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On Tolerance Versus Strong Beliefs
The theatre blogosphere, including me, is currently arguing about atheism and Christianity. OK, fine. Putting it in broader terms, it seems to me that the issue here is how to find a balancing point between, on the one hand, tolerance towards people whose opinions and beliefs differ from your own (a necessary skill in a pluralist, multi-cultural society), and on the other, the holding and defending of strong beliefs. In many respects, these two values are bound to clash. If you believe in something strongly, then you are often going to find yourself wanting to argue with those who do not share your belief, and you'll not being willing to accept the validity of opposing beliefs. On the other hand, if you tolerate everything, then you probably will not be able to believe strongly in anything, because such beliefs will get in the way of your tolerance, and you won't take action to defend anything. As the King of Siam once said, it's a puzzlement.
A spectator strongly believes in certain values (that certain things should nto be said or discussed in front of young people, for instance), and when those values are violated he pours water on a performer's script -- that is plain wrong (because it violates laws against vandalism), and intolerant, but it is an outgrowth of a strong belief; it would have been sufficient had he voted with his feet and left the performance (or better yet, of course, not come to it in the first place). But is it wrong to hold the kind of values that would lead to such behavior in the first place? If so, according to whom? What values is it mandatory that we all share? Another person feels strongly that the kind of beliefs that would lead someone to pour water on a script and leave a performance are ignorant and narrow-minded, and he blasts those who don't share this view through his public blog. But is publicly blasting somebody in print any better than blasting them in person by leaving their performance? Had no water been poured, would leaving a performance and blasting someone in print be similarly intolerant?
Freshmen very often arrive at college with a bad case of naive relativism: you believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want, okay? But what this seemingly benign orientation does is eliminate the possibility of dialogue -- we all get to sit peacefully in our own solipsistic world never to be disturbed by an idea we haven't heard before. Not good. On the other hand, another type of freshman arrives believing that some belief system answers all the questions that could possibly be asked. And again the result is the elimination of the possibility of dialogue. Not good, either. The first freshman accuses the second of intolerance; the second accuses the first of wrong-headedness.
On a more personal level, I accuse David Cote of being intolerant because he has strong feelings about religion while at the same time I defend those who left Mike Daisey's performance as having a right to dobecause they...have strong feelings about religion! What????
Someone asks, in comments, whether one is expected to tolerate intolerance. And the natural response is to say no, one must take a moral stance against certain things. But viewed from another position, is one expected to attack strong feelings as wrong if one disagrees with them? Isn't it OK to feel strongly about, say, the arts and to defend their value in the face of attack? And isn't such a strong belief based on a moral value that is, in some ways, just as faith-based as a belief in God?
I'm just thinking out loud here, trying to come to terms with a contradiction that I am seeing in my argument about the whole Mike Daisey controversy. It is a contradiction that I see in other's opinions about this as well, and I also see it in many of the arguments that have blazed in the theatre blogosphere.
For instance, again using myself as an example, I want to make a point about how ineffective attacking is as a means to change minds. How do I do it? By attacking those who believe the opposite. Others strongly believe that attack is a useful and necessary artistic tactic, and they accuse me of...intolerance! Same pattern.
It seems to me that, until we come to some sort of grip with the issue of tolerance versus strong belief, this pattern will be repeated endlessly. So I'm stepping back to think a bit more deeply about this. How does one promote open dialogue between people with differing strong beliefs?
You put this very well--and it is a puzzlement.
For my part I am a very great believer in the power of listening. Note that listening is not the same as believing or accepting--but it is something real, a process that often gets short-circuited when we're too dogmatically attached to our own agendas. Actually listening is hard, and it does matter.
It's a continual process, for all of us I expect, and one bereft of easy answers.
Joshua James said...
I believe it's very unfair and unfounded to accuse David Cote of intolerance, simply because he refuses to respect someone's spiritual beliefs, even mine.
We tolerate and respect each other's freedom's, but nothing requires us to respect anyone's ignorance or intolerance . . . David makes a good case, as anyone could, that religion traffics ignorance and intolerance . . . why should he respect that?
Freedom of expression doesn't just mean you can state what you want . . . it also means one's neighbor may call you on your bullshit. That's freedom.
Really, I think that statement is out of line.
For the record, Scott, I don't believe you're intolerant, nor have I accused you of such myself, I don't believe -
I was reluctant to leave a comment here, and only came since you left what I would call a rather twisted-logic comment over at David's site - and as I've mentioned, I've been reluctant to engage you in discussion . . . since you've made this post as a question about open dialogue (ironically enough, after you recklessly accuse David of intolerance) I thought I would share why I have trouble dialoguing with you and see where it leads.
I don't know you, you're probably a nice guy - but it drives me nuts to try and discuss anything with you for two reasons -
One: You're a contrarian - you often seem to take the opposite side of any discussion, whether the position warrants it or not . . . and then later on change - It's a useful tool when teaching, but pretty damn frustrating in conversation. And I don't want a teacher, you haven't been granted that role in my life, so I'm not asking for contrarian positions simply for the sake of contrarian positions.
To have an open dialogue, one must be able to agree on a happy middle ground - one reason fundalmentalists are impossible to dialogue with is that it's their way or the highway.
Contrarians will almost always take an opposing view, for varying reasons, simply because it's there, which also makes discovering common ground nearly impossible (their mantra is agree to disagree, which is great when talking about food or art, bad for discussing world policy, laws, science or matters of a concrete nature).
that's one.
Two:
You're a emotional knee-jerk reactionary - you have operated, with me, under the assumption that because YOU feeling something, it must be true.
But it's more than just feelings, there are also ideas involved, also logic and smarts . . . just because I feel you're something doesn't make it so . . . I have to back it up with evidence . . . for example, I can't simply state: you're willfully ignorant (I feel it) - I have to back it up with observed evidence - (you stated science is a belief system, when it's obviously not under any definition of the term or word) why I think you're being willfully ignorant on any given subject.
No one's perfect, everyone has a juicy knee-jerk reaction now and then, but it's a constant in almost every conversation I've had (which, granted, has been awhile up until the religion / science ridiculousness over at David's)
Listen, we work in the arts - emotion is an important part of the work we do - the work must move folks emotionally - but I also believe that emotion must be grounded in ideas . . . and ideas come from logic, reason and agreed upon principles . . . isn't that what Aristole and the Greeks were doing by writing down a lot of that critical theory, in addition to philosophy?
Now I hope and pray (in my way) that you take what I just shared with you not as a personal attack, though I understand I may have cut ot the bone with it, but as an honest and rational assessment of my blog dialogues with you . . . and I would note, while we all have had our arguments and fights, you have had, in the time I've known you over the internet, far more than your fair share, wouldn't you agree?
I'm the first to admit, I'm flawed, I'm not perfect, but I do try hard to be clear on what and where I'm coming from in terms of the ideas and principles I stand for in the work and in the world . . . and I'm open to disagreeing with people on matters in the arts, etc, and see their position once it's stated clearly -
For the life of me, I wouldn't be able to say that about you, other than you feel things very deeply at times and that when you feel them, they're very important . . . but what about the ideas, Scott? Are not ideas important too? Is not reason just as important as emotion? Doesn't it have a value function in our world?
Listen, if I stepped over the line with this comment, I apologize in advance and feel free to delete . . . but if since you asked, I felt I should answer -
Scott Walters said...
Joshua -- I truly appreciate your posting this. First, because you have been a long time gone, and believe it or not, I've missed your voice. Second, because you are opening a dialogue with a minimum of bashing. I feel like I can trust you with my thoughts.
I must admit I find your belief that I am all emotion and no idea puzzling, mainly because most people find me the opposite. So I am going to have to work through this a little.
For instance, as far as science is concerned, I find myself firmly among the postmodernists, who posit that science, like any other human construct, is based on human assumptions, and that embedded in those assumptions are power relations and cultural blindness. This philosophical critique of science has gone on for several decades now, and there is quite a lot of scholarship, beginning with Thomas Kuhn's now legendary "The Structure of Scientific Revolution," which I read in the late 1980s. Through these writings, the "objectivity" of science and the scientific method has been persuasively questioned, to the point where, in this view, it no longer holds a privileged position within the cultural universe. I have found much of this argument persuasive, at least to the point where I no longer bow low when the name of science is raised in an argument. So while the scientific method is indeed a practice, as you say, it is based on a priori assumptions that privilege positivist, physical data over other kinds of data, and I don;t subscribe to those assumptions.
As far as my positions regarding theatre, I will certainly admit to having opinions that run contrary to the mainstream. I believe that theatre artists should view themselves as part of a specific community, and create work that contributes in some way to the betterment of that community. I don't believe in art for art's sake, and I reject Kant's formulations almost entirely. If I am looking at past theorists, I lean toward Horace over Wilde. If I lean toward artists, it is Dudley Cocke of Roadside Theatre, John McGrath of 7:84, and Hallie Flanagan of the Federal Theatre -- people who believed in a social role for the arts -- over Richard Foreman, Harold Pinter, and Elizabeth LeCompte.
I also believe that human beings are, at root, basically good and generally want to do the right thing, and consequently they deserve to be addressed with respect from the stage. This often puts me in opposition to the Romantic artists who harbor a sense of anger toward most in the audience (at least the popular audience) because they feel that they are self-centered, uncaring, and not very thoughtful -- and that they are in need of being shocked out of their "complacency."
I also believe that intelligence, sensitivity, and moral uprightness are pretty evenly distributed throughout the world, and not concentrated primarily in the urban intelligentsia. I believe that the poor, the rural, and the uneducated are virtually ignored by the current theatre (which is focused almost wholly on the wealthy, educated class) and they deserve a quality theatre that speaks to them in a language and about subject matter that is connected to their daily lives and concerns. They deserve this as much as those who live in megalopolises, and so I see the obsession with the NYC stage to represent the deprivation of the rest of the country. I believe that theatre artists should be able to make a living outside of NYC, and if they do, they should be treated with respect. I also believe that it is highly possible to make serious contributions to the theatre without making your living at it.
Many, if not most, of these values, which I have thought over quite thoroughly over the course of my 30+ years in the theatre, put me in direct contradiction to many of my fellow theatre bloggers. And while it may seem contrarian, what drives me particularly nuts is when basic assumptions that underlie an argument or opinion go unexamined, and it is just assumed that "everybody" agrees. Many times, I don't.
Yet I respect differing opinions. George Hunka and I couldn't be further apart in our aesthetic, yet I read his blog every day, and I have stopped arguing with him not because I believe it won't do any good, but because I respect the intensity of his exploration of his theatrical ideas and feel that he should be allowed to develop them without quibbling.
Believe it or not, I am trying to do something similar here at Theatre Ideas. Recently, I have found that I am in accord with ideas expressed by the grassroots, community-based theatres such as Roadside Theatre (Whitesburg KY), Cornerstone (LA), Dell Arte (Blue Lake, CA), June Bug (New Orleans), Carpetbag (Knoxville TN), and Los Angeles Poverty Department. The reason I haven't made this realization before is that most theatre writers, and even theatre historians, virtually ignore this important and strong artistic movement. Why? Mainly, I suspect, it is a combination of being regional and not NY-based, and also that these theatres lack a fashionable, educated audience and do not produce works that reflect the aesthetic of such an audience. But it makes me angry that someone such as I, who has read many, many books on theatre, hasn't encountered the main figures of this movement until recently.
Yes, I admit I get angry. But my anger is mostly reserved for those moments when someone assumes a foundational agreement that has not been examined. That drives me nuts.
What is ironic is that your statement that your comment that I "have operated, with me, under the assumption that because YOU feel something, it must be true" is how I often feel about you, too! So somehow we are not communicating effectively with each other. My preference is that we figure out how to do this better.
From my perspective, you often bring a "get the professor" attitude to the table -- like I need to be brought down a notch or something. What is your impression of what I bring to the discussion, specifically as it relates to you?
Again, thanks for posting this -- and I invite anyone else with an opinion to join in as well.
You state your beliefs, which are fine, but are rooted in your feelings and experiences . . . that we can debate and agree to disagree upon . . .
But science is not, in any mainstream sense of the word or idea, a philosophy . . . earlier, I posted Webster's definition of science and you dismissed it . . . that's not kosher . . . you cannot reinvent the idea of an idea without first dealing with what is WAS or IS to begin with.
In other words, you cannot reinvent the word GOAT and assign it to another animal unless we all agree, first. You can't reassign GOAT simply because you don't care for how the animal looks or you've spoken to someone who had a better suggestion.
And your definition of science, at its simple essencee, doesn't jibe not only with my understanding of the word, nor does it jibe with scientific community's sense of the word . . . before you can share with me your NEW definition of science, you have to deal with the accepted one.
I'd recommend asking someone outside your circle who is in the science community . . . personally, I don't know, nor could I really understand what you think science is, but it's not really a philosophy . . . it's a process, as I've listed in the definition.
And it's not MY definition, Scott. It's simply what it is . . . like saying 2+2=4. Sure, there are schools who philosophically believe they can disprove the above equation, but it doesn't take away from the fact that, if you have two apples and add two more apples, you have four.
Math, like science, is about things like that.
This is different from theatre, where new ideas can be tossed about and discarded with fluidity . . .
The other stuff, listen . . . contrary is fine, but it must be rooted in common understanding, with which we . . . I'm not a professor, so it could be you're projecting . . . but the reality is, I'm not that interested in angry fights over little things like the definition of science . . . it's silly, just open a book and look it up, you know?
But often fights with you in the past have devolved into silly battles over shit like that. I get angry at times as well, true, but I try to save it for important stuff . . . I find I get less angry as I get older . . . and I save my fights for the stuff that really matters.
And what are we fighting over now? The fact that David believes religious people are delusional? So what? Is that really that bad?
He's not mandated his beliefs on anyone . . . and nor is what he's doing that different from a preacher at church telling us that, if we don't get saved, we're going to roast in eternal torment. Why pick on him and not the multitudes of preachers?
Again, what you bring to the discussion, when I've been involved in dialoguing with you, is almost pure id and emotion . . . the ideas seem spur of the moment, not considered, and the sides you chose strictly based on the emotion of the moment . . . for example, you've jumped on David because you felt he was unfair to the 87 kids for walking out of a show for allegeded christian values . . . you felt for the kids and rushed to defend them . . .
Really, are they going to be touched by this? Do they care, are they changed?
I dunno, I often am mystified by the postions you've taken, just on this science debate, for example. It makes no sense, and it seems like you've taken up convenient positions to support whatever arguments you're having now.
If a grad student wrote a paper about science, wouldn't he have to cite sources and define terms?
It's hard talking to ya, man . . . I can't say that it would be different in person, mayhap it would be . . . but I get the professor lecturing / challenge vibe from you, and it's frustrated when it seems like your positions aren't grounded -
I wouldn't say that I think you're ill-intentioned, because I haven't seen evidence of such . . . but it's a pain, often, to dialogue with you . . .
It could be me, I admit, but I'm pretty active on a number of blog, not just theatre ones, and don't really have troubles with others . . . as I've noted, it's pretty common with you, I mean, we've had four or five fiery debates ourselves, and you've gotten into it with a number of others - so the evidence would point to the common factor as your temperment and arguments, right?
There's another guy I know, from the novelist blogs, who fights with everyone and has been banned from a whole lot of forums . . .
He's convinced it's not him, yet he fights all the time at the drop of the hat . . . the minute someone says something critical, he calls them names, jumps up their ass and it's all unfounded. And he would swear it ain't him, that everyone else is the one with the problem.
I don't think you're nearly in that guy's league (and I can send you to his blog if you wish) but that's the experience I get with you and others . . . whenever there's a debate, it's like, I KNOW there's gonna be a scuffle, if not with me, then with someone else . . .
It's like when I was a bouncer, we could tell when a guy walked into the room, there was going to be a fight . . . we didn't know who the fight was going to be with, but we knew he'd be in one before the night was over.
And hey, sometimes a guy has to fight - but it needs to be something WORTH fighting for . . . most of the time, fights are only about silly shit - this I know from experience - hurt feelings and bruised emotions . . . so I'd say my experience with you is there's gonna be a silly fight over something, then lots of intense personal rumination, after you which apologize, maybe admit to being wrong but often then go and state the same silly position that started the fight in the first place and maintain that you felt this, and since it's YOUR truth, it must be TRUE for everyone.
And hey, your feelings, you can have however many you want and value them however you need.
But -
If we're going to talk about science and philosophy, itthe world isn't only ruled by opinion and feelings, it's also a place of reason and logic, right?
And we were speaking of science. It's not a belief system and it's not a philosophy, however much people would like it to be, it's simply not, according to Websters and the scienctists and Doctor's that I have known . . . it's not my opinion, it's a well documented and well sourced world fact.
So listen, dude . . . don't know what else to say . . . I'm still wondering if it was even a good idea to come here again, but . . . I sometimes can't help myself, either.
Best to ya.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/08/colbert-defends-christianistss-right-to-discriminate-against-gays/
Joshua -- At risk of sending you screaming into the night, I'd like you to read your comment above and count the number of times you refer to me or my ideas as "silly" or "emotional" (by which you mean, I assume, irrational). Now, how can we have a real dialogue if you can't, at least temporarily for the sake of the conversation, grant me the respect that my ideas, even though different from yours, might be based in serious, rational thought? Without that agreement, which is the basis of all civility, then a conversation simply can't occur. If the starting point is that I must first say, "Josh, you are serious and rational, and I am silly and irrational," then how can we continue? I really can't address the rest of your comment unless we can acknowledge each other as intellectual equals. Than I would be happy to continue.
http://www.philosopher.org.uk/sci.htm
"What is your impression of what I bring to the discussion, specifically as it relates to you?"
You asked and I answered, now you take me to task for my impression?
I called you irrational and emotional that because you've demonstrated yourself to be that, and I sourced it with an example of your action that demonstrates such.
You stated science is a belief system and a philosophy . . . I stated that's silly, I defined what it was and I sourced it and challenged you on it.
Nowhere do I state that you have to bow down before me, in fact, I made a point that I am as flawed as anyway, but I state that in order to dialogue we must both acknowledge certain common things, reason being one, logic being another.
"the starting point is that I must first say, "Josh, you are serious and rational, and I am silly and irrational,"
Is very much an immature response, and this is why I don't like dialoguing with you . . . you don't want to address the points because you're feeling the sting of them personally . . . you want to deal with how you feel about what we're talking about rather than the meat and potatoes of the conversation.
So now you have my answer . . . this is why I don't like dialoguing with you, I note I'm far from the only one, and I will wish you the best and bid you farewell on your travels.
Praxis Theatre said...
Hi Joshua, Scott,
Thanks for this wonderful exchange. I hope nobody's too discouraged. From the outside, I'm not sure your positions are as dichotomous as they may appear to be from the inside.
This exchange reminds me of the many discussions I have with friends over drinks in the back yard. It gets heated, people are accused of being contrarian (sometimes it's true), feelings are hurt . . . but it's almost always in the pursuit of better ideas, clearer ideology, more concise and useful language. And even when we're too proud to give ground during those heated debates, we often develop more thoughtful and informed positions in their wake.
I do think that calling your debating opponent's position "silly" is counterproductive, though. But, hey, arguments have an emotional component.
So, for what it's worth, I think your arguments are worth it. Thanks again for putting it out there.
*sigh* Josh, I did my best -- I'm not sure what more I could do. I certainly didn't attack you in any emotional terms, or in any terms whatsoever. I simply requested a show of mutual respect.
"Karl Popper (1902- 94) was critical of the inductive methods used by science. The empiricist David Hume (1711-76) had argued that there were serious logical problems with induction. All inductive evidence is limited: we do not observe the universe at all times and in all places. We are not justified therefore in making a general rule from this observation of particulars. Popper gives the following example. Europeans for thousands of years had observed millions of white swans. Using inductive evidence, we could come up with the theory that all swans are white. However exploration of Australasia introduced Europeans to black swans. Poppers' point is this: no matter how many observations are made which confirm a theory there is always the possibility that a future observation could refute it. Induction cannot yield certainty.
Popper was also critical of the naive empiricist view that we objectively observe the world. Popper argued that all observation is from a point of view, and indeed that all observation is coloured by our understanding. The world appears to us in the context of theories we already hold: it is 'theory laden'."
"[Thomas] Kuhn looked at the history of science and argued that science does not simply progress by stages based upon neutral observations. Like Popper, he agrees that all observation is theory laden. Scientists have a worldview or "paradigm". The paradigm of Newton's mechanical universe is very different to the paradigm of Einstein's relativistic universe; each paradigm is an interpretation of the world, rather than an objective explanation."
"Paul Feyerabend thought that the superiority of the modern scientific method should not be assumed. He argued for an anarchist approach to knowledge: we cannot predict what shape future knowledge will have, so we should not confine ourselves to one universal method of gaining knowledge. Feyerabend agrees with Kuhn that the history of science is the history of different viewpoints, and for Feyerabend this means that what counts as 'knowledge' in the future may have paradigms we cannot yet know. As we cannot yet know them, we should not attempt to forbid future intellectual enterprise by attempting to define one narrow dominant paradigm of knowledge using the model of physics."
Popper, Kuhn, Feyerabend -- these are not the names of nutjobs, but of respected and important contributors to the philosophy of science. A great deal has been written buiding on these ideas -- many, many courses are taught across the world about their ideas. Controversial, yes -- but mainstream as well. And I suspect that the connection to the scientific "disproving" of God's existence is fairly obvious.
What we're arguing about is not what science IS, but rather whether it should be seen as the final arbiter of objective truth when it comes to the existence of God or the validity of religious values. I think there is more than the physical world, and that that cannot be disproven by science, which is prepared only to deal with observable, measurable data. I have listed several major thinkers who agreed, and noted that science is as embedded in ideology and theory as anything else.
The suggestion that I ask somebody from the scientific community to clear this issue up for me seems a bit odd. If I told you to clear up the existence of God by going to talk to a Baptist minister, you would rightly object. But how is this different?
The reason that I listed all my beliefs is that they form the foundational premises for my opinions. Thus, I wrote that I "believe that human beings are, at root, basically good and generally want to do the right thing, and consequently they deserve to be addressed with respect from the stage." This is the premise from which I questioned David, who was showing no respect by calling the 87 students "boobies."
It seems to me that I have been quite polite, rational, and open to discussion. But at the same time, I don't agree with your bedrock belief in the ultimate truth of science.
"But at the same time, I don't agree with your bedrock belief in the ultimate truth of science."
NOWHERE do I state that my bedrock belief is that ultimate truth rests in science. NOWHERE.
You put words in my mouth. Do you recall I am a Buddhist?
This is why I don't like dialoguing with you. Sigh. I told myself I wouldn't come back here, and I did, so it's my fault.
I state that science isn't a belief system, nor a philosophical one. The majority of those in that industry would agree. At no point do I state its the ultimate truth.
Okay. I need to stop this.
I'll end by getting emotional and calling you a jackass, because that's what I believe you are.
Then, in fact, we have established that we are in agreement. Why was that so hard?
Mac said...
Josh, I can't what you're reacting to here. I've gotten mad at Scott in the past, but his post and comments here seem to be interesting and in good faith.
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You are here: Home » News » U.S. & World News » Palliative care is pro-life response to euthanasia, panelists say
Palliative care is pro-life response to euthanasia, panelists say
Catholic News Service | February 28, 2018 | 0 Comments
Brother Carlos Ramos Morales, a member of the Fraternal Society of Mercy, helps a terminally ill participant in 2015 at Belen Community near Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn
Intentionally causing a patient’s death is different from accepting that a patient is dying, then providing emotional and spiritual support and pain relief, said a doctor who practices and promotes palliative care.
Dr. Eduardo Bruera, medical director of the Department of Supportive Care Center at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, was one of the speakers at a Feb. 28-March 1 international congress on palliative care sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life.
“The reality is that, in medicine, we have focused much more on disease than on patients,” Bruera said. For example, he said, patients who report a “high-symptom burden” may be suffering from their cancer or from the toxicity of their treatment, but their situation also may be approaching the unbearable because they lost their job or are worrying about the impact of their illness on their families.
Palliative care, Bruera said, asks the medical team, the patient and the family to work together to alleviate suffering, whether it is physical, emotional or spiritual.
