire 10,000 refugees?, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Starbucks + Un-Vetted Refugees = Alt-Left Terrorists that HATE America. Below that are various major and minor politicians, and at the very bottom all the everyday agitators who write fact-free newspaper columns or get paid to show up and protest some event or cause. Just because a bunch of journalists conspired to direct a false narrative in GamerGate or the Hugo award controversies or the coverage of Trump, doesn’t mean they answer directly to Soros or even know what he thinks. But does the sum action at the bottom rungs serve the goals of the top players? Certainly. Sometimes, the top players may have paid $33 million to terrorist organizations like Black Lives Matter, and sometimes they merely benefit from downstream effects as the mob pushes their religion of bigger government with a heaven-on-earth goal of one world government. Ultimately, “establishment” consists of individuals or groups currently holding power over large numbers of people and are working to further grow and consolidate that power. Another case in point would the recent revelations on CIA Vault 7 (emphasis mine): The agency’s hacking division freed it from having to disclose its often controversial operations to the NSA (its primary bureaucratic rival) in order to draw on the NSA’s hacking capacities. … The CIA had created, in effect, its “own NSA” with even less accountability and without publicly answering the question as to whether such a massive budgetary spend on duplicating the capacities of a rival agency could be justified. What we’re looking at as “Establishment” isn’t simply the powerful globalists or the “Deep State.” It is every individual and group working to grow the size and power of government and grow the size and power of the “Establishment.” It doesn’t matter if they are RINO or Democrat or a NeverTrump Conservative talking head or a lowly government bureaucrat trying to preserve his job and make it more important than it really is. Part III: Establishment Gain from US Demise Establishment Opposition to Democracy, Christianity, and Capitalism [Editor’s Note 21MAR2017: We received some feedback that the 3 mentions of those of Jewish decent in the quotes and summary statements immediately below are anti-Semitic. Double-checking both the context and the primary sources, that is not the case. The quote context asks about and attempts to explain a paradoxical phenomena of leftist mindset using two easily observed examples: the rich leftist who works to oppose the capitalism that made him rich, and the secular/liberal/progressive Jew in America who supports pro-Palestine policy in America rather than a pro-Israel platform. For evidence that this is an observable phenomenon among some American Jews, consider this article from the Haaretz newspaper in Israel “American Jewish Support for Israel Is Eroding, and It’s Got Nothing to Do With the Palestinians“. Another example is from a pro-America/pro-Israel magazine co-founded by Elie Wiesel, which pulls together thoughts on the phenomenon from several dozen influential Jews of note: “The Growing Gap Between Israel and American Jews“. From the opposing viewpoint, here is a pro-Palestine publication on American policy which observes and attempts to explain the same phenomenon. Next, going back to our original primary source, John C Wright, it is found that he writes from a devout Roman Catholic perspective and opposes racism including anti-Semitism. While the foundations of his point of view may run contrary to our Protestant readers, we have highlighted and recommended only those points which appear fruitful for all true Americans and all true Christians, points important to him as well. Last, all writers for our site support the right of Israel to exist and defend itself as a nation and a people and we strongly disagree with any racist or anti-Semitic ideology.] To understand establishment motives, we must understand some of the establishment mindset. To that end I quote extensively from a political and philosophical article penned by the writer John C Wright. The entire essay is well worth a read to understand the enemy mindset, but we are skipping past most of the reasoning and looking at some concluding paragraphs. Wright’s “Unified Field Theory of Madness” opens thus: Leftism is an enigma. We need a theorem that explains not one or two aspects of Leftism, but all their traits. And, while we are at it, if we could also explain why the Rich, who are routinely vilified by the Left number among its most ardent supporters, or the secular Jews, our theory would be very potent in its explanatory power. Why would folks like the rich or the secular Jews support a movement that demonizes them and destroys the routes they followed to attain success? Jumping to section 8, the final section of the theory (emphases in bold are mine): From the roots of the compassionate epistemology, which forbids them from holding any opinion based on judgment, we have seen how this flowers into to the judgments all opponents are evil, all lovely things hateful, no war is just, no independence of thought is to be tolerated, no success to go unpunished, and no truth to be admitted. But what is the one thing the Rich, the Chosen or the Elite, blessed by so much, cannot get for love or money in a Christian Commonwealth, in a Free Market, or by vote in a Democracy? They cannot get rank. They cannot get the imponderable pomp and honor and deference due to men of noble or high station paid to them by the lesser and inferior ranks. For it is not just wealth, or race, or intellect that makes a man into the shriveled and whining destroyers I have here so tellingly described. It is a sense of being cheated. You heard me. These pampered and privileged members of the elite feel that they are being robbed of their just due. Being elite is not enough. They want the lesser beings, the common men, the mob, the peasants, the underlings, to give them the honor and worship and adoration normally paid to a true and ruling aristocracy. These people hate America, and everything for which she stands, and hate Christ, and everything for which He stands, with the bitter hatred of someone who has earned a high position and been cheated of it. Democracy does not give them what they want. God does not give them what they want. Look at what Leftist political theory did in Russia and Red China once it was freed of all lingering doubts and checks and chains. Look at the piles of skulls. Then look at the Dachas and the larger-than-life monuments to the Beloved Leader. They want to be aristocrats, in spirit if not in fact. They want to be born into privilege, and to be admired, without the tedium of actually doing anything to earn admiration, neither in the marketplace of the market, nor in the marketplace of ideas. There is no paradox at all of rich man being committed to policies that will destroy the laws and customs needed to create wealth. The Middle Class creates most of the wealth, most of the jobs. Socialism requires cooperation between certain protected industries to be kept alive as neutered pets. Whether the rich bribe the powerful or the powerful extort wealth from the rich makes no matter: the end result is a partnership between the rich and powerful to trample the faces of the poor. That is the end result of the mindset described above, once it is free to act, and devoid of scruples. Imagine a boot stomping a human face forever. Any proud man who feels the society has not given him his due will gradually grow more critical and impatient with it. Remember the hatred poured out upon the Middle Class, and our religion, and our morals, and our work ethic. Remember how we are accused, and accused, and accused of the very things we and we alone, across the ages, have cured or corrected or minimized, everything from pollution to racism to population outnumbering resources. The reward of wealth is not enough for the rich socialist; the reward of freedom from racism not enough for the Jew who supports Palestinian bombers and hates the state of Israel; the reward of sinecure is not enough for the Ivory Tower professor. They see men who are self-reliant and happy and God-fearing who do not bow the knee to men who possess more, physical or intellectual possessions, than do they. They do not fear and love their superiors. That the ordinary working man, a father with a family, should be happy in his suburban home, and pay no honors and make no obeisance to the would-be elite in our elite-free society is intolerable. They do not want our money. If they wanted money, they would not spend countless billions on boondoggles or flush it down ratholes. They do not want to rule us. If they wanted to rule, they would not be so absurdly incompetent when in power. They want only to have the honors, like Princesses, not the duties of war and lawmaking, like Kings. In the final reckoning, when all is said and done, all these paradoxes can be explained by the simplest theory of all. Leftism is the sin of pride disguised as compassion. So, the elite establishment is driven by a sense that they are better than us, the common men. And is that not what we see with politicians and big businessmen who act as if they are above the law? When will you rise up? Ask any military man who’s held a security clearance (like myself) what would happen to him if he did even an iota of the things Hillary Clinton did with her private email server as Secretary of State. I personally know men whose careers were immediately ended by innocent mistakes at the lowest level of classified material handling, even though security nets in place prevented any actual loss or compromise of information. These were honest mistakes and not of any malice whatsoever. Ask any small businessman what would happen if he conducted himself in the manner of some of the larger firms on Wall Street or the international banks. Sure, the big companies and big banks got fined (pennies on the dollars they stole), but in most cases no one went to jail. See for example, the case of HSBC openly laundering drug money for the cartels (originally reported by WND). While I hate to point to a source like Huffington Post, even they can see the lack of justice and accountability for those high up, if only because they condemn big business and cheer Occupy Wall Street while also cheering lawless politicians on the left, not realizing the problem is an alliance of lawless businessmen and lawless politicians of all stripes. Consider also the case in which Congress knowingly and deliberately broke their own laws (by filing that the House and Senate each had a total of only 45 employees) in order to give themselves and their thousands of staff employees a break from ObamaCare which no citizen can receive. Tyrants! When ObamaCare threw members of Congress and their staffs out of their health plans and socked them with a pay cut in the neighborhood of $12,000 each, Republican and Democratic members of Congress collaborated with President Obama to devise an illegal scheme to keep that money flowing. Members and staff are now the only federal employees who receive a taxpayer-funded Federal Employees Health Benefits Program premium contribution toward non-FEHBP plans. The fact that members wanted to hold onto their $12,000 tax-free, taxpayer-financed premium contribution played only a small part in the bipartisan and near-unanimous support for this illegal scheme. The main reason member supported it was that if congressional staff took a $12,000 pay cut, there would have been an exodus from Capitol Hill. And ObamaCare was perhaps the least popular law ever forced upon the American People despite their objections. It likely lead to the electoral “House cleaning” at mid-term elections by an outraged populace. And the “brain drain” that Capitol Hill was so desperate to prevent that they flouted the law as it applied to themselves and their enormous staff? Michael Wear gives us one example of those who would rule over us. Michael Wear is a theologically conservative evangelical Christian who worked for Obama in the Democrat Party. He helped with faith-outreach strategies for Obama’s 2008 campaign and was director of Barack Obama’s 2012 faith-outreach efforts. In an interview with The Atlantic about his book, it is reported (emphasis mine): Several years later [after 2008], he watched battles over abortion funding and contraception requirements in the Affordable Care Act with chagrin: The administration was unnecessarily antagonistic toward religious conservatives in both of those fights, Wear argues, and it eventually lost, anyway. When Louie Giglio, an evangelical pastor, was pressured to withdraw from giving the 2012 inaugural benediction because of his teachings on homosexuality, Wear almost quit. Some of his colleagues also didn’t understand his work, he writes. He once drafted a faith-outreach fact sheet describing Obama’s views on poverty, titling it “Economic Fairness and the Least of These,” a reference to a famous teaching from Jesus in the Bible. Another staffer repeatedly deleted “the least of these,” commenting, “Is this a typo? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Who/what are ‘these’?” As John Wright explained, they hate Christianity, they hate Democracy, and they hate the Free Market because all three systems only recognize a man based on his merits, while the various levels of establishment elite feel they have been cheated out of being praised as inherently superior to the rest of us. And those who would rule over us don’t even understand some of the most basic references from core literature of Western Civilization (more on that later). Tearing Down Civilization Another political/philosophical article from John C Wright works through the ideological stones of civilization and how a nation convinces itself to dear down its own civilizational foundations. Definitely go read the whole thing. A civilization whose citizens have lost the ability to admire its virtues, beauties, benefits and strengths is one whose citizens are losing the ability to defend that civilization. Before we pull stone from stone to dismantle the wall that separates civilized life from the chaotic bloodshed, cruelty, and misery of barbarism outside, it behooves us to examine the wall, and ask three questions of it: What is Civilization? How is it maintained? What can undo it? USA’s future? Summarizing a bit, without the laws of civilization all labor is vain because anything you build or develop can be seized from you by force. But even barbarians tend to honor the ties of family so as not to live in total anarchy. Thus, the first stone of civilization is protection of the family unit. The capstone is when the intellectuals convince the King that due to a higher law, the King is not above the laws of the land. Safety from constant attack allows differentiation of labor into basic groups: The king and his fighting men The priests: “whoever or whatever it is to whom you entrusted your common intellectual and spiritual heritage, such as your academics, media, singers of songs and tellers of tales, the press and philosophers” The merchant class The peasant class Here is how the bulwark of civilization is torn down, as related by Wright. See how far America has pushed itself today: The clerks or intellectuals undermine the idea that the King is NOT above the law. This begins with the philosophers teach that truth is relative and words are meaningless. [Allan Bloom identified this as a lead trait of new (and far less intelligent) college students back in the 1980’s.] The press abandons objective reporting and makes the philosophers’ lies into actuality by practice and only reporting spun lies. [This one is becoming more plain by the day with all the fake news in the mainstream media.] The singers change from songs of beauty to songs about evil and ugly things. The storytellers always depict the civilization as worthless, wicked, hypocritical, and vile, so that the people know only disgust for their own civilization. [You may screen movies for your kids for profanity, violence, and indecency. But do you notice all the subversive messages? Dads portrayed as buffoons and idiots who need a tween girl to show him how its done. Kids encouraged to ignore elders in their community and go follow their heart. A theme that ‘the evil is not as bad as you thought, but the good is worse than you imagined.’] Lastly, the philosophers at this point need only suggest the wall of civilization be torn down to reach an Utopian paradise on the other side. The King “must be granted a plethora of unlawful powers in the name of breaking down the wall blocking the way to Utopia.” [Liberals now panicked that Trump has a phone and a pen and can undo every executive order that was not a law out of congress fail to realize if that power scares them, perhaps no man in America should have it.] The King (or whoever is chief of enforcing law in the land) destroys the sense of honor among his fighting men (those who defend the land and enforce the law, i.e. the police and military and all civil servants). The police become militarized and the opponents of the people, the military becomes neutered and perverse. The civil servants are corrupted and selectively follow law in each of their own areas they oversee. The merchants and middle class who are the economic powerhouse are quickly corrupted because there can no longer be faith in fair enforcement of contracts. Some make favoritism deals with the king, creating crony capitalism. Industries become property of the state. Last, the family is torn apart through perverse and unequal family laws. Men are set against women, husbands against wives, and parents against children. Civilization is gone and anarchy reigns. Might makes right is now the only law of the land, and the elite who pushed this destruction tend to have many resources to make themselves mighty. One last item to highlight is the attack on beauty, linked in the quote from Wright above. The ugliness of modern art and the upsetting of cultural norms coming from all our centers of art and media contribute thus to destroying civilization: …if beauty is not merely in the eye of the beholder, then beauty tells us what is a truth, a real truth, a truth from a world beyond the world of petty propaganda, a beauty beyond the world of pornography…if beauty is not merely in the eye of the beholder, then beauty is meant to be served, not used for your selfish pleasures. Beauty humbles the proud, for it shows them something beyond themselves and their appetites. …Go into a modern art museum: look at the urinal, the severed cow head, the can of shit, the soiled bed. These are not the expressions of one or two aberrant individuals with psychological problems: this is the condition of our culture for nearly a century, an industry involving endless amounts of money public and private. This is the leadership of the artistic vision controlling our civilization… Marcel Duchamp Fountain (1917) is a urinal; Martin Creed Work No. 227, The Lights Going On and Off (2000, Turner Prize Winner) is a light going off and on; Damien Hirst A Thousand Years (1990) is a maggoty cow head; Michael Craig-Martin An Oak Tree (1973) is a glass of water on a shelf; Andres Serrano Piss Christ (1987) is a crucifix dunked in urine; Piero Manzoni Artist’s Shit (1961) is a can of excrement; Tracey Emin My Bed (1998) is an unmade bed. To what end? (italics emphasis mine): Imagine two men: one stands in a bright house, tall with marble columns adorned with lavish art, splendid with shining glass images of saints and heroes, mementos of great sorrow and great victories both past and promised. A polyphonic choir raises their voices in golden song, singing an ode to joy. The other stands in a slum with peeling wallpaper, or a roofless ruin infested with rats, hemmed by feces-splashed gray concrete walls lurid with jagged graffiti, chalked with swearwords and flickering neon signs advertising strip joints. Rap music thuds nearby, ear-splitting, yowling obscenities. A bureaucrat approaches each man and orders him to do some routine and routinely humiliating task, such as pee in a cup to be drug tested, or be fingerprinted, or suffer an anal cavity search, or surrender his weapons, or his money, or his name. Which of the two men is more likely to take a stand on principle not to submit? Which one will automatically and unconsciously assume that human life is sacred, human rights are sacrosanct, and that Man is made in the image and likeness of God? The man surrounded by godlike images? Or the man surrounded by mocking filth? In other words, the attack on objective beauty serves to blind us to the thought that there are higher principles worth dying for, and instead to submit and just do whatever we are told. Part IV: The Internal Destruction of the United States? Communist Takeover = Progressive Alt left agenda…do these goals sound familiar? If so, it’s because the same root ideology underlies all tyrannical attempts to wield absolute power over other people’s daily lives. Have they won already? Sure looks that way! Here’s a picture from 1937, typical of that time despite the Great Depression (source): Original Caption: Tip Estes, Indiana hired hand, with four of his nine children. Near Fowler It’s part of a series of about a dozen photos on this family, part of a larger government project from that time. Notice a few things: He’s a hired hand, yet he owns his own farm and has time to work it and maintain it. He has nine children. Those in the photos all appear healthy, happy, and well cared for. While the décor is not lavish, it is not nearly as bad as recession-stricken areas today like Camden, New Jersey. This man can afford to be a sole bread-winner providing for a wife and nine children, and he’s not some elite banker or business executive. In this era, this man was the respected head of his household. In America today, few families own their own home, let alone a productive piece of land which can give them a supplemental income or feed their families. Dual income is a must for most families, and mothers rarely have the luxury anymore of raising their own children at home. Parents rarely marry, and out-of-wedlock births are normalized. Families are treated as irresponsible or careless if they have more than 2.1 children. And for Valentines Day in America in 2017, the NYT actually ran a serious op-ed titled “Husbands are Deadlier than Terrorists” stating the following: Above all, fear spouses: Husbands are incomparably more deadly in America than jihadist terrorists. And husbands are so deadly in part because in America they have ready access to firearms, even when they have a history of violence. In other countries, brutish husbands put wives in hospitals; in America, they put them in graves. As for the décor of Tip Estes’s home being not too shabby, consider the disintegration of Camden, NJ. Here’s a few samples, but go look at the whole set. Camden, 1951, longtime manufacturing hub with strong economy. Heavyweight champ Joe Wolcott strolling the boardwalk. Camden today: And on the subject of the success of blacks, how have their lives changed as the Elite agenda has unfolded using them as pawns? How Black Lives Mattered in Columbia, SC, 1955. How Black Lives Mattered in 1939. Original Caption: Student with recreational director during basketball game. Prairie Farms, Montgomery, Alabama Blacks burn their own neighborhoods down to protest the actions of police in 2016. They should be attacking the Alt-Left Elite for turning them into pawns, not the police who enforce the rule of law. Is this the behavior that Martin Luther King would have wished from young black men in his time? Would he be embarrassed and ashamed of this disrespect for the country and terrorism committed by America’s black youth? Blacks showing respect for the rule of law in 2016. I actually know a liberal who had the job of overseeing childcare for the big Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle that was interrupted by BLM. She later reported to acquaintances the fear and horror as she and other workers barred and held the door while BLM activists pounded on the door and demanded that “all those white children be turned over so that they can get what’s coming to them.” Yet she still says she does not oppose BLM. In hindsight, she cannot connect the dots, and really thinks that if only they better understood how “not-racist” the Bernie supporters are, maybe BLM wouldn’t have acted that way. If Black Lives actually mattered to blacks, then why is there so much black on black crime and are they being used by the Alt-Left? When will the black community begin the narrative and seek the truth about how the Elite (CIA) introduced drugs and abortion into their communities to keep them oppressed? Wait, why doesn’t the Alt-Left media report about this? The answer! Because they are the Elite Racists! They use and exploit ALL people of color to meet their sick agenda and then dump them in the gutter when they are done with them, leaving these good people in worse conditions than when they started. Don’t believe blacks are target by the Elite for mass murder and political gain? Then take these next two pictures into consideration, do your own investigation and call me in the morning! Soros is the King of the Alt-Left Elite that hates the black community! Hitler Was Pro-Choice In 1933, when the Nazi’s came to power, the law was changed to legalize abortion and make this a matter of decision for a medical review board. The development of Germany’s abortion policy was left to the county’s most vociferous abortion advocacy group, the Berlin Chamber of Physicians. This group, which advocated abortion on demand, determined that “The health of the mother – considered from all angles – is the decisive factor.” Then, just as now, health of the mother criterion was loosely understood to mean any economic or psychological affect on the woman’s total well being. There were approximately 500,000 abortions annually in Germany under the Third Reich, a country of 60 to 70 million people. And, in Nazi Germany, racial stock was considered an aspect of the health of the mother. If she was from an “unhealthy” race, such as Polish, Czech or Jewish, then she was often forced to have an abortion against her will. However, race wasn’t the only consideration. Hitler actively promoted the destruction of the crippled, poor and unemployed classes, as did Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. Abortion led to forced sterilization, which led to “euthanasia,” which led to Auschwitz. Want the facts? Click on the graphic to visit the website. Not for children’s eyes! What did Obama do for the diverse population of America? NOTHING. Period. He is part of the Elite, he doesn’t give a damn about black people. Why can’t blacks be affluent like the picture of Camden in 1951? They can be if they stop watching the Fake News being controlled by Soros and break away from the paradigm of enslavement that the Elite have woven into their society. The Elite hate them. That’s the TRUTH! Part V: How’s American civilization looking now? Establishment trait: Depopulation There are a few more common traits observed again and again, now and across the ages, in those who would rule over those they consider inferior. First is a goal of depopulation. This may be to protect ‘Mother Earth’ whom they worship as a goddess in all but title, or perhaps a simple pragmatic calculation to lessen the amount of “them” in an “us vs. them” situation. The 1% can be toppled by the 99% by sheer force of numbers, so reducing the number of the masses makes them more compliant and manageable. Consider the Georgia Guidestones. Six slabs of granite standing 20 feet tall, erected in Georgia in 1980, commissioned by unknown anonymous persons. They have occasionally been defaced by those objecting to a New World Order, and the site is still maintained today, now with security cameras to prosecute vandals. Ten rules for a coming “Age of Reason” are engraved in eight languages. Guidestones rules in English. Item number 1 – reduce the world population below 500 million and keep it there. That means execution of almost 95% of all human beings on the planet. Note also the emphases on controlling reproduction and fertility, holding man’s [fallible] reasoning as supreme, uniting under one world language and one world court, and praise for the earth and nature. But it’s just some weird and lonely monument, right? On the approaching occasion of 31OCT2011, which the UN designated as the day when global population would hit 7 billion people, one writer gathered quotes from many influential leaders around the world because the population news was seen as cause for alarm rather than celebration. Take a minute and read the whole thing, since it is almost entirely one quote after another. Ted Turner thinks eliminating 95% of the global population would be ideal. Mikhall Gorbachev is more merciful and thinks only 90% of humanity needs to be eliminated. Al Gore is all in favor of taking control of everyone else’s fertility to prevent reproduction and reduce population. The UN is actively brainstorming ideas to reduce fertility in developing countries. Thomas Friedman jumps on the depopulation bandwagon too. Obama’s science advisor John Holdren went into some detail on how to forcibly sterilize most of the population, and how it would be totally constitutional. Bill Gates wants to slash global population by 10-15%. US Supreme Court Justice Ginsberg thinks population ought to be reduced, but only in the undesirable population groups. Her comment, reflecting on Roe v Wade, is right on board with Margret Sanger’s goals of eugenics and founding Planned Parenthood to specifically reduce black reproduction, a goal which has wildly succeeded. David Rockefeller also supports depopulation, as does Prince Phillip. And then there are a plethora of academics and intelligentsia all discussing the need for reducing population and reducing fertility and how those in control might go about accomplishing it. It is fitting to reflect on the quote by psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl, who after surviving four Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz later wrote (in his book The Doctor and The Soul): I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers. Note again that in the elite depopulation quotes and in Frankl’s opinion, these ideas flow from intellectuals to those who hold power, just as John C Wright suggested above. In another example, here is an interview from the early 1980’s with Larry Grathwohl who infiltrated the domestic terrorist group the Weather Underground, which had Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn as leading figures – the same two men who have been heavily involved in Obama’s rise to the Presidency. Grathwohl explains how at a top leadership meeting of the group, they discussed the plan to overthrow the USA and how it would most likely entail re-education camps and the necessity of executing at least 10% of the US population who likely would refuse re-education. Again we see those who would rule us coldly discussing the necessity of executing millions upon millions of their own countrymen. Another example of depopulation for political or power-amassing ends is tabulated in The Irrational Atheist (pp. 240-241), which counts up that there have been 28 godless nations in history with avowed atheists at the helm from the First French Republic to 2008. In all, these 28 regimes nations have been led by 89 atheists. Counting only those who killed at least 5000 of their own people, the odds work out that there is a 58% chance that a godless man in power will murder mass numbers of his own people. Reaching back to the civilization quotes from John C Wright, the point is that if a nation’s leader is not restrained by recognition of some higher power, then odds are more likely than not that mass depopulation will be implemented. While Western Civilization of the 21st century has not yet entered an active phase of depopulation, there are many ways it is being indirectly accomplished. Here is an interesting list from a hedonist turned political philosopher: Here is a short list of progressive causes that have percolated from intellectuals and later sponsored or hijacked by billionaire activists and major government institutions of the West. 1. Abortion is a bodily “choice,” not human murder. Result: it decreases population. 2. Birth control is a “choice” that allows women to better practice consumer lifestyles. Result: it decreases population. 3. Female empowerment in the form of feminism and egalitarianism pushes women into corporate work with the goal of delaying motherhood (or eliminating it outright). Result: it decreases reproduction and family formation. 4. Promotion of sterile human relationships in the form of homosexuality and transsexuality can’t possibly result in the creation of life. Result: it decreases population, reproduction, and traditional family formation. 5. Promotion of atheism, nihilism, individualism, and consumerism as suitable alternatives to traditional living via nuclear family units. Result: it decreases reproduction and traditional family formation. 6. The needs of the “environment” must be served before that of living humans. Result: it makes human guilty of family formation. 7. Massive waves of foreign immigrants are encouraged entry into Western nations to break bonds between tribe and neighbor that decrease notions of nationalism and patriotism while transferring fertility and economic resources from native people to foreigners. Result: it decreases relative population of native citizens. All of the above decreases the reproductive rate, either directly through the killing of life, or indirectly by promoting guilt and alternative lifestyles that are incompatible with the creation of life. At the same time, immigrant populations are allowed to grow at a faster rate that the natives’ ability to reproduce. Those who rule over us don’t need more Americans or European-derived people to cement their power and wealth within nations they control through government institutions and transnational organizations and corporations. How would it benefit them if a baby boom takes place among those from American conservative states that believe in the first and second amendments? If that note about foreign immigrants seems offensive, you might take it up with John Podesta, who’s leaked emails on wikileaks include a discussion of hiding some of the connections in a correction on a 2008 power point with the following slide: Building a Permanent Progressive Majority 1.Create the conditions for a tidal wave against the right wing. 2.Keep the President’s numbers down and brand all conservative candidates as “Bush Republicans.” 3.Ensure that demographics is destiny. 4.Control the political discourse. 5.Set the stage for future progressive actions. 6.Leave something behind. The Democrats push big government and know that third world immigrants reliably vote for more government control. We see it in the USA easily enough in the “Californication” effect when California residents flee the problems of their state, only to thoughtlessly vote in a new state for the same policies that ruined their home state. Here also is an article analyzing this effect in California. And here is a news article about Democrats looking at California as a success and applying the same methods to Virginia to make it permanently a Democrat stronghold. Establishment Traits: Occultism and Perversion The Elite worship Satan Another shocking find in the Podesta email dump is an invite from Marina Abramovic to Podesta’s brother for a “Spirit Cooking” and asking if John Podesta would be joining them. For those who hadn’t heard, “Spirit Cooking” is one of Abromovic’s unique bits of performance art using a mix of blood, semen, urine, and breast milk for various things, whether eating or splashing on a child-sized statue. This link explains quite a bit (with photos and documentation) about the connections between Clinton, Podesta, Abramovic, and the strange things they do in their free time. I highly recommend giving it a look. It is not NSFW, but you’ll need a strong stomach. A mainstream news article covers one of the same bizarre banquet pieces I would have considered NSFW, but I guess there’s no ‘must be 18’ warnings because, hey, it’s art and it’s for charity. So this is what celebs and politicians consider normal? Gaga arrived with performance artist Marina Abramovic and the center’s director Robert Wilson then mingled with stars like Hugh Jackman and Winona Ryder. ‘There was a casket with a totally naked woman laying in what looked like a pool of blood.’ ‘On a table nearby there was a row of little spoons — no one had touched them, because no one knew what they were for. [Wilson] gave two spoons to Gaga and Marina . . . and Gaga dipped the spoon right between the artist’s legs, and took a sip.’ She then, ‘proceeded to lick the spoon.’ But it’s just art right? Another dinner party for the rich and famous elites… First, there’s something seriously wrong with anyone who walks up to tables like these and digs in like it’s cute or normal. Second, on an “Ask Me Anything” Reddit, Abramovic answered a user question about the occult in art: So this means the private dinner for Podesta was not for the purpose of art… Speaking of art, Tony Podesta, lobbyist and brother of John Podesta who had the Spirit Cooking invite, fancies this to decorate his living room: Dahmer? Anyone detecting a theme yet in the artistic ‘tastes’ of the elite? These examples of “art” (using the term extremely loosely) point back again to John C Wright’s point about beauty versus ugliness. Is this the type of art which reminds a man that human life is sacred, human rights are sacrosanct, and that Man is made in the image and likeness of God? Or is this the type of “art” that reminds man The Swamp Gets Deeper The Podesta email leak contained some truly bizarre messages about pizza and other fun foods. “I consider ice cream, its purchase, and its consumption a rather serious business. We can’t just willy-nilly toss it out and about in casual references, especially linked with the word ‘free’.” “Lo and behold, instead of pasta and wonderful sauces, it was a lovely, tempting assortment of cheeses, Yummy. I am awaiting the return of my children and grandchildren from their holiday travels so that we can demolish them.” “Do you think I’ll do better playing dominos on cheese than on pasta?” “Hi John, The realtor found a handkerchief (I think it has a map that seems pizza-related.) Is it yours? They can send it if you want. I know you’re busy, so feel free not to respond if it’s not yours or you don’t want it.” That’s not the lot of them, just some of the stranger ones. The seriousness of ice cream and that it must not be free? Playing dominos on cheese or on pasta? A pizza-related map on a handkerchief? This stuff is weird language which doesn’t even make sense…until you go to common pedophile code words (take another look at the emails with these in mind): “hotdog” = boy “pizza” = girl “cheese” = little girl “pasta” = little boy “ice cream” = male prostitute “walnut” = person of color “map” = semen “sauce” = orgy Isn’t this just a big coincidence? I mean, any of us ordinary folk might talk about pizza and ice cream in our email, but that doesn’t mean we are child predators. At the center of the Podesta emails about pizza is a DC pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong. It hails itself as a “family friendly” place and hosts sleepovers for kids. But then they also bring in a band called Heavy Breathing whose performance is loaded with open joking about pedophilia, and suggestive and erotic material is circulated in reference to the business, even by its owner. For example, here is a montage of some of the images dug up: All of this gut-churning weirdness from the Podesta emails has been labeled as Pizzagate, and the mainstream media ever since has been repeating that it is truly fake news. Google pushes sites to the top which “debunk” Pizzagate. I read several (such as Snopes) to consider arguments against, and they might as well have been reading from the CIA conspiracy theory playbook. “The guy implicated says it’s all false, therefore it is all false.” How often does someone own up to wrongdoing, especially these days? Sure, someone accused of something would deny it. That doesn’t make him guilty. But telling it as if the implicated person’s denial is the final word on the matter is an attempt to prevent further questioning. “There have been no arrests or charges brought, therefore the evidence is wholly lacking.” I’ve read court cases of child abuse rings where all charges were dropped due to statute of limitations, and those implicated celebrate by making statements that they were exonerated. On the contrary, the evidence was never considered and was instead thrown out on a technicality without consideration. Another exception would be all the times where investigations of powerful people were obstructed by the government or police forces. A lack of charges or arrests is reason to look closer at the evidence and see if it is indeed lacking. It is definitely not the end of the story. Any attempt to make it so is an attempt to stop further questioning. Taking a look at some sites which try to highlight or correlate the problems which the common people see in this, I’ve selected a few which are more solidly informative and stay away from baseless speculation. This article from Daily Sheeple shows many images with sources, with brief explanatory interjection, taking the reader from the mundane to the truly disturbing with the Podesta connections. It’s a decent place to start opening the can of worms on what’s been found. This wiki does a good job of organizing all the larger connections to pedophile rings implicated at high levels of US government, and provides a helpful chronology to organize over a decade of extremely concerning events, all with good sourcing so you can check for yourself. Here’s a well sourced article which highlights how the crimes Pizzagate hints at are quite common and documented, and how as soon as citizens began asking about Pizzagate the Press and the Deep State began pushing the theme of Russian interference in American politics. Another article from the same site above captures quite a bit of the questionable images around Comet Ping Pong Pizza, and documents how any investigation of it has been buried by the mainstream. But its not just the USA. This article discusses the recent Norway Pedophile Ring bust, which included several of their politicians. Strangely, coverage of this major bust has been scrubbed from most Mainstream Media sites which initially reported on it. An article discussing the coverup of a political pedophile ring under Margret Thatcher. Another ring in Britain, implicating: “out of 1,433 alleged offenders 76 were politicians, 43 were from music industry and 135 were from TV, film or radio” Elijah Wood and Corey Feldmen blowing the whistle on such rings in Hollywood. Here’s another which pulls together almost a dozen such rings, half in the USA. Dennis Hastert, longest serving Speaker of the House in the USA, served only 15 months for his conviction of serial child predation due to expiry of the statue of limitations. A British Prime Minister from 1970-1974 convicted after the cover-up fell apart. A government cover-up in Cleveland of 70 pedophile cases, sweeping confessions under the rug. Podesta / Soros / Clinton / VATICAN Connection More surprises in the Podesta emails which are not talked about by any of the groups I’ve mentioned above, but were highlighted by Roman Catholics upset with the latest Pope. Part of the Podesta emails show a $650k Soros grant to an activist group connected with Black Lives Matter. The particular email is a progress report to Podesta stating that 3 days of intensive meetings went well and the Vatican would be taking the talking point recommendations for the Pope’s upcoming visit to the US during the buildup to the Presidential Election. Here’s an article with a pretty good summary and citations. Key quotes as follows: The PICO Vatican meeting was not simply a brisk cursory papal meet and greet. Rather, documents reveal that Alinsky activists were invited, welcomed, and dined in intense strategy sessions with high level Vatican cardinals. The leaked emails expose the leftist political machinations behind the Francis papacy, where the Soros-funded community organizers coordinated radical messaging with high level papal cardinal confidantes. Pope Francis shares Soros’ world view: climate change, mass migration, income inequality, globalism, and capitalism bashing. The WikiLeaks Podesta emails reveal that the Vatican solicited advice from, and collaborated with leftist community organizers to advance the political platform of the Democratic party. Soros strategically funded PICO progressive activists who appear to serve as de facto advance men for the upcoming Pope’s U.S. trip, by discussing papal site visits and political messaging with key Vatican hierarchy. The Soros marching orders for the PICO delegation was to hatch, implement, and coordinate Pope Francis’ strategic themes and events during his U.S. visit in September 2015. The Vatican agreed to position the Pope’s message in alignment with the Soros funded Alinskyites’ radical agenda. Definitely go and read the whole thing. What else is going on at the Vatican? It is apparently adopting the thinking of Paul Ehrlich whole-hog about the importance of DEPOPULATING the earth. (There’s that establishment theme on Depopulation again.) Also, though the Roman Catholic Church is historically known for one of the most rigid stances on sexual relations (no homosexuality, no adultery, no abortion, no birth control) the new Pope appears to be shaking that up as well with his appointments and approvals. Take a look at this: “The archbishop now at the helm of the Pontifical Academy for Life paid a homosexual artist to paint a blasphemous homoerotic mural in his cathedral church in 2007. The mural includes an image of the archbishop himself. …Bishop Paglia, along with one Fr. Fabio Leonardis, oversaw every detail of Cinalli’s work, according to Cinalli, who approvingly notes that Paglia never asked him if he believed in the Christian doctrine of salvation. If you were overseeing every detail of a mural inside your church, would you approve a cameo of yourself engaged in a homoerotic embrace in violation of your teaching? Go read the article to see all the screen captures of what now passes for church art today. Michelangelo may have painted nudes, but you’ll notice a distinct difference in tastefulness and the message portrayed. Comparing the two is a finer illustration of John C Wright’s point about beauty that leads one to think of loftier matters, versus images which portray ugliness. The article goes on to explain that once installed as the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life he approved a new sex-ed program so disturbing that one psychiatrist paid by the Vatican to counsel their predator priests and the victims of those priests over the last 40 years responded saying that whoever approved the curriculum needs to be put through the predatory priest counseling program. The Bishop who loves his homoerotic mural then went on to revise the membership requirements for the Academy for Life so that members need no longer be committed to the Church’s teachings on upholding life, nor do they even need be Catholics anymore. None of the current members saw the change, because they had been appointed for life, until the Bishop terminated all memberships and purged the entire organization except for himself and his staff. All of this had to be approved by the Pope, who meanwhile was turning a deaf ear to child victims of priestly abuse, despite having said he’d be cracking down on it. Establishment Wrap-Up Pulling everything together so far, here’s the key takeaways: Think of the establishment as “those who would rule over us” whether it’s a billionaire globalist with his fingers in every pie or a low-rung bureaucrat who wants to dictate how we live our lives. They work to preserve and expand the existing bureaucracy. Establishment types tend to operate from a position of jilted pride in which they want to be recognized as inherently better than everyone else, something they cannot ever obtain in a Democratic, Christian, Capitalist setting like America or Western World. Thus, they seek to tear down our civilization. They often push for a globalist agenda (to destroy local values) and a progressive agenda (to destroy traditional values). They tend to congregate around themes of the importance of Depopulating the Earth, Occultism (either a true belief seeking to gain unnatural power, or a desensitized morality seeing such things as cute entertainment), and Perversion (especially preying on children) The reach of this establishment and their behaviors can be seen in hidden connections (conspiracy by definition, revealed by email leaks) and often involves political and power figures all the way to the top of multiple governments and religious organizations. Part VI: How Trump Stops Establishment Goals Good advice President Trump Trump is a problem for the establishment in two primary ways. Connected to the swamp of perversion and occultism described above, his threats to drain the swamp might tear down both the careers of many powerful people and leverage others have over those compromised people. Second, Trump has advanced on a platform of nationalism, which diametrically opposes moves toward globalism. Advances in the nationalist direction, whether America for Americans First or France for Frenchmen First or Germany for Germans first, all are steps backwards for a globalist agenda. Draining the Swamp The recent key interview that highlights the threat Trump can actually pose to the DC swamp comes from this leak from a DHS insider. Check out the whole interview, but here are some illuminating quotes: Q. So it seems like the intel community has it in for Trump. How can he protect himself? A. Trump has a tremendous opportunity here, but needs to circle wagons. The travel ban included 7 countries chosen by both Jared Kushner and Rudy. Why did it not include Saudi Arabia, or Pakistan, or Turkey or other countries that hate us? The seven nations mentioned were chosen by Israel, that’s why. And the unspoken alliance of Israel and Saudi Arabia should be exposed. They are brother and sister. Jared Kushner needs to be careful with what he says and to whom. But, the biggest thing Trump can do is expose PedoGate via Sessions. Big names will go down hard, and it gets the blood suckers drained from the swamp. There are as many pedophiles on the Republican side as there is with democrats, but Trump is in a unique position to truly “clean up Dodge”, so to speak. I can tell you that what is in Anthony Weiner’s hard drive, and what videos exist via Jeffery Epstein, WILL BRING massive arrests – in time. Trump’s legacy could be truly great if he was to purge the CIA, stop the extortion, prosecute the pedophiles and reinstate the death penalty for pedo’s convicted a second time. Pedogate is his path to greatness. Q. You mention the word extort. Does that relate to Pizzagate? A. PedoGate is only a modern term associated with a long history of Pedo-blackmail connected to both Israel and the Intel community. There is a full court press to stop PedoGate from being looked at because if people knew the true motives behind the pedophilia epidemic, they would do more than march on Washington. They could actually seed a revolution, with the spark coming from decent American parents who want to protect their kids. Our politicians are compromised. The senior analyst nicknamed “FBI Anon” alluded to this in his exchange with folks on 4chan and with you. Q. What do you mean compromised? A. Do you notice 2 central themes running through the MSM lately? Those themes are “Fear the Russians” and “#PizzaGate is fake news“. Both tropes come from the same place. Q. So PedoGate is real and “they” have to get Americans to disbelieve it? A. Let me explain how threatening PedoGate is… Who wins? Trump. Putin. Americans. Russians. The world…. Who loses? Israel, since they no longer can blackmail our politicians, the same goes for the CIA. The Shadow Government loses. But, the people win. Q. Can you give me specific instances of politicians being compromised by Israel? A. Sure. Lolita Island. Jeffery Epstein, a billionaire convicted of pedophilia received a soft sentence. His island was rigged with video recorders. Many politicians have been compromised. It was a Mossad/CIA operation. Contact ex-senior CIA CCS, Robert David Steele. Bob knows and has even spoken about this with numerous reporters. Q. So an ex-CIA senior agent named Robert Steele is on record saying Epstein’s island was a honey trap to lure our most powerful politicians into a extortion scheme? A. Yes. There are videos of some of the most powerful players in the most humiliating positions. If this gets out, not only are the politicians ruined, but the extortion game is over and suddenly, the influence CIA and Mossad wield over Washington, is gone. When FBI anon leaked in early July, the whole idea was to expose the Clinton Foundation, and to hint at the sale of “people” i.e. Pedogate. Look back at his exchange on 4chan. He is a gifted analyst, and knows just what stone to throw at Goliath’s noggin. By triggering the shadow Government, he helps citizen journalists ask the right questions and follow the right breadcrumbs, not the rabbit holes the Elite scum want you to follow. Now, PedoGate victims are speaking out on their experiences! You just had a story on some lady who went through having her family abused by California-Deep-State-sponsored terrorism. If folks knew that CPS in California is tied into a huge racket that kidnaps children from parents, they would realize just how sick this is. Foster homes, CPS, etc… all get paid well to jail parents and then snatch their kids away. These kids suffer abuse, and perpetuate the growing cancer called pedogate. Politicians who have pedophile tendencies are groomed for power, because they can be later extorted and controlled. Meanwhile, victims have no voice- until now. Suddenly, we have citizen journalism, and it will end up saving the people, in the end. To summarize some key points from this interview: Actions from Trump and Putin both frustrate CIA/Mossad actions in the Middle East. CIA/Mossad used things like Epstein’s island to gather footage of politicians doing horrific things like sexually abusing children, and thus exert leverage over the politicians to follow the plan. Roughly 1/3 of US politicians are implicated on both sides of the political aisle. Leaks to lead citizen journalists to look in the right places are coming from Trump supporters in the FBI and ex-CIA agents who oppose the shadow government. If citizens could learn the whole truth, the establishment fears an outright revolution in America. “Pizzagate is fake news” and “Russian interference in America” are two themes being pushed by the establishment to try and cover it all up. This is why I dragged you through all the bizarre Podesta connections. Widespread pedophile activity among those in power in addition with other weirdness which most common men would harshly reject has grown to a point across the USA and other Western nations that the secrets are leaking badly and cover-ups don’t cut it anymore. Records of the perversion provided leverage and power over degenerates in positions of power. If it gets blown open then ordinary citizens will find out that a substantial portion of those who would rule them are moral degenerates to whom most men would never submit. The proportion of degeneracy to decency in the circles of power is such that it may well result in open revolt of the populace. Will President Trump live long enough to drain the swamp, or will he be found floating in it? What is the Elite planning? The same interview above also highlights problems in the “Russian interference” angle, revealed by the attack on General Flynn as a member of Trump’s cabinet. The DHS insider explains: Q. Ok, FBI anon gave Schumers initials, and Barnet Frank and others, but so far we have only seen low level arrests. A . FBI anon did a “bank shot”. That’s a pool hall term we use. Ask Bob about it. FBI Anon rattled their cages as other DHS and local authorities rounded up all sorts of street-level human traffickers. The big arrests will come in time, but first the small fish are interrogated, and provide information that leads to larger fish. FBI Anon was firing a shot across the bow, much like you shake a beehive to infuriate the bees. Notice how blatantly hostile McCain, Schumer, Graham, and others are? It was what we call a “targeted trigger“. It worked. By long-kniving Flynn, they exposed their hand. Now, Trump has full executive powers to investigate the CIA and Mossad. Notice how there is sound and fury about “Russian influence” and utter silence on “Mossad” influence in our power structure? Connected with this, a former US Attorney General who dealt in prosecutions of US citizens working for terrorists explains: Why would Flynn be the subject of an investigation by the FBI and the Justice Department? We are told that the FBI was monitoring the phone calls of Russian ambassador Kislyak under FISA. Makes sense — he’s an overt foreign agent from a hostile government. Flynn called Kislyak on December 29, 2016. It was not a nefarious communication: Flynn was a top adviser of then-president-elect Trump, a part of the Trump transition team, and just three weeks from formally becoming the new president’s national-security adviser. His communications with Kislyak were just some of the many conversations Flynn was having with foreign officials. The call to Kislyak, of course, was intercepted. No doubt the calls of other American officials who have perfectly valid reasons to call Russian diplomats have been intercepted. It is the FBI’s scrupulous practice to keep the identities of such interceptees confidential. So why single Flynn out for identification, and for investigation? FBI agents did not need to “grill” Flynn in order to learn about the call — they had a recording of the call. They also knew there was nothing untoward about the call. We know that from the Times report — a report that suggests an unseemly conjoining of investigative power to partisan politics. The report informs us that as the FBI set its sights on Flynn, its agents were consulting with “Obama advisers.” Interesting, no? Ever since Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump on November 8, Obama’s Democratic party had been pushing a narrative that “Putin hacked the election.” So how come the FBI got involved here? Is the FBI saying that Mike Flynn is an agent of a foreign power? A covert Russian operative? That would be absurd. As I’ve detailed, Flynn is on record — unambiguously, in the core theme in his bestselling book — urging Americans to view Russia as an implacable enemy of the United States that must be checked. …Flynn is not a foreign agent. And there was no need to “grill” him over the contents of a conversation of which the FBI and Justice Department already had a recording. And the FBI has no business probing the veracity of public statements made by presidential administrations for political purposes — something it certainly resisted doing during the Obama administration. There appears to have been no foreign-intelligence or criminal-investigative purpose served by the FBI’s interrogation of General Flynn. Interestingly, InfoWars interviewed the above-mentioned ex-CIA agent Robert Steele, who confirms that part of Flynn’s ousting was over the list of powerful and political pedophiles in DC, one of whom is the best friend of VP Pence. Steele highlights three different groups working to stop or eliminate Trump: The globalists such as Soros, combined with the Democrat Party The Republican establishment The Deep State, including 500 high level individuals who for various reasons have chosen to betray America and work to destroy it. How many times must the same lines of evidence converge before we hear it? Part VII: Nationalism vs. Mass Immigration I began to touch briefly on the immigration issue above in relation to the Podesta emails. The key phrase in “Building a Permanent Progressive Majority” was the strategic goal: # 3 Ensure that demographics is destiny (from “Building a Permanent Progressive Majority Strategic Goals”) Part V: How’s American civilization looking now? Here was a breakdown from the recent 2016 election, showing how this strategic goal is coming along: 2016 Election Breakdown Englishmen may be concerned about ‘the rights of Englishmen’ on which the USA was originally founded, which would make them ideal immigrants. But folks from the 3rd world typically want more totalitarian government control, just like back home. There are certainly patriotic exceptions, but averages will rule the day. We can also see a prime illustration of demographics as destiny when looking at Britain. While they haven’t had as much immigration as the USA, their total population is smaller and so the proportional effects manifest sooner then they will in the US. National Review in 2013 offers a brief article highlighting how those opposed to Thatcher deliberately engaged in a mass immigration program to alter the voter base and put themselves in permanent political power. Throughout the developed world, the Left uses mass immigration and lies about racism to bend the sovereign, patriotic nation-state to its will. And it does so with plenty of help from its accomplices on the corporate and libertarian right. So, again we have supposed opponents working together in secret to overthrow the will of the people. In this case, it is to use mass immigration to alter the culture of nations. The National Review piece links to an article by Peter Hitchens (bother of Christopher Hitchens) who used to be an ally of those elements. Definitely go read the whole thing, it is worth your time. He reflects on the mindset while he was part of that movement, saying (emphasis added): When I was a Revolutionary Marxist, we were all in favour of as much immigration as possible. It wasn’t because we liked immigrants, but because we didn’t like Britain. We saw immigrants – from anywhere – as allies against the staid, settled, conservative society that our country still was at the end of the Sixties. Also, we liked to feel oh, so superior to the bewildered people – usually in the poorest parts of Britain – who found their neighbourhoods suddenly transformed into supposedly ‘vibrant communities’. If they dared to express the mildest objections, we called them bigots. Immigrants have been used by those who wanted to transform the country. NOT IN MY COUNTRY! Absurdly, even when Britain’s frontiers were demolished by the Blair Government and hundreds of thousands of white-skinned Europeans came here to work, it was still possible to smear any doubters as ‘racists’. It couldn’t have been more obvious that ‘race’ wasn’t the problem. The thing that made these new residents different was culture – language, customs, attitudes, sense of humour. Rather than them adapting to our way of life, we were adapting to theirs. This wasn’t integration. It was a revolution. The screaming, spitting intolerance comes from a pampered elite who are ashamed of their own country, despise patriotism in others and feel none themselves. They long for a horrible borderless Utopia in which love of country has vanished, nannies are cheap and other people’s wages are low. In 2009, a speech writer for British politicians first leaked the secret: The huge increases in migrants over the last decade were partly due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country and “rub the Right’s nose in diversity”, according to Andrew Neather, a former adviser to Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett. He said Labour’s relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to “open up the UK to mass migration” but that ministers were nervous and reluctant to discuss such a move publicly for fear it would alienate its “core working class vote”. As a result, the public argument for immigration concentrated instead on the economic benefits and need for more migrants. Rub the right’s nose in diversity? A deliberate but secret plan? Not stating their real reasons for fear it would alienate their main voters? The only discussion of immigration is on economic benefit and a need for more immigrants? Does this sound a lot like America over the past 8 years? Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the Migrationwatch think tank, said: “Now at least the truth is out, and it’s dynamite. “Many have long suspected that mass immigration under Labour was not just a cock up but also a conspiracy. They were right. Again, what was originally tarred as ‘conspiracy theory’ for deviating from the official story turned out to be the truth, while the official story was a pack of lies. But that was back in 2009. The leaks have only gotten more embarrassing since then. In 2013, one of the top politicians decided to come clean: Labour sent out ‘search parties’ for immigrants to get them to come to the UK, Lord Mandelson has admitted. In a stunning confirmation that the Blair and Brown governments deliberately engineered mass immigration, the former Cabinet Minister and spin doctor said New Labour sought out foreign workers. He also conceded that the influx of arrivals meant the party’s traditional supporters are now unable to find work. The American equivalent would be like Senator Marco Rubio retiring, and then a few years later admitting that critics were right and his work on the Senate and that whole “Gang of 8” thing was truly a deliberate push to massively change the makeup of America even if it meant Americans could no longer get jobs. But here’s the news from Britain by 2016: Tony Blair presided over a silent conspiracy to change the face of Britain for ever with mass immigration, an explosive book reveals. He ordered his Labour government never to discuss in public the supposed ‘advantages’ of the unprecedented influx. But behind the scenes ministers were instructed to wave tens of thousands of asylum seekers into the UK under cover of their being ‘economic migrants’. Astonishingly, the minister Mr Blair put in charge of borders ruled against deporting failed claimants because it would be too ‘emotional’. The main aim of allowing in millions of people was to make the country ‘see the benefit of a multicultural society’. The Blair government did not see its job as being to ‘control immigration’. …Mr Blair did not want the public to know his true plans on immigration. He is said to have told ministers and officials: ‘Don’t mention the advantages of immigration in public because they won’t even want that.’ The rules on allowing in foreign spouses and students were dramatically relaxed. By the time he stepped down, over two million more migrants than the government expected had settled in Britain — but he dismissed any concerns by claiming they were good for the economy. Anyone against free-flowing immigration was assumed to be a racist Tory, a view underpinned by the BBC’s reluctance to debate the issue and endorsed by Labour’s promotion of multiculturalism. It is a lengthy article, but I highly recommend reading the whole thing because it details how the government ignored repeated warnings from critics (which ultimately came true), ignored repeated warning signs from its own bureaucrats that the rapidly rising flood of immigrants consisted of unskilled people lying about their origins simply to sign up for welfare benefits, and politicians continued to work against the very people who elected them in order to teach those dumb voters a lesson about questioning their superiors. It is essentially a map of what is going on here in the USA right now. InfoWars has highlighted this, when political talking head and supposed “conservative” Bill Kristol says: “Look, to be totally honest, if things are so bad as you say with the white working class, don’t you want to get new Americans in?” asked Kristol. “You can make a case that America has been great because every — I think John Adams said this — basically if you are in free society, a capitalist society, after two or three generations of hard work everyone becomes kind of decadent, lazy, spoiled — whatever,” he added. “Then, luckily, you have these waves of people coming in from Italy, Ireland, Russia, and now Mexico, who really want to work hard and really want to succeed and really want their kids to live better lives than them and aren’t sort of clipping coupons or hoping that they can hang on and meanwhile grew up as spoiled kids and so forth. In that respect, I don’t know how this moment is that different from the early 20th century.” Kristol’s assertion that immigrants are all hard working, tax contributing, upstanding citizens isn’t backed up by the facts, which show that “lazy” white people are less reliant on welfare. Just like the British case we see those who supposedly defend the traditional stance of the country coming out and attacking the majority, preaching the supposed economic benefits of mass immigration, and ignoring all facts which prove the claim blatantly wrong. Trump is trying to stop the mass immigration, but is being opposed again and again. Where are the actual refugees? These look like ISIS fighters. Germany can keep them. Good luck, make sure your women and children are safe. Twice now he has attempted to temporarily reduce immigration from known terrorist havens and both times activist judges have jumped in and declared it somehow unconstitutional. Andrew McCarthy gives a good analysis of the laws as they stand and why the court challenges have feet firmly planted in mid-air: Let’s start with the Constitution, which vests all executive power in the president. Under the Constitution, as Thomas Jefferson wrote shortly after its adoption, “the transaction of business with foreign nations is Executive altogether. It belongs then to the head of that department, except as to such portions of it as are specifically submitted to the Senate. Exceptions are to be construed strictly.” Mr. Bier asserts that Trump may not suspend the issuance of visas to nationals of specific countries because the 1965 immigration act “banned all discrimination against immigrants on the basis of national origin.” As he correctly points out, the purpose of the anti-discrimination provision (signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965) was to end the racially and ethnically discriminatory “national origins” immigration practice that was skewed in favor of Western Europe. Trump’s executive order, to the contrary, is in no way an effort to affect the racial or ethnic composition of the nation or its incoming immigrants. The directive is an effort to protect national security from a terrorist threat… Federal immigration law also includes Section 1182(f), which states: “Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate” (emphasis added). Section 1182(f) plainly and sweepingly authorizes the president to issue temporary bans on the entry of classes of aliens for national-security purposes. This is precisely what President Trump has done. In fact, in doing so, he expressly cites Section 1182(f), and his executive order tracks the language of the statute (finding the entry of aliens from these countries at this time “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States”). What we have is a bold power play in which the activist judiciary asserts something is a violation of the Constitution when it clearly is not. What this accomplishes is that Trump must either allow his action to be tied up in courts, preventing the action from taking place; or else go to war against judicial overreach in the first month of his presidency, a scenario he is highly unlikely to win this early on. Nationalism also explains why Clinton was the anointed one for the Democrats, despite Sanders’s huge popularity. Back in June of 2016, a socialist publication observed: Echoing a speech delivered by Trump the previous day in the economically devastated former steel town of Monessen, Pennsylvania, Sanders blames the collapse of American workers’ living standards and growth of social inequality on globalization and trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and Obama’s proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership. He writes, “Millions of American voters, like the Leave supporters, are understandably angry and frustrated by the economic forces that are destroying the middle class.” He declares, “We need to fundamentally reject our ‘free trade’ policies and move to fair trade. Americans should not have to compete against workers in low-wage countries who earn pennies an hour. We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership.” Last July, two months after he announced his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders gave an interview with the Vox web site in which he denounced a policy of “open borders”—a basic tenet of genuine socialism, which upholds the right of workers to live and work wherever they choose with full citizenship rights—as a right-wing proposal that “would make everybody in America poorer.” He continued: “You’re doing away with the concept of a nation state… Bring in all kinds of people, work for $2 or $3 an hour… You think we should open the borders and bring in a lot of low-wage workers, or do you think maybe we should try to get jobs for those [American] kids?” The article goes on to defend Sanders by explaining that this was actually a secret move against the evil capitalist establishment. The socialist publication doesn’t seem so supportive of Sanders by January of 2017, however: …Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders solidarized himself with the new president and his virulent economic nationalism. On Monday morning, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact. At the same time, Trump repeated his pledge to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada. Declaring that these moves would be “great for the American worker,” Trump reiterated the claim that “unfair trade” benefiting workers in other countries—not capitalism and the corporations’ relentless pursuit of profit—was responsible for the closure of factories and slashing of American workers’ wages. Sanders was quick to congratulate Trump, stating, “For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade deals—including the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and others—which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a ‘race to the bottom,’ which has lowered wages for American workers… “If President Trump is serious about a new policy to help American workers, then I would be delighted to work with him.” The article goes on to lament how Sanders fails to see that the brotherhood of workers in Mexico and other places will suffer as a result. Conclusion? Sanders didn’t make the cut as a real socialist or a real Democrat or a real Progressive because he, like Trump, cares about making America be for Americans first. The socialist publication criticizing him laments Sanders’s failure to embrace the working class around the globe [i.e. globalism] against the evil billionaire fat cats. Ergo, Hillary [globalist] was engineered to be the winner of the Democrat party nomination no matter what the Democrat American voters say. Meanwhile, those who back the mass immigration recognize what it means for Americans. The AP recently reported (emphasis added): Iran’s former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter Sunday to President Donald Trump, striking a somewhat conciliatory tone while applauding immigration to America and saying it shows “the contemporary U.S. belongs to all nations.” If one of your most bitter enemies is saying about a contentious internal policy, ‘Good, good, keep it up. I applaud you,’ then perhaps you ought to cease at once. If our enemies are cheering our actions, then we are doing something very stupid. Further, what do the immigrants think? Here’s one quote from a growing faction (emphasis added): Univision senior anchor Jorge Ramos declared on Friday that the United States belongs to Latino migrants, emphatically stating to a Spanish-speaking audience that “it is our country, not theirs.” Ramos took an unusual tack, pivoting from talk of diversity and togetherness into boasts of conquest. Mass immigration, particularly illegal immigration, was a fait accompli. There is nothing the U.S. can do about it, and they must accept that America is “not their” country and that illegal aliens, particularly Latinos, “are not going to leave,” he said. By the way, if you followed the links I shared above about Pizzagate, you would have seen via the Pizzagate wiki that Univision has financial ties to the Clintons. How big is Univision? Big enough that it beat all English-speaking networks for viewership in America for two years in a row. You may not watch it, but it is definitely NOT small potatoes in the corporate media landscape. From two different directions we see recent declarations that America does not belong to Americans. Trump would stand in the way of this and return America’s future and prosperity to American citizens, and thus, in the role of President, he is a big problem for the establishment. Part VIII: Neutralizing Trump Basically, there are three options to neutralize Trump. Force him to support the establishment / globalist line. Smear him and then impeach or force resignation. Assassinate. There are no other options. John F. Kennedy refused to play along so the CIA murdered him. Why not, he was going to dismantle the CIA along with neutering the Federal Reserve system. He wrote his own death warrant but at least he went out holding his ground against the Elite! When will the Elite make their move? Credit: (AP Photo/John Locher) Trump’s Vanity Why can We, The People rely on Trump to Make America Great Again? Why trust him more so than an establishment politician? The answer lies in attempting to understand why he ran in the first place. Three months before the election, Lt. Col. Tom Kratman (ret.) observed: Here’s one thing, though; while the Clintons are in politics for the graft and the girls – yes, I suspect both for both of them – selling influence, peddling pardons, soliciting and accepting gifts from foreign entities that no one could call our friends, Trump has all the money he needs and doesn’t have a lot of trouble acquiring trophy wives and girlfriends infinitely better looking than, say, Monica Lewinsky and surely close matches to Elizabeth Ward Gracen. In other words, when President Trump leaves the White House, the china and furniture will likely remain where it’s supposed to be. And then there’s what I think is the most important thing, the answer to the question of why Trump is even running. To me, it’s obvious: He doesn’t need graft or girls; he wants a better place in the history books than the one he’s earned so far as “slumlord to the elite.” He wants to earn that better place. This will tend to make him controllable, to make him at least try to keep his campaign promises in a way we haven’t seen since Reagan and defeating the Soviet Union. I expect that wall on our Southern border to go up. I expect him to repudiate the globalist “Free trade” agreements that have allowed the world’s piratical and parasitic “elite” to loot us, Russia, Europe, everyone not of their little class. I expect some bureaucracy trimming. Why? Because he’s such a great guy? No, because he wants that place in the history books. Conversely, I suspect Hillary intends to, and is sure she can, dictate what the history books will be allowed to say. A similar observation was made at HeatStreet back in April during the primaries: He is enduring this relentless, bipartisan assault because the ruling party knows he has chosen the American people over them. Ask yourself this: why did Donald Trump run for president in the first place? I believe that the real reason is that he, like you, is deeply concerned about the current state of the United States of America, and he, like you, fears for its future. If you cannot bring yourself to trust in Trump’s words, then you can safely trust in his vanity. It is true, of course, that every recent president has betrayed his supporters: George H.W. Bush raised taxes, Bill Clinton had sex with that woman, George W. Bush embraced an arrogant foreign policy, and Barack Obama has waged war from Syria to Ukraine. Will not Donald Trump do the same? It is possible, but unlikely. Donald Trump loves to be loved by the American people. And it defies everything we know about human nature to believe that he will throw away that intoxicating populist love in favor of the approval of an anti-nationalist elite whose affections he has already rejected. I’ve also heard it put as: if you can’t trust in the vanity of a man who puts his name in giant gold letters over everything he owns, then what can you trust? Egomaniac or just humble businessman? How are the predictions turning out? One journalist got to observe thanks to an inside tip on an event the press weren’t invited to. Here’s a quote that typifies the whole story (definitely go read the rest): 8:45 PM: Trump is served his entree. According to a waiter, who wished to remain anonymous: “The President ordered a well-done steak. An aged New York strip. He ate it with catsup as he always does. The sides and appetizers on the table were shared. Three jumbo shrimp cocktails were delivered before the meal. At one point, the President looked at his watch and remarked ”They are filming ‘Saturday Night Live’ right now. Can’t wait to see what they are gonna do to me this week.“ It was hard to serve him because he is so funny and relaxed, it makes you laugh.” Trump talks jovially with his guests for the next two hours. His iconic hand motions fill the space as dinner is served. 9:31 PM: Tillerson and his wife cross the restaurant and enter the Secret Service barrier of Trump’s table. The Secretary of State makes small talk with Nigel Farage and the Trump family. The Tillersons say their goodnights to the party and leave the steakhouse to cheers and handshakes from other guests. I am told by restaurant staff that Trump picked up their tab for dinner. If this is truly the character of Donald Trump, then it is extremely unlikely that he would back down and dance according to the globalist tune. That only leaves options for removal: smear and impeach him, or else assassinate him. Establishment Desperation Smearing him is unlikely. The mainstream media has been giving it their very best since he entered the primaries. Nothing sticks to him. He might as well be called Teflon Trump. One of their best shots went down in infamy as “PeeGate” (InfoWars has a good summary). There’s that name Evan McMullin again, which popped up in the Milo story. And look at the GOP involvement. Is it ‘friendly fire’ when you deliberately frag a supposed teammate? Here’s the guy who couldn’t wait to bring down his party’s presidential victory: Isn’t he in the same party as Trump? No…Trump is nationalist, McCain is a Traitor (Establishment and Globalist). Totally different political parties. Mortal enemies. So, can the establishment dig up some dirt on Trump to get him impeached or force him to resign? With all the data the NSA and CIA have been collecting, if it exists it would have been used by now. If the establishment and media are so desperate to smear Trump that now they are jumping on fake stories like PeeGate, then they are truly desperate and have already exhausted any better leverage they had. Now, Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is warning that Hillary Clinton is attempting to gain support to impeach Trump, including support of VP Pence. Pence responded Tuesday by labeling the comments “absurd” and “frankly offensive” during a discussion with radio host Laura Ingraham. “I would find all of that dialogue to be absurd and frankly offensive,” Pence said. “It is the greatest honor of my life to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with the 45th President of the United States.” Now, if Pence is being honest, then he would not support an impeachment. This would mean assassination is the only other alternative. Additionally, since so many Americans see Trump as “their” man, they would not tolerate impeachment either unless it were for the most egregious betrayal. Look at how Bill Clinton skated through his impeachment, and how Obama could not even be touched by impeachment. To think that heartland working America would sit by and accept impeachment of Donald Trump is likely to kick off civil war. On the other hand, if Pence is lying and would back an impeachment because he’s on board with the establishment, removal of Trump still ignite a civil war amongst Americans who are sick of progressive neighbors telling them how to live; neighbors who celebrate lawlessness when Democrats do it, but come down hard on the slightest deviation of conservatives. Pence: LBJ in waiting? Who will be the Patsy? Is Pence an establishment pawn or the bold fighter the conservative media currently makes him out to be? I’ll answer it with two complaints from a successful but staunch biblical pastor in Indiana, writing prior to Pence’s nomination. In 2014, he touched on Pence’s failures to protect parental authority by working to expand mandatory public schooling: Take the administration of Governor Mike Pence here in Indiana, for instance. Gov. Pence could be using his Republican majority to legislate greater protections for parental control of the education of their children. Instead, this good Christian man is working to bring more of our state’s children under government control. Right now he’s spending his political capital in an effort to expand public education to pre-Kindergarten children. Yet this will only further facilitate parents’ abandonment of their children. Thus grows the control of the state over the Christian home and family. In early 2015, on a different issue, he wrote a public letter to then-Governor Pence: Dear Governor Pence, I’m so sorry to see you capitulate to the lies and bullying of wicked men. None of your actions as governor have made clearer who you really are than your calling for and signing this new “clarification” to the RFRA bill. What you’ve done is simply confirm to the wicked that they can shout loud enough and bully hard enough and they will get their way. You made it even harder for the next governor to pass just and righteous laws. You’ve demoralized those who care about freedom. You’ve thrown the majority who believe in liberty under the bus. What you’ve done is lost my confidence, not to mention my vote. What we need is men in office who are willing to do what is right even when it’s hard. Up until now I had a hope that was you. Two days earlier, he highlighted a video showing the hypocrisy (no progressive complaints about Muslim bakeries refusing to cater to gay weddings) that men like Pence were signing on to: The last two weeks have been disastrous for any future political aspirations of Indiana Governor Mike Pence. In fact, some are wondering if he’ll even be able to get reelected? Meanwhile, here’s a short video lampooning the hypocrisy of Tim Cook and his fellow homosexualists who attacked our RFRA legislation. It also does a good job showing the Christian faithlessness of our state’s legislators and their Republican Governor throwing in the towel and appeasing the homosexualists on Maundy Thursday, the very day when, from fear, our Lord’s Disciples deserted Him. Pence looks like an establishment politician currently enjoying serving alongside a man who possesses a spine. Maybe he’ll fight to keep things that way, or maybe he’ll play with the establishment to get a better seat. Either way, he does not have the lightning-rod charisma that Trump has with the American people, and removal of Trump whether Pence plays along or not will be the final straw for many Americans. Part IX: Assassination Today This doesn’t have to be the stuff of thriller fiction novels. The assassination of Anwar Sadat, 1981 How safe is the White House? Recently, former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino made the starling revelation that the White House itself is no longer safe due to the lack of Secret Service assets and outdated technology. We truly believe that an attack consisting of multiple threats at once couldn’t be repelled or slowed long enough to get President trump into the secure bunker under the White House, or removed from the grounds via evacuation protocol. The 2013 movie Olympus Has Fallen details how a fairly sophisticated attack could be carried out to capture the President or kill him. Even an operation of only 10-20 armed terrorists could probably execute a suicide mission and be successful. This is a sad day when our own President is so close to outside forces in his own home. Is the Secret Service really ready for a multi pronged attack on the grounds? I’ve often wondered that, and with the history of single threats gaining access even inside the house in the past, maybe it’s time the Secret Service steps up its game. The other major threat could be an agrieved or radicalized member of the Secret service itself. A recent example is the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to turkey who was shot by his own bodyguard. Is this far fetched? Maybe not. What if the Elite simply coerce a member onto the plot threatening their entire family with mysterious death one by one if he/she wouldn’t follow through? Hell, the CIA murdered JFK with several black ops teams, in a classic set-up, what would they do today? I already showed that it is a matter of public record that the CIA had an undetectable “heart attack gun” as far back in 1975 in order to illegally assassinate people. Now the Vault 7 leaks show that they were working on hacking modern vehicle control systems to cause fatal car crashes. This type of technology isn’t made to decorate an office shelf. It’s made to be used. I’m not aware of any confirmed uses, but here’s a recently familiar list which is highly suspicious. You may have heard of the Clinton kill list. Versions of it have been circling the internet since the early 1990’s. Many are not trustworthy because they include many names that were only loosely connected to the Clintons, or list people who are still alive as if they were killed. Some of the lists have up to 100 names. WND did some digging and pared the list down to 33 actual suspicious deaths. These are people who were actually close to the Clintons, are actually dead, and died under suspicious or unsolved circumstances. As Rush Limbaugh pointed out in interview (quoted in the WND article) the vast majority of folks, even those with large public reputations, don’t have any acquaintances who died or were murdered under suspicious circumstances. For Bill and Hillary Clinton, the count is somewhere up around several dozen. Look at the list and note some of the following: How many were VERY close with the Clintons. How many were involved in work or writing that would paint the Clintons in a negative light, and died just before completing that work. How many died unexpectedly of “heart attack”. (Heart attack gun, perhaps?) Contradictory or conflicted accounts of death, like Committed suicide by shooting self in the BACK of the head Murder for robbery, even though nothing was stolen Dropped barbell crushed throat while weight training just before testifying, but officially died of heart attack. And the Clinton’s strike again. But it’s not as if suspicious deaths have to appear to be done by establishment types to protect the reputation of establishment types. Here’s a list of suspicious major banker deaths since the crash, with citations to news sources. A review notes that these deaths are suspiciously all by action or heart attack; no other natural causes. The winner is definitely the one who “shot himself 7 or 8 times in the head and torso with a nail gun.” Is it establishment types knocking off folks who knew too much? Or angry citizens engaging in a bit of vigilantism? JP Morgan had motive of financial gain as well as many ties to the CIA. Aside from the high profile JFK assassination and all its unanswered questions, there are many, many suspicious and questionable deaths occurring among those who knew too much or were in a position to blow the whistle on massive amounts of high crimes (the type that affect the course of nations). One thing that shows Trump in an especially dangerous position is that the last man who tried to dismantle the CIA after its botched lawless behavior was JFK. Before he could make any moves to accomplish his publicly stated goal to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the wind,” he died suddenly under highly questionable circumstances. (Recall, as I shared above, a confirmed conspiracy is that of JFK’s death, according to the 2nd congressional hearing on it.) Seven days before he died suddenly, JFK said: There’s a plot in this country to enslave every man, woman and child. Before I leave this high and noble office, I intend to expose this plot. Do Americans today have more freedom or less than in the 1960’s? Much less. So, are we more enslaved now than we were back then? Absolutely. You should also consider the dire warning of President Eisenhower in the 1950’s before he left office. Most of us have seen this, however, he lived because he kept his mouth shut until the end, or he likely would have gone away too. Part X: Balkanization and American Civil War II It is a fact of history that homogeneous nations arise out of heterogeneous nations. Since 1965, America has been full-speed ahead on making itself as heterogeneous, or “diverse,” as possible. The result, especially after 8 years of Obama aggravating racial tensions, is a far more divided society. Combined with an acceptance and even celebration of lawlessness, and it is a powder keg waiting to blow. Is Civil War 2 is on the horizon? Prior to the Obergefell decision which forced gay-marriage upon the land, I recall pointing out to a liberal in my social circles that in 2014, no less than seven State Attorneys General refused to do their jobs and enforce the laws of their state, in addition to the Federal executive apparatus illegally abandoning DOMA. These weren’t objections based in religion, but simple declarations that since they disagreed with the laws, they would simply do as they saw fit. I asked the liberal if they saw the problem here, that as soon as the shoe was on the other foot, they’d likely be screaming about Republican politicians refusing to execute their jobs in accordance with law. The reply was, “No, I think it is a very good thing that all these officials are doing.” But sure enough, as soon as a county clerk in Kentucky objected on religious grounds to signing gay marriage licenses, this very liberal was screaming loudly on social media for the immediate termination of this official for refusing to enforce the law (just recently legislated from the Supreme Court Bench). The other problem in this double standard is that the county clerk offered a valid alternative, and simply didn’t want to be involved. The State AG’s occupying office left the people with no alternative and made it their personal mission to obstruct the law. And then there are all the cases of liberal and progressive tolerance of voter fraud, so long as it is in their favor. What do you do when approximately half of your fellow citizens celebrate lawlessness so long as it works in their favor? Is it even possible for a “social contract” to exist anymore at that point? “Laws for thee but not for me?” Should I stand by and play fair and operate within the system while my neighbor cheats as hard as possible to create new laws to disadvantage me? I’m keeping my personal answer to myself, but a large swath of citizens will soon be asking themselves this, and the answers are not going to be pretty. Just because you are tolerant toward your neighbor doesn’t mean they will be tolerant toward you. There’s plenty of hype in the media about the evils of white supremacist groups like the KKK. Just because a black man like Clarence Thomas or Thomas Sowell or Ben Carson lives next door and harbors no racism doesn’t mean the KKK will say, “Nah, you’re cool with us.” Likewise, if you are not part of BLM and you had a neighbor like this, demanding even at point of violence that you must surrender your money, your house and your property for social change, do you really think if you told him how tolerant and not-racist you are he’ll make an exception for you? Or when this BLM leader publically insists that all white people are genetically inferior sub-humans who need to be wiped out as a race, do you think she might say, “Except you, since you say you’re color-blind to race?” Or what if this fine example of the modern American college student of 2016 were going to school with your daughter? He and three others raped her, urinated on her and degraded her, got it all on video, told her she deserved because of her skin color, and finished up by saying “That’s for 400 years of slavery you b—-!” I don’t know about you but my ancestors (from several continents) were not in this country 400 years ago, and some of them not even 100 years ago. Or what if these four guys were your neighbors, who have the stomach to kidnap and torture a special needs kid while cursing Trump and all white people and upload the torture video to the net? I already quoted the Univision anchor above, speaking for Hispanics when saying “America belongs to us now!” Do you think that attitude would include “…and black people too, they can stay,” or “…and white Republicans too, like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush and George Zimmerman?” Whenever someone boasts about being a [something]-American, is their allegiance to America or the group identity in front of the hyphen? If violence breaks out between the [something] and those who see themselves as simply “American,” which side do you think the hyphenated-Americans will take? (I’m including all European descendants as well who boast about being Irish-American or Italian-American or whatever.) My point is NOT that any one race needs to take arms against any other particular race. Rather, my point is that “tolerance” tends to only exist either among white liberals in gated communities, or among rural conservative communities who put American values ahead of racial identity. If your neighbor doesn’t fit into one of those two categories, then you might be a target of opportunity when violence breaks out. Consider this article written by a survivor of Yugoslavia, who says: Yet the collapse of Yugoslavia offers several cautionary tales to Americans today, and if they are wise they will heed them and set the United States on a correction course before it is too late. As one who witnessed the dreadful collapse of Yugoslavia and its terrible aftermaths — including the seemingly permanent impoverishment of Southeastern Europe, mired in crime, corruption, and extremism — I would very much like America to discover a far happier fate. However, some of the parallels are eerie and troubling. The root of Yugoslavia’s collapse was economic, particularly its parlous state finances. After two years of study, Krajgher’s commission in 1983 released its report, which correctly assessed that Yugoslavia needed to get its economic house in order to avoid financial, and then political, collapse…Its effect, however, was zero. The report was ignored, and Communist officials never made any effort to seriously implement any of Krajgher’s solid recommendations. It was too politically painful to make cuts, so the government pretended there was no problem. Until it was too late. Comparisons to Obama are unavoidable. Early in his first term, he empowered a bi-partisan board, known colloquially as the Simpson-Bowles commission, to investigate improving the long-term condition of America’s state finances. The commission’s findings were thorough and persuasive, and they offered a way out of the country’s fiscal morass. At a minimum, Simpson-Bowles set the terms for a necessary debate. But Obama inexplicably pretended that his own commission ever existed. No debate ensued, since discussing cuts of government benefits to voters is electorally toxic — Republicans are no more eager to talk about this pain than Democrats — and nothing happened. Worse, economic problems, including unemployment and inflation that impoverished Yugoslavs rapidly — by the time the country went over the cliff in 1991, real incomes were half what they had been a generation before — exacerbated the country’s serious ethnic grievances. When combined with economic emergency, Yugoslavia’s ethnic politics proved a lethal combination that led directly to wars and genocide. Yugoslavia was a very diverse country, ethnically and religiously, and the divisions between groups were real and serious. Unlike 21st century Americans, Yugoslavs were under no illusions that “diversity is our greatest strength” — they knew the opposite was the truth — and the Communists went to great lengths to keep ethnic peace by banning what we would term “hate speech” while mandating that the official doctrine that Yugoslavia’s diverse peoples really loved each other deeply be placed at the level of quasi-religious dogma… Perhaps worst of all, by preventing any honest discussion of ethnic matters, the Communists had a perverse knack of making each of Yugoslavia’s many ethnic groups feel that it was uniquely aggrieved. Playing political games with race and ethnicity in any multinational society is a dangerous thing. Obama, by promising that he wanted to be president of all Americans, then governing as a highly partisan Democrat, has laid the groundwork for a hazardous future for the United States, hardly helped by his public indulging of black nationalism, particularly his incautious discussion of crimes both real and imagined against African Americans. However verboten discussion of white nationalism is at present among polite Americans, it is unavoidable that this will become an issue in the future, with potentially explosive consequences — to say nothing of the rise of Hispanic and Asian nationalisms too, as the United States becomes even more diverse than Yugoslavia was. Do we really believe that America will succeed were every other nation in history has failed? Here is an interesting warning from all the way back in Aristotle’s day (Politics, book 5, part 3[emphasis added]): Another cause of revolution is difference of races which do not at once acquire a common spirit; for a state is not the growth of a day, any more than it grows out of a multitude brought together by accident. Hence the reception of strangers in colonies, either at the time of their foundation or afterwards, has generally produced revolution; for example, the Achaeans who joined the Troezenians in the foundation of Sybaris, becoming later the more numerous, expelled them; hence the curse fell upon Sybaris. At Thurii the Sybarites quarrelled with their fellow-colonists; thinking that the land belonged to them, they wanted too much of it and were driven out. At Byzantium the new colonists were detected in a conspiracy, and were expelled by force of arms; the people of Antissa, who had received the Chian exiles, fought with them, and drove them out; and the Zancleans, after having received the Samians, were driven by them out of their own city. The citizens of Apollonia on the Euxine, after the introduction of a fresh body of colonists, had a revolution; the Syracusans, after the expulsion of their tyrants, having admitted strangers and mercenaries to the rights of citizenship, quarrelled and came to blows; the people of Amphipolis, having received Chalcidian colonists, were nearly all expelled by them. After making his point, he immediately provides no less than 8 examples which would have been familiar to readers in his day, where admitting large groups of people foreign to your civilization lead to revolution. Here’s another pointer toward Balkanization, from American expat Fred Reed who now resides in Mexico: Is it possible for the United States to break up, either de facto or formally? I wonder. The country is not a happy place. Today it is more consciously and resentfully divided, politically, regionally, racially and by sex and class than perhaps ever before. The rich prosper and the middle class sink. Three major racial blocs eye each other with fear and hostility. The hard left controls the media and government against the desires of much of the country, enforcing social engineering that is deeply disliked. Feminists make war on men, and destroy the schools and universities. Washington is widely loathed. Rules, laws, and regulations never voted on grow ever more burdensome and intrusive. Many quietly want out. The question is how to get there. Defiance of federal law grows common. For example,“Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) says Chicago is the friendliest immigrant city in the nation since they, “made sure that we no longer cooperate with immigration authorities when it comes to the deportation or separation of our families.” A US congressman, and a US president, defy federal law. This is an ungluing of note. What can Washington do if states and regions simply go their own way? If large number of people stop paying income taxes, say? One tax evader can be arrested. Fifty thousand cannot. A problem for the feds is that if a state’s police decline to enforce federal laws, the feds have to do it themselves, and they don’t have the manpower. So as the Fatal Four southwestern states [CA, TX, AZ, NM] become ever more Latino, what if they de facto eliminate the border with Mexico? They wouldn’t describe it that way. They probably wouldn’t describe it at all. They would just ignore sovereignty. In a globalizing world, the very idea of sovereignty seems less important that it once did. I will guess that the young, who will one day be older, care less than their elders about national identity. How then would Washington enforce its will? Send the Army? Bomb Los Angeles? Them as has the numbers gets their way. And are getting it. In the past the rock-solid unity of the United States existed because people wanted it. The foundation was a largely uniform white, Christian, European culture which no one thought about because there was no reason to think about it. Minorities were minor enough that they had to conform to the dominant culture. People shared ideas of morality, education, crime, music, religion, dress, manners, and patriotism. That unity is gone forever. The old, functioning system has been replaced, not by another functioning system, such as that of Japan, China, or Korea, but by civilizational chaos. A law of human behavior is that people want to live among people like themselves. Another is that they do not like being ruled from afar by people they detest. Who likes Washington today? Here’s another national example – Ukraine. Cracked gives 5 examples of how civil war here could play out similarly. Here are some interesting quotes: We’ve got no shortage of political strife in the USA. But for all the antagonism inherent in our democracy, we all agree to put up with the Other Guys when they win power. The only alternative to that would be some sort of civil war, and that kind of thing could never happen here. The people of Ukraine thought the same thing two years ago. And then, while they were busy getting degrees, raising families, and starting careers, a civil war snuck up and slapped their lives right in the… Ukraine’s civil war started after a months-long protest unseated the president. People in Western Ukraine were generally happy with this development. But over in the East, where the president enjoyed more support, people were less happy. Within a matter of weeks a huge chunk of Eastern Ukraine, centered around the city of Donetsk, declared itself a new country… A month or two before, these people had all just been her fellow citizens. In less time than it takes to earn an Introduction to Psychology credit, their political differences had made the leap from amiable disagreements to people dying in the streets. The first soldiers we saw at a checkpoint on our way to the front seemed to back this up. They had nice uniforms, full body armor, and weapons all over their bodies. Our interpreter pointed out that they might’ve actually been cops. Apparently, there’s not much of a line between the two in a warzone. If you live in the suburbs, imagine the city nearest to you seceded from the United States. Suddenly Houston is a battleground, but, shit, you still need to go there — you might even work there. That doesn’t change just because some fools with cannons happen to be blasting the shit out of the Jamba Juice. During the Civil War, the Lincoln administration arrested at least 14,401 civilians: one person out of every 1,563 in the country. Again, this pattern is repeated in Ukraine. They also offer 6 reasons a civil war might actually start in the USA now. One of the more interesting items is an almost total breakdown of trust between citizens from the 1970’s to now: “Trust” isn’t just an intangible concept when we’re talking about the potential for civil warfare. Sinisa Malesevic is a professor who studies the sociology of civil wars and a survivor of the Yugoslavian civil war. He’s someone Marvel really should’ve reached out to for script advice, and he noted the breakdown of trust was one of the first traumatizing steps to war, “… in a very short period of time, there is a complete sense of fear, you do not know who is who, who is supporting which side … that fear spreads.” Sinisa also pointed out that most civil wars start after a loss of trust in the government, particularly law enforcement: “One of the defining features of any state is a legitimate monopoly on the use of violence.” In other words, if we trust the police to handle bad guys better than armed groups of vigilantes, we’ll probably trust the government more than armed groups of insurgents. “And if police are not seen as doing their job … I think that certainly has an impact.” Mike Cernovich gives an excellent summary and collage of how exactly that is happening now. After police allowed left wing activists to pepper spray several women at a MILO event at Berkeley, free speech activists took lawful self-defense into their own hands. Thus, at a March 4th pro-Trump rally, people entered the fray prepared. Left wing police departments issue stand-down orders allowing women to be beaten, pepper sprayed, and raped. The police in liberal cities like Berkeley and San Jose will not do their jobs. They do not “serve and protect.” Women are attacked by the feral left. The fake news media won’t speak out against this. The police won’t do their jobs. It’s up to private citizens to stand up for one another. There’s Milo Yiannopoulos again, whom I mentioned as a case study of establishment workings. Defintely take a look at Cernovich’s article, as it gives many photos of all the victimized Trump supporters who lost blood while police forces stood by and watched. Part XI: The Battle Lines Ann Barnhardt (known for having publicly shut down her Wall Street brokerage and advised her clients to exit all stock markets after seeing the horrifying precedents set in the MF Global collapse) speculated some time ago in 2010 about how the lines will be drawn in US Balkanization: I have received many emails and have heard much talk about the U.S. breaking into two countries ‐ one Constitutional Republic built on a foundation of Christian principles consisting of the Mountain, Central and Southern states (essentially a Second American Republic), and a Marxist‐Socialist‐Atheist confederation consisting of the Pacific Coast states, the Upper Midwest (IL, MI, WI) and the New England states. This recent OCT2016 electoral map supports her predictions quite well, along the lines I have highlighted about racial tensions: Of course a racist liberal made these maps! The creator is actually a liberal who was trying to show the horrible prevalence of all those racist white Trump supporters. He used data from 538 and Nate Silver. But take a good look at the option labeled “College Educated Whites.” We know the colleges and universities in America today are bastions of liberal indoctrination and anti-American sentiment. If you ignore all people of color (who would vote so overwhelmingly for the Orwellian State that any exceptions are statistically insignificant), that leaves the white voting bloc, of which the college educated fall out exactly as Barnhardt predicted 6 years ago. There’s your battle lines for globalist vs. nationalist. If we add the racial division factor, then the 4 states along the Mexican border are likely to become part of Mexico in all but official name. Looking further at racial demographics, black population is most heavily concentrated across the Southern belt (East of the Mississippi and South of the Mason Dixon Line). If BLM grew into a full-fledged open militia movement akin to examples in Yugoslavia and Ukraine, you can expect those Southern States to sink into their own battles for identity. So we’re looking at at least SIX different territories coming out of a breakup of the USA. (Alaska and Hawaii are islands or effectively islands and totally on their own.) If the blue central northern states split the red Northeast States from the American Redoubt Northwest, then you’d effectively have SEVEN territories in civil war. What will it be like? If you haven’t gotten a close enough look from the academic comparisons above, Peter Grant collects a nice set of links and points out how well they line up with his personal experience fighting in the civil wars in South Africa: The Left Hates You. Act Accordingly. Understand that when they call Donald Trump “illegitimate,” what they are really saying is that our desire to govern ourselves is illegitimate. Their beef isn’t with him – it’s with us, the normal people who dared rise up and demand their right to participate in the rule of this country and this culture. They are fanatics, and by not surrendering, by not kneeling, and by not obeying, you have committed an unpardonable sin. You have defied the Left, and you must be broken. They will take your job, slander your name, even beat or kill you – whatever it takes to break you and terrify others by making you an example. Your defiance cannot stand; they cannot allow this whole Trump/GOP majority thing to get out of control. They must crush this rebellion of the normal, and absolutely nothing is off the table. We’ve seen them burn UC Berkeley and how the police controlled by the leftist state government of California stood by and watched as Americans were beaten by the mob. Why? Because the government of the State of California approves of the violence. Do you think it’s a coincidence that California is doing everything it can to disarm its normals? The Left won’t say it out loud – at least not yet – but make no mistake. If violence is what it takes for the Left to prevail, then violence we will have. You saw it, and you were meant to. Berkeley was a message about the price of dissent where leftist hold sway. And they seek to hold sway everywhere. Riot Control, Part 1 and Part 2 (with more to come) (To those of you who’ve never been in a deadly serious, knock-down-and-drag-out, kill-the-bastards riot: if you live in a major US city, you’d better be thinking about this right now. I had the misfortune to be in three such situations before I came to this country. It’s no fun at all. I only survived them by being harder than the rioters. That’s all I’ll say about that.) Go see the rest there. It is ALL must-read material highlighting how the country is coming to open blows between citizens, and the government is too emasculated and under-manned and inefficient to do anything about it. If the firemen are now being issued body armor in the big ‘Sanctuary’ cities, that says a lot. Part X: Invasion Risks Think back on how bloody the first civil war was, and then think about what a six or seven-way blood feud is going to look today. Remember Red Dawn? Prepper Top 10. But in today’s global climate, don’t you think America’s enemies would be happy to come and feast on the carcass? And America at that point would not be the America who fought and won a 2-front war in WWII (3-front, if you count that the Army and Navy would not cooperate in the Pacific Theater.) Barnhardt warned of this foreign risk in her prediction. The warning is that the Marxist blue state territories WILL fail because their narrative about how they wish reality should be will fall flat when reality hits them without all the red states to carry the load. But when they fail, they’ll come crawling to the true American territories begging for a bailout. And we’ll want to say, “You made your bed, now sleep in it!” But they won’t suck it up and live with their consequences. They’ll turn elsewhere for a bailout. And who’d be more than happy to help them than our major adversaries? China has already been buying huge sections of American property, including an attempt to buy the Chicago Stock Exchange. Dubai attempted to buy 22 American ports a decade ago. I have doubts about theories with Russia, given the latest current events. Putin has made a reputation for himself as a nationalist, which opposes globalist agenda moves. Russia has been quite restrained despite actions by Obama and Clinton to push a war, all while RINO’s beat the war drums in the background. Would Russia take advantage of America given the chance? I don’t doubt it. Maybe they’ll finally grab Alaska. However, China is more diametrically opposed to traditional American values as was Soviet Russia. China already has practice in depopulation of its own people, and is a far better power player to serve globalist interests. Theories involving Russia working for globalists would first need to account for Putin’s nationalist moves inside his own country. But if China is on a real estate buying spree, it would be easy enough to buy ports in Mexico and enter America from the south, akin to the Soviet/Cuba situation in the 1960’s. Trump is the glue holding back the American Saxons from diving in and meeting the violent left on its own terms. If he is removed, it’s game over for America. How might China gain a foothold on American soil? This is the longshot prediction because so much more can happen to change the course of events between here and there. I would argue that the Balkanization is unavoidable, and the civil war WILL come. But depending how those battles play out, elements of the following may or may not come to pass as predicted. There’s already been talk criticizing Trump’s stance toward Mexico because Mexico as a result is getting friendly with China. China is amassing wealth all over the world: major property, infrastructure, etc. Let’s say we see a 7 way split of US territory as predicted above. (Russia gets Alaska as an 8th territory. Who knows about Hawaii?) If Mexico is already aligning trade with China, and the US states on the Mexican border basically become colonized ‘New’ Mexico, then deals with Mexico would likely cover that slice as well. Likewise, I think Barnhardt is right about the forecast for the Marxist states. California might break in half, with the south half joining the reclaimed Mexico territory, and the north half joining the liberal Blue PacCoast. So when (not if) the Marxist policies in total opposition to reality ultimately fail, they’ll beg for a bailout. The two remaining true remaining Patriot regions would be the American Redoubt (Idaho / Montana / Wyoming / Utah) and the Red NE, divided by the blue liberal northern states as a single territory. The three Marxist regions would be New England, Pacific Coast, and Blue North. Those three regions would need a bailout. If the American Redoubt and Red territories are slogging through civil war, they likely can’t afford nor would want to bailout the Marxist territories they’ve been fighting. So the Marxists turn to China, assuming Chinese currency still has value in that year. China could make a deal for exclusive trade with those territories. So they trade with China in lieu of former fellow US states. This creates economic isolation on the final American states akin to what we currently do to Iran via trade sanctions. Additionally, China may be willing to supply the three blue territories with weaponry to continue aggression with the two red territories. What about the South territory? If the current behavior of BLM is any indicator, then the South territory will become a war zone indistinguishable from any war-torn country in Africa, which even the highest bidding nation wouldn’t be able to keep control over. Canada would likely remain an neutral party on the Northern border. The American Redoubt is bigger and has more resources and more defensive terrain, which means it will likely be the last refuge of the American Patriot since the sister territory in the east won’t last long. The American Redoubt could then be flanked both economically and militarily, but will surely be the last stand of the Patriots. Could we survive and come back from such a scenario? We may yet find out. Then US guts itself in civil war, and our foreign enemies arrive in time to figuratively loot Uncle Sam’s corpse where it lies dead on the field of battle. China now controls large swaths of formerly American infrastructure, without using those overly destructive weapons of war. The USA as 50 United States was powerful. But smaller territories hurting from bitter conflict will not be a world influence anymore. They’ll be small players on the world stage akin to any single country in Europe or the Middle East. What hope do you have, as a true American who still believes in the Founders’ dream? Give the best life you can to your children and perhaps grand children. Get yourself to a self-sufficient and defensible piece of land, build community connections, and be ready to survive as long as possible without the luxuries of the current national production industries. America the Beautiful stretching from Sea to Shining Sea may at that time be a chapter in the history books, but if neither you nor your children are facing famine or war on your local turf, then you’re in a far better place than those in the sanctuary cities. How can you safeguard your family and get into position? Everything is farfetched until it happens. A major earthquake, stock market crash, tsunami, socioeconomic crash and of course an assassination and foreign invasion. This country will inevitably face destruction on a scale never before seen. It matters not when; it only matters if you’re ‘in position’ to survive. We have penned another full feature article just on this subject alone. Be sure to check it out after digesting the enormity of this one. You can read it by clicking here: Bugging Out vs. Full Time Retreat *This article was written and edited by the ‘anonymous’ Redoubt Analyst. He made his Strategic Relocation to the American Redoubt fleeing the Sanctuary Cities of the East Coast and is now raising his family in the freedom of Northern Idaho. The American Redoubt, your Refuge in times of Peril!	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line889
__label__wiki	0.645033	0.645033	Screen/Society Spring 2019 Schedule All screenings take place in the Rubenstein Arts Center's film theater, and are Free and Open to the Public. [ Download Spring 2019 PDF Screening Calendar ] All Screenings35mm/Archival PrintAMI ShowcaseFilmmaker in AttendanceGlobal CinemaNew Releases/PremieresRepertory + New RestorationsWeekend Matinee "The Image Book" (2018) \| Jean-Luc Godard - Triangle Premiere Thursday, January 10, 2019 - 7:00pm The legendary Jean-Luc Godard adds to his influential, iconoclastic legacy with this ambitious collage film essay. Deploying novel approaches to multi-channel sound and weaving dense webs out of hundreds of cultural sources, The Image Book is an exhilarating and urgent inquiry into the histories and politics of representation itself. "The Image Book" (2018) Jean-Luc Godard \| - Triangle Premiere [Day Two] Friday, January 11, 2019 - 7:00pm MFA\|EDA Salon: “Between the Endless Forms” Sunday, January 13, 2019 - 6:00pm A short program of experimental films that interrogate the gaze and reappropriate it as a site of resistance. Includes work by Basma Alsharif, Laida Lertxundi, Nazli Dincel, Ja'Tovia Gary, Rawane Nassif, and Christopher Harris. _Curated by Felicity Palma + Dani Smith for MFA\|EDA Salon "Zama" (2017) \| Lucrecia Martel - NC Premiere Set in a remote South American colony in the late 18th century, officer Zama of the Spanish crown waits in vain for a transfer order that never comes. Contemporary master Lucretia Martel’s trademark command of sound and image is on full display, with oneiric cinematography and immersive soundwork fueling this relentlessly destabilizing portrait of colonial hubris. "Burning" (2018) \| Lee Chang-dong - Durham Premiere When an aspiring writer (Yoo Ah-in) becomes involved with a woman he knew from childhood (Jun Jong-seo) he agrees to apartment sit for her; but when she returns from Africa with a Gatsby-esque partner (Steven Yeun), his confusion and obsessions begin to mount, culminating in a stunning finale. "Burning" (2018) \| Lee Chang-dong - Durham Premiere [Day Two] "Jurassic Park" (1993) Weekend Matinee Saturday, January 19, 2019 - 2:00pm The prehistoric and the state-of-the-art meet in Spielberg’s game-changing adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel. Come for the CGI dino-spectacle but stay for the peerless ensemble cast, including Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Newman from Seinfeld, and the “six-foot turkey” kid whose collective efforts make Jurassic Park truly timeless. Duke Film Club presents: "Tree of Life" (2011) \| Terrence Malick \| 35mm print Four decades into an already legendary career, Terrence Malick realized his most rapturous vision to date with The Tree of Life, tracing a story of childhood, wonder, and grief to the outer limits of time and space. _Programmed + Introduced by the Duke Film Club "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" (1976) \| John Cassavetes \| 35mm print Ben Gazzara portrays a strip club owner desperately committed to saving face despite his seedy environment and unhealthy personal appetites. When his mounting debts come due, he must carry out a terrible crime or lose his way of life. Mesmerizing and idiosyncratic, this rare genre entry from John Cassavetes is a provocative examination of masculine identity. [1978 Director's Cut.] "Mikey and Nicky" (1976) \| Elaine May \| North Carolina Premiere of Restoration Elaine May crafted a gangster film like no other in the nocturnal odyssey Mikey and Nicky, capitalizing on the chemistry between frequent collaborators John Cassavetes and Peter Falk by casting them together as small-time mobsters whose lifelong relationship turns sour. This unbridled portrait of male friendship turned tragic is an unsung masterpiece of American cinema. _New Restoration "Happy as Lazzaro" (2018) \| Alice Rohrwacher Alice Rohrwacher’s celebrated new feature is her most ambitious and imaginative project to date, an expansion of the oneiric dimension of her earlier work that gently pulls its story of an otherworldly young tobacco worker into the time-unraveling realm of fantasy. "Too Late to Die Young" (2018) \| Dominga Sotomayor Castillo \| Triangle Premiere Thursday, February 7, 2019 - 7:00pm This second feature from one of Latin American cinema’s most artful and distinctive voices is at once nostalgic and piercing, a portrait of a young woman – and her newly democratic home country of Chile in 1990 – on the cusp of exhilarating and terrifying change. MFA\|EDA Salon: Surveillance and Poetry Sunday, February 10, 2019 - 6:00pm Surveillance and Poetry: an evening of documentary films. Where is the line between ethnography and art or surveillance and poetry? We invite you to join us in watching two beautiful films which uniquely bring these paradoxes to the table. Detour (1945) \| Edgar G. Ulmer \| New Restoration Thursday, February 14, 2019 - 7:00pm What better way to spend Valentine’s Day than with this blisteringly nihilistic masterpiece from Edgar G. Ulmer, the greatest B-movie director of them all? A down-on-his-luck nightclub pianist (Tom Neal) finds himself with a dead body on his hands and nowhere to run—a waking nightmare that goes from bad to worse when he picks up the most vicious femme fatale in cinema history (Ann Savage.) First major restoration of this threadbare, haunting masterpiece. "The Simpsons Movie" (2007) \| Weekend Matinee \| 35mm Saturday, February 16, 2019 - 2:00pm Come see the Simpsons clan struggle for the soul and survival of Springfield in the format the show was always destined to be seen on – 35mm film! The Hitch-Hiker (1953) \| IDA LUPINO 101 \| 35mm archival print Businessmen Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy see their vacation go to hell when they pick up the wrong guy: psychopath William Talman. This film was Ida’s personal favorite; exquisitely tense from the very first frame. _35mm archival print courtesy of Library of Congress Jeanne Liotta: Past/Present/Live Jeanne Liotta visits with a program of short experimental films that exist in the curious intersection of art, science and natural philosophy; program highlights include Lilly Library’s newest 16mm acquisition, Liotta’s sublimely cosmic work Observando El Cielo (2007). _Jeanne Liotta in attendance The Bigamist (1953) \| IDA LUPINO 101 \| New Restoration Childless couple Joan Fontaine and Edmond O’Brien want to adopt, but investigator turns up something interesting about O’Brien: second wife Lupino. Too hot for original distributor RKO, Lupino and company self-distributed. New 4k restoration On Dangerous Ground (1951) \| IDA LUPINO 101 \| 35mm print Sadistic detective Robert Ryan is sent upstate and joins a manhunt for a local killer through a desolate snowy landscape. But while searching with the victim’s embittered father Ward Bond, he finds hope in a remote cottage inhabited by blind, selfless Ida Lupino (who co-directed while Ray was ill off set). A poignant study of loneliness and perhaps the greatest snow-bound film noir. Remember to Remember: Sylvain Chaussée & Niagara Custom Lab Sunday, March 3, 2019 - 7:00pm Sylvain Chaussée visits with a program of solo works alongside those made by his circle at Niagara Custom Lab in Toronto, ON. A film development technician by day, his hands-on approach to alternative processing and printing techniques directly informs Chaussée’s experimental film practice. _Sylvain Chaussée in attendance "The Wandering Soap Opera" (2019) \| Raul Ruiz \| Triangle Premiere A wildly inventive, episodic work of political satire that views “Chilean reality” as a grand pastiche of soap-opera tropes. Assembled from archival materials stored in Duke’s Rubenstein Library and completed by the late Ruiz’s filmmaker partner, Valeria Sarmiento. Open Eyed Sleep: a selection of urban collage films (1991-2016) by Lewis Klahr Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 7:00pm A special program of master collagist Lewis Klahr's uniquely idiosyncratic experimental films and cutout animations. "The Last Movie" (1971) \| Dennis Hopper \| New Restoration Dennis Hopper’s legendarily career-imperiling production of The Last Movie emerges in theaters at last. Hopper stars as a stuntman working on the set of a western shooting in rural Peru, where the locals begin to absorb the action of the shoot into their ritual and folklore, and cinema melts into life itself. New 4k restoration 2019 AMI Student Film & Essay Awards Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 7:00pm The best films and essays produced in 2018 AMI classes will be showcased on this special night. "Les rendez-vous d’Anna" (1978) \| Chantal Akerman \| New Restoration In one of Akerman’s most penetrating character studies, Anna, an accomplished filmmaker (played by Aurore Clément), makes her way through a series of European cities to promote her latest movie. Via a succession of eerie, exquisitely shot, brief encounters—with men and women, family and strangers—we come to see her emotional and physical detachment from the world. New 4k restoration AMI Faculty Filmmaker Spotlight Instructors from the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI) screen and discuss their latest work. Total run time: approx. 80 min. -- Q&A to follow with faculty filmmakers. "Supa Modo" (2018) \| Likarion Wainaina \| Weekend Matinee Sunday, March 31, 2019 - 2:00pm Terminally ill 9-year-old Jo is obsessed with action movies and dreams of being a superhero. In an attempt to make these dreams come true, her entire village bands together to bring comfort to her final days and turn Jo into the courageous hero that they already know her to be. "Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice" (1952) \| Yasujirô Ozu \| New Restoration Monday, April 1, 2019 - 7:00pm One of the ineffably lovely domestic sagas made by Yasujiro Ozu at the height of his mastery, Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice is a sublimely piercing portrait of a marriage coming quietly undone amidst the baseball stadiums, pachinko parlors, and ramen shops of postwar Tokyo. Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018) \| filmmaker RaMell Ross in attendance Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - 7:00pm An intimate, expressive story of two young African-American men living in Hale County, Alabama. Filmmaker RaMell Ross delivers his Oscar nominated debut film with striking lyricism and originality. _Q&A to follow w/ Ramell Ross. Co-presented by MFA\|EDA & AMI. Co-sponsored by the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. All tickets for this free 7:00pm screening with director RaMell Ross have been SOLD OUT. [There will be a stand-by line for this screening. There will also be a 9:30pm encore screening (without director Q&A).] Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018) \| 9:30pm encore https://artscenter.duke.edu/event/hale-county-this-morning-this-evening-with-filmmaker-ramell-ross/2019-04-03/2/?ical=1&tribe_display=An intimate, expressive story of two young African-American men living in Hale County, Alabama. Filmmaker RaMell Ross delivers his Oscar nominated debut film with striking lyricism and originality. [9:30pm encore screening - no director Q&A; no reservations required] LIFT presents: The Madvo Collection Commissioning Project, Part 2 After receiving a donation of the 200+ reel archives of filmmaker Jacques Madvo, Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) commissioned eight artists to create new work with the Madvo collection as a starting point. _Introduced by Anna Kipervaser (AMI) "I am Not a Witch" (2017) \| Rungano Yoni A nine-year-old Zambian girl is thrown into a witch camp - part prison, part tourist attraction –in this satiric feminist fairy tale. Duke Independent Film Festival (Day 1) Friday, April 12, 2019 - 7:00pm DIFF is Duke’s only annual film festival, entirely organized and populated by Duke students. Come see the best filmmakers and storytellers on Duke’s campus in two separate programs of adventurous and eclectic programming. The 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows Sunday, April 14, 2019 - 2:00pm Returning to theaters across North America, the Animation Show of Shows will present 16 exceptional and inspiring animated shorts from around the world. At a time of increasing social instability and global anxiety about a range of issues, the works in this year’s show have a special resonance, presenting compelling ideas about our place in society and how we fit into the world. The Battle of Chile (Part 1 + Part 2) (1975-76) \| Patricio Guzmán One of the near universally acknowledged masterworks of politically engaged nonfiction, Guzmán’s opus tells the entire story of the life and death of the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende. Shot on the ground by Guzmán and collaborators over the course of nine months marked by optimism and heartbreak, assembled in exile, and praised by the Village Voice as “The major political film of our time,” it remains uncontested as a work of cinematic bearing witness. _In conjunction with the exhibition, Pop América, 1965-1975, at the Nasher Museum of Art Detailed Spring 2019 Schedule. to keep up-to-date with Screen/Society!	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line890
__label__cc	0.540008	0.459992	9. All Russians Love Birch Trees, by Olga Grjasnowa A novel by a young Russian-from-Azerbaijan woman, originally written in German, about an immigrant experience in Europe and the Middle East is unlikely to get a lot of attention in America, as the statistics about novels-in-translation show. Perhaps it would help, if I compared this one, All Russians Love Birch Trees, by Olga Grjasnowa, to an inverted Nabokov—young, Jewish, female and dispossessed, but also brilliant, and writing about exile and home. The story starts with a moment of cultural disorientation, a couple asleep in a city apartment, but it’s not clear from the sounds (“the laughter of the fruit vendor and the rattle of the streetcar”) and the signifiers (a central station, “a left-leaning youth center, whose visitors often mistook our front door for a urinal”, sunflower shells) or the weather (hot) where they are. The title leads the reader to expect Moscow, but the details aren’t right. Things start happening, in strangely fine-grained detail, a beautiful technique, one of many the writer uses to mimic memory. “We stayed there, wedged together, until someone else’s alarm clock went off behind the wall and my hand grew numb beneath his weight. When it went completely numb I climbed out of bed to take a shower.” And it takes quite a while for these particulars to coalesce. Who are these people? What city are they in? What is their ethnicity? The first anchor I found was that Masha, the narrator, was a young, attractive Russian woman who fell into a volatile type I’ve met in life, if not in literature, angry young women who seem to be suffering from some long-hidden damage. And that was before things started to go wrong. We eventually figure out that she’s a Russian Jew by way of Azerbaijan, who emigrated to Germany during the Azeri-Armenian war, and hangs out with other immigrants, some Turkish, some Kurdish. The conflict in Azerbaijan—one of those obscure Soviet-breakup ones that few Americans have heard of—was violent and ugly, and though Masha is young, she’s been through a lot. Her anger is warranted. When the story starts Masha is studying to be an interpreter–as between language as she is between cultures–and has a German boyfriend who she’s in love with. As events unfold everything in her life changes, and she’s forced to confront, or try to run away from, the deep grief of her past. I don’t want to spoil the plot, so will just say that the events were page-turning, as was the portrait of young, educated, pissed-off immigrant life in Germany and later Tel Aviv. I also especially loved the style and narrative command of the storytelling. The book doles out information about Masha’s past with true mastery, and cuts sharply in and out of disparate scenes, sometimes in the same chapter, with only paragraph breaks. The voice also pulls in and out, from overview to extremely granular detail in a beautiful way that feels like memory, or how an identity is constructed. Nothing was mannered, but the style felt fresh. I don’t think the narrator loves birch trees, though we never find out. ← 8. The Cold Commands, Richard K. Morgan 10. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin →	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line891
__label__wiki	0.678605	0.678605	Will The Suzuki GSX-250R Be Launched In India? By Preetam Bora The Suzuki GSX-250R is a model that is sold internationally From Apr-Oct, 2016, the 200cc-250cc segment grew by 45% in India Suzuki is the only manufacturer with no models in the 200cc-250cc segment What's with a 250 cc motorcycle that seems to be the current favourite in the Indian motorcycling crowd? Every manufacturer seems to be jumping on to this segment's bandwagon, with the most recent additions being KTM's new 250 Duke and India Yamaha's FZ25. In fact, every motorcycle manufacturer from Bajaj Auto to Honda has at least one model in this space, and it's a segment which has shown considerable growth and posted the largest month on month growth figures. (The KTM 250 Duke is the latest 250cc bike to be launched, and has oodles of performance as well) In the period from April-October 2016, the 200-250 cc motorcycle segment grew by nearly 45 per cent, and it is only after demonetisation in November that overall sales in the motorcycle industry seems to have slowed down, although the 200-250 cc segment still posted a healthy 20 per cent growth at the end of the calendar year. Clearly, the Indian motorcyclist finally seemed to have warmed up to the idea of a 'do-it-all' bike which has the right amount of road presence, style and performance, coupled with decent fuel consumption. So, Bajaj has re-launched its popular Pulsar NS200 and KTM now has a new addition - the 250 Duke, in addition to its bestselling 200 Duke. Access 125 Burgman Street 125 Gixxer SF 250 Access 125 SE GSX R1000 DR-Z50 Hayate EP V-Strom 650XT GSX S1000 GSX S1000F (Some of models in the 200cc-250cc segment are the Yamaha FZ25, Bajaj Pulsar NS200, TVS Apache RTR 200 4V and the Honda CBR250R) Even Hero has the Karizma ZMR still trudging along the sales charts and Honda's CBR250R is still posting respectable numbers despite being a model which has been around for some time now. TVS has the very-capable Apache RTR 200 4V which is one of the most affordable bikes in this segment along with the Bajaj Pulsar NS200. Yamaha will now attempt to grab a slice of this market with the recently launched Yamaha FZ25. It's only Suzuki India which has no presence in this segment currently, at least in India. Globally though, Suzuki has launched the GSX-250R late last year and there are now rumours doing the rounds that Suzuki India may launch the bike in India later this year. But if it's at all launched, the 250cc parallel-twin engine GSX-250R sits on the upper end of this segment, competing against the likes of the Yamaha YZF-R3 and the Kawasaki Ninja 300 - bikes, which account for only a miniscule part of the 200-250 cc segment sales. (The Suzuki Inazuma was a good bike with decent performance, but failed to do well in India) The Suzuki GSX-250R is powered by a 248 cc parallel-twin engine which makes 24.7 bhp and 23 Nm of torque and Suzuki India's past experience in this segment hasn't really been encouraging. The much capable 250 cc parallel-twin Suzuki Inazuma didn't have many shortcomings as a product, but it was ill-received by the market, compelling Suzuki to withdraw the product. Sources in Suzuki India dismissed reports of an impending launch of the GSX-250R as it had done when CarandBike contacted last year after the 250 cc bike was first revealed. For now, Suzuki India will be focussing on its success in the mass market segments - particularly after the success of the 155 cc Gixxer and Gixxer SF, as well as in the automatic scooter segment with the Access 125. Unless a new, cost-effective, single-cylinder 250 cc product is designed and made specifically for the Indian market, Suzuki may well stay away from this segment for some time to come, unless there's a brand-new product in the making, to replicate or at least partly replicate the success of the 155 cc Gixxer. Compare Suzuki Gixxer SF with Immediate Rivals YZF R15S Pulsar 200 NS Popular Suzuki Bikes ₹ 1.22 Lakh * Suzuki Gixxer Suzuki Burgman Street 125 ₹ 14.17 Lakh * ₹ 1.13 - 1.2 Lakh * ₹ 7.9 Lakh * Suzuki Hayate EP Suzuki V-Strom 650XT Suzuki GSX S1000 Suzuki GSX S1000F Suzuki GSX-R1000R	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line896
__label__cc	0.648889	0.351111	$83.4010.31% Home News (BTC) Bitcoin News Bakkt Pours ICE on Bitcoin Futures Market On Tuesday, Nov 20, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced a new date to start offering its latest futures contract — Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Daily Future — on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Instead of Dec 13, 2018, contracts will now be available for trade on Jan 24, 2019. The announcement comes via Bakkt, the company responsible for warehousing the Bitcoin (BTC) in this physically-settled futures contract. According to the company, it needs more time to ensure customer onboarding goes smoothly and they are able to trade from day one. CEO Kelly Loeffler shares a launch date update and answers other frequently asked questions https://t.co/5JuR4IOmEA — Bakkt (@Bakkt) November 20, 2018 This development coincides with the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) delayed decision on the VanEck/SolidX proposal, which will factor into the Bitcoin futures market in its consideration to allow the first Bitcoin ETF to commence operations. Unlike the VanEck/SolidX proposal, Bakkt is under the regulation of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Combined with the commoditization of Bitcoin, the path is clear to start out the operations of this new Bitcoin futures contract. The regulators still need to approve its operations, but the expectation is that approval is guaranteed. This is further supported by the significant amount of precedent as seen in the currently-operational, fully regulated “cash-settled” Bitcoin futures markets. This delay has caused a significant outburst among the cryptocurrency community, with many people accusing this move as a means to an end — specifically, an attempt to buy as much BTC as it can before going through with operations. Bakkt, however, ensures that it is pushing the timeline forward as a means to provide the best experience for everyone involved. The company’s CEO, Kelly Loeffler, explained that, as Bakkt is creating a new asset class, old processes are not enough. The risks and ways to mitigate them are different, and all of this requires testing. What do you think about this delay? Let us know in the comments below! Images courtesy of Twitter, Shutterstock. Tags: Bakkt NewsIntercontinental Exchange (ICE)New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line897
__label__wiki	0.57595	0.57595	THREE MONTHS LATER — Critical industrial control systems remain vulnerable to Heartbleed exploits Siemens products remain susceptible to hijacking, DoS attacks. Dan Goodin - Jul 18, 2014 5:14 pm UTC More than three months after the disclosure of the catastrophic Heartbleed vulnerability in the OpenSSL library, critical industrial control systems sold by Siemens remain susceptible to hijacking or crashes that can be triggered by the bug, federal officials have warned. The products are used to control switches, valves, and other equipment in chemical, manufacturing, energy, and wastewater facilities. Heartbleed is the name given to a bug in the widely used OpenSSL cryptographic library that leaks passwords, usernames, and secret encryption keys. While Siemens has updated some of its industrial control products to patch the Heartbleed vulnerability, others remain susceptible, an advisory published Thursday by the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team warned. "The vulnerabilities identified could impact authenticity, integrity, and availability of affected devices," the notice stated. "The man-in-the-middle attack could allow an attacker to hijack a session between an authorized user and the device. The other vulnerabilities reported could impact the availability of the device by causing the web server of the product to crash." Vulnerable systems include: APE versions prior to Version 2.0.2 (only affected if SSL/TLS component or Crossbow is used) CP1543-1: all versions ROX 1: all versions (only affected if Crossbow is installed) ROX 2: all versions (only affected if eLAN or Crossbow is installed) S7-1500: all versions WinCC OA (PVSS): Version 3.8 – 3.12 Siemens patched a variety of critical supervisory and control data acquisition products in the weeks immediately following the Heartbleed disclosure. Thursday's advisory said mitigations are available for the products that remain unpatched. maxmurderWise, Aged Ars Veteran I work with oil and gas industrial control software and I can tell you that security is a distant afterthought. I suppose we are no Siemens but I would guess it is a very similar story. Me: This software is horribly insecure, a 12 yo with a $20 laptop could shut down this whole system in minutes. I suggest we re-factor this code to be more secure and add at least some form of security layer to our embedded computers. Management: Sounds expensive, and we just sold a bunch of new features that don't actually exist yet so...	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line907
__label__cc	0.517359	0.482641	Baluk Arts A: 6 Bruce St, Mornington, VIC E: info@balukarts.org.au W: balukarts.org.au Facebook: BalukArts Instagram: @balukarts Baluk Arts is a 100 per cent Aboriginal-owned and operated not-for-profit Art Centre situated in Mornington on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. One of only two Art Centres of its kind in Victoria, Baluk Arts represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists who live in the South East region of Victoria. Highly original, the work produced by Baluk artists is sourced from the unique perspectives of Aboriginal Peoples with diverse origins, histories and experiences. The iconography and use of locally-sourced materials such as ochres, native plants and animals allows the artists to explore their own art styles within the context of the Mornington Peninsula. The Baluk artists have earned international recognition for their work. Audiences connect with the stories within the many handmade artworks and products which come in a range that includes works on paper, paintings, prints, jewellery, small sculpture, ceramics and carvings. All income made by Baluk Arts goes directly to artists and providing services and opportunities to the community through workshops, exhibitions, promotion and employment. It offers education and experiences of the diversity of contemporary Aboriginal stories for visitors to our gallery and beyond through workshops, artist talks and other cultural programs. Current artists: Gillian Garvie Tallara Gray Cassie Leatham Beverley Meldrum Ashleigh Pugh N’dene Riley Lisa Waup Dominic White Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line911
__label__wiki	0.753547	0.753547	Keringke Arts Aboriginal Art Centre A: Keringke Crescent, Santa Teresa, NT E: gallery@keringkearts.com.au W: keringkearts.com.au Keringke Arts Aboriginal Art Centre is an Aboriginal-owned and operated community Art Centre situated on the community of Ltyentye Apurte (also known as Santa Teresa), approximately one hour’s drive from Alice Springs. Established more than 30 years ago, Keringke Arts is named after a culturally significant rock hole on the community. While the stories and imagery of this vast Country and its Indigenous people influence the work produced by the Keringke artists, age-old motifs, landscape forms and patterns of movement lay the groundwork for dynamic and contemporary artwork. A wide range of goods are available from Keringke Arts including textiles, paintings, bowls and vases, with the work prized for its unique style and authentic connection to culture. The gallery is open Monday to Thursday from 9am to 4pm. No permit is required to enter the community and visitors are very welcome. Image: Jane Oliver, Hunting Story. Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40cm. Ikuntji Artists Iltja Ntjarra/Many Hands Art Centre	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line912
__label__wiki	0.598913	0.598913	Reality Rundown Hot Headlines The Black Beat Home › The Black Beat Will Beyonce Help Farrah Franklin With Her Legal Issues? The Rickey Smiley Morning Show So you probably heard that ex-Destiny’s Child member, Farrah Franklin was arrested. Reports say it was for disorderly conduct, but this isn’t the first time Farrah’s been in trouble with the law. Some say her life just hasn’t been the same since her departure from the group. Listen to Gary’s Tea in the audio player to hear if Beyonce should be the one to help her, you know since it was reported her father was the one who let Farrah go from the group! Get the latest from Gary’s Tea here and listen LIVE at 7:30 am & 8:30 am EST on “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show”! Will Beyonce Help Farrah Franklin With Her Legal Issues? was originally published on rickeysmileymorningshow.com Beyonce , Beyonce Farrah Franklin , Destiny's Child , Farrah Franklin , Farrah Franklin arrested , Gary With Da Tea , Gary's Tea 3 thoughts on “Will Beyonce Help Farrah Franklin With Her Legal Issues?” Mashonda on July 25, 2014 at 11:39 pm said: What a stupid question!! How stupid and ignorant of the rickey smiley show. Farrah wasn’t part of the original line up in Destiny’s Child. She was a replacement and no she wasn’t in DC for a year like you all stated. Farrah was in Destiny’s Child for 5 months & was let go because she wouldn’t attend rehearsals & missed events. why in the world would Beyoncé help farrah, a GROWN A** Woman, with her legal problems??! farrah’s problems don’t have anything to do with Beyoncé. And for you all to talk as if Beyoncé owes Farrah something.. Beyoncé doesn’t owe farrah a damn thang!! Like I said, Farrah was in the group for on 5 months and was a stressor to the group. She didn’t do anything good for the group. She couldn’t even sing as well according to Beyoncé.. Michelle saved the group because she could actually sing & fit in just nice with the remaining two girls. Beyoncé then wasn’t like Beyoncé today..dominating the music game, worlds most powerful celebrity, world most influential celebrity,friends with the President & First Lady, but even then when Beyoncé was she was really popular and the main star attraction in her group. Like that one cat said.. if you feel so strongly about farrah’s legal situation.. reach into YOUR pockets and give her YOUR money. Carolyn Bratton on July 24, 2014 at 10:57 pm said: If she did help out it would be to get publicity for herself. All about herself. Jessica on July 24, 2014 at 7:15 pm said: This is stupid ass question did she help Latavia when she was down, is she helping her little brother out, is she helping her daddy out HELL NO this is a waste of topic The one person who is innocent in all the mess connected to Beyoncé is her brother Nixon Knowles and she clearly shows she don’t give a damn so why would she even attempt to help Farrah Franklin out	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line920
__label__cc	0.553463	0.446537	K-12 Zone Teachers sue HISD over cheating probe By Ericka Mellon on January 15, 2014 at 4:55 PM Four teachers suspended during an investigation into alleged test cheating have filed a lawsuit against HISD seeking access to exam booklets and other possible evidence. The lawsuit alleges the Atherton Elementary School teachers have been kept in the dark as the Houston Independent School District investigates alleged cheating on state exams last year. The district reassigned the four teachers to off-campus duties in November during the probe, which is being conducted by a local law firm hired by HISD. According to court records, the investigation appears to center on suspicious state test results from Atherton fifth-graders last school year. The teachers who filed the lawsuit— Reuel Sosa, Jennifer Sterling, Veronica Davis and Sheri Jackson — also are seeking access to students and parents who may have been interviewed by the district’s investigators with the Martin, Disiere, Jefferson & Wisdom law firm. In addition, the suit asks permission for a court reporter to be present during interviews of the teachers. “At this point,” HISD said in a statement, “these interviews are simply part of an internal investigation of what potentially happened and not a finding of fault against any of the teachers. As such, HISD believes the requests outlined in this order are both premature and disruptive to the investigation.” The Houston Chronicle reported in January that an analysis conducted by the Texas Education Agency found an unusual number of erasure marks on the fifth-grade exams from Atherton. The exams were part of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. Ericka Mellon	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line929
__label__cc	0.693194	0.306806	Ashland Community & Technical College>News Archive>Angel Investment Group Launched in Ashland Angel Investment Group Launched in Ashland Eastern Kentucky businesses will no longer need to go out of the area to obtain funding help, said Mick Fosson, director of the Kentucky Innovation Network Office in Ashland. The Office is establishing the Tri State Angel Investment Group (TSAIG) that is focused on investing in startup businesses throughout the region. Our team, made up of savvy, successful and dedicated business leaders, has worked diligently to have a significant fund available. The group has already created an investment fund. Now, we are ready to begin the process of looking at investment deals and helping our regional businesses succeed. In addition to working directly with entrepreneurs, TSAIG also plans to collaborate with the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, the Kentucky Innovation Network, Kentucky Angels Network, the Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) initiative and other groups to encourage innovation and strengthen the small business climate in eastern Kentucky. By increasing the exposure between investors and entrepreneurs, we can provide opportunities to invest in Kentuckys companies of tomorrow and provide growth capital to entrepreneurs, said Mandy Lambert, Commissioner of Business Development in the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. TSAIG will support and grow the entrepreneurial and creative communities in the region. The Kentucky Innovation Network Office in Ashland, established through Ashland Community and Technical College, serves Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Greenup, Lawrence and Lewis Counties. For more information, contact Fosson at: mick.fosson@kctcs.edu.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line933
__label__wiki	0.804791	0.804791	Malaysia -- a trade war safe haven? Country can compete for more investment but only with more structural reform William Pesek June 03, 2019 03:00 JST Malaysia's economy will likely grow 4.3%-4.8% this year compared to 4.7% in 2018, according to official forecasts. © Getty Images Is Malaysia an unlikely safe haven as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping escalate their trade war? Absolutely, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng. Well, what else is Malaysia's economic czar going to say? To some, though, the numbers back up Lim's optimistic spin. Economic growth is holding up nicely -- rising 4.5% from a year earlier in the first quarter. Foreign direct investment surged 95% year-on-year the three months to March to $5.18 billion. Not a bad showing for Malaysia's newish government at the one-year mark. "Investors like what they see," Lim told Nikkei in a May 28 interview. "They see strong fundamentals, but also they are reassured by the new government's commitment toward transparency and accountability." Here, Lim is not exaggerating. It is breathtaking to consider where Malaysia was in May 2018, when Mahathir Mohamad trounced scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak. Even with the controversies surrounding Najib's nine years in power, his political machine was widely expected to return him to the premiership. The upset by Mahathir, then 92, surprised Najib so much that he forgot to hide the suitcases of cash investigators confiscated from his residence. The billions missing from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the state fund Najib created in 2009, spawned investigations from New York to Zurich and continues to keep Interpol busy. Voters turned to Mahathir, who led the nation from 1981 to 2003, to restore calm, trust and fiscal probity. Lim, 58, is spearheading the economic recovery effort. Entering Lim's sprawling office overlooking Putrajaya, one almost expects to have to step over crime tape. The exploits of Najib, who now faces corruption charges, could easily inspire a "CSI: Malaysia" crime serial. Lim becomes quite animated when recounting his first day on the job. "It was shocking!" he tells me. "Completely without the knowledge of the public, we had fake files, we had hidden files, we recorded even fake accounts and creative accounting." His team "were shocked at the extent of the abuse of power, of financial malpractice. Daylight robbery! And that [Najib] could do it so blatantly, thinking he could get away with it." The best Lim can say about the last nine years: "At least the government has not gone bankrupt." One year is hardly time enough to reverse such neglect and alleged malfeasance. Lim reckons the cleanup will take two more years. Along with shining daylight on the previous government's "hanky-panky," Lim's first priority is reducing Malaysia's 1 trillion ringgit of public debt, or about $232 billion, which is equivalent to more than 50% of gross domestic product. Progress is being made, Lim insisted, pointing to the jump in FDI as proof global investors know a good turnaround story when they see one. Over the last 12 months, Lim went about eliminating a goods-and-services-tax system Team Mahathir deemed unfair, policing infrastructure projects to save cash and moving to "open tenders" bidding to curb graft. Yet Malaysia cannot let the safe-haven chatter go to its head. After a decade of scandal and complacency, it is still struggling to beat the "middle-income trap," when per capita incomes stall around $10,000, the level at which Malaysia finds itself today. "We must ensure that the economy can grow at a strong pace," both to reduce debt and create good-paying jobs, Lim says. Mopping up after scandal-plagued Najib Razak, Mahathir Mohamad, left, and Lim Guan Eng must push overdue reforms and deal with the trade war. © AP That means leveling the playing field not just for startups, but the private sector in general. The last several years saw Malaysia slide backward, enabling state-linked companies to maintain their dominance. Yet Lim's reform efforts have already put some key wins on the scoreboard. In 2018, Malaysia ranked 24th on the World Bank's ease-of-doing-business survey. It is now 15th thanks to successes simplifying the process of starting a business and securing permits for construction, electricity, property and cross-border trading. "For us to escape the middle-income trap, it is important that we create an entrepreneurial state," Lim says. The government is mulling additional moves to reduce red tape, enliven the venture capital scene and perhaps even cut corporate taxes at some point. Lim noted that the tech-startup successes in neighboring Singapore and Indonesia are increasing the urgency for change. "To create unicorns, you must have the ecosystem," Lim said. Malaysia, he added, "has what it takes. We have the talent, we have the technology, we have a new government that is very tolerant of new ideas." Yet this government has been slow to change race-based affirmative action policies benefiting the Malay majority. On the one hand, the appointment of an ethnically Chinese finance chief (Lim) is itself a sign of change. On the other, Mahathir has been slow to scale back preferential treatment Malays enjoy for jobs, government contracts, university spots and housing. These quotas, which date back to 1970, turn off many foreign investors and undermine productivity. They also are responsible for a debilitating brain-drain. For example, Malaysian entrepreneur Anthony Tan launched Grab in Singapore, not at home. While Lim acknowledges all this is a challenge, it is disappointing to hear him blame "sensational reporting" by foreign journalists hyping the issue. Those banking on an economic miracle are feeling disappointed. But, it is hard not to marvel at the shift in sentiment toward Malaysia in just 12 months. That said, there is still plenty for Mahathir and Lim to do. As well as mopping up after Najib, they must push overdue reforms and deal with the trade war. Though Malaysia has come a long way since the 1997 Asian crisis, some of Mahathir's policy mistakes from that time in office still plague the nation. Back then, meltdowns in Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea resulted in wholesale reforms. Malaysia, by contrast, did more to wall itself off from markets than modernize the economy. It treated the symptoms of malaise rather than the underlying problems. As for Trump's trade war, Lim derides it as a "mistake." Speaking in Tokyo last week, including at the Nikkei Future of Asia conference, Mahathir called it "stupid." But rhetoric is not enough. If Malaysia is to be seen as a "neutral ground away from the trade conflict," as Lim wants, the government must act more boldly to win additional foreign capital before global conditions shift, perhaps for the worse. If it does, "CSI: Malaysia" may just have a happy ending. William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades." He was given the 2018 prize for excellence in opinion writing by the Society of Publishers in Asia for his Nikkei Asian Review work. Japan's Convenience Store Woman has lessons for retail tech China and Russia close ranks as Trump's trade war intensifies Shanghai tech board opens door to broad China IPO reform Vietnam must act boldly to avoid getting trumped by the trade war Malaysia a haven for foreign money as trade war rages: minister The Future of Asia 2019 Malaysia will use Huawei tech 'as much as possible,' says Mahathir Malaysia's economy slows as US-China trade war hits exports	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line935
__label__cc	0.598942	0.401058	Astro Guyz The Sky is Waiting. Astro Culture Great Books of Science Great Science Fiction Novels Astro News & Commentary The Debunker Weekly Astro-events Do It Yourself Astronomy Astronomy on the Cheap The Vagabond Astronomer Astronomers’ Tales Astronomy: a Philosophy Extreme Astronomy Classic Experiments Waiting to be Duplicated Real Science you can do You are here: Home / Archives for sirius b Sirius B and the Curious Case of the Dogon. May 4, 2011 By David Dickinson 4 Comments The ever-controversial star Sirius. (Photo by Author). Every beginning astronomy student learns that Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. This brightness is apparent, as Sirius is a spectral type A1V star located relatively close to our solar system at about 8.6 light years away. Much myth and lore surrounds this star, but none is stranger that the mythology of the Dogon people. Incorporated into the mythos of these people that inhabit the plains of Mali is a bizarre tale of Sirius, which they call Sigi Tolo. They claim that the star has a small unseen companion in a 50 year orbit that they call Po Tolo. This companion star is tiny but dense, so dense that all the men in the world could not lift it. The mystery deepens as they also go on to claim that Jupiter has four large moons, and that Saturn has a ring “like that seen sometimes around the Moon, but different…” All of these claims are basically true. Sirius has a companion star, a white dwarf known as Sirius B discovered in 1862 by Alvan Graham Clark. This star is made up of degenerate matter, making it extremely dense, about 1×109 per kg/m^3. And the knowledge of Jupiter and Saturn has been around since Galileo first turned his crude telescope to the heavens… The Dogon People… (Credit: Martha de Jong Lantink’s Flickr photostream on a Creative Commons 2.0 License). So, what’s going on here? Why would an isolated tribe have knowledge that technology only revealed to western eyes in the past few centuries? A quick search around the Internet of the Dogon and Sirius reveals no shortage of theories involving ancient alien contact. The modern pedigree of this tale can be traced back to a 1976 book by Robert Temple entitled The Sirius Mystery. Remember, the 1970’s was a time when Eric von Daniken and his Chariots of the Gods was in vogue, and archeologists were seeing space-helmeted aliens everywhere. Temple based much of his book on the writings of anthropologist Marcel Griaule, who spent time with the Dogon off and on from 1931 to 1956. And much of that particular legend comes from an interview with local Dogon wise man Ogotemmeli. You get the picture. Further research with the Dogon has revealed either no trace of the legend or discrepancies with the tale. For example, they also state that there is a third star in the Sirius system they call Emme ya Tolo, which is the opposite of Po Tolo in that it is both “big and light” but no other star has yet to have been found. Also, as with any sole source, it’s tough to say how much bias there may have been on the part of the recorder… it’s easy to lead a subject, even subconsciously, to the data that we might want to hear. In addition, some confusion exists on whether Ogotemmeli was referring to Sirius or the bright planet Venus in reciting the tale. The orbit of Sirius B. (Adapted from Burnham’s Celestial Handbook). In 1979, Carl Sagan proposed that the information might have been given to the Dogon by an external source, albeit a terrestrial one. Keep in mind, the legend coming to light in the 20th century wasn’t really giving us any new information about Sirius; psychics perform this feat all the time when they claim to have predicted events that have already happened. When we look at ancient myths and lore, we need to be mindful of the creativity of the human mind; after all, what would archaeologists thousands of years from now make of a Star Trek episode? That we somehow had warp drive and phaser technology? A true myth having some sort of predictive power would be far more compelling. Does this mean that the discovery of a red dwarf star around Sirius, as was spuriously reported in the 1990’s, would lend some credence to the tale? While interesting, I don’t necessarily believe so, as red/brown dwarf stars are quite common in the cosmos; for example, it’s not totally ruled out that our own sun may have a dim unseen companion! Like white dwarfs, red dwarfs are common throughout the cosmos. (Credit: NASA/H. Bond). What Sagan proposed is that the knowledge was passed on by a visiting explorer in the late 19th century, and incorporated into the Dogon mythos by the time Griaule did her interview. The image is compelling; an explorer eager to tell the “primitives” about the triumph of western science, imparting new information to the Dogon about their honored star. Keep in mind, another ancient African people, the Egyptians, based their calendar on the Sothic cycle and the helical rising of the star Sirius. Perhaps, said explorer had a telescope on hand to show them Jupiter and Saturn for good measure. The original Dogon Sirius diagram. (Credit: Bad Archaeology). But do any historical expeditions fit the bill? Well, there was in fact a total solar eclipse that passed over the region of modern day Mali on April 16th, 1893, and several expeditions were indeed in the area; these expeditions would have been well-equipped with astronomical gear and astronomy and curiosity about the heavens would have been on the forefront of everyone’s minds. And yes, Saturn had just passed opposition and Jupiter would have been an early evening target in the months leading up to that date. Jupiter at dusk in April 1893. (Created by the Author in Starry Night). And the diagram purported to be centuries old? Well, keep in mind that it only bears a passing resemblance to an elliptical orbit; it looks a lot like an egg, which symbolizes re-birth and is prevalent in the mythos of many cultures (witness the “Easter eggs” of western culture; a throwback to pure paganism!) The original diagram sketched out by Ogotemmeli shows several other curious objects within the egg; later commentators have edited them out making the case for Sirius B to seem more conclusive than it really is. And keep in mind that we see the orbit of a binary star system generally tipped to our line of sight between either edge-on and face on; it would relatively easy to find several “matches” to the Dogon diagram in the sky. The total solar eclipse of 1893. (Credit: Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC). While I think the Dogon case is more interesting than most, I don’t find it compelling as a sign of ancient extra-terrestrial contact. Keep in mind, this is still giving us knowledge that we already knew; exacting knowledge, such as a chant that encoded how to build a functioning hyper-drive, for instance, would be much more inexplicable and compelling. The final fact often cited is that the Dogon believe in a heliocentric, or Sun-centered solar system, a fact that took us centuries of denial to realize. In this case, I believe that the Dogon should be recognized as astute observers of the sky; anyone can arrive at this conclusion as the Greeks initially did by merely studying the naked eye motions of the heavens and not allowing pre-conceived notions of how the world should be to cloud their judgment. All too often, we fail to give credit to the ingenuity of ancient cultures where credit is due. These people knew the sky far better than the average citizen does today and relied on it as a natural clock. Perhaps such intimate knowledge of peoples like the Dogon should be viewed for what it really is, rather than attributed as merely given to them from afar. Filed Under: Astro News, Astro News & Commentary, The Debunker Tagged With: archaeoastronomy, astronomy, carl sagan, david dickinson, dogon, red dwarf, sirius, sirius b, sirius companion, sirius mystery, skepticism, white dwarf Astro-Event of the Week: Can You Spy Sirius B? April 19, 2010 By David Dickinson 3 Comments This week’s challenge is a tough one, and may deserve a re-visit or two over the coming decade to yield success. Everyone knows that Sirius is this brightest star in the sky, but did you know that it has a tiny, elusive white dwarf companion? Tough to locate, this +8.7 magnitude object currently lies at an apparent separation of 9” arc seconds and growing. Usually, that wouldn’t be a tough split, except for the fact that bright Sirius A swamps it out by its -1.42 magnitude brightness! To spot it, you’ll need a telescope of at least 4” aperture, high magnification, and clear, pristine skies. Also, an eyepiece equipped with an occulting bar could prove helpful; the trick is to cover up the bright primary to the northeast while Sirius B lies to the left at a south western position angle. Filed Under: Astro News, Astro News & Commentary, Weekly Astro-events Tagged With: apastron, astronomy, degenerate matter, dogon, double stars, elctron degeneracy, moon, periastron, rigel, sirius, sirius b, Telescope April 2010: Life in the Astro-Blogosphere. April 1, 2010 By David Dickinson Leave a Comment Spring is now in full swing in the northern hemisphere, as the nights draw shorter and the climes hopefully warmer. Here is a brief rundown of all-things-Astroguyz in the coming month as we delve into the perpetual quest for the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything astronomy related; Filed Under: Astro News, Astro News & Commentary Tagged With: cape canaveral, discovery, falconx, Hubble space telescope, occutations, pink moon, pleiades, sima scorpii, sirius b, sts-131, u arietis, v hyrdae Astro-Challenge:Spy a White Dwarf! November 30, 2009 By David Dickinson 1 Comment This week, I’m going to introduce you to a unique but fascinating multiple star system, and one that’s definitely worth seeking out as it’s a good study in comparative stellar evolution; Omicron Eridani. This one will require a telescope of about 4′ aperture or greater, a go-to scope or a good finder chart, and patience. But the quarry is worth it; for Omicron Eridanus B is a white dwarf, the most easily observable in the sky, paired with C, a red dwarf star! Omicron Eridani is a triple star system, about 16.5 light years distant. The primary star, a K type main sequence star, is visible to the naked eye at a magnitude of about +4.5. Known to the Arabs as Al Keid (“the Egg”), Filed Under: Astro News, Astro News & Commentary, Weekly Astro-events Tagged With: 40 eridani, chandrasekhar linit, elctron degeneracy, keid, omicron eridani, red dwarf, sirius b, stellar evolution, struve, terrestrial planet finder, vulcan, white dwarf Search AstroGuyz The Current Number of Exoplanets Discovered is: 4100 Follow @Astroguyz Advertise on Astroguyz! Science Book Reviews Unmasking Europa A Professor, A President and Meteor The Calculus Diaries Confessions of an Alien Hunter The Sun Kings The Universe in a Mirror Death from the Skies Astro Documentaries From Earth to the Moon Journey to Palomar Seeing in the Dark Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force. DIY Astronomy How to Guide for Satellite Spotting Tips for Meteor Shower Observing Desktop Science Programs Observing in Bright Skies Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt. Make Your Own Telescope for Less than 50 Bucks! Family Backyard Stargazing How to Make an Observatory from a Kit Shed Make Your Own Solar Filter Free Space Launch Viewing Sites Affordable, Low-Tech Satellite Imaging World Wide Telescope Review The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14. Astronomy Gear Reviews Trick Out Your Scope Starry Night Pro 6 Classic 1X Finder Canon’s Image-Stabilized Binoculars Personal Solar Telescope Astronomy Uses for the Glovelite Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant. Astronomical Observing Targets Geminorum A Clone of Albireo Beta Monocerotis: A True Triple O’Neill’s Bridge Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass. Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite. A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image. Solis, by A. A. Antanasio Diving Into the Wreck The Quiet War 1984, by George Orwell	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line939
__label__cc	0.591957	0.408043	Archive for the ‘Theology’ Category Does ‘Forgiveness’ Mean Letting Offenders Ride Rough Shod Over Us? Posted by Barry Pittard on July 8, 2010 In a list of systemically misleading topics, ‘forgiveness’ would have to rank near the top. Wooly notions about it all too readily allow perpetrators to go free and without challenge. They can remain perpetrators, and their victims left in abject circumstance. Those who advocate passive types of forgiveness too often invite themselves to be trodden upon. Still more, their modeling of a behaviour creates contexts which allow others around them to be trodden upon, as well. I view foregiveness as the cultivation of an inner attitude, where – while still attending to what one conceives to be civil and ethical duties – one takes daily steps towards achieving an inner peace, and moves away from first reactions, such as thirsting for and implementing revenge. This inner attitude is far removed from notions such as peace at all costs, or the fool’s ‘paradise’ of avoidance of issues, of being in denial, of being lovey-dovey and wishy-washy, and of retreating to euphoric states. I heard the Dalai Lama speak well on the subject of forgiveness, and made notes. See: Dalai Lama: Forgiveness does not mean forgetfulness The Public Petition Information on the Public Petition for Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization About the Petition For Official Investigation Into Sathya Sai Baba Cult (Note: You may prefer to proceed straight to the Petition): Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL) Posted in New Age, Opinion, Psychology, Religion, South Asia, Spirituality, Theology, Theosophy, Uncategorized, World Religions \| Tagged: ethics, Forgiveness, Morality, Morals, Public Petition, the Dalai Lama \| Leave a Comment » Hearts Yearning May we rise above the shadows of the divides and see the same Light and the same yearning in the hearts of all, however differently expressed Note: My preference on reading any of the central, archetypal stories in the sacred or other key literatures of the different cultures is to approach them via the heart. Intellect can do a service; however, once the heart and the imagination are out of the equation, there is the risk of entering the realms of what is doctrinaire, dogmatic and theological. When there is any claim to a superiority of one path over another, there is the instant throwing up of fortresses, watchtowers and crocodile-infested moats. Happily, there are many from faiths and those not given to faith who get along very well in workplaces and wider communities. Perhaps what they embody provides a role model that the world might well value. Rock-a-bye This Babe. A Christmas Lullaby Rock-a-bye this babe, this babe in your heart keep Whose love is awake though the babe is asleep Take him, hold him in your heart till he wakes He’s new born for us care-worn, O see the difference he makes This Christmas, this babe, so deep in your heart keep Whose love is a Feast fit to feed a mean street Sing him, sing him, with a voice sweet and clear Fling out the darkness, fling out the fear! Oh, rock-a-bye this babe, so deep in your heart keep Whose love is awake and yet this babe is asleep You take him, you hold him in your heart till he wakes Hearts yearning, hearts burning Three wise men searched for one more wise Who opens hearts, who purifies Hearts yearing, hearts burning In sleep no peace, just this tossing-turning On earth no peace, just relentless burning Where the bright star pointed and alighted Where the beasts in the chill cold seek some bed Even in some crowded cattle shed And in all those parts sprang a sacred fire In the wise men's hearts sang an angel choir Alleluia. All-ay-ay lu ia Hearts yearning, feet burning The donkey rests from the frosted road The jest of man, though it bears his load Heart yearning, such yearning! Its soft eyes glow from the starlit baby It knows of the load of that gracious lady So blessed though exhausted Where the bright star hovered and alighted In this simple, little cattle shed And in all these parts sprang a mystic fire In that donkey's heart sang the angelic choir Alleluia. Alleluia Troops stamping, troops tramping! This little family took dread flight From Herod's men in the depths of night Troops burning, troops, burning! Deep red stained - the swords would kill that yearning On the earth for the end to the ceaseless burning All blood-red their footsteps As they went mass-killing all the infant lads Like beasts in the dead night feast on lambs So did Rome's puppet, with his bullies and his shams Wormwood was no cure for Herod and his ire And his writhing fear there would come a Messiah Starlight led sore footsteps Where the beasts in the chill cold sought some bed Where in all earth's parts sprang a sacred fire Where we would all sing as an angel choir In all our hearts – an angel choir In all our hearts – this angel choir …. etc., ….. Note: Both songs protected by The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Posted in New Age, Religion, Sikhism, South Asia, Spirituality, Theology, Theosophy, Uncategorized, World Religions \| Tagged: Buddhism, Christianity, Christmas, Jainism, Judaism, Nativity \| Leave a Comment » Robert Priddy’s Views on Key Human Values in Relation To Sathya Sai Baba Posted by Barry Pittard on December 6, 2009 In the brief article – Human Values – Sai Baba’s truncated ideas – Robert Priddy, an academic philosopher at the University of Oslo for many years, and a former head of the Sathya Sai Organization in Norway, states his view of what human values are, in contradistinction to “divinely-instated values for humans” as proclaimed by Sathya Sai Baba. In the mind of any serious educator, especially when versed in the history of educational theory and practice, very concerning questions are raised. One of the key concerns is that, in the Sathya Sai educational undertaking, critical thinking is distinctly missing. When an English teacher at the Sathya Sai College in Whitefield, via Bangalore, South India, then Sai Baba’s premier education institution, I was alarmed at the extraordinary amount of rote learning to be seen. Swatting and regurgitation were on all sides. It was as though the great educational innovators, whether East or West, had never lived. Where were the exiting staff room discussions? Where was the meeting of minds? Where were the in-service professional development programs? Where was there a working towards new paradigms? Rather, things were stuck in a time warp. Here or there was a teacher in love with his subject who deeply cherished the students (I think fondly of my former colleague P.K. Mohanti), but each lecturer slaved away in his own ‘burrow’. Lacking was a sense of the organic, of a meaningful community of learning. Marks and gold medals were the thing, and a wider unreformed education system in India reenforced this defecit of true learning. True, there were movements of reform in India, but the Sathya Sai setup, despite all the trumpet-blowing by those of narrow, uncritical mindsets on education, was decidedly not one of them. In the way of innovation, I was fortunate in having the protection of the Principal (which actually meant Sai Baba), who handed over his own third year degree course to me as well as my teaching the other two years of the English course and the encouragement of the scientist and Sai Baba’s chief interpreter into English Dr S. Bhagavantham and the Board and two of my immediate colleagues, and many marvelous boys (both those devoted and not devoted to Sathya Sai Baba). But the flaws were great. As the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values spread throughout Sai centers around the world, one could, yet again, see serious flaws. One saving grace was that contributors to the formation of the courses were international, which meant that some very antiquated teaching theory and practice got knocked aside. Since Robert Priddy and Serguei Badaev (the latter of whom was closely involved in SSEHV), both of them longtime educators, have incisively raised key questions, I shall point my readers to some of their critical work on Sathya Sai education programs. See my article: Sathya Sai Baba Critic Serguei Badaev: An Incisive Voice of Conscience From Russia Priddy writes: “The values according to [or against which] we act are unavoidable and essential links that tie together personal perceptions and judgements, motives and actions into the sphere of common cultural values. They are central to grasping the motivations of our social and political life. Sai Baba promotes his own brand of ‘five human values’, which is a simple and often all too vague recipe. His biographer Kasturi writes that Sai Baba scribbled the 5 values down on the back of an envelope when Kasturi asked him to define them. Grabbed as if out of thin air without any deeper thought, it is quite evident how shallow, rigid and incomplete they are when examined carefully and critically. They can only function at a most elementary level of teaching children, at best, for the doctrine is flawed and is badly out of step with modern thought and educational standards (outside developing nations)” . Some Robert Priddy links on these issues 1) The Common Acceptance of Human Values 2) In what may human values consist? 3) Distinguishing and defining values 4) Human values defined in practice 5) Values and Anti-values 6) Values, character development and psychic health 7) Inherent failings in Sai’s human values 8 ) Sai Baba’s teaching’s shortage of universal educational concepts and contents 9) Simplicity and vagueness in the service of moralism 10) The taint of intellectual and moral rigidity 11) Human justice as distinct from divine command 12) Sai Educare’s fundamentalist, doctrinaire teachings? For still more detailed analysis of the above issues click here – SSEHV Exposed and: Cardinal Failings in Sai Baba’s Human Values. Where the Teachings and the Teacher Go Wrong Links for the study of Sathya Sai Education in Human Values and ‘Educare’ -and their shortcomings or failings – are found here:- Sai_Baba_Five_Human_Values Cardinal_Failings_in_Sai_Baba’s_Human_Values Human_Values_as_Common_Ideals Sathya_Sai_Educare_fundamentalist_doctrine Sathya_Sai_Educare Why the Sathya Sai organization is a cult See also -: Serguei Badaev The Story of My Disqualification by Serguei Badaev (ex-President of Sathya Sai Organization, Moscow Centre, ex-deputy National Coordinator and National SSEHV Coordinator, Russia) Badaev has written: “Critical thinking, as one of a basic skills of character building, is absolutely opposed to the EHV and Sai Educare approaches. I think it is a threat to the Sathya Sai mini-empire. The situation is in a sense very similar to what occurred during the Soviet regime. Communist leaders needed people with good character to work hard and with enthusiasm. But the regime tried to restrict firmly (or to control) the area of application of their intellect and research skills to keep themselves safe from their analysis. The same with Sathya Sai. There is a sort of invisible circle around him where you should abandon your critical skills and submit completely to his uncertainty and mystery. Another interesting aspect of Sai education is an idea of separate education of boys and girls which is taken for granted without any serious justification”. Barry Pittard On Serguei Badaev Barry Pittard’s comments in regard to the Public Petition) -: Petition For Official Investigation Into Sathya Sai Baba Cult Posted in Morality, Opinion, Philosophy, Religion, South Asia, Theology, Theosophy, Uncategorized, World Religions \| Tagged: Educare, Education, Education in Human Values, Human Values, SSEHV, Teaching \| Leave a Comment » Sathya Sai Baba Topic On CNN-IBN – on his 81st birthday CNN-IBN ( CNN-India Broadcast News) is an English language Indian TV news channel lauched in 2005. The network is a partnership between Global Broadcast News (GBN) and Turner International (Turner) in India. Rajdeep Sardesai is the Editor-in-Chief of the network. One may comment: What debate?! CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO ON-LINE if unavailable, click here Source: CNN-IBN TV interviews: “Debate – Sai Baba a Godsend?” See Topics posted at ‘Call For Media and Government Investigation’: Sathya Sai Baba Birthday 2009 Golden Throne of India’s Sathya Sai Baba. He says he will Rule the world soon For earlier birthday events at Puttaparthi: Sai Baba’s Imperial 83rd Birthday Celebrations Photo, Puttaparthi, India Posted in Morality, News and Politics, Opinion, Protest, Rationalism, Skeptics, Theology, Uncategorized, World Issues \| Tagged: CNN-IBN \| 1 Comment » For such a golden self-proclaimed Avatar of all Avatars (Divine Incarnations), can there be any better illustration of the old saw: all that glitters is not gold? See the photo evidence in this and my recent posts. Some further revealing photos of the incredible opulence via which Sathya Sai Baba presents himself are at the links listed below. The photo below was taken a few days ago, in a public appearance intended as a lead-up to the Sathya Sai Baba’s 83rd birthday, which is 23 November, 2008. Sathya Sai Speaks. ‘I Do Not Like This Pomp’ Indian God’s Birthday. Says Will Rule World. Photo Golden Glitter For Sai Baba Posted in New Age, News and Politics, Rationalism, Religion, Sai Baba, Skeptics, Spirituality, Theology, Uncategorized, World Issues, World Religions \| Tagged: Avatar of all Avatars, Birthday celebrations at Puttaparthi, Divine Incarnation, God's birthday, Sathya Sai Baba 83 \| Leave a Comment » Ex-NASA Scientist and Wife Test Sathya Sai Baba’s ‘Grace’ In 2000, Sathya Sai Baba devotees worldwide wanted desperately to cope with the allegations falling thick and fast of Sai Baba’s serial widespread sexual molestations of boys and young men. Devotees extensively circulated a photocopy of talks by Yaani and her husband Professor Al Drucker at the ‘United Kingdom Sai Baba Retreat’, April, 2000. These two, especially Al Drucker, have been very influential in the history of the Sai Baba movement. Referring in their talks to Jaani Drucker’s rape in an official Sathya Sai Center, they both held that Jaani is not her body. She is only in a dream. Not being her body, but the eternal Atma, Jaani was never raped. All is the Lord’s Grace. There is here a procrustean stretching of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Some have posited an ultimate state of non-physical being, but to do so can be to merge not into some blissful state of enlightenment but rather partake of an unreality which little equips human beings for deciding on issues of responsibility to their psychological welfare. The Wishing Away Of Unpleasant Realities For example, none should entertain the notion: The boys and young men who have had terribly shocking experiences at the hands of Sathya Sai Baba are not their body. Therefore, nothing, in all reality, happened to them. Secondly, even IF the Druckers were to be in some elevated state of spiritual enlightenment, it would be mistaken for anyone to think that all others should be as the Druckers. Is the Druckers’ expression of a non-dualistic philosophy one to model to those struggling to make sense out of the shocks of the world or of the workaday world of commonsense and responsibility? The advaita philosophy improperly interpreted is full of dangers for the unwary. Alvin Drucker, Former NASA scientist . (An early photo) Al Drucker’s wife, Jaani Belief System Interpretation of ‘Exalted’ Experiences Jaani Drucker is surely right when she says “Denial gives energy to the darkest fears by attempting to hide them and put them out of the consciousness. Exposing our fears or negative qualities undoes them and reveals them as the nothing that they have always been”. However, one may doubt whether she has understood the power of but one of the human mind’s radical coping mechanisms when she relates, “Even while I was being brutally raped, within me all fear and horror of the situation had left. Quite inexplicably I became very calm and to my astonishment discovered an incredible compassion welling up in my heart”. However, those on some ‘spiritual’ paths will immediately interpret the experience according to their belief system. There are many accounts of those in situations of danger who have had similar experiences. But the happy state into which they entered is later belied, for example by their shaking bodies subsequent to the event and, far more, to poste-traumatic aftermaths. Former Devotee Ends Her Euphoria Ella Evers, along with her late husband had led a US Sathya Sai Baba center in Oregon, USA. (John had been a banker who had served as a Dutch intelligence officer in the war against Hitler’s Germany). Ella and John were among those many in the United States Sathya Sai Organization who left it after investigated cases within Sai Centers, having – with signal failure – put to the national leaders – such as Dr John Hislop, Dr Michael Goldstein, Bob Bozzani, Dr John C. Evans, Dr William Harvey, Dr Phylis Kristal, and others – the serious allegations that were arising within the organization, particularly about allegations against Sathya Sai Baba of his serial widespread sexual abuse of boys and young men. The following report depicts an experience familiar to very many former devotees who had earlier ignored the evidence of grave malpractice. They, in a state of psychological denial and commonly a euphoric state, preferred to rationalize the conflicted situations as “Swami’s Divine Play”, “Swami’s helping to speed up the evolution of those with bad karma”, and so on. A Former Devotee Ends Her Euphoria The Grant’s Pass (Oregon, USA) newspaper reporter wrote: Evers claims that, during a trip to the India compound in 1989, she glimpsed Sai Baba unzipping the pants of a boy before the holy man jumped up and closed a gap in the interview curtain. “Wanting so desperately to be a good devotee”, she blamed her own impure thoughts and suppressed what she’d seen until she learned of other stories last year, she said. Evers doesn’t want to take away from the good works of Sai Baba followers, but she believes they have been slowly drawn in and discouraged from thinking for themselves. Source: Controversial holy man’s followers gather near Grants Pass. Patricia Snyder. Grants Pass Daily Courier. August 31, 2001. The Ways of The Mind. Some reflections on an article by Elena Hartgering. By Åsa Samsioe (psychologist and practicing therapist, Sweden. Åsa is a former devotee of Sathya Sai Baba) Nothing Is Real, Strawberry Fields Forever or ‘Yaani Drucker on how nothing was turned into nothing, by nobody’ by Reidun Priddy Yanni Drucker and Sathya Sai Baba’s Advaitic Doctrine A recipe for confusion and personality disorder? by Robert Priddy Cultic Depersonalization or Demonization of Dissenters Being In Denial. A Sai Baba Experience Exiting A Top International Cult. A Sai Baba Experience Dr Timothy Conway’s Summary of Ullrich Zimmermann Interview Legalistic Abuse: Catholic Church And Sathya Sai Organization Posted in Morality, New Age, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Religion, Sex, Spirituality, Theology, Uncategorized, World Religions \| Tagged: Advaita Vedanta, Al Drucker, Åsa Samsioe, Daily Courier, Denial, Ella Evers, Grant's Pass, Hitler's Germany, Reidun Priddy, unzipping \| 3 Comments » One of India’s most powerful Hindu nationalist leaders, Ashok Singhal, who has an international profile in the Hindu world, has just told an assembly of political and religious luminaries in Delhi of a prophecy he says Sathya Sai Baba shared with him. The Organiser, September 14, 2008, reports: “… Shri Singhal also threw light on how to strengthen the Hindu society and unite our great India. The VHP leader, while disclosing his discussion with Satya Sai Baba, said that Sai Baba had informed him that between 2020 and 2030 the whole India would be of Hindus and after 2030 the whole world would be of Hindus”. Amrut Mahotsav of Dr Suresh Bajpai Leaders laud his dedication, service The Individual referred to in the quote (right) is the international president of the VHP, which stands for Vishwa Hindu Parishad, founded by the late Swami Chinmayananda. It grew from a number of the factors that birthed the Hindu nationalist organisation known as RSS or Rashtriya Swamyamsekak Sangh, which is very powerful, militant and highly organized. According to David James Smith, Hinduism and Modernity P189, Blackwell Publishing ISBN 0-631-20862-3 VHP general secretary, S.S. Apte, formerly a member of the RSS, stated: “The world has been divided to Christian, Islam and Communist. All of them view Hindu society as very fine rich food on which to feast and fatten themselves. it is necessary in this age of conflict to think of and organize the Hindu world to save it from the evils of all the three”. (see http://organiser.org/archives/historic/dynamic/modules2f80.html) See Wikipedia articles: Rashtriya Swamyamsekak Sangh When Disasters Overtake S. Sai Baba’s Promises Quote: “There are Sathya Sai Baba devotees in some of the highest echelons of power in various countries. Their faith in him may be touching but not likely to be fulfilled. Despite various statements such as that that he would not age or get sick, he looks fragile and decrepit, increasingly muttering oddities and making egregious blunders”. See Sathya Sai Baba’s Tips To Keep Ageing Away. Has ‘World Saviour’ Missed His Plane? Quote: “In his February 16, 2007 so-called ‘divine discourse’, Sai Baba said, “I intend to undertake a world tour, shortly.” But will he? How can he? The guru, perhaps the most wealthy and politically powerful in India’s long history, claims that he will save the world in his own lifetime. He will, he says, preside over the greatest changes ever to occur in history – the Muslims being the last to accept that he is God”. Sathya Sai Promise Has Lost Its Bloom Posted in News and Politics, Prophecy, Rationalism, Religion, Sai Baba, Skeptics, Spirituality, Theology, Theosophy, Uncategorized, World Issues, World Religions \| Tagged: Amrut Mahotsav, Christian, Communist, Dr Suresh Bajpai, Hindu society, Hindu world, Hinduism, Hindus, Islam, Rashtriya Swamyamsekak Sangh, RSS, S.S. Apte, Satya Sai Baba, Swami Chinmayananda, VHP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad \| 12 Comments » Sathya Sai Baba Bans But Permits Foot Touching At the Bal Vikas conference in Prashanti Nilayam in 2001, after sixty years of offering what he deems to be his Holy Feet to be touched, Sathya Sai Baba declared that he was not going to allow padnamaskaar to anyone anymore. This is reported on an official Sathya Sai Organization web page at http://www.saibaba.org.hk/step6.htm). As is well known among his followers, the matter was also reported in the official magazine Sanathana Sarathi, which is distributed worldwide. After an extraordinary number of years in permitting the practice, he has discovered that it created a sense of separation between himself and his devotees! He wanted them to see him in one and all. He said that the namaskaar that would be offered to him had better be offered to parents, elders, gurus, etc. He added: “See me in your heart and in the heart of everyone you meet.” One might well wonder whether those who, with the underhand cooperation of prominent Sathya Sai Baba servitors, and rank-and-file members, have behaved so scurrilously towards former devotees who have spoken out have quite got around to noting such noble teachings. See: The International Sathya Sai Organization – an accessory to a massive libel and disinformation campaign. Open letter to the Prasanthi Council – c/o Dr. M. Goldstein, Dr. G. Venkataraman and its other members In short, Sathya Sai Baba has put himself even more at the centre than before – he was to be worshipped in or through everyone else! However, he is still often observed to accept the touching of his feet. The attached image of 7-year old boy doing padnamaskar is from http://www.saibaba.ws/articles/lettertoswami.htm – before he pronounced that padnamaskaar would stop. However, the photo of his official translator and a key servitor Professor Anil Kumar was captured by the from the BBC film ‘The Secret Swami’ (2004), well after Sathya Sai Baba said he stopped the practice of padnamaskaar of his feet! BBC Photo from ‘The Secret Swami’, 2004. Professor Anil Kumar Sathya Sai Baba’s Translator BBC Hidden Camera in ‘Secret Swami’. Ethical? The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A RevisionProbed On Male Sex Abuse, Sai Baba Evicts BBC TV Team Posted in New Age, Religion, Sai Baba, Spirituality, Theology, Uncategorized, World Religions \| Tagged: Bal Vikas, Bal Vikas conference, elders, Gurus, padnamaskaar, parents, Prashanti Nilayam, Sanathana Sarathi \| 1 Comment » Pope’s US Visit. Is US to blame for abuse crisis? The headlines are going up: Pope blames US for abuse crisis. Of course, we shall need to see whether his statements exactly reflect the headlines. (See BBC News reference below, Pope attacks US sex abuse record) If they are accurate, it may appear as a type of papal and Roman Catholic hierarchy self-absolution? Surely, the responsibility needs to be taken as a whole by the ‘Captain’. There can be no blame shifting, as decent Roman Catholics themselves have attested, when they were ready to buck an incredibly powerful heirarchy in a courageous coming out against sexual abuse within their church. A Suggestive Historical Counter-factual Let us alter the scenario. Suppose this: that, decades ago, a Pope had said: We are getting shocking reports of sexual abuse. We shall move against this iniquity with the utmost urgency and thoroughness and compassionate professionalism – compassionate, above all, for the survivors of this great and abominable abuse. It is not to be tolerated. It would be too facile to blame the problem on any wealthy country, because the same abuses are to be found in countries rich and poor, and at every socio-cultural level. BBC NEWS. Pope attacks US sex abuse record ‘Pope Benedict XVI has criticized US bishops for their handling of child sex scandals, saying their response to the crisis had sometimes been very poor. He laid part of the blame for the crisis, of which he feels “deeply ashamed”, on a breakdown in US values’. The Australian. Pope spreads pedophilia blame ‘WASHINGTON: Feted at the White House on his 81st birthday, the Pope told the US’s bishops that the scourge of clergy sex abuse had sometimes been “very badly handled” – and laid part of the blame for the scandal on the breakdown of values in American society … The US church has been racked by falling attendance at mass and financial and other difficulties in recent years, most notably the sexual-abuse scandal that has resulted in the removal of many clergy from the ministry …. Describing clerics who sexually abused children as “gravely immoral”, the Pope warned that the scourge of pedophilia “is found not only in your dioceses but in every sector of society” … Last year, 689 fresh allegations of abuse were lodged, and the church paid out $US615 million to settle child sex abuse cases involving members of the clergy ‘. Some related Articles at Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba Cult Exposure. By Their Documents Ye Shall Know Them Australia Says ‘Sorry’. A Lesson For Sai Baba And