In a message to the conference at Rome’s Augustinian Patristic Institute, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said palliative care involves “a rediscover of the most profound vocation of medicine, which consists first of all in taking care of the patient. The doctor’s task always is to care, even when it is not possible to heal.”
Obviously, he said, medicine and medical research have an enduring commitment to discovering new cures and defeating illness, but palliative care shows an awareness that, when everything medical has been attempted, limits must be “recognized and accepted.”
“When all the resources of ‘doing’ seem to be exhausted,” he said, “then comes the most important aspect of human relations, that of ‘being’: being present, being near, being accepting.”
For Christians, he said, that means “sharing the impotence of those reaching the end of life,” and making sure that the final phase of a person’s life on earth “is no longer a place of separation and solitude, but an occasion of encounter and communion.”
“Pain therapy” is a particularly sensitive area of palliative care, he said, noting that “already Pope Pius XII, distinguishing it from euthanasia, clearly gave legitimacy to the administration of analgesics to alleviate unbearable pain that could not be treated in any other way even when, in the phase of imminent death, it could cause a shortening of life.”
“Attentive discernment and much prudence” also is needed when determining the appropriate use of pharmacological sedation, “especially when prolonged and profound,” because it “annuls the relational and communicative dimension” of palliative care, especially its emphasis on family and community.
Prolonged sedation at the end of life, he said, “is, therefore, always partially unsatisfactory and so should be considered an extreme measure to be taken only after having examined and clarified its implications attentively.”
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Academy for Life, said palliative care’s focus on communication among caregivers, patients and family members is essential for overcoming the confusion and debate about “therapeutic obstinacy,” which is using “an excess of treatments that lead to useless suffering.”
“In other words,” he said, “doing everything possible — when understood in the sense of always using every means available — can mean doing too much.”
“Doing more does not always mean doing better,” the archbishop said.
Archbishop Paglia told the conference that experience has shown that people who support or request euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide focus on “two fears: that of being abandoned and that of pain.”
Palliative care, he said, is an attempt to respond to and allay such fears and, as such, “is a fundamental part of our pro-life work.”
Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Orange, California, attended the meeting on behalf of the California Catholic Conference, which is working closely with the Alliance of Catholic Health Care to educate people about palliative care and offer it in every Catholic hospital in California, which made physician-assisted suicide legal in 2016.
The Catholic program is called “Whole Person Care” and has the mission of showing every person they are “loved, wanted and worthy and will be prepared for and supported in health and serious illness through the end of life,” according to the project outline.
Bishop Vann told Catholic News Service the project offers “an alternative to physician-assisted suicide” by “improving all of our pastoral care and outreach.”
“Being present to folks” who experiencing the fragility of the end of life, “being on the journey with them to explain to them and teach them” the sacred value of life at every stage and, particularly, showing them that they are not alone are essential for combating euthanasia, the bishop said.
When the California legislation passed, he said, fear of dying alone and in pain and a desire to exercise autonomy at the last moments of life seemed to be the primary motivations for supporting the measure.
The reason the church and Catholic hospitals launched their project, he said, “is to show folks they are not alone; we are there with them.”
Tags: Euthanasia, Palliative care, Supportive Care Center, University of Texas
Category: U.S. & World News
« Dozens of Catholics arrested as they ask Congress to help ‘Dreamers’
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James Malloy James Regis Malloy, 94, of Emsworth, died Monday, April 6, 2015. Mr. Malloy was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II. He was retired from Duquesne Light Co. after 44 years of service. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy R. Gastner Malloy; and three children, Bonnie Bass and her husband James, Diane Barr and her husband James and Ronald Regis Malloy. He was preceded in death by his sister, Sister Mary Sheila Malloy. There was no visitation and services and burial were private. Arrangements were made by the Orion C. Pinkerton Funeral Home, Avalon.
Frances Doerschner
Rosella Hanni Rosella Giunta Hanni, 93, of Independence Village, Frankenmuth, MI, formerly of Pittsburgh and wife of the late Anthony Giunta and Richard Hanni, died Sunday, April 12, 2015. Mrs. Hanni enjoyed reading and an occasional trip to the casino.
Hedwig Richard Hedwig N. "Heddy" Richard, 90, formerly of Ben Avon and Ross Township and wife of the late Edward C. Richard, died Monday, March 30, 2015. Mrs. Richard was a 1942 graduate of Allegheny High School. She was one of the first women to sell real estate in the North Hills Multilist and had earned top sales person for several years during her 27-year career. She enjoyed garage sales and playing Wheel of Fortune with her grandsons.
Alberta Mae Raines Alberta Mae Raines, 86, of Emsworth, died Saturday, March 14, 2015. She was the wife of 55 years to James L. Raines: mother of Bruce (Aline) Raines; grandmother of Emily, Karen and Claire. A memorial service will be held Sunday, April 12, 2 p.m., at the Emsworth United Presbyterian Church, 73 Hiland Ave., Emsworth, PA. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation or to the church in memory of Alberta Raines.
Daniel Fullerton Daniel E. Fullerton, 63, of Zelienople, died Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
Dolores Rubacky Dolores A. "Dee" Thomas Rubacky, 81, of Ross Township, died Wednesday, March 18, 2015.
Michele Ostapchenko Michele R. Ostapchenko, 58, of Bellevue, formerly of Groveton, PA, died Thursday, March 12, 2015. Ms. Ostapchenko worked at the Allegheny County Court House in the Family Division. She was a member of Bellevue Christian Church.
Grace Chieffe Grace B. Groticelli Chieffe, 92, of Bellevue, formerly of North Port, FL and wife of the late Edward Chieffe, died Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2015. Mrs. Chieffe was an avid bowler and enjoyed reading, knitting, crossword puzzles and telling jokes.
Marjorie Curtin Marjorie J. "Margie" Curtin died Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. Mrs. Curtin was a retired crossing guard for the City of Pittsburgh. She is survived by two children, Dena Hitchan and her husband Paul and Don Curtin and his wife Mary of Columbus, OH; her brother, Jim Montgomery and his wife Rayna; and six grandchildren, Haylee and Megan Hitchan, Joshua, Andrew, Zachary and Samantha Curtin. She was preceded in death by her parents, William and Margaret Smith Montgomery.
Former Ben Avon mayor Claire Wilwohl dies
Even though she never sought the top spot of Ben Avon Borough government, Claire Wilwohl served three terms as the mayor, deciding not to run for a fourth term in 1998, but having compiled a list of accomplishments that ranged from procuring grants for new street lighting to officiating at the weddings of 25 couples, to helping the "Lorenzo's Oil"crew with any needs during the several months of filming the movie in the borough.
Deborah Lee Hartwick Deborah Lee Hartwick, age 57, of Avalon, died Feb. 5, 2015. Loving mother of Michael A. Hartwick and Daniel C. Hightower (Stefanie); dear sister of Louie and John Lamonde and Alvin Clark, adoring grandmother of Keyonna, Michael Jr., “DC”, Dante and Danica; treasured aunt and friend of many. Memorial service Thursday, Feb. 19, at 3 p.m. in New Life Community Church, 45 N. Fremont Ave., Bellevue, PA. 15202. Arrangements by Ball Funeral Chapel, Inc.
Georgia Augustine Georgia Marie Dorben Augustine, 77, of Ross Township, died Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015.
Shirley Flack Orris Shirley Flack Orris, of Bellevue, died Friday, Dec. 5, 2014. She is survived by four children, Barbara Flack, Kathy Tait and her husband Spike, Sandy Flack, and David Flack and his wife, Sue, of Philadelphia; six grandchildren, Bryan, April David Jr., Charlie, Jackie and David. Donations are suggested to the Good Samaritan Hospice.
Gerard Mascara Sr. Gerard P. "Jerry" Mascara Sr., 55, of Glenfield, died Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015.
James G. Weigand James “Jim” G. Weigand, 74, of Pittsburgh, formerly of Emsworth, died Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015. He is survived by his daughters Terri Tuma and her husband Jeffrey; LaVerne Weigand and her fiance Marc Tatton; LaTawnia Kershaw and “son-in-law” Steve Shuljak; his grandchildren Bobbie, Nicholette, Casey and Benjamin; six great-grandchildren, siblings Albert Weigand and Mary Andrews, and 23 nieces and nephews.
Neil Richey Neil M. Richey, 84, of Ross Township, died Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015. Mr. Richey served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean Conflict. After being honorably discharged, he worked for over 40 years in the grocery business and then for another 20 years working for his son in the automotive repair industry.
Scott Berger Scott W. Berger, 53, of Bellevue, died Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015. He is survived by two siblings, Duaine Berger and his wife Sue and Robin Berger; three nieces, Anna Everitt, Rochelle Berger and Amanda Berger; his nephew, Justin Berger; the Eich family; and cousins. Friends were received at Stephen M. Brady Funeral Home, North Side, until the time of a blessing service on Monday.
William Kenny William V. Kenny, husband of the late Martha Baer Kenny and Laura Cegan Kenny, died Friday, Jan. 2, 2015.
Susan Dively Susan Lyn Gordon Dively, 59, of Avalon, formerly of Ross Township, died Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014. She is survived by her husband, David J. Dively; two daughters, Kristan Semmler and Jacklyn Prepelka; her mother, Dolores Gordon; two siblings, Linda Williamson and James Gordon; and four grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her father, Jim Gordon. Friends were received at the Orion C. Pinkerton Funeral Home, Avalon, until the time of services on Monday.
Earl Maze Jr.
Mildred Silvester Mildred J. Silvester, 81, of Crafton died Monday, Nov. 17, 2014. She is survived by her son, Pete Silvester and his wife Carin. She was preceded in death by two children, Sheryl and Dino Silvester. There was no visitation and burial was private. Arrangements were made by the Orion C. Pinkerton Funeral Home, Avalon.
Joseph Silvester Joseph C. Silvester died Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014.
Kenneth Krebs Kenneth F. "Cash" Krebs of McKees Rocks, formerly of Ohio Township, died Friday, May 9, 2014. He is survived by three children, Debbie Reay and her husband Tom, Sherry Hutchison and her husband Mike and K.C. Krebs; eight grandchildren, Jaqui, Aaron, Vicki, Andrew, Rachel, Ethan, Sam and Eli; and his girlfriend, Dee Fedorka. Friends were received at McDermott Funeral Home, Kennedy Township, where services were held on Tuesday.
Patricia McGuire Patricia A. McGuire, 73, of Brighton Heights, died Thursday, May 8, 2014.
Catherine Berad Catherine L. Zdilla Berad, 95, of Zelienople, formerly of Brighton Heights and wife of the late Louis J. Berad, died Friday, May 2, 2014. She is survived by five children, Georganne Dixon of Grafton,WI, Gregory Berad and his wife Georgene of Monaca, Bernadette Berad of Cranberry Township, Catherine Berad of Stanton Heights and Dolores Nochese and her husband Steven of Fombell, PA; 10 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, George and Ann Pasterik Zdilla; and three siblings.
Robert Bupp Robert G. Bupp, 85, of Ross Township, formerly of Bellevue, died Wednesday, April 23, 2014. Mr. Bupp was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and had received the Purple Heart. He was active at Forest Avenue Presbyterian Church, where he served as deacon. He is survived by his wife, Shirley Brillhart Bupp; three children, Susan Selga and her husband Stan, Edward Bupp and David Bupp and his wife Lorie; his sister, Elizabeth Geyer; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; his sister-in-law, Suzanne Barron; and nieces and nephews.
Pearl Minnick Pearl K. Minnick, 96, of West Mifflin, formerly of Fair Oak, died Thursday, April 10, 2014. She is survived by three nephews, Donald Kraniak and his wife Dorothy of Ohio Township, Paul Plichta and his wife Maryjane and David Lykens of West Mifflin. Friends were received at Bohn-Matich Funeral Home, Ambridge. A funeral service was held in Holy Ghost Orthodox Church in Ambridge on Monday. Burial was in Economy Cemetery.
Karen Warner Karen Kenny Warner, 66, of Bellevue, died Friday, April 11, 2014. Mrs. Warner was a retired janitorial worker.
Mary Kruly Mary A. Kruly, wife of the late Charles J. Kruly, died Tuesday, April 1, 2014. Mrs. Kruly was a member of Catholic War Veterans Auxiliary and a former volunteer for VAMC for more than 20 years. She is survived by three daughters, Carol Lako and her husband Mike, Cecelia Kruly and Marian Campbell and her husband Scott; her sister, Sr. M. Norberta, O.S.F.; four grandchildren, Michael and his wife Nicole, George, Joanne and Joseph Lako; her great-granddaughter, Violette Lako; and nieces and nephews.
Fr. Thomas Ferris Fr. Thomas B. Ferris died Tuesday, March 18, 2014. Fr. Thomas had been assigned to St. James Parish, Sewickley, St. Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh and had spent five years with the St. James Society in missions to South America, St. Joseph Parish, Coraopolis, St. Agatha Parish, Ellwood City, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Finleyville, St. Patrick Parish, Canonsburg and St. Cyril of Alexandria Parish, Brighton Heights.
Helen Fabina Helen Fabina, 91, of Bellevue, died Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014. She is survived by four nephews, Frank DiCicco and his wife Sue, Larry DiCicco and his wife Patti, Marc DiCicco and his wife Donual and Paul DiCicco and his wife Liz; and grandnieces and grandnephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Mary Fabino; her sister, Anna DiCicco; her nephew, Matthew; and her niece, Michelle. There was no visitation. Arrangements were made by Stephen M. Brady Funeral Home, North Side.
David McKnight Jr.
Margaret Conely Margaret "Marge" Helgerman Conely, 61, of Ben Avon, formerly of the North Side, died Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. Mrs. Conely was a member of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon and a realtor. She is survived by two children, John Conely and Melissa Conely. Friends were received at Schellhaas Funeral Home, West View. Services were held in Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon on Monday.
Anna Crummie Anna A. Crummie, 91, of Bellevue, wife of the late David H. Crummie, died Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014.
Daniel Stefko Daniel Patrick Stefko, 71, died Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014.
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Home News Students, faculty react to Kurdish referendum
Students, faculty react to Kurdish referendum
by Ian Down October 10, 2017
Turkish Student Association Concordia fear referendum will spark violence
Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favour of establishing their own independent state on Sept. 25. In the aftermath of the referendum, which has received both support and criticism from the international community, Concordia students and faculty were divided in their feelings about Iraqi Kurdistan’s fight for independence.
Turkish Student Association Concordia (TSAC) condemned the independence movement in a written statement to The Concordian. “We don’t support any separative movements that might cause violence,” the organization wrote. “Moreover, we don’t separate our members as Kurdish or Turkish. For us, we are one together.”
“I suggest you also support peace,” the statement continued. “What happened is very sad news that will potentially cause more violence in the region.”
This statement was in line with the Turkish government’s official stance on the referendum. The country fears the creation of an independent Iraqi Kurdistan could encourage an independence movement among its own Kurds, who represent 15 to 20 per cent of Turkey’s population according to the BBC. Quoted in The Independent on Sept. 30, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “They are not forming an independent state, they are opening a wound in the region to twist the knife in.”
Juman Al-Mashta, president of the Iraqi Students’ Association at Concordia, declined to comment on the referendum, saying the association is only a “cultural association” with “no official stance” on the issue. According to CNN, the Iraqi government has declared the referendum “unconstitutional” and is prepared to use violence to suppress separatism in the region.
Concordia professor Richard Foltz said he doesn’t foresee violence in the region. As an expert in Iranian civilization, his field of study has often brought him into contact with the culture, history and society of the Kurds, an Iranian people. He said he believes it is in Turkey’s best interest to maintain its trading relationship with Iraqi Kurdistan and to have a relatively stable democracy on its southern border.
He said Canada should break away from the United States’ foreign policy by officially backing Kurdish aspirations for independence. Foltz acknowledged that any referendum for independence around the world may be a “sore spot” for Canada, given Quebec’s history of referendums for sovereignty.
According to Foltz, since the time of former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who successfully kept Canada out of the Iraq war, “Canada’s foreign policy has been dictated by Washington.” He said the United States is “trying to play both sides” by “supporting the Kurds militarily on the one hand, while at the same time [having] this stubborn insistence on maintaining the integrity of Iraq.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has avoided publicly taking a side on the issue. However, a week before the referendum, Canada participated in a joint meeting of foreign officials, organized by the U.S. State Department, which collectively agreed the referendum should not take place, according to the National Post.
Foltz said he does not know whether or not the Kurds will gain independence. However, “the Kurds will never, ever give up their quest for independence,” he added.
“There is nothing that anybody can do or say that will entice them to renounce that aspiration,” Foltz said. “I think that any foreign policy—be it Canada’s or America’s or Russia’s or Iran’s or Turkey’s—if it wants to be a successful foreign policy, it needs to begin with that understanding.”
Photo by Alex Hutchins
newsreferendumtsacTurkish Student Association Concordia
Ian Down
QPIRG Concordia to expand student resources
Experience, chemistry will lead women’s team
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“The physical benefits, which are great, for me pale in comparison to the great mental & emotional benefits I have received in the 4 years since I started training at the Warriors Cove. I am much more confident in myself. I have a greater sense of peace. My mind feels much sharper, and I am a much happier person now. I generally feel much more capable of dealing with whatever life throws at me. My day to day anxiety level is also much less. I couldn’t imagine my life without the Warriors Cove, and I am eternally grateful that Mr. Arnebeck started this school.”
The most common training mistake amongst fighters. In order to build elite level conditioning, fighters must have a solid aerobic base with a well-developed capacity for anaerobic efforts. As I mentioned earlier, the aerobic energy system is responsible for re-synthesizing ATP after periods of high intensity bursts, therefore influences how fighters recover in-between rounds AND in-between fighting exchanges. Since the aerobic system is developed through low-intensity cardio training, many coaches and fighters overlook this critical piece because it is, incorrectly, seen as inefficient. Oddly, fighters will perform an unnecessary amount of high intensity training along with their MMA training; a recipe for overtraining, sub-optimal recovery and increased risk of injury.
Even though Systems Training Center has some very talented instructors, our focus is on our member experience and customer service. Whether people train in fitness, self-defense or fighting, we pride ourselves on offering martial arts and fitness classes that continue to inspire, motivate and empower our students. This mindset shows as we have many members who have been with us since we first opened. Often, they don’t just train themselves, but their kids, parents, and siblings train at the gym too!
Adrian becomes a minor celebrity once he begins appearing as a pundit on a local talk show, but his tenure on air is short lived. Lucca officially informs the partners of her pregnancy, and insists it will not impact her work in any way. Lucca and Colin argue over the start date for a trial after Colin moves for a continuance to the week of Lucca's due date.
The Good Fight is an American legal and political drama web television series produced for CBS's streaming service CBS All Access. It is CBS All Access's first original scripted series.[1] The series—created by Robert King, Michelle King, and Phil Alden Robinson—is a spin-off and sequel to The Good Wife, which was created by the Kings. The first season contains 10 episodes,[2] and premiered on February 19, 2017, with the first episode airing on CBS and the following nine episodes on CBS All Access.[1] The series was initially planned to air in May 2017, but was moved up after production delays forced CBS to postpone the premiere of the new series Star Trek: Discovery.[3]
What to expect: Most Krav Maga programs thrive on intense workouts with lots of drills. Fighting when your tired is a key skill and most Krav Maga programs are extremely adept at getting you to that point. Also, some of the main techniques involve stuff that’s flat out banned in other arts. Kicks to the groin? Eye pokes? Throat rakes? Joint breaks? All part of the game. A big part.
10) Chicks dig fighters. Women love violence. They will say things like “I hate violence. I hate those meathead guys that fight all the time.” The women who say things like this have one thing in common: they're lying. Women absolutely love men who handle violent confrontation and come up the winner. It's in their nature, it's in their DNA. Something you won't read in a newspaper: Ghetto thugs who often beat up weak people are rewarded with sex by their ghetto mistresses. You're smarter than fighting all the time – but simply being able to handle violent confrontation (having the Eye of the Tiger) is enough to get them wet.
In Japan, female competition has been documented since the mid-1990s. Influenced by female professional wrestling and kickboxing, the Smackgirl competition was formed in 2001 and became the only major all-female promotion in mixed martial arts. Other early successful Japanese female organizations included Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling, ReMix (a predecessor to Smackgirl), U-Top Tournament, K-Grace, and AX.[citation needed]
For Regular Dudes: Don't take unnecessary breaks. Do something, anything, to keep you in the game. Sure, life gets busy and priorities sometimes need to change ("I can't change Junior's diaper honey, I gotta train legs tonight."), but you should never have to quit training completely. Have periods where you train less and periods where you train more. But never just do nothing.
Dr. Serena Goldstein is a Naturopathic Doctor who specializes in hormone concerns such as weight, low energy, stress, PMS, peri/menopause, and andropause through nutrition, homeopathy, and botanical medicine. Dr. Serena has been published in well-known health and wellness resources, such as MindBodyGreen, Consumer Health Digest, and the Hearty Soul, and appeared on Sirius XM NYU Doctor Radio.
In the United States, prior to the success of The Ultimate Fighter reality show that launched mixed martial arts into the mainstream media,[citation needed] there was no major coverage of female competitions. Some early organizations who invited women to compete included, International Fighting Championships, SuperBrawl, King of the Cage, Rage in the Cage, Ring of Combat, Bas Rutten Invitational, and HOOKnSHOOT. From the mid-2000s, more coverage came when organizations such as Strikeforce, EliteXC, Bellator Fighting Championships, and Shark Fights invited women to compete.
If you don't have access to a heavy bag, or you need a workout you can do from a hotel room or small space, don't worry, there's a solution. In fact, according to Matt Marsden, a fitness instructor at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, who has a training and coaching background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, boxing, Muay Thai, and Tae Kwon Do, this type of workout is pretty common for MMA fighters because they travel so frequently and sometimes have to train outside of the typical gym setting.
In July 2013 the Malaysia Mixed Martial Arts Association (MASMMAA) was formally announced as the official national governing body for MMA in Malaysia, ahead of its formation in December 2013. MASMMAA is registered under the Malaysian Sports Development Act 1997 and recognized by the Commissioner of Sports, under the auspices of the office of the Youth & Sports Ministry. The federation comprises representatives of ten states out of fourteen in Malaysia. MASMMAA became affiliated to the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation in April 2014.[238][239][240]
Another common misconception is that boxing is primarily an arm workout. Sure, you’ll shred your tris and bis, but Ortiz says you’ll actually be targeting more of your core and legs. “You’re working your obliques because you’re crunching to the sides and twisting,” he says. “And you’re constantly bending from the hips and bouncing on your toes, which uses your quads, hamstrings, and calves.”
Weight training or resistance training used intelligently, can be used to enhance these athletic characteristics. Because all athletes have individual needs, a generic program, like this one below, will need to be modified for the style of fighting, age, goals, facilities available and so on. However, here's a weights program, starting out, that you can use to set yourself up for martial arts competition fighting.
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Charles Atlas, Helena Almeida, João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, K8 Hardy, Alex Hubbard, DAS INSTITUT, Matt Mullican, R.H Quaytman, Josef Strau and Alex Waterman
14 Mar – 25 Apr 2010
Taking a cross-generational view, the show will look at how the performative gesture works to activate space and objects- whether this be by its dependence on temporality and the sense of melancholy this inheres, or by the leaving of a physical trace of a bygone event. The show will feature works by Charles Atlas, Helena Almeida, João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, K8 Hardy, Alex Hubbard, DAS INSTITUT, Matt Mullican, R.H Quaytman, Josef Strau and Alex Waterman, a founding member of Plus Minus Ensemble and member of Either/Or ensemble, who specialize in avant-garde and experimental music, will be doing a live performance at the gallery on Thursday 15 April from 7pm.
Waterman will create a new script and diagrammatic of an imaginary landscape for the show at Vilma Gold. The piece, Beacons of Ancestorship, is based on the last and never published book by John Barton Wolgamot and will be delivered as a performed film script and series of drawings of the landscape. The landscape is made up of a list of names used by Wolgamot in his singular poem, In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women. The performance will then be installed as a radio play in the gallery next to the script and drawings only to be later reworked again into another film script plotting the trajectories through the garden’s 128 landscapes. The garden/landscape that Waterman is scripting has the further condition that it follows two of the statements from Alan Weiss’s ‘Manifesto for the Future of Landscape’: 7. The garden is a narrative, a transformer of narratives, and a generator of narratives; 8. The garden is a memory theater. Alex is presently working on his PhD in musicology at NYU as well as writing a book about the composer Robert Ashley with the designer and writer Will Holder. Alex Waterman and Beatrice Gibson’s film, A Necessary Music, narrated by Robert Ashley and with original music by Waterman, premiered at the Whitney Museum ISP show and will be shown in galleries and museums in the US and Europe this Autumn. His work is currently included in an exhibition at the Kadist Foundation in Paris.
Over the last forty years Helena Almeida has combined painting, photographic imagery, performance and drawing to explore intimacy, sensation and the limits of the body. Although the artist is always in front of the camera, she insists that her works are not self-portraits. Dressed in black since the early 1970s, sometimes with objects or furniture found in her studio, Almeida assumes positions that she has painstakingly choreographed. The resulting images, to which paint marks are sometimes added in bold blue or red, often depict ‘impossible’ actions – paint marks entering the mouth, the artist’s body extending beyond its limits. Through these ‘pseudo performances’, Almeida attempts to inhabit painting. Almeida refuses the question of self-portraiture as a transparent reproduction of an individual personality- In ‘Inhabited Canvas’ (1976) she is able to simultaneously be herself, an other and neither. Akin to her use of blue or red ink, Almeida uses herself as an object, an empty, malleable vessel which is manipulated in ways that enable the artist to pursue her formal and conceptual interrogation of the image. In Almeida’s art there is neither the desire for a shared live experience nor any prejudice against the photograph as document. Rather, the private act of performance is not only given a spatio-temporal rebirth, but it is also completed in its photographic documentation and reception. The liveness of performance gives way to a new, hybrid, liveness of form: far from a still document, the spectator finds him or herself before a new visual exercise which defies any privileging of the real. Almeida is a Portugese artist based in Lisbon.
In the past Alex Hubbard’s videos have begun with private performances that are shot in a single take from above. Hubbard uses materials and actions that draw from performance art, painting, magic tricks, and cooking shows, all which are assembled, manipulated and ultimately destroyed. In a new video work, Screens for Recalling the Blackout (2009), recorded in a sizeable Brooklyn studio, Hubbard has created a changing space followed by the camera, but purposefully leaves the camera always a step behind. The action is just missed; walls shift, bricks fall, temporary walls are erected, and Plexiglas panels move in front of the camera. The circular movement of the camera dolly continually updates, obscures and eventually looses the room. Hubbard’s video establishes a strange relationship between what is being seen and what is being made. Causality becomes unclear: it sometimes appears as if the camera is determining the action. Memory becomes equally unclear: there is just enough repeat of the space to start to know where you are, but as the camera is slow the space is changed and the old tableaux forgotten by the time you return there. Alex Hubbard was born 1975 in Toledo, Oregon and lives and works in Brooklyn.
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USAIN BOLT KICKS-OFF NY INT'L AUTO SHOW WITH FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE OF 2017 NISSAN GT-R
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“The World’s Fastest Human” Usain Bolt debuted Nissan’s fastest car at the New York International Auto Show. Usain Bolt posed for "selfies" with fans while kicking-off the first public appearance of the all-new 2017 Nissan GT-R on Saturday, March 26, 2016.
Usain Bolt redefined the limits of human performance when he smashed the 100 and 200 meter world records. Mr. Bolt can run 100 meters in 9.58 seconds.
Usain will compete in this year’s summer games in Rio de Janeiro which he has confirmed will be his last Olympics.
Josh Clifton
Nissan North America
josh.clifton@nissan-usa.com
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NA Chairwoman wishes more Swiss investment in key industries
National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on March 29 said that she hopes Switzerland will continue encouraging its businesses to invest in several key industries and sectors in Vietnam.
Receiving visiting President of the Council of States of Switzerland, Ivo Bischofberger, Ngan said Vietnam awaited further Swiss investment in finance, banking, insurance, hi-tech industries, manufacturing, pharmaceutical industry, agricultural production, tourism and hospitality.
National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan receives President of the Council of States of Switzerland Ivo Bischofberger in Hanoi on March 29__ Photo: VNA/VNS
Ngan affirmed that Vietnam supports all foreign-invested businesses in the country, including Swiss investors and businesspeople.
She hailed the development of bilateral ties in politics and diplomacy as well as trade and investment cooperation, and proposed that exchange visits by delegations of both countries be stepped up and coordination at multilateral forums strengthened.
Switzerland is one of Vietnam’s crucial European economic partners, she said.
The NA Chairwoman thanked the Swiss Government for providing USD90 million in official development assistance (ODA) for the 2017-20 period. The two sides should cooperate closely to use the ODA effectively, he said.
Ivo Bischofberger confirmed that his visit aimed to strengthen legislative links between the two countries and promoting multifaceted relations.
Switzerland is a constant advocate of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which will provide a legal framework and generate investment and trade opportunities for business communities from all sides, he said.
The two sides shared experiences in establishing laws to protect the environment, establishing a high quality education and training system, and providing more scholarships for Vietnamese students to study law, banking, tourism and advanced technologies in Switzerland, as also organizing vocational training for Vietnamese students.
Ngan requested Switzerland to assist overseas Vietnamese stabilize their lives in the country.
The two sides agreed that parliamentary cooperation was an effective aspect of bilateral relations. They also agreed to step up delegation exchanges in the future.-(VNS/VLLF)
Tags: National Assembly , foreign invested businesses , EFTA , Vietnam Law
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First-ever White Book on Vietnamese Businesses launched (11/07/2019)
Vietnam, RoK to augment co-operation in ensuring security (10/07/2019)
Prime Minister hosts Philippine Foreign Minister (09/07/2019)
PM concludes Japan trip (02/07/2019)
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Mon 11-02-2019 19:57 PM
International Astronautical Congress 2020 to be held in Dubai
DUBAI, 11th February, 2019 (WAM) -- The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and the International Astronautical Federation, IAF, signed an agreement to host the 71st International Astronautical Congress IAC, from 12th to 16th October, 2020, in Dubai.
The congress will be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, for the first time in the Arab region. This is an exceptional move that highlights the UAE’s leading global position in the space sector.
The agreement was signed during the World Government Summit by Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, Director-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, MBRSC, and Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of the IAF.
"The UAE's hosting of the 71st IAC, the world's largest space conference, highlights the UAE’s strong global presence in the space sector, its leading global position, and outstanding achievements. This is part of our wise leadership’s support in fostering a space sector that actively contributes to a knowledge-based economy," Al Shaibani said.
"Signing this agreement with the IAF during the World Government Summit in Dubai shows the global status of the summit, which has become a source of inspiration for governments and people. It also supports the summit's approach in its 7th edition, which focuses on the future of human societies. The IAC is a valuable addition to the conferences hosted by the UAE and a platform that brings together leading space specialists and decision-makers from around the world to share experiences, build strategic partnerships and support international cooperation in space-related activities. We are confident that hosting IAC in Dubai will be a milestone in the history of the event, especially with the launch of the Emirates Mars Mission – Hope Mission in 2020, the Expo 2020 Dubai and other major events in the UAE," Al Shaibani added.
Le Gall said, "Today is a particularly memorable day as the IAF and the MBRSC have just signed the preliminary contract for the International Astronautical Congress – IAC2020 which will take place here in Dubai from 12th to 16th October, 2020. The IAC2020 will be a capital milestone for the Federation as well as for the United Arab Emirates, as it will be the very first IAC to open its doors in the UAE"
"We are confident that the IAC 2020 will not only be a successful event with a record-breaking number of participants but will also pave the way to fruitful discussions and to the involvement and inclusion of more Arabic countries in the space scene. We are positive that the IAC 2020 in Dubai will have a long-lasting impact on the region and will help raise awareness of the importance of space, and its undeniable benefits for humankind," he added.
Salem Al Marri, Assistant Director-General for Scientific and Technical Affairs at MBRSC and the chair of the local organising committee of IAC 2020 said, "IAC is the largest global event involving space industry experts. It is one of the key global conferences annually organised by IAF, in cooperation with the International Academy of Astronautics and the International Institute of Space Law. The UAE, a member states of IAF, was selected after MBRSC’s successful bid was announced during a ceremony at the 68th IAC 2017 in Adelaide, Australia, in September 2017."
Al Marri thanked local and international organisations that supported Dubai’s bid to host the conference. He stressed MBRSC’s commitment to applying the highest regulatory and logistical standards to ensure the success of the event to suit Dubai’s reputation in hosting the most important international conferences. He highlighted that the conference will be accompanied by a large space-related exhibition, as well as a programme for students and youth interested in the space sector.
WAM/ /Rola Alghoul/Tariq alfaham
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Clean Water: Lake Whatcom Water Quality Update
by April Markiewicz
Lake Whatcom watershed and sub-basins (Matthews et al., 2017)
Clean water. Each of us gets up every morning, turns on the water faucet and expects to have clean, fresh water at our disposal. We make coffee with it, prepare food, brush our teeth, take a shower, wash dishes, flush toilets and go about our daily business. We never question whether we will have access to clean water, regardless of where we go and what we do in our daily activities because, like so many other communities, we take our water for granted.
Many people in our community don’t even know where their water comes from except from the end of a faucet. If asked, they may guess that it comes from an underground aquifer or is piped in from some distant source. Few, however, would guess that it comes from Lake Whatcom just a few miles east of downtown Bellingham. One look at the lake and its watershed would convey to the casual observer that it is more of a recreational destination and resort area rather than a drinking water source for all of Bellingham and half of Whatcom County.
This photo of Basin 1 was taken in 1998. How many docks do you count in this photo? courtesy photo: City of Bellingham
There are approximately 15,000 people living in the Lake Whatcom watershed, with a majority of them living around the northernmost Basin 1 and further west and south around Basin 3 in the Sudden Valley resort community. Luxurious homes interspersed with summer cottages line much of the shoreline, with more stacked in tiers extending to higher elevations in the watershed. Many of the houses have spacious, well-manicured lawns and wide driveways to accommodate numerous vehicles, as well as private docks (see above photo) extending out into the lake to which are tethered boats, jet skis, and other recreational watercraft.
In summer, watercraft of all shapes and sizes litter the surface of the lake as people enjoy its recreational benefits. There is also the occasional floatplane that comes into to land on or take off from the lake, taking advantage of the FAA approved seaplane base located just south of the Sudden Valley resort. Another amenity open to the public in the watershed is the Sudden Valley resort’s 18-hole golf course that has its signature hole abutting the west shore of Basin 3.
When people are informed of where their drinking water comes from, most are shocked and then outraged. The first question they ask is how could the city of subdued excitement, with a reputation for being environmentally conscientious, allow people and pets to recreate in and live around their drinking water source? The next question asked is, just how clean is the water they drink if there are no basic protective safeguards in place to keep people and pets out?
Both questions have fairly simple answers that belie the complex events and processes that created the conditions that exist today. The first question is answered by the cascade of historical events that led to the lake being designated as a drinking water supply source after residential development and commercial activities had already been well established in the watershed. Local politics and human behavior also played contributing roles.
Why Are People Recreating in My Drinking Water?
To summarize, people have been utilizing the Lake Whatcom watershed since the mid-1800s (Peterson, 2008). By the late 1800s, logging, timber production and mining were the primary activities in the watershed, with most of the workers who supported those industries building houses and living nearby. These activities expanded and increased into the 1900s with the population of workers living in the watershed also increasing.
After the merger of Whatcom, Sehome, Bellingham and Fairhaven towns into the city of Bellingham in 1903, Lake Whatcom became the primary source for domestic water (Peterson, 2008). Concerns emerged shortly thereafter about potential impacts to drinking water quality caused by the people living in the watershed. In 1906, the city imposed a stringently enforced ban on swimming in the lake.
By the 1930s, however, the region experienced a population boom with increased residential development of homes and summer cottages in the northwest part of the watershed. Fishing, boating and swimming activities on the lake increased as priorities and interests changed. Protective actions to safeguard the lake from human activities were relaxed and eventually forgotten.
By 1948, all logging and mining activities in the watershed had ended, only to be replaced by increasing residential development and recreational activities which continued unabated into the 1990s. Growing concern about the decline in water quality as evidenced by monitoring data collected since the 1960s eventually led to the formation of the Lake Whatcom Management Committee made up of the county executive, the Bellingham mayor and the manager of the Sudden Valley water district (now the Lake Whatcom Water and Sewer District). The committee developed a draft management plan in 1992, outlining goals and policies to guide all future management actions in the watershed. It has been updated and revised over the decades but remains the guiding document to mitigate the effects of current development and activities on the lake’s water quality.
Is the Water Safe to Drink?
The simple answer is that our drinking water after treatment is in full compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act., meeting or exceeding all federal and state water quality standards. The quality of Lake Whatcom water, however, does not and has been listed as an impaired water body under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act.
Annual water quality monitoring funded by the city of Bellingham and conducted by Dr. Robin Matthews and her research team at Western Washington University have provided data clearly showing the decline in several water quality parameters over the last 30 years. In the early 2000s, the rate of deterioration began accelerating to the alarm of city and county officials, the scientists conducting the monitoring, and the general public.
Since then, the Lake Whatcom Management Team has worked to install storm water runoff treatment systems around the heavily populated areas of the watershed. The team has also developed programs to educate watershed homeowners and provide financial incentives to reduce or eliminate impacts on the environment and the lake.
These efforts have helped to reduce the rate of deterioration. In recent years, water quality monitoring data indicate that the rate of decline in several water parameters has slowed and in some cases appear to have stabilized. The data also have revealed, however, that warmer summer temperatures with longer warmer seasonal periods accelerate biological productivity causing severe deleterious chemical changes to water quality. Implementing mitigation efforts now has become an even higher priority given these data results foreshadow additional impacts to the lake as climate change progresses.
What the Data Show
Data in the 2015/2016 Lake Whatcom Monitoring Program Annual Report by Matthews et al. (2017) indicated that the residual effects from the extremely warm and prolonged summer season in 2015 were still evident through most of 2016. The following are the results of some water quality parameters:
Dissolved Oxygen vs. Temperature
Figure 1. July 2016 temperature (on left) and dissolved oxygen (on right) profiles with depth compared to 1988 through 2014 minimum/maximum ranges (shaded areas).
Temperatures in Basins 1 and 2 were relatively warm, but within historic ranges. Basin 3 of the lake was still unusually warm in June and remained close to historic maximum levels through September (see Figure 1).
Atypical depletion of dissolved oxygen in the cooler bottom (hypolimnetic) water layers of Basins 1, 2 and the northern portion of Basin 3 occurred again during the summer of 2016, but were not as extreme as in 2015 (see Figure 1).
Dissolved Oxygen 1988 through 2016
Figure 2. Trends in dissolved oxygen over time in Basin 1 at 14 meters (~46 feet) sampled in July and August from 1988 through 2016 (Matthews et al., 2017).
The rate of oxygen depletion in Basin 1 was again abnormally rapid compared to 1988 through 2014 data, setting up anoxic conditions in May, June and July that were lower than historic minimums (see Figure 2).
Total Phosphorus 1994 through 2016
Figure 3. Median summer near-surface total phosphorus concentrations over time at each sampling site from 1994 – 2016 (Matthews et al., 2017).
Total phosphorus (TP) levels increased in all basins (see Figure 3).
Chlorophyll 1994 through 2016
Figure 4. Median summer near-surface chlorophyll concentrations over time at each sampling site from 1994 – 2016 (Matthews et al., 2017).
Chlorophyll (Chl) concentrations increased in all three basins. Only the southern portion of Basin 3 had chlorophyll concentrations that slightly decreased compared to 2015 data (see Figure 4).
Blue-Green Bacteria Cyanobacteria 1994 – 2016
Figure 5. Log 10 plots of median summer near-surface Cyanobacteria counts (1994 – 2016), June through October, all sites and depths (Matthews et al., 2017).
Bluegreen bacteria (Cyanobacteria) populations remain high in all three basins and seem to have stabilized (see Figure 5).
Total Trihalomethane January through December 1991 through 2016
Figure 6. July through September total trihalomethane (TTHM) concentrations in the city of Bellingham’s water distribution system from 1991 – 2016 (Matthews et al., 2017).
Trihalomethanes (THMs), which are known carcinogens created during the disinfection process of water treatment, have decreased overall in tap water to about 0.04 mg/L, down from the high of 0.06 mg/L in 2015 (see Figure 6), and well below the maximum allowable contaminant level of 0.08 mg/L. (Note: The number of sites used to calculate the quarterly averages increased from four to eight in 2012 (vertical dotted line).
What the Data Mean
Biological productivity in the lake continues to be high in Basins 1 and 2 and in the northern portion of Basin 3 at levels equal to or exceeding maximum levels measured between 1988 and 2014. Atypical depletions of dissolved oxygen in the bottom layers of water (see Figures 1 and 2), as well as increased concentrations of chlorophyll a, an indicator of algal biomass, in all three basins (see Figure 4) are key markers of increased productivity. Fueling the biological productivity continues to be increased inputs of phosphorus into all three basins of the lake (see Figure 3) despite stormwater runoff treatment systems installed around the developed areas of the lake, as well as watershed homeowner education and incentive programs. Removing dissolved forms of phosphorus from entering the lake remains problematic.
High biological activity is responsible for creating severe anoxic conditions in the bottom water layers of Basins 1 and 2 in the summer. These anoxic conditions cause the water to become acidic and any metals that had precipitated out of the water column and into sediments are dissolved and released back into the overlying water. Those metals include phosphorus, mercury, lead, iron, cadmium, zinc, etc.
These chemicals are recirculated throughout the lake once water temperatures cool and the water is no longer thermally stratified. In some lakes, this can result in fish kills and cause health officials to issue advisories to those who draw their water directly from those lakes.
Impaired Lake Water, But Clean Drinking Water?
Yes, it is possible to have both. The city of Bellingham has invested a lot of money and resources in its water treatment facility in Whatcom Falls Park. Water is withdrawn from Basin 2 and processed through a series of treatment steps at the facility that include filtering, adding chemicals to remove smaller suspended particles and algal cells, adjusting the pH and adding chlorine for disinfection. These steps produce high quality drinking water that is in full compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act standards.
The more degraded the lake water, however, the more treatment is needed to clean it to levels safe for drinking. The city is already in the process of building a new $15 million water pretreatment system that should be online in 2018 (Wohlfeil, 2015). The new facility will feature a dissolved air floatation system that will use microscopic air bubbles to attach to any oils or other organic matter in the lake water and float them to the surface where they can be easily skimmed off. The end result promises to be clearer water that is then sent to the existing plant for full treatment.
The downside of relying on treatment processes to clean up source water is that one or more of the steps in the treatment process may become compromised or fail, potentially resulting in thousands of people getting sick before the problem is found. All the more reason that the city, county and the Lake Whatcom Water and Sewer District, as well as the people living in the watershed, must continue their efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate phosphorus loading to the lake.
Our community’s future depends on actively protecting and preserving Lake Whatcom as our source of drinking water and never taking this precious resource for granted.
April Markiewicz is a toxicologist and the associate director at the Institute of Environmental Toxicology at Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University, as well as president of the People for Lake Whatcom Coalition.
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William W. Lewis
Global Warming and Energy
Social/Political Commentary
October 4, 2014 Sciencelewpubco
The first case of the Ebola virus just turned up September 30th in Dallas. A passenger from Liberia got on a plane, flew directly to Dallas, and brought this incurable disease with him.
For the record, there are besides Dallas, daily flights from Liberia to Houston, Detroit, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Miami and Washington DC. This is just Liberia, not all the other West African countries with the disease. Many, many more flights coming in every day.
Apparently there is no airport screening either in Liberia or the US of people in the early stages of the disease who do not yet present with flu-like symptoms. This is exactly what happened when a man flew to Dallas on September 20, and presented himself at a Dallas hospital on September 28 with full-blown Ebola. As of this writing he is reported as “critically ill”.
The Ebola Virus (EBOV) causes “a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and other mammals”. Hmorrhagic fever (VHF) is desribed like this: “All types of VHF are characterized by fever and bleeding disorders and all can progress to high fever, shock and death in many cases”.
The virus, first discovered in 1976, comes from the Ebola River area, located on the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in Africa. It was once also known as Zaire Virus and Marburg Virus.
The virus is a nasty looking little critter, but some of the effects on humans are far more ghastly, so much so I won’t post any pictures. Look them up if you want. Suffice it to be said, contracting Ebola and dying from it is a real nasty way to go.
There is no cure.
To date, there is no proven cure for this disease, only prevention.
But wait, there’s more:
Yahoo News 9/30/14:
Rare respiratory virus, paralysis spreads among US kids: Washington (AFP) – An unusual respiratory virus has sickened more than 400 children across the United States, and the emergence of sudden paralysis in some Colorado youths is sparking concern among doctors.The nationwide outbreak of enterovirus D68 — which can cause wheezing and coughing — coincided with the hospitalization of nine children due to limb weakness in Colorado since early August, and officials are investigating if there is any link between the two.
Enterovirus EV-D68 cases confirmed in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut : A rare, potentially severe respiratory virus that has sickened children in more than a dozen states has surfaced in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, health officials said late on Wednesday.
Now connect the dots…
Associated Press 9/30/14:
SCHOOLS SCRAMBLE TO HELP TEENS WHO CROSSED BORDER FRANKFORD, Del. (AP) — American schools are scrambling to provide services to the large number of children and teenagers who crossed the border alone in recent months.Unaccompanied minors who made up the summer spike at the border have moved to communities of all sizes, in nearly every state
REFUGEE PLAN SET UP FOR CENTRAL AMERICAN MINORS : WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is initiating a program to give refugee status to some young people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in response to the influx of unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Do we see a pattern here? For the last several months, illegal aliens have been pouring across our Southern border with a wink and a nod and a look the other way from the Administration. More than a wink, the federal government has actually relocated thousands of childen from Central America into virtually every US state. Now a mystery virus is breaking out all over the country. Several non-major-media websites have written stories about Border Patrol and other front line government officials trying to blow the whistle that these aliens are coming in with virtually no concern about what diseases they may be bringing with them. In the rush to “settle” them throughout the country, only cursory attention has been paid to the health issues these people may have.
Update (10/3/14)
The status of these two viruses is very fluid and changing rapidly. News item today indicates that the Polio-like symptoms (limb weakness and paralysis) could possibly be associated with EV-D68. The plot thickens. It’s disturbing to even hear the word Polio today. There hasn’t been a case of Polio in the United States since 1979, thanks to the Salk/Sabin vaccines. However, Polio still exists (and is spreading) in the Middle East and….wait for it….Africa.
We are a “welcoming” and “inclusive” country today. We invite “refugees” and “dreamers” from all parts of the world. We take them in and they fan out through all fifty states.
But do we health screen all these newcomers? —- Ahh, no we don’t. So they are coming in from all directions, and they just might be bringing more than their suitcases with them.
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Geography/Travel
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Q&A — Brendon Ah Chee
By Simon Legg May 30, 2018
Since being traded from Port Adelaide to West Coast, Brendon Ah Chee has steadily made an impact in his new home. The 24-year-old has played in the last three games for the Eagles, and he chats with AFLPlayers.com.au to discuss his move back and the significance of Sir Doug Nicholls Round.
You’re still undefeated in a West Coast jumper!
Yeah, three from three! It’s been a pretty good start, but I think the momentum was going long before I started playing. It’s good to be part of the spirit and unity within the group.
Outside perception doesn’t mean a lot, but going into the season most people thought the Eagles might struggle to play finals. Fast forward to Round 10 and you’re on top, so what is the feeling like?
At first, we were supposed to finish nowhere and now, we’re supposed to finish high. Internally, the boys and the coaching staff still had a lot of confidence and belief and we’re playing with a lot of spirit and unity. Everyone who takes to the field knows their role and do their best to perform it. We know that if we do that then we’re going to get a result. It’s not overly complicated, it’s just everyone knowing what they’re supposed to do and having belief that it works.