Followers The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – A Revision Posted in Religion, Spirituality, Theology, Uncategorized, World Religions \| 1 Comment » Is Humanity One Big Cult? Posted by Barry Pittard on October 13, 2007 There is a fundamental mistake that defenders of those accused of serious abuse keep on making. Accusations of substantive abuse do not have to be proved. They have to be investigated. An organization that does not have genuine policies and practices of transparency and accountability is per se condemned. Many Exposés of Cults Reveal Same Abuses and Rationalizations Statements such as that an organization’s founder and his or her core leaders have never been brought before a court are crude and dishonest in the extreme. Repeatedly, across the various exposure of leaders, the patterns of denial, obfuscation and outright deceit are to be observed. Meetings between dissenters from various cults, who have left because they found profoundly betrayed the noble aims concerning which they joined, can tend to get off to a flying start, for participants are deeply struck by the many commonalities of experiences. I shall not say more of this aspect at present. For it is good that increasing contacts mature between those who have experienced spiritual betrayal around the world and the monumental cover-up of it can mature and prosper. And, indeed, that the perpetrators are left to wonder what alliances and resource-sharing and joint ventures might effect in educating greater publics of the great and insidious threats posed by cults of various kinds. Cult defenders persistently employ a number of blunt tools: demeaning, name-calling, demonizing, slandering, stalking both on and off the Internet, intimidation, distortion and misinterpretation of what has been said. They muck-rack like McCarthyites, and attack individuals, quite commonly for faults they have not committed, instead of address issues. The use of ad hominem arguments and tu quoque retorts is very typical, and they confuse the difference between legitimately naming an individual and criticising their statements or role and illegitimate practice of slandering a person, and thus avoiding the central issues being presented. Their smokescreens choke horizons like a bad bushfire on a gusty day. Often, they appeal to popular prejudice. They get caught up in the narrowest interpretations of dissenters’ intentions or actions. Each individual who speaks up, they will assume the worst of, and defame – one after the other. They avoid the substantive questions and arguments, and accuse others of doing so. One is damned if one should respond to them, and damned if one does not. But then why should one bend to respond to those so antagonistic? It’s damned well good at least not to be down in the gutter. There is no diving equipment adequate to diving into sewers. Those among the dissenters such as the hotheaded and bloody-mindedly quarrelsome who do respond end up in endless dogfights, which are far removed from the very reasons – which can be ideals most would agree to be noble, humane, spiritual and so forth – which led one to be a part of a self-enhancement group in the first instance. Many dissenters have, however, done years of hard self-development and of unstinting service to the poor and needy in their communities and other worthy causes. They may fight, but they will not dogfight. Euphoria and Topic Avoidance There is often in guru and cult defenders an appeal to popular prejudices – such as that media inevitably sensationalizes and misreports or that dissenters are people who did not get attention from the group’s guru, etc. The defensive tactics reveal the depth of problems of personality which a leader and cult, despite grand claims, has not, amidst the unreal euphoria and avoidance of topics where hard questions are raised, been able to heal or to solve. It is, of course, a problem that can as easily afflict dissenters, unless they have done some hard work on themselves. Humanity – One Big Cult? A far wider problem exists. One can point to cultic tendencies in this or that group. But then if we emphasize qualities of group-think and non-think in groups termed (accurately or not) ‘cults’, we will end up comforted, with our fingers pointed out, rather than considering our own capacities. Is there a grand unquestioning that is the tendency of a cult called Humanity? A cutting across all the ‘isms’ – except one: bias-ism. So normal that we feel normal. So huge that we don’t recognize it, just as we might tend to assume without thinking that the sun will rise in the east on the morrow or that the sky still coheres above us. No need to click on ‘Register’ or ‘Join’. No need to pay annual subsriptions. Our forebears have already enrolled us. If we are all afflicted, we had best find a better way of getting out of the millennially built-up sludge. But no use ‘fessing up unless we can find ways to do it without exploitation, shouting, clubbing, and reversion to division and the manning of battlements. The Example of The Muslim Leaders Perhaps the Muslim and Christian clerics, theologians and academics who are busily writing to each other right at this moment will find ways to express commonalities which lead to love and compassion, and still face the differentiations that tests the goodwill, and in a way that works beyond the lovey-dovey. I think there is a tendency, which the leaders will have to address, to assume that religions are what make the world go round, rather the cynical machinations of realpolitik. Never mind, any genuinely caring way might be the way out of the sludge – even if by happy accident, or some millennial crawl to a new paradigm. We can all be members of the clubless club of the great unwashed, which has but one essential thought. That we are washed, even if others are not. And one essential risk: that we can, all too easily do bad dirt on good people – if there happen to be any around. The Muslim leaders’ bold document is available in .pdf format, courtesy of the BBC, HERE Posted in Neglected/sidelined News, New Age, Opinion, Religion, Spirituality, Theology, Theosophy, Uncategorized, World Religions \| Leave a Comment » Posted by Barry Pittard on October 6, 2007 Once, my life nearly succumbed to an Indian headlong pilgrim rush. Crowd Delirium at Puttaparthi What wondrous relief, then, not to have been caught up in the crowd surges of Sathya Sai Baba devotees which, last Thursday evening, plunged towards Sai Baba’s Puttaparthi airport. They hungered after Sai Baba’s reportedly promised divine vision as hunger-maddened human beings might rush for food. Sai Baba had announced through one of his chief servitors, Professor Anil Kumar, news reports state, that he would grant to his assembled devotees a great vision – no less than “Vishwarupa Darshanam”. This is the sort of peak divine experience that Lord Krishna is said to have granted to his servitor and boon companion Arjuna. See Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11, At a point north east, all the divinely and incredibly fortunate Sai devotees would have to do would be to look up at the moon, and, lo, they would receive a blessing granted usually only to yogis or rishis (sages) who had meditated for thousands of years. (Too bad, of course, for any blind Sai Baba devotees). But the weather turned cloudy, and Puttaparthi officials are reported as saying that their Bhagawan Sai Baba had refused to go ahead with the event because the crowds had become unruly, holding up his car, in which he had been driven to the airport, for an hour. How anyone could attain redemptive deliverance by trampling to death one’s fellow pilgrims may seem something of a mystery. But it is not a spiritual mystery. How Sai Baba could have set up a situation which any sane Indian knows is bound to cause incredible crowd turmoil is not, I think, a mystery at all. But, rather, is explicable in terms of serious recurring evidence of an encroaching mental condition that his core assistants work overtime in trying to keep from devotees and the general public. See my article: Sai Baba’s Tip to Keep Ageing Away. In India, ‘Guest is God’. My 15 Minutes of Godhood To speak of fervent ‘religous’ crowds who can trample you underfoot in the twinkling of a foot. One day at Sai Baba’s Puttaparthi ashram, in the late ’70’s, I was seized by a fit of (would-be) renunciation. I was a lecturer in Sai Baba’s boys college at Whitefield, via Bangalore, and used to my place on Sai Baba’s temple (mandir) verandah and other ‘privilegious’ vantage points. One of these was a spot among Sai Baba’s male bhajan lead singers who sat right up front in the Puttaparthi auditorium, the Poorna Chandra, at that time said to be the second-largest auditorium in South-East Asia. With no prizes available for grand naivity, I thought: let me get out of this unseemly easefulness and sit as far up towards the back as possible, among the seething humanity, in this way working towards combatting egoic attachment to Sai Baba’s form. Unlike my normal seating position, to which I could go freely without queuing, I now had to wait among great throngs. At length, the roller doors of the Poorna Chandra were thown open, whence followed as fiece a charge as a Kiplingesque ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ – except that this was the charge of myriad heavy brigades. Pakistan would have been defeated in an instant! Salvational Desperation I did not then know what many a surviving pilgrim in India will know – which is: Do rush. Do plunge pell-mell. Do charge with the charge. Otherwise you’re done for – life or limb. Unless you want to stay at home and risk getting run over by a vehicle. Nothing in India’s scriptures, nor in any, had quite prepared me for this important annexure to sacred Wisdom. Thou Shalt Not Trample Foreign Visitors, Unless Moksha (Soul Liberation) Needs Forbid Fortunately, there were a few quick thinkers among that madding crowd. As it surged forward stormily – avid after sitting places – an instinctive protectiveness by alert Indians saved this Australian “innocent abroad”. One had better not, if at all manageable, paste an innocent foreign face on the floor. Of course, my Indian brothers have known millennia before the American humorist Mark Twain wrote “Innocents Abroad” that foreign travellers tend to be … ah, well … Or, to express the matter mildly, that we can magnify Murphy’s Law to the power of ten. Then, several pairs of hands swept me up until I was carried over the heads of my benignly strong-armed rescuers. Perhaps that was the prize – my life. My Fifteen Minutes of Sacred (or Scared) Fame Once we sat down, I found that some knew I was a teacher in Sai Baba’s college and, at odd times, a bhajan leader, and “I” found “myself” – so to speak – duly worshipped – for God’s sake! The chump being worshipped was still alive, if rather shaken. And Andy Warhol was assiduously timing the whole event – pretty well right down to his statutary fifteen minutes. Further earnest devotees started beckoning me to work my way down, and, with pained concern inscribed in their faces and tender care vibrating in their outreaching hands, swept me up and passed me continually forward to yet myriad other caring hands (which minutes ago might have belonged to individuals who would gingerly have trampled me underfoot), until service volunteers (seva dals), also brimfull of earnest solicitation, conducted me back to my accustomed, privilegious seat. For, of course, one of the great courtesies of India is, veritably, that ‘guest is God’. Vintage Quote From Sai Baba “I will have to forego the car and even the aeroplane when I move from place to place, for the crowds pressing around them will be too huge; I will have to move across the sky; yes, that too will happen, believe Me.” (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. II, p. 92) www.andhracafe.com news report, updated: October 4, 2007. Hysteric crowds force Sai Baba to differ Viwa Rupa. Below, I have excerpted from this news release: HYDERABAD : Hysteric crowds and overhanging clouds persuaded Sri Satya Sai Baba to postpone his promised Vishwarupa darshanam on Thursday evening. There was chaos at the Puttaparthi airport after Sai Baba devotees thronged the premises to witness the Vishwarupa darshanam of their master…. They returned disappointed. Sai Baba had earlier given darshan to his devotees at Sai Kulwant hall in Puttaparthi. After the bhajan, he told his assistant Anil Kumar that he would give Vishwarupa darshanam at around 7 pm on the northeastern direction of the airport…. As soon as Mr Anil Kumar announced this, devotees ran towards the airport chanting his name. Television channels also telecast the news and people in Puttaparthi locked up their houses and ran towards the airport. Thousands also rushed to the area from surrounding villages…. All the devotees crowding the area focused their attention on the northeastern direction in the sky. In a fit of devotion, some of them surrounded the car of Sai Baba and he could not come out. Devotees did not relent even after members of Satya Sai Trust urged them to sit down. Instead, they ran after the car…. A small stage was set up before the car for Viswarupa Darshanam but Sai Baba could not reach the stage as devotees prostrated before him. He was forced to remain in the car for about an hour…. A short while later, the office-bearers of the Satya Sai Trust announced that the Viswarupa Darsanam was postponed because of the non-cooperation of devotees and the cloudy weather. Sai Baba then returned to his Ashram. Sai Baba devotees in other countries also called up their friends and relatives in Puttaparthy to find out about the incident…. Because of the rush, traffic on the road from Puttaparthy to the airport was thrown out of gear. At one stage, doors of the airport had to be closed. Police finally cleared the traffic to enable Sai Baba to return to his Ashram. Most devotees expressed disappointment at not being able to see the Viswarupa Darsanam. Other articles on the Sai Baba moon issue at: https://barrypittard.wordpress.com are: Sai Baba Fails To Appear In The Moon, IANS Reports Is Indian ‘Godman’ Sai Baba’s Moon Waning Still Further Robert Priddy: Sai Baba postpones moon buggy ride The Decline and Fall of the Showman Empire Note: Many surfers used the following search terms to get to the articles at https://barrypittard.wordpress.com on the Sai Baba moon issue: Sai Baba on moon baba in moon sathya sai baba in moon satya sai baba in moon saibaba on moon moon appear satya sai Posted in Neglected/sidelined News, New Age, Rationalism, Religion, Sai Baba, Skeptics, Spirituality, Theology, Theosophy, Uncategorized, World Religions \| Tagged: Vishwarupa Darshananam \| 9 Comments » Why Might There Be Religious and Political Disconnects? Posted by Barry Pittard on September 25, 2007 These short extracts from Shantanu Dutta’s article, Power of godmen, can provide a stimulus for discussion on the issue – are godmen (and godwomen, one supposes) beneficial or baneful or an intriguing mixture of both? (see extract below) Of a statement by TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao, Dutta says: “Apparently (it) indicates that in the political mind there is a big disconnect between the teachings and thoughts shared in discourses and the course of action that naturally follows as a consequence”. It Can Take Two To Disconnect And the disconnect no doubt is not just disconnect by politician from spiritual leader, but the reverse as well. It is surely a situation which is relevant to religious leaders of any country. Are they fortified by ivory towers or dreaming spires – or can they genuinely relate to the day-to-day issues of people in general? If they cannot, then a disconnect is bound to occur. Might, for example, a lay person think the best counselor to go to in quest of a solution to practical marital problems is a lifelong monk or nun? That is one side of the question. But then, suppose that a spiritual leader – whether worldly-wise or not – has some useful insight into a public matter. I agree with Dutta. Why should Sai Baba, or anyone for that matter, shut up about important issues? In regard to the greater public weal, who is not a stakeholder of one degree or another? The issue of religious leaders speaking out arises as an explosive one when few speak out. Let only a few do it and they are a novelty – even a shocking one. What is the case when abstracts or ideals, are preached? What would be needed to bring about a connect? Ought We Disconnect from Disconnected Gurus? Here, are but two questions some of my readers might like to run with their spiritual leaders – whether at a mandir or temple, synagogue, mosque, vihara, church, and so forth: 1. what is our Faith’s specific, injunction or declared statement – if there is one – on sexual abuse? 2. What policy guidelines – if any – are there for dealing with offenses, proved or as yet alleged – within the ranks of the authority or amongst the congregation? (Please be so kind as to write to me with the details. I am interested. Email: bpittard (at) optusnet.com.au) There is bound to be conflict when a preacher does not grapple with the question of how lay persons can, without great stress – and indeed hypocrisy – act out the precepts in practical and meaningful ways. That is to say – connected. Shantanu Dutta Article Extract “The other Godman in the news was Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He didn’t get accolades of course for his remarks on Telengana and his opinion that those who talk in terms of the division of the country are actually committing a sin. His remarks led to a huge agitation and even violence. The TRS president , K Chandrasekhara Rao commenting on the Sai Baba’s remarks suggested that the Baba stick to singing Bhajans and other dharmic activities. Apparently that statement indicates that in the political mind there is a big disconnect between the teachings and thoughts shared in discourses and the course of action that naturally follows as a consequence”. Power of godmen, by Shantanu Dutta. MeriNews. 25 January 2007, Thursday. Link at begining of this blog. Dutta’s article is also available at Desicritics.org – HERE See my article, Sai Baba Sparks Political Furore. At the foot of it there are plentiful links to articles from major Indian newspaper sources. My point here was not whether Sai Baba was correct or not in speaking out about a hot political issue. It was this: He has, at 81 years of age, deviated from long decades of non-entry into hot political topics. My view is that, from time to time, he speaks without full control because of his increasingly visible and audible loss of mental faculties. This deterioration his close servitors have gone to great lengths to hide. In an extremely rare moment, the BBC was able to film this happening. It is little wonder that the ashram authorities evicted the BBC documentary makers, who began to ask perfectly reasonable questions – truthful answers to which the public has a right to know. See various film clips, including one where Sai Baba collapses and afterwards, by way of explanation, utters almost certifiable inanities before a vast crowd, HERE. Or for the whole of the BBC’s one-hour documentary (2004), go HERE for broadband and HERE for dialup modem. My detailed review-article The BBC’s The Secret Swami – A Revision is Here Posted in Neglected/sidelined News, Opinion, Politics, Religion, Spirituality, Theology, World Religions \| Tagged: K. Chandrasekhara Rao, Power of godmen, Rashtra Samithi, Shantanu Dutta, Telangana, Telengana \| 1 Comment » Truth Commission Model May Assist Sai Baba Devotees Posted by Barry Pittard on August 19, 2007 Other group leaders from various countries who we know to have been informed that Sai Baba sexually abuses boys and young men still take groups of all ages to see him. There is repeated evidence that they still do not inform parents of global allegations concerning Sai Baba, nor that highly respected individuals, once loved and esteemed leaders and members of the Sathya Sai Organization, make them. Sai Baba’s leaders tell rank-and-file members that those making the allegations are a small disgruntled handful. Blind to commonsense, deaf to basic reasoning processes, rapid to leap to worst case speculations about the motivations of Sai Baba dissenters, Sai Baba’s devotees typically believe that former devotees have become, in an instant, transformed into demons. Racing into deep denial, vacating all commonsense, these devotees chronically deny the good standing of those they have long loved and respected, and worked and worshipped beside. History is bound to ‘out’ those who do this. They cannot possibly defend themselves on the grounds of truth and compassion. They will need, above all, to express profound sorrow, and admit profound failure in duty-of-care, towards those Sai Baba has so criminally, and for so many decades, abused. Perhaps some of the Truth Commission experiences and insights may assist Sai Baba devotees to pull themselves out of their dilemma. It would be a great pity if the good social uplift works done by many good and decent Sai Baba devotees were to be damaged by the revelations already so extensively available, with many more on their way. Starting points are: http://www.truthcommission.org/ http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/ Posted in Neglected/sidelined News, Opinion, Religion, Social and Politics, Society, Theology, Uncategorized, World Issues, World Religions \| 1 Comment » Within Hinduism, the Shiva lingam can represent the wonder and majesty of creation-dissolution, a symbol of limitlessness. See Wikipedia, under ‘Lingam‘: ‘The term lingam is sometimes used synonymously for shivalingam or sivalingam a specific type of icon or altar representing the god Shiva’ View Revealing video Clips From The BBC’s The Secret Swami. See Below In Sanskrit, this object is often called a lingodhbhava. In India, especially in the south, down the millennia, via literature, drama, temple worship and so on, the sacredness of its associations have become immense. Sathya Sai Baba had, over a number of years, ostensibly brought from his stomach a pure gold egg-shaped Shiva lingam (Sivalingam, Shivalingam). This event he performed at the festival to the Hindu god Siva, or Mahashivarathri. For two decades, Sai Baba ceased what had been a yearly (so-called miraculous) production of the lingam. Why would he resume it in February 1999? And be caught out by the BBC in 2004? A Lordly Miracle Might Revive Emperor’s Crumbling Empire I have elsewhere characterized Sai Baba as, in certain respects but not in all, a master showman, see The Decline and Fall of the Showman Empire. Around Sai Baba, all is panoply, pomp and circumstance – and dazzling architecture costing millions. Sai Baba’s pet elephant, Sai Gita appearing at Sai Baba’s showpiece Hillview Stadium A Hindu dissenter of Sai Baba, chance-met, who was at Puttaparthi on suffrance, once said to me, “This is a national circus”. Sai Baba’s humble living quarters But empire or circus, the show is a voracious money ‘beast’ that has continually to be fed. Gold may or may not come out of Sai Baba’s stomach but it certainly has to keep on going into his coffers. Sai Baba showcased in pure gold What then the case of a series of calamitous exposures in major media around the world? What of all the leave-takings from his worldwide Sathya Sai Organization – far more numerous than formal resignations? What of the threatened recruitment bases? Big Money Replenishment – A Desperation to Recruit in Luxurious Venues In tightly controlled circumstances, the Sathya Sai Organization now recruits in highly costly, luxurious venues. For example, Cooper’s Union, New York; La Mirada Theatre; Los Angeles County, Hilton Ballroom and Sheraton Hotel and Towers, both Chicago; Copley International Conference Center, San Diego; Town Hall, Melbourne; Super Dome, Sydney, etc. See article by Robert Priddy and Barry Pittard, Sai Organization’s Spending Spree In Super Dome, Sydney. Sydney Superdome, Australia one of world’s top stadiums, built for the Olympic Games 2000 A Positive BBC Documentary Would Help Recuperate from Intense International Criticism The BBC was on the scene, and the ashram officials had given a rare permission to shoot inside the Puttaparthi ashram. It was not until the BBC producer of what was to become the television documentary The Secret Swami (2004) Eamon Hardy asked about the worldwide sex abuse allegations that matters drastically altered. The Sathya Sai Central Trust Secretary, K. Chakravarthy, summarily evicted the BBC team. The Indian television company Sanskaar TV also televised this Mahashivarathi event. There had been, especially from 2000, tremendous international pressure for Sai Baba and his worldwide Sathya Sai Organization. (See, towards the end of the article – Sathya Sai Baba’s Deputy Head, Dr G. Venkataraman, Speaks of “Mr Idi Amin” – a number of heavy stressors that were being applied by globally networked former devotees known as ‘the exposé). One outcome was the display of an anger Sai Baba has long kept behind-the-scenes. Bad cracks began to appear in the Sai monolith, and the world began to peep through. In a Christmas 2000 discourse, in which peace and goodwill to all men were remarkable for their absence, Sai Baba repeatedly pounded his lectern, denouncing his accuses as demons and Judases, and vaunting his accomplisments (even though, contrary to his assertions, far from unique), prompting The Times of India, December 26, 2000, to headline: Sai Baba Lashes Out At His Detractors. He cried, “Is there any government that is giving free medical care? People don’t even think about the sanctity behind it. Most of the educated have become so low and mean minded. Is there anyone who is doing even one thousandth of this work ? No, no. It is only Sathya Sai Baba, who is doing this selflessly, always for the welfare of others.” He has at various times said he is anger-free. For example: “When I am defamed, I never get incensed, for it is only the tree full of edible fruits that is attached by sticks and stones.” (Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 4 p. 184). “There is no trace of anger or hatred in Me and hence everyone loves Me” (Sanathana Sarathi September 2002, page 257f) Sathya Sai Speaks of his alleged lingam creations “Ah! This is the Brahmaanda Linga! Symbol of the Universe. Inside it, the nine planets (Navagrahas) revolve; the entire Universe is represented herein … You are indeed blessed, the merit of many births as brought you here to see the Great Phenomenon, this rare Creation.” (Sathya Sai Speaks, IV, 4:26). He has also said: “This is Amruthtatwam (symbol of immortality). It is changeless. You cannot see such a manifestation anywhere in the world. It is possible only with Divinity.” (Sanathana Sarathi – March 1999, p. 73) In 2004, as caught by BBC and Indian television cameras, Sai Baba not only produced one lingam, but, if we take his officials’ word for it, two more offstage. The public ‘miracle’ he performed, to the suprise of many, in terribly fumbling and absent-minded fashion. One would think that this to declining faculties that many have noticed but which his minders have tried to mask as best they can under the all too tell-tale circumstances, and which Sai devotees keep a numbed silence about). However, according to Sai Baba’s chief translator and also a world-travelling emissary Professor Anil Kumar in his words to the crowds, Sai Baba privately manifested two more ‘atma lingams’ off-stage. In the BBC’s The Secret Swami, the interviewer Tanya Datta comments: “To the alarm of the crowd suddenly Sai Baba collapsed. His huge coterie of staff swung into action. There was panic. An organisation used to tight control seemed to have lost its grip. Sai Baba was hastily wheeled off stage.” Later, he is carried hobbling back, with officials claiming that he manifested two more lingams offstage”. Transcript is HERE. See the whole documentary. Broadband users click HERE (80 MB). There is a small version for modem users Here (23,3 MB) Or you can download it packed in zip file (22 MB) Here. Returning to the Kulwant Hall stage within the next hour, to the immensely relieved audience of many thousands, a pale and shaken Sai Baba makes the unfathomable claim: “Out of the stomach emanated Shiva Lingas of the weight of three tonnes. That’s the reason why some strain on the face and the body” But Centuries of Magicians Have Produced Objects By Regurgitation Magicians have long produced objects – both precious and trivial – from out of their stomachs. A contemporary example is the British regurgitator Stevie Starr. The website: http://www.steviestarr.com/index.php informs us that: There is a German documentary that shows ‘sadhus’ or Hindu ‘holy men’ performing tricks, including regurgitation: Das Mysterium Der Shiva – Heilige Männer (Ein film von Eberhart Thiem, Helga Lippert, Arno Peik) from a German series called Terra X – Rätsel alter Weltkulturen). Swallowing of nails and regurgitating them one at a time is shown. For a fascinating byway in film history, see HADJI ALI, Scenes from POLITIQUERIAS, the Spanish-language version of Laurel and Hardy’s Chickens Come Home. Hadji Ali is of that group of performers known as ‘regurgitators’ or ‘water spouters’. A vaudeville star in the first decades of the last century, this Egyptian-born performer was billed as ‘The Great Regurgitator’. In the webpage just cited, there are stark black and white shots of Hadji Ali performing the regurgitation trick in a 1931 Stanley Laurel and Oliver Hardy movie. The Indian ‘holyman’ Swami Premananda also used to produce lingams. He now sits in the bowls of a gaol with a double life sentence for rape and murder, and not likely to be regurgitated therefrom. The celebrated Indian Rationalist and ‘guru buster’ Basava Premanand appeared in the BBC’s The Secret Swami. Originally a Sai Baba devotee, he reported investigating Sathya Sai Baba since 1968, first “as a hobby” then going public in 1976. In this one-hour television documentary, B. Premanand is seen demonstrating the trick behind Sai Baba’s so-called ‘miraculous’ production of the golden lingam or Shiva lingam. See my tribute: Basava Premanand. Vale. A fighter for truth who lived what others preach Powerful Psycho-religious Role of the Lingam Among Many Hindus Sai Baba knows well how to tap into aeons-old Indian piety. He says he is all the gods and goddesses. Many Vaishnavites worship him as Lord Vishnu, many Shaivites, as Lord Shiva, and so on. But this phenomenon is not untypical – in the remarkable form of a live-and-let-live philosophy – and is seen in much guru worship throughout India, where an individual is free to worship the guru according to her or his own traditional or temperamental iconography or ishta devata (personalized or favourite form of godhead). To his devotees of Christian background, Sai Baba says that he is the Father who sent Lord Jesus Christ. Because of these deep Indian traditions of religious plurality and acceptance (which goes far deeper than mere tolerance), his devotees are happy, for example, to sing his praises in bhajans (antiphonal, commonly congregational hymn-singing) using the names of all the gods and goddesses. Crowd Pulling Psychology Far Exceeding Barnum and Bailey Sai Baba’s sarva dharma chakra (all-major Faiths symbol) In one thing at least Sai Baba is supreme. He has the supreme ability to play the all-religions-are-essentially-one card with brilliance. He virtually adopts the role, at the level of self-proclaimed absolute Divinity, of being all-things-to-all religious men. One of the psychological factors he draws on goes emotionally deep for those worshipping him. Sathya Sai speaks, for example, of how his devotees plead with him not to produce the lingam, particularly now that he is becoming older and has been through a number of hip operations (he is 81, and may be older if we are to regard British colonial records). In The Deccan Herald report of the February 2004 Mahashivrathri, Srikanth Srinivasa wrote, “Sai Baba’s devotees have been imploring him not to suffer the ordeal of bringing out the Linga every year at the cost of the god man’s health” Sai Baba’s Promise: Who Witnesses His Production Of the Lingam is Liberated from Sin and Rebirth Down the years, Sai Baba has made references like this: “Those who are fortunate to witness Lingodbhava are freed from all sins”. Sanathana Sarathi, 3/99, p. 66 In short, he mines for all it is worth mass anxiety about the karmic future. Will one be damnably consigned to birth after birth? Or will a trip to Puttaparthi mend things, forever? In short, what this great religious showman offers – no, promises, absolutely – is absolution and forgiveness of sins. It is a consideration that motivates millions of religionists the world over. A similar psychology – the spectacle of God’s pain, as it were – attends Christian attitudes to the ‘Passion’ or crucifixion story, and Christian evangelists have long played deeply on this. Shiva Rules But Sai Baba Was No Tiger Majestic symbol of undeniable cosmic forces, Lord Shiva sits forever serenely on his tigers skin. Sathya Sai Baba’s tiger skin is but that – a skin held dazzlingly aloft to make him appear be the real Shiva. Playing cricket or playing Shiva? Sai Baba’s mask-like face. A degenerative disease like Parkinson’s? Faked lingam production. Frame-by-frame analysis of the BBC and other footage is revealing indeed. Former leader of the Sathya Sai Organization, Norway, and retired academic of the University of Oslo, Robert Priddy, analyses and provides background notes, See, Mahahshivarathri 2004. Quote: “Sai Baba allowed an unprecedented live broadcast in the Indian subcontinent of his so-called ‘lingodbhava’ (bringing the egg-like ellipsoidal object out of his mouth after what looks like a painful process of ‘regurgitation’). However, one can most clearly see that NO lingam ‘actually emerged at all this year. Instead there was a small spurt of yellowish vomit, which was later claimed to be the lingam in liquid golden form!” Devotees’ Expectations and SSB’s Lingam Production (Background Notes on the 2004 Mahasivaratri Spectacle). In this article, the Australian scholar and former devotee Brian Steel writes: “It is not unreasonable to hypothesise that in 1999 and 2000, this popular event may even have been deliberately revived for precisely the same promotional reasons, at a time when the Organisation was acutely aware that very strong criticism and denunciation of SSB was about to be made public overseas by two very high-profile close ex-devotees (David Bailey and Naresh Bhatia) who had recently “defected” and whose spectacular revelations were nervously awaited. If this hypothesis is not correct, and if the Lingodbhava performance was discontinued because of fears of unruly crowds in 1977, why revive it when the crowds are much larger today?” “Bhagavan Baba kept manifesting His divinity in the form of Lingodbhava year after year on every Shivaratri till 1977 when He announced that he had decided to discontinue Lingodbhava in public. Those who witnessed this Divine phenomenon again on 15 February, 1999 were really fortunate as it happened after a long gap of more than 20 years.” Editor, Sanathana Sarathi, 3/99, p. 81 Barry Pittard at Call For Media and Government Investigation of Sathya Sai Baba: https://barrypittard.wordpress.com The BBC’s The Secret Swami – A Revision View Revealing video Clips From The BBC’s The Secret Swami The BBC’s ‘The Secret Swami’ – as well as exposing other fraudulence – had the camera well trained on Sathya Sai Baba. Although the Puttaparthi officials thought that the BBC was going to make their day, the crew were well-briefed by former devotees, and had their eyes open – and indeed the lens of their camera! – in a way that blinded devotees and a public that is mostly unaware of how magicians perform their tricks rarely do. Within the quietness of your computer room, however, you can train your eyes simply by seeing, really seeing, what there is to see. SEE THE VIDEO CLIP OF THE ABOVE FAKING (filesize 700 Kbs) Posted in Neglected/sidelined News, New Age, Philosophy, Propaganda, Rationalism, Religion, Spirituality, Theology, Uncategorized, World Religions \| Tagged: Eamon Hardy, Indian Rationalist B.Premanand, K. Chakravarthy, Kulwant Hall Puttaparthi, Lingodbhava, Mahashivarathri, Professor Anil Kumar, Regurgitation, Robert Priddy, Sanskaar TV, Sathya Sai Central Trust Secretary, Shivalingam, Sivalingam \| 3 Comments » Cost Of Cover Ups Can Far Exceed Hoped-for Benefits Posted by Barry Pittard on July 23, 2007 A great irony of cover-ups is this – that once they have been exposed, the initiators of the abuses sustain a cost far greater than would have attended the prompt admission of the initial misdeeds – and genuine, exhaustive measures to address the abuses. Tragically, “cost” may be multiply defined – and in far from money terms alone. And is there any Faith, major or minor, that is not sorely complicit in profound cover up of systemic sexual abuse? The present repercussions of the Los Angeles Catholic Diocese afford us a ready example. Questions are being raised about whether there is enough – after insurance and money from other Orders have been paid – for even a rich Diocese’s coffers to afford such a vast pay-out. This is but one diocese, and yet many others face, or have already faced, a similar predicament. Is there even a single one (as a BBC television news report would indicate) in which such allegations have not been raised? The Editorialist in The Boston Globe, July 17, 2007, writes: “The Los Angeles and Boston money could have been spent on other important projects if Mahony and Law had adopted a zero-tolerance policy against abuse when it first became a national issue for the church in the mid-1980s. Catholic dioceses across the nation, including Los Angeles, have initiated thorough policies to prevent future abuse, and Mahony apologized to the victims on Sunday. Yet new policies and regrets aren’t enough. In the eyes of victims, the scandal will never be fully resolved as long as bishops who put the interests of their fellow priests over the protection of children remain in positions of leadership”. ‘Or who shall ‘scape whipping’? But is there any organization – anywhere – which has not covered up serious allegations? Can it be a good thing that when exposure of sexual abuse is discussed the Roman Catholic Church is so often the tarnished exemplar? Another irony is that first whistleblowers are scapegoated but then public scapegoating can too easily turn on discretely ‘easy’ targets. And what more ‘easy’ than arguably the biggest religious monolith on the planet? Does convergence of attention on a big institution help to prevent a much wider focus? Naturally, of course, there is, at least, a chance for other organizations – before it is too late (if it is not already far too late!) for them to act without the courts forcing them to act – to learn from the fate of those churches or other organizations already strongly exposed? Today, most societies are multicultural. Would it not make sense to take the broad approach, with not a single organization acting as though it, too, is unaffected? Or a wider public permitted to think that it has not its own accountability? Further Major News Media Readings on the LA scandal and pay0uts are HERE, HERE and HERE. Website of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is HERE See, Robert Priddy’s article ‘Spiritual’ Abuse. Quote: “One US lady who has been raped by a priest broke down in tears on worldwide TV News (22/7/2007) while telling how she was not believed by her very own church community, which ostracised her. This ‘turning a blind eye’ has been very common, also in the Sathya Sai Organization”. Posted in Morality, New Age, News and Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Politics, Protest, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Rationalism, Religion, Sai Baba, Scandal, Sex, Skeptics, Social and Politics, Society, Spirituality, Theology, Theosophy, Trends, Uncategorized, World Issues, World Religions \| 3 Comments »	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line940
__label__cc	0.513861	0.486139	Stub, Construction, Characters of Battlefield V Craig Fairbrass (Voice/Model)[1] Under No Flag Special Boat Section (Royal Navy) Suppressed STEN "This is war, son. We fight one battle, then we fight another one until it's done." — George Mason's inspiring speech to Billy Bridger. George Mason is a supporting character featured in the Battlefield V singleplayer war story Under No Flag. He is the United Kingdom leader of a unit within the Special Boat Section, a commando formation within the Royal Navy, and personally recruits prisoner Billy Bridger for the mission. He serves as a more distinguished authority figure to the more undisciplined and reckless Billy.[2] Personality Edit Mason appears to be a rough but experienced soldier, proficient in the use of firearms and resistant to pain, and is endowed with the sound tactical foresight and self-professed aspect of "think on your feet" necessary for leading commando operations. His unorthodox ideas in terms of battle planning and unit composition dictates his formation of his section of the Special Boat Service. Mason does not abide the petulance of his undisciplined teammate Billy Bridger, whom he bickers with frequently, responding to his complaints with either dry witticisms, sarcasm or by flatly urging him to stop whining. Bridger's constant failures annoy Mason greatly, replying with profanity or quiet disbelief. Despite his criticisms, he is shown to have an admiration of Billy's tenacious attitude, having recruited him for this very reason, and offers inspiring words of encouragement when his charge is at his lowest point. His comment that he "brings the missus along [to German occupied North Africa] sometimes" might suggest he is married, although the statement is made as a joke. Mason first meets Bridger at the London prison where he is interred. Despite Bridger's deflections, Mason reveals he knows about Bridger's criminal record, his familial connections to organised crime, and the somewhat embarrassing detail that he unsuccessfully robbed the same bank three times. He asks Bridger to join the unit, with the deal being that he is released from prison and absolved of his crimes, but he refuses. Bridger is locked in solitary confinement, while Mason waits expectantly outside. As he begins to walk away, Bridger tentatively inquires about the unit, to which Mason asks if he "likes the seaside". Some time later, the unit lands in North Africa via canoe. Bridger protests that he is seasick but Mason is dismissive, directing the other half of the unit onwards as he and Bridger approach their objective - an airfield housing Stuka dive bombers. As he and Bridger survey the airstrip and prepare to infiltrate, Mason questions Billy about the reliability of his improvised explosive charges, to which Billy responds confidently. Mason scoffs at Billy's desire for glory, before order him to "not get caught". The two part ways, and Mason plants his explosives on aircraft on the runway. The charges explode successfully, although the blast is uncomfortably close to Bridger, who chastises Mason upon reuniting. The blame shifts when Bridger's homemade charges fail to detonate, leaving the Stukas in the hangar free to take off to strafe the pair. After a brief quarrel, Mason volunteers to distract the German infantry while Bridger commandeers an anti-aircraft gun to shoot down the attacking aircraft. Bridger succeeds, but Mason in wounded in the left arm in the ensuing firefight. Afterwards, the pair resume bickering, with Bridger showing some remorse for having taken Mason's offer, while Mason reprimands him for his incompetence. They are interrupted by a lone German in an Kubelwagen, which they subsequently commandeer and use to drive on to their next objective. Having seemingly calmed down but still badly injured, Mason orders Bridger to take the next set targets out on his own, while Bridger responds with quiet confidence. The pair voice concern for one another, and Bridger leaves while Mason stays with the Kubelwagen. Having accomplished the tasks, Bridger returns to the car and the two depart. Mason initially praises Bridger for having done so alone and for bringing back medical supplies for his wound, but is furious once Billy reveals he used a German radio to signal the HMS Sussex for extraction, knowing the Germans would be able to locate them based on the broadcast. Immediately, a German mechanized formation consisting dozens of tanks and trucks appear on the horizon, and begin shooting at the Kubelwagen as it makes a hasty exit. With some distance gained from their enemies, the two start squabbling again. Mason calls Bridger useless, who is remorseful and reveals that he didn't try to rob the banks on his own, instead being put up to it by his father, who he took the blame for. As car breaks down amongst ruins and Bridger suffers a nervous collapse, Mason tries to console him by retracting his previous criticisms, and voicing his deference for his "never give up" attitude. His words comfort Bridgers, and the pair prepare to make a resolute defense against the coming panzer onslaught. During the battle amongst the ruins Mason directs Bridger from the top of a tower using a bullhorn, support him by relaying the position and description of enemy forces, try to distract the Germans when Billy is wounded, and offering encouragement, culminating in him singing along to a recording of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". The pair fight through increasingly ferocious attacks by infantry, armour and aircraft, before the appearance of a massive formation causes Mason to declare that "this might be it", and apologising to Bridger for having lead him into this mess. Suddenly, naval gunfire erupts amongst the enemy formations, signalling that the Sussex heard Bridger's transmission and came to their aid. The pair are expectantly jubilant. Back at the captured airfield, as Mason and Bridger are lounging in the setting sunlight, Mason offers his thanks before coyly remarking that "those Greek islands are lovely this time of year". Bridger is initially dismissive, but the two walk off together as Mason humorously offers him another deal. Characters of Battlefield V Narrator · William Sidney Bridger · George Mason · Arthur Bridger Deme Cisse · Idrissa · French Captain Solveig Fia Bjørnstad · Astrid Bjørnstad · Willie Bjørnstad Peter Mathias Müller · Kertz · Schröder · Hartmann · Weber · Yellow-Seven Narrator (Flashback) ↑ https://twitter.com/craigfairbrass/status/1052927296456265728 ↑ https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/battlefield/news/war-stories-under-no-flag Retrieved from "https://battlefield.fandom.com/wiki/George_Mason?oldid=349819"	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line941
__label__cc	0.728981	0.271019	The NOVA Institute for Public Service (IPS) 2017 Post Election Conference NOVA (IPS) Tag Archives: Manassas The Map: 2015 Virginia Senate Races Posted on October 3, 2015 by David Miller It’s the beginning of October, and campaign signs are popping up like flowers in spring. This is the sprint season for political campaigns, especially in Virginia where all 40 members of the State Senate and 100 members of the House of Delegates are up for election on November 3, 2015. Whereas Democrats need to win an impossible 19 seats from Republicans to take control of the House of Delegates, they need to capture only 1 seat in the Virginia Senate to take back control that they lost in 2014. Currently, Republicans hold 21 seats and Democrats 19, and Democratic Lt. Governor Ralph Northam could break a 20-20 tie. The Senate districts were drawn in 2011 to protect incumbent senators, and so the majority of districts are safe for sitting senators. Most races are boringly predictable. However, there are a few districts where retiring senators created open seats—and some electoral excitement. Also, a handful of districts are unpredictable due to demographic changes, especially in urbanized areas, that have taken place since the 2011 redistricting. These exciting Senate district contests are shown in yellow on the map, with notes showing campaign funding based on the latest reports. Major contests exist in 7 of Virginia’s 40 Senate districts District 6. Democratic Senator Lynwood Lewis is an incumbent in a Democratic-leaning district. He should win. Prediction: Democratic hold Sen. Frank Wagner (left) and Gary McCollum District 7. Republican Senator Frank Wagner represents an urbanized district favorable to Democrats that includes Virginia Beach and Norfolk and is almost a quarter African American. In September, Democratic challenger Gary McCollum suffered Republican attacks because he misstated his inactive Army Reserve status; then Senator Wagner generated outrage from the Virginia Black Caucus for the following quote at a fancy country club luncheon: “So it’s a very diverse district. I wish sometimes I represented this half, but I’m very, very happy to represent the folks I have.” Perhaps the candidate who makes no mistakes in October will win. Prediction: Toss-up Dan Gecker (left) and Glen Sturtevant District 10. Republicans will likely lose this open seat because demographic changes and voting trends favor Democrats. Dan Gecker’s campaign needs high Democratic voter turnout in the Richmond area to offset Republican votes for Glen Sturtevant in the rural western part of the district. Prediction: Democratic pickup District 13. Republican Senator Dick Black is an incumbent in a Republican-leaning district. He should win. Prediction: Republican hold Kim Adkins (left) and Sen. Bill Stanley District 20. Republican Bill Stanley defeated the Democratic incumbent in the 2011 election by some 600 votes, getting only 46.8% of the total in this borderline Republican district. Senator Stanley is state chairman for Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, which will have both a positive and negative impact on voters. Democrat Kim Adkins, former Martinsville mayor, may have a chance at an upset if the Democratic areas in and around Martinsville, Danville, and South Boston enjoy higher than average voter turnout on Election Day. Sen. John Edwards (left) and Nancy Dye District 21. The challenge to Democratic Senator John Edwards follows a Republican strategy of targeting Democrats in southwestern Virginia, where Republicans took Senate district 20 in 2011 and district 38 (west of district 21) in 2014. However, Senator Edwards should receive more than enough Democratic votes from the urban populations in Roanoke and Blacksburg to counter the rural Republican votes for opponent Nancy Dye east and west of Blacksburg. Jeremy McPike (left) and Hal Parrish District 29. Democrat Jeremy McPike should win this open seat due to demographics and voting patterns. Republican Hal Parrish, current Manassas mayor, is a strong candidate with lots of money, but the Democratic precincts of Dale City should overwhelm the rural and suburban Republican precincts in the west. The Toss-ups in districts 7 and 20 should favor either the Republican or Democratic candidates by late October. The last time the Virginia Senate was elected in 2011, a Republican governor campaigned with his party’s candidates; but in 2015 a Democratic governor boosts Democrats (other active campaigners are Lt. Gov. Northam and Attorney General Herring). In any case, it looks like only a few races will determine control of the Virginia Senate come November 3. David B. Miller, Assistant Professor, Geography, NVCC-Alexandria & Annandale The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the view of the NOVA Institute for Public Service or Northern Virginia Community College as a whole. All materials may be reprinted with permission, for more information please contact the IPS Coordinator. Comments are welcome. Posted in Virginia Elections \| Tagged Blacksburg, Dale City, Danville, Manassas, Martinsville, Richmond, Roanoke, Senate Districts Map, virginia, Virginia Beach, Virginia Senate \| 28 Replies A Summer Look: Election 2016 Virginia’s Purple Politics Virginia Senate Map 2015: Mid-October Revision Geography & Virginia Politics	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line947
__label__wiki	0.504829	0.504829	Employment Opportunities at Bloustein Current SAS and SEBS Students Transferring from Within Rutgers (School-to-School) Transferring from Outside of Rutgers (US and International) Re-enrolling Students Prospective Student Information Sessions Prospective Student Inquiry Form for Undergraduate Programs B.S. in Health Administration B.A. in Planning and Public Policy B.S. in Public Policy B.S. in Urban Planning and Design Bloustein Honors Research Program Planning and Public Policy Certificate Programs Certificate Program Declaration Form Undergraduate Internships Allard Fellowship Program in Public Health Ralph W. Voorhees Public Service Fellowships Student and Academic Services Staff Courses/Special Permission Numbers Student Organizations and Honoraries Doctoral PhD Program Public Policy Master’s Programs Master of Public Policy (MPP) Master of Public Affairs and Politics (MPAP) Joint and Dual Degrees Urban Planning and Policy Development Master’s Programs Master of City and Regional Planning (MCRP) Master of City and Regional Studies (MCRS) Health Administration Master’s Programs Executive Master of Health Administration Traditional Master of Health Administration Master of Public Informatics Master of Public Informatics (MPI) Korea Development Institute (KDI) Scholars Program Admissions – Information for Prospective Students Funding and Support for Prospective Graduate Students Graduate Open House Prospective Student Inquiry Form International Development and Global Affairs Jerome G. Rose Excellence in Teaching Award Hall of Fame and Distinguished Alumni Awards Alumni of the Year Nomination Join Alumni Groups PhD Alumni and Dissertations History of the Bloustein School Bloustein School Named Lectures Public Policy Joint and Dual Degrees Allied with Public Policy is the school-wide PhD program, which focuses on the preparation of planning-focused scholars who will teach and conduct research. Download Program in Public Policy brochure In addition, the following dual degrees are also offered: Dual Degree Program in Urban Planning and Public Policy (MPP / MCRP) Combining the Bloustein School’s Master of City and Regional Planning (MCRP) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) leads to a three-year dual degree option for program and potential applicants. Students are accepted independently to both graduate programs after providing a separate application to each, but share concentrations, course electives, and requirements. The three year, 72 credit dual degree Program (36, MCRP and 36, MPP) is a savings of 24 credits compared to earning the 48-credit MCRP and the MPP degrees separately. Each degree program accepts 12 credits from the other program. Students are required to take three methods courses, including Basic Quantitative Methods and Applied Multivariate Methods. For the third methods course, students must choose between Research Design and Planning Methods. Information sheet and sample program Dual Degree Program with Rutgers' School of Law (JD / MPAP) The Schools of Law at Camden and Newark and the Bloustein School offer a dual-degree program designed for students who are interested in law, politics, and public policy. The three and one-half year program leads to a dual master of public affairs and politics/juris doctor (M.P.A.P./J.D.) degree. This program includes two and one-half years in Camden or Newark studying law and one year at the Bloustein School on the New Brunswick Campus studying politics and public policy. Students usually begin the program with the law school curriculum, completing two years of law school and one year in public policy before returning to one-half year in law school. This plan requires students to apply to the public policy program in February of their second year of law school. Courses required during the year at the Bloustein School include public policy formation, methods, and economics. The law school will transfer 12 credits or four required courses in the public policy program toward the J.D. degree. Students are eligible for financial aid for the year they are in residence at the Bloustein School. Awarded on a competitive basis and according to a student’s needs, financial aid can include tuition, tuition and stipends, or just a stipend. To be considered for the dual degree program, students must apply to the Bloustein School’s Public Policy Program in New Brunswick and be accepted to the School of Law at Camden or Newark. Students should submit their full applications by January 15 (for financial support consideration). The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) will be accepted in place of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Dual Degree Program with Rutgers Business School (MBA / MPP) A total of 60 credits are needed for the MBA and 48 credits for the MPP However, since each program accepts 12 credits from the other toward its degree, students only take 48 credits with RBS and 36 credit with Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. MPP Core Courses Marketing Research (RBS) (22:630:604) – 3 credits Public Policy Formation (34:833:510) – 3 credits Applied Multivariate Methods (34:833:525) – 3 credits Policy Research Practicum (34:833:640) – 6 credits Applied Field Experience (34:833:673) – 3 credits An approved economics, budgeting, and management course at RBS must each be taken (3, 3, 3 credits)* Dual-degree students take 18 credits (or 21) in the core, and complete another 15 (or 12) credits of electives (depending on how Regression Analysis is completed). Nine of these remaining credits must constitute a substantive specialization in public policy, selected from among the following options: Labor and Workforce Political Processes and Institutions Social Policy and Women’s Issues Courses applied to the specialization are chosen with the consultation of the student’s adviser, who directs that specialization, and the program director. MPP Concentrations Students must demonstrate basic competency in the concentration by achieving a B+ average or better. Courses offered toward the concentration may be drawn from offerings within the public policy program or Rutgers generally, with the permission of the adviser and the program director. Students may also perform an independent study, usually with the adviser for the concentration, as part of the concentration. Note: the MPP concentrations in applied economics and policy analysis or management are not permitted for the dual degrees. Year 1: Full-time study with RBS Summer 1: RBS internship (private sector) Year 2: Full-time study with the Bloustein School Summer 2: Public Policy Applied Field Experience (public sector) Year 3: Mix of courses in the Business School and Bloustein as needed Students may reduce the third year load by taking additional classes in year two or by taking additional summer courses. Dual Degree Program with Graduate School-Newark Division of Global Affairs ( MPP / MS) Individually, a total of 40 credits are needed for the MS and 48 credits for the MPP. Students are able to complete the dual degree MPP/MS with 70 total credits—a minimum of 34 credits offered by the Graduate School-Newark, Division of Global Affairs towards the MS degree and a minimum of 36 credits offered by the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy towards the MPP degree—and a language requirement. This dual degree program may be completed in six full-time semesters. The Bloustein School would accept the DGA internship as its Applied Field Experience and the specialization courses to fulfill the concentration requirement for the MPP. DGA would accept the Bloustein methodology course to fulfill its Methods requirement and give credit for one Bloustein elective. Students would be required to take all other courses required for the MPP and for the MS in Global Affairs. Required for MS—40 credits Language requirement—Students must demonstrate both reading and writing knowledge of at least one modern language other than English. MS Core Courses—18 credits—One course in six of the following nine areas: 26:478:537 Global Governance—3 credits 26:478:541 / 26:553:607 Global Political Economy—3 credits 26:478:572 / 26:510:543 Evolution of the Global System—3 credits 26:220:518 International Economics I—3 credits or 26:220:512 / 26:478:510 Fundamentals of Economics in Global Affairs—3 credits or 34:833:543 Economics and Public Policy—3 credits (DGA will accept a Bloustein course for this core) 26:478:598 / 26:070:598 Genocide—3 credits or 26:478:585 / 26:920:585 Social Movements and Globalization—3 credits 26:478:504 International Law—3 credits or 26:478:525 International Legitimacy and Global Justice—3 credits or 26:600:638 International Law and World Order—3 credits 26:478:538 Global Environmental Issues—3 credits or 34:970:618 Environmental Planning & Management—3 credits or 34:833:619 Environmental Economics and Policy—3 credits (DGA will accept Bloustein courses for this core) 26:533:602 / 26:478:597 International Business—3 credits or 26:478:589 / 26:533:601 History of International Business 26:478:514 Ethics and Global Affairs Colloquium—2,2 credits—26:478:570, 571 Two semesters are required; however students are encouraged to attend additional colloquia on a noncredit, non-registered basis. Methods—(3 credits)—Qualitative or quantitative courses may apply. Masters students are encouraged, but not required, to take additional methodology courses within their elective credits; this will be accomplished through this dual degree program. (DGA will accept Bloustein Methodology courses) Specialization—9 credits—At least 3 approved graduate courses in one of the five areas listed below: Conflict and Human Rights Global Business and Economics Human and Environmental Security Global Policy Electives—6 credits—These credits must be fulfilled by: Internship—3 credits—must be approved by Director of DGA but Bloustein applied field experience will be accepted Courses require departmental approval—3 credits—DGA will accept a Bloustein course Required for MPP—48 credits MPP Core Courses—12 credits—At least one course in each of the following areas: 34:833:510 Public Policy Formation—3 credits 34:833:543 Economics for Public Policy—3 credits 34:833:570 Non-profit Management—3 credits or 34:833:571 Public Management—3 credits or 34:833:681 Managing People and Organizations 34:833:540 State and Local Public Finance—3 credits or 34:833:567 Budgeting and Public Policy—3 credits or 34:833:xxx Non Profit and Community Development Finance Methods—9 credits 34:833:530 Methods I: Research Design—3 credits 34:833:521 Basic Quantitative Methods—3 credits 34:833:525 Applied Multivariate Methods—3 credits Applied Field Experience—3 credits—34:833:673 Applied Field Experience Policy Research Practicum I, II—6 credits (3 credits each)—34:833:640,641 Concentration—9 credits—At least 3 approved graduate courses in one of the four areas listed below: Non-Profit Management Electives—9 credits—Courses require departmental approval Dual Degree Program with Rutgers School of Public Health ( MPP / MPH) Combining the Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the Rutgers School of Public Health leads to a three-year, 69 credit dual degree option. Note that this is a savings of 24 credits compared to earning the 48 credit MPP and the 45 credit MPH degrees separately. Students are accepted independently to both graduate programs after providing a separate application to each, but share concentrations, course electives, and requirements. Required for MPH—33 credits For the MPH degree, students are required to complete 15 credits of School of Public Health core courses, 15 credits of Department of Health Systems and Policy required courses, 3 credits of electives and 6 credits of Fieldwork. Up to six credits of MPP courses will fulfill School of Public Health electives. MPP courses must have a grade of B or better in order to transfer. The student’s Department of Health Systems and Policy faculty advisor serves as a co-advisor with the Bloustein School faculty advisor for Fieldwork. Visit the MPH degree webpage or the Department of Health Systems and Policy’s webpage for more information about the MPH curriculum. For the MPP degree, students are required to complete 21 credits of required coursework and 18 elective credits. The Bloustein School accepts two MPH courses, Introduction to Biostatistics and Health Services Research and Evaluation in lieu of the required Research Design and Basic Quantitative Methods courses (6 credits) for the MPP. The Bloustein School also accepts 3 credits of Fieldwork II in lieu of the Applied Field Experience course required for the MPP. However, the student needs to meet all of the requirements of the Applied Field Experience when completing the School of Public Health Fieldwork course. Students are required to take elective courses approved by both their Bloustein and School of Public Health faculty advisors. For the MPP, students are required to take 18 credits of electives. (A minimum of 9 credits of electives must be fulfilled with Bloustein courses; if more than 9 credits of electives are taken at Bloustein then the total number of credits for this dual-degree program may be more than the minimum of 69 credits.). For the MPH, students are required to take 9 credits of electives (6 of these 9 credits may be fulfilled with Bloustein courses approved by the School of Public Health faculty advisor). Joint BA or BS / MPP Program BA or BS / Master of Public Policy (3-1-1) Program Dual-Degree Program The Bloustein School, in cooperation with the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, offers a joint program that enables students to earn the bachelor of arts or science and the Master of Public Policy degrees in five years of full-time enrollment rather than the normal six. This (3-1-1) five-year program gives exemplary students the opportunity to complete their liberal arts education while preparing for a career in public policy or politics. During the first three years of their undergraduate education, students will complete most of their major and general studies requirements. They may apply for admission to the joint program in February of their junior year. Admitted students will be allowed to take up to 18 graduate credits* in the Public Policy Program over the course of their senior year of undergraduate study. The graduate credits will be applied toward both degrees. Upon completion of the BA or BS degree, students will automatically matriculate into the graduate program with advanced standing In the summer after graduation, students must participate in an applied field experience (internship) at a public agency, nonprofit organization, or private firm working on public issues. Students receive three (3) graduate credits* for the internship. During their fifth year, students will complete their graduate studies and, upon fulfilling all requirements, receive the MPP degree. Advantages of the Five Year Program During their senior year, students receive the benefit of undergraduate tuition rates while taking graduate courses, thus reducing the cost of the two degrees. Graduates with MPP degrees work in important and varied positions in the field of public affairs, including the staffs of several governors, members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, state legislatures, and in federal and state executive agencies. Many graduates also work in the private sector, including business, banking, the law, and non-profit organizations. The joint program is competitive and highly selective. Successful applicants for admission will have a GPA of 3.5 or more, exceptional GRE scores, a dedication to public service and outstanding recommendations. Interested students who fulfill the above qualifications should contact the Office of Student and Academic Services to discuss the program and to discuss the application process. The application requires transcripts, three letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, GRE scores and a résumé. Your online application should indicate the BA or BS / MPP Program. Courtney Culler Assistant Director for Graduate Student Services Bloustein School Civic Square Building; Room 184 courtney.culler@rutgers.edu Andrea Garrido Career Management Specialist andrea.garrido@rutgers.edu Assistant Dean for Student and Academic Services sdweston@rutgers.edu Bloustein On the Road Nothing from July 18, 2019 to August 17, 2019. Graduate Student Orientation Bloustein School Facilities Student Services Suite Special Events Forum Seminar Classrooms Modern classrooms Information Gateway Lounge Industry Standard Software Instructional Computer Lab Jerome Rose Reading Room Entrance to the Bloustein School Lobby and Video Wall Building Entrance Building Entrance Bicycle Racks Building Exterior ejb@ejb.rutgers.edu Courses \| Grid Fall Orientation Spring Orientation Faculty/PTL Advising Hours Bloustein Resources Directories: Faculty \| Staff Business/HR Services Events & Facilities Management Faculty/PTL Resources Org Chart (May 2019) MyRutgers Portal Parking \| Campus Buses Rutgers Home \| Search Rutgers 33 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, NJ 08901 \| 848-932-5475 \| ejb@ejb.rutgers.edu \| Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line948
__label__wiki	0.74851	0.74851	Chocolate maker Mars backs Ivory Coast, Ghana cocoa floor price Ange Aboa and Joe Bavier ABIDJAN/JOHANNESBURG — U.S. food maker Mars Inc. supports a decision by Ivory Coast and Ghana to set a floor price for their cocoa exports, a senior executive told Reuters on Wednesday, becoming one of the first major chocolate companies to back the initiative. The West African neighbors said last month they will fix a minimum price of $2,600 per tonne free-on-board that chocolate companies must pay from the 2020/21 season if they want to access their more than 60% share of global supply. The price is meant to ease pervasive farmer poverty that has become a blight on chocolate’s image and a threat to the sector’s future in West Africa, as young people walk away from a life of backbreaking labor with little reward. “We believe cocoa farmers should earn sufficient income to maintain a decent standard of living,” John Ament, Global Vice President of Cocoa for Mars, told Reuters. “The reality today is that many are a long way from this.” Mars makes a number of iconic chocolate treats including M&M’s, Snickers and Twix. Though farmer advocacy groups have applauded the decision, major players in the chocolate industry have remained largely silent since the decision was announced on June 12. Privately, some complain they were not consulted on the plan and worry it could push companies to buy their beans elsewhere or over-stimulate production, leading to a global price crash. Officials from Ivory Coast and Ghana were meeting with industry executives in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan, on Wednesday to discuss details of the strategy. “We support moves by governments to intervene to achieve a higher price that leads to a sustainable increase paid to the farmer and is supported with governance to ensure there is no further expansion of land use to grow cocoa,” Ament said. Mars said Ivory Coast and Ghana are crucial sources of cocoa for its business. One industry analyst estimated that the company uses around 430,000 tonnes of West African cocoa and cocoa derivatives annually. The floor price is not the first attempt to combat farmer poverty. Third-party certification schemes, corporate sustainability programs, and government-guaranteed minimum prices in both countries have aimed to raise living standards for farmers. Still, a Fairtrade International survey last year found that just 12% of Ivorian cocoa-farming households earned $2.50 per person per day, a level it calculated to be the living income benchmark. “Initiatives to boost productivity, improvements in social services and infrastructure, and exploration of alternative incomes are necessary, but they will likely not be enough without an increase in the price farmers receive for their crop,” Ament said. (Writing by Joe Bavier, editing by Deepa Babington)	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line954
__label__wiki	0.937698	0.937698	UPDATE 1-Antitrust regulators may also scrutinize internet firms' cryptocurrencies -German cartel chief BONN — Cryptocurrencies backed by big internet companies could come under the scrutiny of antitrust regulators, the head of Germany’s Federal Cartel Office said on Thursday after Facebook last week launched its own version. Central bankers and financial watchdogs were quick to raise concerns about Facebook’s planned Libra global cryptocurrency, saying that it could become so pervasive as to disrupt the global monetary policy framework. Germany’s antitrust watchdog’s president Andreas Mundt, who has pursued the world’s largest social network over other areas of its business, told reporters that cryptocurrencies launched by companies like Facebook “could become a topic for us.” Mundt has taken Facebook to task over its handling of data collected from users of the social network and its messaging apps without their consent, finding the firm founded by CEO Mark Zuckerberg abused its market dominance. In its ruling in February, the Federal Cartel Office ordered Facebook to curb its data collection practices. The company appealed that decision, which is now before the German courts. (Reporting by Matthias Inverardi Writing by Douglas Busvine Editing by Tassilo Hummel and Alexander Smith)	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line955
__label__cc	0.632164	0.367836	COMPLIMENTARY UK RETURNS GBP EUR USD AED AUD MXN CAD RUB EYEMASKS BUSTOIRE BOUDOIR Home / BLOG / Six of The Best: London Fine Dining Experiences Six of The Best: London Fine Dining Experiences Posted on July 25 2018 London is a city of contrasts: from medieval buildings, to cutting edge technology, from elegant shopping to bohemian markets, from elegant squares to houseboats on the canal. London has it all. The same applies to London’s world-famous restaurants. The city is a melting pot of different cultures and traditions and this is reflected in its gastronomy too. From French Haute Cuisine to World Class Sushi, London dining will lead you to some of the finest gastronomic experiences in the world. Le Gavroche Le Gavroche is the last word in classic French dining. With a history of awards dating back as far as 1974 when it earned its first Michelin star, this heavyweight legend in the classic French style is world famous. Under the patronage of Michel Roux Jnr, the quality of Le Gavroche remains a benchmark in the world of cuisine, and is a flagship London restaurant. Its interior is luxurious and elegant and its menu is the stuff of legend. Don’t leave without ordering the world-famous Coquilles St Jacques, or the Cote de Veau. Le Gavroche currently has two Michelin stars and has featured on countless lists of the Best Restaurants in the World Opened by Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver in 1994, St John specialises in “nose to tail” eating. Following the traditions of ancestral butchers on the very spot where a smoking house was once situated, St John is not for the faint hearted, nor for the vegetarian. With pristine white surroundings and plain, unfussy table settings, the restaurant lets the food take centre stage. St John has been a Michelin starred restaurant since 2009, and only releases its menus on the day they are served and not before. With innovative dishes, offering delicacies that even seasoned diners may not have eaten before, you can be assured of Michelin star quality when you dine at this meat lover’s nirvana. The Araki The Araki is the ultimate in world class sushi. With three Michelin stars to its name, the Araki has the unique selling point of every single seat being at the chef’s table. Watching Mitsuhiro Araki and his expert chefs prepare the exquisite fare is all part of the experience at Araki. As a barometer of its exclusivity and quality, the Araki feeds only eighteen people per evening. The restaurant seats only nine, and has only two sittings per night. The menu is already set before you arrive, so no choosing or ordering takes place. The chef chooses the guests’ food, and with high demand and three Michelin stars, this is clearly a highly lauded dining style. This is the ultimate wish list for sushi connoisseurs and with such small numbers, it goes without saying that booking in advance is mandatory. Indian cuisine is hugely popular in London and Michelin starred Gymkhana is in such demand that booking well in advance is highly recommended if you’ve any chance of enjoying this exceptional and exotic restaurant. The surroundings have a traditional turn of the century feel with ceiling fans, mirrors and dark wood panelling, and sharing dishes is very much encouraged. Gymkhana offers fine dining Indian style with such dishes as Hariyali Bream and Wild Mushroom, Truffle and Morel Pilau, as well as taster menus with a wine matching service. You can find Gymkhana in London’s Mayfair. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay The fiery chef is world famous for his many television appearances and his high profile. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is one of only three in London which boast three Michelin stars, and which has done so since 2001: an extraordinary achievement in today’s fast-moving world of cuisine. Under the leadership of chef patron Clare Smyth MBE, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay offers high quality seasonal ingredients cooked using classic French and English methods and served in elegant surroundings. For the adventurous, there is the Inspiration Table, a bespoke dining experience in which dishes are prepared and presented at the table by a chef. You can find Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Chelsea’s Hospital Road. Booking far in advance is essential. Bibendum is hot news at the moment, having just achieved not one but two Michelin stars under the direction of renowned French chef Claude Bosi. Situated in Michelin House itself, where Chelsea meets South Kensington, Bibendum has earned its place on the Two Star Michelin list by offering contemporary seasonal cuisine with a French twist. Dine on Turbot, Cuttlefish, langoustine or rabbit and round off your meal with Olive Oil parfait or rhubarb mille-feuille. Where is your favourite restaurant? Have you dined at any of the restaurants on our list? Do let us know. We always love to hear from you. Subscribe to Bustoire and be first to hear about our exciting launch news. COOKIES & WEBSITE TERMS OF USE BUSTOIRE Receive a silk eyemask with your first order CALL: +44 (0)20 7971 1391 Copyright © 2019 Bustoire	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line957
__label__wiki	0.517691	0.517691	Jun 17 A Question Of Black Or White Manners For The 21st C..., Observations part 1 / part 2 / part 3 Q: What's the difference between St. Patrick's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day? A: Once a year everybody likes to pretend they're Irish. Dolezal’s impersonation poses an interesting question, although unanswerable at this time. But before delving into that, let’s back up and ask the question before the question: Was she an effective NAACP leader or not? Now, there are non-African-American leaders in the NAACP, nothing in their rules preclude that so long as the person is committed to NAACP goals.[1] So, is Dolezal delusional and really thinks she’s black, is she a pathological liar who lies because that’s what she does, or is she just a wannabee “W-bomb” as it were?[2] ‘Cuz if she’s delusional and really thinks she’s black, then her deception is not a deception in her own mind. But that immediately calls into question just how tight her grip on reality is, and if she’s made other delusional choices in her official capacity. If she’s a wannabee, someone who really truly-uly desires to be black because something about the African-American experience reaches her the way no other culture can, then her motives are understandable but disingenuous: She saw presenting as black to be a benefit for her job. Why would anyone trust somebody who would deliberately and consciously carry out such a lie? Jenner, on the other hand, has the backstop of “I always felt this way, I tried to fit in the way I was, but I couldn’t maintain that and so decided to embrace my feelings and undergo gender reassignment therapy.”[3] Jenner’s decision to undergo a physical gender change was not a spur of the moment thing. Even people who question the wisdom of gender reassignment surgery can see how it is logically an attractive option to some who have that issue. Only bigots and hate mongers would claim Jenner was and is insane, incapable of interacting with the real world. Which circles us back ‘round to Dolezal. If gender identity disorder is a real thing[4], then is race identity disorder a real thing as well? Ah, a sticky wicket. part 5 / part 6 / part 7 / part 8 / part 9 [4/1] Similarly, when we were doing the Serenity manga series, we made no religious test requiring our artists and writers to be Christians. So long as they helped us do the types of projects were were committed to doing, their personal religious beliefs were irrelevant. I have worked as a hired gun on Christian publishing projects where I have disagreed with specific theological points but kept my mouth shut because my job was to help them do their project. [4/2] C’mon, you’re smart enough to figure it out. [4/3] I presume that not everybody with gender identity disorder has the same degree of disconnect with their physical bodies and some are able to cope through therapy without going to hormone treatments or surgery. Not everyone is capable of doing that, and if a person is connected enough with their birth gender to identify elsewise, we should respect their privacy. So stop peeking under restroom stalls, Michelle Duggar. [4/4] And it is; even those medical practitioners who doubt the wisdom of surgery acknowledge the disorder exists. bigotry, Caitlyn Jenner, culture, ethics, evil, hate, history, morality, Occupy Your Heart, philosophy, prejudice, privilege, race, Rachel Dolezal, things of the spirit, Thinkage, white privilege Jun 18 What They See Is What You Get Jun 17 Just Who Do You Think You Are?	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line959
__label__cc	0.512523	0.487477	Former Grover Beach officer’s dogs chased mailman before deadly attack Kings County Deputy Sheriff Alex Geiger and “Boss” with a demonstration at Hidden Valley Park in Hanford, California in 2013. Hours before fatally attacking a 64-year-old man and seriously injuring an 85-year-old woman, the dogs belonging to former Grover Beach police officer Alex Geiger broke loose and chased a mailman, according to a court filing. Around the same time, neighbors were trying to contact the officer to confront him about his out-of-control dogs. On Dec. 12, Geiger’s Belgian Malinois and German shepherd chewed through a fence and attacked David Fear and Betty Long. Fear died shortly after the attack, while Long survived with a broken pelvis and a broken shoulder. Long returned home earlier this year after undergoing a shoulder replacement and spending time in a rehab facility. San Luis Obispo County Animal Services personnel euthanized the Belgian Malinois, which was determined to be the more aggressive dog. After initially letting Geiger keep the German shepherd, animal services personnel confiscated the dog but did not euthanize it. Geiger, 25, is facing a charge of felony involuntary manslaughter and two felony counts of owning a dog trained to attack while failing to exercise ordinary care. He faces up to three years and eight months in prison. Following the deadly attack, investigators took reports on the incident, which have now surfaced in court filings. One of the reports was written by Grover Beach police Sgt. Juan Leon, who stated he was the first officer on the scene. Leon wrote that he found Long and Fear lying on the sidewalk with severe injuries. Leon got out of his patrol car with his shotgun and was calmly approached by Neo, the Belgian Malinois. Neo rubbed his muzzle on Leon’s leg and sat down. The German shepherd, which did not have any blood on it, wandered off. Geiger, who was on duty at the time, arrived at the scene and secured both dogs inside his house. While waiting for paramedics to arrive, Fear told Leon to help Long prior to assisting him, according to the police report. Animal Services Director Eric Anderson, who has faced criticism for his handling of the investigation, likewise wrote a report. Anderson’s report states a neighbor said he saw two dogs run off Geiger’s property earlier in the day and chase a mailman. Anderson interviewed the mailman, who said he was making his rounds in his truck when both dogs began to chase him and bark aggressively. The mailman said one of the dogs was particularly aggressive and was jumping on his truck trying to get at him. The dogs ended the chase after the mailman rolled up his windows and drove off. During his investigation, Anderson interviewed Bret Inglehart, the coordinator of the Exeter Police Department K9 unit. Before coming to Grover Beach, Geiger served in the Exeter Police Department K-9 unit, along with with Neo, a police dog at the time. Inglehart said Neo performed and trained well and met expectations. But, Inglehart said Geiger was taught that K9s must be in a locked crate or kennel when they are not under the direct supervision of their handler. Anderson’s report stated Geiger had an empty 8-foot-by-6-foot metal wire kennel in his backyard. Geiger’s property also had a wood and lattice fence, which contained two splintered planks that were broken at the ground level. There were large, muddy paw prints visible on the fence. Six of seven neighbors the animal services director interviewed said they were hounded by barking day and night after Geiger moved in. Geiger seemed to be away from the home for up to three days at a time, the neighbors said. A next-door neighbor said the dogs were often going nuts and jumping on the fence in an out-of-control manner. That neighbor spoke with others, who as a group, decided to confront Geiger. But, they did not manage to reach Geiger before the attack, Anderson’s report states. Subjects: animals Grover Beach Grover Beach Police Department San Luis Obispo County Animal Services Six fires break out on Highway 101 in North County Pedestrian hit and killed on outskirts of SLO DocT Just some bare, unadorned facts: Neo was a certified, trained K9 officer in Exeter. Geiger was also certified as a K9 trainer….an expert. Those are facts. Here’s what I say is a reasonable conclusion to draw from those facts: Police dogs are not safe. They are deadly and should not be part of the police department. They do not protect and serve anyone but the officers and the department. We should not have K9 units in our local police. How do I get these crazy ideas? Neo was a certified K9 officer and Geiger was his expert trainer. He’s not alone, and Neo is not the only dog to misbehave. Not that there’s anything we can do about it. We’re just serfs. We’re expendable and our lives don’t mean much compared to cops and their dogs. Some additional facts, like how many incidents have there been over the years or nationwide with police dogs, may help support your conclusion. Polish up those facts that lead one to your conclusion. Copperhead: To my surprise, Law Enforcement does not keep statistics on this, neither do they keep a record of how many people they have shot, killed, or how many innocent people have been shot and killed, or injured etc. There are statistics, but nothing on CNN, MSNBC or FOX. An internet search will yield a TON of information and will demonstrate that it is the norm for K9’s to bite and injure the ‘wrong’ people. Searching under: ” how many police dogs bite the wrong person ” will yield enough results to easily persuade you. I get sick and tired of fetching links for people who aren’t concerned enough to do their own research! When I express an opinion, I am always able to back it up. Do your own research and then if you don’t agree with my conclusions, at least you’ll have something to back up your opinion. abigchocoholic Here’s what I say is a reasonable conclusion to draw from those facts: Police dogs are not safe. Your facts in no way lead to your conclusion. Not even close. Your facts are at one end of the continuum and your conclusion the other and you skip everything in-between. It’s like me saying: Ambulances are involved in 4500 car accidents a year. Ambulances should be outlawed. 3,000 people die in car accidents involving licensed drivers every day. Cars should be illegal. 14 people died from drinking too much water last year. Water should be outlawed. Everything in life is a risk. Crossing the street kills 4500 Americans a year. Until you know how many police dogs there are and how many lives they’ve saved v. how many they’ve wrongfully terminated, you’re clueless. Your conclusion is unsupported. OK…..I’ll bite….no pun intended: How many lives were saved by police dogs last year? Please differentiate between those who were given CPR by the dog and those who were saved from drowning, etc. Just how many lives have been saved by police dogs? Also, please note if the dog saved the cop/handler’s life or if it saved a serf’s life. It seems to me that K9’s are used for the following purposes: 1. sniff out drugs 2. sniff out dead bodies 3. catch suspects/ find missing people 4. protect human officers I’m all 4 dogs sniffing out dead bodies and finding missing people, but that’s rarely what they’re used for. Mostly, it’s to sniff out drugs and use physical force against people. But hey! I’m not above being corrected and I’ll certainly retract my statements if you tell me how many serf’s lives were saved by K9 officers. 1965buick The neighbors must feel awful – but they did try. David Fear and Betty Long deserve justice in this case, and it is about time that SLO County DA Dan Dow got off the dime and raised the crime to manslaughter. Funny that only 5 months ago Mr. Dow was passionate in defending why manslaughter was not an appropriate charge, but now appears to have changed his mind, I guess he deserves some credit for finally getting it right. As a defendant, Officer Alex Geiger does not deserve to be singled out for aggressive prosecution because he is a cop, but neither does he deserve to be let off under the guise of being a public servant. Mr. Geiger had a special resonsiulility as a dog owner bringing deadly canines into a residential neighborhood, and it appears he failed miserably in making sure his neighbors were protected from these killer dogs. His prosecution under these new more serious charges is fully warranted, and we must demand that, as most dog owners do, people respect the safety of the public as a priority in keeping these animals. tojofay The poor dogs- they were just misunderstood. Good thing they didn’t have to spend all their time in those terrible kennels. At least the dogs had a good life for awhile. Yes, and they even got to taste blood. What lucky dogs! What unlucky neighbors. :( So Gieger knowingly caused the death of someone and yet his max sentence will be less than 4 four years, likely cut in half or more, down to 18 months, in a special unit, protected from those bad criminals and yet police and others in government want to continue to tell us there is no special treatment. Come on give up on that, we know there is special treatment for special people. jimmy_me Though Geiger is responsible for a killing, he’ll never see a day in jail. Prepare yourself for it. L.A.RamsFan “Prepare yourself for it”? Nahhhh! Ya don’t have to! Y’all know it’s coming! SLO has been empowering these type of events for decades now by not holding these type of LEO’s accountable, or the prosecutors who are suppose to, and discrediting those who complain about their unlawful actions. Stop with the ridiculous mock indignation! It’s nothing but lip service! None of you have the guts (I would say balls but then that would be sexist) to do anything about any of this. My proof? Remember Andrew Holland? Probably not! Y’all are not only used to it but you condone it with your inaction! Besides it’s only the accused (not yet convicted) and the mentally ill who are at risk, not y’all! And really who gives a fuck about them anyway, right?! Cowards!	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line963
__label__cc	0.743384	0.256616	PGA Tour: Zurich Classic of New Orleans Preview We preview the Zurich Classic of New Orleans which takes place between 26 April and 29 April at TPC of Louisiana. The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a professional golfing event that dates back 80 years to 1938 and has been held annually since 1958. The event underwent a massive redesign in 2017, with a team format introduced in an attempt to rebrand an event that struggled to deal with the general post Masters malaise. The team format will also give Jim Furyk- playing this week with David Duval- the chance to see how his players cope with team format ahead of the Ryder Cup. 80 teams of 2 will start the weekend, which will be whittled down to 35 and ties at the halfway mark. Zurich Classic of New Orleans \| 26 April - 29 April \| TPC of Louisiana, New Orleans TPC Louisiana has only been open for 13 years. The course is designed by famous course architect Pete Dye, with the assistance of PGA Tour professionals Steve Elkington and Kelly Gibson. Stretching over 250 acres of wetlands over the Mississippi Delta, the course has breathtaking vistas and measures about 7,400 yards. There are over 100 bunkers and five ponds that will come into play. An array of shorter Par 4’s will test the risk-reward conundrum. The teams will play foursomes (alternate shot) over Round 1 and Round 3, while the fourball (better-ball) format will be used in Round 2 and Round 4. The recently rejigged event is a refreshing alternative to the sometimes monotonous stroke-play format that is the tour’s bread and butter. And that is reflected in how strong the field is. Six of the world’s top ten players are in attendance, including Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm. Recent Masters champion Patrick Reed is also present while Brooks Koepka returns from four months on the sidelines. One zippy bit of trend chasing sees the event turn to musical intros for the first time on the PGA Tour. The teams that make the weekend for the event will have personally chosen musical intros on the first tee. The purists must be thrilled. 2017: Jonas Blixt & Cameron Smith (-27) To Win Outright: Rose and Stenson 7/1 \| Cantaly and Reed 10/1 \| Cauley and Thomas 12/1 \| Watson and Kuchar 12/1 \| Plamer and Spieth 12/1 Value Bets Sean O’Hair and Jimmy Walker- To Win 22/1 These two have the advantage of having had a warm-up, having paired up for the Final Round of the Valero Texas Open. O’Hair finished T2 with a closing 66, while former PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker has shown steady signs of improvement, placing fourth in Valero. Walker had shown signs of improvement on the notoriously slick greens of Augusta, and this could be just the sort of under-the-radar paring that could thrive this week. Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel – To Win 25/1 King Louis teamed up with Branden Grace last year, and the pair ended up in a credible tie for 24th. Grace has been in poor form this season, so Oosthuizen has turned to the metronomic Schwartzel. Both South Africans had solid showings at Augusta, and their games complement each other well in a team format. Schwartzel’s solid play from tee to green should pair well with Oosthuizen’s creativity in and around the greens. The two Major champions look appealing at 25/1. Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith- To Win 33/1 Jonas Blixt has certainly been on the wane over the last year, but a tie for 14th at Harbor Town shows that he may be on the mend. Also, this format is so idiosyncratic that form is really relative. Additionally, Cameron Smith is in electric form and is perhaps Australia’s best chance of major success in the future- Jason Day aside. His emergence in the final round of the Masters makes 33/1 look very appealing for the defending champions. The Team to Beat – Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer- To Win 12/1 These two Texas natives obviously know each extremely well and actually have very similar games, with perhaps Palmer the slightly more naturally aggressive player. Spieth’s putting has suddenly remerged after a worrying early season dip, with that final round at Augusta truly electrifying the crowd. Palmer is a mid-season specialist and will no doubt benefit from the presence of a rejuvenated Spieth. I can imagine they will make an excellent foursome, with Palmer’s aggression paired well with Spieth’s short game heroics. Written by Damien Kayat for @Hollywoodbets.net Labels: AAA Damien Kayat, Damien Kayat, Golf, PGA Tour	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line971
__label__cc	0.671691	0.328309	Open Source generically, refers to a program in which the source code is free available for the general public to use and/or modification from its original design, and the code is typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community. The 8 Cool Raspberry Pi Operating Systems/Projects for Beginners At IDR Solutions we spend a lot of our time developing our Java PDF Library and PDF to HTML5 Converter. Recently we have been getting involved in... Alex Marshall Jan 15, 2015 4 min read Top 8 IDEs for Programmers, Coders and Beginners on… At IDR Solutions we spend a lot of our time developing JPedal (our Java PDF Library), JDeli (our Java Image Library) and BuildVu (our PDF... The merits of Open Source vs Closed Source (Proprietary)… At IDR Solutions we are big fans of Open Source Software and use it in our day-to-day lives a lot along with a variety... Nov 6, 2014 3 min read Remotely deploy projects to the Raspberry Pi using NetBeans… The Raspberry Pi is not a very powerful device, however as it is so flexible, it is a very useful machine to have to... Richard Bound The 15 most useful Open Source Software for work… At IDR Solutions we are big fans of Open Source Software. Being a big fan of it myself and a frequent user of it, I...	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line973
__label__wiki	0.861884	0.861884	Strange Bedfellows -- Politics News She’s back!!! Fox News rehires Sarah Palin By joelconnelly@seattlepi.com (Joel Connelly) on June 13, 2013 at 2:24 PM Sarah Palin is rejoining Fox News Channel. The network said Thursday, June 13, 2013, that Palin has signed on as a contributor to Fox and the Fox Business Network. Her first appearance is scheduled for Monday on the “Fox & Friends” morning show on the same day CNN is premiering a morning show to great fanfare. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, dropped by Fox News last winter, has been rehired as a commentary by the conservative Cable TV channel that serves as unofficial broadcast arm of the Republican Party. Over the last six months, Palin punditry has largely been limited to angry tweets and Facebook entries, as well as such gigs as appearing — and using a super-size soft drink as prop — at last winter’s Conservative Political Action Conference. She was recently featured as a high school graduation speaker in Republic, Washington. A reentry into politics has also appeared unlikely. Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski dismissed the prospect of a 2014 Palin candidacy for the 49th State’s other Senate seat, appearing to say that Palin no longer lives in the state. Fox News boss Roger Ailes indicated that a much-rumored feud with Palin has been patched up, announcing: “I’ve had several conversations with Governor Palin in the past few weeks about her rejoining Fox News as a contributor. I have great confidence in her and am pleased she will once again add her commentary to our programs.” Palin will make her initial appearance on “Fox & Friends,” and will be a guest on both daytime and nighttime program, as well as serving as a talking head for the Fox Business Channel. The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee has lately been writing a book about the alleged “War on Christmas.” Strange Bedfellows -- Politics News Search King County Council Chair Joe McDermott is running for Congress Alaska police handcuffed ‘uncooperative, belligerent and evasive’ Palin son Illegal delivery services undermine legal marijuana: Murray, Holmes Back from Iraq, ex-Foreign Service officer to challenge U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers Judge will rule Thursday on Tim Eyman’s ‘gun to the head’ initiative Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump: Bristol Palin blasts Ted Cruz as a ‘typical politician’ The nation’s largest gay rights lobby endorses Clinton, catches flak from Sanders campaign Ex-Sec. of Defense Gates on Republican candidates: ‘They don’t know what they’re talking about’	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line978
__label__cc	0.745365	0.254635	Home Around the Nation San Francisco Clears ADU Backlog TOPICS:accessory dwelling unitsADUSan Francisco Posted By: Code Watcher Staff March 27, 2019 San Francisco addresses need for affordable housing by moving more quickly to approve accessory dwelling units. According to EfficientGov, San Francisco has increased its permitting of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and the city’s Planning Department, Department of Building Inspection, Fire Department, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Public Works developed a process to expedite applications under Mayor London Breeds direction: “Mayor London N. Breed recently announced that in the six months since she issued an Executive Directive to accelerate the approvals of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), also known as in-law units, the city has cleared its application backlog. As a result of this action, the city permitted more in-law units than it did in the previous three years when the city’s in-law program was first launched. The Executive Directive Mayor Breed issued at the end of August called for the backlog of 919 units waiting for approval to be cleared and for all new applications to acted on within four months. It also called on city departments to set clear, objective code standards, and work to improve the application process for people looking to build in-law units. Since then, 439 of the backlogged in-law units have been permitted, over 90 percent of which are subject to rent-control, and the rest of the applications have been reviewed by the relevant departments and are awaiting responses from the applicants.” Read the full post here. Photo: Calif Gov Tiny House Jamboree Education for Code Officials Confusing Accessory-Dwelling Units Law: A Cautionary Tale Oregon Statute Removes Barriers to Accessory Dwelling Units	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line988
__label__cc	0.682054	0.317946	Spoilers for LOCI and Crossing Jordan “Sounds like she ate half of Noah’s Ark.” I love that she’s a food critic. I love it. Haha! That’s beautiful. And Eames is looking pissed about the girl not looking at her. Ew! To the chopping of the pig’s head. That was bizarre. Haha, Goren’s eating the food. And then sets the drink down with an ‘aw’ look when Eames goes “We’re on duty”. “So there’s no chance of it coming from sea food?” “Not unless it was chicken of the sea.” “Serves them right for eating a poor endangered bivalve.” Haha, Goren just jumped into the truck. ‘Contraband fish’. That’s just hilarious. I don’t know why. But it is. Haha, Goren’s messing with the toy skeleton thing. And then the doctor grabs it, and Goren holds on for a second before letting go. Ew. Please don’t go where I think it’s going. Please. Ew. “Fifteen going on thirty going on five.” Heh. Ahem. “My wife exaggerates.” “My husband enables.” Oooh. Nice one, Goren. “Even his partner’s wife?” Haha, Goren. “Moving on? Going back to your father’s place, where you were BEFORE you married Josh?” Squeezing lemon juice into a cut? “This won’t hurt a bit”? My ass. “I don’t suppose we could just ask Beatrice to hand over the evidence?” The look on Carver’s face was hilarious. Hee, Goren. “Woohoo, steamy!” And he worked at a resteraunt as a kid? Is that a true statement, or a Gorenism? Hah. Beautiful, Eames, just beautiful. And now Goren’s waxing poetic. Jeez, he needs to lay off whatever poetry books he’s reading. Ooh, harsh. “Kids just ruin everything, I could have told you that!” Eames: “Hm, look what I found, a copy of the hospital record.” Eames: “Gluttony. Now I know why it made the short list of deadly sins.” Man, Eames was ON tonight. And more Carver and Deakins than normal, too! Rock on. Hee, Bug opening! Jordan: “Well, it’s not your birthday, so what’s the occasion?” Bug: ”She died.” That guy is kinda creepy. “I was the lucky one.” Woody: “Is sarcasm a prerequisite for being a M.E.?” Garret: “No, but it helps.” I like the, um, lady who’s the daughter of the old dead guy. “This doesn’t make sense Doctor Macy.” “If everything made sense, we’d be out of jobs.” That was weird. I just saw the same twenty seconds twice. “Nope. Not unless she’s Houdini.” Haha, Nigel’s blog. “Since it’s a little difficult to take heroin accidentally…” Well, that’s making me all sorts of airport-paranoid, thanks guys. And I get to fly out in a couple a weeks. Thankfully, am going to New Yawk, not Boston. And yeah, I’m going to be spelling ‘York’ as ‘Yawk’ for a while. Who opened the body? AAAAH. Bug, man, dude. “You’ve done a million things that should have landed you in jail.” Hah, Bug, you’re right, man. Damn, Woody, quit identifying with the victim’s wife! I will slap you silly, you moron. This isn’t CSI! Waitress: “Is he, like, dead?” YAY, MATT! I LOVE MATT! And he’s loving this! And he’s incredibly hot in that sweater. Even if he’s kind of an ass. He’s an adorable ass. And his detective work line is hilarious. I love that dude. Lip-reading program? I need one of them, dawg. Woody: “’Turd and North’?” Nigel: “Like I said, ninety percent.” And Woody starts ranting. He’s cute when he rants. Oooh, crap, I’ve seen the previews. This ain’t gonna be good. Shit, Woody! He just got heroin in his eyes, didn’t he? Shit shit shit. Man, Woody. And a huge spoiler for possibly the season finale: Between this and the spoiler on TWoP that Woody gets shot, my second best buddy detective is not having a good season. Mm, Woody’s chest. And damn it, I don’t need Woody angst. I don’t need any angst. I like dark and angst-free, damn you. Haha, Matt. “Stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, and… stroke.” And HA! “What’re the odds for that?” “Well, I’m not a mathematician, but…” And then Bug rattles off the exact odds. Matt and Lilly refer to each other as honey-buns and cupcake. And then Bug: “’Cupcake’?” Confused look. Matt: “…especially thanks to Doctor Frankenstein here.” Bug: “Listen here, you inglorious bastard…” “I’m not just any inglorious bastard, I’m an inglorious bastard with a badge.” Damn it, Woody, this won’t end well. “Great, we’re left with incomprehensible sports metaphors.” “What’s the worst that could happen?” “You could screw up, let him know we’re on to him, and he could skip town.” ”Well, yeah, there’s that. But hey, this is my job!” runs off “I don’t like him…” “How much does it suck to be YOU.” hits the guy “Problem is, it’s going to take a genius to figure it out.” Cut to Nigel. Holy crap, that’s a lot of drugs. Nigel: “Shazam, baby.” God, Matt. And hah, he used Bug’s statistic. And jeez, this guy is so incredibly creeptastic. Bug: “You know, I think we should turn him over to Virginia. They’ve got the Death Penalty there.” Haha, Bug and Matt would be a kickass team. If it weren’t for their Lilly thing. Hm, Bug/Matt. I’d be in with that. Creepy guy: “You’re bluffing.” Bug: “Oh, try me. Please. Try me.” I hate how they always buckle so fast. Woody: “I almost feel for you Kate, I really do. But you poured on the tears so easily before, I’m beginning to think they’re jut a chemical too.” Garret: “And if there was more to it, you’d tell me, right?” Jordan / Bug: “Of course not.” / “No way.” Man, Max’s back. I don’t like him. Can we play musical family members and bring James back instead? Or hell, even a mother-zombie. Just no more Max! Tags: cj, loci, quotes, seely, tv	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line990
__label__wiki	0.641274	0.641274	Possible FDA Ban on E-Cigarettes is Wrong Move Op-Eds and Articles http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-possible-fda-ban-on-e-cigarettes-is-wrong-move Hans Bader • August 3, 2009 The FDA is now moving towards banning a smoking alternative that could save many lives. Every year, millions of smokers like my wife try and fail to quit, because they are nicotine addicts. Many later die of smoking-related illnesses, which are caused by the smoke, not the nicotine. The obvious solution is to give smokers access to less hazardous products that provide the nicotine they crave without the deadly smoke, like chewing tobacco, or, better yet, electronic cigarettes or snus. (Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, deliver nicotine in a vapor instead of much more harmful tobacco smoke). The FDA is now moving towards banning e-cigarettes, reports syndicated columnist Jacob Sullum. Cigarettes, which contain lots of toxins and cancer-causing agents, aren’t banned, but the FDA wants to ban e-cigarettes, which contain infinitely-smaller amounts of carcinogens, complaining that e-cigarettes contain “detectable levels of known carcinogens and toxic chemicals to which users could potentially be exposed” (emphasis added).” As public-health expert, and tobacco-industry critic, Michael Siegel notes, this is terrible reasoning by the FDA, since all tobacco replacement products now on the market contain small but “detectable” amounts of known carcinogens. The FDA used to be more reluctant to block smoking alternatives that have small or imaginary risks, but that seems to be changing over the last year. A bill supported by the nation’s largest cigarette maker that was signed into law earlier this year by Obama will keep producers of smokeless tobacco from truthfully telling smokers about the fact that smoking is more dangerous to their health than smokeless tobacco. That will harm public health, as advocates like Bill Godshall of Smoke Free Pennsylvania have noted. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) wants to ban E-cigarettes even if the FDA does not. Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, ;is appalled: “This is about as idiotic and irrational an approach as I have ever seen in my 22 years in tobacco control and public health,” he wrote on his blog. “A public policy maker who touts himself as being a champion of the public’s health [is] demanding that we ban what is clearly a much safer cigarette than those on the market, but that we allow, protect, approve, and institutionalize the really toxic ones.” This isn’t the only thing bad happening on the public-health front. The opportunity for meaningful health-care reform is being squandered. One of Obama’s own advisers says the Obama Administration’s health-care plan will harm people with insurance while raising their taxes. CNN says Obamacare will take away 5 freedoms. It will also destroy many affordable health-care plans while breaking Obama’s campaign promises. The health-care “reform” bills backed by the Administration perversely exempt illegal aliens from the health-insurance taxes and obligations imposed on citizens, effectively giving them preferential treatment. The bills’ drafters do not deny that they would exempt illegal aliens from such taxes and obligations. However, they do claim that illegal aliens also would also not be eligible for the bills’ “public option” health-coverage plan. That reassurance is illusory, since the bills’ drafters blocked the only effective means of verifying whether beneficiaries are in fact illegal aliens. Even the liberal Houston Chronicle has noted the “lack of a mechanism for verifying” eligibility by illegal aliens. While America’s health-care system is very expensive, it is much better at treating and detecting several common forms of cancer than many European health-care systems. The Administration’s health-care proposals put these successes in jeopardy, yet they would increase health-care costs even further, while failing to provide health-care coverage as cheap or as universal as in Europe. More about Law and Constitution School Discipline Disparities and Education Hans Bader DeVos to Overhaul ‘Shameful’ Obama-Era Campus Sexual-Assault Regulations CEI Sues DOJ for Documents on Berkeley Video Take-Down Issue More Media Appearances	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line994
__label__wiki	0.598457	0.598457	Tag Archives: klose Euro 2012 Match 4: Germany vs Portugal pre-game predictions This is THE match everyone wants to see – and we get to watch it on Day 2! This is why we love this tournament. It’s equivalent to Duke vs North Carolina in round 1 of the NCAA Tournament and the loser is very likely not to advance to the quarters. Match 4 pits Cristiano Ronaldo against his Real Madrid teammate Ozil as the two best players in the tournament go head to head in the Group of Death. Ronaldo and Nani are the best pair of wingers in the world and can switch wings at any time Germany is unsettled at right back where Bender may replace Boateng who could be benched for disciplinary reasons. It’s a tall order for either of them to try and corral Ronaldo, especially if Schweinsteiger isn’t fully fit to help on the double team. An overlapping Fabio Coentrao puts additional pressure on the right side of Germany’s defense. Pepe and Bruno Alves are solid in the center of the Portugese defense and can neutralize the threat of Klose and Podolski. The Bayern Munich players still have a hangover from the Champions League Final defeat a few weeks ago. Khedira, Schweinsteiger and Kroos will corral Ronaldo, Nani and Postiga (or whoever starts at striker for Portugal) while Lahm will shut down the right wing. They will double team Ronaldo and Nani on the wings and Portugal’s weakness at striker will be handled by Germany. Neuer is one of the best keepers in the world and will pull off enough saves to to cover over the deficiencies in Germany’s central defense. Germany attacks with speed, experience and creativity through Podolski, Klose and Ozil. It will be too much for Portugal to handle. Germany has beaten Portugal the last two times they have met them in World Cup 2006 and Euro 2008 and their coach, Joachim Low, has been with them throughout this period. They know how to play tournament football and will be prepared with the right tactics. Pre-match prediction: Germany 2 Portugal 1 Klose and Podolski score for Germany and Ronaldo pulls one back for Portugal. Ozil sets up both Germany goals. Filed under Euro 2012, Predictions, Predictions on winner Tagged as Bayern Munich, Bruno Alves, Fabio Coentrao, German team, germany, Khedira, klose, Kroos, lahm, nani, Neuer, Ozil, pepe, podolski, portugal, schweinsteiger AND THE WINNER OF EURO 2012 WILL BE… … the squad with the best physios! It’s hard to predict the winner since the squads still haven’t finally settled following last minute injuries to key players and replacements still to come (see Cahill, Schweinsteiger and Bouma). At the current rate of attrition, I wouldn’t be surprised if David Beckham is back in the England squad! That said, let’s just step through the group stages and figure out how all of this should play out. One thing is for certain, while Spain may have won the last World Cup after losing their first game to Switzerland, it’s going to be tough to recover in some of these groups if you lose your first game. And there are a bunch of unbelievable matchups in the first set of group matches with Germany vs Portugal, France vs England and Spain vs Italy the picks of the bunch. If Portugal, England or Italy lose the initial match, they will be behind the 8-ball right away as Netherlands, Sweden and Croatia will try to take advantage of the slip up. Group A: Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Russia While Arshavin is the known star of the squad, Russia has a brilliant goalie in Akinfeev, a pacy winger in ex-Chelsea man, Zhirkov, and great forwards in Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko and Fulham striker Pavel Pogrebnyak. I believe Russia will qualify for the next round, but do they really have the belief that they can win this tournament? I don’t think so. Euro 2008 was their best shot at international honors and this group’s “win tournament” tag has expired. Russia is clever with their movement in the final third but they just don’t have that extra magic that Spain has to compensate for their lack of true team speed. I predict a quarterfinal bertha at best for Russia as they have to play the runner up from Group B in the next round, which will likely be Portugal or the Netherlands. Key Player who has to do well: Andrey Arshavin Breakout young star: Alan Dzagoev Poland counts on Lewandowski up front, his Dortmund compatriot Blaszczykowski in the middle and Szczesny in goal. That is the spine of the team. Playing at home should inspire Poland to a showing more reflective of their past successes when they finished third the 1974 and 1982 World Cups. This team can make it to the quarterfinals but that’s when it runs out for them against Germany or the Netherlands. Look for more from this team in World Cup 2014. Key Player who has to do well: Robert Lewandowski Breakout young star: Wojciech Szczesny The Greeks are very good defensively and rode that defense to the 2004 Euro title against Portugal. They were very good on set plays and retained that strategy throughout Otto Rehhagel’s, the prior manager, tenure from 2001 to 2010. While the current coach, Fernando Santos, may have installed some tweaks to the system, the squad is largely the same and the way out of the group is going to be based on defending as a team and sneaking the odd goal. The veteran captain Giorgos Karagounis will ably marshal the midfield, but, while defense is fine, they have to score as well to advance and that’s where Gekas has to play well up front to help Greece advance. They can make the next round but that’s it for them. Key Player who has to do well: Fanis Gekas Breakout young star: Kyriakos Papadopoulos This isn’t the Czech team of the last three major tournaments. Their veteran leaders, such as striker Jan Koller and defender Marek Jankulovski, have retired and left Tomas Rosicky and Petr Cech as the only true stars on this team. Scoring goals is the problem for this team as their leading scorer in the qualifiers was defender Kadlec. Though this group is the easiest of the four at the tournament, it’s going to be three and out, summer holidays please, for coach Michal Bilek’s team. Key Player who has to do well: Milan Baros Breakout young star: Vaclav Pilar Group Prediction: Russia will qualify from this group while the Czech Republic won’t. The Russians benefit from the winter break they get as a result of the timing of the Russian league and are in good shape physically while the Czechs are too dependant on Milan Baros up front and just don’t have the firepower to get through. The opening match of the tournament pits Greece against Poland and, while most opening matches end in a draw, the winner of this game will qualify along with Russia. Though Greece was undefeated during qualifying and are very hard to breakdown, I just feel that Poland has enough players in form, a trio of Bundesliga-triumphant Borussia Dortmund players, and a great young goalie in Szczesny to ride the home support to qualifying for the knockout stage. Russia and Poland to the quarters. Group B: Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal When you are ranked # 10 in the world, and then are ranked last in your group of four since the other teams are ranked #2, #4 and #5, you know you are in good shape because you have a great team but low expectations. That’s the position the Danes find themselves in and it’s not a hope and a prayer that Denmark gets through. Denmark has beaten Portugal in qualifying and has hungry young players in Eriksen, Bendtner, Kjaer and Lindegaard. They can beat the Dutch and Portugal but will struggle against Germany. Can they get three points against Holland – that will determine their progress in the tournament? If they can get out of this group, the semifinals are possible as they can beat their probably opponents, Russia, to get there. Key Player who has to do well: Nicklas Bendtner Breakout young star: Christian Eriksen Everyone picked Germany to win Euro 2012 once the 2010 World Cup was over. The squad is young, fast, dynamic, deep but also has the traditional German mentality of machine-like relentlessness. Their coach, Joachim Low, has been with the team for the last three tournaments (starting in 2004 as an assistant to current US national team coach Klinsmann). Neuer, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Ozil are each among the top three players in the world at their position as goalkeeper, left back, holding midfielder and playmaker, respectively. Klose and Podolski are proven goal scorers at the international tournament level and will be playing in their parents’ native Poland, while Gomez has been in great form for Bayern Munich and Germany. The problem for Germany is at center back where it’s a scary thought that Mertesacker is considered a solution after coming back from a dreadful first season and bad injury at Arsenal. Add to that the controversy surrounding Boateng, whose pre tournament partying may result in his being replaced at right back by Bender. But Germany has more than enough depth and quality for them to win this tournament. They lost to Spain in the finals of Euro 2008 (to a Torres winner) and the semifinals of World Cup 2010 (to a Puyol header). They will reverse that in Euro 2012, in what is tantamount to home field for them in Poland, and should win the tournament. Key Player who has to do well: Mesut Ozil Breakout young star: Mario Gotze The fortunes of the Dutch are tied to the form of Wesley Sneijder. Period. If Sneijder is on, they can get to the final much like in World Cup 2010, where only Iker Casillas’ right foot saved Spain on an Arjen Robben breakaway. If not, they could lose in the first round. As much as Robin van Persie has had a great season, he needs the ball delivered to him in the final third of the pitch to do his damage. The same goes for Robben, who might not be recovered from missing a crucial penalty in extra time of the recent Champions League Final against Chelsea. The Netherlands have very good holding midfielders in Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel, a very good right back in Gregory van der Wiel and a solid keeper in Maarten Stekelenburg. However, the key weakness for the Dutch is the lack of pace in the defensive middle of the field with the center backs and the holding midfielders struggling against quick strikers. Adding to the Dutch defensive worries is veteran Mathijsen’s hamstring problem. That said, the Dutch could win this tournament. Key Player who has to do well: Wesley Sneijder Breakout young star: Kevin Strootman Bruno Alves and Pepe. Moutinho and Meireles. The spine is solid. Ronaldo and Nani. Those wingers are the best in the world. However, the team’s over reliance on Ronaldo and its poor set of strikers make this group too much for Portugal. I was thinking of picking Portugal to advance from this group, but their recent loss to Turkey at home showed why this is fool’s gold. This is as talented a squad as there is, but they don’t have depth and their strikers are not world class. If they were in Group D, they would win the group, but in this group it’s going to be hard to qualify. They can get to the semifinals if they get out of the group but it will require Ronaldo playing like he plays for Real Madrid for them to win this tournament. Key Player who has to do well: Ronaldo Breakout young star: Joao Moutinho (though he’s not really that young) Group Prediction: How can you not love, and hate, a tournament that has four of the top ten teams in the world in the same group? It would be similar to having a group with Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Milan in the qualifying stage. Germany will qualify from this group. The other three all have a chance but I’m going to pick Netherlands based solely on Sneijder’s last game against Northern Ireland. With Sneijder playing well in the slot, the Netherlands will always have a chance with van Persie and Robben up front. Start strong or go home – this is truly the group of no second chances. It won’t be a shock if Germany or the Dutch go home early. However, the Oranje and the Meinschaft will go through. Group C: Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Spain There’s more to Croatia than Modric as the team is sprinkled with top European club squad members in Corluka, Pranjic, Rakitic and Kranjcar. Also, keep an eye on Nikica Jelavic who had a great second half spell at Everton and scored a critical brace against Manchester United in the title-deciding run in to the EPL season. However, as the midfield maestro Modric goes, so goes Croatia. This squad has experienced and talented players, but they are missing that extra team-wide spark that is going to be required to go far in this tournament. Their opening match against Ireland is key – if they win that, they will go through to the next round, with the quarterfinals as far as they will go. Key Player who has to do well: Luka Modric Breakout young star: Luka Modric This is a tough squad who is due some of that Irish luck. Ireland is my dark horse to qualify from this group. The team has toughness and experience at the back in Dunne, O’Shea and Ward in front of Shay Given. The middle of the park is where they have a lot more quality that in past teams – McGeady is very creative and well backed by pace on the wings from Duff and Sunderland star James McClean. And finally, up front, Ireland have Keane, Long, Doyle and Walters to provide different options for the incredibly savvy Italian coach Trapattoni. This Irish team doesn’t quite have quality depth but they have a solid starting team and enough tactical nous in their coach. No one wants to play this team at this stage. This squad can get to the quarterfinals. Key Player who has to do well: Aiden McGeady Breakout young star: James McClean As usual, Italy is impossible to rate. They always seem to get through qualifying and the group stages with the only question being how far they go in the tournament. Much like the Germans. However, this Italian team seems a bit more in disarray than most. Yes, the World Cup winning team in 2006 had similar distractions going into the tournament, but this time the scandal seems a lot wider and more embedded. It’s not often that the President of a country suggests the sport be suspended for a season. Apart from that, while Italy has stalwarts in Buffon, Pirlo, Di Natale and De Rossi to complement the younger talent of Chiellini, Giovinco and Balotelli, this Italian team just doesn’t seem to have the toughness one expects from the Azzurri. Going against Trapattoni is not going to be an easy task for Italy given Trap’s familiarity with their system and players (Italy coach Prandelli played for Trap), and Croatia has a good record against Italy. It doesn’t help that Italy’s first match is a “can’t lose” against Spain. It is going to be the quarterfinals at best for Italy. Key Player who has to do well: Andrea Pirlo Breakout young star: Mario Balotelli / Sebastian Giovinco (whoever gets more playing time) It is ridiculous that Spain can start a replacement midfield of David Silva, Juan Mata, Cesc Fabregas and Cazorla to back up starters Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. Even if you put Brazil and Argentina together, you wouldn’t be able to put together a better midfield squad. The biggest question mark for Spain is in central defense where Puyol is out for the tournament leaving Pique and Ramos in the middle. Apart from missing Puyol’s quality and experience, Vicente del Bosque has admitted there is residual tension between Pique and Ramos from this past season’s encounters in La Liga. If I were the coach, I’d move Ramos to his original right back position and have Javi Martinez partner Pique in the middle. Also, while Jordi Alba is a rising star, he is 22 and has to replace the seasoned Capdevila at left back – will Alba be able to handle that responsibility on the highest stage at the same time he is distracted by ongoing transfer speculation linking him to Barcelona and Manchester United? Finally, the absence of an injured David Villa means Spain has to trust a hopefully reinvigorated Torres to replace the critical goals that Villa consistently provided. I want to believe in Torres because I think Torres’ pace is the key factor required to counter teams who pack it in successfully against the possession style Spain plays – it’s why Barcelona struggles without Messi’s pace against the stacked banks of four. However it’s hard to see how Torres can lead the line after the season he has had. A better bet is that Llorente and Torres together provide around 7 goals with Pedro, Iniesta, Xabi and Xavi providing another 3 or 4 between them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Llorente takes over the starting role – and delivers. Llorente has been in great form for Atletico Bilbao this season and his aerial prowess is a welcome change for this Spain squad that needs an alternative to their ground game. It’s a tall order, but back to back to back (did Pat Riley say three-peat?) is a definite possibility for the latest version of the world’s best team. Key Player who has to do well: Gerard Pique Breakout young star: Jordi Alba Group Prediction: Spain will qualify from this group. The other three all have a chance but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Ireland gets through. I just feel that Trapattoni will get them there. If Ireland can get a point against Croatia in the first match, and Italy loses to Spain, it will set them up very well to get through. The graft will be there in the Irish squad, but Aiden McGeady has to create for them to get through. I think Kevin Doyle, one of my favorite small players, will get a key goal during this tournament. Croatia just doesn’t inspire me and I think sooner or later the Italians have to pay the price for starting slowly. This group is easier than the group of death, but it will still be tough for Italy to recover if Spain beats them in the opening match. Pirlo and Buffon will keep Italy in every game but I just don’t think they get out of the group stage. Group D: England, France, Sweden, Ukraine At this rate, England might have to call Tony Addams out of retirement to start at center back. If Terry’s hamstring tweak is not major, the loss of Cahill may not be as devastating since Lescott can slot in there and is obviously comfortable playing with Joe Hart, his City teammate and keeper. However, there is no defensive cover as you are left with only Jagielka and Phil Jones. If Glen Johnson gets reinjured, who is going to play right back other than Jones? And then we get to midfield – no Lampard, no Barry (Hodgson couldn’t get Scholes or Carrick to even come to camp) and Parker not fully fit. Oh, and no Rooney for the first two games, Defoe just left to attend his father’s funeral … and Welbeck just back from injury. With all that as the backdrop you know what we are thinking now – England can do well since they have such lowered expectations that there is no pressure on the players! It’s just too cruel to keep having hope in this squad. If England can get two draws, they will go through as they will have Rooney back for the final game against Ukraine. England’s tournament rests on not losing to Sweden. England can lose to France, but not to Sweden if they want to get through. Roy Hodgson’s system is to pack it in and hit the opposition on the break. England has more than enough wing speed to pull that off – I just think that the injuries have robbed them of enough positional continuity and familiarity to play a solid defensive game. I never go against England. So, while I think France can go deep in the tournament, England playing France in the first match of the group stage in a traditionally cagey affair will be a positive for the Three Lions. Gerrard has to deliver – this time there is no Lampard for him to second-guess himself in midfield. Gerrard has to play like he does for Liverpool. I believe he will. I think England is more likely to crash out before the second round – but if they go through, they could upset Spain in the quarters. Not. Key Player who has to do well: Steven Gerrard Breakout young star: Joe Hart and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain A long unbeaten streak only means it is going to be hard to swallow when you lose one when it matters. France hasn’t really played well in the post season, pre tournament friendlies – but neither has almost every other team. Which France shows up? If M’Vila’s injury is serious it will hurt France who needs his defensive midfield presence to backstop the offensive talents of Nasri, Ben Arfa, Ribery, Giroud and Benzema. Sagna’s injury has deprived France of a solid right back. However, this France team is well balanced, has decent depth and will be tough to beat. They can get to the semifinals. The good news is that they are not overly dependant on one player but do have a number of skilled players who can step up and change the outcome at the offensive end. Key Player who has to do well: Karim Benzema Breakout young star: Yann M’Vila (if he’s too injured to play, then Samir Nasri) Sweden is always strong in tournament play. They have one of the best players in the world in Ibrahimovic who, till this year, had won the domestic title in each of the past eight years across Holland, Italy and Spain. Sunderland’s Larsson, Galatasaray’s Elmander and AZ Alkmaar’s Elm are also very talented players who feed off of the creative genius of Ibra. The defense is suspect though and that is the reason I believe they will not go far in this tournament with the quarters being the farthest they can go. Key Player who has to do well: Zlatan Ibrahimovic Breakout young star: Rasmus Elm When the country’s hopes are centered on the abilities of its coach, Blokhin (he starred for the Soviet Union in the 70’s and 80’s), that’s a bad sign. More bad news – Shevchenko is still in the squad. Enough said. Gusev, Voronin and Tymoschuk are all well-known in Europe but it’s not enough to get through. This squad will play like the Austrian squad at the last Euros. Ukraine will generate some noise and a lot of effort, but few points. They will not progress from the group stage. Key Player who has to do well: Anatoliy Tymoshchuk Breakout young star: Andriy Yarmolenko Group Prediction: This one was the toughest choice to make but it is going to be France and England. Yes, England is a mess and this is not about being EPL biased. I am trusting in Roy and that Ibrahimovic and Elmander will not be able to make up for the ageing Swedish defense. I will post an updated set of predictions on the tournament winner once the first round of games in the group stage are over. Twitter: @centerhalf12 Tagged as Aiden McGeady, Alan Dzagoev, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, an Koller, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Andriy Yarmolenko, arjen robben, arshavin, Azzurri, Balotelli, beckham, Ben Arfa, Bender, Blaszczykowski, Blokhin, Boateng, Borussia Dortmund, Bouma, Bruno Alves, buffon, Busquets, Cahill, capdevila, Carrick, cazorla, centerhalf12, cesc fabregas, chiellini, Christian Eriksen, Corluka, croatia, czech republic, David Silva, david villa, de rossi, Defoe, Denmark, di natale, Doyle, Duff, Dunne, elmander, england, Euro 2012, Fanis Gekas, Fernando Torres, france, Galatasaray, Gareth Barry, germany, Giorgos Karagounis, Giovinco, Giroud, greece, Gregory van der Wiel, Iker Casillas, iniesta, Ireland, italy, Jagielka, James McClean, Joachim Low, Joe Hart, Jordi Alba, Juan Mata, Karim Benzema, Keane, Kevin Strootman, Kjaer, klose, kranjcar, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, lahm, Lampard, lewandowski, Lindegaard, Llorente, Long, Luka Modric, Maarten Stekelenburg, manchester united, Marek Jankulovski, mario gomez, Mario Gotze, Mark van Bommel, Meinschaft, meireles, Mesut Ozil, Michal Bilek, Milan Baros, moutinho, nani, nasri, netherlands, Neuer, Nicklas Bendtner, nigel de jong, Nikica Jelavic, O'Shea, oranje, Otto Rehhagel, Ozil, Pavel Pogrebnyak, pavlyuchenko, pepe, petr cech, Phil Jones, Pique, pirlo, podolski, poland, portugal, prandelli, pranjic, predictions, rakitic, Rasmus Elm, ribery, robin van persie, ronaldo, Roy Hodgson, russia, scholes, schweinsteiger, Scott Parker, Sebastian Larsson, Sergio Ramos, Shay Given, Shevchenko, spain, Steven Gerrard, Sunderland, sweden, Szczesny, Terry, Tomas Rosicky, Tony Addams, Trapattoni, Ukraine, Vaclav Pilar, Vicente del Bosque, Walters, Ward, wayne rooney, Welbeck, Wesley Sneijder, xabi alonso, xavi, Yann M’Vila, Zhirkov, Zlatan Ibrahimovic Euro 2008 Final – 1st half in match comments 3 min: Wake up Sergio. You can’t be lax with your passes like that 4 min: Sergio, stay with Lahm. He will kill you if you give him that much space. 7 min: Ballack skips past Puyol with ease. Germany looking very calm. 11 min: Spain has not really passed the ball. Midfield is a bit clogged. Game is too slow to work for Spain. They need to speed up the passing. Long balls forward are not working. Put it through on the ground. 13 min: That’s much better. Great save off the redirect by Lehmann. 17 min: I think Torres has a mismatch that he is going to exploit as the game goes on on the left side of the German defense. If Friedrich is not at home, Mertesacker can’t stay with him. 22 min: Great ball Ramos. Torres got open. Great jump and header. Game on. German backline can’t handle him. Torres scores. Great burst past Lahm and chip finish. Spain is all over Germany. Ballack now needs to be careful with the yellow card he has received. Loew – bring on Kuranyi or move Podolski up front with Klose and bring Lahm up to left wing and bring on Jansen or Fritz to play left back. You need more going forward. Make the change at about the 58 min mark. Filed under Euro 2008 Final Tagged as ballack, Euro 2008 Final, Friedrich, fritz, germany, Jansen, klose, kuranyi, lahm, lehmann, loew, mertesacker, podolski, puyol, ramos, spain, torres Euro 2008 Final: Spain v Germany – pre game Some further musings with 18.5 hours to go… Injuries seem to be have made Aragones a lucky man. It looks like Cesc is going to start. He has been forced to make the right decision and start Cesc Fabregas only due to the injury to Villa. Bad as it is to say it, Villa’s injury was a blessing in disguise for Spain who were able to win the game due to the strength in midfield that Cesc brings. Not only that, it looks like Ballack might miss the final due to a calf injury. As it usually is, sometimes its better to be lucky than good… If Ballack’s injury keeps him out of the final, he will have never played in a major final for Germany. He missed the 2002 World Cup due to suspension, got knocked out of the 2006 World Cup Final in their semifinal overtime loss to Italy and now potentially Euro 2008 as well. May be just as well, because if he suffered through a repeat of 2002, it would be just too cruel. In 2002, when he played for Bayer Leverkusen, he lost the German Bundesliga in the last week and lost the Champions League Final to Real Madrid with a brilliant Zidane volley leaving him trophyless. That was followed by the defeat in Korea to Brazil in the 2002 World Cup Final. Fast forward to 2008 and the same thing could happen – Chelsea lose the Premier League title to Manchester United in the last week and then the Champions League Final by the width of a post. Ironically, the tournament Germany most deserved to win – when they were playing their best football – was the 2006 World Cup when Grosso and Del Piero’s last minute goals in overtime knocked them out of appearing in the final on home soil. I don’t foresee the Ballack curse changing tomorrow… If Ballack is out, it might turn out alright for Germany. It might force Loew to have a three man defensive cordon to jam up the Spaniards. Frings, Hitzlsperger and Borowski or Rolfs to hold behind Schweinsteiger, Podolski and Klose. I personally think that Loew should use this setback to become more aggressive. Have Kuranyi join Klose up front and have Schweinsteiger, Frings and Hitzelsberger play behind the front three. Challenge the middle of the Spanish defense and it will cause Ramos to stay home more which will help slow down the Spanish attack. Keeping three in defensive midfield is going to result in death by a thousand cuts against the superior passing Spanish midfield… The other side of Ballack being out – the height advantage is gone. Podolski, Hitzlsperger, Frings, Lahm, Klose (he can jump though) and Schweinsteiger aren’t that tall. So in midfield and at the offensive end, Germany is going to have to win the battle on the ground during regular play. That’s why dead ball situations are going to be even more critical… Should Loew try another tactic and use Lahm at left wing and move Podolski up front to partner Klose? Lahm didn’t really played that well defensively against the quicker moving Turks – Sabri undressed him a couple of times. If you move Lahm up front and have the quartet of Podolski, Lahm, Klose and Schweinsteiger free to interchange and attack, it will give Spain problems. Have Frings and Hitzlsperger hold and bring in Jansen or Fritz at left back. Lahm can drop back and help defensively but will provide more drive down the left if he plays at left wing. Podolski and Klose should be playing up front together where their movement will cause issues for Puyol and Marchena thereby giving Klose more room for the high balls. Just a thought, Joachim… Very glad to see that Domenech is supposedly going to be fired and replaced by the man I had picked as my choice – Didier Deschamps. Domenech is Aragones’ more arrogant twin – except he doesn’t have the luck to balance out his lack of ability… Filed under euro 2008, match predictions, Predictions on winner, SOCCER, Who will win Euro 2008 Tagged as 2002 World Cup Final, aragones, ballack, bayer leverkusen, Borowski, cesc, Champions League Final, chelsea, del piero, didier deschamps, domenech, euro 2008, fritz, grosso, hitzlsperger, Jansen, klose, lahm, loew, manchester united, marchena, podolski, puyol, real madrid, Rolfs, Sabri, schweinsteiger, turks, villa, zidane Who will win Euro 2008 – pre final I picked Spain early and, while this is not an easy match up for them, I still think they will win against Germany. Initial take on the potential formation and the impact of Villa’s injury Villa not playing is a big loss but it may actually work in their favor if it forces Aragones to play the extra man in midfield – hopefully it’s Cesc Fabregas. That is going to cause the Germans to play five in midfield as well and I think that plays into the Spanish hands as they are better at moving the ball and will allow their defenders a better chance to handle the aerial abilities of Klose since he will usually be outnumbered in the Spanish half. The match ups This game is going to be won or lost based on who creates the most chances from midfield. I think Germany has really flattered to deceive. The Poland game was fool’s gold as they played too openly and made the Germans look better than they were. Croatia carved them up and they didn’t really impress against Austria. Against Portugal – good result but two of the three goals were defensive mistakes on free kicks. Ballack hasn’t played a great game yet. Schweinsteiger and Podolski are the ones doing all the damage for Germany. That advantage is going to be smaller against Spain. If Cesc starts, it will make it hard for Germany to focus on shutting down Xavi as the playmaker. Spain is too mobile and will give Mertesacker and Metzelder a hard time on the ground. So Spain wins the midfield battle and generate chances. It is us to Torres and Silva to get the goals. This is the game for Torres to deliver. I keep saying that, but with Villa out, it’s his time and I think he will come through. Cesc will help him out. Silva’s scoring in the semi should also give him the confidence to be aggressive in the final. The German left wing is going to be a big battle. Podolski and Lahm on Ramos is going to be a very good matchup. Look out Sergio. Don’t forget about getting back. Lahm, with Frings backing him up and Podolski in front of him, is going to break down the left wing often. Concentrate on the tackle. Cesc is going to have to help him out as Iniesta is not the answer. Spain obviously needs to limit dead ball opportunities for the Germans where their height advantage will cause the Spanish defense problems. Free kicks are more dangerous than the corners where Casillas can be more effective. Puyol and Marchena are going to have to concentrate on Klose for the full 90 minutes. Lehmann is looking shaky while Casillas has been playing well. Spain seems to have a deeper bench, especially since Gomez has played poorly and Kuranyi not at all. I’d take Loew over Aragones. Germany has the mental edge since they have played in so many of these finals. Never count the Germans out. Big question – we know the Germans can rally from being down a goal, but can Spain (the Greece game doesn’t count)?? Pre-game prediction: Spain 3 Germany 2 Torres, Ramos to score for Spain with Podolski and Ballack scoring for Germany. Top performers will be Podolski, Cesc and Casillas. I want to hear from all of you out there. More to come prior to the game on Sunday… Prior blogs with my predictions on the winner are below: Prior to semi finals https://centerhalf12.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/who-will-win-euro-2008-pre-semi-finals/ Day 0 of the tournament https://centerhalf12.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/who-will-euro-2008-day-0/ Pre-tournament (actually about the most accurate overall call CH12 has made this tournament) https://centerhalf12.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/who-will-win-euro-2008/ Filed under euro 2008, Predictions on winner, SOCCER, Who will win Euro 2008 Tagged as aragones, austria, ballack, casillas, cesc fabregas, ch12, croatia, frings, germany, gomez, klose, kuranyi, lahm, lehmann, loew, marchena, mertesacker, metzelder, podolski, poland, portugal, puyol, ramos, schweinsteiger, silva, spain, torres, villa, Who will win Euro 2008, xavi Spain v Russia – post game comments While the scoreline was a bit harsh, much like it was in the first game they played, this time there was no doubt who the deserved winners were. Spain outplayed Russia in the second half. Yes, the first goal made a big difference because it made the Russians come forward more and so there were more gaps in midfield and at the back for Spain to capitalize on. However, Russia really didn’t create many opportunities themselves. The best chance they had was off a free kick near the end of the game. The first goal was not lucky – it was fortunate. It was lucky that Iniesta’s shot was way off target. It was a good, instinctive, pre-meditated run into space by Xavi and it was fortunate that his side footed redirect went between Akinfeev’s legs. Xavi does this all the time for Barca, especially this season, where he makes a late run into space and finishes off crosses. So, I will give him all the credit for the goal. After that, it was tough to imagine that the Russians would get back into it given that Arshavin and the midfield never really got going. Maybe Hiddink should have brought in another left back and let Zhirkov get up the field more often as he seemed to be the only one to get any penetration against Spain. Ramos had his best game of the tournament but I think a lot of it was due to the fact that Zhirkov didn’t have anyone in front of him and so had to stay home too often. Russia should have made Ramos pay for coming forward so much. Guiza and Silva finished off good set ups by Cesc once the gaps had opened up with the Russians having to press upfield in search of an equalizer. Man of the match – Cesc Fabregas. Some other observations: Aragones, why won’t you start Cesc? Especially against the Germans, Iniesta is too slight to play in the midfield with Xavi. He also is not as good at starting moves – he is better in the last third. You need Cesc there to provide an alternative to Xavi else the Germans will put someone on Xavi to stifle the ball getting forward. If Villa is out (as he is supposed to be at the timing of writing), I would prefer you drop Iniesta and start Xabi and Cesc alongside Senna, Silva and Torres. Also, Aragones, stop substituting Torres. He had two chances at goal in five minutes and looked good all game. He needs a goal for confidence. Why put Guiza on? Torres could have scored in the last 15 minutes and felt good going into the final. Whatever. Still don’t like Puyol and Marchena in the middle. I have to believe the combination of Klose and Ballack in the air along with Schweinsteiger and Podolski’s quickness is going to give them problems. Get ready Casillas. Ramos and Lahm. Look out Sergio because if you thought Zhirkov was problematic, Lahm is going to be even tougher for you since he has carte blanche to go forward just as you do, is low to the ground and cuts quickly and is backed up by Frings so you can’t just bomb down his side. Don’t foul Lahm with your usual tackling. Free kicks on the wing are exactly what you don’t want to give up. Pre-game prediction: Spain 2 Russia 1 Result: Spain 3 Russia 0 Scorers: Xavi Hernandez, Daniel Guiza, David Silva (Spain) The Euro 2008 final should be great. I still think Spain will win but let’s see if Villa is going to play… Filed under euro 2008, match predictions, post match comments, SOCCER Tagged as akinfeev, aragones, arshavin, ballack, cesc fabregas, Daniel Guiza, David Silva, Euro 2008 Final, frings, germany, hiddink, iniesta, klose, lahm, marchena, podolski, post game, prediction, puyol, ramos, russia, schweinsteiger, semi final, spain, torres, Xavi Hernandez, Zhirkov	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line995
__label__cc	0.592214	0.407786	This 9-year-old cancer patient who ‘never complained’ is now on the path to sainthood Courtney Grogan/CNA (Thoom/Shutterstock) Nelson Santana had an 'extraordinary ability' to understand the meaning of the suffering of Christ Pope Francis Monday recognized the heroic virtue of nine-year old Brazilian boy, who “never complained” during cancer treatments, but instead offered his suffering to Jesus. Diagnosed in 1963 with osteosarcoma, Nelson Santana, then eight years old, asked his mother in the hospital one day to “promise Jesus not to complain in the face of suffering and pain.” A nurse and religious sister who cared for Santana noted the child’s “extraordinary ability” to understand the meaning of the suffering of Christ. The sister ensured Santana continued to receive religious instruction in the hospital, where he also received his first communion. When told that his cancerous arm had to be amputated, Santana responded that “pain is very important to increase true love and courageously maintain the love already conquered.” Santana died of cancer on Christmas Eve 1964 at the age of nine. The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized the heroic virtue of Santana and six other Servants of God, advancing them along the path to sainthood as “venerable.” Pope Francis authorized the congregation to promulgate the decree April 6. Another Brazilian’s cause for sainthood also advanced with the decree. The Vatican approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of an early 20th century Brazilian priest, Venerable Donizetti Tavares de Lima, who can now be beatified. The heroic virtue of Brother Damiao de Bozzano, an Italian Capuchin friar and missionary to Brazil; Father Carlo Cavina, founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Francis de Sales; Capuchin Father Raffaele da Sant’Elia a Pianisi; French Friar Victorin Nymphas Arnaud Pagés of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools; Capuchin Poor Clare Sister Consolata Betrone; and layperson Gaetana “Nuccia” Tolomeo were also recognized in the decree. Pope Francis says he draws strength from relationship with Benedict XVI ‘When I hear him speak, I become strong,’ say Holy Father Beijing and Rome can work together, Parolin tells Chinese media Vatican Secretary of State says Pope Francis sees China ‘not only as a great country but also as a great culture’ Pope Francis’ Bulgaria trip will have an ecumenical focus In video message, Pope says his pilgrimage will be in memory of St John XXIII	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1008
__label__wiki	0.743241	0.743241	‘SWV Reunited’ Season 1, Episode 2 Recap: Coko Is Cancer-Free, Cory Gets Fired Amber McKynzie Last week, Lelee, Taj and Coko ended their first episode of reality TV sitting on a couch in Nashville, Tenn., as the latter sat on the phone with her doctor waiting to find out if her future was breast cancer-free. This week, the girls find a reason to jump to their feet and celebrate because all the lead singer can do is scream, "Woo! I'm cancer-free!" To memorialize the non-cancerous news, Coko and Lelee decide to treat themselves to some much-needed wanted plastic surgery, but because the trio is dealing with "trust issues" as Coko puts it, the two refuse to let Taj in on the celebration. As Lelee preps for her Brazilian butt lift, she has no problem sharing the tingling feeling that comes over her when "Dr. Curves" puts his hands all over her backside. Take this time to cue R. Kelly because she knows 'Feelin' On Your Booty' was playing in her head. With less than two weeks before hitting the New York streets to kick off their national tour, they show up at one of their final rehearsals barely able to walk. And Taj, well, she's pissed! The first thing out of her mouth when she sees "Dumb and Dumber" walk in is "What the hell is wrong with y'all?" Quick to admit that they went under the knife, Taj has no intentions of keeping her anger inside. "Y'all are buggin'! If we come back to New York with Coko and Lelee looking like they just got out of a nursing home, we're gonna get booed out of the city." With a butt pillow glued to one sister and a bottle of Vicodin stuck to the other, there's no telling how the group's Big Apple comeback will go down, but Lelee surely learns one thing: "I never knew how much I needed to sit on my ass." Maybe next time she'll think twice about getting a butt job days before going on tour. Trust issues keep brewing amongst the ladies and selfish behavior continues to show -- it's clear Drake should have been singing his melodic 'Trust Issues' ballad The "Sisters with Voices" don't seem to be able to trust each other, and their manager, Cory, can't seem to trust them. New York may be the kick-off for the trio's tour, but it's also a business trip to find new management. The problem here? Management doesn't know there is a problem. Deciding to meet with Jeff Robinson, the man behind the success of Alicia Keys and Elle Varner, Coko, Lelee and Taj are ready to go in a new direction and it doesn't include Cory, the man that stuck by them when no one else did. The girls wait until after their New York show -- literally, right after -- to let their longtime manager and friend know his services are no longer needed. But they're kind enough to offer him a demotion if he wants to stay on board. Isn't that sweet. Cory being pissed is an understatement. "Y'all been gone for over 15 years. What did you think was gonna happen? You were gonna put an album out and it was gonna go straight to the charts? Nobody wanted to sign SWV. You can't blame that on Cory. Y'all been doing this sneaky stuff and it's crazy," he says. How does this situation end? It's reality TV, so whatever is scripted happens. But right now, we know Coko says the friendship is done and Cory chucks the deuces to such a loving demotion. No worries, though. We all know he'll be back next week. Source: ‘SWV Reunited’ Season 1, Episode 2 Recap: Coko Is Cancer-Free, Cory Gets Fired Filed Under: SWV	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1015
__label__wiki	0.61554	0.61554	Referendum could protect against ‘Elevator Man’ swindles Business partner of mayoral candidate convicted again for DWI The runaround, the spokesman Published by collinsreports at November 1, 2016 This story originally appeared in the Times Record News in Wichita Falls, Texas. The victims of Bobby Johnson — the infamous North Texas swindler of grain elevator fame — likely understand the benefit of entering into grain insurance programs. But with a state insurance referendum on the horizon, it’s still unclear whether farmers will vote for more protections against grain elevator failures. Wheat crops specifically are selling more than $2 below the cost of production, and cash-strapped farmers may err on the side of riskier business deals to avoid an additional insurance fee. “I hear talk on both sides of (the referendum). I think it’s very divided right now,” said Barry Mahler, Wichita County commissioner and farmer. “It will have a difficult time passing.” Mahler recalled one the best known agricultural swindles in Texas history, in which grain buyer Johnson promised to buy substantial volumes of crops from North Texas farmers, but then sold the grain to make a land purchase in Benjamin. Johnson overextended his investment and ran out of money. Many farmers who trusted Johnson to store their grain were never paid, and those who did receive money only got pennies on the dollar. Johnson tried to fake his own death in Mexico, and for a time, was successful. After he was caught and jailed, Midwestern State University professor Jim Hoggard chronicled Johnson’s life in the book “Elevator Man.” “When you’ve got your entire year’s work tied up in the elevator, it could be devastating,” said Mahler, whose family was one of those conned by Johnson. When farmers sell their crop — in many cases to buyers with the ability to store grain in large silos — they generally don’t get paid right away. The payment is deferred, and between the time of sale and the time of payment, a grain buyer can go out of business because bankruptcy, legal trouble or other reasons. In such cases, farmers may not be reimbursed for the value of the siloed crop. The proposed crop insurance program would require producers of wheat, corn, soybeans and sorghum to pay an additional 0.02 percent of their grain value to elevators, which then would send the money to the state. Though grain elevator bankruptcies are uncommon, they do occur. Reporting on the failures appears to be sparse, but at least one elevator in Sherman went belly-up in 2009. In 2011, Gov. Rick Perry initially signed the bill allowing the referendum to take place. A year later, farmers voted the measure down, in part because of misinformation about the measure, a North Texas wheat farmer who sits on the referendum’s board said. Only farmers who have produced grain in the past three years may cast a vote on the measure, which is not listed on the general election ballot in November. Voting can be done at county AgriLife extension offices or by mail. The referendum will be conducted Dec. 5-9. collinsreports Plant root system of an uprooted plant cleaned of soil to show the structure isolated on a white background Donate to 1FOIRaDay Documents released through this project will be released to the public for free, but you can help me obtain government data by becoming a contributor. Contributors get access to exclusive rewards and may view documents before anyone else. Visit my Patreon page for details. Christopher Collins is an investigative journalist based in Abilene, Texas. His work has appeared in USA TODAY, Civil Eats and The Texas Observer. His resume and contact information can be found here. Agriculture airspace hazard Animal Welfare Act APHIS bilingual education CDC city of Wichita Falls conflict of interest contamination corn crop insurance data disproportionate spending electricity employee death ERCOT FAA FDA FOIA food safety Humane Society hydrogen sulfide inmate death Memory Hole 2 mental health municipal election Obama administration open records organic Russ Kick Sheppard Air Force Base sorghum soybeans state of Texas strawberries trade secret transgender U.S. Department of Education U.S. Department of Justice U.S. District Court of Northern Texas USDA wastewater treatment plant wheat Wichita Falls ISD wind energy	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1016
__label__cc	0.672528	0.327472	Concordia Historical Institute > Recent News > Spring 2019 CHI Quarterly In anticipation of the 125th anniversary of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s first foreign mission to India, the Spring 2019 issue of the Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly (Vol. 92, no.1) brings you four articles focusing on this important and flourishing mission. The lead article, “The Formative Years of Missouri Evangelical Lutheran India Mission (MELIM)” is written by the Rev. Dr. Damodher Christu Das, with a follow-up article, “Growing Pains of a Partner Church” by the Rev. Dr. Victor A. Raj. The next two articles are written by children of missionaries, the first being Dr. Joseph Rittmann’s “Missionaries into all the World: Clarence and Emma Rittmann and The Missouri Evangelical Lutheran India Mission”, and the second by Mrs. Phyllis Duesenberg, entitled, “Memories of India: The Adventures of a Missionary Child”. Book reviews are again provided with this issue: John T. Pless reviews Richard O. Johnson’s “Changing World, Changeless Christ” The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 1914-2014”, Martin R. Noland reviews David P. Scaer’s “Surviving the Storms: Memoirs of David P. Scaer”, Benjamin J. Nickodemus reviews Timothy J. Wengert’s “Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Traditions” and finishing out the book reviews is Todd D. Zittlow’s “Addendum to A Bibliography of Lutheran History in North America – 2018” . The Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly is sent to all members of the Institute. It is available as a subscription only without membership for $40.00 per year. Single copies are $10.00 for issues published during the past three years and $4.00 for earlier issues. Shipping and handling are extra for back issues. CHI Quarterly Back Issues Available archives, Benjamin Nickodemus, Bibliography, book review, Clarence Rittmann, David P. Scaer, Emma Rittmann, history, IELC, India Evangelical Lutheran Church, John T. Pless, John Wohlrabe, Joseph Rittmann, LCMS, Lutheran, lutheranism, Martin R. Noland, MELIM, misionaries, Missouri Evangelical Lutheran India Mission, North America, Phyllis Duesenberg, Richard O. Johnson, Timothy J. Wengert, Todd D. Zittlow	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1022
__label__cc	0.625721	0.374279	The effect of age, sex, and concussion history on preseason ImPACT values of elite Canadian youth ice hockey players British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2013 Apr; 47(5):e1. McKay, C. D., B. L. Brooks, W. H. Meeuwisse, M. Mrazik, A. L. Jubinville and E. C. A.. Objective To examine the effect of age, sex, and concussion history on preseason scores from the ImPACT computer-based neurocognitive test battery in elite 12–17-year-old ice hockey players. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Participants were recruited from the most elite divisions (AA, AAA) of youth ice hockey leagues in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Participants 714 Bantam (ages 12–14) (47 female, 161 male) and Midget (ages 15–17) (67 female, 439 male) hockey players. Assessment of Risk Factors Players completed a preseason ImPACT test before the 2011–2012 season. Outcome Measures Outcomes were composite scores <25th percentile (based on sample distribution) for verbal memory, visual memory and impulse control, and scores >75th percentile for visual motor speed, reaction time, and total symptoms. Results Using multivariate Poisson regression, adjusted for cluster by team, those aged 16–17 years were less likely to score <25th percentile in verbal memory (IRR=0.85; 95% CI 0.78 to 0.98) or >75th percentile in reaction time (IRR=0.79; 95% CI 0.69 to 0.91), but were more likely to score >75th percentile in visual motor speed (IRR=1.27; 95% CI 1.17 to 1.37) and total symptoms (IRR=1.14; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.25). Males were less likely to score <25th percentile in verbal memory (IRR=0.85; 95% CI 0.78 to 0.92), but more likely to score >75th percentile in visual motor speed (IRR=1.20; 95% CI 1.05 to 1.38) and total symptoms (IRR=1.21; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.44). Previous concussion was not predictive of ImPACT scores in the poorest quartile on any subscale. Conclusions Age and sex influence preseason ImPACT scores, although concussion history does not appear to have an effect. Acknowledgements The Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre is one of the International Research Centres for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health supported by the International Olympic Committee. We acknowledge the funding from the McCarthy Tetrault Award, Alberta Innovates Health Solutions, and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health. Competing interests Author B Brooks declares research grant support from CNS Vital Signs (neurocognitive test battery publisher) and PAR, Inc (test publisher).%U http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/47/5/e1.9.full.pdf	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1023
__label__cc	0.724557	0.275443	ideologues verses heros Sep25 by Julie (aka Cookie) “In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.” (image of Alejandro Villanueva, the lone Steeler player who opted to stand and acknowledge the National Anthem prior to the Steeler / Bear game / courtesy Miami Herald) This was not the post I intended to write today. This was not the post I wanted to write today… but this is the post that I felt necessary to write today. Alejandro Villanueva is a professional football player who plays left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is also a former US Army veteran. Add to those facts that he was the only player…. the only player… let that resonate in your head for a minute…the only player who emerged from the shadows of the Steelers locker room to stand for Sunday’s pregame National Anthem. Coach Mike Tomlin had decided to keep his players in the locker during the National Anthem so as not to join in the latest political ruckus. But what message did Tomlin send by hiding in the locker room…? And if you’re wondering why any of this is of any significance to a football game, well then you have most likely missed out on the latest minutia brouhaha percolating to the surface between America’s favorite pastime… that being her sporting events, verses the President of the United States. Now let that little notion sink in…slowly. Professional sports verses, not an opposing team, but rather the President of the United States of America. For there seems to be a war of words escalating beyond average comprehension. Yet tomorrow morning’s headlines won’t consist of Alejandro Villanueva’s image and name… And you most likely won’t be reading the columns of sportswriters touting the story of a lone act of patriotism…. You won’t see the National news explaining what’s wrong with grown men being paid millions of dollars to simply play games yet who insist on using their various playing fields to make political commentary…. their choosing to be ideologues rather than what they’re paid to do, and that is to simply play ball. No you won’t see or hear any of that. What you will see are the images of player after player locked arm in arm, across the league, kneeling in disrespectful protest. You will hear the angry defiant words spewed from the mouths of players, coaches and even the Commissioner himself, Roger Goodell. You will hear NBA greats like LaBron James calling the President of the United States of America a “bum”. You will read how Stephen Curry has said that it once was an honor to visit the White House…that was until Trump got in…… All of this latest mess coming on the heels of a speech delivered Friday evening in Alabama, when President Trump responded to the the current trend of professional football players who are opting not to stand for the National Anthem, preferring rather to kneel or raise a defiant fist…. his comments were swiftly met with some rather harsh criticism. A now never ending tit for tat stemming from the poor decision made last season by Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick opted to use his very public platform as the QB of the San Francisco 49ers to express his thoughts that the National Anthem was not an anthem of equality. Trump told the crowded arena Friday night that such behavior is a “total disrespect of our heritage. That’s a total disrespect of everything that we stand for.” He went on to say that those “Sons of a Bitch” who persist with such defiance should be fired. I happen to agree with the President. However do I think the President of the United States needs to jump in this fray? But when we have blatant disrespect for our very National Anthem, who better then the President to say, “hey wait a minute, something is wrong here….” But at the same time I am now absolutely sick over our professional athletes using their various sport as one more link in an increasingly brittle chain of toxic politics. I don’t watch football or any other sport because I want to deal with politics or because I want to be reminded that our country is swirling down the tubes of self absorption, ignorance and hate. I watch sports to forget all of that. I quit watching long ago any other sort of entertainment because it all had become nothing but overtly violent, immoral and political while reeking of utter disrespect. When I was still in the classroom, I can remember a growing sneering mantra offered by one too many a defiant high school kid who butted heads with a teacher or administrator… “I don’t give respect unless I get respect.” Here were kids claiming that if a teacher got on to them for their behavior that they in turn could respond with vehemence and defiance. A gross lack of respect for an adult who in the mind of the student had actually “disrespected” them and therefore deserved no respect–a twisted thought process. And sadly many a parent and even a growing number of administrators found themselves, albeit for some begrudgingly, in agreement. The writing was then on the wall….the inmates were running the asylum. And where might these inmates be getting their life examples….?? It takes little men to stay back in a locker room trying to avoid a glaring issue. It takes little men, who make millions of dollars for simply playing games, to act like disrespectful selfish and childish ideologues. But it takes a real man who will go the journey alone in order to stand up for what is right when no one else will…. —we call those kinds of men, heroes…… Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. This entry was posted in Christian Spirituality, Creativity, Inspiration, Teaching, Transition and tagged Alabama, Alejandro Villanueva, America's favorite pasttime, American Anthem, baseball, basketball, Comissioner, current events, defiant, disrespect, football, Heroes, high school, ideologue, LeBron James, Mike Tomlin, NBA, news, NFL, Pittsburg Steelers, politics, President of the United States, QB, retire, Roger Goodell, San Francisco 49ers, sports, sportswriter, Stephen Curry, students, Sunday, US Army, veterans. ← remnants of the day giving way at the seams → 40 comments on “ideologues verses heros” insanitybytes22 says: Amen! What complete nuttiness has gone and afflicted us? This stuff is just crazy! I too happen to agree with the President. It’s not all about them,or it shouldn’t be. They’re called to entertain us and to lead, not to act like overpaid, entitled ideologues. Nothing quite like watching the recipient of some multi million dollar contract or an emmy, lament the horrors of this country and the terrible oppression they’ve experienced. Exactly—and I for one am sick of all of this!!! atimetoshare.me says: Well said my friend. I watched both of my teams play and win yesterday, but managed to miss the National anthem. I have a Theory in this whole thing, but don’t want to spoil it because it seems to be working. Our president doesn’t care what people think of him. He’s there to do a job. His wealth hasn’t gotten in the way of his priorities. He is more concerned about returning America to her former self and isn’t afraid to say it like it is. Now he needs to tell our highly paid politicians to get to work or they should be fired as well. Have you ever thought of running for office? Ha, no one would listen 🙂 I watched Green Bay pull off the win and was glad—but like you I missed the Anthem—purposely. No reason to get my blood pressure through the roof before the game even starts! And then last night, with Mike Tereco making putting in his two cents before the Sunday night game with a “and we will bring you the Anthem live”, we flipped it to watch a rerun of the UCLA / Stanford game… at least the colleges still have some semblance of order with their player during the anthem. Never in time would I find myself avoiding watching the Anthem due to controversy. Watch Auburn sometime as they let lose their mascot, a golden eagle, that flies around the stadium during the Anthem—take about goose bumps—totally awesome and full of respect—vs these grown men acting like angry little boys—I am absolutely sick of all of this!!!!! Me too!!!! Everything we get enjoyment out of has turned into a political platform. I wonder why they didn’t have a fit when Tim Tebow placed his faith out there for all the world to see. Wyldkat says: Watching Tiger fly is always fun. 🙂 It is truly humbling in the sense that that bird flying around a packed stadium– a symbolic gesture or our very freedom- always leaves me with a proud smile– and I’m a bulldog fan for heaven’s sake! That’s how great our sports can be! Go Big Orange. evil grin That’s fine — until a certain Saturday in November 😙 I’m for Tennessee and who ever is playing ‘Bama. 😀 I hear that!!!! 🤣 ColorStorm says: Some jewels here. So the Pgh coach doesn’t want to be political, yet by his actions is just that. Love the idea of one solitary voice, a lone ranger as it were. Good for him. Well played. Edward Sosa says: Exactly what was on my heart today! Thank you for expressing it so well. And thank you Edward for supporting my obvious opposition to the mainstream world of the current lunacy! ☺️ hatrack4 says: Thank you. My heart and mind have been spinning over the weekend’s bruhaha. I come from a different age. When I was a Cub Scout, we were ‘square.’ The counter culture of the sixties got rid of that word, but they got rid of the concept, also. There is no respect anymore, except in a song that people often misspell. I applaud Villanueva. Being a former Army officer myself, I have a great deal of respect for him, not just because we live in the Pittsburgh area. Although Tomlin had the team hide, the word had come down from Goodell to be united in protest. Tomlin defied that. A couple of other teams stayed in the locker room also. Jerry Jones has said that is you don’t show respect to the flag Monday night, you won’t play. We’ll see. Above all else, the youth follow the lead of sports heroes. I fear for generations to come unless we have another global awakening of the Holy Spirit to right the ship. Well said Mark! I’m also of the square generation–I didn’t vote for nor care for Obama but he was our president and I respected that – I couldn’t stand Bill Clinton, a man who I don’t think ever showed respect for his office, house in which he lived nor the American people as he blatantly lied about running around with young interns– yet he was still the elected president and I respected that vote and his office — I hope Jerry Jones will stick to his guns! Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging and commented: Love you Julie!! 🙂 Salvageable says: I googled Villanueva’s name and found several news articles about his action yesterday. One of them said that sales of his jersey have skyrocketed overnight. J. Excellent!!! Here’s to the good guys for a change!! Harold maloney says: I think it is time to start bicotting the NFL. And their sponsors as well. Follow the example of Jesse Jackson’s organization I think you’re right ! I would say Amen, but I kinda quit following the NFL when Dallas let Landry go. Er, yeah, I remember those days. I can promise you, Tom Landry and Rodger Stabach would have never stood for any of these shenigans. I was still watching a few players, but When Peyton Manning hung up his cleats, I stopped completely. I watch as there’s not much else— but prefer college games! We’ll see if Jerry Jones makes good on his promise! Ditto. Although, if you want to see “real” football (or any other sport for that matter), played for the love of the game, check out a Division II or III game. Most of those guys are using sports as a way to get an education (as opposed to a degree). Most of them know that they will never have a chance at a major league carrier. Oh I know—my husband played back in the day for the Jacksonville Gamecocks—we know and greatly appreciate small—oh and Saturday should be an interesting game day…why to I hear Rocky Top in my head???!! No idea. 😉 Maybe Dad’s old band, the Pride of the Southland is warming up. 🙂 Bulldogs visiting blue tick heelers and hound dogs 🙂 fields to make political commentary….their choosing to be ideologues rather than what they’re paid to do, and that is to simply play ball. Unfortunately true. All I saw this morning was just that. Hate directed at the President for saying just what many of us are thinking. It is reaching the point that I am considering looking for a new News station, but where would I find one that didn’t let their personal political opinions creep in? sigh I’ve given up on news- heck I’m considering a new country!! Dawn Marie says: My heart was in two places this Sunday as I tuned in to watch our forever-favorite Steelers take the field. My heart broke when I first saw him standing there alone and to appreciate that Ali was faced with making a choice he most likely never imagined having to make. To either remain in the Team Tunnel with the rest of his entire Steeler Brotherhood, as their Team response to stay ‘neutral’ regarding the stand or kneel controversy. Or to stand in solidarity with all Americans who honor our Great Country and all those who serve & fight to protect her, every time the anthem is played. I am certain Ali never imagined he would need to stand to defend this Honor – before the very Country he served. However, my heart soared with pride as I watched him do exactly what a leader should do. He stood, proud and strong, defending her still today. I am humbled to know Ali personally and I continue to be proud he plays for our forever-favorite Team. I know his courage may not be enough to enable others to follow but I promise you for those who do, they will be forever changed. *On a personal note: our son too is an Army Airborne Ranger and is preparing for his next deployment…I am sure every family in our shoes prays for ‘tunnels’ for our brave men/women to hide in while they’re away; but we are faced with the reality that our children would view this as dishonorable and cowardly, so we pray instead that their ‘courage keep them smart & safe’ until they are back home with us once again. God bless you for sharing such a brave post. I continue to pray that we, as a Country, can begin to heal from the division which plagues us. And like Ali, may we all find the courage to reach for the hope necessary to achieve this goal. Warm hugs! As I will be praying for you, your husband and son- for your entire family as you step out with God in a this ledge of utter trust! Thank you for your kind words and support as I’ve read your post with tears streaming down my face. Prayers very much appreciated. We look forward to another end much like this past one: https://hugsnblessings.com/2017/07/15/heroes-dont-wear-capes/ and Dawn Marie please forgive all my typos, etc—that was me trying to respond to you on my phone—never a good mix—the computer is bad enough, the phone, yikes 🙂 I look forward to following your blog— hugs—Julie You said exactly what was on my mind Julie. This madness that’s overtaken our culture is just exhausting, somebody make it stop! I second that- I think I’ve said before for someone to please stop the madness as I need to get off as I’m about to throw up 🤢 He was a decorated Army Ranger officer; I think he’s without a doubt the crystal clear hero of this weekend’s flag and anthem NFL drama Good post by the way GP Cox says: The 49er’s millionaire quarterback started all this after his abilities faltered and he lost his job as starting quarterback, IMO, just to get into the limelight again. He started it during Obama’s reign, so it really has nothing to do with race. In my opinion, he slaps the face of every veteran of our military, those currently serving and those we have seen off on their final mission. Leave a Reply to Tricia Cancel reply	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1028
__label__wiki	0.662577	0.662577	Home Culture Visual Art There is no place for grief in a house which serves the... There is no place for grief in a house which serves the muse 'The Muse' in Tim Walker's short film and Dante Rosetti's Siddal Portraits Kate Haselden Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Beata Beatrix, ca 1864-70 Source: Wikipedia Comons Open: the rusting steel cage around an empty free-standing tank, the water is turning green in the absence of life, ivy is curling around the frame. The figure of the artist, a muted silhouette at first, comes into sight standing between the open shutters of an empty house. The wind laments through the long grass as he walks away, through the trees everything is unstable, moving around and away from him. He reaches a letterbox; takes out a returned letter, addressed ‘Elizabeth Siddal’. So opens Tim Walker’s 2013 short film ‘The Muse’. Walker creates a figure like that of Dante Rossetti in modernity, taking him out of the confined studio of London and into his own house, a dominion to serve the Muse, the figure that enamoured him throughout his career. Walker begins to tease the threads between experiences of the Muse for his artist and the figure of Rossetti – both artists find and take their muses; Walker’s narrator describes scouring through waters until “then, I found you”, Rossetti discovered Siddal after she was working in a hat shop in Cranbourne Alley. The search for the muse ends with the artist’s taking – of her, her likeness, her image. The relationship with the muse is defined by obsession. Walker’s film follows the artist from the fields to the house to the studio, where the walls are shrines to her image: negatives drying, portraits, prints, projections of light-shrouded, forgotten summer film. She becomes an icon, worshipped over and over again by the artist. Creating once again a link to Rossetti, Walker visualises the repeated nature of artistic obsession – Rossetti began to paint Siddal to the exclusion of almost all other models in 1851, and the number of paintings he created of her are reportedly in the thousands. She became his only image; he surrounded himself with her creations. Their relationship was drawn upon by Rossetti’s sister Christina for the poem ‘In an Artist’s studio’; she writes “One face looks out from all his canvases… He feeds upon her face by day and night… Not as she is, but as she fills his dream”. Rossetti enlightens the relationship: the muse’s multiplicity, the artistic sustenance, the idealisation. Walker’s artist watches her with a hunger, he closes his eyes in an ecstasy as he watches her. The artist takes the muse both as an inspiration and as a body to take and fill his own. Both women are hybrids – they are created from multiple sources of inspiration and mythology. Walker’s creation is descended from Hans Christian Anderson’s 1837 creation ‘Den lille havfrue’ (The Little Mermaid); the text was adapted by Walker for the W Magazine shoot ‘Far Far From Land’ (2013) which Walker later extended into ‘The Muse’. Visually, the muse is created from Anderson’s suffering youth, religious depictions of female martyrs, and from the modern fashion creations of Alexander McQueen. Rossetti’s muse is the creation of his every desire, artistic and otherwise: she becomes a demure bride, a goddess of love, a female nude and the haunting portrait. Both muses are water women, the sirens of the artist. For Walker, this is a very literal creation – the artist’s muse is an imprisoned mermaid, confined to a standing tank which she fills with her flowing blonde hair and a pale blue tail. The film is awash with the sound of rushing water; she thrashes in the film, emerges in the still images. There is a moment in his studio; he projects her onto the wall, a myth that fades in colour with the film and blurs from focus. He stands as the camera follows the silent thrashing of her tail, opening his arms into wings, rising with her through the frame. A desire to become both divine and remain her idolater. Elizabeth Siddal began as Millais’ ‘Ophelia’ (1852) – modelling for the painting of the forsaken lover who takes her own life, she is confined to the dark water as a figure of drowning lover. For Rossetti, she would become a human siren but changeable in her form – she became a goddess in oil, a saint in chalk, a mortal woman shrouded in shadow in his pencil. The muse is painted in obsession, the grey-dawn light of trying to capture a constantly changing and eventually withering essence. The artists try to capture the muse in her movement. Some of the most emotive drawings of Elizabeth by Rossetti are fast ink drawings; Rossetti’s ‘Elizabeth Siddal Seated at an Easel’ depicts her form created by ink and white space, shadow and light, leaning into the canvas. The muse is a constantly changing entity; she moves and flickers, gives memory and takes it away. This transience is explored by Walker: the film flickers between the grey dawn where the artist stands bereft, and past moving colour images of the mermaid in sunlight. Showing the mourning artist and the transience of human memory, the clips consistently blur, fading in and out, like the mind which tries to recall certain moments when they are past and we are left with only our grief. As the film draws to a close, the artist’s voice overlays the figure leaving the house and walking towards the empty tank: “What becomes of the human man? What becomes of him, when her spell remains but she is gone.” Both Walker and Rossetti seek to understand this final state of being for the artist. Walker’s artist leaves the studio, the sepulchre of his muse in all her depicted forms, and submerges into the remaining water, clasping withering flowers. There is something resonant of Ophelia in his final moments, the closing image of a being submerged in water, fully-clothed and holding gathered flowers in different colours. The film fades away on the sight of the artist, finally consumed by the memory of his muse. As for Rossetti: he reached heights of desperation after the death of his muse. After Siddal’s overdose on Laudanum, Rossetti sent for four doctors until he accepted she could not be saved. He became increasingly depressed and prone to erratic behaviour, burying the poems dedicated to her with her in Highgate Cemetery, which he later had exhumed for publication. “When her spell remains but she is gone” was depicted by Rossetti in his posthumous portrait of Siddal, entitled ‘Beata Beatrix’ which now hangs high on the walls of the Tate Britain. Siddal becomes Beatrice Portinari from Dante’s ‘La Vita Nuova’, The painting is an incredibly moving, visual haze of lover’s grief; she lifts her face slightly upwards to an absent sun, the only sources of light being the distant horizon and the yellow glow of the fatal poppy (symbolising the cause of Siddal’s death). Her hair feathers at the edge like muted flames, glowing with the auburn colour Rossetti was so obsessed with. She is an idealisation of grief, the transfiguration of the living muse to a spiritual figure of memory. The muse eventually becomes a living memory which the artist struggles to remain with; her image remains but she herself is gone. They love what they can see; when she is gone, there is nothing to consume their sight, there is nothing to create from. Sappho’s words “there is no place for grief in a house which serves the muse” form the closing still of Walker’s film: they encapsulate the impossibility for the two states of grief and artistic worship to exist together: once the muse is gone, grief consumes the artist and his dominion, which yearns for their missing icon as the walls become remaining memorials to her image. Dante Rosetti Previous articleMy existence is not your next punchline Next articleLiberation groups condemn HistorySoc’s invite of Jenni Murray Love, Lust and Angst More than Pixels Vacation in Vienna Goodbye Sir Terry Musical Interlude: Stornoway Cuppers Review: A Structured Panic Let’s Talk About: Casual sex Student Soapbox Historians slam plans to replace display cases at University museum Number of female professors rises The Road of Dreams The Russian Revolution was a kind of orgy	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1041
__label__wiki	0.565502	0.565502	University Drive roadwork Upgrades to campus services along University Drive continue between the Grant building and the three-way stop at College and University. This section of University Drive is open to alternating local traffic from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with flaggers managing traffic flow. Other traffic continues to be detoured via West Campus Road for access to P3, the Boathouse, and Sneq’ wa e’lun (Blue Heron House) between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Completion is expected to July 26. West Campus deferred maintenance Work continues in and around the LTA and the REC centre, with the Recreation centre now fully independent of the LTA. For the safety of all campus users during increased construction activity, additional road signs have been installed along West Campus Road reducing the speed limit to 10km and indicating where construction vehicles are turning. All staff, students and visitors to campus are reminded to obey the posted speed limits and watch for flag people who may be directing traffic. Safe driving on campus is essential to everyone’s wellbeing. Parking infrastructure Parking below P7 adjacent to the Sherman Jen Building is complete and open to all users. Twenty stalls have been added below P7 to compliment the addition of seven stalls in upper P7, for a total of 133 spots available to users. This includes 2 accessible spots. On the west side of Sherman Jen, four EV charging stations and two accessible spots are avaialble. Internet outage July 16 As mentioned in last week's the Crossroads article, IT Services has scheduled a maintenance window of up to seven hours for an internet service upgrade on July 16 at 6 p.m. During this maintenance window, Royal Roads websites and applications that rely on the internet service will not be accessible. This includes but is not limited to the following: HR Smart All royalroads.ca websites Professional & Continuing Studies course registration site (https://secure.royalroads.ca/cscourses) Periodical database search IT services is maintaining a FAQ. Check back to review for any additional information. For academic related questions concerning the outage students should contact their instructors directly. For other questions pcontact the Computer Help Desk at 250-391-2659 or toll-free for long distance at 1-866-808-5429. IT Services appreciates your cooperation and support in carrying out a major capacity enhancement to the internet service. MBA event highlights Asia Pacific Changes to Moodle dashboard Upgrades to campus services continue	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1048
__label__wiki	0.502001	0.502001	The Birds are Back in Town! Posted by Jack & Barbra Donachy on April 18, 2012 Posted in: Point Hope, Shishmaref. Tagged: Alaska birds, McKay's Buntings, nature, photography, Shishmaref, travel, where to see McKay's buntings. 105 Comments Feathers puffed against the cold, a female McKay’s bunting warms herself in the radiant heat from a rock. Daily highs are reaching the teens and even the twenties now, and today’s sunshine stretched from sunrise at 7:00 AM to sunset at 11:13 PM. The midnight sun is back, and so are the birds! Gripped in the heart of winter, an Arctic landscape can be one of the quietest places on earth. Save for a few hardy ravens that manage to make a living off dumpsters and the local garbage facility, most birds head for warmer climes. There are no tree branches for the wind to whistle through, no dry grass to rustle, and on the coldest nights, even the village dogs huddle up and stay mum. Dark settles in, and the waiting begins. For the past couple of weeks, we’ve increasingly been hearing the welcome twitters and chirps of flocks of the snow birds of the north, snow buntings and McKay’s buntings. It’s been weeks since the last windstorm, and these days we can feel the warmth of the sun on our faces. It feels… wonderful. I’ve always admired passerines – songbirds. These snow buntings have become some of my favorites. ← Homemade Flour Tortillas (Sans Lard) Summer Blueberry Picking on the Arctic Tundra → 105 comments on “The Birds are Back in Town!” delicio8 on April 18, 2012 at 6:41 pm said: How do the ravens survive the cold? I like these bird’s markings. Barbra & Jack Donachy on April 18, 2012 at 7:30 pm said: That’s a question we’ve been asking as well. All we can tell you is that a few ravens hang around all winter – making their “grawk” sound from the tops of buildings, flying overhead. We have a developed a real respect for these birds. They kind of redefine the phrase “tough old bird.” This Sydney Life on April 18, 2012 at 9:13 pm said: They are sooooo cute! Unsurprisingly, I’ve never seen one before. 🙂 The Simple Life of a Country Man's Wife on April 19, 2012 at 8:55 am said: i am imagining their songs, and they sound pretty 🙂 They have the sweetest little chirps and twitters. Real cheerful harbingers of spring. Lu on April 19, 2012 at 8:59 am said: oooh – I was just here and now you are Freshly Pressed! Congratulations 🙂 Sure did put smiles on our faces! Thanks! Reece Fowler on April 19, 2012 at 9:09 am said: Where are these birds exactly? I’m curious now. These are birds of the Arctic. They breed on two small, remote islands in the Bering Sea. We’ve seen them in Shishmaref and Point Hope, two small villages in the Arctic region of Alaska. These photos were taken in Shishmaref. In the larger flock, some of the birds are snow buntings, and some are McKay’s buntings. McKay’s tend to be lighter in color than snow buntings. They are mainly seed eaters. christine on April 19, 2012 at 9:20 am said: Wow. The McKay is a stunning bird. I love these images. GalonTrip on April 19, 2012 at 9:33 am said: those birds are so damn cute, even cuter than angry birds 🙂 aFrankAngle on April 19, 2012 at 9:34 am said: Sounds like a song title! Jason Ministries on April 19, 2012 at 9:40 am said: Beautiful creatures, those McKays. 🙂 Enjoyed your post. 🙂 anaslense on April 19, 2012 at 9:43 am said: How beautiful! I had never seen those birds before…they are so cute! Thanks for sharing those pictures with us! 🙂 Thanks, Anaslense! anaslense on April 19, 2012 at 1:24 pm said: Mikalee Byerman on April 19, 2012 at 10:26 am said: Beautiful shots — we feed wild birds in our backyard, and ’tis (almost) the season for BABIES! Can’t wait! Thanks Mikalee. We used to really enjoy feeding birds (when we lived further south.) Look for a post in the near future about the birds we attracted to our feeders in Sacramento. You’re lucky to have them nesting, too! Donkey Whisperer Farm on April 19, 2012 at 10:32 am said: It’s so nice to have the birds back in town, we are blessed enough to have owls, wood peckers, blue jays, yellow finches and much more in our garden not to mention the hummers. Enjoyed your post 🙂 We have snowy owls and short-eared owls here, too. No woodpeckers up this far though. No trees! Being Julz on April 19, 2012 at 10:37 am said: Wonderful shots and great post! Thanks for sharing. I look forward to wandering around your blog some more. goodoldgirl on April 19, 2012 at 10:40 am said: I lived in Fairbanks in ’81 and ’82 … it is a beautiful place and well worth a visit. I think the neatest thing I’ve ever seen (as far as wildlife) is a moose. Boy, was it big. Scary, too! If you’re ever in Fairbanks, go by the Pumphouse Restaurant — great place. Barbra & Jack Donachy on April 19, 2012 at 12:12 pm said: We were in Fairbanks two summers ago and were really impressed. What a great town/city! Didn’t make it to the Pumphouse, but will keep it in mind for next time. (We’re hoping to go there to see the Northern Lights one winter.) goodoldgirl on April 19, 2012 at 3:02 pm said: The Northern Lights are spectacular! If you go to Fairbanks, go during Golden Days, I think it’s in July. It’s fun festive time to be there. The Wandering Photographer on April 19, 2012 at 11:28 am said: thorsaurus on April 19, 2012 at 11:56 am said: Otherworldly experience. Thank you for sharing. Thanks for checking out our blog! hannele on April 19, 2012 at 12:06 pm said: Beautiful-looking birds! 🙂 Here in Finland most of the birds also go south for the winter, but some stay, and of those, many depend on the feed people put out for them. They are very impressive, indeed… Thanks for sharing the photos, but also for a very nicely written text to go with them! 🙂 One of the very cool things about doing a blog like this is hearing from people in other countries. We’re becoming really interested in visiting Finland. There are some interesting similarities between Finland and Alaska. tryingtoknowthyself on April 19, 2012 at 12:11 pm said: Wow they are so cute 🙂 Jennifer Williams on April 19, 2012 at 12:13 pm said: Great photos of the birds! They are cute! Glad it is warming up…they certainly look comfortable..and well-fed! mizrhi on April 19, 2012 at 12:35 pm said: I forget that outside of my sub tropical oasis, the world experiences harsh extremes in climate. Your post just reminded me that as I head into winter here in the southern hemisphere, I have nothing to complain about in comparison to your experiences. Thank you for sharing. Maybe the next chapter in our lives will be in a tropical paradise! Thanks for checking out our post. jollof on April 19, 2012 at 1:40 pm said: This looks like a perfect setting for Angry Birds: 3D Edition :D. Nice post btw The Blissful Adventurer on April 19, 2012 at 2:01 pm said: I love these images! I just want to say congrats for being freshly pressed today. This was my first time in that club and want to shout out to all of you who share this great day with me. Congratulations to you as well! thank you 🙂 will follow and keep up with you sharonstjoan on April 19, 2012 at 2:02 pm said: Reblogged this on Voices and Visions. annefreemanimages on April 19, 2012 at 3:20 pm said: Lovely captures and narrative. ~Anne It took a fair amount of patience to get these shots. We went out several times to places we knew they frequent. We’d wait, the birds would whir in and land for a bit, we’d shoot until our cameras or fingers froze, trying to move in close, but these buntings are notoriously shy and quick to take off. Glad you were willing to tough it out! Gillian on April 19, 2012 at 3:24 pm said: We get the Snow Buntings here in Ottawa in the winter (yes, this is “south” to them!). They are one of my favourite winter birds; when I see large flocks of 100+ birds whirling up into the air they make me think of specks of salt of pepper! Take care of them, for me, until next winter! Isn’t it cool the way migratory birds connect the planet? Deb on April 19, 2012 at 3:43 pm said: I love the images! pixelogist on April 19, 2012 at 3:46 pm said: beautiful work. tweeted 🙂 thanks for sharing these with us.. can really appreciate the skill and effort it has takent sanjeevkar on April 19, 2012 at 4:40 pm said: nice pictures thank you for shairng 4MyLifeFitness on April 19, 2012 at 5:12 pm said: Wow! Beautiful bird and even better photography. =) Sarah D. on April 19, 2012 at 5:12 pm said: Beautiful little birds, and such amazing and interesting creatures! Glad you posted these nice photos. MyKnittingCircle on April 19, 2012 at 6:00 pm said: Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed. I, too, love song birds. Especially mocking birds. Us, too on the mocking birds. They were regular, very welcome visitors to our yard in Sacramento. theebonygirl on April 19, 2012 at 6:15 pm said: OMG the imagery here is absolutely beautiful it just makes me that more anxious to get out there and see it for myself! sonofwalt on April 19, 2012 at 7:08 pm said: Beautiful. You and these photos make the Arctic seem warmer than you know. 🙂 GardenDIY on April 19, 2012 at 7:26 pm said: urbanperegrines on April 19, 2012 at 8:04 pm said: Who can resist a bunting? Not me. We’re with you on the buntings: indigoes, painted, snow, McKay’s… they’re a striking group. And peregrines in Boise! How cool is that?! We’ve been following this story! We’re having a problematic season owing mostly to the new pair, presumably very young at least on the part of the falcon. As my livelihood depends on their fertility, & the survival of the species is my #1 priority, this is an emotional rollercoaster. Let’s hope that any eggs there will produce some healthy fuzzies for us down the road. Your lovely blog is a perfect antidote to my day! kinetikat on April 19, 2012 at 9:47 pm said: Beautiful photo – beautiful bird. They are such a fantastic shape, like little china birds. I love their faces, they look as though they have little blush cheeks. So cute! lijiujiu on April 19, 2012 at 9:53 pm said: How beautiful the pics are. And the birds are very cute, I love them. emotionalsalad on April 19, 2012 at 10:23 pm said: Beautiful Pictures…The birds look lovely with their rosy cheeks… island traveler on April 19, 2012 at 11:02 pm said: Beautiful snow buntings. Spectacular views… Eagle-Eyed Editor on April 19, 2012 at 11:44 pm said: Beautiful birds. Great photos. P.S. I Love Soap Co. on April 20, 2012 at 1:19 am said: I love birds..That first pic is so cute, I just want to pinch it’s cheecks….Too cute:) Jean on April 20, 2012 at 2:35 am said: Very sweet, plump birds in that arctic landscape. Where in the Arctic were you? Barbra & Jack Donachy on April 20, 2012 at 6:04 am said: This year we are in Point Hope, Alaska, which is 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The photo of these birds was taken near our previous home in Sishmaref, which, like Point Hope, is a small Eskimo village. abichica on April 20, 2012 at 2:39 am said: i love this post.. and the picture is so beautiful!! 🙂 katiepede on April 20, 2012 at 5:30 am said: What little beauties! 🙂 starlight on April 20, 2012 at 6:00 am said: are they really called songbirds? maybe they sing the sweetest tunes and tweet the loveliest melodies.. by the way, love your photos. hexer123 on April 20, 2012 at 7:08 am said: i love birds they must have very nice songs Regina on April 20, 2012 at 7:41 am said: J. Todd Hubbard on April 20, 2012 at 11:57 am said: Gorgeous pics! Congrats on FP! Pingback: Snow Bunting « Sesame Azuki xuantian on April 20, 2012 at 2:18 pm said: OOOOOH, these cutie fatty beauties! Thanks for sharing. I’ve actually never seen and known this kind of birds. 🙂 jessiethought on April 20, 2012 at 2:21 pm said: Those are beautiful birds! Dee on April 20, 2012 at 6:42 pm said: Cute birds, Round, fat, soft and white like buns!! CUTEEE!! tinpun on April 20, 2012 at 11:38 pm said: What beautiful birds. 