You a took a bit of a gamble on yourself in coming to the Eagles and signing a one-year deal, didn’t you?
Yeah, I took the one-year Eagles deal instead of the two because for the six years of my career, I’ve been on one-year contracts, so I took it to basically set myself up long term. Because I’ve gone through the one-year contracts before, I viewed this season as do or die and for that motivation to assist me to reach the potential that I know I can reach, then I can set myself up long term.
So you were offered two years?
It wasn’t that I asked for one or two, I’m sure if I wanted two then my manager could have sorted that out, but my manager and I spoke about it and agreed that we’d go for one year and try and set ourselves up for the future.
How has the transition been going back home to Perth?
It’s good to come home, but Adelaide was great for the six years I was there for. But it’s always nice to come home to friends and family. Where I’m living now is only 25 minutes from where I grew up, so it’s a big positive to be so close to my home town and the friends and family. It was always going to be a decision based around footy, but it just so happened that West Coast saw me fitting in really well with what they wanted with their team.
And you have a connection to Broome?
Yeah, I was born in Derby, which is about 2,000 kms north of Perth, right in the Kimberley region. That’s where my dad grew up and his dad and his dad before him, so I have a family connection to the Kimberley and Broome. I spent the first eight years of my life there and I have been back a couple of times to visit family. We moved to Perth for more football opportunities because there weren’t a lot up north.
The 2018 indigenous Map was released yesterday. Talk me through your connection and where your family links back to?
On my mum’s side, I’m Pinjarup which is near Pinjarra in the south west of Western Australia, so that’s where Noongar comes from. On my dad’s side I’m Nyikina and Yawuru which is Broome and Derby. I’ve had an amazing connection on the last three Indigenous camps, the first one was in Alice Springs and there’s Ah Chee’s in Alice Springs so I have family there, the second one was in Perth so there were obvious connections there, and the last one was in Broome. I was able to go up there and learn about my culture and my family, along with my brother Callum.
Speaking of Callum, you requested to join him at the Suns two years ago but that fell through. How close was it to eventuating?
I was pretty keen to get up there, because I saw some openings in their midfield with Jaeger O’Meara and Dion Prestia leaving. I also thought that it would be awesome to play with my brother, so it was more just a question that I asked of both clubs, but it was never really that close. It was probably pumped up more in the media. Then this off-season was just about getting to West Coast. There was always a feeling that I’d love to play with my little brother, but we’re both happy where we are at the moment.
What does Sir Doug Nicholls Round mean to you?
It comes down to pride for me. There’s pride in myself for being an Aboriginal person, and there’s pride that the AFL makes a significant stand on showcasing the effect Aboriginal people have had on the game. The Sir Doug Nicholls Round is so important because it encapsulates how important football is to Aboriginal people. You go out into communities and you see how much we all love the sport. I’m so proud to be a part of this round.
Each year with Sir Doug Nicholls Round we get to see the incredible jumper designs and can track the significance behind them. Can you explain West Coast’s for 2018?
We’re talking more about it tomorrow in the team meeting, but I know a lot about it already. Representing the West Coast Eagles as a club, there’s links to the players, coaches and administration, but there’s also the wider community. We have a massive membership base so they’re represented. There’s also an Optus Stadium symbol and being near the river, there’s representation of that aspect, too and that is significant for Noongar people. On the front is the eagle with its talons out which is representative of the players who are going out to play and striking like the eagle strikes. The meaning is really significant, but the look is terrific as well and we trained in the jumper yesterday, and will again tomorrow.
What was it like to play on Optus Stadium for the first time? You would have experienced a similar event when the Adelaide Oval was re-built, I assume?
Yeah, the game I did play against Richmond was obviously a big clash and I think there was a record crowd there for it. I remember the last quarter where there were instances when I couldn’t hear the umpire blowing the whistle. In Adelaide, I was part of it when we moved from AAMI Stadium to the Adelaide Oval and it completely changed footy and the city, and this stadium is doing the same. Perth is really excited and is enjoying what the stadium is bringing in terms of atmosphere and the lighting before the game.
What about the walk through the crowd on the way out?
I didn’t know how I would feel about it at first when I was told what was going to happen. You walk in past the 100 or so people and they’re all screaming at you as you run out, so before you enter the oval you’re pumped up. It’s pretty cool. Then you run through the eagle and onto the ground where you see the 55,000-odd people and it gives you a lift.
There’s been so many role models for Indigenous players of your generation to aspire to, but who are the players you looked up to individually?
It even goes back to my dad and he used to love Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer. He was one of WA’s best footballers, so he was an early inspiration because of dad. Then you grow up watching Adam Goodes, Buddy Franklin, and back in the day the likes of Nicky Winmar and Michael Long. Going to Port I had a bit to do with Gavin Wanganeen, Byron Pickett and the Burgoyne brothers, so everywhere you look there’s someone to look up to. Every Aboriginal player that has played has influenced the Aboriginal players that are playing now so it’s great to pay respect.
Moving back to your football, how have you assessed your three games for the Eagles?
I’m still building because I’m playing a newer role. Last year I played mostly in the SANFL and I was predominantly a midfielder who would move forward, whereas this year I’m playing a permanent half-forward role. It’s something I’m still learning, so there’s room to improve to allow me to have a bigger impact on games. At first you need to understand your role, and then you can build off that.
What’s expected of the Eagles’ forward group?
Each forward is expected to put pressure on. It doesn’t matter if you’re Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling or Willie Rioli, everyone has to do it. We all have to help with the team defence and pressure, and on the flip-side we then need to work together to assist with the offensive side of things. It’s based off defence, learning how to run the right patterns to help defend, and then re-engage and try and hit the scoreboard.
Is Willie Rioli one of the most exciting players you’ve ever seen?
Yeah, and he’s only played a handful of senior games. He is already showing flashes of brilliance and he’ll have a pretty significant highlight reel come his 100th or 200th game. He’s a bit of a freak, he even does some crazy and weird stuff at training that leaves me wondering how it even works. He has the Rioli magic about him, that’s for sure.
What are you doing away from football?
I’m doing a fair bit of mentoring work outside of footy. I’m helping out the Wirrpanda Foundation with their Bidi Waalitj program which has been rewarding. I’m helping kids aged between 15-24 who are trying to get into work, so I’m providing them knowledge with how to get into their desired field. And also doing some mentoring with Malcolm Karpany and Willie Rioli at Scotch College with the kids that are boarding there. In terms of study, I’m doing a diploma of business with Daniel Venables which will hopefully provide knowledge of how the business world works and potentially exploring that after footy. It’s good to have things on the go outside of work so that you don’t exist within a bubble.
How did the mentoring roles come about?
West Coast has a big partnership with the Wirrpanda Foundation, and in the talks when I was coming over, they asked if I was interested in having anything to do with that, and I jumped at it. Especially with Noongar people and those south of the river which is where I grew up. Life comes full circle so I was more than happy to help out. With the Scotch College stuff, kids quite often have to move from home to play footy, and I have been through that so it’s nice to help out and provide some assistance there.
Terrific, Brendon. Thanks for the chat.
No worries, thank you!
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This week in Alaska history
EditorOs note: OThis Week in Alaska Business HistoryO revisits events that shaped our past. 20 years ago this weekAnchorage TimesJuly 15, 1982Energy panel refuses to expedite tariff decisionBy Bill WhiteTimes Juneau BureauA federal panel this week denied requests to decide quickly part of the 5-year-old state challenge to tariffs set by the owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Monday the case is too complicated, the issue too new and its staff too raw for it to rule by the state requested deadline of Sept. 1.The court directed FERC to take a "fresh hard look at every aspect of the whole subject," the commission said in its decision.The state and federal governments claimed the tariff is too high. They filed suit just after the pipeline opened in June 1977.A lower tariff would cause the well-head price of oil to rise and thus increase royalty income to the state. At stake is about $3.2 billion extra to the state if it wins the case.Anchorage TimesJuly 15, 1982CIRI creates new department for real estate developmentA new real estate development department has been created by Cook Inlet Region Inc. for expansion into this field, according to Roy M. Huhndorf, president of the regional Native corporation.Huhndorf said the new department, which began operating July 1, will permit more active participation in residential subdivision development and possible future commercial property projects.Robert W. Rude, senior vice president of CIRI, has been chosen to head the new department.Working with Rude will be Charles J. Akers, CIRI vice president for real estate properties, John Evans, manager of CIRI real estate development, and Eugene Sheehan, who has been promoted to CIRI property manager.10 years ago this weekAlaska Journal of CommerceJuly 20, 1992Sealaska stronger than ever, Mallott saysBy the Alaska Journal of CommerceSealaska Corp., boasting an eighth consecutive profitable year, showed net income of $21.3 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, on revenues of $127.3 million, corporate officials said."Sealaska is stronger financially than ever before," said Byron Mallott, president and chief executive of the corporation. "Shareholders equity continues to grow each year and that means stable long-term benefits for all our shareholders." Operating income for the company, before natural resources revenue-sharing directed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, was $29.8 million, while earnings from continuing operations reached a record level of $21.8 million.During the fiscal year, Sealaska paid out dividends to shareholders totaling $7.9 million and deposited $6.7 million into the Elders’ Settlement Trust fund, a fund created by a vote of shareholders in 1991.Sealaska’s primary sources of operating income came from timber harvesting and a carefully managed investment portfolio, company officials said.Alaska Journal of CommerceJuly 20, 1992Mammoth owner faces federal payroll tax trialBy Margaret BaumanAlaska Journal of CommerceA California businessman, who owned two Alaska trucking firms, was to go on trial today on a 101-count indictment of alleged failure to pay federal payroll taxes totaling $4.7 million.Donald C. Klein was indicted May 1 by a federal grand jury in Fresno, Calif., on 49 counts of failing to account for and pay employee withholding tax returns and three counts of making false statements to the Internal Revenue Service.Klein was arrested May 1 and freed on a $50,000 bond, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.Klein was identified in the indictment as an owner of Mammoth of Alaska Inc., Progressive Transport Inc., Mammoth Freight Lines, and Kandle Co. Inc. Bill Almeida, also of Fresno and an owner of Mammoth, was not named in any of the indictments, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.Almeida, 63, who was in Anchorage on June 12 when employees of Mammoth of Alaska and Progressive Transport received their final paychecks, never mentioned Klein’s troubles with authorities. He blamed deregulation of the trucking industry for much of the firm’s troubles.-- Compiled by Ed Bennett.
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Rising demand drives health costs
One morning a colleague of mine met with a prospective client -- I’ll call him Mr. X -- who was looking for an employer-sponsored health plan for his small company. Later in the day, when I asked how the meeting went, I heard an all-too-familiar story from my colleague: the rising cost of health insurance versus small business’ ability to pay.The story is familiar because so many employers find it difficult to find a connection between the cost of health care and the cost of health insurance.My colleague had presented Mr. X a summary of rates and plan designs for a comprehensive health and welfare plan. The package included options for medical, prescription drug, dental, life and vision coverage, standard for Mr. X’s industry and group size.Mr. X responded, loudly and with colorful language, that he was not going to pay that high a premium for a health plan. I do not believe that Mr. X is a mean-spirited man, and his statement did not offend my colleague. I, however, was frustrated, and not by the use of expletives in a business meeting. I was frustrated at Mr. X’s reaction to the cost for health insurance in Alaska.We are told almost every day that the cost of health care is rising at dramatic rates. We read it in the paper, see and hear it on the news. So why are employers, such as Mr. X, and employees shocked when they learn how much they must pay to insure that same health care? Perhaps it is because they don’t understand why those costs keep going up.Clients often ask us why costs for employer-sponsored health insurance plans continue to rise. The reasons are so familiar that we can recite them from memory. More educated and aging consumers are demanding access to new and expensive services and therapies, including expensive medical technology, that require a specialized staff. Federal and state mandates that cover certain benefits require specific, and costly, administrative procedures. Health claim payers must improve infrastructure to meet federal regulations. The federal government is attempting to shift costs to the private sector. Prescription drug prices are rising. More new prescription drugs are available than ever before, and more people are demanding them in response to marketing by the drug industry. Research and development costs for new drugs increase their initial price. People are supporting more and more mandates, such as those for cancer screenings and contraceptive coverage. We all pay for mandates, even for those that don’t interest us.While I was completing an online health care economics course, the instructor asked us to chant, "If demand goes up, so does the cost." This is the mantra for anyone who owns or manages a successful business, regardless of the size. So why do employers and employees have trouble applying that principle to health care? If American consumers are truly more educated than ever, why can’t we put two and two together and get four?The United States pours more money into its health care system than any other industrialized country. People receiving care here have access to the most advanced medical technologies in the world. Yet we still think our health care system needs changing. Maybe the system needs repairing, but the fact remains that development of sophisticated diagnostic machines and new medicines carries an equally sophisticated price tag.Many small-business employers are quick to blame insurance companies or the health care system for these rising costs. They also believe larger companies get a better deal when it comes to purchasing health insurance. Large companies usually do have an advantage over small businesses when purchasing anything, such as copier paper, because of the relative volume. But even a large company will feel the pinch if the cost of paper starts doubling every five or seven years.Instead of feeling helpless in the face of rising health care costs, and angry about the corresponding rise in premiums, employers and employees need to work together to satisfy their mutual needs. Here are a few suggestions: Understand that medical care in this country isn’t free, to anyone. Even when the patient doesn’t pay, someone does. Seriously consider how necessary a major test or treatment is before accepting it. If a physician orders an expensive test, such as a MRI, find out if the problem can be diagnosed in a less expensive manner. Examine options for having lab work done at a facility other than the doctor’s office. Realize that most employers, particularly small businesses, simply don’t have the resources to pay the full amount for coverage. Employees must be willing to assume some of the cost. Work with an employee benefits professional to assemble a plan that combines basic coverage with options employees can purchase according to specific needs. Focus on the value, not the cost, of the benefits package. Buying health care coverage is not unlike buying other goods and services. Weigh the expense against the return to determine the overall value.No one wants to pay the premiums for health care insurance. But we all want to take advantage of continuing improvements in technology and treatment. As long as we keep consuming, we have to keep paying.To all the Mr. Xs out there: The next time you pay the bill for a medical procedure or service that you or a loved one consumed, think about your experience. Was it the latest and greatest? Did it help you, or someone else, feel better? I hope it did, but I also hope you understand it came at a high cost.That is why those health insurance premiums are so high.Jennifer Bundy-Cobb is a senior account executive for The Wilson Agency LLC in Anchorage. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]
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Industry study supports tax credit for Alaska natural gas
FAIRBANKS -- Sens. Tom Daschle and Frank Murkowski are promoting a new oil company-sponsored analysis that endorses tax credits for a natural gas line from Alaska to the Lower 48.Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Daschle, the Democratic majority leader from South Dakota, issued a joint news release touting the findings of the study, conducted for Phillips Petroleum Co.The study was released as House and Senate negotiators continue crafting a compromise energy bill. The Senate version of the bill contains the tax credit for the gas line, as well as a construction loan guarantee. The House version contains neither.Charles River Associates wrote the report for Phillips, said Don Duncan, the oil company’s vice president of government relations in Washington. He said the report was prompted by lobbying in Canada by Arctic Resources Corp., which wants to build a line on an alternative "northern" route that would be prohibited under both the House and Senate bills."Arctic Resources has been levying charges and got the Canadians excited that the financial mechanism that passed the Senate would create market distortions in the United States and would do the same at the Alberta hub," Duncan said. "We knew that wasn’t the case," he said, but the company wanted an independent analysis to confirm it.The Canadians, however, haven’t been convinced. Pam Chappell, spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Washington, said the subsidy is bad news for Canada and the United States.The credit "will distort natural gas markets, undermine their efficiency and slow development and production in the rest of the United States and Canada," she said. "This would reduce U.S. energy security, counter to the purpose of the act."Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles and Murkowski have said Canada doesn’t have much room to complain, since it has provided subsidies to some major energy projects over the past decade.Chappell said those subsidies went to oil projects that weren’t large enough to affect the market. Duncan, though, said the Alaska gas line would only supply 5 percent of the total North American market and that it would have an eight- to 10-year development period.The Charles River report predicted that the proposed tax credits would benefit all consumers by making possible a line that will lower energy prices.At the same time, the credits would likely cost the government nothing, it said. That’s because the authors figure prices will stay high enough to prevent the tax credit from kicking in. The tax credit would start whenever gas prices at the Alberta hub fall below $3.25 per million British thermal units. The money saved must be paid back whenever prices rise above about $4.90."Since June 2001, the 35-month futures contract has indicated a price range of $3.50 to $3.75," the report said. "This signals a market expectation that over the long-term, natural gas prices will be considerably higher than they were expected to be before 1999."Murkowski said encouraging the project was important because the United States needs "safe and secure North American sources.""The study confirms our belief that the ’safety net’ will have minimal impact to the markets and the taxpayers," he said.
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Activist makes Internet safer for business and children
Parry Aftab has a blunt warning about the Internet. "If they don’t make the Internet safe for kids, they’re going to turn it off." Online commerce is equally at risk, she said, until businesses can convince consumers their money and their privacy are safe."We have to earn their trust."Aftab should know. Currently a special counsel for the New York law firm Darby & Darby, she bills herself as a an Internet privacy and security lawyer. As the executive director of Wiredpatrol.org, she has recruited more than 10,000 volunteers in 76 countries to help victims of identify theft, hack attacks and online stalking.Aftab is widely quoted in the national media and advises everyone from the United Nations to the Ad Council on the topic of Internet safety. She works closely with law enforcement personnel around the country, many of whom in turn have volunteered to help victims of Internet crime who come to her Web site.Aftab has been involved with the Internet since the early days of America Online, when she hosted a forum for people with legal questions. Since she didn’t have all the answers, she recruited other lawyers to help out. She was then invited to host a similar forum for Court TV’s online chat room.Aftab said she realized she was a "cyber lawyer" when judges started quoting her chat room comments in their decisions. She eventually made it official, forming a virtual law firm based in New Jersey, farming out cases to a group of affiliated attorneys based on their specialities.Aftab spoke with the Journal last month at the office of Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer. Ulmer, who has long promoted making state government services available on the Internet, met Aftab in November 2000, at a security conference sponsored by Microsoft Corp.When asked about the advice she gives corporations on their Internet practices, she said companies should first make sure they’re observing existing laws governing customer records. "All the laws that apply on the ground apply to the Internet," she said.Aftab said that posting an accurate and complete privacy notice on a corporate Web site is vital, since failure to do so can be a violation of state and federal consumer protection statutes."If you collect information about your customers, you must spell out what you collect, how you collect it, how you use it, who has access to it and how people can get off it," Aftab said. She said this includes "cookies," small files placed on the computers of visitors that track their progress through a Web site.Aftab said it’s important to keep the privacy statement updated as practices change. In general, she said it’s best to gather as little information as possible. "If you’re not using the information, don’t collect it, because then you have an obligation to protect it."Aftab said another issue she’s ecountered involves small businesses who want to use their existing credit card merchant account to sell products online. Often, a different merchant account is required specifically for that purpose. She also said that companies selling products on the Internet should clearly spell out any warrantees.Aftab said sales taxes can be a tricky issue in the online world. Likewise, companies who hire people online need to be aware of income tax implications. "Employers need to know whose taxes apply if the employee is in another state," she said.Aftab said she worked mostly with corporate clients earlier in her career until the day about four years ago when she saw a particularly gruesome example of child pornography. "The child I saw changed my life," she said."Before, I protected corporations," she said. "After that, I protected people." She developed her Wiredpatrol.org group to help accomplish that goal. She has also written two books designed to help parents protect their children when they go online. "I’m a free speech advocate," Aftab said. "I don’t want to suppress information. I want to empower parents."Aftab is currently in the midst of a year-long sabattical from the law firm so she can deal full time with safety issues that range from online stalking to schemes designed to defraud the elderly.She continues to be interested in online business issues as well. "The Internet is God’s gift to small business," she said, using as an example the Alaska bed-and-breakfast she was able to find via the Internet for her trip to the state.But for e-commerce to truly flourish, the security of transactions must be assured, Aftab said. "If we don’t find a way to protect people and make them secure, they’re not going to shop." She also pointed out that many people don’t have credit cards, so a means for them to safely buy things on the Internet must be found."I like to say that if we can protect our kids, our cash, and our kidneys (our health), then the Internet will be a success," Aftab said.
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Air France cargo may bypass Alaska
Air France cargo executives were given the red carpet treatment June 22 by folks in Fairbanks celebrating the Paris-based airline’s 10-year anniversary of operations in town. But any future party may well be a wake for the French airline, as it has hinted it may use an airstrip in Russia as its stopover for refueling. Air France also is purchasing three new long-range freighter aircraft this year capable of nonstop cargo service from Paris to Asia, bypassing Fairbanks International Airport or any other North American or Russian airport altogether.While Air France officials enjoyed sightseeing and riverboat rides during the gala last month, the looming threat of the airline’s pulling out of Fairbanks was like bugs in a punchbowl that everyone noticed but politely ignored, said Dave Carlstrom, Fairbanks International marketing director.Carlstrom said the airline earlier this year had said it was considering switching from Fairbanks to Tashkent, Uzbekistam, as its refueling stop, but "aero-politics’’ have stopped the move, at least for now.An April 1 European ban on noisy aircraft has hit hard Russia’s aging fleet of Soviet-era airplanes. In response, the Russians have banned some flights on shortcut routes over Siberia sought by the European carriers."(Air France) was unable to procure requested overflights from the Russians," Carlstrom said. "If they had been able to work out the overflight issues, it could have been au revoir."Air cargo companies operate on razor-thin margins and if they can save money somewhere or somehow, they will, according to Ray Keiser, an aviation consultant with Keiser Phillips Associates in Oakland, Calif."Airlines will use every possible economic advantage," Keiser said.Air France moved its operations to Fairbanks from Anchorage in 1992 after 33 years of refueling in Alaska’s largest city. The move, which followed Lufthansa in moving cargo operations to Fairbanks, saved the airline about 20 minutes in flight time between Europe and Asia. The move also presumably saved the air carrier in jet fuel costs since the airport is near Williams Alaska Petroleum Inc.’s (then MAPCO’s) refinery at North Pole.In the last decade, Fairbanks has recorded 3,755 freighter landings from the French carrier, which has purchased an estimated 115 million gallons of fuel and 20,000 rooms for crew lodging, Carlstrom said."The rule of thumb is for every gas-and-go fuel stop, $25,000 changes hands," Carlstrom said, adding that most of the money spent by the airline goes for refueling.To lose the French carrier would not be devastating to Fairbanks International, but it would be significant, Carlstrom said. Air France’s landing fees account for about 20 percent of Fairbanks International’s annual $6 million revenues."It would be a major hit," Carlstrom said, adding the best the airport can do at this time is to be a good host and hope for the best."There are forces at work that are not in our favor," said Carlstrom. "There is no other industry where major capital assets can literally fly away overnight."Air France has been extremely happy with Fairbanks International and does not have any plans to move out of town currently, said Ron Auge, Air France’s station manager in Fairbanks.But, he said, "The chance is always there."By the end of the year, the airline will take delivery of three Boeing 747-400 long-range freighters, airplanes that could allow Air France to make nonstop trips from Paris to Japan with a nearly full payload.Initially, Air France, the fourth largest freight carrier in the world, will use the new aircraft on flights to Mexico and South America, according to the airline.The airline’s dozen 747-200 freighters will continue freighter service throughout the globe, including the Paris-Fairbanks-Japan trip.In the short term, it’s the Tashkent airstrip in Russia, not the long-range freighters that pose the biggest threat to North American airports, especially those in Alaska, Carlstrom said.The airstrip in Tashkent has a nearby refinery and several of the world’s airlines make stopovers there.In the past two years, Lufthansa and Air France shifted Europe-Fairbanks-Seoul, South Korea, flights to the Tashkent airstrip. Korean Air and Asiana have also shifted their Anchorage stopover to the Russian airport for their Korean flights, Carlstrom said."(Tashkent) has cleaned our clock on the Seoul routing," Carlstrom said. "One hundred percent of Europe-to-Seoul traffic that once came through Alaska now goes through Tashkent."Mort Plumb, director of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, said marketing studies have shown that the Russian airport would have little effect on Anchorage stopovers since nearly all traffic is routed from Asia to North America, instead of Europe to Asia, like Fairbanks."We would lose roughly 3 percent of our flights (to Tashkent) and none of our carriers," Plumb said.The world air cargo industry is in its worst slump in more than 30 years, due more from ailing Asian and domestic economies than from the impact of the terrorist attacks on the East Coast, according to Boeing Co. research.But the slide should be short-lived, as growth levels are projected to increase to historic growth levels by fall.