🙂 When I looked in small pics, I thought these were penguins. lol laurencemitchell on April 21, 2012 at 2:56 am said: I love these birds. We sometimes see them where I live in Norfolk, UK on the beach where they have retreated south from Scandinavia for the winter months. A real reminder of colder climes, to me they look like sparrows made of sugar. I like that… Sparrows made of sugar. thirdplan8 on April 21, 2012 at 9:47 am said: They are adorable! Aileen Torres on April 21, 2012 at 11:03 am said: So adorable and pretty! Greyisalsobeautiful on April 21, 2012 at 11:32 am said: These guys are so cute and funny looking! Because of your photos i want to see them in real life now Newfoundland Traveller on April 21, 2012 at 2:39 pm said: How amazing nature is! It cheers me up when I see these tiny birds. Reverse Engineering on April 21, 2012 at 4:58 pm said: Must be very quiet there. Nothing but the howling wind (is it windy there?). Gale force winds (40 to 50 mph) are common, and house-shaking storm winds in the 60+ mph range occur somewhat regularly during the winter. This past winter, we had three days of hurricane force winds which effectively shut down the village. Most people had to hole up in the school. See our post “Epic Storm Hits Point Hope, Alaska,” November 10, 2011 for more information about that storm. On the other hand, we went for a 6-mile walk today out to look at the whaling camps, and although it was snowing (and beautiful) there was only a light breeze blowing. pnwauthor on April 21, 2012 at 5:11 pm said: I love birds. Thank you for sharing your bunting photos. Saudi Telecom News on April 22, 2012 at 12:30 am said: Very cute birds, love to have one. Saudi Prices Blog on April 22, 2012 at 12:36 am said: sooooo cute, wish to see them in reality Sinead on April 22, 2012 at 4:32 am said: Gorgeous pictures 🙂 Katie Raspberry on April 22, 2012 at 7:37 am said: Those birds look so plump and so cute! My god, if only I could adopt one :’) katieraspberry.wordpress.com diaryofanewife on April 22, 2012 at 8:41 am said: Truly captivating images!! Thanks for sharing! vnettum on April 22, 2012 at 11:53 am said: Those are some beautiful pictures! Joe Labriola on April 22, 2012 at 3:05 pm said: Yeah! Camoflauged snowbirds! triptracker on April 22, 2012 at 5:32 pm said: Their shape is very interesting. I assume it is due to the weather and their need to be able to insult themselves. Beautiful specimens ashee on April 22, 2012 at 8:07 pm said: great photos nice as cool…… asheeee.blogspot.com Aspasia on April 23, 2012 at 12:29 am said: it’s so beautiful . yes, natural power is amazing all the time . Rosanna on April 23, 2012 at 3:33 am said: Kathi Ann Photography - Sacramento Area Pet Photographer on April 23, 2012 at 5:05 am said: Loved the photos! Rachael on April 23, 2012 at 6:20 am said: Delightful pictures. Nice blog. dreamz Infra on April 24, 2012 at 3:38 am said: This birds species are less in world..so keep care about this…this picture is delightfull.. passport2bliss on April 24, 2012 at 2:16 pm said: Awwww…I can only imagine the sweet birdsong from these cute little guys. 🙂 Love the photos! C.D. on April 24, 2012 at 2:59 pm said: Ooh they are so cute, I’ve never seen one of them before! Photo Media on April 25, 2012 at 5:42 am said: So sweet birds…..nice pics ! dreamzinfra on April 26, 2012 at 12:29 am said: beautiful birds..	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1057
__label__wiki	0.592669	0.592669	“I’m Swaggy Presley”: Nick Young stands out, fits in in Nuggets debut By Christian Clark at Pepsi Center December 15, 2018 6 Mins Read Six nuggets for each point Nick Young scored in his Denver debut, a 109-98 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. 1. I’m not sure in what instance Pepsi Center got louder: When it had a chance at free Chik-Fil-A when the Thunder were in danger of missing consecutive free throws? Or was it when Swaggy P pump faked, put it on the floor and drilled the 3 that pushed Denver’s lead to nine and forced Billy Donovan to call timeout in the fourth quarter? “It felt good to see the ball go in the hole, to go from watching cartoons with the family to hitting 3s in the game,” Young said. Pepsi Center embraced Denver’s newest addition like he was The King playing The Ed Sullivan Show. Their welcome was more than warm; it bordered on hysterical. “I’m like Elvis Presley out here,” Young said. “I’m Swaggy Presley.” Young, who was signed Monday using the injury hardship relief exception, scored six points in his Nuggets debut. He hit a pair of 3s in nine minutes of floor time. The roof to the Pepsi Center nearly blew off following the second one. Nuggets fans went nuts, and so did the players. “That’s what I love about our team,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Such a selfless group. Here’s a guy that got here on Sunday. He goes out there tonight, has a little bit of success and everybody on the team is up and rooting for him and cheering for him. I love that about our team: How much we care about each other and how much we root for each other.” The Nuggets are a tight-knit bunch. That camaraderie, that closeness has helped them weather injuries to three starters — Will Barton, Gary Harris and Paul Millsap. They’re at the top of the Western Conference and this week have beaten two teams in playoff position even though more than 50 percent of their payroll is on the sidelines in street clothes. “The way they share the ball and get along, it’s hard to find that in the NBA sometimes,” Young said. “The winning teams figure it out.” 2. The Nuggets have asked two of their better defenders to step up while they’re in a pinch. Earlier this week versus Memphis, Malone inserted Torrey Craig and Mason Plumlee into the starting lineup to support Jamal Murray, Juancho Hernangomez and Nikola Jokic. That fivesome struggled to score the basketball against the Grizzlies, but it was much better Friday. Craig, who’d made just eight 3s all season entering the game, hit three 3s in the first quarter alone. The Nuggets hit seven as a team and raced out to a 39-32 lead. Denver NuggetsJamal MurrayMonte MorrisNick YoungNIkola Jokic Author Christian Clark Christian Clark is an Arlington, Texas, native who covers the Denver Nuggets for BSN Denver. Education: I graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in December 2014 with an emphasis in print and digital news. Career: My work has been featured in the Fort Worth-Star Telegram, The Oklahoman and Columbia Missourian, and online at TexasFootball.com and Denverite.com. I came aboard at BSN Denver in November 2017. Most memorable sports moment: Game 2 of the 2011 NBA Finals. The finest sports book I’ve ever read: Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger. One sports movie I can’t live without: Tin Cup, do not @ me Most memorable experience as a reporter: The quadruple-OT game between the Nuggets and Trail Blazers. The sport that started it all: Basketball. My sports-watching memories kick in with those early-2000s Dallas Mavericks teams. They had bad hair and scored a lot of points. Shout-out to Nellie Ball. The most important relationship in the Broncos organization is off to a great start BSN Nuggets Podcast: 3 storylines to watch throughout the remainder of the offseason	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1070
__label__cc	0.74125	0.25875	Meet Dean MEET DEAN MERCADO If You Ready To Achieve New Heights With Your Small Business, It Is Time For You To Meet Dean! Dean Mercado, Founder and CEO of Online Marketing Muscle® and #1 Best Selling Author of “The MindStretch: 49 Inspiring Insights For Business Breakthroughs” is a spirited entrepreneur at heart and loves the fact that he controls his own destiny! Throughout Dean’s professional career, spanning across 4 decades, he has served in a multitude of roles — all seeming to revolve around two of his passions, marketing & technology. He lives, loves, and breathes this stuff so it seemed a natural fit to delve into the online marketing arena. Through small business coaching & digital marketing consulting with Online Marketing Muscle®, Dean Mercado has helped numerous business owners around the globe level up. Dean’s business building creativity and practical, yet cutting-edge marketing tactics have given many small businesses a fighting chance for survival. “The business world is rapidly changing,” says Dean. “It’s becoming more global and largely because of technology, it has become a more level playing field where small businesses can have the reach and competitiveness that was once only afforded to larger companies. Our vision is to bring technology and marketing expertise to the small business community thus, helping them leverage cutting edge marketing tactics and strategies to succeed in today’s economy and reach their targeted business goals.” Dean Mercado has been quoted for his expertise in several reputable publications including Inc. Magazine, Investor’s Business Daily and Crain’s Business News. He is the consummate student. In addition to his college undergraduate and graduate degrees, he firmly believes in continual, daily education. So much so that in recent years, he has secured the mentoring of such superstars as Robert G. Allen, Mark Victor Hansen, Jay Abraham, Loral Langemeier, and others to further enhance his ability to produce results. Dean resides with his lovely wife Andrea and two fabulous kids on Long Island, New York. #1 Best Selling Author, Small Business Coach, Strategist & Speaker, Yankees Fan, Drummer, Veggie Gardener husband & Dad of 2 Awesome Kids! 150 Motor Pkwy #401 ✉ Dean@DeanMercado.com Copyright © 2019 Dean Mercado	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1072
__label__cc	0.611556	0.388444	Solar Panels in Imnaha, OR: Solar Companies, Cost, and Installation We're here to help you determine whether a solar power system is worth it in Imnaha, Oregon. We'll also answer your questions about how it works and which solar providers and installers are available. See the topics below: Cost of Solar Panels in Imnaha, OR The figures below show the total cost of solar power in Imnaha and the estimated payback or break-even period. The numbers below assumes you want to buy the system outright. You can also get a loan, lease the system, or set up a “power purchase agreement” (PPA). Learn more about payment options. Solar Power Companies in Imnaha, OR Should You Get Solar in Imnaha? Obviously only you can decide, but we've collected the following pros and cons for getting solar at a Imnaha home or business: Moderate sunshine (0.1% below average) Is solar worth it in Imnaha, OR? Considering all of the above, we think so for most people. Solar is 13.9% less cost effective than the rest of the nation and will pay itself back in around 16 years 10 months for a home buyer. We like to see return times (without state incentives) under 20 years. Solar Power Savings by Month in Imnaha A 5kW system will save someone in Imnaha up to $72.70 on an average month. That's significant given the average Oregon power bill of $96.24 per month. Here’s a monthly breakdown: Data based on 1 zip in Imnaha, OR. Data reliability is rated excellent. For example, July is the highest-sun month in Imnaha with an average of 6.86 kW per meter per day. An efficient 5 kW system will cover about 25 square meters depending on the roof. So, the following is the savings calculation for July in Imnaha: These assumptions are very good for the average home in Imnaha, but nothing beats the accuracy of getting your own quote. Oxbow, OR Imbler, OR Ione, OR Irrigon, OR	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1073
__label__cc	0.590111	0.409889	Trade, Tariffs, and Talent Concerns Dampen CFOs’ Optimism: CFO Signals CFOs from many of North America’s largest and most influential organizations indicated fading optimism, due in part to concerns around trade policy and political uncertainty, combined with ongoing challenges associated with identifying finance talent, according to Deloitte’s third-quarter 2018 CFO Signals™ survey. The survey, now in its eighth year, captured the sentiments of 132 finance executives, 86 percent of whom were from companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Eighty-nine percent of the surveyed CFOs rated current conditions in North America as good, which is down slightly from a survey high of 94 percent in the Q2 2018 survey. The percentage of CFOs expecting better conditions in North America in a year also dipped, to 45 percent in Q3 2018, down from 52 percent in the prior survey and the lowest in two years. CFOs’ perceptions of other regional economies also declined. Their perceptions of Europe's current state receded significantly after hitting a new survey high at the beginning of the year. Thirty-two percent of CFOs said current conditions are good in Europe, down from 47 percent, and 23 percent expect better conditions in a year, down from 36 percent. In addition, 37 percent of CFOs viewed current conditions in China as good — a sharp decline from the previous quarter's 55 percent — and 27 percent expect better conditions in a year, down from 31 percent. Sanford Cockrell III “Last quarter's decline in overall sentiment only continued in the third-quarter CFO Signals survey" said Sanford Cockrell III, national managing partner of the U.S. CFO Program, Deloitte LLP. “Although overall economic performance is projected to be hovering at the two-year average, it is interesting to see the change from the expectations for confidence and growth that hit survey highs earlier this year.” CFOs’ Expectations for Key Growth Metrics After CFOs’ expectations for year-over-year (YOY) growth across key metrics — revenue, earnings, capital, and hiring — hit multiyear highs in Q2 2018, their expectations declined in the Q3 2018 survey, although they remain strong. — Expectations for revenue growth declined from 6.3 percent to 6.1 percent, but remains at one of the highest levels in the past four years. — Earnings growth expectations declined from 10.3 percent to 8.1 percent, dropping to its lowest level this year. — Expectations for growth in capital investment declined from 10.4 percent to 9.4 percent, the second consecutive decline, but remain above the two-year average. — Growth expectations for hiring domestic personnel fell from 3.2 percent to 2.7 percent, In contrast, surveyed CFOs’ expectations for dividend growth rose sharply from 4.8 percent to 7.4 percent, the highest level in eight years. Seventy-three percent of CFOs indicated debt financing is attractive; while that's on par with the previous quarter’s results, this sentiment has reached its lowest level in more than two years. In addition, 56 percent of CFOs said now is a good time to be taking greater risk — down slightly from 58 percent in the Q2 2018 survey and in line with the two-year average. CFOs’ Most Worrisome Risks When asked about their most worrisome risks, trade policy topped the list of external concerns, with CFOs increasingly citing the possibility of additional tariffs and escalating trade tensions as having negative effects on corporate performance. For the first time in 2018, however, more CFOs (40 percent) viewed internal risks, such as securing talent, as more constraining to company performance than external risks (37 percent), such as geopolitical risks. They also relayed worries about their organizations’ ability to focus and execute to support growth and change. Evolving Talent Requirements With securing and retaining finance talent continuing to be among CFOs' top internal worries, the Q3 2018 survey asked respondents about the mechanisms they have in place to address the evolving finance workforce needs and required skills. CFOs noted that they expect the responsibilities of their finance function to shift from accounting, reporting and compliance, to accessing finance staff who are more adept with analysis, prediction, and decision support. In addition, 54 percent of CFOs projected that their talent roadmap can support a technology-enabled workforce in three years; 45 percent of CFOs indicated that most finance work will be conducted via shared service centers. To address evolving talent requirements, surveyed CFOs noted that they expect their participation in the gig economy to increase by 88 percent in the next three years, including increased utilization of outsourced, contingent or gig workers, and higher utilization of shared services or offshore personnel. However, the bulk of the workforce will likely remain nearshore. CFOs noted that 11.5 percent of their current workforce does not have the necessary skills for today's finance function, and that 15.4 percent will likely not be skilled to undertake future finance roles three years from now. To gain insight into what skill gaps currently exist in CFOs' finance functions, CFOs were asked where they saw the need for the most development. While responses varied greatly, nearly two-thirds agreed that their finance function requires the most development in analytics, digital technologies and automation; and knowledge of their companies' core business. Rob Dicks “Talent continues to be a top priority for CFOs quarter after quarter. As the finance function evolves, the workforce and workplace need to shift to accommodate the changes in the way work is done and what work drives tangible value,” noted Rob Dicks, national leader for Deloitte's Human Capital CFO market offering, and a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP. “The survey results show that most CFOs are in the very early stages of their talent journeys, but are committed to building a workforce much more focused on analysis, decision support, and analytics,” he added. About CFO Signals Each quarter (since Q2 2010) CFO Signals has tracked the thinking and actions of CFOs representing many of North America's largest and most influential organizations. This report summarizes CFOs' opinions in four areas: business environment; company priorities and expectations; finance priorities; and CFOs' personal priorities. The Deloitte CFO Signals survey for the third quarter of 2018 was conducted during the two-week period opening Aug. 6, 2018, and ended Aug. 17, 2018. A total of 132 CFOs responded. Seventy-four percent of respondents were from public companies, and 86 percent were from companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. For more information about Deloitte’s CFO Signals, or to inquire about participating in the survey, please contact NACFOSurvey@deloitte.com. CFO Signals™: What North America’s top finance executives are thinking – and doing, Q3 2018 report FP&A: Why Talent Counts and What CFOs Can Do to Improve It Four Ways CFOs Can Avoid a Digital Talent Crunch Reimagining the Finance Function and Finance Talent for Industry 4.0 As Digital Transforms Business, Companies Seek Tech-savvy CFOs CFO Signals survey Previous Chapter II: Preparing for Life After Being CFO Next Transforming Electronic Health Records Into Workflow Engines 2.05% -3/4 Pound 1.253 While CFOs continue to anticipate a downturn by the end of 2020, they expect it to be mild and short-lived, although confidence in business fundamentals remains strong, according to Joe Ucuzoglu, Deloitte U.S. CEO, and Sanford Cockrell III, national managing partner of the U.S. Chief Financial Officer Program, Deloitte LLP. In the second quarter 2019 North American CFO Signals™ survey, North American CFOs share their plans to boost capital spending to fortify their businesses to enter, and emerge from, a projected economic dip. CFOs Lend Insights on Diversity and Inclusion CFOs say their companies are using a variety of tactics to promote diversity and inclusion (D&I), with flexible work arrangements being the most common, according to Deloitte’s latest “CFO Signals™” survey. Further, the survey reveals that about half of CFO respondents say the organization’s D&I strategy is embedded in their talent brand, and with regard to direct reports, CFOs indicate their average number is 7.60, with about 40% female, minority, or both.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1075
__label__cc	0.744474	0.255526	how-to beginners job 10 Inconvenient Interview Questions Technical Writer Can Face and How to Answer Them The job change is the stressful event of one’s life, and the top stressful moment is a personal interview. This article is based on real technical writer interview questions shared by Glassdoor.com users. What Job Interview Questions to Expect You can face three types of tests during the interview. Professional questions. Prepare to talk about how would you document a feature or service, write the executive summary based on a prompt. It can be a big task for a week or short article to write on the spot. For example, you can be asked to describe how does the camera works or how to use an ATM machine. Also, the interviewer can ask you to fill the technical report or edit a writing sample. Portfolio & experience questions. Be prepared to talk about your last projects and writing samples you brought. Example of questions: What role did you play in developing this sample? Who else worked with you on this project? How long does it take for you to write a 1000 words document? What tools did you use for developing technical documentation? Behavioral questions. The employer needs to make sure that you are able to work under stress. Behavioral questions help the interviewer understand your thought process and decide if it suits the company. Questions That Technical Writers Faced During a Job Interview 1. Tell me about yourself. Wrong. Retell your biography. “I am married, I have three kids…”. Right. The pitch should include an explanation of why you do fit the job. Use Present-Past-Future scheme: explain what are you doing for now, what working background you have and the way the current vacancy responds to your plans for the future. The total length should be about 2 min. 2. What are your weaknesses? Wrong. “I could not find a balance between work and personal life, and that is why I spend all my time at work”, “I am paying too much attention to the details just to make sure that everything is perfect”, “I am very punctual myself, that is why I irate easily when someone does not meet the deadline”. Right. Name a real weakness, just not a critical one. For example, a technical writer can mention fear of public speaking, lack of foreign languages. Also, you can say that you usually get lost during a phone conversation and prefer to write five emails instead of one short call. After naming a point, explain what are you doing to overcome it. 3. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a co-worker on a project and lost. Wrong. “I can not remind it ever took place because I usually work well with everyone”, “It was not only my fault”. Right. Everyone is making mistakes. More important is to see that you can learn from it and can to take responsibility for the team process. Remind a real case and use a STAR technique to explain it. The STAR technique means Situation. Describe why the conflict appeared. Task. Explain the purpose of your actions. Action. Name what did you do. Result. Share the outcomes and what conclusions you have made. 4. Tell me about the time you changed a policy that wasn’t working. Wrong. “I have always worked in companies with well-performing working processes, so there was nothing to change”. Right. The purpose of this question is to track your way of thinking. If you really have never changed any working processes, then tell about a hypothetical situation. For example, “I have never had to change the workflow, but if that were necessary, that’s what I would do”. 5. Tell me about a time you had to work according to a policy you disagreed. Wrong. “I prefer not to work in a company that frames me with the rules I do not agree with”. Right. The problem of the previous answer is that it makes you look unflexible and a difficult person. For example, you can tell about a situation in which you did not like the policy but learned more about it, so that you could understand its aims better. You might still disagree with the policy, but at least you would understand what it made for, and that is why you coped with the situation. See also - How to become a technical writer 6. Tell a story about how you have dealt with criticism in the past. Wrong. “I am not paying attention to such things”, “Probably it took place, but it was long ago, so I do not remember the details”, “I prefer everyone working on own field, and not telling the other people what to do”. Right. Aim of a question is to indicate your ability to learn and accept the mistakes. Remind the case and underline that you are open for feedback, appreciate it, and use it for growth. 7. What is your greatest professional achievement? Wrong. “Well, my good work is the greatest achievement; I received no complaints”. Right. The employer wants to hear the exact numbers, so whatever achievement you name, it should be measurable. Inventory your working processes, think about measurable results you can display. Here are some ideas: - The project required X days of working, I have finished it in Y days, so timeliness improved by Z%. - Worked as a part of the Document Management Team that reduced documentation and simplified the user interface that resulted in $X saved. - Authored two 500+ page software user guides in X weeks; it is still in use. 8. Why should we hire you? Wrong. “I am smart, qualified, and I want this job”, “You are doing great things; taking part in it will help me to grow as a professional”, “I have dreamed about this job since I have finished school; I will do my best to make you proud of hiring me”. Right. Focus on real benefits you can bring to a company. And do not sound desperate; if you make it seem like hiring you is a big favor, the interviewer is likely to prefer someone who performs it as a benefit to the company. Instead of it show the company why both of you would fit well together. For example, “I know you are working at A, for a great aim of B. I am very keen on B. I have experience with it, so this is how I can enforce your team”, “Based on the interview, I can say that you are looking for a person with qualifications X and Y. I have already implemented it at my previous job, and it resulted in Z. I will bring that experience to your company”. 9. What would you do if you only had two weeks to complete three weeks of work? What would you do if it turned out you didn’t have enough time to complete the project? Wrong. “I will try to catch up to the deadline, and show what I managed to do by the end of the term”. Right. This question is about how you handle priorities and work under pressure. Tell that you would review the tasks priorities with your manager and see if it is possible to delay or distribute some of them. If you are ok with overtimes, you can also mention it. 10. Are you OK with working 40+ hours a week? There is no wrong or right answer. If you are not ready for overtime, then it is better to underline this at the beginning. Do not answer positively only for getting a job. Instead of Сonclusion The optimal length for an answer is 30 sec-2 min. The hiring process in big companies takes up to 5+ weeks, about a week in small teams. The multistage interview can include phone interview (about 30-60 min length), video interview, full day face to face interview with 4-5 persons. Qualification test. Prepare for basic programming technical questions, interpreting part of a code, language skills test. Also, get ready for common technical writing questions like what is the lifecycle of a document. Writing task. You can be asked to write a short article, edit the writing sample, or fill the technical report. Collect 3-5 the most successful writing samples: developer guides, API reference docs, “getting started” guides. Be prepared to speak on each sample, for example, how much time did you spend for the project. Prepare to answer questions about the resume. It’s better to be able to know 100% about one project than to know 50% about two different projects. Some vacancies require coding skills, so besides a writing test, you can receive also coding one. Think of the situations where you have succeeded, failed, and been challenged in some way. Prepare your questions about the company. Put correct email, please Are you a technical writer? Grow your efficiency with monthly tips and how-tos. © 2019 Doxter Join us! We're sharing fun and tips for work hello@doxter.io, +375 17 200-03-40 Doxter is created with support from XB Software	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1086
__label__cc	0.711177	0.288823	Doctorate Degrees Criminal Justice Administration Law Enforcement & Police Studies Criminal Justice Programs in Oklahoma We Found 89 Oklahoma Criminal Justice Programs in our Online Database. Oklahoma has a lot of small towns but a large portion of their population resides within two major cities: Oklahoma City (nearly 600k people) and Tulsa (391k people). If there aren’t any options in the current town you live in, it is likely you will have to relocate or find a nearby location that does offer a criminal justice degree (or find an online program that works for Oklahoma state requirements). + Jump to List of Criminal Justice Schools The University of Oklahoma is one of the recognizable names in the state and they offer a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. The degree itself is a 120 hour program that can be completed entirely online which makes it easy if you don hat live geographically close to Norman. These courses offered at Oklahoma are all accelerated which means they are all 8 weeks long. Some students elect to take 4 courses per semester but if others are aggressive with 6 courses (18 credit hours) a semester. Before you decide what you can handle, we recommend doing some research and reaching out to a school adviser to determine what would be the right number of hours for you. Gaining a criminal justice degree in Oklahoma is not just limited to the city of Norman though and you should consider the education landscape of the rest of the state. We have provided a few education census statistics for you here: 2014 Population Estimate: 3.878m Persons under the age of 18: 24.6 percent Persons over the age of 25 with a high school degree: 86.4 percent Persons over the age of 25 with a bachelor degree: 23.5 percent The national average of persons over the age of 25 with a bachelor degree is 28.8 percent but that isn hat specific to criminal justice. Make sure you do the research to determine what level (if any) needs to be attained to later achieve your desired job in the criminal justice industry. Criminology Degree Information in Oklahoma So you got the 50,000 foot view of the state by looking at their overall population statistics along with some education stats around that same populace. It is very important to understand what the potential classes and curriculum you will have to take in order to determine that this is the degree for you. We pulled a few notes based directly on the University of Oklahoma has Criminal Justice Degree Planning Worksheet to give some of the actual courses you might be dealing with: A lot of what might be considered core classes (i.e. English Composition, Math, U.S. History) Theories of Criminal Behavior Statistics in Criminal Justice Drugs in Society Study in Depth Prospectus Intro to Forensic Science Those are some of the required courses for this particular schools ha program but you will want to do your own research on what the required courses will look like when selecting a school. It will also be important to remember that a lot of criminal justice degrees require several elective courses so make sure to select the right courses for you. Oklahoma Criminal Justice Organizations It is always important for us to give you statistical breakdowns and direct degree itineraries but sometimes it is best to just speak with somebody in the field you hope to be in someday. They can give you an idea of what they had to do from an education standpoint and some of the finer details of the job. You might learn something very important and in the least, make a new connection. So we created a list of different criminal justice organizations in Oklahoma for you so you can reach out and contact them to try and find out more: Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police Oklahoma Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association Oklahoma Department of Corrections CSG Justice Center Reach out to these organizations and see if anybody can provide you more details about your expected criminal justice education path. Each state can offer unique requirements and sometimes these professionals that have gone through the degree you’re considering might point out important details that you hadn’t thought of or researched. Oklahoma Criminal Justice Careers Before understanding the specifics around Oklahoma has criminal justice career options, you need to fully understand the landscape surrounding the state. Oklahoma actually has reached over 28k inmates in their correctional facilities which brings them to being the second highest incarceration rate in the United States. According to that same source, Oklahoma also has become the leader in incarceration rates for women (by quite a substantial margin too). Why do we use that example in relation to criminal justice careers? If Oklahoma is seeing a higher incarceration rate and rising prison populations and you hare entertaining a career, it might be good to look at the future job opening projections for Correctional Officers. This is a micro of a macro but you can get an idea of what the current state of criminal justice looks like in Oklahoma. With the incarceration rates and rising chatter around criminal justice reform in the state, you will want to exercise due diligence to determine what career makes the most economic sense both in the immediate and distant future. While a big concern should be around current economic and political environment relating to criminal justice, you should also look at the policies being entertained or potentially implemented. One example is how Tulsa was recently provided a grant for their police to receive body-worn cameras. If you are interested in becoming a police officer in the state of Oklahoma but could potentially have an issue with having to wear a camera, you should try and research policies like these specific to the criminal justice career you hare entertaining. Oklahoma Criminal Justice Agency Breakdown As discussions and political conversations heat up around criminal justice, it has important to know about all of the different departments and agencies that reside within Oklahoma. So in order to give you a full picture of Oklahoma, we have that breakdown. You should also understand the large Native American population in the state because that comes into play with the number of tribal agencies. Here has the breakdown sourced from the Oklahoma criminal justice Wikipedia page: 21 state agencies 76+ county sheriffs 240+ municipal agencies 27 college and university agencies 24 tribal agencies If you notice that from the list, there aren hat any federal agencies listed but that doesn hat mean there isn hat a federal force present in some form or another in Oklahoma. Make sure you understand how each agency is funded and the current growth expected in each one over the next 5-10 years before making a career decision. Criminal Justice Career Outlook in Oklahoma While it is important to know the current climate around criminal justice and the complete lay of the land with agency distribution throughout the state, it is also important to know the economic picture. We utilize ONET for that exact thing to provide you with a career outlook utilizing police and sheriff patrol officer as the example job profile. According to ONET, Oklahoma sees a median salary at $42,300 which is lower than the national average of $56,800. While there is some disparity between those two, it is important to note that you should take into effect the cost of living and other various geographic specific elements before making a determination on that median pay. According to those same statistics, Oklahoma is expected to see a 16 percent increase in projected job openings by 2020. The United States is projected at a 6 percent median growth between all states so Oklahoma is expected to see a much higher growth rate than many other states. So while the median pay is below the national average, the growth could potentially create an environment with opportunity for career advancement. This is only a snapshot of what we have determined to be a pretty encompassing career (police officer) but if you hare going into something more specialized, we recommend doing some research about that particular job growth. List of Criminal Justice Schools in Oklahoma List of Criminal Justice Programs in Oklahoma Programs That May Be Currently Accepting Applicants laptop http://online.sju.edu/ Online Master of Science in Criminal Justice MSCHE Accredited contact_mail Click for All Criminal Justice Programs See below for the list of all of the Criminal Justice in Oklahoma. Find the best program for you online or in Oklahoma. laptop http://www.bacone.edu/academics/schools-and-divisions/arts-and-sciences/ Muskogee OK A.S. in Criminal Justice Online A.S. in Criminal Justice Studies B.A. in Criminal Justice Studies Online B.S. in Criminal Justice Studies B.S. in Criminal Justice Studies Online Brown Mackie College-Tulsa laptop http://www.brownmackie.edu/tulsa/legal-studies-programs-825.aspx A.A.S. in Criminal Justice Criminal Justice Specialist Diploma laptop http://www.cameron.edu/cj_sociology DeVry University-Oklahoma laptop http://www.devry.edu/degree-programs/college-liberal-arts-sciences/justice-administration-degree-about.jsp B.S. in Justice Administration - Corrections B.S. in Justice Administration - Corrections Online B.S. in Justice Administration - Digital Forensics B.S. in Justice Administration - Digital Forensics Online B.S. in Justice Administration - Emergency Management B.S. in Justice Administration - Emergency Management Online B.S. in Justice Administration - Policing B.S. in Justice Administration - Policing Online Bachelors of Technical Management - Criminal Justice Francis Tuttle Technology Center laptop http://www.francistuttle.edu/classOfferings/careerTraining/pathway.aspx?PFID=58 Criminal Justice Certificate Metro Technology Center laptop http://www.metrotech.edu/majors/Law_Public_Safety.html Detention Officer Certificate Law Enforcement Training Certificate Mid-America Christian University laptop http://cags.macu.edu/index.php/degree-programs/undergraduate-degrees-majors B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration and Ethics B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration and Ethics Online B.S. in Criminal Justice Corrections and Ethics B.S. in Criminal Justice Corrections and Ethics Online Mid-America Technology Center laptop http://www.matech.edu/full-time-programs/law-public-safety-corrections-security/ Wayne OK Criminal Justice Officer Murray State College laptop http://www.mscok.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=125&Itemid=114 Tishomingo OK National American University-Tulsa laptop http://www.national.edu/locations/programs/tulsa A.A.S. in Criminal Justice Online B.S. in Criminal Justice Online Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College laptop http://dnn.neo.edu/Academics/SocialSciences/CriminalJustice.aspx Miami OK A.A. in Criminal Justice laptop http://academics.nsuok.edu/criminaljustice/CriminalJustice.aspx Tahlequah OK B.S. in Criminal Justice - Homeland Security B.S. in Criminal Justice - Legal Studies laptop http://www.north-ok.edu/social-science-division1 Tonkawa OK A.A. in Criminal Justice Administration laptop http://www.nwosu.edu/social-sciences Alva OK B.S. in Criminal Justice - Corrections B.S. in Criminal Justice - Law Enforcement laptop http://www.opsu.edu/Academics/LiberalArts/Behavioral_Social_Science/ Goodwell OK A.A.S. in Criminal Justice Technology A.A.S. in Criminal Justice Technology - Collegiate Officer laptop www.healthsciences.okstate.edu/forensic/ M.S. in Forensic Sciences M.S. in Forensic Sciences Online laptop http://www.redlandscc.edu/index.php?q=node/662 El Reno OK A.A.S. in Criminal Justice - Corrections A.A.S. in Criminal Justice - Homeland Security A.A.S. in Criminal Justice - Juvenile Justice Rogers State University laptop http://www.rsu.edu/academics/psych-soc-crimjus/index.asp A.A. Criminal Justice Studies - Collegiate Officer A.A. Criminal Justice Studies - Law/Justice B.S. Justice Administration Rose State College laptop http://www.rose.edu/criminaljustice Midwest City OK laptop http://homepages.se.edu/criminal-justice/ Durant OK B.A. in Criminal Justice laptop http://www.swosu.edu/sayre/academics/crimjus/crimjustice.asp Sayre OK Tulsa Community College laptop http://www.tulsacc.edu/programs-and-courses/catalog-2012-2013-general-information/degree-certificate-programs-2012-2013#c Tulsa Technology Center-Peoria Campus laptop http://tulsatech.edu/Classes/Careers/Pages/Law.aspx Criminal Justice Forensics & Security Certificate Criminal Justice Practical Law Enforcement Certificate laptop http://www.uco.edu/la/criminal-justice/index.asp B.A. in Criminal Justice - Police M.A. in Crime and Intelligence Analysis M.A. in Criminal Justice Management and Administration University of Phoenix-Oklahoma City Campus laptop http://www.phoenix.edu/colleges_divisions/criminal-justice.html A.A. in Criminal Justice Online B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration - Cybercrimes Online B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration - Human Services Online B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration - Institutional Health Care Online B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration - Management B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration - Management Online B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration - Security Online B.S. in Organizational Security and Management Online M.S. in Administration of Justice and Security - Global and Homeland Security Online M.S. in Administration of Justice and Security - Law Enforcement Online M.S. in Administration of Justice and Security Online University of Phoenix-Tulsa Campus Vatterott College-Oklahoma City laptop http://www.vatterott.edu/legal.asp Warr Acres OK Associates of Occupational Studies in Criminal Justice Vatterott College-Tulsa Western Oklahoma State College laptop http://www.wosc.edu/index.php?page=criminal-justice Altus OK A.A.S. in Criminal Justice - Collegiate Officer Still Looking for a Criminal Justice Program? Below are some of the top criminal justice degree writeups. You can review the program page, or schools by state to find detailed information about the degree or career. Criminal Justice Schools by State Criminal Justice Programs Criminal Justice Career Guide for 2018 and Beyond DC Schools DCJ \| Articles \| Expert Interviews \| Program Directory \| Job & Career Resources \| Contact \| Methodology \| Privacy Policy Copyright © 2013-2019 DiscoverCriminalJustice.com. All rights reserved.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1089
__label__wiki	0.750071	0.750071	Cognex expands into mobile terminals with phone-based system The machine vision market-leader and barcode reader specialist, Cognex, has expanded into a new product area – rugged mobile terminals – which, it says, offer a “revolutionary” way of performing tasks such as inventory management, logistics and field service. Cognex says that users of mobile terminals currently have to rely on expensive, inflexible, purpose-built systems. It claims that its new MX-1000 terminal combines the ease-of-use, low cost and flexibility of Apple and Android smartphones with a rugged hand-held assembly that holds both the phone and a special barcode reader that outperforms competitors’ laser-based and camera-based systems. Cognex expects this “unique” combination to make it a major player in the $500m segment of the mobile terminal market that it is targeting. The company’s president and CEO, Robert Willett, predicts that the development will disrupt the market. “Customers no longer need to choose between ruggedness and flexibility,” he says. “With the Cognex MX-1000, they’ll get the best of both together with industry-leading DataMan technology for reading barcodes reliably, even under the most difficult conditions.” Cognex developed the new terminal following discussions with mobile terminal users who are also buy its machine vision and barcode reader products. It reports that they are unhappy with their current terminals, which they describe as proprietary, expensive, closed systems that are both difficult to build applications on and costly to maintain. The new terminals can read both 1-D and 2-D barcodes, but also incorporate a complete vision engine that can do much more. “I envision that, in the near future, customers will ask us to add other valuable vision-based capabilities – such as optical character recognition (OCR), package dimensioning and inspection,” predicts Cognex’s founder and chairman, Dr Robert Shillman. Cognex's handheld terminal combines a smartphone with a machine vision engine The development of the new terminal comes at a time of transition in the mobile terminal market as suppliers are phasing out terminals based on Microsoft’s Windows CE and Windows Mobile 6.x operating systems. Early versions of the new MX-1000 terminal are already being field-tested by a several Fortune 500 companies, and Cognex is now starting to take orders for them. Automation suppliers adopt new models for digitalisation Scara robots are ‘first’ with EtherCat and condition monitoring Jones leads drive to boost CT and Leroy-Somer in the UK 'First' four-layer cable can replace up to five e-chain cables Electronic monitor for 24V circuits ‘ushers in a new era’	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1096
__label__cc	0.562152	0.437848	Home » Illustrations » Piece Title: Dún Aengus Title of artwork: Dún Aengus Petrie, George Paper (fiber material), Ink Wood engraving, Hand-drawn Engraver: Swain, Joseph Stokes, Margaret Title of Publication: Early Christian architecture in Ireland George Bell and Son Curator Comment: Margaret Stokes’ Early Christian architecture in Ireland, (1878) contributed significantly to Irish visual cultural studies in 19th-century Ireland. Richly illustrated with engraved topographical views, ancient archaeological sites and details of architectural construction and decoration, the volume was a reflection of a burgeoning Irish cultural awareness which demanded informed, accessible textual and illustrated sources. Note on artwork: This image is a wood engraving after a watercolour by George Petrie (1790-1866) of Dún Aonghasa (Aengus), Inishmore, Aran Islands, c.1827. The majestic power of the swelling Atlantic sea, and the jagged permanence of the ancient site, is underscored by the presence of diminutive, vulnerable figures on the cliff edge. The engraving is particularly fine and convincingly re-creates the textural sensations of rock and water, set in a bright, sunlit landscape. ONDB online, DIB online, Grove Art online, Strickland. Neither of the first two is accurate in all details. P. Murray, George Petrie (1790-1866): the rediscovery of Ireland's past, Kinsale, 2004. We welcome feedback. If you have any further information or notice a mistake on this site, contact us	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1099
__label__cc	0.731015	0.268985	P: +27 (31) 322 6026 E: frontdesk@greencorridors.africa Purpose Projects Play A Role home-slider-mangroves.jpg home-slider-sangoma.jpg home-slider-hills.jpg home-slider-bike.jpg https://durbangreencorridor.co.za/images/home-slider-mangroves.jpg https://durbangreencorridor.co.za/images/home-slider-sangoma.jpg https://durbangreencorridor.co.za/images/home-slider-hills.jpg https://durbangreencorridor.co.za/images/home-slider-bike.jpg Journey with our community guides to some of Durban’s most loved and best-kept destinations. Take in the rugged terrain and rich traditions of our rural landscape; feel the beat of our diverse urban fabric and be captivated by the unparalleled natural beauty of our rare ecosystems. The rugged terrain and rich traditions of our rural landscape; the beat of our diverse urban fabric and the unparalleled natural beauty of our rare ecosystems have been packaged into tourism experiences that serve as incubators for social and environmental initiatives. The Green Corridor Model looks to co-creation as a way to balance the needs of the environment with community prosperity and resilience.Teaching; restoring; growing; sustaining; programming; connecting; recycling and protecting are our tools for delivery. Green Corridors is a social-purpose and impact-focused organisation that aims to see communities thrive in balance with the habitats around them. Green Corridors co-creates open spaces in key local destinations that balance environmental ‘musts’ with the challenges and opportunities of the communities that live, work and thrive within them. From these spaces and our purpose-projects and tourism experiences have been activated adding the critical layer of socio-economic sustainability to our ecosystem. By employing a layered partnership structure, we look to ensure the sustained involvement of multiple stakeholders in any given area. This ensures a resilient structure that can survive the cyclical nature of commercial sponsorships and campaigns. Ha Alien Weeds Cleared Kg's Plastic Removed SMME's Supported Youth Enrolled Codemore Castle Yes, believe it or not, Durban has it's own Castle, Codemore Castle, tucked away in the heart of the Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve, surrounded by giant Yellowwood trees, this gracious old stone homestead. It was built by Dering Stainbank in 1885 as a family home and is situated just South of Durban city. Coedmore Castle has remained in the family for 4 generations, and contains many of the original household contents including furniture from the 19th century, old family portraits and antique silverware. Although donated to the state by Kenneth Stainbank, the family currently manages it. It is now open to the public for guided tours, school outings and hire of the grounds for small weddings, functions and photography. The castle is set in the gorgeous Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve which has a range of mountain bike trails, hiking trails, excellent birding and regular guided walks. This is one of those Durban secret spots you want to visit! In order to tour the castle, bookings are essential. Click here for contact details 90 Coedmore Avenue, Yellowwood Park, Durban (Click this link for a map) Emalangeni Hill Durban folks often see photos here and there of (or hear rumors of) spots where you can see snow on the Drakensberg (in winter) and at the same time see the ocean and harbor …..this would be quite a site and yes, such a place really does exists. Emalangeni Hill, near Durban Green Corridor's Isithumba Adventure Centre is surprisingly easy to access, in fact it's even accessible by sedan car and probably less than a 30 minute drive from Botha's hill. The area includes some of the most dramatic scenery you will find in the Valley Of A 1000 Hills. The drive to the top of the hill takes you past some incredible rural settings, several taverns that will welcome you in like an old friend, deep gorges and views of the cascading rapids along the uMngeni River and some excellent bird watching along the way. On the drive up you also get spectacular views of Nagle Dam, Inanda Dam and the Duzi - uMngeni confluence. For those with more adventurous spirit, there is also a hair raising 4x4 track down one side of this hill which takes you back down to the Mfula Store area (Contact Jacques Malan for information on these 4x4 tracks) - bottom line, if you have not been up here, then you really have not seen what the Valley of a 1000 hills is really all about. The area is best accessed via iSithumba Adventures where it is recommended that you pick up a guide (even though the roads are good, they are not well signposted, we hope to get signage to this site soon) or get onto one of Durban Green Corridor's 4x4 excursions and discover this and more incredible scenery yourself. Inanda Mountain. The best views in Durban. About a 30 minute drive from Duran central is Inanda Mountain, an epic spot with cliffs plummeting down to the shores of Inanda Dam. The views are simply staggering, arguably the best outlook anywhere in Durban. The top of Inanda Mountain is also an amazing bird watching site, especially in late morning when birds of prey catch the thermals off the cliff face and glide up right in front of you. This is the sort of place you can just sit and look and look and look. How to get there. Head up the M25 (Curnick Ndlovu Highway) for about 12 km’s, at the big traffic circle in Inanda turn right. Take your first major tar road to the left after 600m, signposted uMzinyathi Falls. Follow this road for a few kilometers till you see a tar road to the left signposted “Hillcrest” after about 1km, turn right at the signpost for “Matata” Head up this steep (tar) mountain pass for several kilometers. At the T-Junction, turn right onto a dirt road and follow this for about 1km through the grassland to the cliff edge. Be careful….the road literally ends at the edge of the cliff face. Mzinyathi Falls The magnificent Mzinyathi Falls are less than a 20 minute drive from Gateway, yes, that’s right, so close yet hardly anyone even knows these falls exist. The Mzinyathi river plunges down a beautiful sandstone amphitheater, over 100m into the Mzinyathi gorge, towering cliffs, thick forests, all makes for an incredible day out. This is also a very popular rock climbing spot and after heavy rains, the falls are a truly impressive sight. Guided hiking trails down into the gorge can also be arranged through the Durban Green Corridor. Head up the M25 (Curnick Ndlovu Highway) for about 12 km’s, at the big traffic circle in Inanda turn right. Take your first major tar road to the left after 600m, signposted Mzinyathi Falls. Proceed for almost 2km, cross the bridge over the small river turn left onto the Mr259 Rd. Not far down this tar road is a signposted turn to your left onto a dirt road to the falls (about 2km’s of reasonably bumpy dirt road but easily accessible with a sedan) Rastafarian Caves The Mzinyathi Gorge is also home to the “Rastafarian Caves” – these caves are home to a community of Rastafarians, many of which have normal jobs and commute back to the caves for worship on weekends. The caves can only be accessed using a tricky hidden path and have well constructed little stone rooms within the cave made using natural rock from the area. Visiting the caves is strictly by prior arrangement and with a guide but well worth making the effort to learn more about this fascinating culture and site. Contact Durban Green Corridor to arrange a guided experience to these caves. The Rastafarian Caves are located in the same area as Mzinyathi Falls Mfula Store Deep in the Valley of a 1000 hills, about a 30 minute drive from Hillcrest is the most beautiful little spot you’ll ever find, Mfula Store. This old trading store still operates and has great overnight accommodation facilities in a deep, lush forested valley, you may as well be 10 000 km’s away. Just down the road from Mfula Store where the uMngeni and Mqeku rivers meet is one of the most scenic and tranquil picnic spots in KwaZulu-Natal. Managed and maintained by local community members, this site is great for a day out to relax and enjoy the river. The picnic site also has an amazing set of rock formations that form a natural water slide in the river. The store is also conveniently situated close to iSithumba Adventure Centre where you can hire mountain bikes or enjoy an extraordinary cultural experience in this quiet community. Head out of Hillcrest on Old Main road towards Botha's Hill. Then turn right into the Valley Trust Rd/M56. Follow this for about 10km turn left at the circle at the end of the road. Continue on this road (which becomes dirt) for 7km and cross the bridge, Mfula Store is directly ahead. Beachwood Mangroves Right at the uMngeni Mouth, near the Durban Green Corridor GreenHub are the Beachwood Mangroves. This 76-hectare reserve, not 5 minutes from the city centre is a National Monument and consists of rare mangrove swamp forest and important estuarine habitat at the mouth of the Umgeni River. There is a beautiful boardwalk into the mangrove forest from which one can view crabs and other mangrove critters going about their day and generally offers an amazing escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. Guided walks and canoeing can be arranged through the Durban Green Corridor GreenHub The Green Hub is conveniently located just off the M4 (R102). Coming from the M4 South-bound, please take the Blue Lagoon off-ramp. Then take a right and carry on under the M4-bridge and take the first right into Stiebel Place and you find the Green Hub in front of you. Coming from the M4 North-bound, please take the Blue Lagoon off-ramp, take a left and directly turn right into Stiebel Place and you find the Green Hub in front of you. Coming from the Moses Mabhida Stadium, carry on straight until you get to an Engen garage. Take a right at the garage into Athlone Drive and turn left into Stiebel place, just behind the garage. Follow the road until you see the Green Hub in front of you. Mnini Dam This gorgeous, tranquil little dam is is located just 15 kilometers south of Amanzimtoti, KZN and just inland from uMgababa and Umkomaas. The dam boasts large mouth bass, tilapia and an abundance of bird life. A network trails around the dam allow for endless exploring. There is even a small resort which boasts a Bar and Grill with variety of wine and beer for a great chill after a long day. You can hire an electric boat, hike, go fishing or just (as we prefer) take in the absolute tranquility of this beautiful spot. Take the N2 South from Durban and take the uMgababa / Mnini / R102 Exit and turn right. Follow this road for a couple of KM's and at the T-Junction turn left into the R197. Proceed for 2-3Km's and the signpost for Mnini will be on your right GO!Durban Launches New SIGNATURE Mountain Bike Race Browse Our Range Of GO!Durban100 MTB Race Packages Go!Durban riders excel in KZN Gravity MTB Round 1 Crossing Borders and Breaking Barriers: Red Bull Pump Track World Championships, Roma, Lesotho Vacancies & Adverts Responsible Tourism Members eThekwini Municipality` Durbanites Against Plastic Pollution Copyright Green Corridors NPC © 2019	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1100
__label__wiki	0.690267	0.690267	Facebook and its changing metrics By Patricio Robles July 20th 2012 20:41 Brand marketers may ‘like’ Facebook, but the world’s largest social network has created numerous challenges. ROI is often hard to find; Facebook says it can take a year to produce. And despite the promise, certain kinds of initiatives may simply not work. Now that it’s a publicly-traded company, Facebook is under even greater pressure to live up to its valuation, which currently reflects the fact that investors believe the social network has significant room to grow. To deliver the necessary growth, it has to find ways to convince marketers that it’s a productive marketing platform. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that may not be easy, and it may create big headaches. Case in point: Dan Wilkerson, a social media project manager at analytics consulting firm LunaMetrics raised some interesting questions about recent changes Facebook made to how it calculates its reach metric. Wilkerson explains that “As of July 3nd, Facebook’s reach metric will include both mobile views and will now only count a ‘reach’ if a user scrolls down and loads a Page’s story.” The problem, as he sees it, is not the change itself, but what it implies about the accuracy and utility of the reach metric prior to July 3: …it was always implied that each ‘reach’ point was a fan that had been exposed to your story at least once, just like the advertising parallel. However, according to the update, they apparently were counting reach as users who may or may not have seen your story, and were outright ignoring mobile exposures….This was a jaw-dropper for me. Over 500 million members of their user base access the service via mobile device, well over half their accounts. You mean to tell me that this entire time those views were unaccounted for in the reach figure? Wilkerson makes the point that “without reliable metrics, we can’t make informed and strategic decisions” and given the nature of the changes Facebook has made, he believes historical reach data is essentially useless. With Facebook change may be the only constant Is he right? I’m sure there’s room for debate. But one thing is clear: marketers are going to need to accept that change is the only constant with the world’s largest social network. Need evidence of that? Beyond reach, there are other metrics-related changes Facebook has rolled out. In an AdAge piece, Dave Williams, CEO of Blinq Media, provides details: With conversion tracking and analytics, advertisers can now specify a single action or multiple actions to be measured for any ad group, and can optimize to these metrics. For ads and sponsored stories pointing to internal Facebook pages, marketers can now track page Likes, page post Likes, comments, @ mentions, check-ins, photo tags, and page post shares (including shares of special offers from brands). Marketers can also track ‘claimed your offer,’ ‘answered your question,’ ‘clicked on the Page post link,’ ‘viewed the page post photo,’ ‘viewed the Page post video,’ and ‘viewed a tab on your Page.’ For ads and sponsored stories pointing to Facebook applications, this list includes installs, users, and the number of times Facebook credits were spent in the app. When it comes to Facebook’s events feature, they can track “yes” and “maybe” RSVPs. Marketers will be able to look at these metrics in 1-day view-through and 1-, 7-, and 28-day click-through attribution windows. Williams largely seems to believe these changes are a step in the right direction, but acknowledges that they “are catching some advertisers and agencies off-guard.” That, in the end, may hint at the biggest problem here: Facebook is running the measurement show and marketers are largely along for the ride. So long as marketers focus much of their investments on driving activity on Facebook (such as using Facebook ads to drive users to their Facebook Pages), they will largely be dependent on Facebook and its data to determine if those investments are paying off. That data, as Wilkerson suggests, may not always be accurate, and even if it is, it’s worth keeping in mind that Facebook has every incentive to position activity on its social network in a positive light. From this perspective, marketers should remember: Facebook can up the amount of measurement data it provides and create all sorts of new metrics for marketers to digest, but at the end of the day, when it comes to analytics, prolificacy of data and metrics should never be assumed to correlate with the productivity and profitability of a marketing campaign. Blog Content marketing Conversion Rate Optimisation Facebook pages Facebook likes Marketing Automation measurement Multichannel Marketing reach ROI Strategy Facebook storefronts don’t work, according to Nokia and Heinz Many brands have tried to nail it, but replicating e-commerce sites on Facebook doesn’t work. At least according to Nokia and Heinz. At Facebook Marketing 2012 speakers from both brands said that while Facebook can be used as a platform for offering fans exclusive or limited edition products, it is a mistake to simply repliate existing storefronts. We Are Social marketing director Tom Ollerton highlighted two Heinz case studies where the FMCG brand had used Facebook as a platform to sell new products to its fans. Heinz wanted to sell just over 1m bottles of its limited edition Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup, so We Are Social recommended that an intial run of 3,000 bottles be sold exlusively through Facebook to build excitement around the launch. Instead of being liked, try being more interesting It’s often a challenge for financial services companies to find new and more effective strategies for social media. One major reason is that all too often, social media strategies are based on making brands more “likeable” and using social media to get more likes on Facebook or more followers on twitter. But there’s a different more effective approach: instead of being more likeable, how about being more interesting? How should Shell respond to its ‘social media oil spill’? When disaster strikes, brands can quickly find themselves in the social media crosshairs. Just ask BP, which found itself under attack when a horrible oil spill caused a PR nightmare the likes of which only a crisis PR firm could enjoy. But with consumers and activist groups becoming more sophisticated in their use of social media, brands are increasingly discovering that a social media crisis can strike at any time — for good reason, or no reason at all. Blog Programmatic	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1105
__label__wiki	0.845886	0.845886	Tuan Hoang, 25 Agencies: Aurora Police Department Colorado A man fatally shot by Aurora police early Monday morning had viciously attacked an officer who stopped to help him in a snowstorm, police said. The officer suffered a deep gash to the head from a sharp instrument in an unprovoked attack by the man, who then stole the officer’s patrol car and fled, said Lt. Scott Torpen at a news conference Monday afternoon. Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz described the attack as “attempted murder.” The incident unfolded about 3:45 a.m., when the officer saw a stalled or stranded vehicle near Interstate 225 and East Alameda Avenue, Metz said. The officer pulled up in his patrol car and approached the vehicle, which had two occupants, to do a good Samaritan check when he was attacked, Metz said. The assailant then drove away in the officer’s patrol car, leaving his passenger behind. The officer fired shots at the car and used his shoulder radio and microphone to inform other officers of the situation. Minutes later, two police officers spotted and pursued the stolen patrol car, which had its lights flashing. The chase hit speeds of 65 mph on icy and snowpacked streets. At the intersection of East Alameda Parkway and East Kentucky Avenue, one of the pursuing officers bumped his vehicle into the patrol car, spinning it to a stop. The man got out of the patrol car, holding something in his right hand, Torpen said at the news conference. He did not say what the object was. The two officers commanded the man to raise his hands and drop the object, Torpen said. The man did not comply, and the officers opened fire. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Community and Family Efforts http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Tuan-Hoang&lc=4958&pid=176732218&mid=6697620 added May 31, 2016 http://olinger-hampden-mort-cem.tributes.com/dignitymemorial/obituary/Tuan-Q.-Hoang-103057350 added May 31, 2016 https://www.facebook.com/KilledByPolice/posts/1148515395176596 added May 31, 2016 http://www.denverpost.com/2015/11/29/aurora-police-fatally-shoot-man-who-attacked-officer-stole-patrol-car/ added May 31, 2016	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1118
__label__cc	0.559465	0.440535	Pagan Spirituality » The Matter of Mysteries Author Topic: The Matter of Mysteries (Read 6460 times) Last Active: Yesterday at 11:55:05 pm Religion: An American Werewolf in the Akhet; Kemetic; Feri; Imaginary Baltic Heathen; Discordian; CoX; Etc. Preferred Pronouns: any of he, she, they This is one of those subjects that comes up a lot and is hard to talk about because Mysteries are hard to talk about and a lot of people are unclear on what they are, why they're important, and so on. From a religious witchcraft standpoint, most formalised Craft traditions have Mysteries, and this is the core of the practice; generally speaking, what training is done in the tradition prior to initiatory work is intended to prepare people to receive those Mysteries without damage, establish a basic language for those Mysteries, or otherwise lay groundwork. When there are multiple degree systems in those traditions, the additional degrees seem to come with additional Mysteries. From a reconstructionist standpoint, Mysteries are controversial. THere is evidence for their practice in many ancient cultures, often as distinct sects on the edges of mainstream religious practice. However, because Mysteries were either secret (oathbound) or difficult to discuss, the tangible evidence for how they were conducted is pretty thin on the ground and the procedures for bringing people to the Mystery have been largely lost. We have hints, but not full stuff, and when we have full stuff (way way back on Delphi there was a thread Loreley started about a major ritual that might have been a full description of how to go about a Mystery initiation) we don't necessarily know if we have all the components. (If something required a full town's participation we're not too likely to recover that.) Anyway. So: What are Mysteries? Mysteries in this context are experiential spiritual events, the sorts of things which cannot be fully explained in advance but only truly understood when on the far side of them. (One cannot actually give meaningful consent to a Mystery, because of their unknowability; however, one can know what sorts of things Mysteries do and agree that the risks are worth the potential payout.) I think the modern pagan structuring of entire religions around Mysteries is slightly aberrant in history, and actually explains why broader stuff like neo-Wicca was completely sociologically predictable. Most historical Mystery paths I'm aware of were side things, there for people who had particular needs or particular callings, possibly highly respected within their community of origin (and possibly not) but, basically, not universals. Mystery dedicants were drawn from a larger pool of people who shared aspects of mindset and symbol usage but not necessarily a draw to go that deep in that direction, or a willingness to make the investments or sacrifices required to take that road. Because the historical Mysteries are lost, there are a lot of recon-leaning people who are disinclined to acknowledge or respect Mystery work in reconstructionist circles. It can't be just-as-the-ancients-did-it, because the ancients' knowledge regarding such things is basically lost to history, therefore it is Not Recon. (I've long been of the opinion that if the gods want Mystery schools in the modern day They will lead people to do the work to found them, and until and unless that happens I do not worry about it.) But here's an essential thing about Mysteries: they are pretty much optional. The general population of people doesn't have any need of them; people get on just fine without them. As a general state of being, the Mysteries are not actually important knowledge. At the same time, a given Mystery can be absolutely essential to the peace of mind, personal path, goals, or development of a specific person. They may have issues that a particular Mystery school can resolve or work with; they may have calling to a particular mystical apprehension of a god that a Mystery school can present; they may otherwise have resonance with the Work presented around a particular Mystery. This dichotomy makes Mysteries additionally hard to talk about these things. Because the Mystery is both unimportant and essential, depending on which angle one looks at it from, it's hard to define a clear path explaining its value. I fear that culturally we are too accustomed to universalist religion to readily understand that some threads of spiritual practice or discipline may only be valuable to those people who specifically need them. Craft circles have in my experience navigated around these questions somewhat erratically. There are people who get angrily labelled meanie poo-poo heads for maintaining the appropriate shrouds around their Mysteries, because "knowledge wants to be free", you know. (If the knowledge has not leapt into your head yet, clearly it doesn't want to be as free as all that.) I've seen a lot of discussions of Mysteries and derivative subjects that have basically orbited around accessibility - about the obligation in some people's minds for those who can present the Mysteries to do so to anyone who wants to know. (Oh, the Feri threads on the last board, sigh.) And in response a lot of people have come down on "This is hard, you won't do it unless you need it, and if you need it you will do what you have to do to get it." Which is only true as far as it goes, because it is trying to justify the fact that Mysteries are not universals in hostile terms (often in response to "outsider" hostility). It does nothing to explain why people pursue these things, which means that it often gets a response of "Well, if it's so hard and unrewarding, why are you doing it?" Which often gets a baffled response from the practitioner, who has never claimed that it was unrewarding. Only that those rewards are contingent on being the sort of person the Mystery is for. You see? It's hard. It's not for everyone, but for the people it's for it's vital. And "vital" is the right word, because it roots in words for "life". as the water grinds the stone we rise and fall as our ashes turn to dust we shine like stars - Covenant, "Bullet" Last Active: November 10, 2018, 06:51:27 pm Preferred Pronouns: she/her Re: The Matter of Mysteries Quote from: Darkhawk;28535 It's hard. It's not for everyone, but for the people it's for it's vital. And "vital" is the right word, because it roots in words for "life". As clear and knowledgable as ever, Kiya. Thank you for this. Fight evil: read books. Blogging at: An Seanchas Finn Jenett Last Active: Today at 08:00:17 am Religion: Initiatory religious witchcraft This is awesome. (All of it, not just the bit I quoted). I am reminded of trying to explain this to someone in person, and I think what I finally settled on was "Not everyone wants to be a librarian when they grow up. Or a teacher. Or an astronaut. They want to go be other things. So the stuff that makes me want to go devote my life to being a librarian, probably isn't the thing that you want to devote your life to to be a teacher, and probably isn't [example person's] thing they want to do either. And that's not only okay, that's a really healthy thing for everyone involved." Seek Knowledge, Find Wisdom: Research help on esoteric and eclectic topics (consulting and other services) Seeking: first steps on a Pagan path (advice for seekers and people new to Paganism) Juniperberry Grand Master Member Last Active: March 03, 2016, 03:30:02 am AFAIK, Mystery cults were specific to the Greco-Roman culture, as a extracurricular secret ...club?society?... outside of the state/home worship. So they wouldn't be present in other systems. Other reconstructed religions also aren't Revealed religions but Natural religions, so calling a deeply moving experience a "Mystery" in modern context would be dishonest. Hlewegastir and I were very slightly speaking about this in a thread recently (and it's a topic in other places). It doesn't have to be just as the ancients did it, but interpretations have to follow the same sort of POV as those who originally practiced them (ie. revealed vs natural). That's why heathenry isn't a Mystery religion...it doesn't operate on the revelations of a God to mankind but rather on experiencing the gods through the process of living. There are spiritually significant moments in recon's lives that are personal and don't have any source evidence, but recons just don't talk about it with everyone-- and it isn't secret revealed knowledge or wisdom (Mystery). It's just part and parcel of having a relationship with deity/ancestor/wight. Just wanted to throw that out there. The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. [...] The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most.--Elon Musk I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence," [Bill] Gates wrote. "First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don\'t understand why some people are not concerned." Last Active: July 02, 2019, 10:42:35 pm Great topic, Darhawk. And a great essay to get us started. Thanks! Quote from: Juniperberry;28558 I don't think this is necessarily true. There might well have been Mystery cults (or paths or groups or whatever) in many ancient cultures but evidence of them either didn't survive through the ages or hasn't been found (and/or properly interpreted) yet. I think it's well within the realm of the possible that the ancient Celts, just to name one example, could well have had something that could be called a Mystery cult. It's quite probable that the Druids kept certain Mysteries that have now been lost. That aside (and the rest of this post is not directly related to JuniperBerry's comments), what I struggle most with, as a primarily solitary practitioner working closely with an online spiritual partner, is simply recognizing what a Mystery is. I mean, I've had some pretty incredible experiences related to Brighid. But were they Mysteries? I think so, but I really have no way to judge that objectively. Someone else might have the same experience and be totally blown away, while another someone else might just shrug and ask what the big deal is. How do we define "Mystery"? Can a solitary practitioner really experience a true Mystery at home in her bedroom? Or does it require a progressive experience guided by people who have gone through the same thing? Is "Mystery" the same for all of us? Or is my "Mystery" your "mundane"? ~ Aster "The status is not quo." ~ Dr. Horrible Quote from: Aster Breo;28660 There's a distinction to be found here between the Mystery and an organised group focused around a specific Mystery. I tend to think that people stumble across Mysteries all the damn time, but that's not always organised, focused, or shared. But people are social, too, and sometimes they codify these things and make them self-perpetuating. Last Active: September 18, 2013, 06:44:05 pm thanks for that post! considering I've been recently working with,exploring and getting o know hekate,I keep coming up against these mystery religion comments without much explanation as to what I'm missing,by not going there. but I figure that if it really mattered,I would feel more compelled to do group work,and currently I'm quite happy flying solo as it were. so I just won't fret it any more. Ize bel zafen. Ize bel daleen. I will also note - just to complicate things - I think there are Mysteries related to close, intimate magical group work, in their own right. (Just like there are Mysteries about being in a romantic or sexual relationship). But I admit to being a "The world is full of Mystery, each person gets some choice (and some chance) in which ones they pursue." sort of person. Quote from: Jenett;28678 nod And that is probably my answer to Aster's question: I don't think "my Mystery is your mundane" -- it's rather "my Mystery isn't your Mystery to pursue." Quote from: Finn;28681 I am suddenly reminded of my basic explanation of non-proselytisation, which is basically "If you want a relationship with my husband, you better ask him yourself, I'm not going to set you up. Same goes for gods." Same goes for Mysteries, too, though the social dynamics of that can be notably different. But I think that's a big chunk of the core thing that throws a lot of people who are interested in Mystery-oriented groups - the whole "Whatever, man, it's not my job to set you up on a date" thing. yewberry Last Active: April 01, 2015, 07:33:35 am How do we define "we"? I don't have tons to add, but I'm loving the discussion on both sides of the issue (especially given that I feel I've experienced Mystery from both sides). Well, I'm not sure that we can make the assumption that because one culture practices mystery cults then others must have. That being said, I did come across a theory awhile ago ( from a reputable source) that the Valkyrie and the Alfar were cults and not 'super'natural. I never read it, tho, so that's all I can tell you. There was also a cult of warriors in Germany that practiced sodomy as an initiation ritual. This reminds me of the Mystery Cult of Mirthas- another military cult. We don't have any info on what the latter cult practiced, though, and the cults of Germany were most likely about vocation and not about keeping sacred knowledge hidden/ secret. What we do know of the Mystery Cults is that they were adopted by Christianity and that the Christian Mysteries involve sacred knowledge given through divine revelation. Knowledge that cannot be comprehended naturally by humans. God is outside the Universe and Reality as its Creator, he performs miracles outside the laws of nature. We cannot comprehend it on our own because we aren't with God- the true nature of god and reality is mysterious, secret, incomprehensible. I would guess that Christian Mysticism influenced occult groups (Key of Solomon- Tetragrammaton [sp?] and these in turn influenced Gardner. From a modern witchcraft perspective it makes sense to need Mysteries to gain 'unnatural' knowledge with which to manipulate reality, IMO, but it doesn't necessarily fall in line with traditional religious perspective. Which goes back to divine revelation. Speaking strictly as a heathen recon, the gods weren't outside of reality-- they were reality. Any 'mystery' would only be a deeper, natural comprehension of the gods and the natural world. Which takes the mystery out of mystery a bit. It also wouldn't be secret wisdom, just wisdom. Whereas Mysteries reveal the true nature of gods and reality (revealed religions), natural religions see the world as being the true nature of the gods, life as being the true nature of reality. That's the big difference and why some recon paths aren't Mystery Religions. Mystery in the context that's being used here seems to be more about a powerful spiritual experience, though, and not about the Mysteries revealed about incomprehensible deity and reality. ? Any 'mystery' would only be a deeper, natural comprehension of the gods and the natural world. Which takes the mystery out of mystery a bit. Why on earth would you think something like that? I mean, given that that's exactly what Mysteries are, saying that that means that they aren't Mysteries is ... kind of weird. Well, I'm not sure that we can make the assumption that because one culture practices mystery cults then others must have. Why would we make the assumption that because one culture practiced mystery cults, others did not? It sort of sounds to me like we're using different definitions of "Mystery." Maybe it would hep if we could work out a definition for the purposes of this conversation. I would use the one I always use for specifically religious contexts: an experientially apprehended spiritual experience. A Very Personal Matter Started by bee « 1 2 » Prayer and Energy Requests by MadZealot 'Higgsogenesis' proposed to explain dark matter Started by Dragonoake Science and Technology by RandallS Possible evidence for dark matter particle presented at UCLA physics symposium Men's Mysteries/Male Rites (All Pantheons) Started by njsquarebear Books and Other Resources by Allaya Started by Lumpino Books and Other Resources by Lumpino	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1119
__label__wiki	0.624354	0.624354	Domestic Energy Performance Certificates by environmental impact rating The following dataset shows the number of dwellings in Leeds broken down by Environmental Impact rating per quarter. The environmental impact rating is a measure of a home’s impact on the environment in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The higher the rating the less impact it has on the environment. This rating is based on the performance of the building and its fixed services (such as heating and lighting). The certificate also lists the potential rating of the building if all the cost-effective measures were installed. An EPC for a dwelling will show both the current emissions and potential emissions impact of a property in terms of its energy rating. The energy rating chart is divided into seven bands ranging from A-G, with A being the most energy efficient and G being the least efficient. Each chart has a current and a potential energy rating out of a maximum of 100 points (being maximum efficiency). The statistics also include partial figures for Q3 2014. These have been included for reference purposes; however users should treat these as strictly provisional. The Q3 2014 figures will change in subsequent quarterly publications as the EPB Registers are updated with new EPCs and DECs. The original source for this data can be found on the DCLG Open Data Portal - http://opendatacommunities.org/data/building-standards-and-sustainability/energy-efficiency-and-performance/domestic/certifcates-lodged-by-number/by-envi-imp-rating DCLGEnvironmental Impact RatingHouseholdsenvironmentdwelling Request Access to Domestic Energy Performance Certificates by environmental impact rating Government politics and public administration	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1123
__label__cc	0.626327	0.373673	Driving the Ruta Puuc Rachel, Tim, and I woke up and walked down to the Oriente (2nd Class) bus station with the intention of purchasing a Ruta Puuc bus pass that Rachel learned about online. This was supposed to be a great way to see the legendary Ruta Puuc in the Yucatecan hill country south of Merida. This region features half a dozen Mayan sites dotted along a lush and winding country road, and the bus was supposed to drop into each site for a half hour (except at majestic Uxmal, where it lingered for two full hours). It sounded like a full day of ruin hopping on the cheap. Of course, when we got down to the station, we found out that this particular bus only ran 3 days a week, and this wasn’t one of them. Renting a car was remarkably painless, requiring only my USA driver’s license and a Visa card (American Express not accepted). The so-called “international driver’s license” we purchased at the AAA in Seattle was superfluous, but we knew that at the time we bought them (these documents are mere multi-language translations of our USA licenses and don’t carry any legal weight, per se). We spent $750 pesos on a Nissan Sentra with zero-deductible insurance. We could have saved $200 pesos to skimp on insurance, but I wasn’t feeling lucky. Even though nothing insurance-worthy ended up happening, I’m still feeling like it was a good investment, considering the gauntlet we ran through. It didn’t take too long for me to get into the driving groove for the Yucatan. My first lesson: yellow light means “gun it”. I’m so used to Seattle sissy driving where yellow was as good as red. When I tried to brake for a yellow light at an intersection, the truck behind me nearly rear-ended us, having squealed and swerved out of the way and presumably glared (though I couldn’t bring myself to look over). From that point on, I knew that I had to up my game and drive more aggressively. The “zero-deductible” was a nice confidence booster. Naturally, we ended up taking the wrong way. I suppose it could have been avoided with a standard paper map. But no, we thought we were smarter than that. Highway 261 went straight to Uxmal, but our plan was to do the Ruta Puuc in reverse, starting at the Loltun caves and ending at Uxmal. Using Tim’s phone’s data plan (for Google Maps) and a basic regional map out of the back of a free local tourist magazine, we figured that as long as we kept heading due south and were mindful of the sequence of villages, we’d get where we were going in short order. We did get where we were going, but the order was anything but short. It turned out that the fastest route to Loltun was indeed Highway 261, which bypasses all villages down to the Ruta Puuc. If you are planning on hitting the Ruta Puuc out of Merida, do yourself a favor and stay on 261 instead of Highway 180, even though it may seem like a straightforward north-south route. We kept seeing signs for Uxmal (which would have led to Highway 261), but these would alternately appear on the right and left sides of the road. According to our logic, we needed to keep going straight on 180 towards the towns en route to Loltun. What we weren’t counting on was that 180 snaked through each village individually. And I mean seriously snaked. Detours and construction, poor or non-existent signage, and profligate tangles of one-way streets turned each of the towns into navigation crises. Rachel and Tim worked in tandem to puzzle out each village turn by turn, with Tim glued to his phone and Rachel scanning for any useful signage or immanent hazard. I had my hands full just keeping from killing anyone. I was contending with every imaginable obstacle simultaneously. Potholes, parked cars, and traffic cops cluttered the landscape, but the moving bodies were what made this ride especially hectic. Apart from swarming pedestrians, there was a constant chaos of two, three, and four wheeled vehicles competing for road space and apparently ignoring whatever sort of traffic laws that may exist in Mexico. Bicycles, pedicabs, pushcart gelado vendors, scooters, motorcycles, cars and trucks of all kinds and conditions (though there was a heavy showing of VW classic beetles and decrepit Ford pickups), and of course buses, dozens upon dozens of buses. And supposedly this doesn’t hold a candle to traffic in India. Something to look forward to, I guess. The payoff? We got to see a lot of real Yucatan, the urban in-your-face bustle of modern Mayans, their unvarnished storefronts, ancient churches and cemeteries (bright with the trappings of Hanal Pixan, the Yucatecan Day of the Dead), wild turkeys and stray dogs. We eventually arrived at Loltun, a bit dazed but grateful for our glimpse at the tableau of everyday life down here in the jungle towns. Posted by plattprogram in Mexico ← Our Home Base in Merida Uxmal Bowls Us Over → One thought on “Driving the Ruta Puuc” Jonee says: What a harrowing drive, glad you arrived safe and sound. Sounds like the automobiles part of Planes, Trains and Automobiles!	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1129
__label__cc	0.735979	0.264021	1Abbont, S. P. 1Currah, R. S. 1Lumley, T. C. 1Biodiversity 1Decomposition 1Fungi 1Poplar 1Spruce 1Wood decay Currah, R. S. Lumley, T. C. Fungi Article (Published) Biological Sciences, Department of/Journal Articles (Biological Sciences) Microscopic ascomycetes isolated from rotting wood in the boreal forest Abbont, S. P., Lumley, T. C., Currah, R. S. Abstract: During a survey of microfungi from rotting wood in northern Alberta forests, 49 species of ascomycetes, representing 24 genera, and 15 families in seven orders, were recovered. Twenty-eight species are new reports for Alberta, 15 of which are new for Canada, and seven are new for North...	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1131
__label__wiki	0.991507	0.991507	Listen to Elton John's new single, 'Looking Up' By Jeff Nelson November 17, 2015 at 06:28 PM EST Rick Kern/WireImage This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.COM. No sad songs here: Elton John’s new single is three minutes and 20 seconds of sunny pop. The star released “Looking Up” Tuesday, along with a music video for the thumping, rock-tinged track. The clip’s colorful, splatter-paint theme – complete with impressionist doodles of the musician’s trademark looks, like his iconic eyewear – matches the tune’s upbeat vibe. “Looking Up” is the first track off John’s forthcoming 33rd LP, Wonderful Crazy Night, due Feb. 5 (and available for preorder now). John, 68, reteamed with his longtime writing partner, Bernie Taupin, for the upcoming album. “I like darker subject matter, but I think that this time Elton felt there was enough pain and suffering in the world without me contributing to it, so he wanted to do something that exuded positive energy,” Taupin recently told Rolling Stone. And Taupin says the album is self-referential. “We haven’t really investigated since the loud, brash pop-rock we were doing in the mid-1970s,” he said. “I think it was natural to return to the poppier sound of our mid-1970s work.” Watch Rocketman star Taron Egerton sing a duet with the real Elton John Fact-checking Rocketman: Elton John's real life versus movie fiction Rock it, man: Elton John's fashion evolution Listen to Taylor Swift's new single 'You Need to Calm Down' See 50 years of iconic performances (and wild outfits) from Rocketman inspiration Elton John American Idol Top 5 to perform songs of Elton John to celebrate Rocketman release Stranger Things season 3 soundtrack makes the perfect '80s playlist: Listen to the best songs Listen to the essential Stranger Things playlist ahead of season 3 Elton meets Freddie: Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek celebrates Rocketman premiere Cannes reviews mostly lukewarm on Elton John 'bio-musical fantasy' Rocketman Hear BTS and Charli XCX's new single 'Dream Glow,' from mobile game BTS World Elton John and Rocketman filmmakers condemn Russia censorship of movie's LGBTQ-related scenes Listen to the winning songs from NBC's Songland 7 great Elton John songs that aren't in Rocketman See Taron Egerton perform 'Crocodile Rock' in this exclusive Rocketman clip Elton John says 'some studios wanted to tone down the sex and drugs' in Rocketman Watch the music video for Elton John and Taron Egerton duet '(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again' Taron Egerton reveals the one Elton John song he wishes were in Rocketman Watch Taron Egerton and Elton John perform a surprise duet of 'Your Song' Ben Folds, Bruce Hornsby, and more piano players on how Elton John influenced them	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1143
__label__wiki	0.596729	0.596729	Critics on the Right Take Aim at Pope Francis By Martin Marty (The Martin Marty Center: Sightings) Pope Francis enjoys universal acclaim. Almost. While the pontiff is building bridges to Communists in Cuba, nuns who had been under suspicion, Muslims, Jews, Protestants and even people outside the faith, two dissenting groups stand out: Catholics on the left, in whose eyes he is not moving fast enough with respect to church laws, policies and theology to effect the changes which they regard as urgent, and Catholics on the right, who are displeased by almost everything this pope says and does. So predictable are his critics on the right that we seldom engage in sighting them or commenting on them in “Sightings.” But never to notice them does a disservice to those who would like a full accounting of the Pope-in-public, the Pontiff-in-the media and so on. So, to remind ourselves that the rightists are out there, let’s just for once focus on a sample, in order to transmit a bit of the flavor and tone of what they have to say. Out of many choices, let’s notice, as representative, Cliff Kincaid. He directs the Accuracy in Media’s AIM Center for Investigative Journalism. The Southern Poverty Law Center people list a few score of his victims, a.k.a. subjects. Kincaid’s recent blog was headlined “The Catholic Church Has Gone Socialist.” He writes that it is dawning “on many in and out of the media that Pope Francis has come down on the side of the ‘progressive,’ and even Marxist, forces in the world today.” He quotes his spiritual kin, Stephen Herreid, on this “new Catholic scandal” which is “as significant and terrifying as the presence of pedophiles in the church.” The pope – this is Kincaid again – “has made common cause with the forces of international Marxism, which are associated with atheism, the suppression of traditional Christianity and the persecution and murder of Christians,” so “[c]onservative Catholics and many other are terrified of what is to come.” Kincaid also quotes Timothy Ball, author of “The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science,” who argued in an interview that “the Catholic Church is regretting making him the pope” after “the powerful Cardinals pushed” Pope Benedict “aside.” From this “Right” angle, Pope Francis is seen as too friendly to “Liberation Theology” heroes; he “even” greeted Gustavo Gutierrez as an official guest of the Vatican. Kincaid cites with favor the late Malachi Martin, discredited everywhere but on the Catholic far right, who had written critically that “the most powerful religious orders of the Roman Church … all committed themselves to Liberation Theology.” Also in the figurative gun sights on the right are Francis-favored advocates of “sustainable development.” “The pope’s left-wing supporters at the Catholic Climate Covenant are ecstatic over [the pope’s] upcoming encyclical on ecology and climate change.” Let the Southern Poverty Law people take over from here in reporting. They remembered Kincaid applauding a proposed law in Uganda, which would impose the death penalty on large numbers of gay men. They also remembered Kincaid referencing a book by James Wanliss who argues that the environmental movement “is a religion with a vision of sin and repentance, heaven and hell, its communion is organic food. Its sacraments are sex, abortion and, when all else fails, sterilization … Both professing Protestants and Roman Catholics bear a burden of guilt for the current political mess we are in with the global warming and other hysterias.” Get ready for more of these attacks from the edges of the crowd when the pope visits the United States or issues his encyclical. And listen for the sounds of hysterias. Martin E. Marty is the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. A version of this article first appeared on Sightings, a publication of the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and is used with permission. You can follow Sightings on Twitter @DivSightings. Martin Marty Pope Francis Sightings Pope Francis Calls Out Violence in the Name of Religion Pope: 4 Verbs Guide Christian Response to Migrants, Refugees 2 Reasons Those Name-And-Blame Arguments Don’t Work By Michael Ruffin	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1145
__label__cc	0.679202	0.320798	You are here: FNF > About Us > History > The First Article > Uncategorised > Unicef - UK one of the least family-friendly countries Unicef Ranks UK as one of the Least Family-friendly Countries The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) declared the UK as one of the least family-friendly countries in the developed world (OECD nations). Their key findings were released last week. Support for maternity leave is poor and for paternity at just £148.68 a week for two weeks is shameful. Their announcement states 'Paid paternity leave helps fathers bond with their babies, contributes to healthy infant and child development, lowers maternal depression and increases gender equality' and their report calls for 'national policies ensuring paid paternity leave and encouraging fathers to use it.'. The UK Government introduced a scheme for Shared Parental Leave, however, this policy has been widely accepted as being a failure with estimates of 1% to 8% take-up (most estimates being around 2%). The issue for most families is lack of afordability. Crucially, unlike our scheme, countries where such policies do work provide paternity leave on a non-tranferable and funded basis. They not only enjoy high take-up rates but more joint care of children whether the parents live together or apart. Last year our Government rejected a proposal by the Women and Equalities Select Committee, with an eye on narrowing the gender pay-gap, to give fathers a month of funded paternity leave, with a number of inadequate excuses. It is not surprising that the countries with the most family-friendly policies were Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Estonia along with, perhaps more surprisingly, Portugal. Neither is it particularly surprising that those with most generous paternity policies have the lowest gender pay-gaps. Various media cover this story and The Independent reports that the UK ranks 28th out of 31 countries, only marginally better than cash-strapped Greece. We have requested a copy of the full report from Unicef.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1151
__label__cc	0.573576	0.426424	Please wait while the page is loading... This website works best with Javascript enabled. Turn on your javascript and reload the page. Seller's Hub Log-in to track your leads, check units, and stay updated Service Desk On-line Log-in to access your account Filinvest Land, Inc. Full-range property developer Filinvest Development Corp. Holding company of the Filinvest group Filinvest Land’s 2018 year-on-year revenue up 10% to P22.21B MANILA, Philippines–Filinvest Land, Inc. (FLI), the publicly listed property arm of Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC), registered a 10-percent increase in revenues (year-on-year), with gross revenues of P22.21 billion in 2018. Driven by rental revenue growth of 27 percent (year-on-year), which reached P5.61 billion, FLI’s recurring income contributed to 46 percent of FLI’s net income in 2018. FLI’s net income hit P6.08 billion in 2018, an increase of 4 percent from P5.83 billion in 2017. “Our outlook on the property sector remains positive, with our 37 percent year-on-year growth in reservation sales in 2018. We continue to focus on the more stable end-user market in the residential sector. We allocate significant resources toward growing our recurring rental income business, which is on track to meet our target of contributing 50 precent of FLI’s net income. Our strategic CBD land bank in Metro Manila, Cebu and Clark provide the platform for FLI’s strategic goal of doubling its leasable area by 2023,” FLI CEO and President Josephine Gotianun Yap said. As of December 31, 2018, FLI operated 31 office and retail developments totaling 712,000 square meters of Gross Leasable Area (GLA). The company has a pipeline of 21 recurring income developments with 500,000 square meters of additional GLA currently under construction. The FLI believes it is on track to attain its 1.6-million square meter-GLA target by 2023. Its office developments can be found mainly in Northgate Cyberzone-Filinvest City in Muntinlupa, other Metro Manila locations, Cebu City and Filinvest Mimosa+ Leisure City in Clark, Pampanga. The company owns 20 percent of Filinvest City (244 hectares), the premier CBD in southern Metro Manila with FDC owning the remaining 80 percent. FLI has also positioned itself to be at the forefront of the development of the Clark Special Economic Zone through two major township developments: Filinvest Gaia New Clark City (288 hectares), a mixed-use township with a major industrial and logistic zone and Filinvest Mimosa+ Leisure City (201 hectares), a leisure township development with residential, office, and mall in partnership with FDC. FLI is one of the country’s largest integrated real estate developers and BPO office providers. FLI continues to address the needs of the affordable and middle-income markets thru its Futura brand and newly launched Aspire brand, respectively. FLI launched P16 billion worth of residential developments in 2018, and expects to launch P30 billion of additional projects in 2019. FLI is the developer of large-scale townships across the Philippines which include: Havila (306 hectares), Timberland Heights (677 hectares) and Manna East (60 hectares) in Rizal, Ciudad de Calamba (350 hectares), City di Mare in Cebu (50 hectares) and Palm Estates in Talisay City (51 hectares). In aggregate, FLI has built almost 200 residential developments across the country. Source: Inquirer.net Filinvest Copyright © 2019 Filinvest Web Design by: Halcyon Web Design Filinvest.com uses cookies to ensure that you get the best user experience. By continuing to browse our site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. For further info, please read our Privacy Policy.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1154
__label__cc	0.634159	0.365841	Edited Transcript of XON earnings conference call or presentation 28-Feb-19 10:30pm GMT Thomson Reuters StreetEvents• March 5, 2019 Q4 2018 Intrexon Corp Earnings Call Glen Allen Mar 5, 2019 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Intrexon Corp earnings conference call or presentation Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 10:30:00pm GMT TEXT version of Transcript Corporate Participants * Joel D. Liffmann Intrexon Corporation - SVP of Finance * Nir Nimrodi Intrexon Corporation - Chief Business Officer * Randal J. Kirk Intrexon Corporation - Chairman & CEO * Robert F. Walsh Intrexon Corporation - SVP of Energy & Fine Chemicals Platforms * Steven Harasym Intrexon Corporation - VP of IR * Thomas P. Bostick Intrexon Corporation - COO Conference Call Participants * Derik De Bruin BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division - MD of Equity Research * Jason Nicholas Butler JMP Securities LLC, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst * Tejas Rajeev Savant JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst Operator [1] Good afternoon, and welcome to the Intrexon Corporation Fourth Quarter 2018 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Steve Harasym, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Steven Harasym, Intrexon Corporation - VP of IR [2] Welcome to Intrexon's Fourth Quarter 2018 Investor Call. I'm Steve Harasym, Vice President of Investor Relations. I'm joined by Joel Liffmann, Senior Vice President of Finance; Bob Walsh, Senior Vice President of Energy and Fine Chemicals; Nir Nimrodi, Intrexon's Chief Business Officer; Tom Bostick, Intrexon's Chief Operating Officer; and R.J. Kirk, our CEO, will join us for Q&A at the end. During this conference call, we will make various forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that our forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those indicated by our forward-looking statements. Please read the safe harbor statement contained in the earnings press release as well as Intrexon's most recent SEC filings for a more complete description. This afternoon's press release and our discussions may reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA per share. We use these financial measures as a more accurate estimate of our ongoing financial position. Reconciliations to GAAP measures are contained in earnings press release as well as on the Investors section of our website. On today's call, our business leaders will provide an overview of our core businesses, highlighting progress made over the last quarter that we believe positions the firm to drive long-term shareholder value. We will conclude with a Q&A session. First, I would like to turn the call over to Joel Liffmann to provide a financial update. Joel D. Liffmann, Intrexon Corporation - SVP of Finance [3] Good afternoon. We're changing up our presentation order today and starting off with a financial review in order to provide some context to where we have come from, where we are most intensely focused and where we are heading. On this call last year, we discussed our transition away from the exclusive channel collaboration business model and our plan to internally develop and invest in our most promising opportunities. This transition is now substantially complete, and our immediate investments and activities are concentrated in these key areas: one, energy, where our methane bioconversion platform is advancing to commercial scale; two, Precigen, our wholly owned subsidiary developing gene and cellular therapies in immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases; three, ActoBio Therapeutics, our 100% owned subsidiary developing micro-based pharmaceutical agents; and four, in the agriculture and food sector, where we -- which encompasses a number of programs including Okanagan non-browning Arctic apples; AquaBounty; AquAdvantage Salmon; Trans Ova Genetics, a leading provider of reproductive technologies to cattle breeders; EnviroFlight; the Botticelli platform and others. The common theme to all of these programs is that in our view, there are valuable now and can be partnered or directly funded by strategic or financial investors. This is an important distinction at this time, and it is clear to us that our stock price does not reflect what the management team believes is appropriate. And we are actively evaluating financial alternatives for several of these key assets. I'd like to call your attention to the following selective financial information from our 2018 financial statements and the relative implications. First, in the fourth quarter, in connection with separate transactions we completed with Ziopharm and Merck KGaA, we recorded noncash charges of $220 million, reflecting the elimination from our balance sheet of our investment in Ziopharm preferred stock, in the issuance of approximately 20.6 million shares [contract] on stock to Merck KGaA. Importantly, these transactions have clearly established Precigen's right and opportunities to independently develop important new gene and cellular therapies, the first 2 of which are entering the clinic under newly approved INDs. Second, also in the fourth quarter, we undertook a customary review of all goodwill and intangibles on our financial statements. And we incurred a noncash impairment charge of $60.5 million to write down certain intangibles related to Oxitec in connection with the previously announced evolution of the Oxitec commercialization strategy. So what does this mean from a business point of view? Well, as we discussed on prior earnings calls, we have determined that our 5034 mosquito technology can be a more effective and lower-cost suppression system than the prior generation 513A program. 5034 is being developed for both consumer and government markets. Recall that the previous generation product was being sold exclusively into government markets and did not generate the cash flows that we had earlier anticipated. The impairment charge addresses how we originally valued these technologies when we purchased Oxitec back in 2015. The noncash charge does not reflect our belief that 5034 will be an important solution to the ongoing spread of disease by the Aedes aegypti mosquito across a widening geography, nor does it reflect the considerable new consumer market that we expect to develop. Third, our financial statements include a going concern qualifier that reflects our analysis that funding on hand is not adequate for operations beyond 12 months. Management is, of course, pursuing several options to address the going concern issue, including, as I mentioned earlier, potentially partnering and financing at the individual program or business unit level. And fourth, as for actual 2018 financial results, we reported fourth quarter and full year revenues of $43.2 million and $160.6 million, respectively. Fourth quarter and full year adjusted EBITDA, losses of $27.2 million and $102.5 million, respectively. As previously noted, our shift away from the ECC model and the termination of a number of ECCs has reduced our reported revenues, and at the same time, we have increased our focus in spending on the more mature and valuable programs that we own. The resulting year-over-year decrease in revenues and increase in EBITDA losses is in line with our plan, and we remain highly focused on funding these opportunities through partnering and commercial success. ECC revenues will further decline in 2019 as a result of the terminations which took place in 2018, such as Ziopharm and the associated reduction of current year billings in recognition of deferred revenues. During 2018, we raised $275 million of capital through secondary stock and convertible debenture offerings. We ended the year with approximately $220 million of consolidated cash and securities on our balance sheet. And wrapping up the financial section of the call, let me again emphasize that our entire management team is focused on executing and financing the programs and developments that my colleagues will now discuss. I'll now turn the call over to Bob Walsh for an update on our energy and fine chemical programs. Robert F. Walsh, Intrexon Corporation - SVP of Energy & Fine Chemicals Platforms [4] Thank you, Joel. Intrexon's methane bioconversion program, that turn [low cost local gas] into higher value [fuel than chemicals] using a type of bacteria called [methanotrophs], continues to make progress on a number of fronts. We entered 2018 with a 50% increase in 2,3-BDO type over the start of 2018. This improvement puts us at 80% of our target goal for the first (inaudible), an output level that, while an adequate basis (inaudible) to justify commencement of the construction activity, we expect to further improve and profitably (inaudible). For clarity, [tighter] is the amount of material in the [perimeter]. After a [basic] amount of time, it is a key metric to profitable (inaudible). Our isobutanol program also made significant improvements in 2018, having overcome several technical hurdles. Such technical improvements are consistent with the program falling behind the 2, 3-BDO program. On previous calls, we discussed our expectation (inaudible) and begin final design by the end of 2018. We enter 2019 still working towards that target as the related partnering and financing discussions have taken longer than expected. So where do we stand today? First, we plan to construct plant #1 in a partner location that has abundant natural gas inflows, infrastructure and access to ground transportation for our finished product.. Second, our expected product economics remains in health. Previously, we have noted that we project our 2,3-BDO process would have a $1,000 per ton [growth mark] at today's price of over [one $1,400] per ton of (inaudible). This gross margin would be an outstanding in the chemical business, and our projected process OpEx is more than competitive for the existing technologies, as shown in this slide, by over $750 per ton. We are engaged with at least 2 potential partners to operate and participate in the funding of our first plant and potentially [others]. Third, we've advanced the engineering and design work from our pilot plant, and the data from this plant was used for a level 2 engineering package for 2 designated [sites]. We are currently bidding out level 3 detailed engineering design package [for] several contracts. This package will also produce bids for construction. Site selection has to be finalized before we complete this (inaudible). I should also point out we are prioritizing 2,3-BDO [for this] facility over the other molecules in our development pipeline. For example, isobutanol is being resourced at a level to begin detailed engineering for a large scale facility after the first 2,3-BDO facility offering. Remember, this is a platform, and the fermentation [sweep] are the same for all molecules, so the next molecules can go to large scale rapidly. Finally, we're continuing to make progress on the enzyme engineering we previously mentioned, in line with our report. Let me turn to fine [chemicals]. Our proprietary cannabinoid program needs to make progress toward our sub-$1,000 per kilo target for the first half. While many companies talked about [starting to grow], we are at 20% of our final (inaudible) target to reach this price point. Again, this is a platform with the potential to make many different targets, including ones found only in (inaudible). We are under discussions as how to maximize the value in this new pharmaceutical field. I would now like to turn the call over to Steve Harasym. Thank you, Bob, and next slide, please. I would now like to review the traditional healthcare biotech assets Intrexon is advancing. Next slide. By reacquiring almost all cell and gene therapy rights in late 2018, Precigen fully transitioned from the ECC model to an autonomous in-house model with focus on oncology, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases. We now have the opportunity to create value by advancing drugs in the clinic. R&D work is being done at Precigen facility in Germantown, Maryland. In addition, Precigen expects manufacturing to begin later this year at a new modular facility, also in Germantown, that is being constructed to bridge GMP material for Precigen's early phase trial. The projected cost of the new facility is less than the cost of outsourcing 1 or 2 targets with [TROs]. And therefore, we believe it will save money as well as time. We reported significant progress as 2 INDs have been cleared to proceed using our UltraCAR-T platform. In December, PRGN-3006 cleared to initiate a Phase I, Ib study for an investigational drug for patients with AML and higher-risk MDS. This clearance paved the way for first-in-kind investigational therapeutic candidate that uses Precigen UltraCAR-T platform and which can be administered within 2 days following non-viral gene transfer. And earlier this month, PRGN-3005 cleared to initiate a Phase I study for an investigational drug for patients with advanced-stage platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. We hope to begin dosing both of these trials at the start of quarter 2. Next slide. Our success gives us greater conviction that Precigen's UltraCAR-T platform has the potential to disrupt the current CAR-T treatment landscape. Some of its potential advantages include increased patient access through shortening manufacturing time, decreasing manufacturing-related costs and improving outcomes using advanced approaches for precise tumor targeting in control of the immune system. We look forward to sustaining the momentum and will provide you with updates on further advances in our precision gene therapy programs. Intrexon has a number of human health initiatives outside of Precigen. One of these I would like to highlight is our wholly owned subsidiary, Xogenex. Xogenex is focused on treatments for heart failure. We continue to move forward evaluating INXN-4001, the world's first investigational triple gene drug candidate to target heart failure, the leading cause of death in humans. Despite current state-of-the-art treatments, it appears that consistent survival advantage and relief is still unacceptably poor in patients with chronic heart failure. Heart failure is not a single gene defect to these but rather multimodal in its cause, with multiple points in its progression. We aim to address the limitations of current treatments with our investigational non-viral plasmid-based therapeutic candidate, which is designed to drive expression of the 3 cardiac effector genes involved in heart failure. Xogenex has completed an evaluation of 3 advanced heart failure patients who were administered INXN-4001 as part of a Phase I clinical trial. This Phase I trial, which is performed in patients maintained on left ventricular assist devices, is exploring the safety of administering our investigational triple effector drug via a minimally invasive retrograde coronary sinus infusion. This is the drug delivery rig for this trial. The data reflects the patients' data 6 months after being given the dose and appears to indicate that the drug material and delivery process were both well tolerated by the patient. Our preliminary review of the data suggests improvements in several cardiac performance parameters. We focused on one clinical site to assess the early safety and feasibility. Xogenex is now recruiting additional clinical trial sites to expand the program. With that, I would like to now turn the call over to Nir Nimrodi. Nir Nimrodi, Intrexon Corporation - Chief Business Officer [6] Thank you, Steve. Turning to the next slide, you can see that ActoBio Therapeutics continues to progress its therapeutic program. Particular, our partner, Oragenics, continues to enroll patients in the Phase IIb clinical trials for AG013 for the treatment of oral mucositis, one of the most common adverse events associated with chemotherapy. Oragenics is targeting 160 patients in the U.S. and Europe and is expecting to conclude the study by the end of 2019. Meanwhile, our potential disease modification therapy for type I diabetes is advancing well. ActoBio dosed the first patient at Yale in late October in the AG019 Phase II study and is enrolling patients according to plan. Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease affecting over 1 million children and adults in the U.S., with no treatment available for the underlying condition. Finally, in AG017, an immune-tolerant approach for the treatment of celiac disease, we continue to target an IND in Q2 2019. Next slide. Turning to the Okanagan specialty fruit business. More than 2,100 bins of Arctic apples were picked in our 2018 harvest. These apples are available at select retailers in the form of delicious fresh-sliced apples and ApBitz dehydrated apple snacks. ApBitz are also available on Amazon. Some of this activity to the apples continues to be favorable, and the focus of this season is to validate further demand and to confirm our expectations for prospective product performance. We showed in the past we expect to scale this business rapidly, and our plan is forecasting 5x more apples in this year's harvest and 25x more apples in 2021 when compared with 2018. Next slide. Turning to the next slide, in our cattle business, Trans Ova Genetics is the preeminent leader in bovine genetics in North America, supporting elite breeding in both dairy and beef industries. Trans Ova's $80 million-plus business used to focus mainly on the provision of advanced reproductive services to the farmers. Our (inaudible) in the past few years was to invest in supporting the business to gradually transform to a product-based business, selling embryos. Product-based business is expected to scale faster domestically and internationally and will provide greater value to its customer. 2019 and beyond, Trans Ova will continue to expand and improve its herd genetics and to further the sale of embryos. More than 575 heifers were added in the last year, including 2 Jersey heifers ranked #2 and #9 in the world. Our herd also includes 15 of the world 37 top Holstein bulls based on the industry-accepted dairy production index. Next slide. Our Exemplar genetics enterprise continues to experience growth. As we previously reported, in addition to selling our predictive mini swine-based model, Exemplar is also focused on expanding its business beyond disease model into a generated medicine. The fourth quarter, Exemplar and Mayo Clinic launched Cytotheryx, a joint venture which is focused on the development of human liver cells for advanced medical research. We see a significant need for these type of cells for both research and therapeutic purposes for life-threatening diseases. Immediate addressable market for research purpose only is estimated at over $250 million annually. The use of these cells for therapeutic purposes significantly eclipses this potential, and we are not aware of any other product with similar advantages that is being developed. Next slide. Turning to the next slide, EnviroFlight continues to establish itself as the market leader in the production and commercialization of black soldier fly-based product. Now a joint venture with Darling Ingredient (sic) [Darling Ingredients], EnviroFlight opened the largest black soldier fly facility in the U.S. at the end of November. Facility is built in a modular manner, allowing for scalable expansion based on actual market demand. Phase I of the facility has the ability to produce 900 metric tonne of product a year, and is designed to scale up to 3,200 metric tonne. All those 4 products from the new facility already account for about 1/3 of the anticipated annual output. Next slide. Now for a recap on AquaBounty, our majority-owned subsidiary and the owner of our lead protein product in food, the AquAdvantage Salmon. As a reminder, this salmon achieved market weight in half the time and on less food than other salmon, driving both the time and cost advantage. The FDA approved an Indiana-based land facility to raise AquAdvantage Salmon in April 2018. December, the USDA issued labeling rule which pertains to all food, including AquAdvantage Salmon. The company is prepared to comply with the stated requirement. However, AquaBounty still awaits the publication of official guidelines by the FDA prior to the introduction in the U.S. In the meantime, the Indiana facility is stocked with [traditional] Atlantic salmon. During the fourth quarter, AquaBounty secured a loan that will enable it to complete production of its Edward Island 250 metric ton facility in Q2, allowing for the immediate large-scale production of AquAdvantage Salmon in Canada, where AquaBounty continues to sell its product. Next slide. We're also happy to report that in December, the AquaBounty and [Exemplar] gene-edited tilapia, FOT-01, is now exempt from GM regulation according to Argentina's National Advisory Commission on Agricultural Biotechnology. This line of tilapia enables more sustainable production through fillet yield, growth and feed conversion efficiency. Tilapia is the fourth most consumed seafood after shrimp, salmon and canned tuna and is forecasted to be one of the highest growth production segments in aquaculture. This jointly developed tilapia demonstrates a significant improvement in fillet yield of approximately 63%, the growth rate improvement of approximately 14% as well as a feed conversion rate improvement of approximately 16%, offering promise to producers to shorten the time to harvest. Shortened production cycle can reduce input cost, increase production output and reduce risk of disease. With that, I'd like to now turn the call over to Tom Bostick. Thank you. Thomas P. Bostick, Intrexon Corporation - COO [7] Thank you, Nir. The next slide. We will now provide an update on Oxitec and Botticelli. As Joel pointed out earlier, we continue to transition our mosquito business to a second-generation technology. Oxitec initial field trial in Brazil, where second-generation Aedes aegypti technology, known as 5034, is showing promising mosquito suppression results. Oxitec also just received formal approval from the Brazilian government to test new 5034-based release device prototypes [make second city] within São Paulo state. Oxitec is leveraging its second-generation features, which have the potential to eliminate several costly manufacturing and deployment requirements that were necessary with Oxitec's first-generation technology. This new release device product development process is focused on developing a scalable and cost-effective, Oxitec-friendly Aedes aegypti full solution that can be sold to government and commercial markets alike without the need for a large-scale production facility or adult mosquito [releases]. Our 2 cooperative agreements with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are underway. And we are happy to report that some of the efforts for the first strain to combat malaria in the Western Hemisphere and the second to combat malaria in India, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa are both off to a promising start, the technical milestones being achieved on schedule. Additionally, Oxitec has secured 2 multiyear development agreements with a partner to develop solutions for pest problems beyond the mosquito and which have the potential for application in key markets globally. Next slide. Moving on to the agriculture space. In January, we announced a strategic licensing agreement with Next Green Wave to advance our Botticelli next-generation plant propagation platform and the development for cannabis-enabling rapid production of Next Green Wave's proprietary cannabis cultivar for the California market. In the U.S. market, legal cannabis (inaudible) is projected to exceed $23 billion by 2022, with California representing approximately 1/3 of that market and a significant opportunity to acquire a novel approach. The collaboration between the companies will be 2 stage: first, an optimization stage, in which Intrexon will calibrate our Botticelli technology with Next Green Wave's specific cannabis cultivar; and second, the production phase in which Next Green Wave may utilize technology in the production of cannabis plant whip for downstream product and the sale of plant whip to third-party producers in California. Intrexon will be entitled to royalties on Next Green Wave's own plant whip usage. And the parties will share equally the revenues from third-party sale. The Botticelli platform is an advanced tissue culture technology designed to enable efficient propagation of plant while maintaining genetic purity and product performance. When applied to cannabis, we believe Botticelli offers potential for a sustainable, tailable and more economical solution than conventional [cloning]. Next slide. In closing, I want to share a view of my thoughts about Intrexon. First of all, Intrexon is a company that is performing the type of work that has the potential to achieve significant and enduring impact for the world in so many different areas. By the year 2050, Intrexon will serve a world with 2 billion more people on the planet. Whether it is in the field of energy, health, food, agriculture or the environment, this company, through innovation and forward thinking, continues to meet this broad array of challenges. We strive to address unmet needs by strategically applying for technology across multiple fields, building a robust pipeline focused at various stages of development, hedging against the uncertainty inherent in making significant discoveries and developing them into scalable, commercially viable solutions. We are confident that our talented team will continue to make great strides as we continue to review, scale at scope, pursue multinational partnerships, cultivate joint ventures and maintain professional relationships, all in support of the greater good and future generations, while always seeking to drive long-term shareholder value. We are starting 2019 with more potential to demonstrate the value of our technology (inaudible) at any point in our 20-year history. And we look forward to what is yet to come this year and beyond. We will now open up the call to questions. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Jason Butler of JMP Securities. Jason Nicholas Butler, JMP Securities LLC, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst [2] First, one on the methanotroph platform. It would be helpful maybe if you could just walk us through how the structure of the partnerships you're considering now has evolved over the last 12 months. Obviously, you've made a lot of technology improvements, but that the actual partnerships, your goals out of those, how do they look now versus what, again, 12 months ago? Randal J. Kirk, Intrexon Corporation - Chairman & CEO [3] They haven't really changed in concept, Jason. We've -- I think we have publicly said that the ideal relationship with us -- for us would be a 50-50 joint venture across the entire platform. Well, that's not necessarily the only outcome because we do have interest in individual molecules as well. That's still our favored scenario, and we are enjoying active discussions with numerous parties about that. So... Great. And then the follow-up is on the U CAR-T platform. The goal of 2-day processing, is that achievable today? Or are there other process or technology developments that have to be achieved in order to hit that 2-day processing goal? Totally achievable today. Our next question comes from Tycho Peterson of JP Morgan. Tejas Rajeev Savant, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst [7] This is Tejas on for Tycho. My first question, actually, was around just top line growth and how you see that evolving. I think, Joel, in your comments, you said something around ECC revenues continuing to decline in 2019. Can you just help us think about that decline versus any growth you expect on the Trans Ova side? I'm just trying to get some comfort around, should we expect sort of revenues to be flat to down? Or should we expect there to be a bottoming out and then potentially a pickup in the back half of the year? So the runoff of the ECC revenue continues, given, number one, we terminated additional ECCs in the second half of '18, specifically, the Ziopharm and Merck ECC revenues that were in '18 will not be showing up in '19. So that alone gives you a downtick there. In addition, the reported revenues that was the runoff of deferred revenues on our balance sheet -- of course, we wrote off the portion of the deferred revenues that was associated with terminated ECCs since the work is no longer going to be performed. So that headwind right there is going to mean that the ECC revenues are lower in '19 versus '18. And when you take our current revenue-generating subsidiaries, principally Trans Ova, as you know, that's not a -- has not been a high-growth revenue line for us in the last few years. And while we have very high expectations for the embryo business that we're developing there, those are not 2019 large jumps in revenues. So the net of it is, 2019 revenues, absent new ECCs, which we're not actively pursuing, or other types of arrangements that would bring in a large bolus of revenues, '19 revenues, as reported, will indeed be lower versus '18. Got it. That's actually very helpful, Joel. And one quick follow-up on the going concern language in your press release. Was that sort of a FASB requirement that you have to include? And could you help us just understand what sort of conditions are then -- led you to conclude that, that statement was warranted at this point in time? Joel D. Liffmann, Intrexon Corporation - SVP of Finance [10] Sure. There is a black-and-white test that all companies perform in connection with their financial statements that is prescribed by the accounting standards, that one has to take a measure of your cash and available liquid assets to satisfy your operations. You have to have sufficient capital to operate the company beyond a prescribed time horizon, and absent that, you have a going concern opinion. And so that's where we are. That is a mathematical exercise. You cannot pro forma into that exercise. Asset sales, you cannot pro forma into that exercise the likelihood of additional securities offerings or other means of raising capital. So it's a black-and-white test. We perform it. And the result was... Randal J. Kirk, Intrexon Corporation - Chairman & CEO [11] Certainly nothing from partnering. Certainly nothing from partnering or any other strategies that we actively pursue, as you know. So it's a black-and-white test that is performed by every company. And for the first time, we've had to make that disclosure. Tejas Rajeev Savant, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst [13] Got it. And one quick follow-up there, R.J., for you. I mean, given that you have the 12-month test here, how does that impact your ability or your leverage in these partnering discussions? It doesn't impact it at all. It's actually more than 12 months, so there's a little bit of fudge factor that's added to the test. So for us, just so you know, it would be May 2020. And so you'd have to assume that we don't have any partnering or, as Joel said, the sale of a division or what have you. Basically operate the same way we are today with actually no event that supplies cash coming to us between now and May 2020. It's a hard and fast test. And I've been through this before. Actually been on boards with several companies that recorded going -- Clinical Data, which I don't know if you recall at all, we also had a going concern reservation at Clinical Data. There were certainly options available, and we discussed that as a management team, options available to avoid the going concern reservation. They all seemed to us inferior to simply accepting the reservation, given the quantum of cash we have and what we consider our prospects to be in the near future. Operator [15] (Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Derik De Bruin of Bank of America. Derik De Bruin, BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division - MD of Equity Research [16] So just a sort of follow-up on Tejas' questions. The -- can you give us some sense of sort of like the R&D spend in 2019? I'm just -- you've got -- now that you've sort of taken the rights over for the UltraCAR-T, doses are going and starting some clinical runs. Just -- you've got a lot going on. So just give us a little bit of color on how should we should think about the R&D and also the SG&A expense in 2019. Yes. So we -- as you know, we don't make projection -- we don't provide projections on line items of expenses. At least, that's been our policy in the past. Clearly, what we've said is that to run clinical trials, we're going to increase our expenditures from operations. Whether it's broken out between SG&A or R&D is an accounting classification. But there's no question that we are going to spend more on developing these products for our own account and growing it. The other side of that, of course, is that by exiting the ECC business, those costs that were associated with supporting our ECC partners are diminishing. While the revenues from ECC partners covered a fair amount of that, we've built up a fair -- we also built up a fair amount of infrastructure and overhead, which we're now using for our own programs. So if you take our Germantown operation where Precigen is housed, that is an operation that has been built over the past decade or so through the programs that we were operating with our ECC partners. So the infrastructure of the assets, the research tools, the laboratory space was all built and paid for. So we don't have to incur those expenses in new. However, the daily operating cost of the people and the payments out to clinical investigators, of course, are new expenses for us. Great. And then just one follow-up. The -- you -- noticed in the slide, you're getting -- commercial production of the black soldier fly larvae is underway. Can you just sort of like talk about the commercial opportunity there? Just are revenue -- do we see revenues from that in 2019? Just a little bit more color on that line. Nir Nimrodi will respond. Nir Nimrodi, Intrexon Corporation - Chief Business Officer [20] Yes. The total market is divided between mostly in poultry, swine and in the future, aquaculture. Currently, we're targeting mostly the first 2, mainly because the volume that will be required to [promote] aquaculture is much, much greater. The overall market for insect in the U.S. is getting closer to $100 million a year but is expected to grow exponentially in the next 5 years, well beyond $1 billion. We are -- we have the only commercial facility currently producing product in the U.S., and we do expect to start recording revenues in the following quarters. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to R.J. Kirk for any closing remarks. All right. Well, first, let me thank everyone for your time and attention. As always, I want to thank our board, I want to thank the people in the room here with me and the team that help us run this fine enterprise. Also, the extended team of Intrexon, I think that we've -- as General Bostick indicated, we've never been in finer condition. So tremendously gratified by the hard work of all. Of course, I want to thank our board. We recognize -- as I indicated in the press release, we recognize our fundamental obligation here. And we understand that any business has as its primary purpose the obligation to produce value for its owners. We recognize that intensely. So I just want to make clear something that may not have come through adequately in the call today. And that is, everything that you see here is something that we planned on happening and hoped it would happen. So if you go back to -- to go - if you look at our IPO materials, and those of you who were involved with the company even prior to the IPO, the 2 biggest things that we were focusing on was, a, our belief that CAR-T represented a huge and enormous therapeutic advance as a motif. But that the practitioners -- the existing practitioners of that motif were not working with technologies that would actually make it prime time, so to speak. Wouldn't be really usable in very many cases, it wouldn't be accessible. It certainly wouldn't be reasonable cost. It would always involve a great safety risk to patients. And that has largely been the case for CAR-T today. So the 2 INDs that we have opened, the Precigen -- Dr. Sabzevari and her team have now opened and cleared with FDA, one in solid tumor, one in a liquid tumor. We believe that this is really a game-changing event. And so we are very eagerly anticipating the clinical data coming from those 2. And then the other thing that was our focus at the time of our IPO was, of course, our natural gas upgrading technology, what we call -- refer to as our methane bioconversion platform. I'm part of the meetings at times with parties in -- people in the energy industry. I will tell you, nobody who is studying this technology has any doubt that it is a huge, enormous contribution to the field. We believe that it's an appreciating asset. And as an appreciating asset, I'm not that eager to do a deal today or do any -- the first deal that comes along if it doesn't suit our purposes and doesn't conform to our objective. On the other hand, I'm very -- we're very, very eager to see this technology take its place in the world, actually be used to produce many -- hopefully many, initially a few, of the products that today are derived [from oil] instead of from natural gas, which as you all know, really represents by far the lowest cost carbon feedstock in the world and today and for every measurable period of time that we can anticipate looking forward. So these 2 -- to have succeeded on these 2 efforts to the degree that we have, make us very, very proud. We believe that we are in excellent condition to commercialize off of these 2 platforms. We think the rest of the company is also outstanding. But I would direct your attention to the accomplishment of these 2 goals, and look, the -- our purchase of oncology rights from Ziopharm and from Merck, those were made because of our belief in the value of that UltraCAR-T platform and the rest of the pipeline that Helen Sabzevari and her team at Precigen have created. So I invite you all to continue to -- I want you to be critical. I want you to hold us to task. I'm being very clear here about what we think our task is. And I'm reminding you that the task that we've told you for 5 and the -- or 5.5 years as a public company, that we were focused on, these are precisely the ones that we've delivered. We intend on actually seeing these all the way through and to all of our mutual benefit. So thank you very much. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect. Pzena Investment Management Inc (PZN) Q2 2019 Earnings Call Transcript	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1156
__label__wiki	0.500193	0.500193	Mastercard to invest $300 mln in Network International IPO Reuters March 26, 2019 (Corrects investment to dollars, not pounds) LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - Global payments giant Mastercard has said it will invest $300 million as a cornerstone investor in the planned London float of payments processor Network International. Dubai-based Network International is the largest payments processor in the Middle East and Africa and set to be the first international IPO in London this year. Network International is targeting a valuation of around $3 billion according to banking sources. Mastercard said it would invest in shared projects with Network International in the Middle East and Africa as part of the deal. Network International is currently jointly owned by Dubai bank Emirates NBD and private equity firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic Mastercard said its investment would be based on the same terms as institutional investors participating in the IPO. The deal is subject to Mastercard's ownership being limited to 9.99 percent and Network International achieving a free float of at least 25 percent. (Reporting by Iain Withers Editing by Rachel Armstrong)	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1157
__label__cc	0.547634	0.452366	Category: Martin Campbell To Know Is To Die On February 12, 2016 January 13, 2019 By ArthurIn Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, Martin Campbell, Movies & Television, Mystery, Science Fiction2 Comments Although the Mel Gibson movie adaptation, which guts its nuances in order to fit into a Hollywood-appropriate running time, might be more prominent in some circles, I think in the long term it’s the original production of Edge of Darkness that will stand the test of time. Written by Troy Kennedy Martin – whose other credits included the first draft of The Italian Job, and directed by Martin Campbell (who in between directing this and the Mel Gibson version directed Goldeneye and the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale), it’s an unmistakeable artifact of the 80s which, perhaps due to the fact that it pays only passing notice to the Cold War and deals with subject matters with half-lives greater than the lifespan of even the most secure nation states, still seems deeply relevant. Ron Craven (Bob Peck) is an experienced Yorkshire police detective, who one dark and stormy night in the mid-1980s collects his adult daughter Emma (Joanne Whalley) from a meeting of a left-wing student organisation. As they’re dashing through the rain from the car to their front door, a man steps out of the darkness, screams Craven’s name, and raises a shotgun; Emma rushes forwards and takes both barrels to the torso and the the assassin flees into the night, leaving Emma dead at Craven’s feet. Craven’s colleagues in the police think it’s a revenge killing – Ron worked in Special Branch in Northern Ireland during some of the most vicious parts of the Troubles, and therefore doesn’t want for enemies from that quarter. However, as Craven goes through the weirdly intrusive but sadly necessary chore of getting her possessions in order, he makes a string of alarming discoveries – a Geiger counter, a radiation dosimeter, and a vicious-looking automatic pistol. Craven knew that Emma was a member of Gaia, a radical environmentalist group, and he was aware that Gaia had planned some sort of action involving Northmoor, a privatised nuclear facility owned by International Irradiated Fuels. Is it possible that, despite all Craven’s warnings, Emma and her cohorts actually went to Northmoor – and if so, does that mean she was the assassin’s target? Mysterious Whitehall duo Pendleton (Charles Kay) and Harcourt (Ian McNeice) certainly think so, and so does an American contact of theirs, the avuncular CIA agent Darius Jedburgh (Joe Don Baker). On top of that, American businessman Jerry Grogan (Kenneth Nelson), owner of the Fusion Corporation of Kansas, seems to have his own interest in the affair, particularly since he intends to purchase International Irradiated Fuels (and Northmoor with it). Just what is inside Northmoor that could be worth all this subterfuge? What vision does Grogan have for the future that requires him to own Northmoor? What extremes will Jedburgh go to in the pursuit of his own agenda? And is Craven merely imagining things in his grief, or is he really being guided in his investigation by the ghost of Emma? Continue reading “To Know Is To Die” →	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1162
__label__wiki	0.667558	0.667558	Genecis: Giving Added Value to Food Waste, at No Extra Cost Written by Ana Galán Herranz, 10-04-2018 A young team of Canadian ecopreneurs wants to tackle food waste by turning restaurant scraps into value-added products, starting with bioplastics.  Dan GoldGenecis wants to help transform food waste from commercial kitchens into different products including bioplastics Food waste is an ever-growing environmental problem, with leftover food that ends up in landfill producing methane gas, a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. There are several initiatives already out there that aim is stop edible food ending up in the trash in the first place, such as the SirPlus saved-food supermarket in Berlin or the app MealSaver, and others that are trying to give a second life to food waste - such as Toast, the brewery making craft beer from leftovers. But as well as an environmental one, organic waste has a very "real" monetary cost too, with individuals and commercial food establishments such as cafes and restaurants paying high fees to get their waste taken care of. That's where another recent addition to the food-waste-tackling-arsenal comes in, Genecis, a Canadian company whose aim is to convert food scraps into value-added products - for the same price (or in the future, as their system becomes more advanced, maybe even less) than a restaurant would pay for normal organic waste disposal. Set up in Toronto by a team of young ecopreneurs from different acadamic backgrounds, their website announces their vision of a future "where organics will not be seen as waste, but rather as a valuable resource that gives rise to important products, including bioplastics, biofuels, and even pharmaceutical drugs." "We turn restaurant food waste into bioplastics,” said Luna Yu, founder and CEO of Genecis to the University of Toronto news. “We make money from both the collection fees we charge to the restaurants and from the bioplastics and compost we produce from them.” Currently, the company is still in the starting phase of operations, and has so far managed to convert food scraps into bioplastics based on PHAs. Without the kitchens having to make any changes to their normal operations, Genecis collects the restaurant's food waste and take it to its laboratories to transform it, using microorganisms, into bioplastics. These bioplastics can then be used for producing different items such as packaging, biodegradable bottles, 3D printing filament or even in medical and surgical applications. Genecis is currently working on testing their process with a 1,000-litre pilot bioreactor to be able to see if what the company has tested in the lab can also be carried out on a large scale. Once the machine is completed, it would be able to offset 243 tonnes of CO2 each year. As Yu explained to the University of Toronto Engineering News. “Standard passenger vehicles release 4.7 tonnes of CO2 every year, which means a restaurant can offset the emissions of 51.7 cars just by using one of our machines." The team believe that by charging the same, or lower collection fees than typical waste disposal companies, they will encourage restaurants to join them. And another draw is the tracking service that they offer, which will allow their restaurant partners to see in real-time, their contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and diverting waste. Sure, technologies that help reduce food waste - such as the Feeding India meal-distribution project and Nigeria's solar-powered fridges for off grid food storage - help tackle the issue before it becomes a problem, but Genecis seems to have come up with a practical, scalable and commercially-viable solution for all that food waste that will still inevitably happen. bioplastics Restaurant; recycled; waste © Feeding India News Feeding India: Stopping Food Waste in One of the World's Most Undernourished Countries  Yukiko Matsuoka News SirPlus: Can a Supermarket and an App Help Eradicate Food Waste?  Matt Nelson on Unsplash News Keeping Food Fresher for Longer With the Edipeel Smart Edible Coating News Flour Made of Coffee Is Joining the Fight Against Food Waste © Solveiga Pakstaite, Design by Sol News Bump Mark: the Smart Sticker Against Food Waste © Meal Saver News Hungry? The MealSaver App Will Feed You, Save You Money and Help Reduce Food Waste. You Are Welcome. Step by step for a better world News Earth Ratings: The Sustainability Plugin Giving Control Back to the Consumer News The World's Second Solar Train En Route to the Cradle of the Incas News Revive Eco: Turning Your Used Coffee Grounds Into a Sustainable Alternative to Palm Oil News Spoontainable: Making Summer More Sustainable With Edible Cocoa Ice-Cream Spoons News Volcanic Goo Could Be Food, and Goo'd for You Too	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1169
__label__wiki	0.589273	0.589273	Rosemary Brown (spiritualist) Rosemary Brown Rosemary Brown in 1980 16 November 2001(2001-11-16) (aged 85) Spirit Medium Rosemary Isabel Brown (27 July 1916 – 16 November 2001)[1] was an English composer, pianist and spirit medium who claimed that dead composers dictated new musical works to her. She created a small media sensation in the 1970s by presenting works purportedly dictated to her by Claude Debussy, Edvard Grieg, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Igor Stravinsky, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann and Sergei Rachmaninoff. 2 Critical reception Franz Liszt, one of the deceased musicians Brown claimed to have communicated with Rosemary Isabel Dickeson was born in London in 1916. She claimed to have been only seven years old when she was first introduced to the world of dead musicians. She reported that a spirit with long white hair and a flowing black cassock appeared and told her he was a composer and would make her a famous musician one day. She did not know who he was until, about ten years later, she saw a picture of Franz Liszt. Many other members of Brown's family were allegedly psychic, including her parents and grandparents. She worked for the Post Office from the age of 15. In 1948 she acquired a second-hand upright piano, and took some lessons for three years.[1] In 1952 she married Charles Brown, a government scientist. They had a son and a daughter before her husband died in 1961.[1] Then in 1964 Liszt supposedly renewed contact and Brown began transcribing original compositions she said were dictated to her by great musicians of the past. Brown transcribed pieces from Johannes Brahms, Johann Sebastian Bach, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Franz Schubert, Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Liszt. These included a 40-page sonata she attributed to Schubert, a Fantaisie-Impromptu in three movements she attributed to Chopin, 12 songs she attributed to Schubert, and two sonatas and two symphonies she attributed to Beethoven. Brown claimed that each composer had his own way of dictating to her: Liszt controlled her hands for a few bars at a time, and then she wrote down the notes; Chopin told her the notes and pushed her hands on to the right keys; Schubert tried to sing his compositions; and Beethoven and Bach simply dictated the notes. She claimed the composers spoke to her in English.[2] Critical reception[edit] Brown's claims about spirit communication were disputed by skeptics.[3] After studying her compositions, musicologists and psychologists came to the conclusion they were the work of Brown's own subconscious. Leonard Zusne and Warren H. Jones in their book Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking (1989) noted that "Brown wrote hundreds of pieces of music dictated by the various composers. They were passable works, entirely in the style of these composers, but appeared to be simply reworkings of existing pieces."[4] Professor of psychology John Sloboda wrote that Brown's music offers "the most convincing case of unconscious composition on a large scale."[5] Psychologist Robert Kastenbaum analysed Brown's music compositions and came to doubt that they were dictated to Brown by spirits of well known composers. According to Kastenbaum: There is no striking themes, complex structures, depths of feelings, or harmonic, tonal, or rhythmic innovations. During their days on earth all the composers not only created distinguished music but also contributed to the development of compositions for the keyboard. One of the characteristics that made each of them so remarkable was their unpredictability. Their next composition might well open a new domain in musical sensitivity or technique. Alas, they have now all fallen into desuetude. Nothing new shows up to enrich their post-mortem compositions, and nothing surprises, except perhaps the lack of surprises.[6] Kastenbaum suggested the composers were secondary personalities of Brown herself.[6] Brown maintained that she had never had any musical training aside from a few piano lessons, though paranormal investigator Harry Edwards says:[7] A perusal of newspaper reports about Ms. Brown elicits contradictory information about her alleged lack of musical education. Originally she stated that she had had no musical training; later she was reported to have had only a couple of years of music lessons, and recently admitted to belonging to a musical household and being a competent musician and pianist. According to the psychologist Andrew Neher: [Brown] loved music as a child, there was a piano in her home while she was growing up, her mother played the piano, and she herself took piano lessons. All of this, together with the enhanced skill often displayed in altered states of consciousness, seems sufficient to account for her musical compositions.[8] Musicologist Denis Matthews described her music as "charming pastiches" and suggested she was re-creating compositions.[9] Similarly Alan Rich, music critic of New York magazine, having heard a privately issued record of Brown's piano pieces, concluded that they were just sub-standard re-workings of some of their purported composers' better-known compositions. Concert pianists Peter Katin, Philip Gammon, Howard Shelley, Cristina Ortiz and John Lill have all performed her music.[10] Publications[edit] Rosemary Brown published three books: Unfinished Symphonies: Voices from the Beyond William Morrow, 1971; ISBN 978-0688026974 Immortals at My Elbow Bachman & Turner, 1974; ISBN 978-0859740197 Look Beyond Today Bantam Press, 1986; ISBN 978-0593010419 Sheet music available at Keturi Musikverlag (Germany) ^ a b c Martin, Douglas (2 December 2001). "Rosemary Brown, a Friend of Dead Composers, Dies at 85". New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2008. ^ Brown, Rosemary. (1971). Unfinished Symphonies. William Morrow. p. 161 ^ "Rosemary Brown (1916–2001)". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Accessed 9 November 2018. ^ Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-805-80507-9 ^ Brown, Matthew. (2012). Debussy Redux: The Impact of His Music on Popular Culture. Indiana University Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-253-35716-8 ^ a b Kastenbaum, Robert. (1984). Is There Life After Death?. Rider and Company. pp. 182–183 ^ Edwards, Harry (1995). "Rosemary Brown (1931 – )". A skeptic's guide to the New Age. Australian Skeptics. ISBN 978-0-646-24502-7. (from on-line copy in Investigator (104), September 2005, retrieved 29 September 2008) ^ Neher, Andrew. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination. Dover Publications. p. 208. ISBN 0-486-26167-0 ^ Matthews, Dennis. (1969). The Story of Rosemary Brown. The Listener 26. ^ Parrott, Ian (11 December 2001). "Rosemary Brown". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2017. Spiritualism and spiritism History and beliefs Cross-Correspondences Ectoplasm Materialization Spirit obsession Spirit photography Spirit possession Table-turning Spiritualists Derek Acorah Rosemary Altea Bangs Sisters Ada Besinnet Stephen E. Braude William Breeze Eva Carrière Doris Collins Florence Cook Mina Crandon Geraldine Cummins Frank Decker Helen Duncan Eddy Brothers Harry Edwards William Eglinton Colin Evans Fox sisters Leslie Flint Arthur Ford Colin Fry Eileen Garrett Kathleen Goligher Rita Goold Jan Guzyk Robert Hare Alec Harris Gordon Higginson Daniel Dunglas Home Elizabeth Hope William Hope Swami Laura Horos Cecil Husk James H. Hyslop Franek Kluski Gladys Osborne Leonard Heinrich Melzer Carmine Mirabelli Francis Ward Monck William Usborne Moore William Stainton Moses Einer Nielsen Eusapia Palladino Leonora Piper Ethel Post-Parrish James Van Praagh Bert Reese Estelle Roberts William Roy Rudi Schneider Maria Silbert Henry Slade Doris Stokes Rosina Thompson Stanisława Tomczyk Ena Twigg George Valiantine Jack Webber Etta Wriedt List of Spiritualist organizations Spiritualist churches Spiritist centres London Spiritualist Alliance National Spiritualist Association of Churches Spiritualists' National Union Spiritualist Association of Great Britain Spiritual church movement Arthur Findlay College International Spiritualist Federation John Henry Anderson George Miller Beard Ruth Brandon Lionel Branson Milbourne Christopher Edward Clodd Edmund Smith Conklin Millais Culpin Stuart Cumberland Eric Dingwall Joseph Dunninger Chris French G. Stanley Hall Trevor H. Hall William A. Hammond C. E. M. Hansel Carlos María de Heredia Carl Hertz Terence Hines Joseph Jastrow Stanley LeFevre Krebs Rose Mackenberg David Marks John Nevil Maskelyne Henry Maudsley Joseph McCabe Henry C. McComas Georgess McHargue Charles Arthur Mercier Albert Moll John Mulholland Fulton Oursler Joe Nickell E. Clephan Palmer Ronald Pearsall Frank Podmore Massimo Polidoro Harry Price Julien Proskauer Donovan Rawcliffe Joseph Rinn C. E. Bechhofer Roberts Chung Ling Soo Gordon Stein Amy Tanner Ivor Lloyd Tuckett Lyttelton Winslow MusicBrainz: 2e6a47e8-d8eb-4fce-a24d-a147bc48c46f Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rosemary_Brown_(spiritualist)&oldid=885931970" 20th-century classical composers English classical composers English spiritual mediums Female classical composers 20th-century English musicians 20th-century women musicians 20th-century British composers This page was last edited on 3 March 2019, at 07:17 (UTC).	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1171
__label__wiki	0.603068	0.603068	Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 20.djvu/113 88 FOBTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 147, 148,150. 1878. May 31, 1878. CHAP. 147.-An act supplementary to the act of March third, eighteen hundred and —y;····—·—· seventy-three entitled An act supplemental to the act of February ninth, eighteen hundred and twenty-one incorporating Columbia College District of Columbia. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United C<>I¤mbi¤¤ C0}- States of America in Congress assembled, That the act of March third, 1°§g;,§°·c?r 328 eighteen hundred and seventy-three, ratifying and confirming the act 17 Sg,,,,_;629f for the relief of the Columbian College in the District of Columbia, Amended. enacted by the legislative assembly of the said District, and approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, be so moditied as to authorize the trustees and overseers of the Columbian University to hold their annual meeting on such day in May or June as the said trustees and overseers shall appoint, instead of being held on “ the Tuesday next preceding the last Wednesday in June". Approved, May 31, 1878. June 1, 1878. CHAP. 148.-An act for the relief of certain settlers on the public lands. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United _ H<>¥¤¤¤¤¤d¤1‘¤$ States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for {E;'!';';;;; by g'"" homestead settlers on the public lands whose crops were destroyed or ` seriously injured by grasshoppers in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-six, who left their land in said year, if no other settlement shall have been made thereon by, or right or interest therein accrued to, any other person, to return to said land at any time within three months from and after the passage of this act; and upon the return of such settlers to such land, such absence therefrom shall in no wise affect the original settlements or homestead rights, but such settlers shall be allowed to resume and perfect their settlement, as if no such absence had occurred: Prorided, That proof of such destruction or injury of crops, absence and return of such settlers, shall be made in such manner as the Commissioner of the General Land Office may prescribe Approved, June 1, 1878. June 3, 1878. CHAP. 150.-An act authorizing the citizens of Colorado, Nevada and the Territories —--——i to fell and remove timber on the public domain for mining and domestic purposes. Bc it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Timborund min- States of America in Congress assembled, That all citizens of the United gg2u?";.;? ‘““{al’° States and other persons, bona fide residents of the State of Colorado, purposes_ c" m or Nevada, or either of the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyioming, Dakota, Idaho, or Montana, and all other mineral districts of the United States, shall be, and are hereby, authorized and permitted to fell and remove, for building, agricultural, mining, or other domestic purposes, any timber or other trees growling or being on the public lands, said lands being mineral, und not subject to entry under existing laws of the United States, except for mineral entry, in either of said States, Territories, or districts of which such citizens or persons may be at the time hona—tlde residents, subject to such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe for the protection of the timber and of the undergrowth growing upon such lands, and for other Prvrivv- purposes: Provided, the provisions of this act shall not extend to railroad corporations. Taking etc., for Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the register and the receiver of ¤¤¤¤lh°`iZ°d P“¤`· any local landoffice in whose district any mineral land may be situated p°°°° to ascertain from time to time whether any timber is being cut or used upon any such lands, except for the purposes authorized by this act, within their respective land districts; and, if so, they shall immediately notify the Commissioner of the General Lund Uiiice of that fact; and all necessary expenses incurred in making such proper examinations shall be paid and allowed sucli rcgisl.t~r und r•_·ceivcr in making up their next quarterly accounts, Retrieved from "https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Page:United_States_Statutes_at_Large_Volume_20.djvu/113&oldid=8607251" Not proofread	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1173
__label__wiki	0.907622	0.907622	what-s-on Theater of the Absurd comes to Hanoi Renowned Vietnamese stage director Tran Luc and the LucTeam troupe will perform the play “The Bald Soprano” by dramatist Eugène Lonesco at 8pm on January 12 at L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, Hoan Kiem district in Hanoi. L'Espace to host play "The Bald Soprano" on January 12. Following two widely-acclaimed plays, “Quan” (“Distraught”) by Vietnamese dramatist Long Chuong and “The Jealousy of Cinderella” (La Jalousie du Barbouillé) by French dramatist Molière at the Hanoi Opera House and L’Espace in 2017, LucTeam greets the new year of 2019 with a famous play from the Theater of the Absurd - “La cantatrice chauve” (The Bald Soprano). The Bald Soprano is a drama in eleven scenes and which Ionesco called an “antiplay”. It was first produced in 1950 and was published in 1954 as La Cantatrice chauve. The title can also be translated as “The Bald Prima Donna”. The one-and-a-half-hour play, an important example of the Theater of the Absurd, consists mainly of a series of meaningless conversations between two couples that eventually deteriorate into babbling. Eugène Lonesco (1990-1994), a Romanian-born French dramatist, inspired a revolution in dramatic techniques and helped inaugurate the Theater of the Absurd and is considered among the most important dramatists of the 20th century. By performing a famous play from a famous genre of theater arts - tragicomedy - stage director Tran Luc and the LucTeam troupe bring to Hanoi’s theatrical scene a brand new, exciting performance, a fresh breeze that should be received with enthusiasm. Tickets range from VND300,000 ($13) to VND500,000 ($21) and VND150,000 ($6.5) for students and members of L’Espace, available at the entrance of L’Espace. Online bookings are available at ticketbox.vn. VN Economic Times Theater of the Absurd comes to Hanoi, entertainment events, entertainment news, entertainment activities, what’s on, Vietnam culture, Vietnam tradition, vn news, Vietnam beauty, news Vietnam, Vietnam news, Vietnam net news, vietnamnet news, vietnamnet bri Heritage Space to hold “Finding the Souls of Cities” talk TPD to screen Golden Lion award winner Family Fun Day at Hive Villa Café Pool in HCMC The Big Fat Quiz Movies at Hive Saigon “Classical Favorites” at Salon Saigon Film about Hawaii presented at Manzi Hue International Hot Air Balloon Festival on the horizon Swedish choir celebrates Sweden–VN diplomatic ties Thai artist presents his artworks in Hanoi Hanoi to host Bulgaria Rose Festival 2019	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1180
__label__cc	0.71848	0.28152	« Scrapbooking a Friendship Album: Part 2 \| Main \| Scrapbooking a Friendship Album: Part 4 » Scrapbooking a Friendship Album: Part 3 What I loved the most about designing and scrapbooking this Friendship Album, was discovering how differently each contributing friend perceived Carol, the birthday recipient. It prompted me to contemplate how my friends might perceive me, and led me to reflect on the importance of friendship in general. (click to enlarge image) Martha's double-page layout was titled "Passion." She created the lovely black & white artwork on the left and chose the gray background paper. Inspired by her work, I designed the companion page on the right, and added all the red embellishments to provoke the feeling of passion in the viewer. Here's a close-up of Martha's artwork: I love Martha's words to her friend: "To Carol, whose diverse passions lift my spirits." Then she added verses that described the two aspects of Carol's personality that she admired most. On the dancing side of her drawing she added: "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme the honky-tonk life," and on the meditation side, she wrote, "In dwelling, live close to the ground, in thinking, keep to the simple..." Another friend, Margot, loves the subtle, quiet way in which Carol nurtures and cultivates her friendships: Margot's loving letter to Carol spoke about how much she admired that quality in her friend, and I added a lovely poem about the virtues of planting a tree to reinforce the message. The scrapbook layout was given a duel title: "Nurture" & "Cultivate" and the photos I used were (appropriately) of Carol's yard and garden. The background paper and flower embellishments support Margot's message and help tell the story. What words do you think your friends would use to describe the best things about you? What qualities do you admire most about yourself? Do leave some thoughts in the "comments" below... Sharing the love, Enikö	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1182
__label__cc	0.745967	0.254033	Bug Reports and Feature Discussions Geocaches on Google Earth By acachebox, March 6 in Website +noncentric 791 noncentric 791 West Coast, USA 12 hours ago, partner said: Just found out that the Geocaching thing on Google Earth did not worked anymore. I normally make trips in Mapsource and view them in Google Eart. And with the "GeocachingNetworkKML" I could look for nice caches nearby and select them. I have't heard of any project that can do the same!. How about that!. I have been hearing a lot about cachetur.no as a relatively easy and effective cache planning tool. I have not used it myself. I have also never used the Google Earth Viewer, either for searching or placing caches, even GeoArt. So I don't know if using GE would compare to the CacheTur website, but it might be good for people to check out if they need a web-based cache route planner. +vanBaarsel 4 vanBaarsel 4 Since there's no official statement that "wetook it down", it's just a feature that doesn't work right now. So... come on people, fix this asap! Yes, it's possible to look at caches in another way. Yes, we can live without it. Yes, we can even start another hobby. But yes, it's a feature we paid for, and we'd (or at least I) like to use it again! Searching on Google Earth is so much easier than using the map on GC.com. For example: I just searched for caches near Beilen, a small village in Drenthe (NL). I entered "Beilen", and the map scrolled to "Beelen", approximately 150 kilometers from Beilen. In Google Earth, the map immediately scrolled to Beilen. We had dinner some time ago in "Café Sjiek" in Maastricht. Looking for nearby caches I entered "sjiek maastricht" in Google Earth and it went to the exact spot, entering "sjiek maastricht" on the Geocaching map brought me to Maastricht, the town itself, but nowhere near the exact location. Edited April 9 by vanBaarsel +NYPaddleCacher 1042 NYPaddleCacher 1042 2 hours ago, vanBaarsel said: It's a bit unfair to compare search results and geolocation services from a company worth over 100 billion dollars to that of a small company with about 70 employees. +Mineral2 204 Mineral2 204 Resistance Member Searching on Google Earth is so much easier than using the map on GC.com. For example: I just searched for caches near Beilen, a small village in Drenthe (NL). I entered "Beilen", and the map scrolled to "Beelen", approximately 150 kilometers from Beilen. In Google Earth, the map immediately scrolled to Beilen. We had dinner some time ago in "Café Sjiek" in Maastricht. Looking for nearby caches I entered "sjiek maastricht" in Google Earth and it went to the exact spot, entering "sjiek maastricht" on the Geocaching map brought me to Maastricht, the town itself, but nowhere near the exact location. Do you have your map preferences on geocaching.com set to use Google Maps? If not, give that a try. 4 hours ago, NYPaddleCacher said: It's a bit unfair, even for a small company, to disable a fine working function. Why do people find it so hard to be critical about stuff they pay for? They do a great job, but this is not functioning the way it's mentioned on their own website (see here), so they need to fix it, right? +UltraRunCacher 1 UltraRunCacher 1 You can export your route as a GPX file, and import that as a custom user route on the website, then create a pocket query along a route. Problem solved? The immediacy of visualizing caches in Google Earth along an imported kml or gpx file was really helpful, and I used GE and The Geocaching KML at least weekly to explore potential trail running routes, and see if there were any caches along them. Is there a way to do this without having to create a PQ first? It's unfortunate the Google Earth functionality is still broken. robertlipe 40 Chief Babel-Head I know it's not the same as the feature you're looking for here, but since I don't think it's well known, I'll mention another workaround that works on all the OSes that desktop Earth runs on: MacOS, Linux, and Windows. You can drag and drop an (unzipped) GPX from a PQ right into the 3D panel of Earth or just open the GPX from File->open. It renders cache icons appropriately (with icon use approved by Groundspeak), has balloons with a tabbed interface for the cache description, logs, and links to external maps. Because it's still a flat-file and not a regionated tree, it can be a bit janky with more than a few thousand points, so it's not a substitute for the broken feature being discussed, but it's a fun little easter egg planted into Google Earth by a geocacher on the Earth team many years ago. As another little known feature (that can be admittedly a bit fiddly) you can use the edges of the time slider thingy that appears to limit caches that were placed between the dates in the brackets. If you're working with parks and trying to show the growth of caching in your area, it can be a fun way to animate the explosion of placements. If you also have other time data displayed at the same time (e.g. tracks from a recent hike) the interactions of the time of your track and the placement of your geocaches can be hard to grasp so it's usually best to leave them at the maximal range which is, I think, the default. This won't get you data that you can't get in a PQ, so it's not the same, but it's still a handy way to visualize placements in a full 3D window for the times that planning a trip when you're deciding on going over a mountain or around it or confirming that something is on the right side of a river or whatever. (I respect that this is exactly the opposite of what UltraRunCacher is asking for. I offer it in the hope that it helps other or that he can schedule a daily PQ or find some other workaround.) +globaltreckers 1 globaltreckers 1 Well, we are within 30 feet now! Please fix Google Earth/ geocaching interface Reason 1) BLM map overlay on GC forbidden zones. Yes, there are other work arounds but come on, lets keep it simple. +edle_stau 1 edle_stau 1 I have the same problem and it would be desirable if GC fixed the problem! On 4/9/2019 at 3:06 PM, vanBaarsel said: I was specifically referring to the place name lookup differences one will see when searching for a location in Google Earth vs. a Groundspeak search form. Google has a massive database that it can be used for reverse geocoding. In the example, described entering "sjiek maastricht" in Google Earth returned lat/long coordinates that were very specific (to a restaurant). Groundspeak uses reverse geocoding services as well (from my understanding they rotate using several "free" services) that just don't provide the granularity that Google can provide unless they pay a fairly substantial fee. +The A-Team 1254 The A-Team 1254 On the jazz since 2009 On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 12:06 PM, vanBaarsel said: There are a number of things to address here: As far as we know, they did not intentionally disable it. Something broke. We're not being critical of the feature. We're trying to suggest alternate methods or workarounds, given that the Google Earth viewer doesn't work at the moment. Just to be clear, the viewer itself isn't a paid feature. Both Basic and Premium members can use it, though Premium members get more "views" (refreshing the caches when the map is dragged). There are many things on the website that don't work correctly. The developers need to prioritize the long list in order to fix the most important issues first. Since the Google Earth viewer is used relatively minimally and there are workarounds for many use-cases, fixing it could be pretty far down the list. +mommio 4 mommio 4 I discovered that Geocaching Google Earth Viewer wasn't working last week. Did what everyone else did--deleted and reinstalled. All to no avail. I use this feature frequently. Especially when I am planning to put out new caches -- saves me huge amounts of time. I have hidden over 1000 caches so this is an important resource for me. I can determine where there are open areas for new caches before I even leave home. Currently I am planning an event with 35 new caches and without the viewer I am having a hard time trying to figure out where I can put them. Please HQ fix this problem. You don't actually need the google earth viewer to plan new caches. As mentioned multiple times in this thread, the placement of the caches via the viewer is imprecise, which means you are not getting an accurate look at the free and available space to hide a new cache. There are numerous tools you can use, including the planning map on the cache creation page, that give you the .1 mile radius circles that show you the areas where you cannot hide a new cache. Use those. They are more accurate than the Google Earth viewer. So is importing a pocket query with all of the hides in the area into google earth. It will have precise coordinates with no random offset. You may have been lucky using the google earth viewer for hides so far, but it is far from the best choice of tools. I don't use GE for coordinates. The viewer just gives me some general ideas where I can look for available spots.. It has worked well for me over the years. The fact that there is an off set hasn't been a problem because I usually know exactly where the local caches are (either I have found them or they are mine). After determining where I might locate a cache, I load the nearest ones into my GPSr, drive out there, pull up the nearest cache, and work out from that location. I suppose there are better ways, but I am technologically challenged so have come up with this method of doing things that works for me. The creation page is helpful but doesn't show me ahead of time what the area actually looks like. I like being able to view a location both from above and at ground level before I make a trip thee. Thank you for your suggestions though. I will try the PQ method. Edited April 12 by mommio 3 hours ago, mommio said: I will try the PQ method. Try the map on the website, too. That should give you all of the same information, with the added benefit of having accurate coordinates (as well as other functionality, like seeing your own hides more easily or toggling cache types). The website map is a good solution. Only drawback is I can't see area from ground level. But that's ok---can select likely spots from map and then check them out at GEPro. Just discovered another drawback--can't measure distances from one cache to a chosen location. Will work that out. Thanks everyone for giving me some options. Why do you need to see them from ground level? Go visit the site. Half the adventure of placing a cache is looking for the perfect place to hide it. What's the worst that happens? You get there, find that it's not really a good spot, and you got out of the house exploring. Ground level just gives me an idea what to expect. Around here that could mean a huge cactus patch. I don't mind exploring for hiding places; but when I am planning on hiding 35 caches by May 3rd, it is more efficient to do my research first. (When I am doing a special gadget cache or looking for an interesting place to put a cache, I definitely will take more time to find the perfect spot. I am known locally for my ghost town, old cemetery, historical marker, and scenic caches'). Another problem is that I need to hide these caches as close to the event date as possible. Muggles aren't the problem. Critters are. You would be surprised at how many caches get stolen by pack rats or chewed up by whatever. If I want to be sure they last at least through the event, I have to put them out as close to date as possible. So doing my research for locations first works best for me. +allenmabry 0 allenmabry 0 All the good geo nicknames were taken I don't use Google Earth regularly, mainly for planning trips. Especially for county and DeLorme runs (cross-checking with GSAK and other maps for county or Lat/Long lines). It is also indispensible for planning deployment of GeoArt where you have to avoid existing caches and stay within the max distance between "art" and "actual". +Zop 2 Zop 2 Must.... find..... cache...... On 4/7/2019 at 1:20 PM, Mineral2 said: No - The problem is that the geocaching earth kml plugin, a premium member feature, failed well over a month ago and Groundspeak has yet to address it. On 4/12/2019 at 2:05 PM, Mineral2 said: One very obvious answer is to view an area when solving puzzles. I do (did) that all the time to help narrow down the location, days, weeks, months in advance. +bevema 1 bevema 1 it might be that the reason for the quite sudden non-functioning might be the changed Google Earth - API. At least this happened to a GSAK-macro using GE to display caches on a map (swiss gc-forum german spoken ). The worldwide freelancing programmers for GSAK addons have been much faster than GS, so one can now just use another macro together with OSM-Maps for display. +SigsPig 0 SigsPig 0 Bevema: Which replacement macro are you specifically referring to? 12 hours ago, bevema said: It was the Google Maps API that changed, not Google Earth. That's unrelated to the current issue. 22 hours ago, SigsPig said: Leaflet Maps V1.1 +Dustydew 1 Dustydew 1 Please fix the Geocache Google Earth viewer!! We really miss this, as we use it to plan our trips to find caches!! +funkymunkyzone 262 funkymunkyzone 262 On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 8:02 AM, The A-Team said: (My bolding) This is true, but it does make me wonder how the priorities are managed between what needs fixing and what is simply being changed on a whim, marketing reasons, or whatever other decision making process aside from broken. Just for a laugh consider this analogy. A bunch of people buy a certain type of car. One day, one of the standard features - the rear window wiper - fails on all the cars. People come to a forum owned by the car company and complain about the failure, requesting it be fixed. Lots of very helpful people mention workarounds for while its broken, like getting out and wiping the rear window by hand, or having someone outside the vehicle to guide you when reversing in the rain. Someone even suggests, still being totally helpful, that the company has a list of things to fix and have to prioritise important things over things like this that don't get used very often. Meanwhile the company is not fixing the issue, or many others, but instead is putting a great deal of effort into changing things that already work ok and/or flashy new features that seemingly no one asked for, like, I dunno, little automatic spray washers for headlights, features that are probably for some marketing purpose to attract new customers rather than keep working what they already promise... Edited May 6 by funkymunkyzone +jack of hearts 4 jack of hearts 4 Thanks funkymukyzone for your apt analogy. I was disappointed to read the many complaints (above), from geocachers like me, who appear to be simply begging for a tool that had been working fine for many years to be returned to its proper functionality, only to be told that: (1) there apparently aren't enough of us, or we don't use it enough (low usage?), (2) it is therefore too low on the priority list of things to be repaired (for two months now?), and (3) Geospeak apparently knows of all these complaints but has yet to officially respond in a meaningful way -- such as a message somewhere on the geocache web site, and certainly a message on or a change to the help page ( https://www.geocaching.com/about/google.aspx ) that continues to instruct users on how to "View Geocaches with Google Earth ". And then NYPaddleCacher responded to vanBaarsel's recollection about how they were able to do so much more (and easier) with GE (better location searching, for example) with: PRECISELY! That is exactly why we all want to use Google Earth Pro to "search around" rather than the Geocaching site maps! Not just for the searching features, but for EVERYTHING GE Pro has to offer! Google Earth is exactly what you said: a 100 billion dollar mapping and search tool. I would prefer to use the 100 billion dollar map please! And don't tell me that there are work-arounds that require downloading PQ's into other programs and such. That IS NOT A REPLACEMENT for Google Earth! NYPaddleCacher, you are correct: GE Pro has an enormous edge in mapping functionality compared to any of the simple maps on the Geocaching page. With GE, you can look at 3D topography (from any angle!), 3D building views, quick zooming, fly overs, street views, historical views, measure distances, create paths, polygons, and circles, (quickly) examine elevation profiles of roads and cache trails (or any line), overlay dozens of databases (parks, transportation, postal zones), quickly find (and mark) ALL churches, schools, hospitals, museums, post offices, libraries, etc., use different coordinate systems (UTM, decimal degrees, etc.), etc. AND you can save any of this personalized stuff to use/look at later. Yes, of course, I could go back and forth between the caching page and GE, but why do I have to? I have dozens of my own kml files with various locations, boundaries, shapefiles, previous mapped hikes, etc. that I would like to use AT THE SAME TIME (i.e., overlay) when viewing new unexplored cache areas. And I would like it to access to the most up-do-date cache info, not from last week (when I pulled the PQ). GoogleEarth is an amazing mapping tool (I also use it daily in my work as an environmental consultant). I am surprised to hear that so few geocachers apparently use it, since almost all my geo-caching friends use it at least sometimes. Whether or not lots of geocachers make use of the feature (everyone finds their own way of comfortably playing this game), Google Earth Pro is still the state-of the-art when it comes to mapping tools (and it is free!), so it seems that there should be some effort made to fix it for those of us who count on the feature. +x_xenolith_x 2 x_xenolith_x 2 Update on the ticket is worthwhile to all the members It's been 90days since first reported. I would like to do some delorm squares and counties. Have tried troubleshooting several different ways and no avail. Groundspeak map will not show county lines or the squares. Please don't pawn me to a 3rd party site when Groundspeak is suppose the be the top of geocaching sites $30 for the past 11 years for geodata. 9 hours ago, jack of hearts said: You can use Google's products on the website. Both the search and browse maps let you use Google Maps as your base map, including the street map, terrain map, and satellite imagery. It's not Google Earth (which Google does not spend 100 billion dollars to develop and maintain), but it is still Google. I'm still not really following how the Google Earth interactive KMZ file is a better "search around" tool than the mapping at the website. Remember, the coordinates in the KML file are not precise. They are offset with a random error, no matter how far you zoom in. The same cannot be said about using the browse or search maps at Geocaching.com. Those points are as spot on as the coordinates were entered by the cache owner. Or put it this way, you can use the website to locate which tree or bush the cache is hidden under, you can't do that with Google Earth. There's also the matter that the website's searching and filtering tools are much stronger than the Google Earth feature. The ONLY extra that Google Earth gives you over Google Maps on the website is 3-d terrain. I don't see that as a necessity for browsing areas for geocaches. The rest of the features you mention: 3D building views, quick zooming, fly overs, street views, historical views, measure distances, create paths, polygons, and circles, (quickly) examine elevation profiles of roads and cache trails (or any line), overlay dozens of databases (parks, transportation, postal zones), quickly find (and mark) ALL churches, schools, hospitals, museums, post offices, libraries, etc., use different coordinate systems (UTM, decimal degrees, etc.), etc. AND you can save any of this personalized stuff to use/look at later. Those features are all really great. They have nothing to do with geocaching. I mean, do you really need to know what the historical satellite imagery looks like to decide if you're going to search a particular area for a cache? I'm not saying that the Google Earth feature isn't useful, or fun. Yeah, it sucks that the feature isn't working right now. The developers know, but it's not a high priority job at the moment, both because there are likely more pressing matters to attend to, and it's a feature that relatively few people use (Moun10Bike has access to that information. He knows how often it was accessed and by how many unique users). It's just not a feature that the game is dependent upon. Its existence doesn't make or break the game. At the end of the day, you have all of the tools available to you to: a) find a general area to go geocaching and b) download the caches. All you need is a GPS, standalone or phone + app, to make that happen. Google earth doesn't actually get you there or make the find for you. Yet. I'm going to point out (again) that in the meantime, you can import your pocket queries or GSAK database into Google Earth - it will open GPX files directly. In doing so, you actually eliminate some of the limitations of the live Google Earth feature - waypoints show up in their actual location, you're not limited to 250 caches at a time. All of the information for the cache is visible including the description, recent logs, links to the cache page, and different icons based on cache type. Edited May 6 by Mineral2 Mineral2, I'm just not sure that you get it! If you don't follow how Google Earth provides a "better search around tool" than the map at the Geocaching website, then you must not use GE! Yes it is true that the cache locations are only approximate when using the GE kml -- but so what? -- sure I wish they were exact, but I can quickly convert that approx location into a real one -- let's say I see a cache located (approximately) along a path, mountain top, or city block in Timbuktu that I am am viewing in GE (and I will be or am considering visiting). I click on the cache and it opens (in a browser window). After checking out the cache deets (looks like a fun one, lots of faves, no climbing, etc), I simply copy the coords back into GE and zoom in on the actual treetop, bush etc. AND also get a "street view" preview. AND measure the distance to my hotel. AND quickly see how steep the walk is. ET CETERA.! Of course I could do the initial search on the Geocache map page, BUT I WANT TO USE GOOGLE EARTH! Why? Because it offers all those other bells and whistles while I am just "searching around" Timbuktu! The point is I am already using GE Pro daily to map out lots of stuff for my work and various life adventures. Which sometimes includes geocaching. So I would simply like to be able to overlay caches (even approx) on my favorite mapping tool that I am already using all the frigging time! Why is that so hard to understand?? Geomaps do not provide: 3-D (terrain imagery), street views (which are different than street maps!), county/zip borders, lat/lon (or UTM) grids (useful for delorme challenges), different coordinate options, locations of places (churches, etc.), (just to name a few), and yes even historical views! If you don't understand why any of these might be useful when searching around (and also when considering candidate hiding spots), including historical views, then you must never have hidden a "history-rich" geocache, or have planned out an extensive delorme grid/county challenge! I am not suggesting that one cannot go caching without using GE to locate caches, but for those of use who already using GE all the time (is it really so few of us? can you share some stats with us Moun10Bike??), we would simply like to continue to use the Geocache kml feature to locate caches when (virtually) flying around Timbuktu (even approximately)! And why can't there be a bit more transparency? As a geo-user I would like to know IF it is going to be repaired, and an estimated date for such fix, before I go and invest lots of time finding an alternative (if there even is one!). And maybe some info about what exactly is the problem with the kml widget -- maybe one of us nerds knows a way to fix it or get around the problem (it can't be that complicated). I just want geocaches overlayed on my (already highly personalized) GE Pro. I don't NEED it. I just WANT it! Do I really need to convince you that GE Pro is extremely useful before you can see the merit in keeping this feature working (which has worked for more than a decade)? Edited May 6 by jack of hearts +Elde 2 Elde 2 4 hours ago, Mineral2 said: The ONLY extra that Google Earth gives you over Google Maps on the website is 3-d terrain. - Google Earth will load .kml and . kmz files. Google Maps does not. - Google Earth allows you to draw radius's, squares, paths, etc... Google Maps does not. - Google Earth allows you to toggle on multiple useful layers of data... Google Maps does not. - Google Earth allows you to see boundary lines, and load .kml and . kmz for those it does not do natively. Google Earth is limited on the first, and does not the last. Etc... etc... I'm still not really following how the Google Earth interactive KMZ file is a better "search around" tool than the mapping at the website. Remember, the coordinates in the KML file are not precise. They don't have to be precise. The imprecise coordinates are more than good enough to tell me whether or not I need to investigate that cache in more detail. That is, your argument rests on the broken assumption that the only possible reason to use a mapping tool is to find the precise bush a geocache is located under. (Setting aside the laughable notion that the cache's actual coordinates at Geocaching.com are consistently that accurate.) I'm currently using it to plan a caching run Memorial Day weekend - in previous years, it's been trivially easy to open Google Earth and take a quick look to see if there were any caches near our routes between non-geocaching stop or near those stops. Or, more correctly, all I have (had) was cause the plugin to refresh because I already had Google Earth open to plan and map those stops. Getting the same data without the plugin takes much more time, and leaves me with a mess (in the form of PQ's, route queries, and downloaded files) that I have to clean up. It's just not a feature that the game is dependent upon. It may not be a feature that's important to your game... But it is to my game, and other's as well. Edited May 6 by Elde THANK YOU Elde for concisely saying what I have been desperately trying to convey!! (1) Google Earth has countless features that Google maps doesn't have and MANY of these have been extremely useful to some (many?) of us. (2) Approximate cache locations are good enough -- especially when overlayed on a powerful mapping platform like Google Earth! (3) Everyone uses different tools (and has come to rely on many of those tools) to play this game. 2 hours ago, Elde said: It may not be a feature that's important to your game... But it is to my game, and other's as well. 1 hour ago, jack of hearts said: Yes! This! Keep this in mind if one tool goes down, there are other tools available to get the job done until your preferred tool comes back. I, and the other knowledgeable people in this community, have given some suggestions, including one to continue using Google Earth, so that you don't have to stop geocaching just because the GE feature provided by Groundspeak is temporarily out of order. I don't mean to personally attack anyone here for using the Google Earth tool, and I apologize if I made anyone feel that way. I, too, use it on occasion. But it's unavailability in recent months hasn't impacted my ability to go geocaching and participate in the game, and I hope you can also continue to enjoy the hobby until the feature returns. On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 11:00 AM, jack of hearts said: And why can't there be a bit more transparency? As a geo-user I would like to know IF it is going to be repaired, and an estimated date for such fix, before I go and invest lots of time finding an alternative (if there even is one!). That just isn't the way HQ operates. You're lucky that you even got the one response from Moun10Bike here. Typically, you won't get any acknowledgement of an issue. I believe they've chosen this method so they can avoid committing to timelines they can't meet, or to give them the flexibility to just not fix it at all. Please understand that many of us in here do understand how useful Google Earth can be. While I don't use the plugin very often, I've used GE for many things for many years. It's just that our experience is that this won't be fixed quickly, so we've been trying to point affected users to alternative options. +makeme 2 makeme 2 I have used the Viewer on Google Earth to find Delorme grids and caches in counties that I need. I can not find them any other way. All I had to do is hone in on an area and the caches would appear and I could choose the caches I needed for my challenges. PLEASE FIX IT. And the new maps on Geocaching.com are a joke. What happened to the way they were??? You can use project-gc.com for both of those. Still waiting!! Any ETA on the fix for the Google Earth KML viewer yet? It's been broken for months! +djbach 0 djbach 0 I can add my voice to this discussion. I continue to miss being able to use the Google Earth viewer. I used to use it all the time. I find it interesting that many of the responses continue to say that it's a feature that not used very much. I find that hard to believe. If it's a feature the HQ is not going to fix, please remove it from your website as an offered feature. I love the feature and want to be able to use it but why keep it on your website if it's not working and appears not to be a feature you're interested in fixing. FIX IT OR REMOVE IT. On 5/8/2019 at 8:36 AM, Mineral2 said: I searched around and found the answer is no. Per the project-gc owner, it's not going to happen. IF I am incorrect, please point me in the correct direction to use unfounded hides in a delorme square. Approaching 120 days of google earth being down 2 hours ago, x_xenolith_x said: Apologies. It must be a different site that tracks your delorme challenge progress. How do you view that in Google Earth? +hzoi 904 hzoi 904 When in doubt -- bushwhack! please point me in the correct direction to use unfounded hides in a delorme square You can use mygeocachingprofile.com to track which Delorme pages you've satisfied. I know there is a GSAK macro for county and Delorme challenges, it also shows you which pages you've found. As far as showing all the caches on a particular Delorme page, I presume there is a GSAK macro for this that uses the same data set as the challenge checker, but I haven't used one. +cal25 3 cal25 3 I use Google Earth when planning geocaching trips and finding new counties. It has been easy to see what caches are available and devise the best route to take. Is there a GC map that has that info? When I used to be in the working world and you got the answer that included "We don't no when someone will get to it because it is not high on the priority list" It surely meant that there was intent to ever look into the matter. Funny thing was as an employee I was expected to take care of every duty on my lists regardless of priorities. GC wont even let us know they are aware of the issue. 4 hours ago, cal25 said: GC wont even let us know they are aware of the issue. They did so 2.5 months ago, back on the first page: On ‎3‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 4:01 PM, Moun10Bike said: I've reported this issue to the engineers and documented it in our issue tracking software. I can't say when or even if they will get to it, as it has pretty low usage (although I'm sure that it's more than 200 people ). On 4/11/2019 at 1:02 PM, The A-Team said: 1. As far as we know, they did not intentionally disable it. Something broke. And this is why we're asking them to fix it. It's a very useful tool that many of us have been using for over a decade! 2. We're not being critical of the feature. We're trying to suggest alternate methods or workarounds, given that the Google Earth viewer doesn't work at the moment. Understood, but we're not asking for a work around, we're asking for the broken feature to get fixed. 3. Just to be clear, the viewer itself isn't a paid feature. Both Basic and Premium members can use it, though Premium members get more "views" (refreshing the caches when the map is dragged). Perfectly clear - it's not a premium feature - meaning that is more 'core' than premier and thus more important. 