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Juneau's Centennial Hall may pose problems for future conventions
JUNEAU -- Conventions contribute about $8 million to Juneau’s economy each year, but issues surrounding Centennial Hall challenge the city’s ability to draw future convention business, tourism officials say.The city-owned civic and convention center is managed by Juneau’s Parks and Recreation Department and contracts with the Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau, a private nonprofit group, to provide marketing staff.The bureau’s Convention Solutions Department faces several challenges to enticing business to Centennial Hall, such as outdated electronic equipment and the building’s condition and size, JCVB officials said."Because of Centennial Hall’s size, we have a bit of a ceiling on how big of a convention we can go after," Lorene Kappler, JCVB president and chief executive, told a Juneau Chamber of Commerce luncheon last month. "Being that the meeting and convention industry is growing so competitive, it’s very important that Centennial Hall be brought up to speed."Kappler said a structural study has shown that a second floor could be added to Centennial Hall, but plans to expand are on hold.Dayle Tennison, Centennial Hall manager, said that keeping up with technology can be a problem, but the hall’s equipment constantly is updated and is in good condition."We ask people to come in early to test the equipment," Tennison said. "But sometimes they don’t and there can be some concerns because each piece of equipment operates differently."Tennison stressed Centennial Hall does not depend on the city’s general fund for daily maintenance and operation."All the (daily maintenance and operation) money is generated from revenues from rentals and the hotel bed tax," Tennison said. "We pay JCVB $123,800 to market Centennial Hall, which brings our portion of the bed tax down."She said the hall’s budget for the current fiscal year is $587,189, not including funds paid to JCVB."We are working hard to work with our customers and have the best audio-visual equipment we can have with our budget," Tennison said.Kappler said JCVB will contact people who have just held meetings at Centennial Hall to document problems."We need to keep it competitive," she said.The events of Sept. 11, coupled with the economic downturn, have placed a greater importance on drawing businesses to Juneau to hold conventions, Kappler said."A study by the U.S. Commerce Department recently ranked Alaska dead last in economic growth," said Sara Chambers, JCVB’s director of Convention Solutions. "We need to find ways to market Juneau."Chambers said convention attendees stay an average of 5.7 nights in Juneau. About 34 percent of the money they spend goes to hotels, 26 percent is on recreational attractions, and 15 percent is in bars and restaurants."In actual dollars, this economic impact amounts to $1,999 per convention attendee," she said.The option of changing the management of Centennial Hall from the Parks and Recreation Department to the JCVB also was mentioned at the chamber meeting."That has been discussed, there was a mayor’s task force on it, and they did talk about the benefits and cost and what would work," Kappler said. "They did come up with a conclusion that it was better off under the city because of liability and payroll."Tennison said many convention centers throughout the United States are operated successfully through city or county management."It’s a common practice," Tennison said. "Everyone is satisfied with the current management."Freda Rogers, with the Northwest region customer service department of Aetna U.S. Healthcare of Washington, presented a program about a year ago at Centennial Hall and said the audio-visual equipment needed to be replaced and the acoustics were bad. She thought it was a good idea to change the management of Centennial Hall to JCVB."They’re the experts," Rogers said. "Parks and Rec I think was intended for a different function than to oversee something of that nature."
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Mining firm meets stock exchange equity requirements
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho -- Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. announced June 25 that the New York Stock Exchange has removed the company from its "watch list" and now considers Coeur a "company in good standing" in relation to the NYSE’s continued listing standards.Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. is the country’s largest silver producer, and in 1995, acquired its 100-percent interest in the Kensington gold property, located 40 miles northwest of Juneau. The Kensington mine is Coeur’s only gold development project. The company has mining interests in Nevada, Idaho, Alaska, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.According to Mitchell J. Krebs, spokesperson for Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., the NYSE has certain minimum requirements that must be met by companies listed on the Exchange. If the requirements are not met, the NYSE puts the company on the watch list and it has 18 months to get back into compliance with minimum listing requirements.Ben Prater of Edward Jones in Juneau described a watch list as a special surveillance list for investors with which irregularities can be identified regarding companies they are or potentially will be invested in.Coeur was first advised by the NYSE in November 2000 that the company was not in compliance with its continued listing standards.The company announced in a press release Jan. 11, 2001, that it had fallen below one of NYSE’s continued listing requirements that either its total market capitalization or its shareholders’ equity amount to at least $50 million. The company’s total market capitalization, based on the 37 million common shares of its common stock outstanding and the $1 per share closing price of its common stock on Jan. 10, 2001, was approximately $37 million.Coeur announced Dec. 13, 2001, that the market price of its common stock had been less than $1 per share for a period in excess of 30 consecutive trading days, and the NYSE notified the company it had fallen below the Exchange’s share price continued listing standard.Krebs told the Juneau Empire the equity market value is now more than $130 million. The stock price deficiency was cured earlier this year when prices rose above $1 per share for a sustained period of time. He said values rose due to the increasing value of gold and silver and changes in operations that cut costs for the company."We have been executing our turnaround plan over the past 12 months, and we are thrilled that this ’New Coeur’ has once again placed the company in good standing with the NYSE," said Dennis E. Wheeler, Coeur’s chairman, president and chief executive.
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New Homer city dock will accommodate bigger vessels
HOMER -- Under brilliant blue skies and backed by a fire truck pumping a powerful stream of water high into the air, Sens. Ted Stevens and Frank Murkowski and others cut the ribbon dedicating Homer’s new Pioneer Dock in a well-attended ceremony July 2."Homer is one of the really bright spots in Alaska," Alaska Republican Stevens said, addressing a large gathering before cutting the ribbon. "We’ve come through a lot of storms and a lot of chaos down here, and you have persevered and maintained. It is a place we all love to come to and we know that you love to keep it up and improve it and make it more permanent."Murkowski, R-Alaska, noted Homer’s long relationship with the U. S. Coast Guard. It was the possibility that Homer might lose the Coast Guard’s presence that spurred the city to seek the help of the state and federal governments in building the new U-shaped steel and concrete facility.The wooden dock it replaces, built following the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, was too old, too weak and didn’t reach water deep enough to accommodate the new Juniper Class Coast Guard vessels or the larger Alaska ferries about to come on line.A collaboration of local, state and federal agencies found the funding to build the $12 million facility, which is capable of handling cruise ships as long as 850 feet. It will be home to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hickory due to arrive next year to replace the aging Buoy Tender Sedge.It also will serve the Alaska Marine Highway ferries Kennicott and Tustumena. Its larger size makes it capable of handling containerized cargo. The dock, already in use, was designed by the Anchorage firm of Tryck Nyman Hayes Inc. and built by Hurlen Construction Co. of Seattle. Mostly cosmetic work remains to be completed by later this summer."The reason we are putting this dock together is not for the pioneers we are honoring with it, not for the current pioneers who had the vision to build it, but for the next generation," said Homer Mayor Jack Cushing.Also on hand to address the audience was Coast Guard Rear Adm. James Underwood."We are quite pleased to have a new pier waiting here for the Coast Guard Cutter Hickory as Sedge’s old berth would not have been suitable for this new cutter," Underwood said."The tremendous cooperation of everyone here today in completing Pioneer Dock is the principal reason Hickory’s crew will call this fine city home."He noted Homer’s proximity to the important port of Anchorage and critical infrastructure at Nikiski and Valdez, which, he said, had proven "quite advantageous for us as we work to safeguard the coast in the wake of the events since 11th of September."The Coast Guard, he said, has been handed a new mission, homeland security, a job he called "the mission for the Coast Guard in the 21st Century."Others on hand for the event included former Rep. Gail Phillips, now a candidate for lieutenant governor, as well as Rep. Drew Scalzi, R-Homer, along with a host of Homer city officials.Gov. Tony Knowles, who earlier had been expected to attend, was unable to make it.
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Kodiak lake study uncovers centuries of salmon booms and busts
FAIRBANKS -- Traces of salmon from 2,000 years ago are telling researchers a lot about Alaska’s past, and may provide clues about how today’s salmon will fare in a warmer global climate.The salmon lived on Kodiak Island, and Bruce Finney is one of the scientists who visits there to pull up plugs of ancient Alaska from lakes. Finney is an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Institute of Marine Science. He is co-author of a recent paper in the journal Nature, "Fisheries Productivity in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean Over the Past 2,200 Years."The abundance of fish during the last 22 centuries and beyond is held in the sediment at the bottom of lakes. A few years ago, Finney devised a method to estimate ancient salmon runs by measuring a specific nitrogen level in this muck.For the latest study, he teamed with graduate student Irene Gregory-Eaves and professor John Smol of Queens University in Ontario. Together, they further validated Finney’s method and came up with records of salmon booms and busts that lasted centuries and were out-of-phase with fish numbers in the Pacific Northwest. They also found correlations with salmon availability and human settlement of Alaska.Finney uses a specific form of the nitrogen atom, nitrogen-15, as an indicator of salmon past. Salmon collect nitrogen-15 in their bodies, and when they die and decompose, they release the nutrient into the water. Plankton ingest the nitrogen-15 and leave behind a history of salmon abundance when they die and sink to the lake bottom.By dating layers of sediment using volcanic ash layers and other methods, Finney and his colleagues can determine how abundant salmon were at different periods in history.Complementing this technique is the work of John Smol, who studies diatoms, single-celled algae with cell walls made of glass. Smol knows what species of diatoms prefer an environment rich in salmon-derived nutrients; he was able to complement what Finney had to say about salmon during the past 2,200 years.During the latest study, the researchers pushed off from shore in boats and pulled cores from three lakes on Kodiak Island. Two of the lakes, Karluk and Akalura, have been nurseries for ocean-going red salmon since the lakes were formed. A third lake, Frazer Lake, has a waterfall that prevented red salmon from living there until the installation of a fish ladder in the 1960s. Finney, Gregory-Eaves, and Smol used Fraser Lake as a control lake in their study.The researchers found that salmon booms and busts lasted hundreds of years, not just the decades they last today. One of the longest-running high salmon runs in Alaska began about 800 years ago and lasted until about the 1880s, which coincides with the start of commercial fishing.Commercial fishermen catch 50 to 90 percent of the salmon that would return to lakes, but the study also showed low salmon runs in the past that lasted hundreds of years without human influence, Finney said. Around the birth of Christ and 800 years afterward, few salmon were returning to the lakes compared to the millions returning today.Records of sardine and anchovy abundance from cores containing ancient fish scales taken off the California coast near Santa Barbara show that those fish were thriving when Alaska fish were in low numbers, and vice versa. Other scientists have noted the same thing today, that great Alaska salmon years are bust years for Pacific Northwest fishermen.The researchers also tied salmon abundance with archaeological artifacts found on Kodiak. A drastic increase in salmon from A.D. 800 to A.D. 1200 matches a population increase on the island and a shift toward the use of fishing gear among aboriginal people."There’s clear evidence that people shifted from relying on marine mammals to salmon," Finney said.In the future, Finney wants to return to the lakes to extract deeper cores that will allow the researchers to get a record of salmon runs since the last ice age. He’s interested in seeing how salmon reacted to a period about 5,000 to 10,000 years ago, when summer temperatures may have been a few degrees warmer than today. Looking at the warmer past in the sediment of Kodiak lakes may tell us something about our future.This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Ned Rozell, a science writer at the institute, can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]
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Sterling manufacturer meets Bush transportation needs
Mike Kunz has a freight-hauling answer for Alaska’s vast expanses where there are no roads, rails, runways or riverboats -- at least for most of the year.Kunz’s snowmachine sleds are a hot item in Alaska and news about them has spread through Canada and to the snow states of the Lower 48.Kunz, owner of Mike’s Welding in Sterling, started building the sleds a dozen years ago for himself. Word of the smooth-riding, straight-tracking sleds spread quickly in Alaska, where previously the standard snowmachine sled was little more than a plywood box with runners. Kunz’s sleds are aluminum, slide on skis and come with a suspension as an option."My sleds can haul eggs up to a cabin and be unbroken when they get there," said Kunz, who, in addition to building sleds, specializes in making aluminum boats, all-terrain vehicle trailers and salmon dipnets.A single freight sled with a 30- by 60-inch tub can hold as much as 1,200 pounds and can be pulled at up to 70 miles an hour. Kunz says he’s built more than 600 to date, and shipped them all over Alaska and the Lower 48, including one to New York state.Kunz and two other employees make between 30 and 75 sleds a year, mostly in the summer months.Basic sleds start at around $750 each. Options include pin striping, tail lamps, and extended skis and handlebars for someone to ride musher-style on the back.He also builds a pop-up sleeper sled, complete with heater for Bush expeditions.Kunz has used his sleds to support dog mushers and snowmachine expedition members for the annual Norman Vaughn Serum Run. The 776-mile journey from Nenana to Nome has been held each year since 1997 to commemorate the historic 1925 diphtheria serum run to Nome.With four of Kunz’s sleds, Joe Giffo considers himself a collector."I’m waiting for them to go up in value," joked the retired Anchorage dentist.Giffo got his first sled with the purchase of a remote cabin. He negotiated the sled in with the cabin’s price.He and his wife Margaret pull the sleds in tandem to their cabin, hauling barrels of fuel and supplies to the cabin."They are beautifully made and are really fantastic sleds," Giffo said.Kunz prides himself in craftsmanship."Anything I make has a lifetime warranty," Kunz said. "It’s no big deal if you do it right the first time. "If there is a problem with something I fix it and send the guy back down the road."
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Oil field cleanup costs could reach $6 billion
WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department should give oil and gas companies specific requirements for cleaning up any damage from drilling in National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, congressional auditors said.A report released July 9 by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said businesses face potential cleanup costs of $2.7 billion to $6 billion from drilling for oil and natural gas in the 23 million-acre tract in northwest Alaska. The GAO cautioned that those figures are preliminary since they are based on industry estimates.Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who requested the report, described the possible costs as "a world-class accounting scandal in the same league as WorldCom and Enron" since taxpayers could be left to pick up the tab.GAO’s figures are based on what industry says its total investment in oil and gas drilling will be and the Interior Department’s formula that assumes abandoning a project will cost roughly 5 percent of the original investment cost.Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said Markey’s comments were irresponsible."The GAO report, if anyone bothers to read it, does not allege a scandal, let alone a scandal on the scale of WorldCom or Enron. In fact, I wonder where Mr. Markey got the basis for his allegations because it’s not in the report," Young said.Markey, who has been a leading opponent of the Bush administration’s proposal to drill in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, said Harvey Pitt, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, should require a public accounting of the costs from companies.Markey also said Interior Secretary Gale Norton should require industry bonds that cover more than just a fraction of the cleanup costs.The Clinton administration opened 4 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, federally owned and managed by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, to oil drilling in 1998 with stringent environmental restrictions. The government’s latest estimates say the tract contains roughly 9.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil.Interior Assistant Secretary P. Lynn Scarlett said in a letter to the GAO that her agency generally agrees with the report’s findings and the BLM would now review whether companies’ financial assurances provide enough protection for the environment and taxpayers.Alaska officials said the concerns are misplaced since cleanup may not occur for 30 to 50 years from now."The state does not believe it is self-evident that it is better to adopt specific standards today for ... activities that may not take place for half a century," said Pat Pourchot, commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, in a letter to the GAO.-- The Associated Press
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Firms should prepare for provider flameout
Technology companies have been flaming out at an alarming rate.The implications for today’s businesses that rely on information technology -- and who doesn’t? -- are equally alarming.How do you find technology partners who won’t go bankrupt a year from now and disrupt your own business?In years past, simply going with a big company was enough. Sure, you paid for the bureaucracy and sometimes ended up with mediocre service, but at least you knew they would stick around.Of course, Enron and WorldCom have invalidated that approach.There are some questions every business can ask to help mitigate the risks.Are they creative, yet practical?Business cycles have continued to accelerate over the past several decades, and companies must adapt to change faster than ever.Before you hire a company that can do exactly what you need today, ask yourself the question: What will they be doing tomorrow?I can’t count the number of business leaders I’ve met who struggle to upgrade their core business systems because their vendor hasn’t kept pace.Doing business the same way, day in and day out, producing basically the same products and the same services, isn’t called stability any more. Today, it’s called stagnation.That doesn’t mean that you should hire a bunch of theorists who can’t distinguish between what is truly useful and what is just a neat idea.You need a company with balance. Statements like "I think we will have an Internet module in the 2003 release," and "Check out our artificially-intelligent virtual reality goggles for your receptionist," are equally dangerous.Evaluate their work. Watch for the sustained use of leading, not bleeding, edge technologies.Do they use industry standards?If you buy a product based on proprietary technology and the company that produced it flames out, you may be up a creek.If the product is based on open standards, on the other hand, you can transfer the data from the dead company’s software to one of their surviving competitors.Go with solutions built on accepted industry standards whenever you can.If the vender you are considering will provide mission-critical systems, you may want to hire a consultant to provide this level of technical evaluation.What are their business values?I hear all the time that you shouldn’t mix your personal and business affairs. I would argue, though, that the same values that create strong personal relationships equally apply to business relationships.Honesty, respect, integrity and trust represent a commitment to one another’s success and to building relationships that stand up in times of trial."You shouldn’t do business with friends" is a phrase that holds true only if people don’t conduct their business relationships as they would those with their friends and family.When you evaluate a potential technology partner, ask them about their values. Better yet, ask their clients. Business is about making money, but it has to be more than that.Be wary of companies that can’t articulate their values and aren’t intellectually, and dare I say, emotionally invested in their clients.Are they or will they be profitable?You can’t have a long-term relationship with an IT company that doesn’t have a business model that’s viable for the long term.New technology businesses are built based on market speculation all the time, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.But speculation has to turn into future revenue. In today’s economic climate, that must be sooner rather than later.Beware of IT companies that have not learned how to be profitable. Start-up companies funded by venture capital are particularly susceptible.Can they succeed without another round of investment? Venture capital is no longer free money.Profitable today doesn’t mean profitable tomorrow, either. What is their model for future viability?Do they have a diverse client base, or will they sink if they lose a big contract? Do they offer a range of products or services, or will they tank during an industry recession?Predicting viability can be a challenge, especially when corporations have begun reporting expenses as income to skew their market evaluation.Still, make the effort. If you’re really good, please call me with stock tips.Are you planning your own future?Perhaps the most critical component of long-term success with information technology vendors lies not with the IT firms, but with your own company.If IT is core to your critical business processes, then recognizing the ever-changing nature of IT is vital for long-term survival.The software you use to perform daily business and the company which provides it will change dramatically, so plan for it.Budget for hardware upgrades, training for your staff and systems integration work at least every three years.Research demonstrates that firms which resist IT change and maintain outdated equipment and software end up paying more in the long term.Know your contingenciesDespite all your best efforts, eventually you’ll partner with a company that folds. Have a contingency plan in place that defines your strategy if this happens.Review your contracts and know all your options. Do this, and you won’t get burned by someone else’s flameout.Scott Gere is chief executive of Impact LLC, a communications and technology company. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]
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Communities say Exxon still owes them $12 million in spill costs
ANCHORAGE -- Thirteen years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, six communities say Exxon Mobil Corp. stills owes them $12 million in costs associated with the spill.A trial on the claim is under way in state Superior Court in Anchorage.Winds, currents and tides carried the crude oil out of the Sound, around the outer coast of the Kenai Peninsula and southwest to Kodiak Island and beyond. The plaintiffs are Kodiak Island Borough, Seward, Cordova, Old Harbor, Larsen Bay and Port Lions."People were working hard on the spill, and Exxon continues to nickel and dime them to death," said attorney Brian O’Neill, who is representing the cities.Exxon Mobil disputes the claim and says it has paid what it owes, more than $2 million.The case is independent of the main unsettled spill question: How much will Exxon Mobil be ordered to pay in punitive damages to thousands of commercial fishermen, Alaska Natives, property owners and others harmed by the spill?The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the $5 billion award levied against the international corporation by an Anchorage jury in 1994 to be excessive and ordered the Anchorage federal district court to reduce it. Exxon Mobil has since told the court the award should be no more than $40 million.The case in state court involves a far smaller amount, with Port Lions looking for as little as $98,000. Thousands of hours spent on cleanup by city employees that took them away from their regular duties were not reimbursed by Exxon, O’Neill said in the first week of trial.Darryl Schaefermeyer, deputy city manager of Seward at the time of the spill, has testified that during the summer of 1989, he received spill-related calls every day, including weekends. That led him and other city employees to underestimate the amount of time they worked on cleanup when reporting the hours, he said.But Exxon attorneys, who opened their case July 2, said that cities can’t ask for reimbursement years later."If I felt like we owed any money, we wouldn’t be here," said Chuck Diamond, an Exxon attorney. "We paid them all. They don’t get to come back 13 years later and submit an invoice."The state Superior Court initially dismissed the case in the early 1990s, saying municipalities and villages could not ask for money for services they were hard-pressed to provide to residents during the cleanup.But on appeal, the state Supreme Court said the cities’ claims were valid and ordered a retrial in Superior Court.