4. There are many things on the website that don't work correctly. The developers need to prioritize the long list in order to fix the most important issues first. Since the Google Earth viewer is used relatively minimally and there are workarounds for many use-cases, fixing it could be pretty far down the list. And many of those broken items have been broken for YEARS. Yet they keep on piling on more and more unnecessary features, without any focus on fixing the basic functionality issues we've been complaining about. On 5/31/2019 at 8:06 AM, cal25 said: Nah, they are aware of it, they just refuse to address it and even stopped replying to our requests to get it fixed. Keep e-mailing contact@Groundspeak.com until they do. On 5/23/2019 at 1:52 PM, djbach said: I disagree - I don't want them to remove such a good tool! I want it fixed! It's a very useful tool that I used to use all the time for trip planning, puzzle solving, routing out hiking trails, scoping out best routes to arrive at a hide etc.. the list is huge. 8 minutes ago, Zop said: I'd love to see it get fixed too. But, let's not go overboard with hyperbole here. Every function that you use Google Earth for is still there. You can find routes, you can use it for puzzle solving, routing out hiking trails, scoping out best routes to arrive at a hide, etc. Because none of those functions explicitly relies on the live geocache viewer to be working. You will have to make a few extra steps to your workflow (for now) - either download and import a PQ for the area of interest, or use the browse or search map on the website, in satellite view if preferred, to find specific caches of interest and copy the coordinates over to Google Earth. In conclusion, I agree. HQ, please look into fixing the Google Earth Viewer. But for you regular users who rely on this feature, stop acting as though Google Earth or Geocaching are dead without it. Geocaching has existed before Google Earth did, and Google Earth exists outside of Geocaching. Both the game and the Google Earth program work fine without each other. You can make due without Google Earth, and you can make due with some workarounds that let you continue using Google Earth. These options have been well discussed in this thread, so scroll up and read. But your refusal to use these solutions is on you, not Groundspeak. On 3/13/2019 at 4:01 PM, Moun10Bike said: On 6/7/2019 at 11:38 AM, Mineral2 said: No offense, but let's stop talking down to those of us who are seriously and significantly inconvenienced by the loss of this tool. For us, the game and Google Earth do not work fine without each other. There are workarounds for some of the lost functionality - but they're all much more time consuming and/or more difficult to use and often only replace a portion of the lost functionality. Go To Topic Listing Website	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1195
__label__wiki	0.856749	0.856749	31 Likes received Live Poll: Need Some Ice for That Burn? Which witty comeback below do you think is the best "burn"? List: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls069904214/ Poll: http://www.imdb.com/poll/g... Laiath, 2 years ago Last reply: joe hunter, 11 months ago Updates to List Pages Today (Dec 6) we are announcing an update to the List pages on the IMDb desktop experience. This update is part of the broader site chan... Karen, 2 years ago Live Poll: Horror Movies That Gave Us Trust Issues Which movie had the most unexpected character twist at the end? They were trusted friends, lovers, underdogs, people no one would ever s... Last reply: Dan Dassow, 1 year ago Lists: Add new list type - quotes While you guys are at it, can we have a new list type, that of movie quotes? I'd love to be able to make lists of movie quotes. And if a... Last reply: Laiath, 2 years ago Live Poll: Marvel wisecracks It's no secret Marvel movies are hilarious, but some wisecracks deserve a special mention. Which one do you think is the funniest? http:/... Live Poll: Wordlessly Funny Movie Scenes Which image shows the most belly-laugh-worthy scene in these post-2000 movies? http://www.imdb.com/list/ls069952859/#1 http://www.imdb.... Live Poll: Who Should Play the Bride in 'Bride of Frankenstein'? Which actress would you like to see as the Monster's mate in the upcoming Bride of Frankenstein? The Mummy has kicked off a series of reb... Poll Suggestion: Best U.S. Military Depiction in a Movie In honor of Memorial Day, which feature film released in the past year do you think is the best depiction of the U.S. Armed Forces? http:... Why the silence on the IMDbPoll Twitter page? Just curious; nothing's been posted in over a month (since April 8). Last reply: rocky-o, 2 years ago	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1198
__label__wiki	0.907915	0.907915	Liverpool back on the map after win over Bayern Klopp delighted as Reds make it four English clubs in final eight Published: March 14, 2019 16:07 Andy Hunter, Guardian Liverpool’s coach Jurgen Klopp celebrates with goalkeeper Alisson after the final whistle. Image Credit: AFP Munich: An elated Jurgen Klopp claimed that Liverpool had put themselves back on the map of world football with their hugely convincing victory against Bayern Munich in Germany. Liverpool confirmed there will be four English clubs in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2009 with a comfortable and clinical defeat of the German champions and Bundesliga leaders. Sadio Mane scored twice in a superb individual display while the equally impressive Virgil van Dijk also scored in Liverpool’s first European away win of the season, and arguably their finest under Klopp. The manager said victory at one of European football’s powerhouses, following on from last season’s appearance in the Champions League final, confirmed Liverpool’s place among the elite in the game. “Scoring three goals here is massive and a big step for us, a big, big step,” the former Borussia Dortmund manager said. “We will see what we can do with it but it is a fantastic sign. We set a mark for LFC tonight that we are back on the international landscape as a football club. I am really happy about the result and the fact that we are through. I knew we had a chance but I didn’t expect it would happen, but the boys made it happen and it was really brilliant. “This is important for where we want to get to. There are some places in world football that whatever team comes here — Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona — they wouldn’t expect to win it. They know it’s a tough place to come. This club always has outstandingly strong football teams but we kept them away from our goal as well as possible. There were not too many difficult situations in and around our box and that is massive sign. “It is not about playing free-flowing football because that is not possible against a side of this quality, you have to find different ways and we found them. That makes me really proud and happy because I think this club deserves recognition and awareness again. We are back — that’s good, we have a lot to learn but we are back. We are back. There is no doubt we are back again.” Guardiola wants only ‘happy players’ at City Decorated coach ready to help Leroy Sane realise his potential Emirates to sponsor West Asian football Iraq to host major competition for first time in three decades Mane, Mahrez emerge from Salah’s shadow to steal show Nketiah gives Arsenal friendly win over Bayern Dhoni deserved ‘disgraceful exit': Pakistan minister Dhoni mulling plans to retire only after T20 World Cup Pakistanis troll Indians after loss to New Zealand Inzamam to step down as Pakistan chief selector Sir Ben Stokes? Could be possible: PM candidates Rohit, Bumrah in ICC's World Cup XI, no place for Kohli	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1211
__label__cc	0.748666	0.251334	Our Award 2018 Guy & Co-Creation® Award Full Terms & Conditions This Promotion is only open to companies registered and based in Scotland, excluding anyone or any company professionally associated with this Promotion. Purchase is not necessary but internet access is required. Promotion Period:Enter between 00.01 BST on the 21stJune 2018 and 23.59 GMT on the 31stOctober 2018 inclusive. To Enter:Visit guyco.co.uk/award, provide your company’s details (registered company name), contact details (email address and phone number) and pitch your new food or drink idea as either: A document or presentation format (maximum 5,000 words) uploaded in PDF format. A video (maximum 5 minutes in length) uploaded in mpg or mp4 format. Further Entry Details: A registered company can enter multiple times but each entry must be for a different food or drink product or product range. Only pitches for new food or drink products will be accepted. 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__label__cc	0.631391	0.368609	EPSRC Reference: EP/P008682/1 Title: United Kingdom Centre for Marine Energy Research Principal Investigator: Jeffrey, Mr H Ingram, Professor DM Johnstone, Mr C Kiprakis, Dr A Johanning, Professor L Williams, Dr AJ Thies, Dr PR Brennan, Professor FP Croft, Dr TN Day, Professor AS Masters, Professor I Highlands & Islands Enterprise Marine Energy SpA (Energia Marina) NaMICPA (Nagasaki Marine Industy) National University of Mexico Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Scheme: Standard Research - NR1 Starts: 01 December 2016 Ends: 31 May 2019 Value (£): 1,517,202 Energy - Marine & Hydropower 18 May 2016 Supergen Marine HUB Extension Announced Marine (or offshore) renewable energy has a large potential to deliver clean, secure and predictable energy. The United Kingdom has some of the largest natural resources (large waves, strong tidal currents and high winds) of any country in the world. The exploitation of these resources is critical to addressing the energy trilemma (of producing secure, cost affordable, low carbon energy). Indeed, it is likely that without marine energy the UK's ambitious 2050 carbon reduction targets cannot be met. However, Marine energy has significant challenges to overcome. Wave, tidal and wind turbines must be installed and operated in remote locations, where the water is deep and the ocean, weather and tides are highly energetic. To provide cost effective electricity, renewable energy devices must be inexpensive to manufacture, simple to install, reliable, easy to service and produce large quantities of energy. Achieving all of this within the hostile marine environment is quite a challenge, however the prize is significant, providing not only clean energy, but significant employment and export opportunities. The United Kingdom Centre for Marine Renewable Energy (UKCMER) is a virtual centre, funded under RCUK's Energy Programmes SUPERGEN initiative. UKCMER seeks to coordinate research in renewable electricity generation using the power of the waves, tidal currents and floating wind turbines. The UKCMER core comprises of The University of Edinburgh (who coordinate the programme), Cranfield University, Exeter University, Strathclyde University and Swansea University. In addition to conducting a core research programme UKCMER acts as a hub to coordinate the activities of four additional Grand Challenge projects (EP/N021452/1, EP/N021487/1, EP/N020782/1 and EP/N02057X/1) looking at specific challenges for the marine energy sector. Research in the fourth phase of UKCMER will focus on: methods to enhance the performance of tidal turbines that recognise that arrays of machines are affected by both the interactions of the water flowing passed the devices and the electrical infrastructure which collects the energy generated and sends it to the grid. The development of design tools to assist in the optimal design of wave energy converters, tidal turbines and floating wind turbines that account for the random nature of both the waves and turbulence in the marine environment. Methods to explore the response of wave energy converters, tidal turbines and floating wind turbines to extreme loading events, recognising that such events arise from a combination of steep (rather than large waves) and the state of the device when the waves reach it. Examining how the wakes of tidal turbines deployed in farms interact with each other so that the power production from the farm can be optimised. And finally, how new designs and materials can improve the structural integrity of offshore renewable energy converters. The research programme has been designed to be complementary to the existing grand challenge projects and will make use of early results from these projects. UKCMER leads the UK's international outreach activities and has developed strong links to programmes in Chile, Japan, Korea, Mexico and the USA which will be further strengthened under this grant. UKCMER staff continue to contribute to standardisation activities of the IEC helping to develop the 62600 series of international standards and contributing to the work of the International Towing Tank Conference (ITTC) and the International Ships and Offshore Structures Congress (ISSC).	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1224
__label__cc	0.672398	0.327602	Bringing Wellness to the Workplace By: Andrew Gallinaro, senior vice president and director of asset management, National Development Summer 2016 Suburban office park owners are incorporating health and wellness features to attract forward-thinking tenants. CREATING A CULTURE of wellness is increasingly important for companies looking to attract and engage employees of all ages. But to do so successfully, businesses must go well beyond offering great health insurance or access to a gym. Today’s companies are offering outdoor programming and activities, promoting organic food delivery and encouraging walking meetings. This new approach to wellness requires owners to reimagine the traditional office park. Suburban office parks have historically been master planned with cars in mind, set up to cater to employees who drove to work, got back in their cars to get lunch or run an errand, then drove home at 5 p.m. Employees now expect more options and amenities nearby, and are striving for better work-life balance, including opportunities to improve their health and wellness. In fact, they often consider these opportunities when choosing a new employer or office space. Wellness is all encompassing. It can be integrated into the office by design and programs or through amenities within the workplace setting. Real estate professionals, landlords and property managers need to consider how to bring wellness into the mix in a way that is more engaging. Beyond the Fitness Center The traditional suburban office park might not seem like an ideal candidate for this workplace wellness revolution, but it actually provides an excellent backdrop for the changes companies are looking to implement. The suburban campus offers a distinct advantage, providing more open space than an urban setting. Walking trails encourage employees to step away from their desks, and can even be a catalyst for collaboration and innovation during on-the-move brainstorming sessions. The addition of amenities such as restaurants and shops within walking distance is also critical to achieving balance in the workplace. Tenants themselves are clearly embracing office wellness. At The District Burlington in Burlington, Massachusetts, one software company has plans to incorporate a barre studio into its office space, pushing the boundaries of what employees traditionally think about their fitness options. This is part of a transformation into the “new suburbs,” where property owners are bringing in new amenities and thematically incorporating wellness into existing corporate campuses with progressive renovations. At 101 Station Drive in Westwood, Massachusetts, National Development brought the outdoors inside, installing a high-performance curtain wall system to allow natural light to stream into the lobby, where natural elements like a living wall enliven the space and improve the air quality. A patio and a fire pit at the building entry set the tone for the recently renovated office building, which is full of collaborative and interactive spaces. The living wall and natural light are part of an overall wellness theme at 101 Station Drive. While it’s true that simply having a fitness center isn’t enough anymore, investing in and enhancing an existing fitness center — and actually featuring it in the common area design — can help activate the workplace and encourage people to do more than just go to the gym. (See “Nuts and Bolts of Office Fitness Design” and “A Moveable Fitness Program.”) Creative building owners are reimagining both building interiors and the spaces between buildings, integrating high-quality indoor and outdoor spaces throughout suburban campuses. The Future of Workplace Wellness Fitness studios, walking trails and outdoor gathering spaces are a welcome component to the workplace, but employers are also thinking about other ways to bring wellness into the office. At some companies, tenants can schedule a weekly delivery of organic fruits and vegetables, or request a standing desk to offset the health risks of sitting for too long. (The average American worker spends eight to 12 hours a day sitting, increasing their risk of “deleterious health outcomes,” according to one scientific study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.) Companies like the Somerville, Massachusetts-based Green City Growers are installing vegetable and herb gardens in suburban office parks, giving employees the opportunity to engage with nature and enjoy fresh produce throughout the year. Custom-designed corporate wellness programs are another unique amenity that adds value to the workplace. The District Burlington is partnering with Life-Cycle Wellness to operate an on-site indoor cycling studio and offer specialty workshops with a holistic approach to health. This partnership ensures that wellness is a key feature of the office park, supporting tenants’ goals, happiness and productivity. Two of the largest tenants at The District Burlington committed to a comprehensive corporate wellness program in the first three months after the program was launched, and individual participation has been high. Wellness initiatives, new amenities and program offerings help employees meet their personal wellness goals, but studies by RAND Health and others indicate that these programs also pay off for employers: For every $1 spent on wellness programs, employee medical costs fall by about $3.27 and absenteeism costs drop by about $2.73. These programs even contribute to improved morale and better recruitment and retention. For developers, wellness means reinventing the suburban office park to take advantage of existing space between buildings: installing walking trails and gardens for all tenants to use and redeveloping a campus of office, retail and multifamily spaces with walkable amenities to reinforce balance in the workplace. Thinking about wellness ensures that developers will continue to attract forward-thinking tenants and foster more engaged, focused and wellness-oriented workplaces for the future.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1227
__label__cc	0.518471	0.481529	Judicial Insights into Online Defamation Cathleen Francois Green News You Can Use, Legal Services, Vendor News Circulation, Judicial Insights into Online Defamation, Online Defamation, Ossian law, Publication A federal court of appeals has rejected the notion that “circulation” rather than “publication” of allegedly defamatory material online and through email distribution is sufficient to state a claim. In late 2013/early 2014, financial publisher The Deal, LLC posted three articles on its subscriber-only website and also sent the articles in an email newsletter to its 700 subscribers. In 2017, Scottsdale Capital Advisors Corp. and its’ executive officer, John Hurry, filed a lawsuit in federal court in New Hampshire against The Deal and William Meagher, the writer, claiming that the articles were defamatory to the plaintiffs. None of the parties have ties to the state of New Hampshire and defendants filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. After allowing discovery on jurisdiction, the trial court granted the motion and dismissed the case. On appeal, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal. In analyzing whether the plaintiffs could demonstrate defamation under New Hampshire law, the question became whether defendants had published the alleged defamatory content to a third party located in New Hampshire. The undisputed evidence was that the only subscriber located in the state was Dartmouth College and that no one from the college had accessed the defendants’ website. There was no evidence that the two individuals at Dartmouth had even opened defendants’ email newsletter. The court rejected plaintiffs’ argument that mere “circulation” of the articles satisfied the publication element. The bottom line is that this court refused to establish a new or different standard for alleged online defamation. Review the federal appellate court decision here. Contact us at Ossian Law regarding any information technology law question. © 2018 Ossian Law P.C. UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS & WORKSHOPS “IoT — A Legal Look” Identifying and Addressing Risks of Connected Devices Friday, April 13th — 4:00 – 5:00 PM 2018 D-Con Cybersecurity Conference North Oakland ISSA Baker College of Auburn Hills, 1500 University Drive, Auburn Hills, MI 48326 The convenience of an increasing number of smart devices in our professional and personal lives cannot be denied. Along with that convenience come security and privacy risks. Information Technology lawyer Kathy Ossian will identify risks, provide many examples and offer tips for both providers and users toward managing the risks. Register here today! “Brand Protection in the Digital Age” Thursday, April 19th – 6:00 to 7:30 PM Ossian Law P.C. 701 Woodward Heights, Ste. 117, Ferndale, MI 48220 In the age of brand tarnishment, social media impersonation and similar threats, policing your brand is more important than ever. Information Technology attorney Kathy Ossian will address ways to harmonize your organization’s branding with your social media and other online presence. Networking from 6:00-6:30 with presentation from 6:30 – 7:30. Complimentary admission. Includes heavy hors d’oeuvres. Space is limited so register here today! Have a suggestion for a future IT Law Alert or presentation topic? Let us know here The 2018 edition of “Social Media and the Law”, published by the Practising Law Institute, Kathryn Ossian, Managing Editor is now available. Read our press release here. Source: Ossian Law, P.C. Click here to be introduced to Ossian Law, P.C.! Connected Vehicle Hacking Lawsuits chee chee Green News You Can Use, Legal Services, Local Business Connected Vehicle Hacking, Ossian law Following the hacking of a Jeep Cherokee during a staged experiment in 2015, Fiat Chrysler USA (FCA) recalled 1.4 million 2013-2015 vehicles. The incident also prompted the filing of a proposed class action lawsuit against FCA in an Illinois federal district court (Flynn case). Ossian Law IT Law Alert February 6, 2018 Cathleen Francois Green News You Can Use, Legal Services, Vendor News Bitcoin, Currency, Ossian law, Regulations The Legal Side of Bitcoin Public interest in Bitcoin grows as the value of the cryptocurrency has increased of late. Some view cryptocurrency as the wave of the future; others consider trading in it a gamble. How do countries and other levels of government treat cryptocurrency? In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against allegedly fraudulent offers for Bitcoin and questioned other public offerings of the cryptocurrency. States, including New York, New Hampshire and Washington, have passed laws regulating cryptocurrencies. Recently, several Florida agencies split nearly $1.7 million in Bitcoin funds that were seized from two men who stole them from the wallet of a now-defunct online marketplace used primarily to sell illegal drugs. Other countries are also grappling with how to regulate Bitcoin. Argentina and India have issued official warnings. Russia and Malaysia are working on regulations. A few, like Namibia, have declared that purchases made with Bitcoin are illegal. The legal future of Bitcoin remains speculative. Check out these articles with more information on the various government actions and the Florida forfeiture. Contact us at Ossian Law regarding any information technology law question. Click here to be introduced to Ossian Law! Regulating Personal Delivery Devices Guest User Green News You Can Use, Legal Services Ossian law, PDD, PDDs, Personal Delivery Devices Personal delivery devices, or PDDs, have begun rolling along some cities’ streets, transporting carry-out from local restaurants and delivering parcels. Unlike flying drones that fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration, there is no basis for federal jurisdiction over these devices, sometimes referred to as “ground drones.” FTC Secures $2.7 Million Judgment against Telemarketers Guest User Legal Services, Vendor News Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Information Technology Law, Ossian law For many years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has maintained a national “do-not-call” registry of telephone numbers of individuals and organizations that do not to receive unsolicited marketing calls. Recently, the FTC obtained a $2.7 million judgment from a U.S. District Court in California against Aaron Michael Jones and several companies he operated, including Data World Technologies, Inc., Digital Marketing Solutions, Inc. and Velocity Information Corp. Ossian Law P.C. John IT Product & Services, Legal Services, Local Business Kathy Ossian is one of GreeningDetroit.com’s attorneys and counselors at law. Kathy is Founder and CEO of Ossian Law, P.C., a firm focused exclusively on Information Technology Law. Kathy is a former Senior Principal at Miller Canfield where she headed up the firm’s Information Technology & Cyberlaw Section. Kathy has almost 30 years of legal experience and over 16 years of Information Technology law expertise. Kathy is an Advanced Certified Faculty Member at University of Phoenix where she teaches graduate and undergraduate business law courses. A long time Best Lawyer in America and Michigan Super Lawyer in information technology law, Kathy is a frequent author and speaker on the information technology law topics of the day. Links to Ossian Law in other media: http://www.legalnews.com/detroit/1421404/ http://www.legalnews.com/oakland/1421693 http://legalnews.com/ingham/1421706/ Plunkett Cooney John Legal Services, Local Business Since 1913, Plunkett Cooney has kept pace with Michigan’s evolving business landscape by offering traditional legal services with timely, practical advice on legal trends and new technology that position their clients for success. Our attorneys are dedicated to obtaining the right results for their clients whether in the boardroom or the courtroom. They represent numerous clients in the emerging technology industry, including alternative and renewable energy companies, telecommunications providers and transportation companies. We have been at the forefront of Michigan’s effort to attract and retain green companies, and we are dedicated to internal green initiatives such as recycling, energy efficient technology implementation and employee awareness campaigns. Our attorneys are well versed in such areas as LEED certification of green buildings, Brownfield redevelopment, environmental law, zoning and land use, carbon emission tracking and reporting, tax credits, and more. Beyond legal advocacy, our attorneys also work to integrate their clients into the green industry through our firm’s extensive network of contacts and knowledge of programs and projects throughout the state. Like all businesses, green companies need traditional legal representation, and Plunkett Cooney provides an array of additional legal services customized to your needs. Contact Senior Attorney Saulius Mikalonis (248) 901-4022 to learn how Plunkett Cooney can plug into your business.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1228
__label__cc	0.51672	0.48328	Schupan Recycling chee chee Commercial & Facility Engineering, Local Business, Manufacturing & Industry, Recycling & Waste, Recycling & Waste, Residential Product & Services Schupan Recycling specializes in creating recycling programs for schools and events large and small in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Our programs help people recycle by providing a consistent and clear message and access to recycling in high-traffic,public areas. Schupan Recycling is a processor and marketer of Used Beverage Containers (UBCs) including aluminum cans, plastic bottles (PET), and glass bottles. We operate multiple processing facilities that recycle billons of cans and bottles for soft drink wholesalers and beer wholesalers throghout the State of Michigan. Schupan is the largest independent purchaser, processor and marketer of UBCs in the nation. Do you need recycling help for your next event? Find out more about our school recycling programs… SOCRRA John Local Business, Recycling & Waste SOCRRA is a municipal corporation founded in the early ’50s. SOCRRA consists of twelve member municipalities with a total population of approximately 283,000 and covers an area of 75 square miles. Member cities are Berkley, Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Clawson, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Lathrup Village, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Troy. SOCRRA is governed by a twelve member Board of Trustees, one member representing each of the constituent municipalities. Member voting power is based on individual member municipality refuse tonnage delivered to the Authority’s facilities. SOCRRA operates a Transfer Station in Troy (on Coolidge north of 14 Mile) and a compost site in Rochester Hills. The Troy facility receives and compacts the mixed municipal solid waste for transfer to a private landfill for disposal. SOCRRA also operates a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) on Coolidge north of 14 Mile that receives recyclable materials collected at curbside by the member municipalities. These recyclables are delivered to the MRF where the material is weighed and placed on the various processing conveyors for further sorting and baling for shipment to markets. The MRF is designed to process 100 tons per day in an eight hour shift, or 26,000 tons per year. SOCRRA has ongoing recycling education outreach programs including group tours of the Material Recovery Facility and Recycling 101 Workshops. SOCRRA has sponsored a Recycling Jamboree which educates the public on reducing, reusing and recycling with emphasis on how to prepare recyclables for set out at curbside. Through SOCWA’s Healthy Lawn and Garden Program, the Authority is actively involved in community outreach efforts to educate the public about practical methods for reducing yard waste, protecting water quality and using compost. Recommended practices are identified in partnership with the Oakland County MSU Extension, Wayne County MSU Extension, and the Metropolitan Detroit Landscape Association. With volunteer support from SOCRRA’s Master Composters, SOCRRA sponsors Master Composter training, public workshops, healthy garden tours, garbage-can composting in the schools, educational programs at SOCRRA Gardens, lawn care clinics, soil nutrient testing, seminars for retailers and outreach at a wide range of community events. Please visit our website for hours of operation and recycling guidelines: www.SOCRRA.org.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1229
__label__cc	0.702296	0.297704	FUNNY FIREPLACE I recently received a message from Robin Deurloo, who lives in the Netherlands and is one of those who made an effort to contribute to the modelling stage of Project Soane. He had received a request to model a fireplace design which is in a vaguely classical style and was struggling a bit with one element. He thought of me, and reached out. I guess lots of people who find themselves "modelling" on the basis of someone else's "design" face these kind of issues. The sketches he was working from are somewhat tentative/ambiguous. That's in the nature of quick design sketches really. In this case there are inherent contradictions between the different orthographic views, and quite frankly, it suggests a fairly shallow understanding of classical principles... But the general intentions are clear enough, and both Robin and his client have made genuine requests for help, so I decided to have a go. The problem area is the scroll. My own feeling is that you would never use a scroll quite like this. It seems somehow incomplete and disconnected from the rest of the design. Scrolls tend to follow and "S" shape with one side larger than the other, and assume the function of brackets (at least symbolically) Also the Scroll as drawn is something of an Escheresque impossible object. The projecting portion and its background merge into each other as you follow the curve around. So my own free interpretation of the intentions are shown above. I'm ashamed to admit that I had never drawn a spiral by the "proper method" before. I've always fudged it in my impatience. Considering that I wrote the foreword to Paul Aubin's excellent book "Renaissance Revit" some 3 years ago, this is quite an admission. So I reached over for Paul's book and constructed a rig of centre points that gradually work their way around, moving inwards as they go. The scroll as shown in the sketch didn't have so many turns, so I adapted the results with a larger centre circle. That gave me a filled region which I can edit, and copy the sketch into another context. You can use the sketch from a filled region to make an extrusion by copying from sketch mode and pasting into sketch mode. And you can select all the lines in a sketch and scale them up and down to your hearts content as long as none of the segments become too short. Now it is fairly common for spirals to project further out as they wind in towards the centre, and the sketch provided implies this. I have ignored this for the moment. You would need to create a swept blend, probably using a spline that approximates the curve of the spiral. I'm not quite convinced that the relative widths of the various components has been properly thought through in this design, so I decided to keep things simple, at least until the proportions have been resolved. For the same reasons, the fluting on the extrusion below the scroll is not curved in cross-section. The whole composition is rather squared off and crude, but that's OK. I am simply presenting an analysis for discussion. This is as close as I can get to the design sketch while maintaining a coherent 3-dimensional language. From here you could go on to discuss further adaptations and embellishments. Personally I would be inclined to either accept this solution, or rethink the whole thing rather radically, but that's just me. You can download my little family HERE, and if you look carefully, you'll see an embedded Detail Item that illustrates the setting out of the spiral. This is not 100% as Paul's meticulously explained method. I lost patience when it came to the inner spiral and reverse-engineered an approximation, but it's close, and you can scale this to a variety of applications with reasonable success. I have interpreted this scroll as half an Ionic Capital (rather than an incomplete and upside down bracket) but there many other ways of using scrolls. The classical language of architecture is remarkably flexible. Personally I am a little squeamish about designing modern buildings in a classical style: it rarely comes off in my view. But I get a huge amount of pleasure from researching buildings of the past using Revit, and if nothing else, this exercise has proved to me once more how remarkable Paul Aubin's book is, as a hands-on learning experience. If you have it, give it another shot. You probably found it hard work first time around, but it really repays the effort of repeated study. If you missed it first time around, then go and grab a copy. Fantastic value Posted by Andy Milburn at 10:49 AM 2 comments: BIRTHDAY TOYS I didn't really get any for my birthday (toys), but I have been playing with a couple of add ins, and of course the new features of Revit2018 have been announced. (no comment) During BiLT Asia, I met lots of interesting people, including founding members of Enscape3d and Flux.io. I've had my eye on both of these initiatives for some time now, but talking to people intimately involved with the development of a project always helps to push it towards the top of the priority stack. Thomas Schander from Enscape 3D was kind enough to offer me a six month license to use with Project Soane, having loaded up the model on the system at their booth with quite impressive results. I haven't got very far yet, indeed I haven't even got around to registering my license, but I think it's going to be very, very useful. The first shot is a two-point perspective of the Doric Vestibule, looking East towards the loggia which is highlighted by light streaming in from the Waiting Room Court on the right hand side. I've turned the fog up, so you can see the shafts of light streaming in from the half-round windows at high level. Next up is a view looking back at that open-sided loggia from at the South-West corner of Waiting Room Court. The virtual dust particles are still hanging thick in the air, so although you can see straight through the accountants office to Printing Court beyond, the effect is not very striking. When we first tried the model out on the Enscape Stand we got a view from the Governor's Office window with the Printing Court positively glowing in the distance. So far I have failed in my attempts to recreate this effect, but it's early days. By accident, I slipped through the wall to the right, through some waiting rooms and into the Central Lobby of the Directors Parlours, an area that I worked on quite intensively towards the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017. This wide-angle shot gives quite a nice impression of the space with low, narrow corridor coming in from the Entrance Lobby, the high level lighting and central groin vault. I also exported a panorama from this space. I downloaded a freeware viewer called Panorado which works fine, but I couldn't figure out how to embed it in a blog post. Maybe there's a way to upload these to a gallery. OK, I knew this really ... lots of links to 360Cities in Google Earth and it's easy enough to set up an account. So here are some links: https://www.360cities.net/image/project-soane-par-04-centre-hall https://www.360cities.net/image/project-soane-wrc-01-open-sided-loggia https://www.360cities.net/image/panorama-lct-00-lothburycourt And then of course I went back to Enscape and realised it's got a built in Gallery function, which is much easier. But it expires with the license, so 360Cities is also useful to have. Here's a link to Enscape, it won't last long though because it was created with a 14 day trial. http://panorama.enscape3d.com/view/m6w6s4vp/ And then a couple of days later I realised that Google Photos has a built-in conversion feature, I had uploaded one of the panoramas to Google Drive, hoping to see it as a panorama. Doesn't quite work like that, you have to go to the Assistant which then redirects you to a web link. But you do get a message at some point telling you that your panoramas have been processed. It's early days yet, but Enscape is definitely giving me a much deeper understanding of the quality of space and light in Soane's masterwork. That's quite surprising, given how well I thought I new the model. I guess virtual reality trumps an architects normal ability to visualise what it's going to be like in a space. And for sure it will help in setting priorities as we raise the level of detail across the model. So what about Flux? Well all I've done so far is play around with the Site Extractor. Getting data directly into Revit doesn't work, you need to go via Dynamo, or in my case I used AutoCAD (oh no!) I started with Whitehall (current Project Soane work) then tried a couple more flattish places (Robie House, Lever House) before realising I needed a hill. Le Corbusier's chapel at Ronchamp is on a hill, so I grabbed that, then I thought about the work I did on Palladio's Villas back in 2014. How time flies. Did a couple of posts about this just over a year ago. http://grevity.blogspot.ae/2016/01/palladio-for-dummies.html http://grevity.blogspot.ae/2016/02/learning-from-gazotti.html So I grabbed the site for Villa Barbaro which is built on rising ground leading up towards the foothills of the alps. By then I had set up a starter file with appropriate layer presets for the data keys that Site Extractor grabs for you from open source maps. I've dispensed with using the topography surface because I couldn't get that to generate a topo surface in Revit. Contour lines work fine, so no need anyway. I created a CAD links file where I can generate topo surfaces in the right place without contaminating the main file with CAD nonsense. Copy from there and Paste Aligned to Same Place. I had to copy over some sub regions before deleting the original topo surface (that I built rather laboriously, estimating heights from Google Earth.) It was way out of course, but that's all part of the extended learning curve (approaching 3 years now, since I started exploring Palladio's bag of urban design tricks.) The tree families had been set up to host themselves on surfaces, so they auto adjust, but the buildings and floors needed manual tweaking. I opened this post with a shot of Behzad Meskini who has been doing lots of really interesting things with Revit (and Inventor). I attended his session at BiLT Asia and among other things, gained renewed enthusiasm for the "Modify Sub Elements" tool for floors. Nothing very new here, but I had overlooked the ability to grab horizontal lines and stretch them up and down. This makes sloping roads (ramps) a lot easier to handle. No variable layers checked in the floor type so the whole floor slopes (rather than getting thicker) One thing that had put me off the Sub Element tool was all those diagonal lines that show up when surfaces get slightly twisted. It's nice when you want it, but in this case I don't. Easy enough to turn them off (and you can set up a View Template of course.) So that was Villa Barbaro moved forward significantly with a couple of hours work. This villa has a natural spring at the back which has been built in to a terrace up at the main floor level. Ground floor facing the road is next level down. It all makes sense now. One day I will model this villa properly, including the stairs that rise up from the side wings up to the main level. Already looking good though. The whole study model is pretty crazy, over 100km across, but it's also very lightweight and agile. Largely because all the villas are created as families. Originally I had started doing the studies side by side in a rectangular space, but I was getting confused about where they all were on the map. So I moved them around so they were in roughly the right relative direction. Pretty soon the ones close to Vicenza started moving to the correct distance apart so they didn't overlap. Then it was a short step to putting them all in roughly the right place. So I decided to do one more. Villa Rocca Pisani isn't actually by Palladio, but Vincenzo Scamozzi inherited Palladio's mantle and completed / extended several of his projects. Also, it's dome is a probable source for England's best known "Palladian Villa": Chiswick House. William Kent was involved in this project, one of the generation of English architects that preceded Soane and a notable contributor to the Whitehall area I have been looking at recently, along with my Project Soane collaborators. I thought I had taken reasonably accurate heights from Google Earth, but it turns out my previous work was way out. The hill rises at least twice as high above the adjacent plane (town of Lonigo) In this case, I have a rather big topo surface representing the remnants of a ridge extending from the alps, down past Vicenza. So I cut out a square hole in order to merge in the new topo. We are not working to millimetre accuracy here. Discrepancies of 10m are not going to be a big problem over of more than a kilometre. The data coming is clearly approximate anyway, but it's much better than what I had before, and really helps in terms of what we are doing here. It's a hands-on research project, aiming to uncover fresh insights into Palladio's work in context. Click on the surface with the sub regions first when merging, or they will disappear. That's important! But in this case I had to copy-paste the roads from old to new (in sketch mode) Also there were points in my old surface, close to the edge of the rectangle, that resulted in crazy distortions. Just delete these for a smoother effect. I wanted to test adding a second set of data from an adjacent rectangle. The villa is on a local high spot on ground that continues to rise from the plain, up into the mountains beyond. It worked fine, but aligning the two areas in 3d space is a manual task, which I did in Autocad. Site Extractor just brings the data in relative to zero in Autocad each time. No real-world position recorded. That's fine. Also the two sets of data don't match perfectly. This stuff is fine for concept studies, don't expect it to work like survey data. I included an overlap zone so as to make alignment easier to judge, so I had to trim this off before merging. This is where clicking first on the topo with the sub regions comes into play. Even after trimming tight along the edge there was quite a bit of turbulence. All I did here was to delete points in a zone all along the edge strip, which disguises the discrepancy, smooths out the contours. Here's the overall picture. Rising ground with a local high spot overlooking the town below in the river valley. I was tempted to carry on adding more topo and working up the sheet, fleshing out the context, adjacent agricultural fields etc. But this is not the time to return to my Palladio studies, I have to get back to Project Soane. Flux site extractor works. I've got my head around it, I know what to do next time I need to grab some topo, roads, rivers, approximate building footprints. All good, and thanks to Javier and Karl for taking the time to talk to me in Singapore. Posted by Andy Milburn at 8:34 AM 1 comment: UP THE MALACCA STRAITS Soane operated at the tipping point of the industrial revolution, witnessed the birth pangs of the modern world. He began his career seeking the favour of aristocratic patrons, but through his work with the directors of The Bank helped to define the modern conception of the commercial / professional architect. The RIBA was founded shortly after his retirement and received it's royal charter in the year of his death. It has taken me 40 years longer than my contemporaries (from the class of '72) to get around to joining this club, which to be fair is no longer quite the elitist institution it was once felt to be. Still feels a bit odd, to be honest, I guess I will never quite shake off those anti-establishment blues. Soane was under constant pressure to design more economically and in some ways this drove him to develop the innovative simplifications and abstractions that we tend to value in his work. I guess it has become one of the obsessions of the modern architect to somehow cut through the fog of tradition, revealing solutions that increase functionality while reducing cost. Measurement as currency is an interesting idea: systems of common units that allow us to compare and exchange disparate elements, modular components like bricks, getting paid by the hour, coins and bank notes. These are fundamental to civilisation, urban life, that whole giant progress trap with all its mixed blessings. Do we want to continue down this road, constantly measuring our worth in dollars and cents? Can we really compute the value of life? Do we like Soane's round-arched brick mode because it's cheap (ROI), or because ... well it's HOT! I am fresh from a weekend in George Town on the island of Penang, hence the images. It's named after King George III, the ruling monarch for much of Soane's life. It was founded by the East India Company, a private corporation, like the Bank of England which also acted as a proxy for the state in many ways. That was 1786, two years before Soane's appointment by the Bank and the beginnings of England's successful bid to challenge the Dutch dominance of the Spice Trade. This was a company that had already made vast profits from the cotton trade, tapping into ancient traditions of urbanism and long-distance trade all across South East Asia, the Indian Ocean, and up the Arabian Gulf. All across this region there is a hybrid urban culture: Chinese building forms fused with the classical traditions so dear to Soane, and blending over time into Art Deco and ultimately mainstream modernism. Soane loved to collect, measure, catalog, compare. Perhaps his rise to prominence from a humble background was only possible because of England's aggressive policy of commercial and military expansion. Francis Light, who founded George Town was the illegitimate son of an English aristocrat, as were so many of Europe's colonial adventurers. It's fascinating that the ruling elite was so adept at incorporating talented commoners like Soane, and tainted offspring like Light, into its schemes. So I turned 66 the other day. Two thirds of the way to 99, (on the off-chance that I make it.) Eating healthy has become an obsession and I am horrified by the food that gets dished up at conferences like BiLT Asia that followed on from my Penang visit. It's nobody's fault in particular. The hotel offers healthier food, but at a cost. The conference organisers work to a tight budget. You can get healthy if you ask for it, but that's not really solving the problem. More like bribing off the more vocal protesters so as not to have to change the system for the masses. It's no secret, obesity is one of our biggest health problems. Sugar is far worse than tobacco, but we let supermarkets sell it aggressively to the under fives, right by the till. George Town offers a taste of times gone by: simpler, more communal, messier, more open, less sanitised, less politically correct, looser. Are we headed for a world beyond work? What will "competitive edge" and "goal driven" mean in the age of driverless cars and robot factories when we get paid a basic living wage for two days of "community service" per week? And what will that mean for BIM? Why are we so focused on production, production, production, when we have a thinking tool at our disposal that combines visual richness with embedded intelligence and structured information? Why can't we use it to think about the lost values encoded in our urban histories? What if the world beyond work is the age of the BIM pencil? That's the kind of future I want to see: a world where Return on Investment is measured in Insights per Week, rather than Dollars per Hour. So anyone out there want to do an open-source collaboration modelling Chinese Shop Houses in Revit? Posted by Andy Milburn at 10:20 PM 1 comment:	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1230
__label__wiki	0.503924	0.503924	Home Books Pathophysiology of Blood Disorders, 2e Chapter 5: Iron Homeostasis: Deficiency and Overload H. Franklin Bunn; Matthew M. Heeney Bunn H, Heeney MM. Bunn H, Heeney M.M. Bunn, H. Franklin, and Matthew M. Heeney.Iron Homeostasis: Deficiency and Overload. In: Aster JC, Bunn H. Aster J.C., Bunn H Eds. Jon C. Aster, and H. Franklin Bunn.eds. Pathophysiology of Blood Disorders, 2e New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; . http://hemonc.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=1900&sectionid=137394788. Accessed July 19, 2019. Bunn H, Heeney MM. Bunn H, Heeney M.M. Bunn, H. Franklin, and Matthew M. Heeney.. "Iron Homeostasis: Deficiency and Overload." Pathophysiology of Blood Disorders, 2e Aster JC, Bunn H. Aster J.C., Bunn H Eds. Jon C. Aster, and H. Franklin Bunn. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, , http://hemonc.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=1900&sectionid=137394788. NORMAL IRON HOMEOSTASIS LABORATORY EVALUATION OF IRON STATUS IRON DEFICIENCY IRON OVERLOAD SECONDARY HEMOSIDEROSIS SIDEROBLASTIC ANEMIA SUMMARY POINTS After studying this chapter, you should be able to: Construct a flow diagram depicting iron homeostasis: absorption from the gut, transport in the plasma, incorporation into erythroid precursors, release from senescent red cells, and return to the plasma. Explain the important role of hepcidin in regulating iron absorption from the gut and iron release from macrophages. Name and prioritize the causes of iron deficiency. Describe the key clinical and laboratory features of iron deficiency. Identify the causes of iron overload and its clinical manifestations. The metallic element iron is essential for the growth and survival of all organisms from bacteria to man. Its outer shell of electrons is ideally poised for complex coordination chemistry, enabling the binding of ligands such as oxygen as well as participation in critical oxidation-reduction reactions. Not only is iron required for the biological activity of heme proteins such as hemoglobin, myoglobin, and cytochromes, but it also is a key cofactor in a number of enzymes spanning a wide range of metabolic activities. However, because of iron’s high degree of reactivity, it can catalyze the generation of oxygen free radicals and other toxic species, leading to cellular and tissue injury by way of protein cross-links, lipid peroxidation, and damage to DNA. Therefore, for iron to fulfill its biological functions safely, an exquisite degree of control is required. In this chapter, we will first review the basic elements of iron homeostasis: absorption, transport, utilization, recycling, and excretion. Over the last decade, understanding of these processes has been enormously enhanced by the molecular cloning and characterization of critical genes, some of which were discovered by investigation of mice and zebrafish with genetic defects leading to abnormal iron metabolism. We will then turn to the pathogenesis, clinical features, and treatment of iron deficiency and iron overload. Safe and effective transport and utilization of iron are achieved by tight regulation at the level of both individual cells and the organism as a whole. A number of proteins play critical roles in iron metabolism. This section of the chapter focuses on the function and regulation of three proteins in particular: Transferrin receptor, which enables the uptake of iron-bound transferrin from the plasma through the transferrin cycle Ferritin, which provides a bioavailable intracellular storage depot for iron, protecting the cell from toxicity Hepcidin, which is a circulating hormone that controls both the absorption of dietary iron from the gut and release of recycled iron from macrophages The dietary sources of iron vary considerably according to geographic location, cultural tastes, and economic status. Iron in food is found in inorganic salts and in organic complexes derived from plants as well as heme from animal sources. Digestion of grains, vegetables, and fruits in the stomach and duodenum results in the release of ferric ...	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1241
__label__wiki	0.811737	0.811737	Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age gets 1.01 patch update A new patch has gone live for those fortunately enough to get an early copy of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age on PlayStation 4. The new 1.01 title update addresses a few minor bugs in the remastered port. No other changes have been listed. For the uninformed, The Zodiac Age is the PlayStation 4 version of Final Fantasy XII, which was first released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. The updated RPG features improved graphics for high-definition displays, rearranged soundtrack as well as the ability to speed up the game by two of four times the original speed. Furthermore, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age also comes with content that were previously exclusive to the Japan-only Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System release. The bonuses include a Trial Mode where players participate in a series of hunts in addition to the Zodiac Job System, which gives you 12 specialized license boards to use when building your characters. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will officially be released on the 11th of July in the North American region. If you are interested and haven’t done so already, the physical version of the Square Enix PlayStation 4 game is available for preorder with this link on Amazon. Tags:Final Fantasy XIIFinal Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Best DualShock 4 analog stick grips for the PS4 Gaming headsets: HyperX Cloud vs. HyperX Cloud II features comparison	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1245
__label__cc	0.691199	0.308801	UK Sales Charts: God of War Tops for Fifth Week, Hyrule Warriors in Third Place NewsNintendoPC By Shibu S On May 21, 2018 God of War is still the leader of the English league: for the fifth consecutive week the game occupies the first position of the UK Charts, despite the retail sales have dropped by 35% compared to the previous week, as well as for Hyrule Warriors. There is good result also for Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition, the only new feature of the Top 10 UK, which debuts in third place, albeit with sales halved compared to the Wii U edition, followed by Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. FIFA 18 returns to the second position thanks to the offers of numerous British dealers who have significantly discounted the game set by Electronic Arts. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which reached second place last week, fell in fourth place, undermined by the immortal FIFA 18. The rest of the ranking is occupied by the usual suspects, as you can see for yourself: Top 10 UK (21 May 2018): 1. God of War 2. FIFA 18 3. Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition 4. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze 5. Far Cry 5 6. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 7. Assassin’s Creed Origins 8. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 9. Grand Theft Auto V 10. Call of Duty WWII This week, titles such as State of Decay 2, Detroit Become Human and Dark Souls Remastered will be on the shelves: will God of War succeed in resisting the attacks of these upcoming games? We’ll find out next Monday. God of WarHyrule WarriorsUK Sales Chartsvideo game Shibu S 1071 posts News Contributor at GameTransfers.com and Sniper-specialist in Counter-Strike 1.6. Loves to write and share things about video game news in general for most of the gaming platform.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1246
__label__wiki	0.905885	0.905885	Woodstock 50 Canceled: Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price Among Country Artists Affected Billy Dukes Woodstock 50 has been canceled. The group funding the multi-genre festival in Watkins Glen, N.Y., made the announcement on Monday (April 29), saying in part: "We don’t believe the production of the festival can be executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock Brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees." Sturgill Simpson and Margo Price are two of the country artists who were slated to perform during the Aug. 16-18 event. Headliners were the Killers, Dead & Company and Jay-Z. Previously the Black Keys pulled out of an announced headlining slot for the return of Woodstock. The on sale date for tickets was also delayed, prompting speculation of a downfal. Other artists set to play Woodstock with ties to country music included Brandi Carlile, Anderson East and Miley Cyrus. Nearly 100 artists were booked for the festival, which billed itself as "3 days of peace, love and music." Two previous anniversary concerts took place, but both were in some ways disastrous, due to rain and mud. The original Woodstock in 1969 is remembered for being overrun by fans. Nearly a half million attended a concert built for just 50,000 people. Dentsu Aegis Network’s Amplifi Live is the company that canceled the event. Billboard reports that concerns about site readiness, permitting and capacity were at play, and just last week the company reached out to both AEG and Live Nation seeking $20 million to save the event. Both production companies declined. "As difficult as it is, we believe this is the most prudent decision for all parties involved," the cancelation statement reads. Jimmie Allen Is a Country Original: Here Are 50 Modern Songs for the Traditional Country Music Fan: Source: Woodstock 50 Canceled: Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price Among Country Artists Affected Filed Under: Miley Cyrus, sturgill simpson	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1251
__label__wiki	0.693165	0.693165	Keely Messino Watch: Netflix’s Disenchantment SDCC Trailer Guests at San Diego Comic-Con had the pleasure of getting a first-look at the trailer of Disenchantment; a new series by the Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening. Keely Messino July 23, 2018 No Comments 612 views The Walking Dead is Getting a VR Game! The Walking Dead is getting a new video game, set for virtual reality. A the universe and fandom is growing rapidly, there are more and more games putting you in the shoes of The Walking Dead. Call of Cthulhu Has a Release Date! The Call of Cthulhu video game will begin to spread madness starting on their October 30th release! This game was inspired by the tabletop version of Call of Cthulhu by the company Chaosism. Jude Law Discusses His Albus Dumbledore Role! Harry Potter fans have always been very intrigued by the character of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. With Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald set to hit theaters later this year, Jude Law is going to portray Albus Dumbledore in his younger years. First Official Poster for Aquaman The trailer for DC’s Aquaman will be debuting at Comic-Con this week, and fans of the DC Universe as well as the classics superhero Aquaman cannot wait to see what is sure to be a vast expanse of breathtaking underwater scenery. Black Widow Solo Movie Confirmed A solo Black Widow film has been confirmed my Marvel Studios right before San Diego Comic Con. No concrete details have been released about the film’s creation yet, but it reports confirm that Marvel Studios founded director Cate Shortland is looking for a set. A Look at the Destiny 2 Supers and Subclasses in Forsaken Forsaken will bring Destiny 2 many changes, including the arrival of nine new supers. On September 4, 2018, players will have the ability to choose the subclass the like the most, along with choosing which super best fits their individual play-style. Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXIX Artwork Revealed The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXIX looks absolutely epic, another spooky Simpson addition. The Witcher 4 is Possibly in the Works Witcher developer CD Projekt Red has confirmed that Witcher 3 was the last game in Geralt’s story. The end of Geralt’s story doesn’t mean that the popular Polish game developer is done with the world, however. Child’s Play TV Series Reboot Announcement Horror fans are in shock and very displeased when news broke that MGM is fast-tracking the franchise reboot Child’s Play. The horror classic from the 1980s centered around a possessed doll. LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle in August? [RUMOR] There’s been a lot of LEGO activity surrounding Harry Potter, especially when LEGO recently reactivated is Harry Potter line. Call of Cthulhu Has a Release Date Call of Cthulhu a horror game by Cyanide has a new Steam page, indicating, an Autumn 2018 release.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1254
__label__cc	0.734097	0.265903	Cops: Man Befriended and Robbed Nunda Woman of $4.5K and Ring 03/26/2018 by CONRAD BAKER NUNDA Police believe that a Nunda man befriended a local woman and stole over $4,500 and a valuable ring from her. According to a press release from Sheriff Thomas Dougherty, David Main, 43, was arrested for felony Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, two counts of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree and misdemeanor Making Punishable False Written Statement. On March 20, Sheriff Deputies responded to a complaint from a Nunda resident who reported that cash, a ring, and a debit card were missing from her house. The investigation led to the arrest of Main, himself of Nunda. It is alleged that Main befriended the female and over the course of several months, took money totaling over $4,500 and also stole a ring valued at over $1,200 and pawned it. Handling the investigation were Sheriff’s Investigator Dan Rittenhouse of the Criminal Investigations Division and Deputy Brent Gibbs of the Road Patrol Division. Main was turned over to Central Booking Deputies at the Livingston County Jail for processing and pre-arraignment detention. The District Attorney’s Office recommended bail be set at $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond. West Sparta Town Justice Gene Moffat ordered Main held at the Livingston County Jail on $1,000 cash or $2,000 bond. He is scheduled to return to court at a later date to face the charges. Main. (Photos/Livingston County Sheriff’s Office) Filed Under: COURTS, LEAD STORY, LIVINGSTON CENTRAL (CONESUS, GENESEO, GROVELAND, LEICESTER, LIVONIA, MT. MORRIS, Tagged With: 4, 500, befriend, David Main, man, Nunda, ring, rob, woman	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1256
__label__wiki	0.876559	0.876559	MVFF41 starts Thursday—¡VIVA EL CINE! showcases 15 award-winning Latin American and Spanish language films with many special guests Special guests make a film come alive. Cuban actor Héctor Noas will attend MVFF41 as part of ¡Viva el Cine! Noas plays Russian cosmonaut Sergei Asimov in Ernesto Daranas Serrano’s drama Sergio and Sergei, set in 1990 Havana, and based on a real incident. Photo: Ernesto Daranas The forty-first edition of the Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF41) kicks off Thursday (Oct 4) with two big opening night films—Matthew Heineman’s bio-pic, A Private War, starring Rosamund Pike as tenacious Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin and Peter Farrelly’s drama, Green Book, which takes us on a tense 1962 concert tour in the American South with Mershala Ali (Moonlight, MVFF2016) as black jazz pianist, Dr. Don Shirley, and Viggo Mortensen as Tony Lipp, his Italian-American chauffeur and bodyguard. Starting full force Friday and running for 10 days, MVFF41 delivers an exciting line-up of the very best and latest in American indie and world cinema, with more than 300 guests in attendance. Special events—Centerpiece and Closing Night Presentations, Spotlights, Tributes, Special Premieres, the Mind the Gap Summit, Behind the Screens Panels and intimate parties and receptions—bring the films to life, fostering engaging discussion about issues and art. The festival’s wonderful ¡Viva el Cine! series, programmed by MVFF Senior programmer Janis Plotkin with the help of Claudia Mendoza Carruth, turns five this year. The line-up has doubled to include 15 award-winning Latin American and Spanish language films and there’s even a new ¡Viva el Cine! Launch Day that brings a fiesta to the Smith Rafael Film Center. With films from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain and the US, the series’ spellbinding storytelling and special guests make it an increasingly influential forum for the exploration of history, culture and identity. ¡Viva el Cine! Launch Day: Sunday, October 7 Coco / Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios It all begins Sunday morning at the Smith Rafael Film Center with a family-friendly fiesta with live mariachi music, Day of the Dead face painting, fresh churros and hot chocolate. At 11 am, on Smith Rafael 1’s big screen, is the first Marin-ever screening of Coco, the Oscar-awarded, Pixar family favorite in Spanish with English subtitles, so that all children attending can both listen and read it. Running concurrently in Smith Rafael 3, is the acclaimed coming of age drama, Too Late to Die Young (Tarde para morir joven), directed by Chilean Dominga Sotomyer, who will be in attendance. This is Sotomayer’s second feature film and its set in 1990 Chile, with three main characters, ages 10, 16 and 16, who experience the pain of unrequited love and begin in their own ways to relate to the complexities of their parents’ world, all against the back-drop of a society reeling from Pinochet. In Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Museo, Gael Garcia Bernal, plays thirty-something veterinary student, Juan Nuñez, who takes a job at the Anthropology Museum in order to support his marijuana habit. He learns enough about the museum to come up with a plan to rob it with the help of his best friend. Image: Courtesy Alejandra Carvajal At 2 p.m., Mexican Director Alonso Ruizpalacios will be in attendance for the screening of Museo, an art heist thriller with Gael García Bernal, based on the 1985 robbery of more than 100 Mesoamerican and Mayan artifacts from Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology. Winner Best Screenplay award at the Berlin International Film Festival. At 8 pm, Argentinian director Luis Ortega’s fourth feature, the engrossing biopic, The Angel (El ángel), presents a dramatized true story of angelic-looking, baby-faced young sociopath, Carlos Robledo Puch, aka “The Death Angel,” who in the 1970’s embarked on a murder spree across Argentina. Centerpiece: Roma, Monday, October 8 A scene from Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. Image: courtesy MVFF Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, his first film shot in Mexico, since Y tu mamá también (2001) is a meditative masterpiece on the meaning of family that screens as the festival’s Centerpiece. Cuarón will be in attendance for an extensive on-stage conversation about this film, awarded the Golden Lion in Venice for best film and Mexico’s foreign language Oscar submission. Set in 1970’s Mexico City, Roma follows the life of a quiet live-in indigenous housekeeper, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), and the upper middle class family that employs her. Through a series of small moments, both humorous and poignant, there’s a slow build to mounting crisis for both Cleo and her employers. Gorgeously shot in black and white. Every scene and every woman seem steeped in personal memory and deep reflection. Roma is Cuarón’s follow-up to Gravity (2013), awarded Academy Awards for directing and editing. Harvest Season: World Premiere, Sat, October 13 Napa Valley Latina viticulturist, Vanessa Robledo, is profiled in Bernardo Ruiz’s Harvest Season. Image: Roberto “Bear” Guerra ¡Viva el Cine! also includes films produced in the U.S. that are relevant to Latinos’ experiences here. Benardo Ruiz’s documentary, Harvest Season, set and filmed in the Napa valley, has its world premiere at MVFF41 on Sat, October 13. Through four stories, the film addresses the Latino and Mexican-American entrepreneurs and activists involved in the production and harvest of the grapes that go into premium California wines, small players with fascinating insights. Shooting began in December 2015 and continued during the 2017 harvest, one of the most dramatic grape harvests in decades. Filmmaker David Ruiz, Producer Lauren Capps, and subjects Vanessa Robledo, Maria Robledo, Angel Calderon and Gustavo Brambila will be in attendance. Screens: Sat 10/13 and Sun 10/14. 6 must-see films: For recommendations, I went to Claudia Mendoza Carruth, who helped program ¡Viva el Cine! She is well-respected for initiating and running the Sonoma International Film Festival’s Vamos Al Cine and she regularly attends Havana’s Festival Internacional del Neuvo Cine Latinoamericano (or Havana Film Festival). (Read ARThound’s review here) This year, she brought some of the best films from the Havana festival to MVFF and is especially excited to screen the Cuban film Sergio and Sergei with Cuban actor Héctor Noas to MVFF for an audience discussion. “I’ve always marveled how Cuba, with all its limitations can produce such incredible cinema,” said Carruth. “It’s always been thought that it was difficult to impossible to bring Cuban films and actors here. It’s not easy, but my attendance every year at the Havana Film Festival has enabled me to see the immense scope of films that come out of this island and the region and make connections. I hope to really help develop MVFF’s programming.” Sergio and Sergei In Sergio and Sergei, Cuban actor Tomás Cao plays a ham-radio buff and downtrodden professor of Marxism in Havana who unexpectedly makes a connection with a Russian cosmonaut stuck in space. Image: Ernesto Daranas One of the first films to come out of Cuba that has outer space effects, Ernesto Daranas Serrano’s Sergio and Sergei, is a story of human communication between Earth and the Russian Mir space station. The engaging and very funny satirical drama is set in 1991, during a period of economic hardship for both the unraveling USSR and Cuba. Sergei (Héctor Noas) is stranded satelliting Earth on Mir space station, unable to descend and, by chance, communicates with Sergio (Tomás Cao), a ham-radio buff and professor of Marxism in Havana who is unable to support his family. A friendship forms as both men realize they share feelings of geopolitical isolation. The film is shot in Havana. Héctor Noas in attendance. Screens: Tues 10/9 and Wed 10/10. Los Adioses Mexican actress Actress Karina Gidi plays feminist writer Rosario Castellanos in Natalia Beristáin’s Los Adioses. Image: courtesy MVFF Mexican filmmaker Natalia Beristáin’s second feature, Los Adioses, is a superbly acted portrait of Rosario Castellanos, one of Latin America’s greatest 20th century writers. A poet, novelist, and essayist, Castellanos was an early supporter of women’s rights in postwar Mexico when the society was extremely patriarchal. Her style was vulnerable, revealing, self-searching. She struggled with balancing how to be happy in a love relationship, how to be a mother and, at the same time, how to work and assert her thoughts about the struggles of being a woman into her work. Actress Karina Gidi, who plays the older Rosario, took home the Best Actress trophy at the Ariel Awards, Mexico’s equivalent of the Academy Awards®. Screens: Tues 10/9 and Thurs 10/11 In Virus Tropical, Colombian-Ecuadorian cartoonist Power Paola takes ownership of her life story, working with Colombian director and artist, Santiago Caicedo, to adapt her 2011 graphic novel to an animated film with exquisite, emotive black and white drawings. Image: Courtesy of Timbo Estudio/Santiago Cacedo/Powerpaola Colombian-Ecuadorian cartoonist and Power Paola (the pen-name of Paola Gaviria) is well-known for addressing themes of sexuality, feminism, family and personal identity in her graphic novels (Por Dentro, Todo Va a Estar Bien). Her animated autobiographical film, Virus Tropical, is an adaptation of her 2011 graphic novel of the same name. This coming- of-age tale, set in middle class Quito, Ecuador, and Cali, Colombia, is focused on family dynamics from the perspective of Paola, a very self-aware young girl, who is the youngest child in a close-knit family of three girls. There are intimate scenes from family dinners where she is picked on, moments of pain and loss as she confronts the shock of her father’s suddenly moving back to Colombia and reflective moments such as her sister’s wedding. It took Paola roughly five years to create the 5,000-plus detailed black-and-white line drawings that comprise the novel. Video artist and animator Santiago Caicedo, who previously worked with Paola on the short film Uyuyui! (2011), has beautifully transferred these to the screen. Filmmaker Power Paola in attendance. Screens: Sat 10/13 and Sun 10/14 Amalia, the Secretary Colombian actress Marcela Benjamin in a scene from Colombian director Andrés Burgos’ comedy, Amalia the Secretary (Amalia, la secretaria, 2017). Image: courtesy MVFF Colombian Director Andrés Burgos has hit the sweet spot with his comedy Amalia, the Secretary (Amalia, la secretaria, 2017) played to pitch perfect rigidity by Marcela Benjamin. The story is about Amalia, who runs the office by taking passive-aggressive swipes at everyone who crosses her path until she meets Lazaro, a maintenance temp who so intrigues her that she creates more and more work for him by breaking things. “It’s so rare in Latin America to have a very well-crafted comedy that has people doing belly laughs,” said Claudia Mendoza Carruth. “One of my favorite scenes involves Amalia, this very very rigid woman, attempting yoga. The way her character evolves and she asserts herself in almost every situation is really special.” Director Andrés Burgos in attendance. Screens: Thurs 10/11 and Fri 10/12 A still from Birds of Passage. Image: Quinzaine Birds of Passage (Pájaros de verano), a crime epic, co-directed by frequent collaborators Cristina Gallego and Ciro Gallego, portrays the slow and steady destruction of a close-knit native family who gets caught up in the marijuana export business in the 1970s, and the beginnings of Colombia’s burgeoning narco-trafficking industry. The film, selected as the opener for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, is a bit of ethnographic thriller as well introducing the Wayúu, Native Americans who live in North part of the country, in the deserts of the north-western Guajira peninsula, that many people, even native Colombians, know very little about. At its heart, this is a family story that involves power, legend, culture, money, greed and the difficulty of honoring ancestors and customs in an increasingly modern world. Cristina Gallego has accolades as a producer and this is her directing debut, while Ciro Guerra has global acclaim. His Embrace of the Serpent, co-produced by Guerra, (2015, MVFF38) won the Directors’ Fortnight prize at Cannes and was the first Colombian film to be nominated for the foreign language Oscar. Screens: Wed 10/10 and Thurs 10/11 Japanese actor Joe Odagiri as Japanese-Bolivian medial student, Freddy Maemura Hurtado, in a scene from Junji Sakamoto’s biopic Ernesto (2018), screening twice at MVFF41. Photo: @2017 ‘Ernesto’ Film Partners It’s a rare that one encounters a portrait of Che Guevara from a Japanese perspective. Junji Sakamoto’s biopic Ernesto (2018), a very rare Japan-Cuba co-production, tells the story of idealistic Japanese-Bolivian medial student, Freddy Maemura Hurtado (Japanese superstar Joe Odagiri), who travels to Cuba in 1962 to become a doctor but instead joins Che Guevara’s guerilla army. He becomes a very serious revolutionary who idolizes Che and becomes vehemently anti-war and outraged with American aggression in the Cuban missile crisis. The films traces Hurtado’s life from the time he sets foot in Havana in 1962 to his violent end in the jungle. Shot mainly in Cuba. Screens: Thurs 10/11 and Fri 10/12 For full descriptions of ¡Viva el Cine!, click here. MVFF41 is October 4-14, 2018. For full schedule and to purchase tickets, click here. Advance ticket purchase of films is essential as they sell out. October 3, 2018 Posted by genevaanderson \| Film, Wine \| A Private War, Alfonso Cuarón’s, Alfonso Cuaron, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Amalia, Bernardo Ruiz, Birds of Passage, Che Guevara, Ciro Gallego, Claudia-Mendoza-Carruth, Coco, Cristina Gallego, Daranas Serrano, Dominga Sotomyer, El ángel, Embrace of the Serpent, Ernesto, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Freddy Maemura Hurtado, Gael García Bernal, Green Book, Harvest Season, Héctor Noas, Janis Plotkin, Joe Odagiri, Junji Sakamoto, Karina Gidi, la secretaria, Los Adioses, Luis Ortega, Marcela Benjamin, Maria Robledo, Marie Colvin, Matthew Heineman, Mershala Ali, Museo, Natalia Beristáin, Paola Gaviria, Pájaros de verano, Peter Farrelly, Power Paola, Roma, Rosamund Pike, Rosario Castellanos, Santiago Caicedo, Sergio and Sergei, Smith Rafael Film Center, Tarde para morir joven, The Angel, the Secretary, Tomás Cao, Too Late to Die Young, Vanessa Robledo, Viggo Mortensen, Virus Tropical, Wayúu, Y Tu Mamá También, Yalitza Aparicio \| 1 Comment The 38th Mill Valley Film Festival starts tonight and runs through October 18─here are ARThound’s favs The Indigo Bunting, a small songbird in the Cardinal family, sings with gusto. The male is all blue and looks like a slice of sky with wings. The plight of songbirds is the subject of Su Rynard’s documentary, “The Messenger,” which screens twice at the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival. Gorgeously photographed, with stunning super slo-mo shots of birds in flight and plenty of exquisite melodies, this thoughtful film celebrates these glorious magicians and explores their rapidly shrinking global populations, calling for drastic action to save them. image: MVFF The 38th Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF38) is upon us─it kicks off this evening with two opening night films─Tom Hopper’s The Danish Girl and Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight─ and an always opulent gala afterwards at Marin Country Mart. The festival runs full force (11AM to 10PM) for the next 10 days at several Marin venues, all within close range of Sonoma County. Even with the catalog in hand, a 60 pager, redesigned to make it easier to figure out, it takes time and planning to decide which of the 170+ films and special programs to attend. Long-time programmers Zoë Elton, Janis Plotkin and Karen Davis are so tuned in to our North Bay tastes, every film is a de facto good choice but I’ll point to some standouts. I have a soft spot for world cinema that delivers a great story (the quirkier the better) and takes me to a (beautifully-filmed) place I’ve never been. I also love documentaries that expose and inspire. There are always a handful of films from Cannes and some that represent foreign language Oscar nominees. As for the tributes and special programs, if you have the time, go to as many as possible. Every special program I’ve attended at this festival has been well worth the extra money and I’ve been inspired to do wonderful things as a result. In 2012, after seeing Luc Besson’s amazing bio-pic, The Lady, and hearing guest Michelle Yeoh interviewed about playing Burmese activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, I visited Myanmar for two weeks and experienced it on the brink of its transformation. I got involved with supporting a school and I visited Suu Kyi’s family home in a posh suburb of Yangon─it was surrounded a high wall─and left flowers in tribute. These are my recommendations for this year’s not-to-miss films and events─ Embrace of the Serpent: Ciro Guerra’s “Embrace of the Serpent,” won top prize at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and is Columbia’s submission to foreign-language category for the Academy Awards. Image: MVFF Thirty-four year-old Columbian director Ciro Guerra is no stranger to Cannes. His 2009 drama The Wind Journeys, which competed in the Uncertain Regard category, was filmed in some 80 locations all over Columbia and tracked a musician’s restorative journey to return an accordion. His Embrace of the Serpent took this year’s Directors’ Fortnight prize at Cannes which is the top Art Cinema prize and it’s Columbia’s submission to foreign-language Oscar category. Rich is the only way to describe the rare Amazonian languages you’ll hear and the exquisite black and white photography of fabled Amazonian landscapes. The story unfolds from point of view of European explorer and a Shaman who work over the course of some 40 years to search for a sacred healing plant. The thoughtful film delivers a fairly comprehensive critique of the destruction of indigenous cultures at the hands of white invaders. Cast member Brionne Davis in attendance. (Ciro Guerra, Columbia, Venezuela, Argentina, 2015, 125 min) Golden Kingdom: “Golden Kingdom” is American filmmaker Brian Perkins’ first feature film and it has its US premiere at the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival. Image: courtesy: Brian Perkins The first feature film shot in Myanmar and a first feature for it its director, Brian Perkins, too, Golden Kingdom is a prescient widow into the culture of this remote fabled land. This is the story of four young boy monks, all orphans (played by non-professional actors), who are left alone in a monastery in Shan State in Northeast Myanmar when their elderly head monk receives a letter and takes off on a journey. The film cleverly uses the Buddhist motif of pursuit of enlightenment and knowledge and traditional Burmese storytelling to explore the unknown and overwhelming new world the boys encounter as they decide to leave and venture out into the countryside, only to encounter a land that is still engaged in remnants of a violent separatist uprising. (Brian Perkins, US, 2015, 103 min) in Burmese (10/13 5PM; 10/15 2PM Sequoia 1) Rams: In Grímur Hákonarson’s “Rams,” two peculiar brothers in a small Icelandic farming community, who haven’t spoken in 40 years, are forced to come together in order to save what’s dearest to them – their sheep. Image: MVFF When’s the last time you saw a film from Iceland or heard their language, Íslenska (Icelandic), spoken? Grímur Hákonarson’s Rams, winner of the Uncertain Regard Prize at Cannes, weaves the story of two brothers, both single and getting on in years, who compete fiercely each year for valley-wide recognition for having the best ram. They haven’t spoken in 40 years but are forced to come together in order to save what’s dearest to their hearts—their sheep. Shot in remote lush valleys of Iceland, with added color in the peculiar characters of the two brothers, the film is also infused with some Norse humor. (Grímur Hákonarson, Iceland, 2015, 93 min) Mustang: Five beautiful sisters on the verge of womanhood in an Anatolian village by the sea suffer from their guardians’ attempts to lock them away to protect their virginity. image: MVFF We’ve all heard of young girls cloistered away to protect their virginity and make them marriage worthy by their tradition-bound families. Here’s Turkish female director Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s take on this. Mustang weaves a story of five young carefree Turkish girls, all orphans, who under the “protection” of their grandmother and uncle, are punished severely for being seen at the beach interacting with boys in what is interpreted as an indecent act by townspeople who report them. One moment they are free and then they are not. They are subjected to virginity tests, beaten and then essentially locked up until it is time to try and marry them off. They don’t go down without a fight though and thus the aptness of the title–these gorgeous young mustangs, with their amazing flowing hair, yearn for the very freedom that defines them. The filmmaker has crafted a potent critique of the suppression and demonization of female sexuality that is alive and well in Turkish society. Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, France, Germany, Turkey, 94 min) The Messenger: Filmmaker Su Rynard’s “The Messenger” screens twice at MVFF38 and she will be at both screenings. Making a documentary is a labor of love that often takes years to realize. To understand what was happening with global populations of songbirds, Rynard and her team followed the seasons and songbirds on three different continents. Along the way, she met many people who shared her concern for the plight of these glorious musicians of nature. image: Su Rynard The message of Su Rynard’s riveting documentary, The Messenger, is urgent─songbirds are disappearing and many species are in serious decline. Changes in our world have brought utter catastrophe to theirs and soon they will be gone. Each year, twice a year, songbirds embark on a dangerous and difficult migratory journey. Every species has its own story to tell but the resounding commonality is that songbirds are in danger. Whose song will we hear when they are gone? The film is full of gorgeous shots of birds and clips of bird songs. Director Su Rynard in attendance. (Su Rynard, Canada, France, 2015, 90 min) Son of Saul: Géza Röhrig is Saul Auslander in Laszlo Nemes’ holocaust drama, “Son of Saul.” image: MVFF First time director László Nemes’ Son of Saul (Saul Fia) is a Holocaust film that won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and everyone’s buzzing about. (Earlier this week, NPR’s Terry Gross devoted a full hour to the film, click here, to read or listen to her interview with the director.) The dark story is centered on Saul Auslander (Géza Röhrig), a Hungarian Jew Sonderkommando at Auschwitz-Birkenau who is forced to assist the Nazis with the killings of Jews and the gruesome disposal of bodies afterwards. In exchange, he is given some special privileges. When he spots a young boy’s body that he believes is his son, he sets out to give him a proper burial. The film captures the organization and chaos of the camps like no other film has and, at its core, it is the story of one man’s brave rebellion and humanity. The camera rarely leaves his face in which there are worlds of grief. The story is based on the actual testimonials, the so-called Scrolls of Auschwitz. (László Nemes, Hungary, 2015, 107 min) image: MVFF Amnesia Centerpiece Presentation, October 13: Crafted from events in his mother’s life, Swiss filmmaker Barbet Schroeder’s “Amnesia” stars German icon Marthe Keller as a German expat hiding out in idyllic Ibizia whose cage is rattled by a young German man who is her new neighbor and it’s not just because he falls in love with her. Image: MVFF An interesting take on a Nazi story and moral culpability by Swiss director Barbet Schroeder. Amnesia is set in picturesque Ibizia and the story involves a younger man’s attraction to an older woman, who is hiding the fact that she is German, and much more, from him. The young DJ tries to crack this hard nut by peeling away her layers. Writer/director Barbet Schroeder in attendance (Barbet Schroeder, Switzerland, France, 2015 96 min) At RUSH but keep your eyes out in Bay Area theaters for─ The Assassin (Nie Yinniang) (Hou Hsia-hsien, Taiwan, 2015, 105 min) spectacular Ibizan landscape (Thurs 10/8 6:16 PM; Sat 10/17 8:30 PM─both screenings at Rush) Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015, 118 min) (Sun 10/11 5:30PM; Wed 10/14 4 PM──both screenings at Rush) The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, Australia, 2015, 118 min) (10/16 7PM; 10/18 11AM─both screenings at Rush) Details: MVFF38 is October 8-18, 2015. Screening venues include: Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (1118 Fourth Street, San Rafael); Century Larkspur (500 Larkspur Landing Circle); Lark Theater (549 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur), Century Cinema (41 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera); CinéArts@Sequoia (25 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley), Throckmorton Theatre (142 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley) and other venues throughout the Bay Area. Online ticket purchase is highly recommended (click here to be directed to film descriptions, each with a “Buy Ticket” option. (Online purchases have a $1.75 per film surcharge). There are also several box offices for in person purchases, offering the advantages of getting your tickets on the spot, no service fee, and picking up a hard copy of the catalogue— Smith Rafael Film Center 1112 Fourth Street Sept.19-Oct 7, 4–8 pm (General Public) Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center, 85 Throckmorton Ave, October 7, 11 am–3:00 pm; Oct 8-18, 10 am to 15 min after last show starts Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center 85 Throckmorton Ave October 1, 11:00 am–3:00 pm October 2–12, 10:00 am to 15 minutes after last show starts October 8, 2015 Posted by genevaanderson \| Film \| Aung San Suu Kyi, Barbet Schroeder, Brian Perkins, Ciro Guerra, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s, Embrace of the Serpent, Géza Röhrig, Golden Kingdom, Grímur Hákonarson, Janis Plotkin, Karen Davis, László Nemes', Luc Beeson, Marthe Keller, Mill Valley Film Festival, Mustang, MVFF38, Myanmar, Rams, Son of Saul, Sonderkommando, Su Rynard, The Lady, The Wind Journeys, Zoe Elton \| 1 Comment	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1257
__label__wiki	0.953799	0.953799	Cain and Perry Face Critical Weeks Ahead Businessman Herman Cain, whose campaign has been surging after his strong performance in Florida’s “Presidency 5” straw poll, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose campaign has seen its momentum decline after he angered conservatives by saying those who did not support giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants did not have “a heart,” have collided in the polls as their respective numbers have gone in opposite directions. Yesterday, their campaigns clashed when The Washington Post reported that a hunting property the Perry family leased was offensively named, “Niggerhead.” “There isn’t a more vile, negative word than the ‘n word,'” Cain said in an interview on “FOX News Sunday,” before adding that “for [Perry] to leave it there as long as they did is just plain insensitive to a lot of black people in this country.” Perry’s communications director Ray Sullivan immediately challenged Cain and the report. “Mr. Cain is wrong about the Perry family’s quick action to eliminate the word on the rock, but is right the word written by others long ago is insensitive and offensive,” Sullivan said in a statement. “That is why the Perrys took quick action to cover and obscure it.” When the offensive words were obscured is at the heart of the dispute, as the story cited numerous anonymous sources that said the words were visible long after the date on which Perry claimed they were painted over. Perry told The Washington Post in a statement that, “the old name has its origins from another time and era when unfortunately, offensive language was used to name some land formations around the country. When my dad joined the lease in 1983, he soon painted over the offensive word. It is my understanding that the rock was also turned over to further obscure what was originally written on it.” The Perry campaign also pointed to his “long and strong record of inclusiveness and appointing African Americans to key state posts, including Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, his former chief of staff and general counsels, university regents, parks and wildlife commissioner and other high profile posts.” Whether it is fair, Perry will be dogged by questions about the story this week and his electability will be challenged. And while the hype surrounding this story may supplant his troubles on the right with his stance on giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, illegal immigration is still a huge roadblock in his path to the GOP nomination. Meanwhile, Cain, who will try to be the beneficiary of Perry’s stumbles, will hope to take advantage of the media blitz that came his way after his “Presidency 5” victory and will intensify as he meets with fellow businessman Donald Trump today before his book, This Is Herman Cain!” is released on Tuesday. Over the weekend, Cain’s communications director Ellen Carmichael, who is very highly regarded in the political world for her professionalism, resigned from the Cain campaign. As the Cain campaign retools its staff, it must get ready for the opportunities that it has been presented with in addition to anticipating the lines of attacks that may come his way, as with increased popularity and success comes more intense scrutiny. Cain is on the cusp of becoming a top-tier candidate while Perry could be steps away from second-tier status. How their campaigns manage the next few weeks may determine where their campaigns ultimately end up. Sign up to the Human Events newsletter Abortion Rights Crowd Fears Planned Parenthood Probe Democrats Mean Well Written By Tony Lee Tony Lee edits The Chase 2012 section and writes on politics and culture for HUMAN EVENTS. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. E-mail: ALEE (at) EaglePub.com What’s The Difference Between Ilhan Omar and Piers Morgan? Everyone’s Gone Nuts. For Power and Profit. Planned Parenthood’s Leana Wen Wasn’t Woke Enough And Nor Are You CNN Platforms Richard Spencer. Tips/Jobs Copyright © Parallel Media LLC 2019	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1262
__label__cc	0.601983	0.398017	Home IDEAL TRAVEL GUIDES IDEAL DESTINATIONS 5 IDEAL OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES TO DO IN TENERIFE The largest and most popular of Spain’s glorious Canary Islands, Tenerife sits just off the coast of Morocco in the vast Atlantic Ocean. A relatively short flight from most UK airports, the island boasts white and black sand beaches that bask in year-round sunshine and temperatures that average 25 degrees. With a dramatic volcanic landscape, a buzzing nightlife scene and gorgeous beaches, it’s not surprising that, on average, 10 million visitors choose to head to this holiday hotspot every year. From families and couples to nature-lovers and adventure-seekers, this is a destination which can truly lay claim to that much touted boast; of having something for everyone. With such natural beauty in abundance, the island is best enjoyed out there and amongst it. With that in mind, here are 5 IDEAL outdoor activities to do in Tenerife. GET WET AT A WATERPARK With the lush, verdant landscape, and dramatic backdrop of both ocean and volcano, it’s no wonder that Tenerife is famed for its parks. However, it’s those which run on water and adrenaline which take headline billing on the island. The two most popular are Aqualand Tenerife and Siam Park. The latter the largest in Europe and boasting the world’s largest man made wave, flumes, slides and pulse-pounding rides – it’s no surprise that this Thai-themed attraction is often offered up as the finest water park on the planet. The former is a more kid friendly affair – less thrill seeking but no less enjoyable – with family friendly fun for miles, and a dolphin show which will have the little ones (and big guys, too) in rapture. VISIT A VOLCANO Sorry, that should say the volcano. There’s no half measures here; Mount Teide, at its peak, is the highest point both in Spain and above sea level in the Atlantic’s islands. What’s more, it’s active, though it hasn’t erupted since 1909. The UNESCO named World Heritage Site of Teide National Park surrounds it, and plenty of tours and Tenerife excursions are on offer, allowing you to simply bask in its shadow or scale it via cable car. Which you choose depends on the level of daredevil in you. It takes about eight minutes for the cable car to whizz you to the top of Mount Teide. However, if you’re going to put on your hiking boots then make sure you set a whole day of your trip aside for the climb; to scale the mountain, it takes around six hours. However, for those wishing to do it at a more leisurely pace, you can spend the night at the Refugio de Atavist hut, then continue your climb and watch the sunrise from the top of Mount Teide before making your descent. Make sure to wrap up warm, though, as the chilly high altitude is a huge contrast to the hot heat of the coast. Don’t get caught short. WANDER AROUND LA LAGUNA If hair raising water slides and volcano trekking sound like too much physical activity for your holiday, then a gentle stroll around La Laguna, considered to be the most beautiful town in Tenerife, could instead be the ideal outdoor activity for you. A UNESCO World Heritage site, La Laguna is the oldest city on the island, with a rich, diverse heritage to boot. The pastel painted walls of property here, rendered in bright yellows and sky blues, make it the perfect backdrop for some picture taking and there’s plenty of architectural and historical intrigue to satisfy those buffs with a taste for the past; check out the Palacio de Nava and Laguna Catedral, in particular. GO BIRD & MONKEY WATCHING You asked for outdoors, so it’s outdoors you’ll get. Head to Loro Parque (the ‘best zoo in the world’ according to tripadvisor) for some serious animal spotting. The zoo is most famed for its excellent bird watching capabilities, with their collection of parrots unrivalled in any other enclosed space on the planet. The thrice daily dolphin shows and their ‘Penguin Planet’ are other must sees. Should you fancy serving your simian obsession more succintly, then Tenerife Zoo Monkey Park will certainly see you right. It’s also a breeding centre and champion of endangered species, so you’ll be doing your bit for the adorable creatures by patronising the place. Be warned, the Monkey Park has earnt the billing of ‘smallest zoo in the world’, but don’t let that put you off; there’s plenty to see and do here, and, excitingly, feeding is allowed! DIVE DEEP OR SNORKEL IN THE SHALLOWS Tenerife is famed for the snorkelling and diving opportunities of its surrounding seas, and is blessed with clear waters as much as 30 metres down and a huge biodiversity of sea life just off its shores. A particular highlight for many is the chance to swim with turtles, most commonly found in the sheltered waters on the island’s south west coast, especially around El Puertito Tenerife. If you aren’t qualified to dive and aren’t ready to learn on this trip, then you can still catch a sight of these wonderful creatures by snorkelling. 5 IDEAL DISTRICTS TO VISIT IN HANOI	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1266
__label__cc	0.702997	0.297003	Home Legislative Update Legislative Update for Feb. 26, 2015 Legislative Update for Feb. 26, 2015 This is the first in a series of updates the Government Relations Department will provide on a frequent basis. We hope this update is helpful in providing background and information on issues moving through the Illinois General Assembly and Congress that impact you and the tools you need to educate your local members and lobby your legislators. 