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Small businesses can get a slice of the government pie
For anyone who has ever perused the federal budget, it becomes obvious that the United States government acquires a vast quantity of goods and services. In 2001, federal contracting totaled approximately $215 billion covering everything from diapers to nuclear reactors.In fact, there are 1,140 categories, or codes, of goods and services that the government contracts to buy, at least one of which probably fits the product offering profile of most American small businesses. The codes are derived from the North American Industrial Classification System. The best place to locate the listing in on the Web at www.naics.com.As a review of the top 20 purchasing categories reveals, research and defense related spending are the biggest ticket items, chewing up more than 40 percent of the available contracting pie. Yet it’s the less exotic, more mundane categories that offer hidden opportunity for the average business next door.For example, a contracting pool of approximately $26 billion is available for such services as "facilities support," "computer systems design," "custom computer programming" and "commercial and industrial buildings." In the latter case, the federal government requires massive facilities support simply because it’s the largest holder of commercial and industrial property in the country.Despite the common perception that the promised land of government contracting is the exclusive and private domain of a relatively small cadre of large corporate insiders or "beltway bandits," the truth is that small- to medium- sized enterprises are currently active suppliers to a full range of government agencies.In 2001, small businesses accounted for about 20 percent or $43 billion in direct contracting dollars. Interestingly, the government departments most accepting of small business participation were not the heavyweight spenders such as the departments of Army, Navy and Air Force, but the less visible entities such as Public Buildings Services, U.S. Coast Guard, Agricultural Marketing Services, Forest Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and National Park Service. Which raises the question: Is there room in your revenue stream for a piece of the government spending action?Not as impenetrable as it seemsAlthough there are more than 30 million small businesses filing tax returns in the United States, most are discouraged from the bidding process for two reasons: lack of knowledge of the opportunity itself, and the perception that the bidding process is both complex and resource-intensive, resulting in a situation where only the experienced and well-connected can succeed.It is undeniably true that the bidding process is infected with politics, excessive paperwork, long decision cycles and abstruse contracting rules. In many cases, it’s impossible to determine where the final decision is made and who makes it. And many so-called open bid competitions are already a fait accompli even before the request for proposals hits the street.Yet according to Matt Nussbaum, principal at consulting firm Thomas Associates International, "Government contracting need not be as daunting a process as many believe. Federal and many state programs have explicitly mandated procurement procedures that are intended to favor small business." How it worksIn general, a company can identify itself as a small business, either directly or as a subcontractor, through a simple process of self-certification. As Nussbaum notes, many federal contracts may have small business participation requirements, but the only demonstration of a small business credential takes the form of checking a box and appending a signature on the big proposal documents. Only in the case of a subsequent challenge would a small business have the need to further document its small business status.In its efforts to promote small business participation in government contracting, the federal government has also established programs that provide mandated benefits to small businesses but require more paperwork and the meeting of stricter certification requirements in order to partake in the programs. The Small Disadvantaged Business and the 8A are two such programs. Both favor small businesses that meet specific criteria with respect to size and disadvantaged status.Nussbaum also points out that large contractors should not be ignored as a source of government largesse. These contractors actively seek small business subcontractors in order to satisfy their own small business participation requirements, also know as "set asides."Notes Nussbaum, "Subcontracting to the larger prime contractors can be an excellent way for a small business to enter the government arena because the main burden of the bid preparation and submittal process is typically born by the prime contractor. A good prime may also mentor the small business contractor through the preparation of its own bid materials."Admittedly, seeking a piece of the government pie is not for everyone. But the truth is that there are enormous dollars at stake, especially if state and municipal contracts are factored into the equation.In these tough times, when traditional revenues streams have dried up, now may be the time to learn the ropes, fill out the paperwork and endure the pain of applying for some of that government money. It’s going to be spent and if you don’t get it, somebody else will. Alf Nucifora is an Atlanta-based marketing consultant. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]
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State, federal agencies evaluate new Tok visitor center
State officials are considering several sites to build a new Alaska Public Lands Information Center in Tok, which may share facilities with the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center if funding is approved.Project leaders have recommended the sites to community members for review, said Odin Brudie, tourism planner with the state Department of Community and Economic Development."We want it to complement existing businesses and complement Tetlin or Tanacross (both near Tok) for cultural tourism," he said.The new visitor center would measure up to 12,000 square feet on a site measuring at least 2 acres, he said.Design of the new facility could begin this year on the public lands information center portion, Brudie said.However, funding has been delayed for the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge portion, said deputy refuge manager Cris Dippel. Planning for fiscal year 2005 or 2006 may bring funds for the wildlife refuge visitor center, he said.Refuge managers are still discussing the possibility of sharing a facility, Dippel said.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are looking for new refuge offices in Tok, he said. Likewise, operators of the public lands information center there require a new center, according to state officials.A combined center would feature an information counter, an exhibit area, parking, restrooms, public phones, a theater/auditorium, indoor and outdoor interpretive displays, and information and tickets for the Alaska Marine Highway System.State officials have been working since March 2000 to develop a combined public lands information center and Tetlin refuge visitor center near Tok. Both operate under a dispensation from the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which designated millions of acres as national parks, forest and wildlife refuges.The law stipulated that Alaska Public Lands Information Centers serve the public on behalf of state and federal agencies.Public lands information centers are located in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Ketchikan and Tok.The new Tok public lands information center, which will serve Alaska Highway visitors, is eligible for federal aid highway funding.The current program should provide construction funding for the center and highway rest stop facilities in federal fiscal year 2005, according to state officials. Additional funds will be needed for Fish and Wildlife officials to build the wildlife refuge portion of the joint facility.
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TOTE shuffles Alaska-based executives
Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc. has promoted Bill Deaver to senior vice president and chief operating officer.Deaver, 54, will be the shipping company’s first-ever senior vice president and will relocate to Seattle. Deaver will be replaced by John Parrott, who most recently was general manager of Sea Star Stevedoring in Tacoma, Wash.Deaver joined TOTE in March 2000 as general manager of TOTE’s Alaska operations and was promoted a year later to vice president and Alaska general manager. He has 30 years of transportation experience and has held management positions on nearly every continent. Prior to joining TOTE, he held a variety of senior management positions with Sea-Land, now CSX, and Maersk. At Sea-Land, he held positions in California, Korea, Republic of China, Philippines, Canada, Hong Kong, Alaska, Ireland and Georgia. From 1995 to 1998 Deaver was Sea-Land’s general manager for Alaska. Deaver said he still will be in Alaska at least one week each month. He will continue to be responsible for all operations, sales and marketing, traffic and administration in TOTE’s Alaska division, including Fairbanks and activities on the Kenai Peninsula."Alaska is TOTE’s business," he said.Parrott, 37, began his career with Pacific Gulf Marine as a third mate. Parrott joined Interocean Management in 1989 and advanced to the position of chief mate, sailing on a variety of vessels including TOTE’s S.S. Great Land and the S.S. Northern Lights.Parrott has a bachelor’s degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and a master’s degree in business administration from Seattle University.
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Doyon Ltd. awards exploration contract
North Star Exploration Inc. has been awarded an option to explore 1.2 million acres of Interior Alaska lands owned by Doyon Ltd., the Alaska Native regional corporation covering the Interior.Doyon owns 12.5 million acres of land in Interior Alaska.The new agreement, which is for three years, follows an earlier five-year contract under which North Star was given rights to explore 7 million acres of Doyon-owned lands."The new agreement comprises those land blocks where North Star has identified or assessed mineral occurrences and considers these blocks to have good potential for hosting economic mineral deposits," the company said in a press release.The company spent $10 million in its earlier assessment of Doyon lands. Under the new agreement, North Star will make annual payments of up to $225,000 each year, depending on how many land blocks are retained under option as exploration proceeds.Provisions for sliding-scale production royalties and conversion of specific properties into mining leases are also in the new agreement.North Star is owned mostly by EMEX Corp., but 10 percent of its stock is owned by Doyon.Meanwhile, another EMEX subsidiary, Zeus Exploration Inc., has signed an exploration and mine development agreement with AngloGold North America Inc. that will allow Zeus to earn a 65 percent interest in AngloGold’s West Pogo properties in eastern Interior Alaska.Zeus has agreed to make exploration investments of $800,000 during a six-year period and to pay AngloGold $170,000 during the same period.West Pogo is a mineralized area near the Pogo gold discovery that is now being developed by Teck Cominco. The discovery of Pogo set off a rush of new exploration and claims-staking in the eastern Interior region.Pogo is about 25 miles northeast of Delta, which is east of Fairbanks.
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Chukchi Sea fishermen count crabs for study
KOTZEBUE -- A survey of the potential of the Chukchi Sea crab fishery indicates the fishery is looking up after a slow start."We’re coming back with anywhere from 50 to 60 crabs a day," said Bobby Richards, who is participating in the survey.The Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association is conducting the survey, which will continue into late July.Richards described how his catch has improved. "We had a slow start, but they’re starting to pick up. All the crab are from the shore to five miles out," he said. "Commercial’s been doing pretty good, but the subsistence pots have really been nailing ’em."Will Barber, a biologist hired by the association to run the survey, said there have only been about five or six crabbing days so far. The nine boats participating in the survey have been crabbing since June 16 but strong winds have kept the boats from venturing out."It seems like the crabbing is picking up," Barber said.The survey is focusing around Sealing Point. The nine crabbers fish the area for three days and then take a day off to evaluate the data.The survey results will be analyzed to decide whether a small-boat commercial crab fishery makes sense.
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Health care continues its fast growth
Alaska’s fastest growing job sector is services, and health care has been leading that charge as the state’s senior population grows.In 2001 the services sector added 2,700 new jobs, accounting for almost half of the 6,100 new jobs added across all industries, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.As an official statistic, the services sector decreased slightly because federally recognized tribes were moved from the services sector to local government last year. But within the services sector, health care climbed from 17,000 jobs in 2000 to 18,100 last year.State labor economists expect that trend to continue in coming years as an aging population of Alaskans will require additional health care services."We have the fastest growing senior group in the U.S.," said Laraine Derr, president of the Juneau-based Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association.That demand will require more nurses, she said. It also will require assisted living centers and home health care services, which require nurses’ aides, personal care attendants, certified nursing aides and nurses. That includes licensed practical nurses who have a one-year nursing degree and registered nurses with a two-year degree or bachelor’s degree in nursing, she said.The health care industry association has developed a plan, along with University of Alaska leaders, to remedy a statewide nursing shortage. A new program aims to double the number of nursing graduates per year from 110 now to about 220 by 2006.Major components of the program call for expanding the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Nursing and increasing distance delivery courses for rural students.Alaska’s health care industry also needs pharmacists, Derr said. Radiology technicians also are in short supply, she said.Increasing demand for radiological services is partly a result of technology advances, she said. The field, once specializing in X-rays, now regularly uses magnetic resonance imaging machines, with the newer Positron Emission Tomography scanner technology on its way.Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage is due to install a PET scanner next year."As technology improves you need technicians who can run that kind of machine," Derr said.
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Eateries poised to top $1 billion
Alaska’s burgeoning eating and drinking industry has served up a decade of uninterrupted growth and shows no signs of faltering.Industry employment has grown 2.8 percent annually for 10 years, faster than the total statewide job growth of 1.8 percent, according to the state Department of Labor. The state’s performance mirrors a national trend of restaurant industry growth, according to the National Restaurant Association.The amount of money from the total food budget the public is spending in restaurants has grown to 46 percent, up from 25 percent in 1955.The association expects more than 858,000 restaurants to tally $408 billion in sales this year, up nearly 4 percent from 2001. The association projects Alaska’s restaurant sales to top $1 billion this year, up from an estimated $982 million in 2001, when the state had 1,811 establishments.Last year eating and drinking establishments in Alaska provided 17,300 jobs, surpassing total statewide employment in the oil and construction industries.The industry is dynamic and new locations are opening, mainly on the road system, said state labor economist Brigitta Windisch-Cole. She helped analyze the sector’s growth for an article in the July issue of Economic Trends, published by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.Four in five jobs in Alaska restaurants and bars are in Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the report found. In 2001, Anchorage had almost 600 bars and restaurants.Almost half of Anchorage restaurants are in a "general category," which includes steak houses and seafood specialists. About one in seven specialize in Asian cuisine. About one in 10 focus on pizza and one in 12 on burgers.Alaskans spend about $1 in every $3 of their food budgets eating away from home, just below the national average. Measured in terms of per capita sales, though, the tourism industry helps boost the state to second place, behind Hawaii."We expect tourism growth and therefore growth in eating and drinking places," Windisch-Cole told the Journal.Monthly restaurant employment peaked last year in August at 19,800 jobs. January marked the low point at 15,200 jobs."We go from 30 in winter to 110 employees in summer," said Michael Klopfer, assistant general manager at Anchorage’s Snow Goose Restaurant & Brewery, which opened in 1996 and has been growing.Klopfer attributes the industry’s expanding employment to a trend of adding employees to improve service."These days there’s more focus on customer service," he said. "It’s a small circle in the industry up here. Overall, everybody has made that transition."Peter McGlashan, manager at the new Chili’s Grill & Bar in Anchorage, has seen customer service improve during 17 years in the restaurant industry. Today, a server handles five tables at one time, down from about eight tables several years ago, he said.Chili’s opened its first Alaska location in May. McGlashan employs 55 servers, 45 cooks and more than 30 bussers and others to tackle the busy first summer season. "We’ve been open seven weeks and it has not let up," he said.Name recognition of national chains is helping Alaska franchisees, and chain restaurants record significant volumes, McGlashan said.Alaska’s population growth was also a factor during several years of increases in restaurant industry employment, said George Tipton, president of the state Cabaret Hotel Restaurant & Retailers Association.Tipton operates the 22,000-square-foot Ketchikan Entertainment Center with a bowling alley, an indoor miniature golf range, an arcade and the 200-seat Roller Bay Bar & Grille. He also runs two Godfather’s Pizza restaurants in Ketchikan, although one is open only during summer.The eating and drinking industry has grown because of changing lifestyles in which both parents work outside the home and families are more active, Tipton said. He expects that trend to endure, further stimulating the strong restaurant sector.Klopfer sees room for further eating and drinking industry growth. One reason he cites is that diners today have less time to cook and more money to spend eating out."I think it caters nicely to our industry," he said.
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Remembering Jonah Lomu
April 18, 2017 / alison kervin
It is 18 months since Jonah Lomu died. Alison Kervin remembers a wonderful, magical person.
It was 1995 and Jonah Lomu was the biggest rugby star in the world. The tales about him were legendary. There was the story about the fax that had arrived in the New Zealand Rugby Union the night before the final.
'Come on, gents,' it urged. 'If you're going to win this World Cup you have to remember one thing - rugby is a team sport. Make sure ALL of you pass to Jonah.'
But Lomu himself had said nothing. Everyone wanted an interview with him. I'd just started at Rugby World magazine and was as desperate as everyone else to sit down and talk to rugby's new superstar, so persuaded the editor to send me to Australia, where he was playing in a Bledisloe Cup match.
'He won't talk to you,' everyone warned, but I wanted to interview him more than I feared rejection, and I was young enough not to be put off by the word 'no', so I headed Down Under and went to watch him train. I saw how he put down his headphones in the same place at the side of the pitch after every break, and took to loitering by them and handing them to him when he finished his session. 'Here you are,' I'd say. 'I'm still desperate to get an interview with you.' But I was getting nowhere. He'd smile and acknowledge me, but then walk away, back to the changing room. I tried talking to his friends and teammates, I tried to convince his coaches and the manager. The photographer and I had practically taken up residence in the team hotel by this stage. I'm surprised they didn't start charging us. But it was no good. Nothing worked.
Then, one morning, we were loitering the in the reception area, wondering how on earth we were going to get this interview, when word came through - Jonah would talk to me. It was to be his first big interview since the World Cup. 'He'll be here in five minutes,' we were told.
I remember him walking through the reception area on that sun-dappled morning as clearly as if it were yesterday. Open-mouthed rugby fans stepping out of his way as he thundered along, the silence that swept over the room, and that tingling feeling you get from time to time when you're about to meet someone really special.
Then there was Jonah in the middle of it all - his black bandana pulled tightly around his head, the number 11 shaved into his eyebrow. The big, black headphones hanging loosely around his neck. He looked terrifying.
'Jonah, thank you so much for agreeing to talk to me,' I said. And he smiled. Then he laughed.
'Man, I had no choice - you were stalking me out there. If I didn't talk to you, you might turn up at my house. Wanna get an ice-cream?'
'Sure. Yes. Of course.'
We spent the day with him - taking pictures on the beach and in the hotel, and talking to him about his life and his rugby. He was warm, friendly, kind and thoughtful. I managed to convince him that I wasn't a terrifying stalker and he told me how he loved loud music and ice-creams and he showed us the comic books he adored.
He talked about how he wanted to be a superhero like the cartoon characters colourfully sketched across the pages in front of him. He said that several times. It seems odd now. Odd that he never realised how much he was exactly like those superheros.
It was a fantastic interview. It ran in Rugby World magazine and was syndicated to 38 papers around the world. I take no credit for its success... it was all because of Jonah.
I didn't interview him again for a year after that first time. Then I called him to do a phone interview. I introduced myself and told him that I was now the editor of Rugby World magazine.
'I know who you are. You're the girl from the beach. We ate ice cream. You stalked me until I did an interview.'
'How the hell do you remember that?'
He explained that he has a phenomenal memory and can recall everything. 'Your photographer was called Dave,' he said. He was right. He said his incredible recall was something that had saved him when he was a young kid. He remembered the bad guys, he could recall looks and comments and never forgot things. He knew who to avoid. It kept him alive.
Lomu famously brushes off the tackle of Rob Andrew, almost as easily as he trampled the Houses of Parliament at Legoland in a later interview
Later that year at Rugby World magazine we had a great idea to take Jonah to Legoland where we would have him looming over the buildings so that he looked like he was about to trash London - King Kong style. We'd shoot it from the ground up and make it look as realistic as possible. 'Jonah's in London: be afraid!' We thought it would be great; it worked better than any of us could have hoped.
'It's a wrap,' said the photographer, pleased with the array of photographs he'd got.
'Great,' said Jonah, standing up straight and stepping back right onto the Houses of Parliament. There was a crunch, Jonah's famous eyebrows raised a little and we looked at each other. A second later we were on our hands and knees trying to repair it. The only thing stopping me from concentrating properly was Jonah's huge shoulders shaking uncontrollably as he giggled hysterically. 'Man, I broke the government,' he kept saying. 'Can you believe I broke the government.'
Jonah tried bodybuilding at one stage, and I rang him to talk to him about it. He sounded like he was in a cave. 'I'm in the shower,' he explained. 'Trying to get the hair to go down the plughole.' He'd shaved his body in advance of his first competition and almost brought the plumbing in Auckland to a standstill.
Obviously, there were meetings with him when he was desperately ill and frail. Times when he looked like a shadow of the man I'd met back in 1995. But then he'd seem to bounce back and look so much better the next time we met.
I saw him for the last time during the rugby World Cup where he talked with such incredible love and devotion about his children and how much they meant and how they'd changed his life. They wanted to move to England because they liked it so much here. He remained as fascinated as ever about the reaction he got in England. Everyone adored him and I don't think he quite understood why.
As we talked, a small kid ran up and almost crashed into him. Lomu took a step back and tripped a little. 'You be careful,' I said. 'The last time you did that you almost broke the government.' He roared with laughter, covering his mouth with his hand as he nodded and rocked at the memory. Then he kissed me on the cheek and left, smiling as he went.
Goodnight, Jonah. You were every superhero in every comic. You will be missed.
April 18, 2017 / alison kervin/ Comment
Alison Kervin collects her OBE
Alison Kervin collects her OBE.
Alison is off to the Palace tomorrow morning (19th April) to collect her OBE. Here she reminisces about her time in sports journalism...
No good news ever comes in a brown envelope; everyone knows that. But, in mid-November 2016, a thick, official-looking envelope landed on my doormat informing me that I was to be made an OBE in the Queen's New Year Honours list.
It is a tremendous honour to be nominated for services to sports journalism and I've found myself thinking back through my career, remembering everyone who helped me along the way, those whose doubts spurred me on and those whose encouragement kept me going.
There have been so many highs during my 25 years in journalism that it's difficult to remember them all ... watching England win the 2003 World Cup in Australia is up there, as is being in the velodrome to see Laura Trott and Jason Kenny win gold at the Rio Olympics.
I interviewed Usain Bolt when he was young and ambitious and he promised me that he would change sprinting forever. I went to interview Nick Faldo and we ended up peering through a telescope in his back bedroom in order to catch a glimpse of Elton John, who lived in the house opposite.
Then there was the time I spent an hour in the ladies' toilets in Monte Carlo talking to Catherine Zeta-Jones about Welsh rugby, and befriended Sean Connery's bodyguard in order to get on to the course to get an interview with the Hollywood star about his love of golf. I'm not sure that any other career offers the sheer diversity of experiences that sports journalism does.
I started my career in local newspapers, learning my trade by covering garden fetes and school fairs on the Hastings Observer before moving to the Slough Observer to write about sport. After that I went to work for the Rugby Football Union for a few years as a development officer. I took the RFU role because I wanted to be taken seriously as a rugby journalist.
These were different times when it was much more difficult for women to succeed in sport, not necessarily because of any overt sexism, but simply because there were so few women working in sport — and none working in rugby.
People assumed you couldn't do it. Most didn't understand why you wanted to do it. One of the great joys of my time as a sports writer is how much it has changed. There are still far too few female sports journalists, but attitudes have changed enormously and it's getting better.
My time at the RFU culminated in me refereeing at Twickenham in the opening ceremony of the 1991 World Cup. It made me the first woman to referee at the national stadium, and it was a terrifying thing to do, but I'm glad I did it.
In 1995, I swapped tracksuit for typewriter and moved back into journalism and became features editor of Rugby World, the world's biggest-selling rugby magazine. Rugby was turning professional, suddenly the sport transformed before our eyes. It was the most fascinating time to be involved.
I moved into national newspapers after Rugby World — first as rugby editor, then chief sports features writer of the Times. One of my main roles was a weekly interview series. It was great fun ... Jonny Wilkinson made me lunch (chicken salad), I went shoe shopping with Maurice Greene, who was the fastest man in the world at the time, and I travelled to South Africa to interview Oscar Pistorius shortly before his arrest for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
I even did the last interview with Brian Clough, a few weeks before his death. He was sitting at a table with five people when I walked in. It transpired that two of them had been standing at a bus stop when Clough drove past and he'd offered them a lift. Then he asked whether they fancied coming to the interview with him. They agreed, but the lady was so bored that she knitted all the way through.
The only time I've been genuinely tongue-tied was when I interviewed Nadia Comaneci, my childhood heroine. As I stood before her I was sent spinning back into my youth, as an eager gymnast watching her score the perfect 10.
Our heroes' names are woven into the fabric of our lives. You know where you were for Botham's Ashes, Maradona's 'hand of God' goal and Seb Coe's Olympic gold in Moscow, like most people know where they were when Elvis died.
I left newspapers 10 years ago to write books, mainly about sport but also five novels. I wrote 12 books in total and began writing regular sports features for a range of publications, including Financial Times magazine.
One of the pieces I wrote featured Felix Baumgartner, the man who sky-dived through the sound barrier. I was at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain interviewing him when the phone rang and Geordie Greig, the editor of The Mail on Sunday, offered me the job of sports editor.
It was too great to turn down. It's a newspaper with a big circulation, a strong reputation and some of the best journalists in the country. I started at the paper a few months later and we all decided early on that we wanted to be campaigning and investigative, to delve a little deeper into sport.
We found there were real problems with rugby union's attitude to concussion. Backed by neurosurgeons and neuropathologists and later by MPs, we campaigned for greater awareness of the long-term damage that could be caused by concussion and for new protocols that would keep players safe.
The campaign was led by our rugby correspondent, Sam Peters, backed by all of the staff and has become a real jewel in our crown. We're immensely proud of any role we have played in changing the sport's attitude to concussion, and if just one player is kept free of brain injury as a result of all our work, every second of it will have been worthwhile.
It is a terrible cliche to say that it is not just me who has won this honour, but everyone who gave me the opportunity, everyone who backed me. It is certainly for the whole team at The Mail on Sunday who work so hard to produce the sport supplement every week.
I hope you enjoy the section. We know we cannot please everyone, but we try to be balanced and strike the right note between being entertaining and informative, and always try to investigate everything thoroughly.
We hope to do even better in 2017.
WHAT THEY SAID...
LORD COE
Olympic champion and London 2012 chief
Congratulations! Alison's work on behalf of women in sport has helped break the gender barrier for women on the field of play and in administration. So well deserved.
World Cup-winning coach
I've known Alison for over 20 years. She was one of the first women to write about rugby, which at the time was truly groundbreaking. I have always held her in the highest regard because she has never shied away from controversy or been afraid to speak her mind and became a role model for women working in a historically male-dominated environment.
I'm thrilled Alison's achievement in being the first female sports editor of a national newspaper has been recognised and hope it encourages many more women into sports journalism.
BBC presenter
Alison is a trailblazer in the sports industry. Not only is she a fantastic journalist and writer, she has pushed the boundaries in becoming one of very few female sports editors in the world.
DAME TANNI GREY-THOMPSON
Paralympic champion
It's really important that women are recognised through the honours system. And in sport there are still not enough women who are represented through big parts of the industry, whether as agents or journalists or working in governing bodies.
STUART BROAD
England cricketer
I'm delighted. What a fantastic accolade. Alison knows the job inside out and back-to-front and it's a pleasure to work for her.
BARONESS BRADY
West Ham vice-chairman
Alison, you should be so proud. I'm thrilled. Sports and journalism are very difficult areas for women to achieve success in — and to champion both is amazing. Bravo.
HOLIDAYS are wonderful things: delicious breaks from the mundane, reminders that outside the artificial barriers we erect around our lives, there are other people, other places, other things that are more endlessly fascinating than anything we could imagine.
And then there are safaris. Really, they’re the Rolls Royce of the holiday world. More richly rewarding, energising, heart-warming and heart-breaking than any other holiday on earth.
I went on my first safari a couple of weeks ago, flying to Cape Town with my friend Charlie, before we met up with Pete and the three of us tackled a three hour journey down to Sanbona – a beautiful 130,000-acre wildlife reserve at the foot of the Warmwaterberg Mountains. It sits in the heart of the Karoo region, rich with vast plains, rivers, lakes and a huge array of animals.
In many ways, all safari holidays are exactly the same in structure: you get up early and go out to spot as many animals as possible before coming back to relax for a while, then go out to look for more in the late afternoon. After that you enjoy sundowners and a magnificent sunset before a lavish dinner.