99TH ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY Important Legislative Dates and Committees March 27th – Bills out of Committee (both chambers) April 24th – Final 3rd Reading deadline (both chambers) May 8th – Deadline for Senate bills to get out of House Committees May 15th – Deadline for House bills to get out of Senate Committees May 22nd – Final 3rd Reading deadline (both chambers) May 31st – Adjournment A schedule for each chamber can be found on the General Assembly website. Government Relations staff track education, revenue, pension and labor bills through a variety of committees in the General Assembly. Those committees include: Senate Education Senate Appropriations I & II Senate Revenue Senate Licensed Activities & Pensions Senate Higher Education Senate Labor House Elementary & Secondary Education: Charter School Policy House Elementary & Secondary Education: Licensing Oversight House Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies House Appropriations – Elementary & Secondary Education House Revenue House Personnel & Pensions House Higher Education House Labor A list of the House and Senate Committees and members can be found on the General Assembly website. Governor’s Budget Address Governor Rauner gave his FY16 budget address on Wednesday, February 18th. The budget proposal included a reduction in FY16 spending of $4.18 billion over the current fiscal year. These proposed cuts include reducing or eliminating many programs and making changes to the pension systems. Budget – Education Funding P-12 education was one of the only areas in the budget the governor proposed to increase. His proposal would include an additional $288 million of General Revenue Funds in the State Board of Education budget. A majority of this increase would be added to General State Aid, which while not fully funding the current statutory foundation level, would increase the proration from the current 89% to 94.5%. An additional $25 million would also be put into early childhood education. Unfortunately this budget also calls for the elimination of several smaller grant items, including Advanced Placement, Arts/Foreign Language, Agricultural Education, Regional Safe Schools, Children’s Mental Health Partnership, National Board Certified Teachers and Teach for America among others. While increasing funding for P-12 education, the governor’s proposed budget is less than the FY16 budget recommended by the State Board of Education, which proposes increased funding by $730 million, which among other things, would fully fund the General State Aid foundation level and increase funding for several other line items including early childhood education, bilingual education and transportation. A comparison of FY15 appropriations to the FY16 State Board of Education budget and the governor’s recommendations can be found at: http://isbe.net/budget/fy16/FY16-budget-compare-gov.pdf Higher education in the governor’s proposed budget was not as fortunate. Overall, the governor proposed reducing funding to higher education by 31%, or over $380 million. Budget – Pension System Changes A significant part of the governor’s budget calls for changes to the pension systems. The proposal includes moving every state employee and teacher to the Tier Two pension plan. The governor is proposing to “freeze” the benefits of Tier One members as of June 30, 2015, and then allow them to begin to accrue Tier Two benefits from July 1, 2015, and beyond. In his budget address, the governor stated that he believed this would create $2.2 billion in savings that would be able to be used in the upcoming fiscal year and even though SB 1 is still being litigated, these changes should be made. IEA believes this proposal would not meet constitutional muster. Budget – Elimination of State Funding of TRIP The governor also proposed eliminating funding for the Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program (TRIP). Currently, the State contributes $100 million towards TRIP. Eliminating the State’s contribution would require specific legislative action. Charter School Primer Government Relations staff developed a background primer on charter schools that can be used by members when discussing charter schools with elected officials and other members. View the Charter School Primer. Hot Bills To date the General Assembly has introduced over 6,000 bills for the first year of this General Assembly. IEA staff are tracking a number of these bills that are education, revenue, pension and labor related. Information on a few hot bills can be found below, as well as the IEA position. HB 397 (Welch) IEA INITIATIVE – This bill addresses the appeal process when a charter application is denied by a local board of education. Currently if a charter school application is denied by the local board of education, the charter school applicant can appeal the decision to the State Charter School Commission. If the Commission overturns the local board decision to deny the charter, then the charter would become a Commission-authorized charter school and be established regardless of the local boards decision. HB 397 removes the ability of a charter school applicant to appeal a denial to the Charter School Commission. The decision of the local board of education would stand. View the fact sheet on the bill. HB 403 (Franks) Repeals statute that allows children of employees of State Universities that have been employed for at least seven years to receive a 50% tuition waiver. IEA is opposed to this bill. HB 1330 (Sandack) Removes the requirement for daily physical education. IEA is opposed to this bill. HB 1448 (D. Harris) Amends the physical education statute to include students in grades 9 and 10 (instead of just 11 and 12) that can be excused from physical education for statutorily listed reasons. IEA is opposed to this bill. SB 114 (McConnaughay)/HB 2536 (Tryon) Permits a local board of education to excuse students in grades 9-12 from physical education if they are enrolled in two or more Advanced Placement courses if the student requests to be excused. IEA is opposed to this bill. SB 1507 (Bertino-Tarrant) Allows school districts to not comply with many statutory mandates or administrative rule mandates that are unfunded, with limited exceptions. Exceptions include civil rights protections, laws pertaining to student health, life or safety and federally required mandates, including No Child Left Behind. The school district could hold a public hearing and then submit a question to referendum. If a majority of the electorate agrees, the district would no longer have to engage in the mandate. IEA is opposed to this bill. ESEA Reauthorization The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), formerly known as “No Child Left Behind,” is being debated now in the House of Representatives as the Student Success Act (HR 5). NEA is working with members of Congress to make sure the new ESEA is good for both students and public schools. NEA is asking members to take action now! ESEA Amendment Gets it Right Congressman Rodney Davis (R, CD 13) introduced and passed NEA supported House Amendment 12 to HR 5, the ESEA Reauthorization bill. The amendment provides certainty to local and state entities that current collective bargaining agreements must remain in in place, without expanding collective bargaining rights, by restoring the “savings clause” to Title 1 of ESEA. This ensures that nothing in federal law can be construed to upend a state or local’s collective bargaining law, memorandum of understanding and other agreements. NEA supported this amendment and worked with Rep. Davis to introduce and ultimately pass on the House floor yesterday. The IEA officers and NEA Directors assisted the NEA lobbying team in contacting members of Congress from Illinois to pass this amendment. View the video of Rep. Davis on the House floor addressing this amendment. Congressman Mike Bost (R, CD 12) also speaks on the House floor supporting the amendment. Chad Jordon	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1273
__label__cc	0.692228	0.307772	Well Played, Future Shop. Well Played. One of my best Christmas presents this year was a little rolled up piece of paper, which (when unrolled) displayed this beautiful picture: choir of angels singing That’s right. Santa gave me a Terabyte drive. I really need this. My predilection for video editing has eaten massive amounts of space on my computer, which only had 320 Gb to begin with (that’s right, ONLY 320 Gb. Remember when 2 Gb was big??). The hard drive is crammed full. I’ve uninstalled most of my games (which I miss desperately, but there is no time for games now. I have a BABY. It’s like having my very own sim, which functions in real time and has no pause button) but my drives are both 90% full and my computer is slowing down. Hence Santa’s little gift. Why a photo? You ask. Well, because Santa ordered the drive from Future Shop on December 6th, and it still had not arrived as of our departure for Nova Scotia. Later that day, PH, er, I mean, SANTA, checked his email and made an interesting discovery: Hello Santa: Sorry for the inconvenience but the following products are currently out of stock. We’ll do our best to reduce the wait time for this inventory. Item(s) currently out of stock Western Digital Caviar 1TB 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive (WD10EADS) So that sucked. The odd thing is that “Western Digital Caviar 1TB 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive (WD10EADS)” seems to have disappeared entirely from Futureshop.ca. It has been replaced by “Western Digital Caviar 1TB 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive (WD10EARS)” which is in stock! For $60 more! ISN’T THAT GOOD NEWS? So PH Santa gave Future Shop a little call. He wanted to know: 1. Why the product hadn’t been shipped back when he ordered it. 2. Why it took them until Christmas to notify him that his wife could expect diddly bupkiss in the mail. 3. Why the awaited product had disappeared entirely from the website, and been replaced by a virtually identical product for nearly double the price. 4. Whether we could expect to receive my gift ever. 5. Why they sucked so much. The guy on the other end was able to help him with none of these questions. However, PH was able to gather that there was some kind of Greater Power at Future Shop who collectively made these decisions, whom the Help Dude referred to as “them”, much in the same way that a minor henchman would refer to “the Dark Lord”. Q: Why wasn’t the product shipped weeks ago? A: Actually, the odd thing was that it was ordered at all. Future Shop discontinued the product on Nov 28, 2011. Q: Then why was it on the website, IN STOCK, and available for order on Dec 6, 2011? A: Unsure. He would have to ask “them”. Q: If it was discontinued in November, why did it take until Christmas Eve for them to notify him that he could not get the product he ordered? Q: If the product is discontinued, why does the email give false hope that the awaited gift might still arrive in the mail? A: Unsure, but “they” surely had “their” reasons. Q: Why had the previously ordered hard drive been replaced with a virtually identical model, at nearly the double of the original price? A: Well, see, this one has a better data buffer. Q: Is that really worth nearly double the price? A: Unsure. Q: Could we just recieve the other hard drive as a substitute, since the one we had been promised would probably never be delivered? A: No. It’s a different model number, you see. Q: Could he help us in ANY WAY? A: No. He suggested that we email “them” and ask if they would honor the original price with the newer model. Well, he did just that, several days ago now. The Dark Lords of the Email have yet to respond. WHY FUTURE SHOP NO LOVE US?? So, what do you think will happen next? UPDATE: In Which The Suffering of Others Causes Me Mild Inconvenience 11 thoughts on “Well Played, Future Shop. Well Played.” Jeannie said: I’m an optimist at heart. Thanks for the hope 😀 Erin Dark said: Might be time to get back on the phone and ask to speak to ‘them’. Obviously the dude with no answers isn’t authorized to help you. It it’s been more than 2-3 business days since the email then they now hav two problems. The original one, and lack of service in a satisfactory time once a problem was discovered. Good luck. I had a reasonable customer service experience yesterday with Telus which was 10 days with no contact back and I got a $25 bill credit which is way better than the $0.45 charge reversal I was looking for! I hope this has a similarly happy ending. You need a supervisor! (My mom taught me at a young age to just skip the BS and go straight for a supervisor.) Or maybe you should take the conversation to email, and if it turns into an Ocean Media situation, you will be the hero. But boo to delayed gratification when it comes to Christmas presents. Well, we took it to email, but they are ignoring us. Shelly said: This post may help, as the future shop Internet trolls are surely on the look out for upset people after Christmas. Or take all this information to a competitor and see if they would be willing to steal you as a customer. 🙂 That’s not a bad idea, actually Pingback: That New Year’s Meme, 2011 in review. « If By Yes Ugh. That is beyond ridiculous. You should have SOME sort of 1 TB hard drive RIGHT NOW. Stupid Future Shop! I agree with checking out a competitor. (Just not Best Buy, because they are, in fact, one and the same company. Everybody probably knows that already, don’t they? I live under a rock.) I’m not sure I did, actually!	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1274
__label__cc	0.687369	0.312631	Into the Syrian Civil Society Syria in Stories Kesh Malek Syria Banksy Campaign Home /Art, Featured/Syria Banksy Campaign Art,Featured \| As the eighth anniversary of the Syrian revolution approaches, Kesh Malek Organization launches the Syria Banksy Campaign. The campaign is named after one of the most influential street artists in the world, Banksy, whose artwork is known for tackling sensitive political, ethical, cultural, and humanity related issues, and carrying inspiring messages. However, his identity remains unknown despite his international fame. The campaign aims to use graffiti to transfer and amplify the civic voice from #Syria to the world and promote the freedom, justice, and democratic values which Syrians have been combating for since March 2011. Graffiti is a rising art in Syria and has been clearly demonstrated since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011 when children from Daraa scribbled an anti-Assad message on the walls in Southern Syria and were arrested and tortured by the Syrian Security Forces, which had a great impact on triggering the Syrian revolution. Youth Empowerment as part of Community Development Youth Empowerment as part of… From Darkness to light Media Report Preparing Course in… Raising Awareness About Child Protection… Highlighting Forced Disappearance Crimes in… Memorial Stand for Aleppo’s Heritage So We Won’t Forget Al… A Dream Comes True Children Artworks in Northern Syria Building The Capacity of The… Syria Banksy Campaign March 12, 2019 Youth Empowerment as part of Community Development March 11, 2019 Building the capacity of the NGO workers and staff February 28, 2019 Glimpse by Kesh Malek Organization	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1280
__label__cc	0.607003	0.392997	Halfmoon Golf Winter Escapes: Jamaica's Top Golf Destinations By Brian Weis Jamaica is home to world-class championship courses, including White Witch, Cinnamon Hill, Half Moon, and Runway Bay Golf Club. Situated between Jamaica's lush beautiful mountains with sweeping views of the Caribbean Sea, each course offers a unique terrain making for distinctive signature holes and an experience like no other. Whether you're a rookie or professional golfer, these courses offer a truly unique experience and a great excuse to get off the resort to enjoy the beauty the island offers. Below are several distinguished courses that have elevated Jamaica's position as one of the top golf destinations: White Witch Rose Hall Golf Course: The White Witch Golf Course is built on the countryside of Jamaica's historic Rose Hall Plantation and is an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Robert von Hagge and Rick Baril. This 6,758-yard, Par 71 treasure is named for the plantation's beautiful but wicked 19th century plantation mistress, Annee Palmer. The newly launched tour, Annee's Escape, combines the Great Houses with golf, the beach and the rich cultural history of Jamaica. Cinnamon Hill: Designed by von Hagge and Rick Baril, Cinnamon Hill gives visitors a chance to take in the best of Jamaican golf. Learn about the rich history of the Johnny Cash estate on the Cinnamon Hill Great House Tour and visit the 15th green where scenes were shot for the James Bond movie, "Live and Let Die." On the Cinnamon Hill Great House Tour, journey into the lives of Country and Western greats, Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter-Cash. Experience their home that captured the essence of the life they lived in Jamaica, not as superstars but as warm individuals. Half Moon: Designed by the legendary Robert Trent Sr. and modernized by Roger Rulewich, Half Moon resort provides a country-club atmosphere with an award-winning 18-hole par-72 championship course. The course includes 20 grassed practice bays, a bunker practice green, putting green and a 50-yard pitching green. Golf tournaments frequently held at Half Moon include the Jamaica Open, European PGA Senior Tour and various PGA tournaments. It is the perfect blend of social event and exercise. The renowned golf course is one of the best walking courses creating a masterpiece of beauty. Runaway Bay Golf Club: With an 18-hole championship golf course, the Runaway Bay Golf Club was designed by Major John Harris from Britain and offers a one of a kind experience. You can perfect your game while swinging across long rolling fairways, large flat greens protected by grassy mounds and sand bunkers. Following a lively round of golf, unwind and relax in open-air pavilion restaurant and bar. Its hosted many major tournaments including the Ryder Cup match between the United Kingdom and West Indies, The Jamaica Open, The Brinks (JA) Classic, The Heineken World Cup Qualifier, CNBC Nations Cup and numerous JGA Qualifiers. Revised: 03/19/2019 - Article Viewed 351 Times About: Brian Weis Brian Weis is the Publisher of GolfTrips.com, a network of golf travel and directory sites including GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfer.com, GolfAlabama.com, etc. Professionally, Brian is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA) and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG). In 2016, Brian won The Shaheen Cup, an award given to a golf travel writer by his peers. All of his life, Brian has been around the game of golf. As a youngster, Brian competed at all levels in junior and high school golf. Brian had a zero chance for a college golf scholarship, so he worked on the grounds crew at West Bend Country Club to pay for his University of Wisconsin education. In his adult years, his passion for the game collided with his entrepreneurial spirit and in 2004 launched GolfWisconsin.com. In 2007, the idea for a network of local golf directory sites formed and GolfTrips.com was born. Today, the network consists of a site in all 50 states supported by national sites like GolfTrips.com, GolfGuide.com and GolfPackages.com. It is an understatement to say, Brian is passionate about promoting golf and golf travel on a local, regional, national and international level. On the golf course, Brian is known as a fierce weekend warrior that fluctuates between a 5-9 handicap. With a soft fade, known as "The Weis Slice", and booming 300+ drives, he can blast it out of bounds with the best of them. Follow Brian Weis: Contact Brian Weis: GolfTrips.com - Publisher and Golf Traveler More Articles by Brian Weis White Witch Golf Course Casts A Magical Jamaican Golf Spell Golf, History and Hospitality Converge on Jamaica's Rose Hall Plantation	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1284
__label__wiki	0.813526	0.813526	Food & Planet How to Be an Activist Conscious Money: The Double Returns of Impact Investing Funding enterprises with the intent to create positive change while earning a financial return, is on the rise: The rewards… The Best Climate Change Solution We’ve Heard A refreshingly frank picture of what climate change will look like in real terms and a new idea about what… Empathy: The Power to Reconcile Guilt There is so much pain and suffering across the globe these days that it can be difficult to resist the… What to Tell Your Kids About Climate Change While it’s an issue that affects everyone, climate change is a particularly terrifying threat for parents. Which is all the… How Lawyers Are Changing the Lives of Foster Kids—and Creating a Model for Change For some children, foster care is a life-saving experience. But of the half-a-million-plus children in the U.S. who are in… How to Help in Syria As the Syrian civil war stretches into its fifth year, the status of Syrian refugees is as sobering as ever.… Gun Violence: What We Can Do About It Gun policy has been all over the news this year, both in reaction to terrible tragedy and as a key… Moms on Modern Activism—and How It Actually Works We asked six women who are making big-deal progress (the changing-legislation, educating-millions-of-people kind of progress) to tell us about the… goop your inbox Sign-up for our newsletter. By clicking "submit," you agree to receive emails from goop and accept our web terms of use and privacy and cookie policy.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1285
__label__cc	0.518626	0.481374	Regal Parade Victorious in Ayr Gold Cup The Ayr Gold Cup Festival was held at the Ayr Racecourse from the 18th to the 20th of September 2008. The highlight of the festival was the running of the Ayr Gold Cup on Saturday, as it has a large purse and the race had a brilliant contender field lined up. The Ayr Gold Cup is raced over six furlongs and is one of the richest sprint events at present. The stage was set for a nail biting racing event and a jubilant victory for the trainer, jockey and owners of Regal Parade. Trained by Dandy Nicholls, Regal Parade was ready to show his worth as he is used to racing over seven furlongs, which led to his advantage as the other brilliant competitors began to struggle. Nicholls had entered six of his horses into the thirteen horse field. If a horse is capable, it can race. It is the rule of his stable yard and the owners, for whom he trains, understand that. Regal Parade won for the Nicholls team, and to him it did not matter who won the race at Ayr Racecourse, he was just proud that it was one of his. William Carson, grandson of Willie Carson, was recruited by one of the owners to ride Regal Parade in the Ayr Gold Cup. Adrian Nicholls, son of Dandy Nicholls, was piloting Tajneed. Tajneed and Confuchias were sent off as the race favorites but when Regal Parade found a gap, after being held up at the beginning of the race, his stamina gave him the extra boost he needed to cross the finish line just over two lengths before stable mate Tajneed followed him home in second. Confuchias finished in third position, with Knot In Wood in fourth. For retired jockey, Willie Carson, watching his grandson achieve greatness was like winning the handicap himself. An elated William Carson commented: "My grandfather never won the Ayr Gold Cup but he finished second once and he thought he had won! Everything went well in the race and Regal Parade did it really well."And because of his magnificent performance, Regal Parade might be heading to Dubai in winter.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1293
__label__cc	0.615546	0.384454	Tag Archives: retired general Michael Flynn’s lobbying firm Media Confirmation about Payment from Turkey to the American Intelligence about location and returning of Fethullah Gullen in Turkey as predicted by Clairvoyant Dimitrinka Staikova in her Ebook : Elections – USA, Turkey, Austria….Clairvoyant/Psychic predictions : #BlackLivesMatter, The Coup in Turkey ?, Devlet Bahçeli, CIA, FBI, Ku Klux Klan, White Supremacy… On the top of the needle By Clairvoyant : Dimitrinka Staikova, Ivelina Staikova and Stoyanka Staikova Media Confirmation about Payment from Turkey to the American Intelligence about location and returning of Fethullah Gullen in Turkey as predicted by Clairvoyant Dimitrinka Staikova in her Ebook : Elections – USA, Turkey, Austria….Clairvoyant/Psychic predictions : #BlackLivesMatter, The Coup in Turkey ?, Devlet Bahçeli, CIA, FBI, Ku Klux Klan, White Supremacy… On the top of the needle By Clairvoyant : Dimitrinka Staikova, Ivelina Staikova and Stoyanka Staikova Buy the Ebook from the Authors : https://sites.google.com/site/dimitrinkastaikova/ Buy the Ebook from Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Elections-Clairvoyant-predictions-BlackLivesMatter-Supremacy-ebook/dp/B01IRH0SJ0/ Buy the Paperback book from Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Elections-Austria-Clairvoyant-Psychic-predictions/dp/1535398116/ This is a little part of Clairvoyant/Psychic predictions about : John Brennan (Director Central Intelligence Agency) – Coups, World Conspiracies – Clairvoyant reading/Psychic predictions by Clairvoyant House “Dimitrinka Staikova and daughters Stoyanka and Ivelina Staikova” – from Europe, Bulgaria, Varna – July 17, 2016, 9 am. ……..On July 13, 2016 – I see a lot of nerves. John Brennan – financial resources were needed of the releasing of goods – big and flat packages from a sea and railway transport. I see temporary problems with technologies and communications between their selves, disorders in documents and because of them problems with investigations. Two day earlier they were expecting the coup in Turkey. Tacitly ,there were consultations and advices what should be done in such moment. There were a special group, that was engaged with monitoring of the events and connection with Turkey. There were an aircraft of USA that flew from the american military base in Turkey and was touring- as a patrol, to prevent the external intervention during the events. Through CIA and John Brennan, there is a sending (shipment) of gold in USA as a bargaining chip against Fethullah Gullen or his location. John Brennan expects more serious problems in September 2016, that will threaten his staying in CIA as director. Now, after a few days- July 15-16, 2016 – are increasing the attacks from Turkey to Iraq and part of Syria. On a syrian territory there are made installations – I see pipes, that are connected and buried in the ground – direction Turkey. I see also small squads of people to move toward the capital of Syria – they bring mainly money in cash and test tubes with yellow liquid. Around July 20, 2016 is expected a fight on the turkish – syrian border, which I see that it is well directed by CIA – the goal is killed people and collapse of earth layers – that in the future will be presented as an offer about new turkish – syrian border. Around July 20, 2016 and a little after that – I see problems with russians – literally to all fronts, including in USA. In USA, the russians ……… Trump adviser linked to Turkish lobbying A company tied to Erdogan’s government hired retired general Michael Flynn’s lobbying firm. 11/14/16 10:00 PM EST http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-turkey-lobbying-231354 “…The Alliance for Shared Values, a nonprofit affiliated with the Gulenist movement in the U.S., said hiring Flynn’s firm appeared to be part of a Turkish government smear campaign against the cleric….”. “…Flynn, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, is widely considered a contender for defense secretary or national security adviser. The former role would require a congressional waiver because he has not yet been a civilian for seven years….”. This entry was posted in #Finance, Ankara, banks, Bilderberg group, billionaires, Black Lives Matter, BRUSSELS ATTACKS, business, Clairvoyant, Confirmation, Cyprus, Davutoglu, Donald Trump, Erdogan, Health diagnosis, Hillary Clinton, Money, Politicians, President Barack Obama, Psychic, Syria, terrorism, Turkey, Uncategorized, Us Elections 2016, War, Washington, World predictions that came true and tagged #AllLivesMatter, #BlackLivesMatter, #blmdmv, #byp100dc, #FreedomNow, #fundblackfutures, #STOPFOP, #StoptheCops, a conflict of interest, Activists, African-american, African-American Civil Rights Movement, African-American islamic religious movement, Alton Sterling, America, American white nationalist, Andrew Cuomo, Ankara, August 2016, Baton Rouge, Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter movement, Black Lives Matter-affiliated group, Black Movement, black movements, Black Youth Project 100, BLM actions, Blue Wall of Silence, Brexit, business, BYP100, Central Intelligence Agency, Chairman, Chris Christie, CIA, Civil Rights Movement, civil unrest, clairvoyant, clairvoyant reading, Cleric Gulen, close ally of Turkey's president, consulting firm, Coup attempt in Turkey, Coups, custody, D.C., David Cameron, David Duke, Defense Intelligence Agency, Democrats, Democrats or Republicans, departments of State and Defense, Devlet Bahceli, Director, Donald Trump, Donald Trump 2016, Donald Trump Cabinet, Dutch consulting firm, Election 2016, Election Day, Elections 2016, Erdogan's purge, Erdoğan’s government, excessive force cases, failed army coup, Falcon Heights, FBI Director, Fethullah Gulen, Flynn Intel Group, Flynn's firm, FOP, foreign affairs, Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey, foreign governments, Former leader, Gülen's lawyers, general's closeness to Trump, Governor, Governor Jay Inslee, grand wizard, Grey Wolves, Gulenist movement, Hashim Nzinga, Hillary Clinton, House National Security Subcommittee, Huma Abedin, Indiana, Ingress, Inovo BV, intelligence services, Istanbul, James Comey, John Brennan, John Hanke, Kamil Ekim Alptekin, Ku Klux Klan, law enforcement, lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, leader, lobbying, lobbying contract, lobbying firm, Lobbyist, Louisiana, Lt. General Michael Flynn, Meeting with the business, Michael Flynn, Mike Pence, military coup, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Minnesota, money, Movement for Black Lives, Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Gülen, Nation of Islam, Nationalist Movement Party of Turkey, New Black Pather Party, New Jersey, New York, New York Police Department, Niantic, Nintendo, NYC Police Union Headquarter, NYPD, Patrolman Benevolent Association, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania-based cleric, Philando Castile, plot, Pokemon Go, police, Police shooting, police union headquarters in Washington, political month, politician, Predictions, predictions for usa 2016, President Donald Trump, presidential palace, Prime Minister of Great Britain, Problems, protesters, protests, psychic, psychic predictions, Psychic Predictions for USA 2016, racial discrimination, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Republicans, retired general Michael Flynn, retired general Michael Flynn's lobbying firm, Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, riots, safe haven, Shaun King, social justice movement, State, State Governor, State Of America, State of emergency, TAIK, Taksim Square, the future of Great Britain, the murder of the President of USA, The Party, the transition between President Obama and President-Elect Trump, Theresa May, Tom Wolf, top national security advisers, top national security post, transatlantic relationship, Trump adviser, Trump transition, Turkey coup attempt, Turkey war footing, Turkey's national security council, Turkish coup plot, Turkish Government, Turkish interests, Turkish lobbying, Turkish Nationalist Organisation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish-American Business Council, Turkish-American relations, U.S. foreign and domestic policy, UK, Unrest, US Election 2016, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, USA, USA 2016, vice chair of the Trump transition, Washington, White House officials, White Supremacy, Who will win on US Election 2016, World Conspiracies, world predictions on November 17, 2016 by Clairvoyant Dimitrinka Staikova.	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1295
__label__wiki	0.7346	0.7346	Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player Driver Sony July 3,2019 Admin A Blu-ray player for under £ from Sony - what's that catch? Power on the BDP-S Blu-ray Disc™ player. If the player starts to play a disc, press the "STOP" button and wait until the blue Sony Blu-ray Disc screen is ‎Important Notes · ‎Check the Current Firmware · ‎Firmware Update Instructions. The $ BDP-S was Sony's first "entry-level" Blu-ray offering, released in mid This is a Profile player, which means it does not. Supported systems: Windows 2K, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Vista 64 bit, Windows 7, Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8, Windows 8 64 bit, Windows 10 Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player in a unique and welcome touch, a removable sticker at the bottom of the remote provides both phone numbers and a website for Sony technical support. The player and remote support Sony's Theater Sync. This feature, which appears to be similar to one offered by other manufacturers under different names, provides for one-touch operation with compatible components when they are connected via HDMI cables. For example, you can turn on the player, TV, and AV receiver, set the receiver Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player TV inputs to the correct settings for disc play, and start the playback, all with the touch of the Play button. The HDMI output is spec 1. There's also a relatively quiet fan—a common sight on most HD players. Sony BDP-S300/SM Blu-Ray Player But there is no Ethernet or other suitable connector for online updates Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player web-enabled interactivity. The detachable power cord is one of those small, two pole jobs that are hard to find a replacement for if you lose it. PMG41D2 Motherboard According to Sony the player will pass x. Color from its HDMI 1. Sony BDP-S Blu-ray Player Sound & Vision Color-compatible display to the correct color space. You will have to do this manually; auto-switching apparently requires HDMI 1. I lacked both x. Color source material and an x. Color display, so did not test this feature at present x. Color source material is limited to discs recorded on a few camcorders. The Sony will play the uncompressed 5. But until you hear an official announcement to that effect for the BDP-S, don't assume that such an upgrade will be offered. If you use the 5. There are no adjustments for bass management, no selection for a subwoofer or its crossover frequency. Sony BDP-S - Blu-ray disc player review: Sony BDP-S - Blu-ray disc player - CNET I found that the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player, if connected, was in the circuit whether I selected Large or Small for the left and right speakers. There are no calibration test tones, and no level controls or delay adjustments for the individual channels. This omission is significant because not all receivers or pre-pros offer both of these adjustments for their multichannel analog inputs. If yours does not, the usefulness of the BDP-S's analog outputs will be compromised. Unfortunately, this remains an issue with the BDP-S I tried to call up one of several games and features on each of three discs: Chicken Little, Pirates of the Caribbean: In each case I was confronted with exasperating load-time delays, and failures of the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player to load and play properly. Sony BDP-S/SM Blu-Ray Player eBay In one instance the player locked completely and had to be unplugged at the back panel and Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player plugged in again to resume playback. But this appeared to vary with the disc, and on average it wasn't all that much different. While those blue lights can sometimes have a cool high-tech look, they can also be distracting in a completely dark home theater. Personally, we preferred the Sony's understated style. The BDP's setup menu uses unusually slick graphics. One complaint we've had with Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player high-def disc players is that their menu systems are still stuck in the standard-def era--blocky text and harsh colors shouldn't be the norm on these expensive units. Of course, the menus on the BDP-S aren't nearly as involved--there just aren't that many settings on a Blu-ray player--but we still appreciated the pleasing look. The remote is pretty to look at but isn't ideal for dark home theater use. The included remote is slick-looking with its reflective directional pad in the center. Overall, the remote is usable, but there are some key missteps that keep it from earning our praise. The biggest annoyance is the design of the buttons--they're all similarly sized, the same height, and mostly adjacent to Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player other, which makes the clicker difficult to navigate by feel in a dark home theater. There's also no backlighting, although that's not a common feature on Blu-ray player remotes. Asrock 760GM-S3 AMD OverDrive 64 BIT Driver Panasonic Viera TX-P55STW50 TV Download Drivers Foxconn A7VA-S AMD Chipset Drivers (2019) Lenovo ThinkPad T430s Ericsson Modem Windows Vista 32-BIT HP ENVY 23-d000eg TouchSmart Driver (2019)	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1300
__label__cc	0.609776	0.390224	Tag Archives: Jimmy Archey “NO CHARGE FOR TABLES”: MR. ARNOLD GOES DOWNTOWN, HEARS JAZZ The Stuyvesant Casino, Second Avenue and Ninth Street, visually: And audibly: One of the nicest parts of having JAZZ LIVES is that generous like-minded people want to share. I received an email from Mr. Madison Arnold some time back, with this photo-enclosure, a Bob Maltz postcard from 1950, autographed by James P. Johnson, Joe Sullivan, Gene Sedric, Hot Lips Page, Jimmy Archey. To the left, Tony Spargo and Pops Foster. Below, that Sidney Bechet fellow: I was one of the steady jazz loving week-end customers at the Central Plaza and Stuyvesant Casino from around 1950 to 1952 and got these post cards weekly. This is the only one I kept. I started when I was still in Erasmus Hall H.S. (they didn’t card in those days). My favorites were Bechet & Wild Bill but I loved them all. Among my memories: I helped Pops Foster put his bass in a cab one night and we went to the Riviera on Sheridan Sq., Red Allen pulled me up on stage once and we sang “The Saints Go Marching In” together. I became friendly with Baby Dodds and invited him over for dinner one evening to our apartment in Brooklyn. I also visited his place in Harlem. I have a Xmas card he sent me, written, I think, by his lady friend as I don’t think he could write. My personal Louis Armstrong stories are even better! (at least to me). He was a wonderful guy. You can imagine that I asked Mr. Arnold to tell all. And he did: First time I met him was Xmas time 1949. I had just bought a Louie 78 at Big Joe’s record store on W.46th St. I’m walking down B’way and I’m shocked to see Louie walking up B’way. I remember shouting “Satchmo” and the 2 of us walked, with our arms around each other, uptown to the Capitol Theatre where he was playing. I was so excited, I almost broke my record showing it to him. He invited me to visit him in his dressing room someday. A few days later, with a friend of mine, we bought tickets for a matinee show at the Capitol (75 cents?). I remember that, besides Louie and his group, Jerry Lewis’s father performed some comic stuff. Anyway, after the show, we went to the stage door and I told the door man that Louie invited me to come up. He phoned up to his room, got the OK and up we went. Louie was resting in a cot and the first thing I noticed was the Star of David hanging from his neck and thought, can’t be, he can’t be Jewish! I have no idea what we said but, coming from school, I had my note book which had his picture pasted on the inside cover. He signed it (green ink) and it hangs on my wall today along with a second one he signed at another time. The second time was my graduation night from H.S. We were having a marshmallow roast on the beach at Coney Island when I remember saying, “Satchmo’s playing at Bop City. Let’s go.” About 5 or 6 of us took the subway and ended up at Bop City on, I believe, 47th and B’way. I told Louie who we were and he made an announcement, the exact words I still remember: “There’s a buncha kids just graduated from Erasmus High School and I’d like to dedicate my next number to them.” He put his horn to his lips and blew Auld Lang Syne ending by skat singing,”old acquaintance, be forgot baba ba doo zip, yeah” all the time looking at me (us). A great musician and a warm wonderful person. Louis, as we know, remains a warm wonderful person. But right next to him is Mr. Arnold, so generous to us all. Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, Hotter Than That, Ideal Places, Irreplaceable, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Jazz Worth Reading, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, That Was Fun!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love, Wow! Tagged Baby Dodds, Bob Maltz, Eddie Barefiield, Gene Sedric, Hot Lips Page, James P. Johnson, Jazz Lives, Jimmy Archey, Joe Sullivan, Madison Arnold, Michael Steinman, Pops Foster, Red Allen, Stuyvesant Casino, Tommy Benford, Tony Spargo, Wild Bill Davison I’M GETTING MY BONUS IN STRIDE: JAMES P. FOR THE HOLIDAYS Everyone who follows jazz devotedly has theories about why some musicians become Stars and others remain Obscure. It clearly isn’t artistic quality, as one could find out quickly by playing recordings of famous and neglected artists. No, other factors interfere. In that wonderfully uplifting sub-genre known as Harlem stride piano, the pantheon seems to have room for only one man, Fats Waller. His fame is well-deserved: his genial embellishments, his rhythmic drive, his delicious pianistic surprises. But we also have to consider the effect of Fats as a Personality (many recordings and some film appearances) and a Composer. (In the jazz mythology, he is also remembered as a joyous Dionysiac child who died young — elements that stick in our minds.) Willie “the Lion” Smith seems a collection of delightful eccentricities — melodies, derby hat, cigar, scraps of Yiddish, an elegant braggadocio. In our time, pianists Dick Wellstood, Ralph Sutton, Don Ewell, and their current counterparts have (or had) the advantage of being accessible. But what of the man who came first (leaving aside Eubie Blake and Luckey Roberts), Fats’ teacher, James P. Johnson? He was not a Personality; the one or two times he sings on record he seems uncomfortable; a quiet man, almost shy, he did not thrust himself forward. It would seem that he didn’t record sufficiently, but the discographies prove otherwise. Wellstood once said in print that James P.’s recordings didn’t always document his greatness — although for those of us who didn’t see and hear James P. at all, that would be a moot point. Mosaic Records, blessedly, has seen fit to put Wellstood’s casual assertion to the test. This box set will be available in mid-December; it offers the usual Mosaic largesse spread over six CDs; rare material (eleven sides not previously issued), beautiful photographs; a lengthy essay by Dr. Scott Brown, James P.’s biographer, familiar material in the best sound. And should some worry about six CDs of stride piano, fear not: we hear James P. accompanying blues and pop singers (including Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Clara Smith, and Ethel Waters) and as a sideman in bands that include Frank Newton, Jabbo Smith, Clarence Williams, Garvin Bushell, Louis Metcalf, Fats Waller, Cootie Williams, Arthur Whetsel, King Oliver, Jimmy Archey, Teddy Bunn, Lonnie Johnson, Roy Smeck, Tommy Ladnier, Sidney DeParis, Mezz Mezzrow, John Kirby, Cozy Cole, Sidney Catlett, Henry “Red” Allen, J. C. Higginbotham, Gene Sedric, Al Casey, Hot Lips Page, Charlie Christian, Ed Hall, and others. Here‘s the discography, for those who (like myself) find listings of music we are going to hear very enticing. And if you haven’t heard James P. recently — someone Thelonious Monk admired — scroll down on this Mosaic page and listen. My holiday shopping list is now complete — my gift to myself, I mean. Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, Irreplaceable, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Jazz Worth Reading, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, That Was Fun!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love, Wow! Tagged Al Casey, Arthur Whetsel, Bessie Smith, Charlie Christian, Clara Smith, Clarence Williams, Cootie Williams, Cozy Cole, Dick Wellstood, Don Ewell, Ed Hall, Ethel Waters, Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Frank Newton, Garvin Bushell, Gene Sedric, Henry "Red" Allen, Hot Lips Page, Ida Cox, J.C.Higginbotham, Jabbo Smith, James P. Johnson, Jazz Lives, Jimmy Archey, John Kirby, King Oliver, Lonnie Johnson, Louis Metcalf, Luckey Roberts, Mezz Mezzrow, Michael Steinman, Mosaic Records, Ralph Sutton, Roy Smeck, Scott Brown, Sidney Catlett, Sidney DeParis, Stride piano, Teddy Bunn, Thelonious Monk, Tommy Ladnier, Willie "the Lion" Smith A FEW CHORUSES AGO The Nice Jazz Festival, 1948. Henry Goodwin, trumpet; Robert Sage Wilber, clarinet / soprano saxophone; Jimmy Archey, trombone; Pops Foster, string bass; Sammy Price, piano; Mezz Mezzrow, clarinet. Not photographed: Baby Dodds, drums. Happily, Mr. Wilber — then the baby of the band — is still with us, playing, recording, and traveling. Music keeps you young. Thanks to Pug Horton for providing this glimpse of the past, only sixty-six years ago. Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, Hotter Than That, Irreplaceable, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, That Was Fun!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love Tagged Baby Dodds, Bob Wilber, Henry Goodwin, Jazz Lives, Jimmy Archey, Mezz Mezzrow, Michael Steinman, Nice Jazz Festival, Pops Foster, Pug Horton, Sammy Price, Sidney Bechet “WHAT A KICK!” Four gifts from from JAZZ LIVES’ friend Bob Sann, banjo / guitarist / artist, who explains it all below: I was privileged to participate in the Bunk Johnson revival movement in NYC in 1947. Three traditional jazz enthusiasts were friends of mine: Irv Kratka (who later founded Music-Minus-One Records), Dante Bollettino (who later founded Jolly Roger Records) and Harry Newmark knew Bunk was in town because of the Stuyvesant Casino gigs. They booked a ballroom, “Caravan Hall” on east 59th Street, for two concerts. The first (Friday, October 17, 1947) was billed as a “Barrelhouse Brawl,” the second (Friday, October 24, 1947) as a “New Orleans Cutting Contest.” Both concerts paired an all-black band of New Orleans veterans against a young white band of local NYC dixielanders. I was interested in art, at that time, and designed the publicity flyers. While the New Orleans band was on, I made some pencil sketches of Bunk, Baby Dodds, James P. Johnson, and Albert Nicholas. When the young band was on, I played guitar and banjo with them. At the end of the last set I got to sit-in with Bunk’s band (what a kick!) For your information, the New Orleans musicians got paid $20 per concert. Bob Sann (a/k/a Robert Schiff) (I am happy to know that Bob is currently playing banjo/guitar with The Rhythm Kings, a 14-piece hot dance orchestra based in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and is led by the well-known arranger/conductor Dan Fox (formerly of New York City). Eight tracks from the Caravan Ballroom sessions have been released on the American Music CD (AMCD-45), BUNK JOHNSON AND MUTT CAREY IN NEW YORK, 1947. An additional track was released on the CD accompanying the book by Mike Hazeldine and Barry Martyn, SONG OF THE WANDERER. Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, Hotter Than That, Ideal Places, Irreplaceable, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, That Was Fun!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love Tagged 1947, Albert Nicholas, Baby Dodds, Barry Martyn, Bob Mielke, Bob Sann, Bunk Johnson, Caravan Ballroom, Charlie Traeger, Dan Fox, Dante Bolletino, Harry Newmark, Irv Kratka, James P. Johnson, Jazz Lives, Jerry Blumberg, Jimmy Archey, Joe Mandra, John Ellis, Mel Hill, Michael Steinman, Mike Hazeldine, New Orleans jazz, Pops Foster, Robert Schiff HOLD ON TIGHT: “JAZZ DANCE” (1954): A FILM BY ROGER TILTON and RICHARD BRUMMER Posted on June 6, 2012 \| 16 comments Thanks to Joep Peeters for pointing out that this fascinating piece of cultural / musical anthropology is available on YouTube. Without exaggeration, there is no film remotely like it: This twenty-minute film documents what it was really like at New York City’s cavernous Central Plaza, with a band made up of Jimmy McPartland, cornet; Jimmy Archey, trombone; Pee Wee Russell, clarinet; Willie “the Lion” Smith, piano; Pops Foster, string bass; George Wettling, drums — heroes! — as they proceed through a slow blues, a medium-tempo BALLIN’ THE JACK, ROYAL GARDEN BLUES, and the SAINTS. Here’s the fascinating commentary about how the film was shot: Matrixx Entertainment is pleased to present the 1954 classic, JAZZ DANCE, produced and directed by Roger Tilton, edited by Richard Brummer. Special appearance by Al Minns and Leon James. Music by Jimmy McPartland (trumpet), Willie (the Lion) Smith (piano), Pops Foster (bass), Pee Wee Russell (clarinet), Jimmy Archey (trombone), George Wettling, (drums). Filmed at the Central Plaza Dance Hall in New York City. This high quality version was digitized by John Fellers from Dick Brummer’s 3/4-inch video tape struck from the original 35mm black and white master, the only 35mm print in existence in San Diego with Pat Tilton, the wife of Roger Tilton who passed away in 2011. Dick Brummer, mentor of James Jaeger and a stockholder of Matrixx Entertainment, granted permission to post JAZZ DANCE to this channel. Below are some excerpts from letters and technical notes on how this pioneering film was made. It might be of interest to note that Roger made many visits to the Central Plaza Dance Hall in the weeks before production and drew pictures of things he saw happen there. These were given to the cameramen before the shoot with instructions to try to get these shots if they happened. The two cameramen worked in such a way as to cover the same action from two angles when possible so that I could have the material I needed for synchronous action cuts when I edited the film. JAZZ DANCE was shot with two 35mm hand-held WW 2-type cameras called Eyemos plus a 35mm Mitchell high up in a balcony. There were 2 cameramen with an assistant each. When they ran out of their 100 foot loads (about 1 minute) the assistant ran out with another can of negative. Dupont 3 was used, the fastest film at the time. Roger had been told that he would need arc lights and a generator in the street with big sound cameras to do the job but my associate at the time and I had a different idea. We had arranged for the use of new lights just developed by GE that were the first PAR cans ever used on a film. They plugged into the existing power. The Eyemos were wild, but shot at 24 frames per second. My sound equipment also ran at 24 fps. I did the sync later on a Movieola. The crowd was told that, by signing a release that night, they would get in free. I used 3 mics and a third hand-held when needed through a mixer. The film is noted for being one of the first cinema verite films to take the audience into an event as participant. The audience hardly noticed the cameras because they looked like amateur equipment. The cameramen shot from behind shoulders and from the hip. Ricky Leacock and Bob Campbell were the two cameramen. For the JAZZ DANCE shoot, the cameramen used 100 foot loads and several cameras so that, when signaled, the assistants would give the cameramen a loaded camera and take away the camera with the exposed film to unload it and load a new 100 foot load. This was done away from the crowd in black loading bags. The cameras were spring-wound, but set by the cameramen to run at 24 fps, the same speed I was running my 17 and a half mag recorder (which was plugged in to the wall behind the band). The entire dance was shot in about four hours. Solving the logistics of the shoot, as I discussed above, was one thing, but documenting what actually went on at the Dance Hall every Saturday night on 35mm, with both sound AND picture, set a new standard for a “you are there,” cinema verite film. The well-known documentarian, Mura Dehn, had shot footage of jazz dancers, including Minns and James, before, but such shoots were always staged and without sound (what we call MOS). This was true even when she shot at the Savoy Ballroom. You can see Dehn’s work on YouTube in the series is called “The Spirit Moves.” By the way, I worked with Mura on a documentary she made on modern jazz music where she DID record live music — but there was no dancing. So JAZZ DANCE is the first to combine many techniques. Almost sixty years later, this film captures an exuberant scene in exuberant ways. I had not known of the one-minute film limitations, but now it explains the hectic energy of the finished product, cutting from one scene to another with restless rapidity. The music speaks for itself: as I’ve been pointing out with advertising cards, bands such as this — at this level — assembled regularly in these huge downtown New York catering halls in the late Forties onward. So JAZZ DANCE presents a wild audience responding without restraint to the music they hear. It is also an amusing corrective to those who yearn for an imagined Golden Era when audiences sat silently, rapt, attentive . . . I suspect that hot jazz always provoked such energetic response. May your happiness increase. Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Hotter Than That, Ideal Places, Irreplaceable, Jazz Titans, Jazz Worth Reading, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love, Wow! Tagged Al Mimms, Bob Campbell, Central Plaza, cinema verite, Dick Brummer, documentary, George Wettling, James Jaeger, jazz dance, Jazz Lives, jazz on film, Jimmy Archey, Jimmy McPartland, Joep Peeters, John Fellers, Leon James, Michael Steinman, Mura Dehn, Mztrix Entertainment, Pat Tilton, Pee Wee Russell, Pops Foster, Richard Brummer, Ricky Leacock, Roger Tilton, WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN, Willie "the Lion" Smith, YouTube “UNIDENTIFIED NEGRO JAZZ MUSICIANS” on eBay Call me oversensitive if you will, but I found the title above more than a bit puzzling and demeaning when it was attached to a number of photographs on sale on eBay. Hasn’t “Negro” been replaced by more accurate, less weighted language? And to call the musicians below “unidentified” seems a failure of basic research skills. If Benny Carter is an “unidentified Negro,” we need to embark on a more effective national program of cultural education. Without further lecturing, the photographs (all of them sold to the highest bidders by now): Benny Carter and his Orchestra, 1939 — including Jimmy Archey, Bobby Woodlen, Vic Dickenson, Chick Morrison, Lincoln Mills, Tyree Glenn, and Joe Thomas (from left to right). It’s a rather unorthodox arrangement of this stellar brass section, for photographic purposes only. I’ve never seen a photograph of this man looking downcast or mournful: that’s Zutty Singleton! Two extraordinary percussionists for the price of one: on top, grinning even more broadly, Sonny Greer at his personalized Leedy set; below him, Cozy Cole, having a wonderful time as well. In fairness, I must write that this handsome trumpet player is, for the moment, “unidentified” to me — he looks terribly familiar but his name is elusive. Can anyone help? (Although I must point out that John C. Brown or someone else had identified the subject on the reverse of the one photograph from this collection I bought . . . ) As a postscript: Steve Provizer thinks it’s Jonah Jones. Mike Burgevin, who enjoyed a long friendship / playing partnership with Joe Thomas, thinks it’s Joe. The photographs above are famous — the Blessed Herschel Evans (possibly by Timme Rosenkrantz) and Irving “Mouse” Randolph. I wonder how Irving got that nickname: he hardly resembles any rodent I ever saw, on the floor or in cartoons. The Randolph portrait, by the way, was reproduced in one of the mid-Seventies Billie Holiday box sets on Columbia, which is where I saw it first. His Honor, The Judge, Milton John Hinton (in the Seventies, I believe). Mugging for the camera — by himself, without the Tympany Five — Louis Jordan. Sonny Greer, resplendent at work (with the backs of the Ellington brass section to his right) during that band’s Victor Records contract — little Nipper’s on the bass drum head. The two musicians at bottom are identified (although not by the seller); at top, I think the pianist is Patti Bown, the trumpeter Charlie Shavers, and I couldn’t mistake Milt Hinton and Jo Jones. I won’t even guess at the trio on the right, but the handsome fellow on the left is intriguing. If I can’t find out who he is, at least I’d like that suit jacket for myself, if it would fit. The fellow in the center should be recognizable — but who could miss Lionel Hampton and Jimmy Crawford (the latter under his own stylized palm tree)? Equal time for unidentified Caucasians! The drummer at top left obviously loves his Rogers set, but might need a motorized throne to cover it all. Behind the swinging woodpecker, none other than Ray Bauduc. And at bottom — characteristically thin and somber — Dave Tough. Anonymous no more, I hope. P.S. And since I’d like to end this post in celebration rather than rancor, here’s a lovely (and fully identified) portrait of the saxophonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader Edgar Sampson, sharp in his band jacket and ready for action in front of the Savoy Ballroom, or at least the Savoy Billiards. Everything suggests this was taken in the mid-Thirties, and it has the general affect of a Timme Rosenkrantz shot, but I can’t prove it: the clothing of the passers-by suggests mild weather, but only students of historical fashion could tell us more. Posted in Irreplaceable, It's A Mystery, Jazz Titans, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, The Real Thing, The Things We Love Tagged "Negro", Benny Carter, Billie Holiday, Bobby Woodlen, Charlie Shavers, Chick Morrison, Cozy Cole, Dave Tough, Duke Ellington, Ebay, Edgar Sampson, Harlem, Heritage Hall Jazz Band, Herschel Evans, Irving Randolph, Jimmy Archey, Jimmy Crawford, Jo Jones, Joe Thomas, Lincoln Mills, Lionel Hampton, Louis Jordan, Milt Hinton, Mouse Randolph, Patti Bown, Ray Bauduc, Savoy Ballroom, Sonny Greer, Timme Rosenkrantz, Tyree Glenn, Vic Dickenson, Victor Records, Zutty Singleton PAPER, NOT EPHEMERAL This piece of paper comes from the collection of Boston jazz aficionado Samuel Prescott, and it’s an absolute Who’s Who of jazz stars who came through that city in the Forties. The Prescott papers (and discs) are now held by the University of New Hampshire Library, and they took good care of this piece of paper, crowded with signatures of great men and women: On the back (invisible at the moment) is the autograph of one Duke Ellington. And here are the names that the librarians found: a good pastime for a rainy day with a magnifying glass: Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines (twice). Al Morgan. Pete Brown. Joe Battaglia (piano). Shirley Mhore (vocal). Gene Sedric. Art Hodes. Vic Dickenson. J. C. Higginbotham. Roy Eldridge. Erskine Hawkins (twice). Joe Marsala. Adele Girard. Jimmy Shirley. Jess Stacy. Ev Schwarz (pian0). John Kirby. James P. Johnson. Edmond Hall. Louis Armstrong. Billy Kyle. Bob Wilber. Frankie Newton. Willie ‘Bunk’ Johnson (twice). Baby Dodds. Johnny Windhurst. Johnny Field (bass). Sparky Tomasetti. Jack Teagarden. Dick Wellstood. Pops Foster. Sidney Bechet. Sandy J. Williams. Jimmy Archey. Howey ‘Peacoo’ Gadboys. Sidney de Paris. Rex Stewart. ‘Wild’ Bill Davison. Pleasant Joseph. Henry ‘Red’ Allen. Milton ‘Mezz’ Mezzrow. Pee Wee Russell. Don Kirkpatrick. Max Kaminsky. Paul Watson. Bob Guy. Charlie Holmes. Amazing, no? Posted in "Thanks A Million", Ideal Places, Irreplaceable, Jazz Titans, Jazz Worth Reading, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, The Real Thing, The Things We Love Tagged Adele Girard, Al Morgan, Art Hodes, autographs, Baby Dodds, Billy Kyle, Bob Guy, Bob Wilber, Bunk Johnson, Charlie Holmes, Dick Wellstood, Don Kirkpatrick, Dorothy Prescott, Earl Hines, Edmond Hall, Erskine Hawkins, Ev Schwartz, Evans Schwarz, Frank Newton, Frankie Newron, Gene Sedric, Howey Gadboys, Howie Gadboys, J.C. Higginbotham, Jack Teagarden, James P. Johnson, jazz blog, Jazz Lives, Jess Stacy, Jimmy Archey, Jimmy Shirley, Joe Battaglia, Joe MArsala, John Field, John Kirby, Johnny Field, Johnny Windhurst, Louis Armstrong, Max Kaminsky, Mezz Mezzrow.Henry "Red" Allen, Michael Steinman, paper ephemera, Paul Watson, Pee Wee Russell, Pete Brown, PLeasant Joseph, Pops Foster, rare signatures, Rex Stewart, Roy Eldridge, Sam Prescott, Samuel Prescott, Sandy Williams, Shirley Mhore, Sidney Bechet, Sidney DeParis, Sparky Tomasetti, Vic Dickenson, Wild Bill Davison	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1302
__label__cc	0.601235	0.398765	Tag Archives: Terry Wilson DENNIS LICHTMAN and THE QUEENSBORO SIX: “JUST CROSS THE RIVER” Slightly less than three years ago, the superbly gifted multi-instrumentalist / composer Dennis Lichtman assembled his Queensboro Six and gave a concert at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens. Here is the first half, and here is the second. The music was multi-colored and seriously rewarding: Dennis’ tribute to the true jazz borough, Queens County, New York, home of so many jazz figures — from Clarence Williams and Basie to Louis and Dizzy, Milt Hinton and James P. Johnson — and currently home to so many more of the musicians we love. Dennis assembled his Queensboro Six for a truly delightful new CD, its title above, its theme song below: This disc is a model of how to do it — musicians and composers take note. For one thing, the band has an immense rhythmic and melodic energy, but the pieces are compact — sometimes explosions of twenty-first century Hot, sometimes evocative mood pieces, but none of them sounding just like the preceding track. Dennis is a real composer, so that even an exploration of Rhythm changes sounds lively and fresh. His arrangements also make for refreshing variety, so that one doesn’t hear him as the featured soloist to the exclusion of the other luminaries, and the performances are multi-textured, harking back to the later Buck Clayton, to Charlie Shavers’ work for the John Kirby Sextet, Raymond Scott, to sensitive elegies and musings that hint at the work of Sidney Bechet and Django Reinhardt. You’ll also notice compositions by and associated with those Queens denizens Louis, Fats, Clarence Williams. As that borough boasts some of the finest ethnic restaurants, this disc offers one savory musical dish after another. As they used to say, “For listening and dancing”! Peter Karl is responsible for the lovely recorded sound and Ricky Riccardi for the fine liner notes. Here are some details. The musicians are Dennis, clarinet; Dalton Ridenhour, piano; Gordon Au, trumpet; J. Walter Hawkes, trombone; Rob Garcia, drums; Nathan Peck, string bass — with guest appearances by Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, vocal , guitar; Mazz Swift, violin, vocal; Terry Wilson, vocal; Nick Russo, guitar. If you know even a few of those performers, you will want this disc, because they seem especially inspired by Dennis’ compositions, arrangements, and playing. And no one imitates any of the Ancestors. The songs are 7 EXPRESS / FOR BIX / MIDNIGHT AT THE PIERS / ROAD STREET COURT PLACE AVENUE DRIVE / SOMEDAY YOU’LL BE SORRY / WALTZ FOR CAMILA / L.I.C. STRUT / JUST CROSS THE RIVER FROM QUEENS / BLUE TURNING GREY OVER YOU / 23rd BETWEEN 23rd AND 23rd / SQUEEZE ME / THE POWER OF NOT THEN / I’D REMEMBER HAVING MET YOU / CAKE WALKING BABIES FROM HOME. You may order a download or a disc here at very reasonable prices. But perhaps more important than the disc itself, on August 1, the Queensboro Six will play two sets at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola. Tickets and details here. Get yours today: Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, Hotter Than That, Ideal Places, Irreplaceable, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, That Was Fun!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love, Wow! Tagged Buck Clayton, Clarence Williams, Count Basie, Dalton Ridenhour, Dennis Lichtman, Dennis Lichtman and the Queensboro Six, Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Django Reinhardt, Eva Taylor, Fats Waller, Gordon Au, J. Walter Hawkes, James P. Johnson, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Lives, Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton, Louis Armstrong, Mazz Swift, Michael Steinman, Milt Hinton, Nathan Peck, Nick Russo, Peter Karl, Queens County, Ricky Riccardi, Rob Garcia, Sidney Bechet, Terry Wilson IN THE JAZZ BOROUGH: DENNIS LICHTMAN’S QUEENSBORO SIX, PART TWO (August 29, 2015) Manhattnites think theirs is the jazz borough: Harlem, Fifty-Second Street, the Village. Sorry, but no. It’s Queens, home to Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Bix Beiderbecke, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Clarence Williams, Count Basie, Milt Hinton, Bobby Hackett, Illinois Jacquet, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Heath, Roy Eldridge, Clark Terry, Benny Goodman, John Coltrane, Lester Young, Ben Webster . . . And the jazz glories of this borough aren’t only historical (read: dusty). Dennis Lichtman proved that vividly in his concert — with his Queensboro Six — at the Louis Armstrong House Museum (34-56 107th St, Corona, Queens, by the way) on August 29, 2015. The band was Dennic, clarinet, compositions, arrangements; Gordon Au, trumpet; J. Walter Hawkes, trombone; Nathan Peck, string bass; Dalton Ridenhour, keyboard; Rob Garcia, drums; Terry Wilson, vocal, with guest stars Ed Polcer, cornet; Tamar Korn, vocal. And there were luminaries not on the bandstand: Michael Cogswell and Ricky Riccardi, Brynn White, Cynthia Sayer, Jerome Raim, among others. Here‘s the first half of the concert for those who missed my posting. And now the second. Dennis explains it all, so watch, listen, and savor. UNDECIDED: MIDNIGHT AT THE PIERS: STOMPIN’ AT MONA’S: I CRIED FOR YOU (vocal Terry Wilson): BLACK AND BLUE (vocal Terry): THE POWER OF NOT-THEN: I’D REMEMBER HAVING MET YOU IF I’D MET YOU: WHAT A LITTLE MOONLIGHT CAN DO (add Terry WIlson, Ed Polcer, Tamar Korn): Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, Hotter Than That, Ideal Places, Irreplaceable, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, That Was Fun!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love, Wow! Tagged Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Bix Beiderbecke, Bobby Hackett, Brynn White, Clarence Williams, Count Basie, Dalton Ridenhour, Dennis Lichtman, Dizzy Gillespie, Ed Polcer, Fats Waller, Gordon Au, Illinois Jacquet, J. Walter Hawkes, James P. Johnson, Jazz Lives, Jimmy Heath, JOhn Coltrane, Lester Young, Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong House Museum, Michael Cogswell, Michael Steinman, Milt Hinton, Nathan Peck, Queens, Queens Council on the Arts, Ricky Riccardi, Rob Garcia, Roy Eldridge, Tamar Korn, Terry Wilson DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: DENNIS LICHTMAN / MISS IDA BLUE (August 29, 2015) Just hold on a moment. Before you start packing the car to flee somewhere pastoral for the final weekend of August, may I inform you of two delightful reasons to stay in (or visit) New York City on Saturday, August 29, 2015? The first concerns our friend Dennis Lichtman — virtuoso on clarinet, fiddle, and mandolin. I first heard and met Dennis in 2009 when he was a member of the Cangelosi Cards, then heard him in other contexts around the city — always playing marvelously, with a bright sound and memorable creativity, whether sitting in with a hot band or leading his own group, the Brain Cloud. Photograph by Bobby Bonsey At 2 PM on Saturday, Dennis will be celebrating his tenth year as a resident of the borough of Queens, New York — in music. He and a great band will be offering a concert celebrating the history of jazz in Queens . . . the result of his first grant project, “Queens Jazz: A Living Tradition.” Thanks to the Queens Council on the Arts, he will be presenting “original music inspired by this borough’s jazz heritage.” In addition, there will be classic songs associated with Queens jazz masters of the Twenties to the Forties. (Think of Clarence Williams and Fats Waller, among others.) The concert — the FREE concert — will take place at the Louis Armstrong House Museum, 34-56 107th Street, Corona, New York, (718) 478-8274. In case of rain, it will be held at the Queens Public Library, 40-20 Broadway, Queens, New York. Dennis has assembled a wonderful band: Gordon Au, trumpet; J. Walter Hawkes, trombone; Dalton Ridenhour, piano; Terry Wilson, vocal; Nathan Peck, string bass; Rob Garcia, drums. You can keep up with Dennis here and here is the Facebook event page for the concert. But that might leave you at liberty in mid-afternoon on a beautiful Saturday. What to do? I will be heading towards lower Manhattan for evening music of a most soulful kind: Miss Ida Blue and friends (including Dan Block, reeds, and John Gill, guitar) will be hosting an evening of the blues at Joe’s Pub. The photograph below also shows Andrew Millar, drums, and a figure I assume to be the heroic Brian Nalepka — you hear his sound even when you can’t see him. Photograph by Steve Singer Here is the Facebook event page for this concert. It’s a one-hour gig, starting at 9:30. And Miss Ida and Joe’s Pub go together spectacularly, as I have written here about her triumphant May 15 gig. I first heard her delivering the blues like a superb short-order cook — hot and ready — with the Yerba Buena Stompers, and I look forward to more of that spicy cuisine at this year’s Steamboat Stomp, which will begin in New Orleans a little more than a month from this posting. I note with pleasure that Miss Ida has two pairs of dark glasses in this photograph. Obviously the energy she unleashes is so powerful that wise listeners might want to bring extra protection — aural sunscreen. But don’t be afraid: her power is a healing joyous experience. And you might hear songs associated with blues monarchs Memphis Minnie, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Robert Johnson, Sister Wynona Carr, and others, all performed with conviction, invention, and ingenuity by our own Ida. To purchase tickets ($15), click here. Now you know it all, and can make plans. For me, a suburban New Yorker who commutes to Manhattan and Brooklyn for pleasure, I can occupy my spare moments in the next two weeks with the philosophical calculus of transportation: drive to Corona in the morning, enjoy the concert, then choose — take my car into lower Manhattan on a Saturday night and attempt to find street parking, or go home after Corona, take the commuter railroad in . . . matters of time, finance, ease. Such things should be my (or your) largest problems. I hope to see friends at both concerts! Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, Hotter Than That, Ideal Places, Irreplaceable, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Jazz Worth Reading, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love, Wow! Tagged Andrew Millar, Brian Nalepka, Clarence Williams, Dalton Ridenhour, Dan Block, Dennis Lichtman, Fats Waller, free concert, Gordon Au, J. Walter Hawkes, Jazz Lives, Joe's Pub, John Gill, Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong House Museum, Memphis Minnie, Michael Steinman, Miss Ida Blue, Nathan Beck, Rob Garcia, Robert Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sister Wynona Carr, Steve Singer, Terry Wilson, the blues, The BRAIN CLOUD, The Cangelosi Cards WHILE IT’S HOT: TWO CONCERTS, COMING SOON I revere the jazz Past: the recordings, the actual men and women, their stories, their holy artifacts. But I would not want this art form to become a museum, where we can only hear the Great Dead People. So I encourage my friends to seek out occasions where we can live in the present moment: hearing living men and women play and sing their own versions of this lovely music right in front of us. It’s an experience different and deeper than listening to the Electrobeam Gennett you just got on eBay, although I am not making fun of that pleasure, not at all. Enjoying the present makes me think of fish and chips, which I will explain below. Trust me, it’s relevant. The two concerts I am reminding you all about are put on by the Sidney Bechet Society in New York City. Were I there, I would be there. They take place on Monday, at 7:15 (a nice serene early hour) at Symphony Space at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street. Monday, April 21, is the second “Jam Session of the Millenium,” led by our own Dan Levinson: If you’re one of those Jazz Lovers who wonders, “Who are these kids and are they any good?” you and your skepticism are in luck — because someone (thank you, Anonymous Person) recorded the first Jam Session of the Millennium in its entirety. Consider this! Monday, May 19, is a tribute concert in honor of Mat Domber, who made so much good music possible for all of us (along with his wonderful wife Rachel, still with us) on Arbors Records from the late Eighties onwards. The audience of jazz listeners thanks him as do the musicians — and some of them gather onstage to say it with music: Randy Sandke, Wycliffe Gordon, Anat Cohen, Dick Hyman, Bucky Pizzarelli, Warren Vache, Joel Forbes, Rebecca Kilgore, Ed Metz, Rossano Sportiello, Harry Allen, John Allred, Rajiv Jayaweera, and Bob Wilber! Tickets are $35 (students $10) ahttp://youtu.be/TfKz2nIok-Qnd the Symphony Space contact information is 212.864.5400 / www.symphonyspace.org. “Fish and chips, Michael?” Yes. In one of my favorite Irish novels of the last few decades, THE VAN, by Roddy Doyle, two fellows open a mobile fish and chips “cooker” out of an old van — a very funny and touching novel. But one of their selling points is a sign that says TODAY’S CHIPS TODAY. Get this music while it’s HOT. Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, Hotter Than That, Ideal Places, Irreplaceable, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love, Wow! Tagged Anat Cohen, Bob Wilber, Bucky Pizzarelli, Dalton Riidenhour, Dan Levinson, Dennis Lichtman, Dick Hyman, Ebay, Ed Metz, Electrobeam Gennett, Eric Offner, fish and chips, Gordon Webster, Harry Allen, Jared Engel, Jazz Lives, Joel Forbes, John Allred, Josh Holcomb, Kevin Dorn, Mat Domber, Matt Musselman, Michael Steinman, Mike Davis, Nick Russo, Rachel Domber, Rajiv Jayaweera, Randy Sandke, Rebecca Kilgore, Rich Levinson, Rob Adkins, Roddy Doyle, Rossano Sportiello, Sidney Bechet, Sidney Bechet Society, Terry Wilson, THE VAN, Warren Vache, Wycliffe Gordon TUESDAYS WITH SIDNEY* *The Sidney Bechet Society. We haven’t been able to spend Tuesdays with Monsieur Bechet for a half-century, but time spent with his youthful heirs will be just as satisfying. Don’t be left out! Wycliffe Gordon’s “History of Jazz Trombone” Symphony Space, Broadway & 95th St., New York City Tuesday, September 29, 2009 2 shows: 6:15pm & 9:00pm The Sidney Bechet Society presents trombone sensation Wycliffe Gordon leading a “History of Jazz Trombone.” Wycliffe & the band will remember the legends of this soulful instrument, jazz titans like Kid Ory, Jack Teagarden, Lawrence Brown, Tricky Sam Nanton, Juan Tizol, Tommy Dorsey, J.C. Higginbotham, Tyree Glenn, Al Grey and Buster Cooper. Joining Wycliffe will be Anat Cohen, reeds (Jazz Journalists’ Assoc. 2009 Clarinetist of the Year); Etienne Charles, trumpet (winner: 2006 National Trumpet Competition); Ehud Asherie, piano; Zaid Shukri, bass; Marion Felder, drums; Terry Wilson, vocals. Tickets are $25, available at the box office, by telephone and online at http://www.symphonyspace.org (use code “RAC102” when ordering online). Special 2 show discount: get our Sept. 29 & Oct. 27 shows for $44. This offer is good at box office & phone only—use code “SBS 01” www.sidneybechet.org “Remembering Stuyvesant Casino & Central Plaza” with Vince Giordano Symphony Space, Broadway & 95th St., New York City Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6:15pm & 9:00pm The Sidney Bechet Society presents a tribute to two legendary jazz venues: Stuyvesant Casino & Central Plaza. Joining Vince will be Randy Reinhart, trumpet; Mark Lopeman, reeds; Jim Fryer, trombone; Ehud Asherie, piano; Kenny Salvo, banjo; Rob Garcia, drums, and Ricky Gordon on washboard. During the 1940s and 1950s, these were the hotbeds of traditional Jazz in NYC. All the greats played there. Vince Giordano will lead a hot band recreating the music one would hear at both establishments. Special guest stars are pianist Marty Napoleon & clarinetist Sol Yaged, who played at both venues. Marty & Sol are 88 and 87 years old, respectively, and still swinging hard! Tickets are $25, available at the box office, by telephone and online at http://www.symphonyspace.org (use code “RAC102” when ordering online). Special 2 show discount: get our Sept. 29 & Oct. 27 shows for $44. This offer is good at box office & phone only—use code “SBS 01” Posted in "Thanks A Million", Ideal Places, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love Tagged "traditional jazz", Al Grey, Anat Cohen, Buster Cooper, Central Plaza, Ehud Asherie, Eric Offner, Etienne Charles, J.C. Higginbotham, Jack Teagarden, jazz blog, Jazz Lives, Jim Fryer, Juan Tizol, Ken Salvo, Kid Ory, Lawrence Brown, live jazz, Marion Felder, Marty Napoleon, Michael Steinman, New York jazz, Phil Stern, Randy Reinhart, Ricky Gordon, Rob Garcia, Sidney Bechet, Sidney Bechet Society, Sol Yaged, Stuyvesant Casino, Symphony Space, Terry Wilson, Tommy Dorsey, Tricky Sam Nanton, Tyree Glenn, Vince Giordano, Wycliffe Gordon, Zaid Shukri	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1303
__label__wiki	0.660512	0.660512	Standing at Sinai in Medieval Germany By Marc Michael Epstein A leaf from manuscript 22413 f.3r of the Tripartite Mahzor, 1300-1329 CE, Germany. Part of the Polonsky Foundation Catalogue of Digitised Hebrew Manuscripts, housed in the British Library. This illumination of the revelation at Sinai is taken from the Tripartite Mahzor (Germany, ca.1300). Beneath a line of heavenly trumpets emerging from a thick layer of clouds, a clean-shaven Moses receives the law, with a heavily bearded Aaron close behind him. Rather surprisingly, Aaron is wearing a Christian episcopal mitre rather than traditional priestly regalia. Behind him a group of men, each wearing a Judenhut—the pointed hat that often distinguishes an Ashkenazi Jewish man in medieval manuscripts—look on. Behind a partition (a kind of synagogue mechitzah) of flowering vines, a group of women with normal human bodies, but with the faces of animals, look to the heavens. Such depictions in Ashkenazi manuscripts are common, though here it must be noted that (unlike, say, in the famous Griffins’ Head Haggadah) men are given ordinary human features. As the men look across toward Aaron and Moses, the women gaze upward at the letter aleph, which begins the first word of the poem on the page, the Shavuot piyyut “Adon Imnani.” The endpoint of their gaze is the trumpets, which broadcast the divine voice. The foremost figure among the group of animal-headed women holds what I believe to be a siddur (prayerbook). If so, then she is the firzageren (or zogerke), the woman in medieval Ashkenazi Jewish communities who was responsible for reciting, translating, and interpreting the prayers for the female section of the synagogue. This illumination undoubtedly makes Torah the province of men, but I understand this small and easily overlooked detail of the siddur to indicate that the experience of the Divine Presence is accessible to women through prayer. Marc Michael Epstein Marc Michael Epstein is a professor of Religion and visual culture and director of Jewish Studies at Vassar College. He is the author of several works on Jewish art, and is currently working on a book titled People of the Image: Jews & Art. More by Marc Michael Epstein Beth Haber Wonderful rich reading- of placement of the womens' gaze-and in denoting the vine/mechitza, that is a kind of visual echo to the tree/vine separating Moses and Aaron from the men. The overall additions of these white tendrils give the flowing dynamism of this page a fresh read. Thank you for illuminating. A “New History” and Old Facts Uri Bar-Joseph Fifty years after the conflict, Guy Laron’s The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East attempts to upend our understanding of the hostilities. Rallying Round the Flags Derek Penslar's new book returns to aim Jewish soldiers of the diaspora to their rightful place in Jewish history. The Rebbe and the Yak What do you do when your ancestor appears to you in a dream saying that he is trapped inside the body of a Tibetan yak? If you're the Ustiler Rebbe in Haim Be'er's new novel, you go to Tibet to find him, of course. The Closing of the American Mind Now Jon D. Levenson Thirty years ago, a book was published that hit, in the words of the New York Times, “with the approximate force and effect of what electric shock-therapy must be like.” How has it held up? And what does that have to do with the Bible?	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1306
__label__cc	0.657802	0.342198	Index \| Private Investigator \| Miami Florida The Wasser Agency License# A8500094 13611 South Dixie Suite #560 Highway Miami, FL, 33176 david@thewasseragency.com Private Investigator in Miami, FL. Surveillance Investigation Miami and Divorce Investigation. South Beach Investigator. Miami Investigator I Want To Hire A Private Investigator Miami Beach South Beach Pop culture has always shown us a stereotypical look towards private investigators, a look of a very shady, serious man, hard to contact working in a Smokey office in constant preoccupation for his cases or his job, working in a very dark part of a city or a town, which tends to solve his cases with some indifference, well this look is far from true. The real-life private investigator is public worker whose job is to be hire to solve a case put by a client of his/her by getting the proper information about the person or thing they’re paid to investigate, doing research gathering past info, previous criminal records, going places the subject in particular has gone to or even following the subject in particular. WHAT IS THE WORKPLACE OF A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR LIKE MIAMI BEACH SOUTH BEACH If I want to hire one? A Private investigator works in a wide variety of environments, depending on the case they are working on. Some spend more time in their offices conducting computer searches and making phone calls. Others spend more time in the field, conducting interviews or doing surveillance. Surveillance can be time-consuming. A Private Investigator generally works alone, but they may work with others while conducting surveillance or following a subject. Some of the work involves confrontation, so the job can be stressful and dangerous. Some situations, such as certain bodyguard assignments for corporate or celebrity clients, call for the private investigator to be armed. In most cases, however, a weapon is not necessary because the private detectives and private investigator’s main purpose is information gathering, not law enforcement or criminal apprehension. Owners of investigative agencies have the added stress of having to deal with demanding, and sometimes distraught clients. A Private investigator often works irregular hours because they need to conduct surveillance and to contact people outside of normal work hours. They may work early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays. In addition, they may have to work outdoors, or from a vehicle, in all kinds of weather. In most cases, an educational requirement must be met in order to qualify for the private investigator exam. This also varies by the Police Department, but usually requires no more than a bachelor degree. A Private Investigator Miami Beach South Beach Once you have that covered, you apply for the private investigator exam. Granted you pass the exam; you will be stationed in a precinct where your newly acquired skill may be needed the most. If you passed the exam with flying colors you may have the opportunity to pick your new precinct, but don’t count on it. If you would like to be a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach, then you have to consider what type of Private Investigator you would like to be: Would you like to be a homicide private investigator or one that handles robberies and other crimes? Would you like to be a forensic private investigator? This definitely requires more schooling but is a very rewarding position which has many opportunities in local, state, and federal law enforcement. The private investigator in Miami Beach South beach is intended to do an advanced research and to look for close details. Often this job might drive the investigator into problems in Miami Beach or south Beach, by almost getting caught by the subject or ending in places a bit dangerous for this person, or even forbidden places for him. But at last the investigator completes his job and brings an advanced report to the client at Miami Beach South Beach. Luckily for this heroes/helpers majority of characters who represent private investigators in pop culture are represented as the “good guys”, by helping the main character or even being themselves the main character, names like Sherlock Holmes, Veronica Mars, Nancy Drew, and other noir type films that show the private investigator as this cool, not worried person who is complete control of the case and of the situations he gets involved in, and often in Miami Beach South. But just how much of the Private investigator lore is really true in Miami Beach South Beach in case I want to hire it? On the contrary there is this belief that Miami Beach South Beach private investigators are these cool, rebels, good-looking people who are not worried but completely in control of their cases, but how much of this is actually true? Well this note will take a deep look into true private investigators in Miami Beach South Beach and how a true private investigator does his job. Essentially, private investigators, Miami Beach South Beach are people who are paid to gather facts. Unlike police investigators or crime-scene private investigator Miami Beach South Beach, private investigators Miami Beach South Beach usually work for private citizens or businesses rather than for the government. Although private investigators Miami Beach South Beach sometimes help solve crimes, they are not law-enforcement officials. Their job is to collect information, not to arrest or prosecute criminals. Private investigators Miami Beach South Beach have existed for more than 150 years. Store and Hotel Private investigators Miami Beach South Beach Many retail establishments around Miami Beach South Beach hire loss-prevention investigators to investigate and prevent employee theft and shoplifting. Although the job title doesn’t always include the word “private investigator Miami Beach South Beach” or “detective,” these employees generally perform investigative work. Some hotels and casinos also employ detectives in Miami Beach South Beach to protect guests and help investigate thefts or petty crimes that occur towards the property. In many cases, these private investigators Miami Beach South Beach also double as security guards. I want to Hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. Private investigators Conducting Investigations in Miami Beach South Beach. Although fictional private investigator Miami Beach South Beach is not exactly equal to real life ones, the cases that clients bring to the picture on fictionalized moments are very similar to the ones that a real client would bring, that said some of the cases that are mentioned are: ● Robbed objects Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Evidence of a cheating partner Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Evidence of betrayal from a friend or a colleague Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Lost relatives Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● The guilty subject on an unsolved crime Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. These cases happen cause most of the time people lose stuff, or worry about a missing loved one, and their preoccupation rises to the point of seeking for professional help, there enters a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach which by all demeanors and methods able to use will complete the case put to it with the most accurate results. In the United States, this is part of the due process guaranteed by the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the Constitution in Miami Beach South Beach. By nature the duties of a private investigator Miami Beach south beach depends on the kind of case they're given and on the specialty of the investigator. The investigator experienced in cases of intellectual property theft will focus his research on official documents and copyright, while one specialized in cheating couples will spend his time on hotels, places where the cheating partner usually goes and other activities that involve visiting places. A good example is, landlords in Miami Beach and South Beach whose worry leads them to hire Private investigators to find out if their residents are following the regiments of the place, this gives the private investigator the time to find tangible proof of violations of codes, laws and other regiments from the place in general. Finding the perpetrator in an unsolved crime might not seem to have much in common with running a background check or finding grounds for a tenant’s eviction in Miami Beach South Beach. But they all involve the same basic task — in order to solve any case in Miami Beach South Beach, a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach has to collect and organize facts. Gathering facts in Miami Beach South Beach involves more than the luck and intuition that some fictional private investigator Miami Beach South Beach seem to rely on. Successfully solving a case begins with planning and analysis. The private investigator Miami Beach South Beach must: ● Discuss the case with the client and determine whether it is legal, ethical and possible to solve. Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Work out a plan and budget for gathering the necessary information. Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Conduct the investigation, gathering evidence in such a way that it can be presented in court when necessary. Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Analyze the evidence. Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Report to the client with findings. Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. Like any good researcher in Miami Beach South Beach, a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach uses multiple sources of information to solve a case. The source most commonly associated with private investigator Miami Beach South Beach is surveillance. The basic idea behind surveillance is very simple — the private investigator Miami Beach South Beach follows a target and documents where he goes and who he meets. Actually conducting surveillance can be far more difficult in Miami Beach South Beach. For a private investigator following people without losing them or being noticed is a difficult skill to master. While some affluent investigation agencies have sophisticated surveillance vans, many private investigators Miami Beach South Beach simply work from their cars. I want to Hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. The process of watching someone in Miami Beach South Beach can also be long and tedious with no possibility for breaks to any private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. Private investigators in Miami Beach South Beach can also interview suspects and witnesses. In general, the person being interviewed in Miami Beach South Beach has no legal obligation to speak to the private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. For this reason, the process often involves time devoted to building rapport and making the interviewee comfortable. In addition, some private investigators in Miami Beach South Beach use pretexts or ruses to get information from people who might otherwise be reluctant to talk to them. Using false pretenses to gain information can have legal and ethical implications for any private investigator in Miami Beach South Beach– see “Private investigators and the Law in Miami Beach South Beach ” to learn more. Public records in Miami Beach South Beach are another source of information for private I want to Hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. Many of these are records that private citizens can access on their own. However, private investigators Miami Beach South Beach generally know who to ask and how to access the information easily. In some cases, private investigator Miami Beach South Beach can access databases that search multiple record sources at once. These databases are not usually available to the general public. The records private investigators Miami Beach South Beach often search include: ● Tax records Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Real estate transactions Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Records of births and deaths Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Court records Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Voter registrations Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Business licenses Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Vital statistics records Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● DMV records Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. In addition to gathering information in Miami Beach South Beach, private investigators Miami Beach South Beach must know how to analyze it and present it to their clients. Along with the investigative techniques that private investigators Miami Beach South Beach use to gather information, this skill is part of their investigative training. We’ll look at training and licensing procedures for private investigator Miami Beach South Beach in the next section. Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach Training and Licensing Many people who decide to become private investigator Miami Beach South Beach already have experience in a related field. They may have served in a branch of the military or worked as police officers. Others have experience in crime-scene investigation or surveillance. While this experience can be helpful, it doesn’t entirely replace education and training. In most cases, a person learns to be a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach through an apprenticeship with an experienced private investigator Miami Beach South Beach or formal instruction. Either on the job or in a classroom, the future private investigator Miami Beach South Beach learns about: ● Planning and coordinating investigations Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Investigative and surveillance techniques Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Laws and ethics pertaining to investigative practice Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Questioning witnesses Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. ● Evidence handling procedures Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. Some private investigators Miami Beach South Beach also use DVDs and distance-learning programs to continue their educations in Miami Beach South Beach. In many parts of the world, education and training are only a first step — becoming I want to Hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach also requires applying for and obtaining a license in Miami Beach South Beach. But the process a person has to go through, or whether licensure even exists, varies from place to place. I want to Hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. The length of study and exact steps required to obtain a license in Miami Beach South Beach vary considerably. In California, applicants must complete specific educational courses and pass a written exam. The terminology can also differ — in Massachusetts, private detectives hold state licenses, but private investigator Miami Beach South Beach does not. Some states require private investigator Miami Beach South Beach to have liability insurance. Finally, some states allow private investigator Miami Beach South Beach to carry firearms. Generally, this requires the private investigator Miami Beach South Beach to apply for and receive a weapon permit. Having a license in Miami Beach South Beach allows a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach to practice in one particular state, but the nature of investigative work can require private investigator Miami Beach South Beach to cross state lines. Some states have reciprocity agreements with one another — a license in one state allows a person to practice in the other as well. Private investigators Miami Beach South Beach practicing in states without such agreements sometimes apply for licensure in nearby states as well. Others develop working relationships with private investigator Miami Beach South Beach in other states, working as assistants, apprentices or trainees when traveling. I want to Hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. While licenses in Miami Beach South Beach give people the right to present them as private investigator Miami Beach South Beach, they do not give people the right to break the law in the course of investigations in Miami Beach South Beach. We’ll look at the legal and ethical issues surrounding private investigation in the next section. I want to Hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. Favorite Private Investigator Miami Beach South Beach. In some ways, fictional private investigators Miami Beach South Beach is like Robin Hood. While they may not be robbing from the rich to give to the poor; they often investigate powerful wrongdoers at the request of people who are less fortunate. Here is some of our favorite private investigator Miami Beach South Beach: ● Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, whose investigative style influenced investigator stories and even modern forensics. Miami Beach South Beach ● Raymond Chandler’s tough but noble Philip Marlowe. Miami Beach South Beach ● John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee, who bills himself as a “salvage consultant” and investigates cases from his houseboat, the Busted Flush, collecting half the value of recovered belongings as his fee. Miami Beach South Beach ● Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, star of “The Maltese Falcon”. Miami Beach South Beach ● Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently, whose Holistic Investigator Agency has more to do with fraud than investigator work. Miami Beach South Beach ● Ensouled vampire Angel, who worked as a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach before taking over the law firm of Wolfram & Hart. Miami Beach South Beach ● Obsessive, neurotic Adrian Monk, a former police officer. Miami Beach South Beach ● Veronica Mars, a college student who works independently and under the auspices of her father; former Neptune, California sheriff Keith Mars. Miami Beach South Beach Private Investigation and the Law in Miami Beach South Beach. Reading books and watching movies about private investigator Miami Beach South Beach; naturally requires some suspension of disbelief. After all, many fictional detectives are impossibly heroic or improbably cool in Miami Beach South Beach. But fictional private investigators Miami Beach South Beach isn’t just too smart; too good-looking, too lucky or too witty to be true. Much of the time, they make decisions that would land a real private investigator Miami Beach South Beach in jail and out of a job. When a TV private investigator dons a cap with a cable company’s logo; Furthermore, he then picks up a clipboard, and pretends to have questions about when a neighbor will be home; he’s using a ruse to get information in Miami Beach South Beach. This technique has become known as pretexting, and while it isn’t always illegal; critics argue that it is often unethical. Others contend that the ends can justify the means; if using a disguise and fake identification leads to an arrest…; then the rush is worth the risk in Miami Beach South Beach. However, in some cases, pretexting is against the law: ● In most parts of the world, falsely presenting oneself as a law-enforcement official; a government employee or an attorney is illegal in Miami Beach South Beach. ● The United States, using pretexts to gain access to a person’s telephone records; or to get information from a financial institution; it is a violation of Federal law in Miami Beach South Beach. Another common scenario in investigator stories in Miami Beach South Beach involves trespassing or breaking and entering. In many countries, entering private property without the permission of the owner or tenant is illegal. For this reason, private investigators Miami Beach South Beach typically conduct surveillance from public property to avoid legal issues. In many jurisdictions, the surveillance itself is legal; especially if the private investigator Miami Beach South Beach has notified the police of his presence. Private phone surveillance using recording devices or wiretapping, on the other hand, is usually illegal in Miami Beach South Beach. Fictional private investigators Miami Beach South Beach also sometimes apprehend; detain and interrogate criminals, which could be considered kidnapping in Miami Beach South Beach. However, in some cases, detaining a criminal might be legal. Some states and countries allow citizens who witness a felony or identify a felon to detain that person. The exact situations in which such citizen arrest is permissible can vary in different jurisdictions in Miami Beach South Beach. Some critics in Miami Beach South Beach feel that private investigator Miami Beach South Beach’ work; it is an invasion of people’s privacy. A number of laws and constitutional amendments; in Miami Beach South Beach protect people’s privacy in many countries; throughout the world. However, many of these laws regulate the steps that the government or certain businesses can take. They do not necessarily affect whether a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach is permitted to take surveillance photos; or to use pretexts to get information that would otherwise be confidential in Miami Beach South Beach. I want to Hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. Because of privacy concerns and depictions in popular culture; some people believe that private investigators Miami Beach South Beach is often on the wrong side of the law. Private investigators Miami Beach South Beach have also appeared in a negative light in some high-profile cases; such as the Hewlett-Packard corporate spying trial in 2006 and 2007. However, as more states and countries begin to regulate and license private investigator Miami Beach South Beach; this perception may gradually begin to change. To learn more about licensing procures; legal issues and how to become I want to hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. Loose Lips Sink Ships in Miami Beach South Beach. Some jurisdictions in Miami Beach South Beach regulate exactly what information a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach; can share with clients or with other people. Sometimes, particularly when investigating a criminal case; a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach; may inform only the appropriate law-enforcement agency of his findings. I want to hire a Private investigator Miami Beach South Beach. So remember if you’re all like “I want to hire a private investigator Miami Beach South Beach” here at The Wasser Agency we provide with the best investigation services at the best price and with the best investigators in the business so give us a call at the 305-278-8700 or visit us at Miami beach Coral Gables. Miami Beach • Miami Gardens Aventura • Bal Harbour • Bay Harbor Islands • Biscayne Park • Carol City • Coral Gables • Cutler Bay • Cutler Ridge • Doral • El Portal • Fisher Island • Florida City • Golden Beach • Hialeah • Hialeah Gardens • Miami Fort Lauderdale • Florida for rents Coral Gables stead • Indian Creek • Islandia • Key Biscayne • Medley • Miami • Miami Lakes • Miami Shores • Miami Springs • Naranja • North Bay Village • North Miami • North Miami Beach • Ojus • Opa-Locka • Palmetto Bay • Perrine • Pinecrest • Pinecrest Monroe Co. • South Miami • Sunny Isles • Sweetwater • Universal Park • Virginia Gardens • West Miami • PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR SOUTH BEACH \|•missing persons investigator Miami Beach \|• detectives and investigators South Beach\|• detective search Miami Beach \| • surveillance investigation Miami Beach South Beach \|• PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR MIAMI BEACH 13611 SOUTH DIXIE, SUITE #560 HIGHWAYMIAMI, FL, 33176 DAVID@THEWASSERAGENCY.COM	cc/2019-30/en_middle_0092.json.gz/line1312

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