But here’s the rub: the reality is that every safari you go on is completely different. Every time you go out you see something new and hear something you haven’t heard before – honking hippos, roaring lions or singing birds. You are moved in a different way with every trip. Safaris are living, breathing holidays that create their own drama as they unfold. They’re an unwritten script, an unfinished symphony – a blank page on which your own individual story unfolds every day. Every time you head out you have no idea what awaits you. That’s why they’re so magical and unique.
The day we drove down to Sanbona it was 40*C, creating rather a hot, sticky journey, but it was easy to forget about the heat as we passed through the most glorious countryside… we watched baboons playing in the trees and birds dancing through the cloudless skies. When we arrived at Sanbona, the tensions of the flight and the heat of the journey melted into calmness and serenity. The beauty of the place is breath-taking.
It hadn’t rained for weeks when we arrived, and the animals and plant life were struggling. The difference between rain and no rain in the UK may amount to little more than the difference between taking an umbrella and leaving it behind. Here it’s a serious business, a matter of life and death. When there is no rain, the plants die so the herbivores can’t eat, they grow weak and become easy prey so the predators thrive. The very balance of nature shifts a little on its axis with a turn in the weather.
But as we drove down that afternoon we saw flashes of lightning in the sky ahead of us, growing brighter and more intense as we approached the reserve. By the time we had dinner in the evening the wildest light show played out in the darkness, then thunder’s heavy drum beat joined the cacophony, and the rain came…a little at first, then tumbling down to the delight of everyone.
The rain mean that the next morning the animals were all out to play. We were extraordinarily lucky. Our guide, Pascale, warned us straight away that we couldn’t guarantee seeing any animals…this wasn’t a safari park, these animals were wild. We had no idea what awaited us.
“I’d just love to see some giraffes and elephants,” I said plaintively. Within minutes, as if ushered onto stage by an almighty director, giraffes moved ahead of us, gliding with such gracefulness through the trees. There’s something so other-worldly about giraffes. I fear I may have squealed a little when we saw them.
Next came the elephants.
“You’re good!” I told Pascale, as a herd of elephants trooped past us. Our guide was an expert on elephants, she’s studying their behaviour for a masters degree, so was able to tell us how intelligent they are, how kind, sensitive and emotional. Then she jumped out and excitedly collected their droppings, displaying them for us to see. “Look,” she said, as if showing us a diamond ring. “Isn’t it lovely?” The droppings carry information about what they’ve been eating that is useful for her research.
We saw so many animals that morning, it’s hard to recount them all…a young tawny male lion trying to bring down an eland, failing miserably and having to wander away with his tail between his legs. And a white lion – they are beautiful beasts - white of fur and with the pale blue-green eyes of a film star. Our sighting was stretched out under the sun, his handsome face framed with great mane of white fluff, his protruding belly testament to a good feed. A couple of feet away from him, under the trees, out of the sun, lay the remains of a baby giraffe that he had killed that morning.
We saw rhinos and walked up close to a magnificent cheetah, composed and relaxed in the late afternoon sun, we had a boat trip out to see the hippos and we saw rhinos and buffalos aplenty, but the safari experience is so much more than the big beasts. It’s the plants and the birds. My God – the birds are spectacular - from secretary birds which take off like aeroplanes, with a giant run up, spreading their wings and swooping into the sky; to the huge fish eagles and the staggeringly pretty smaller birds in jewel-like colours, singing beautifully through the warmth and silence in this lovely part of the world.
Away from the animals, the accommodation at Sanbona is elegant and roomy. There are three lodges. We stayed in Gondwana Lodge which has 12 suites, and has been created for families. There’s also Dwyka Tented Lodge which sits in a dry riverbed. It has nine 'tents' (though the word 'tent' doesn't do them justice - they each have a private plunge pool). But the jewel in the crown, for my tastes, is Tilney Manor a lovely, elegant house with the prettiest gardens featuring bushes and plants teeming with small flowers in the most exhuberant reds and pinks. It’s delightful. A riot of colours and smells.
The food and wine is delicious: a mixture of barbecues and more formal, sit down dinners, everything we ate was lovely. After dinner, we looked at the stars – so clear at night, pointed out by our guides as they explained their positions and told the stories of their names. Every guide we met was knowledgeable, well-versed and adept at sharing their knowledge and bringing the captivating world to life for us, it made the experience so much more magical.
The lovely thing about Sanbona, other than it provides the world’s best holiday experience, is that it doubles as an extraordinary conservation project. The place was turned into a reserve 15 years ago with the plan to undo the damage wrought by intense farming and reintroduce wildlife. To, effectively, turn back the ecological clock. It’s working. The land is recovering well and the animals have settled and roam plentifully through the reserve.
As well as the trips out to see the animals, Sanbona offers nature walks, trips to see the local rock art, fossils and plants. There’s something for everyone, you can’t fail to be impressed.
Indeed, the only thing wrong with the experience is that you ever have to leave. Heading back to work is difficult when a part of your heart is still out there, under the African sun, watching the birds dance in the sky, and waiting for the big beasts to arrive. It’s hard to imagine a better, more relaxing and stimulating holiday.
For more information, see: WWW.SANBONA.COM
Alison has been awarded OBE
December 31, 2016 / alison kervin
Alison Kervin, sports editor of the Mail on Sunday, has been awarded the OBE for services to sports journalism in the New Year's honours. This is in recognition of her wide-ranging career which has also included being chief sports feature writer for The Times and subsequently chief sports interviewer for The Daily Telegraph.
December 31, 2016 / alison kervin/ Comment
Alison Kervin - Writer and Sports Journalist
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African Cinema and Revolution: Part I
I attended the Here & Now: African American Art & Film Conference @ NYU, November 16-17, in memory of Ousmane Sembene. It was pretty incredible.
There was a phenomenal panel, Contemporary Filmmakers in Conversation, that featured Clyde Taylor, Jacquie Jones, CCH Pounder, John Akomfrah (Handsworth Songs, 1986), Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda (Juju Factory, 2007), Zola Maseko (The Foreigner, 1997), Thomas Allen Harris (The 12 Disciples of Nelson Mandela, 2005), Moussa Sene Absa (Teranga Blues, 2007), and Mahama Johnson Traore (Njangaan, 1975).
It was the single most affecting discussion of Africa, African representations, politics, and culture that I have ever heard. The kind of self-determination exhibited by these filmmakers is hard won.
The conversation began with a definition of the meaning of revolutionary cinema.
We screened Drum, directed by Zola Maseko (featured in vid above), about the forced removal of blacks from Sophiatown in 1950s Johannesburg. The film stars Taye Diggs (!) as Henry Nxumalo, the slain journalist who exposed the government's intent to relocate residents.
During the discussion, Maseko said that he started making the film a few years before the end of apartheid, and was spurred on by Mandela's election as a time of renaissance and rebirth, similar to the zeitgeist that captured 1950s Sophiatown and gave birth to Drum, the popular black lifestyle magazine for which Nxumalo wrote, and after which the movie was named.
I asked him why he didn't write the film (he's listed only as the director). He replied that he wrote the first draft of Drum, but Armada Pictures (which contributed $1.5mln, roughly 60 percent of the total cost, to make the film) didn't think his screenplay was Hollywood enough, so they hired another writer to rework it, and he ultimately got the screenwriting credit. (Maseko sued through the WGA and lost the case.)
(Read "African Cinema and Revolution: Part II")
Tags: John Akomfrah, Manthia Diawara, Ousmane Sembene, Zola Maseko
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The Plot Against America - And Me
It's just baseball, but I take these weekly communications fairly seriously. Over the course of seven seasons, regardless of whether I'm here in Chicago, California, in Seattle visiting grandkids, or in Northern Wisconsin enjoying the north woods, I have managed to string together enough information, facts, history and stories pertaining to our White Sox in order to entertain whoever chooses to read these words.
This week is different. The insidious, gnawing thoughts in the back of my mind as I write this, and as I tune into Sox games, stir an uneasiness which was foreign to me just seven days ago.
These feelings have little to do with baseball. Instead I've been asking myself, "Should I feel guilty if I become wrapped up watching a ballgame after a band of despicable people chant 'Jews will not replace us' half a continent away? How can I ignore what happened in Virginia in order to see if the White Sox can win a road game?"
The fact is I can't.
Being Jewish and having lived in parts of eight decades, I've encountered little anti-Semitism. There were a couple of incidents during college in Iowa, one over the phone and another face-to-face. Of course, I have no sense of what's been said behind my back, but I consider myself fortunate when it comes to others who hate me based on religion and ethnicity. Other people, especially people of color, can't make the same claim. Tell me I've lived a charmed life, and I wouldn't argue.
However, the video of what transpired in Charlottesville feels very personal. What could these people have against me, a 70-something guy who's basically never hurt anyone, pecking away at his computer, writing about baseball?
Up until now, whenever I heard news of vandals defacing a synagogue, or neo-Nazis spewing hate against Jews, I ground my teeth, more because of sadness than despair or fear. My family celebrates some holidays, but other than funerals and bar mitzvahs, I can't recall the last time I was in a synagogue.
Friends who are far more religious than I cite the rise of anti-Semitism and the threat we face from the deranged haters. To ignore these developments is folly, according to some of my friends who are Jewish. I have listened with more than a small dose of cynicism.
From my earliest memories and experiences as a child, a time separated 10 years from the Holocaust, I never thought I wasn't safe. It never occurred to me that anyone would hate me because of who I am. My parents shielded me from ideas that my Jewishness was a liability. Assimilation was their game, complete with a Christmas tree.
I also believed that our country's leaders were symbols of good and righteousness. Ike was a war hero who helped defeat the Nazis. In my young mind, he stood for justice, virtue and honor. I never considered that less fortunate people might look at everyday life from a very different vantage point. If anyone asked, I was sure that good would triumph over evil.
I stopped being that boy long ago, but the past week has pushed me to a place I can't recall ever having been. Unless you've been in a coma, you know that we were told that there were some "very fine people" in Charlottesville marching with the crowd that spewed so much hatred against Jews and other minorities. In my life experience, I always felt that the Leader of the Free World and lots of other people in power positions would stand up for me.
I've read Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, which I failed to take seriously. His admonition about hate and fascism was fiction. It couldn't happen to me or anyone I know. My beliefs haven't totally vanished, but they certainly have been shaken.
A few weeks ago a friend e-mailed me a link to a video of George W. Bush throwing out the first pitch for Game 3 of the 2001 World Series. The country was seven weeks removed from the horror of watching the Twin Towers collapse, killing almost 3,000 innocent people.
I may not be a W. fan, but I got chills hearing the thunderous welcome at Yankee Stadium for the president as he strode out of the home team dugout and walked confidently to the mound. After throwing a perfect strike, the baritone reverberations of legendary Yankee PA announcer Bob Sheppard, were clear. "Thank you, Mr. President," and the chants of "USA! USA!" poured down from every corner of the ballpark.
Of course, that particular saga which began almost 16 years ago appears never-ending, but the juxtaposition of that specific moment in New York and the aftermath of Charlottesville is unsettling. Regardless of what one might think of Bush's subsequent decisions, he was vocal about hate and violence directed against Muslims for the acts of a cadre of zealots.
Can you imagine if our current leader was in charge then?
Over lunch last week with my pal Tom, we talked about growing up Jewish and never having to be seriously concerned about prejudice and hate directed against us. And he said that Trump's time is limited.
I'm not so sure. Few people thought a black man would ever be president, let alone be elected for two terms. And who took the reality TV huckster seriously when he first announced his candidacy? I question the assumption that he won't finish four years in the White House. The fact that approximately 63 million people voted for him speaks volumes. The White Sox won't draw that many people in the next quarter-century.
CNN and MSNBC keep up their redundant drill of reporting the historically low approval figures for a man who daily degrades critics and foes along with those who should be his allies. Well, guess what? Thirty-something percent still represents millions of folks who vote, and they're not going away.
Furthermore, his ratings, while historically low, have been consistent. You might assume that a man who lies, boasts about abusing women, and hypes his successes where there are none would have approval ratings in the single digits. That isn't the case.
Do we have seven-and-a-half more years of this degenerative lunacy in store for us? Can a leader who receives the plaudits from the former head of the KKK - an avowed anti-Semite, white nationalist, Holocaust denier - remain in power until 2025? These are the piercing questions roiling in my brain. I'm not paralyzed, but I am compromised. If this is what terrorism looks like, then I'm affected.
At the same time, I understand that black and brown people have lived with these realities all their lives. Immigrants have far more to worry about than the old Jew you're reading. I have it lots better than most.
However, I care about what happens when I'm gone. Not just for my grandchildren but for all of us. And, by the way, watching a ballgame or going to the park used to be more enjoyable until very recently. I miss those days.
Former Bill Veeck bar buddy Roger Wallenstein is our White Sox correspondent. He welcomes your comments.
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American Repertory Ballet announces “Season Premiere” performances, State of the Art Address, and On Pointe event at Rider University
For Information/Interviews Contact:
Alexis Branagan, Marketing and Digital Media Specialist, American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School; abranagan@arballet.org
Additional Photos/images available upon request
Photo By Richard Termine LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – American Repertory Ballet’s performance season will open at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ with a week of events, presentations, and performances celebrating 5 years of Artistic Director Douglas Martin’s artistic leadership.
American Repertory Ballet will present Season Premiere in the theater at Rider University’s Bart Luedeke Center on Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26 at 7:30pm. Season Premiere will feature three highlights from Martin’s first two years of leadership: Martin’s lyrical and poignant Ephemeral Possessions, set to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings; internationally acclaimed choreographer Kirk Peterson’s highly technical Glazunov Variations, set to sections of Glazunov’s music for the classical ballet Raymonda; and ARB Resident Choreographer Mary Barton’s imaginative and thrilling Straight Up With a Twist, set to music by contemporary folk music composer Kaila Flexer.
Straight Up With a Twist was last performed on tour at Jacob’s Pillow, an internationally-renowned center for dance history and performance in the Berkshire mountains.
“We look forward to bringing this wide-ranging program to Rider University,” says Martin. “From classical to contemporary, tutus to unitards, we are showing a full range of what the ballet vocabulary can produce. It’s a great education for the Rider dance students and a beautiful evening for the general public.”
The company has begun its performance season with a residency at Rider University for the past several years. Rider University dance students take courses for credit at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School throughout the year, and ARB’s residency on campus affords the students additional master classes, unique insights into the workings of a professional ballet company, and the opportunity to watch the company perform, without having to leave the campus. This year, as a celebration of Douglas Martin’s 5 years of artistic leadership, the week’s festivities will include a “Meet the Dancers” On Pointe event, Open House Dress Rehearsal, and a State of the Art Address – ARB’s first public meeting – in addition to the typical residency program. The “Meet the Dancers” On Pointe will be held on September 23 at 5:15pm and will provide attendees a unique opportunity to meet the company’s international, professional dancers and see excerpts of the upcoming performance season. The Open House Dress Rehearsal will be on Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 4:30pm in the theater at the Bart Luedeke Center, and the State of the Art Address will immediately follow at 6:00pm in the Bart Luedeke Center fireside lounge. The On Pointe, Open House Dress Rehearsal, and State of the Art Address are all free and open to the public. RSVP for the Open House Dress Rehearsal and State of the Art Address at www.arballet.org/StateoftheArtAddress or call Kristine Farmer, Development Coordinator, at 732.249.1254 x11.
“American Repertory Ballet has made huge strides under Douglas Martin’s artistic vision,” says ARB Executive Director Vanessa Logan. “We are glad to celebrate these five years and the promise of many successful anniversaries to come with this opening week at Rider University. ARB’s Princeton Ballet school has a unique, continued partnership with the university that was forged over 20 years ago by Princeton Ballet School Director Mary Pat Robertson and the then Chair of Rider University’s Fine Arts Department Dr. Patrick Chmel. It is truly one-of-a-kind has played a large role in the providing enriching opportunities for Rider students throughout the years. Rider is such a fitting setting to celebrate not only ARB’s artistic success, but also the organization’s remarkable educational successes.”
“Meet the Dancers” On Pointe
September 23 at 5:15pm
Open House Dress Rehearsal
State of the Art Address
RSVP: www.arballet.org/StateoftheArtAddressor call Kristine Farmer, Development Coordinator, at 732.249.1254 x11.
*Please note: “Meet the Dancers,” Open House Dress Rehearsal, and State of the Arts Address are free of charge and open to the public. All Events Take Place in Rider University Bart Luedeke Center, Lawrenceville.
September 25 & 26 at 7:30pm
Rider University’s Bart Luedeke Center
www.arballet.org/15-16season
Princeton Ballet School’s fall session begins September 11. There are still spots in select classes at the school’s Cranbury, New Brunswick, and Princeton locations. Call 609-921-7758 for more information.
American Repertory Ballet presents A Night of Dance
October 9 at 7:30pm
Union County performing Arts Center’s Hamilton Stage
Princeton Ballet School’s Annual Spring Production 2017: 'The Sleeping Beauty'
For Information/Interviews Contact: Alexis Branagan, Marketing and Digital Media Specialist, American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School; abranagan@arballet.org Additional Photos/images
Announcing Princeton Ballet School’s 2017 Summer Intensive Guest Faculty
(Princeton/New Brunswick, N.J.) –Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet, announces its guest faculty for its highly celebrated Summer Intensive program held in Princeton, N.J., from June 26-July 28, 2017..
American Repertory Ballet Announces March 24 On Pointe: “Preview of the Premiere”
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ArtfixDaily ArtWiretm
Oil study attributed to Thomas Gainsborough (Br., 1727-1788) will headline Woodshed's Nov. 1st auction
Franklin , Massachusetts -- 23 October 2018
Study attributed to Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), for perhaps the renowned English painter’s most intricate and recognizable composition – The Honourable Mrs. Graham.
(Woodshed Art Auctions)
Tempera and gouache on paper attributed to French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926), titled Waterlilies, signed, framed and verso marked with a gallery stamp (est. $50,000-$80,000).
Stylized rendering of Mick Jagger attributed to Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), signed front and back and with verso stamp of Arthur Tooth Gallery in London (est. 15,000-$20,000).
FRANKLIN, Mass. – An oil study attributed to Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), for perhaps the renowned English painter’s most intricate and recognizable composition – The Honourable Mrs. Graham – one of the finest examples of 18th century portraiture, is an expected headliner in Woodshed Art Auctions’ next fine art auction, titled Gainsborough, Monet, Warhol & Friends.
The auction will be held on Thursday, November 1st, online and live in the 500 Gallery, at 475 Franklin Village Drive in Franklin. Live bidding will begin promptly at 5:30 pm Eastern time. People can register and bid now, at www.woodshedartauctions.com. Previews will be held at the 500 Gallery starting on Wednesday, October 24th. Telephone and absentee bids will be accepted.
The auction will comprise a select group of 58 paintings and studies by, and attributed to, master artists such as Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), Jean-Michel Basquiat (American, 1960-1988), Wifredo Lam (Cuban, 1902-1982), Jackson Pollock (American, 1912-1956), Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), Joaquin Torres Garcia (Uruguayan, 1874-1949) and Gainsborough.
“Discovering the under-drawing on what we believe to be Gainsborough's oil study for The Honourable Mrs. Graham led to the creation of this select grouping of historic artists,” said Bruce Wood, the owner of Woodshed Art Auctions. “The range of working techniques, from 18th and 19th century academic methods to the loose Impressionist renderings, through the energetic applications of the Expressionists, provides an amazing introduction to the evolution of Western art in the past 200 years. The auction may be light on quantity, but it’s very strong on quality.”
The Honourable Mrs. Graham is one of the most famous paintings in the Scottish National Gallery. The background of the exhibited version is a quintessential Gainsborough Rococo landscape, while the study in the auction replaces a bucolic hillscape with a seemingly opaque mass of darkness, capped by an eerie sunset – a stark contrast to the pale, white Mrs. Graham.
This variation in backgrounds is a clearest indication that the work being sold is perhaps a preparation sketch for the more intricate version that hangs in Scotland. Gainsborough was famous for dabbling in a variety of prominent styles during his illustrious career, and the background in the study is reminiscent of the one in Gainsborough’s self-portrait, from 1759.
Interestingly, the subject in the painting was born Mary Cathcart, daughter of the Scottish ambassador to Russia. She spent her early years at the Court of Catherine the Great before her marriage to Thomas Graham in 1774. She was one of the most beautiful women of her time and Gainsborough, smitten with her himself, painted her multiple times, most often from memory.
The painting, in a 40 ¼ inch by 55 inch frame, has a pre-sale estimate of $75,000-$100,000. And, while it is in exceptional condition, it does show signs of age, furthering the notion that it is a study by Gainsborough. The manner of cracking is consistent with other portraits of the period, including the one in the National Gallery and in his works at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
A few other paintings in the sale carry even higher estimates than the Gainsborough. One is an acrylic and oil stick on canvas attributed to the late Pop Art icon Jean-Michel Basquiat, titled Cut Off. The 45 ½ inch by 59 inch (in the frame) painting is signed and dated (“81”) verso. It has an estimate of $80,000-$120,000. Basquiat used his art to express social commentary and criticism.
Carrying an identical $80,000-$120,000 estimate is an oil on panel abstract painting attributed to Joaquin Torres Garcia, signed and dated (“43”) bottom right and housed in an 18 ¼ inch by 30 ½ inch frame. Garcia is perhaps Uruguay’s most famous artist. He sought to synthesize the classical with the avant-garde. During his lifetime he exhibited widely and garnered international acclaim.
Yet another six-figure candidate is Jackson Pollock, the American painter widely known for his role as a leader of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Offered will be an enamel paint on canvas attributed to Pollock, titled Red, Orange, Yellow and Black Drip, signed and dated (“51”) bottom left. The 26 ½ inch by 38 ¾ inch unframed work has an estimate of $80,000-$100,000.
The French Impressionist Claude Monet is represented more than once in the sale, first with a tempera and gouache on paper titled Waterlilies, signed and verso marked with a gallery stamp and reference number (est. $50,000-$80,000); and second with a tempera on paper titled Winter Landscape, signed and verso stamped “Collection Simon, Paris, France.” (est. $25,000-$35,000). Both are framed attributions and come with COAs from the Art Collectors Group, Luxembourg.
An oil on canvas attributed to the internationally renowned Cuban artist Wifredo Lam, titled Horned Figures, signed bottom right and measuring 20 ¾ inches by 27 ¼ inches (framed) is expected to reach $50,000-$60,000; while a stylized rendering of Mick Jagger by Andy Warhol, signed front and back and with the verso stamp of Arthur Tooth Gallery (London) and a label with a reference number, in an 18 ¾ inch by 14 ¾ inch frame, should realize $15,000-$20,000.
An oil on board Floral Still Life attributed to Emil Carlsen (American, 1853-1932), signed bottom left, in a 10 inch by 12 inch frame, is expected to sell for $6,000-$8,000. Also, a gouache on cardstock work attributed to Andre Derain (French, 1880-1954), titled Elegant Strollers with Harlequins, signed bottom right and with an undated auction label on the back of the 15 ¾ inch by 26 inch frame, should bring $5,000-$7,000. Derain co-founded Fauvism with Henri Matisse.
Woodshed Art Auctions is a family-owned art gallery specializing in oil painting restoration and live and online art auctions, celebrating its 50th anniversary. The firm is always accepting quality artworks for future auctions. To inquire about consigning a single piece or an entire collection, you may call Bruce Wood at 508-533-6277; or, e-mail him at bruce@woodshedartauctions.com.
For more about Woodshed Art Auctions and the 58-lot Gainsborough, Monet, Warhol & Friends auction scheduled for Thursday, November 1st, please log on to www.woodshedartauctions.com.
Woodshed Art Auctions
1243 Pond Street
Franklin, Massachusetts
bruce@woodshedartauctions.com
http://www.woodshedartauctions.com
About Woodshed Art Auctions
Woodshed Art Auctions conducts online-only fine art sales, usually featuring the most famous names in all of fine art. Most of the works in the sales are attributions.
Bruce Wood
ArtfixDaily.com © 2019 Wildfire Media. All rights reserved.
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MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú
E. SVITOLINA/N. Osaka
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Can you go through the match. There was a lot of hype of Naomi, the run she had in Indian Wells, beating Serena. Were you on your toes even more than usual? How did you see her compared to in the past?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, I always knew that she can produce a great game. All the time we played, we played quite a bit now. I knew that I have to be always on my toes, have to be ready for her strong shots, for her strong serve.
Always knew that she can really play well, you know, take the game in her hands. I was just trying to don't give her any opportunities. I think I was playing pretty solid today, serving good. This was the key for today. Making it physical, as well.
Q. What are your memories of this site? How many times have you been here? What will you miss about the Key Biscayne site?
ELINA SVITOLINA: I played juniors probably once. I was out pretty early. I always had tough matches here. I remember a couple of times really was down and out, then coming back. I remember a couple of times had very, very tough matches. I think it was one of the first times when I went into fourth round in my biggest tournament. So I have lots of good memories here.
I think against Wozniacki also a couple years ago I played a great match, winning that one. So, yeah, it was a great tournament here. Definitely going to miss Key Biscayne, this tournament here.
But I think I'm excited, as well, for a new venue, what's going to be new. Yeah, it's just exciting I think, something different.
Q. About today's match, you were serving very good, but you were also returning really good, which doesn't happen that often playing against Osaka. Did you read her serve? What was the secret of returning that good today?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, in general, I'm pretty I can say good returner. I try to work on it really good. I played couple of times against her, so I knew little bit where I have to stand, what I have to do. It was just a matter of time when I can get used to it.
All the time, like in Dubai, different conditions to here. I have to adjust very quickly with my feet. Today was pretty good. I was on the ball almost all the time. Of course, she served some good serves, aces, because it's her game. She does it very good. That's why I had to accept sometimes and just move on.
In the end, I know I was on the ball most of the time, was seeing the ball pretty good today.
Q. Speaking of conditions, today was quite windy. How did you make that adjustment? Did you serve differently?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, of course, is the part of tennis. Adjust your game for different things. Every week we have different conditions little bit, different ball, different heat or cold or wind, something else. Always little adjustments.
You do with your team, you do with yourself, just thinking what you can do on that day, what's going to help you. It's just the matter of time who adjusts quicker and really takes the game on.
Yeah, I was just trying to move really quick around the ball, go for my shots. I think it worked really good. I was really calm, as well, today which helped me a lot.
Q. Normally a player in your position with your seeding, your ranking, your first match usually would not be such a difficult match. When you first saw the draw, you saw the two 'unseeded' players facing you were Serena Williams and Naomi, what went through your mind?
ELINA SVITOLINA: I was like, okay, this is going to be challenging. For a second round, normally you don't get those kind of matches. But they still had to play the match. You never know what's going to happen.
It was actually quite exciting. I like to go into the tournaments with little bit of stress. Then you're straight into the matches. Of course, not these kind of players. It was a little bit too much because, you know, just winning Indian Wells, she was pretty confident. Serena, obviously, we all know who she is, what she has behind her shoulders.
Yeah, it was challenging. I'm very happy the way I handled this match today and the way I was playing. So, yeah, I'm very, very happy about it.
Q. Do you think it helps you've had a higher-pressure match to start?
ELINA SVITOLINA: I think it can be a benefit. It's still early to say. I have my third-round match on Sunday, so we'll see how it goes.
This is the experience that we get, so we'll see. Didn't have situations in the past where I can judge this situation. But definitely today, going to help me that I played some really under-pressure points. It show that, you know, I'm working the right way.
Q. Naomi described you as one of the most consistent players on the tour. You are still young. Seems like you learned quickly to be composed and consistent. What was your learning process to be consistent? How long did it take for you to learn this?
ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, it's tough to say how did I find this. All my career, growing up, always my family, my parents always been telling me that I have to take one step at a time, to don't rush the things, just go step by step everything. This is the key I think for me.
Even when I have tough times, I just try to break it down in small pieces, just take one step, then move forward, move forward again. I just don't put so much pressure on myself. It's life, and it's the process of learning, as well. Every week you have a chance to play well.
I think I just have to, you know -- yeah, it's just a process of everything together.
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Being asked to work on something by Frontiers Records is always fun. This was no exception. Shipwrecks and mermaids!, Doug Aldrich and Keith St John!!, who could say no!
Burning Rain is a hard rock band established in 1998 by guitarist extraordinare Doug Aldrich and vocalist Keith St. John. After meeting through mutual friends, the two commenced work on what would eventually become their self-titled debut album. The 1999 record established Burning Rain as a hungry yet seasoned group of musicians. Although the album was limited in its release, it did receive rave reviews from fans and critics alike for their take on heavy, blues-y hard rock. The following year, Burning Rain released the follow up, “Pleasure To Burn” which showed a matured Aldrich-St John collaboration that gained even higher praise than the first album.
In 2001, Aldrich joined DIO and later departed in 2003 as he was approached by David Coverdale to join a newly reformed Whitesnake, while St. John joined forces with guitar legend Ronnie Montrose. While still in Whitesnake, Aldrich started working on new Burning Rain music, which saw the light of day in 2013 as the album “Epic Obsession”. Their third release was again met with enthusiams from fans and critics alike. Aldrich would later leave Whitesnake and join The Dead Daisies and Revolution Saints, which left Burning Rain on an extended hiatus.
Now, finally a new album is ready for release! “Face the Music” is a blues driven hard rock record which is truly a tour-de-force. With a renewed lineup featuring the amazing Blas Elias (Slaughter) on drums and bassist Brad Lang (Y&T), the album evokes the sound of the classic 70’s hard rock scene, but also stays true to the Burning Rain sound.
Here is Burning Rain- Face The Music Album Artwork and layout design…
Gatefold LP Artwork and layout
CD JewelCase Artwork and layout
1 REVOLUTION
2 LORELEI
3 NASTY HUSTLE
4 MIDNIGHT TRAIN
5 SHELTER
6 FACE THE MUSIC
7 BEAUTIFUL ROAD
8 HIT AND RUN
9 IF IT’S LOVE
10 HIDEAWAY
11 SINCE I’M LOVING YOULineup:
Keith St. John – Vocals
Doug Aldrich – Guitar
Blas Elias – Drums
Brad Lang – Bass
Stalk the band here:
Website: http://www.burningrain.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurningRain/
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Posted byadmin September 5, 2018 January 15, 2019 Leave a comment on Marvel’s Spider-Man
Ten years ago, it seemed that Beenox groped the right approach to the game incarnation of spider-Man. Spider — man: Shattered Dimensions was surprisingly pleasant action-with fascinating battles excellent history and memorable bosses. What is really there it was the best game of Spiderman for many years. Then rolled down the slope: Edge of Time and the Amazing Spider-Man were not bad and the Amazing Spider-Man 2 turned into a failure on all fronts. In General the time Activision ended the rights to the character, and it is unknown what would happen next. A new vision of the hero introduced Insomniac Games, and it is so pleased with the leadership of Sony that she decided to make Marvel’s Spider-Man loud exclusive for the PlayStation 4.
Spider-man from Insomniac Games is not associated with any other work of the famous superhero, whether comics, movies or other games (however, in the fall of this Spider will be introduced into the comic Canon). To the early Marvel’s Spider-Man Peter Parker already eight years as wears red-blue a suit. The bite of a radioactive spider, the death of uncle Ben, life with aunt may-all this was, but the writers spared us and did not make the hundredth time to watch the events that we know by heart.
Peter has long realized that great power imposes great responsibility, and successfully stands guard over the tranquility of new York. A bunch of supervillains he had already managed to hide in prison, and soon will save the city from Wilson” Kingpin ” Fisk. But you understand that the final credits will not go at once and our head still showered with problems.
Insomniac Games went the same route as Telltale with the series about Batman-key events and iconic stories about Spider characters on the spot, but something has been rethought. In the first half an hour we learn that Peter works as a research assistant at Otto Octavius and moreover, they almost as the father with the son. However, some things remain the same in any universe: money troubles a difficult relationship with Mary Jane Watson and the burden of responsibility on the shoulders of Parker.
The game tells the story of not only a superhero, but also an ordinary person with household problems. Of course, the second is not given such a big role as the battles with the villains, but in the center of the story are simple emotions. Screenwriters don’t try to expose a Spider in a bad light, but constantly force to think: Yes it saved all but maybe Peter didn’t get the forces, to rescue anybody and it wouldn’t be necessary? Insomniac caught on perfectly, making spider-Man such an interesting character, and neatly reproduced it in the game. Despite his many years of experience, he has doubts and is not ready to exchange even one life for a hundred. However, despite the pain can make the right decision.
As in any game with an open world Marvel’s Spider-Man offers to look for a lot of collectibles. But this is not Sobieski for sobieszek — they tried to write the history. Most of all will have to chase the old backpacks, stash, which Peter hung around the city during his studies. Each find complements the picture of our hero’s past. Familiar with the comics of spider-Man will find in the game dozens, if not hundreds of references to different adventures of the hero.
Chasing old things just want to once again fly on the web over the streets of Manhattan. We have at our disposal several areas with relevant attractions, both real, like the well — known Central Park, and purely marvellous-the Avengers tower and the Sanctum Santorum building of Dr. Strange.
Feel like a hero
Insomniac Games managed the main thing-to convey what it means to be spider-Man. At one time, Beenox managed to make exciting flights on the web, but the new game is head and shoulders above all previous projects about Spider. Racing between skyscrapers, flying stone down to literally a meter to the asphalt to catch up on the web and fly through the traffic flow on a busy highway, jump from wall to wall, dressing in the course of a beautiful somersault — Marvel’s Spider-Man gives unforgettable emotions. You can quickly teleport to certain points on the map, but do not want to. Need to the opposite end of town? And great, let’s do it with a breeze!
Open world is arranged in a template, with a standard set of secondary activities: crimes, tests of agility and speed, base bandits. But thanks to the attention to detail, even the prevention of a simple robbery looks interesting: you really fly on the web to the store, throwing thieves around and under the gratitude of the seller with a sense of accomplishment rush on. Accustomed to the role of a Spider, you will be able to detain criminals almost on the go.
Combat system at first glance simple, but fraught with many possibilities. Combos do not exist, there is only a set of movements that are allowed to execute in any order and from any position (even standing on the wall): kick, Dodge, jump and pulling up the web. Just to hammer enemies with fists it will turn out, but it is far not the most effective and effective way — where it is better to move actively on a battlefield, to tighten opponents to itself in air, to throw them at each other and to paste to walls.
We have a range of gadgets at our disposal, from electric charges to personal drone-defender. The game encourages experimentation and combining features. Throw a bunch of thugs in the air with a gravity inverter and then throw a Cabinet at them? Not bad! Blow up a spider-web grenade in the crowd and throw up the shackled criminals on walls by means of a shock wave? The result will surprise you!
A special pleasure of the fight to bring high complexity, when Peter can quite quickly put on the blades and so you have to act to the best of abilities. Watch to see with what grace the hero doing all the acrobatic somersaults — a real pleasure. And remember: armed with guns and bazookas guys will not wait until you are done with fans of hand-to-hand combat.
For the sake of fighting, you can endure the boring and statement of additional jobs. It is seen that they were given a minimum of attention and probably sculpted in the end, “on the surrender.” But they once again make you feel incredibly clever and strong. If you want to buy all the costumes and pump each gadget to the maximum, will have to clean up all areas of Manhattan. Believe me, to perform the perfect taskmaster (who in the Russian version became a Foreman) — a real test. But you want clothes in the style of the cult animated series 94 years?
Contrary to some fan theories, The new canonical spider costume does not make much sense. It’s just that the old one broke up, and Peter decided to experiment a little with the design. In General, you can choose from a dozen options — wardrobe will please all fans of the character. There are even such exotic options as a Ghost Spider or a punk Spider.
Like in the movies
Of course, we do not play in the schedule, but Marvel’s Spider-Man technology has only benefited. After all, it is much more pleasant to fly through a detailed and diverse city, and not between the same gray boxes. And in the Windows you can see even the apartments and office space.
The project looks great. And although some managed to draw a conclusion about the quality of the product by the number of puddles in the frame, I want to assure you that Marvel’s Spider-Man — one of the most beautiful games of the generation. The only thing you can complain about — not detalizirovannoi residents. However, there are hundreds of them, and they behave much more diverse extras from previous games about spider-Man.
The game is full of bright and spectacular moments with inventive action, in which the screensavers smoothly flow into the gameplay. In the battles with the bosses and does have the feeling that got into an expensive blockbuster. Especially good fight with several members of the Sinister Six at once: setting invariably impressive ingenuity and spectacular scenes. Of course, the Spider would not be myself if I hadn’t jumped aside directly in the heat of battle. Over many phrases you are sure to laugh. Or at least you’ll smile.
Sometimes it is necessary to remove the superhero outfit-Peter, being a scientist, and benefits in a white coat. Sometimes we do take control of other characters, and then the game turns into a kind of stealth action. Hide and seek, of course, quite superficial, but not without interesting ideas. Even nonlinearity is — separate sites can be passed in different ways. These episodes are great variety of gameplay.
Posted byadmin September 5, 2018 January 15, 2019 Posted inUncategorized
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May 24, 2014 / Steve Katz
A man, clearly tired after a long day, takes off his work boots and hops into a car, a quite posh BMW SUV, and begins to drive from Birmingham to London. He calls home to let them know he won’t be able to make it back in time to watch the night’s big football match. He calls his boss, and his second in command at work, and explains to them that he will not be able to oversee the big concrete pour for the foundation of their skyscraper project the following morning. No one understands what he is doing or why. They ask him to turn around, plead for him to come back to work. He is undeterred, and continues driving.
It takes quite a bit of risk and confidence to hang the success of a film so thoroughly on the shoulders of one man the way Steven Knight has chosen to do with his new film Locke, though the shoulders of star Tom Hardy are certainly broad enough to carry the load. It is not an understatement to claim that Hardy carries this film, as he is the only actor who ever appears on screen for its entire length. The structure is daunting, requiring this one man to construct a life story in media res completely through phone conversations with unseen family members, coworkers, lovers. Context is nonexistent, but the backstory slowly bleeds out through these moments.
It’s frankly astonishing how quickly Hardy manages to clue the audience in about exactly who his character is and what he represents. It starts with the accent. Hardy has a long history of using accent work as an essential part of his character work, and Ivan Locke is no different. His lilting Welsh brogue certainly catches the ear, but his vocal cadence is where the magic lies. It only takes one phone conversation to get to the heart of who Ivan Locke is, regardless of context or backstory. He is a man of almost suffocating precision, a ceaselessly structured and exhaustively prepared individual who accounts for all sides of everything. His speech is measured and forceful, a tone that this both reassuring and disconcerting in its calm regardless of circumstances. As Locke’s sense of control slips further away from him, as his plans disintegrate and his heavily curated life crumbles around him, his sense of control never leaves his voice. By the end, he is trying to convince himself just as much as the person on the other end of the call.
Hardy has proven in the past that he is more than comfortable acting within a physically restrictive space. Whether in the tight corridors of Bronson or wearing Bane’s obscuring mask in The Dark Knight Rises that left him with nothing more than his eyes to emote, he is building a career on doing more with less. In Locke, he is once again limited, spending the entire film in a sitting position strapped into a chair, limited to the use of his upper body, arms and face. It is here that Hardy is able to bring in some of the doubt that Locke refuses to take over his voice, his one connection to the world outside his car, and all of that bottled emotion comes out through his hands and his eyes. It is a fully realized and masterful performance for a film that required it to have any chance of success. Of course, Hardy isn’t the only cast member despite being the only cast member seen on screen. Ruth Wilson and Andrew Scott are particularly good as arguably the most put-upon by Locke’s decision.
Beyond this magnetic performance from Hardy, Locke finds itself bolstered by its technical merits as well. Knight and cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos are not going to change the cinematic world with their approach on the film’s sound and visual design, but they provide enough intrigue to ensure that the film does not falter or distract from Hardy’s performance. Heavy use of reflection and superimposed imagery serve to create a hypnotic, dreamlike atmosphere while keeping Locke feel separated and isolated from the rest of the world around him. The score is understated, a necessary approach for a film that is essentially all dialogue, and help build the tension without calling attention to itself.
With a fascinating premise, sure-handed direction from Steven Knight and an incredibly accomplished central lead performance from Tom Hardy, Locke is a provocative thriller that succeeds by bucking convention. A film with so little action should not be as tense as this film is, and it is a testament to the quality of all angles of the production that a predominantly real-time drive down a highway is as gripping as this film often is.
Older May 07, 2014
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You are here: Home / Nutrition / Minerals / Macrominerals / Calcium / Dietary Calcium Is Better Than Supplements At Protecting Bone Health
Dietary Calcium Is Better Than Supplements At Protecting Bone Health
Women who get most of their daily calcium from food have healthier bones than women whose calcium comes mainly from supplemental tablets. Surprisingly, this is true even though the supplement takers have higher average calcium intake.
Adequate calcium is important to prevent osteoporosis, which affects an estimated 8 million American women and 2 million American men. Another 34 million Americans have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for osteoporosis. Calcium consumption can help maintain bone density by preventing the body from stealing the calcium it needs from the bones, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers’ conclusions about calcium intake, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, came from a study of 183 postmenopausal women. The researchers asked the women to meticulously detail their diet and their calcium supplement intake for a week. “We assumed that this sample represented each woman’s typical diet,” says senior author Reina Armamento-Villareal, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases and a bone specialist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “In addition to analyzing the volunteers’ daily calcium intake, we tested bone mineral density and urinary concentrations of estrogen metabolites.” The researchers found that the women could be divided into three groups: one group, called the “supplement group,” got at least 70 percent of their daily calcium from tablets or pills; another, the “diet group,” got at least 70 percent of their calcium from dairy products and other foods; and a third, the “diet plus supplement group,” consisted of those whose calcium-source percentages fell somewhere in between these ranges. The “diet group” took in the least calcium, an average of 830 milligrams per day. Yet this group had higher bone density in their spines and hipbones than women in the “supplement group,” who consumed about 1,030 milligrams per day. Women in the “diet plus supplement group” tended to have the highest bone mineral density as well as the highest calcium intake at 1,620 milligrams per day. The hormone estrogen is known to maintain bone mineral density. But the standard form of estrogen is broken down or metabolized in the liver to other forms – some active and some inactive. Urinalysis showed that women in the “diet group” and the “diet plus supplement group” had a higher ratio of active to inactive estrogen metabolites than women in the “supplement group.” “This suggests that dietary calcium is associated with a shift in estrogen metabolism that favors production of active forms of estrogen,” says Armamento-Villareal. “Although we’re not yet certain what underlies this effect, it could be that nutrients other than calcium cause this shift. It’s also known that dairy products, which are a major source of calcium, can contain active estrogenic compounds, and these can influence bone density and the amount of estrogenic metabolites in the urine.” Calcium supplements differ in how well their calcium can be absorbed, and this also could play a role in the study’s findings, according to its authors. For example, calcium carbonate tablets need to be taken with a meal so that stomach acid can facilitate absorption, but calcium citrate tablets don’t have this limitation. If the study participants taking calcium carbonate weren’t conscientious about the timing of their supplements, they might not have received the highest benefit from them. “Only about 35 percent of the calcium in most supplements ends up being absorbed by the body,” Armamento-Villareal says. “Calcium from the diet is generally better absorbed, and this could be another reason that women who got a high percentage of calcium in their food had higher bone densities.” Although dairy foods are excellent sources of calcium, Armamento-Villareal suggests that individuals with dairy sensitivities could consume other calcium-rich food sources such as calcium-fortified orange juice. Dark green leafy vegetables also contain calcium, but it is not as readily absorbed as calcium from dairy sources.
Filed Under: Calcium, Macrominerals, Minerals, Nutrition, Osteoporosis Tagged With: Bones, Calcium, Osteoporosis, Wom
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Wool by Hugh Howey
We all want to be Hugh Howey when we grow up. Howey is a folk hero to those of us who dip our toes in the waters of self-publishing.
After publishing Wool with a small press, Howey self-published his post-apocalyptic sci-fi series on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, where it found a huge audience. The following year, Howey sold the film rights for Wool to 20th Century Fox, and inked a print distribution deal with Simon and Schuster. Howey reportedly turned down a seven-figure offer in favor of a mid-six figure sum in return for maintaining e-book rights.
Howey is one of the most successful self-published authors of all time, along with Amanda Hocking and mother/daughter Elf On The Shelf authors Carol Aebersold and daughter Chanda Bell. How did Howey do it? What’s the secret to his success?
His first step was writing a damn good story. Howey’s got storytelling chops, with cool characters to root for, evil villains to boo, and enough intellectual meat and moral fiber to leave readers feeling full.
Wool’s characters are likeable, believable, and keep the story moving. They walk the classic tightrope of all action heroes, from the stars of swashbuckling radio serials to the survivors of The Walking Dead. They fight on, even when hope no longer makes sense.
Despite its warm and fuzzy title, Wool ventures into some dark and dangerous territory. There are all kinds of political overtones, undertones, and sub-tones at work in Wool. It’s a classic class battle of the haves and have-nots, but here the currency is knowledge. The haves are in on the big secret of the silo(s) and the have-nots are kept in the dark about their own existence.
Spoiler alert! One of Howey’s well-drawn secondary characters spills the beans about halfway through.
“We are the seeds,” he said. “This is a silo. They put us here for the bad times.”
He also points out that seeds left alone for too long tend to rot, and Lord of the Flies-type hijinks inevitably ensues. Mankind’s war-like nature is on full display in Wool.
They all knew, instinctively, how to build implements of pain. It was something even shadows knew how to do at a young age, knowledge somehow dredged up from the brutal depths of their imagination, this ability to deal harm to one another.
This is a story about political power, intrigue, and grassroots revolts. Within Wool’s compelling story structure there are meditations on:
Metal would snap if you could wiggle it even a little bit, if you did it long enough. She had felt the heat of weakened steel countless times while bending it over and over until it broke
There’s fear that small pockets of survivors might be holed up elsewhere around the globe. Operation Fifty is completely pointless if anyone else survives. The population has to be homogenous…
Life under totalitarian rule
They put us in this game, a game where breaking the rules means we all die, every single one of us. But living by those rules, obeying them, means we all suffer.
Wool reminds me of E.M. Forster’s classic The Machine Stops, but then a lot of good dystopian science fiction does. We are all becoming more and more like Forster’s underground society of hive-dwelling, WiFi-sucking hermits every day.
At least I am.
Filed Under: Bestsellers, Book Review, Ebooks, Science Fiction Tagged With: damn good story, Hugh Howey, post-apocalyptic, science fiction, self-published, Silo Series, survivors, Wool
The Sleepless by Graham Masterton
August 19, 2012 By Bob Leave a Comment
I wanted to like this book, because I like Graham Masterton. This British wordsmith has been cranking out tales of horror, mystery and suspense for close to four decades. The Manitou is a classic in the horror genre, and Masterton always crafts his stories with folklore, fairytales, and gritty characters. All those elements are in […]
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
August 6, 2015 By Bob Leave a Comment
The magic of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling lies in its combination of simplicity and familiarity. Like a three-chord pop song, Harry Potter sticks in your head, causing pleasant sensations as it bounces around your brain. We know this story; an unlikely hero with a regal destiny is sent on an […]
Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
April 29, 2013 By Bob 3 Comments
It’s a horror classic, so I wanted/needed to read it. Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife is listed on every “Masterpieces of Classic Horror” list out there, so I was eager to experience it myself for the first time. But this tale of witchcraft in the world of academia left me with some unsettling questions, like, “What […]
Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates
July 7, 2014 By Bob Leave a Comment
Reading Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates is like slipping into a fever dream. It’s all dark winter mood and brooding atmosphere in this novel. Bellefleur covers three generations of the Bellefleur family over the course of more than 200 years. Ms. Oates builds this long, sprawling novel with long, sprawling sentences filled with parenthetical asides and a […]
The Two Sams by Glen Hirshberg
September 14, 2012 By Bob Leave a Comment
You won’t find any vampires, werewolves or other traditional monsters in Hirshberg’s horror fiction. You’ll barely even find horror in The Two Sams. What you will find are five stories laden with human sorrow and a palpable atmosphere of dread. These stories are not so much written as they are crafted. You can practically see […]
I’m Not Sam by Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee
What if you awoke one morning to find your wife — your soulmate, the love of your life, the person you know better than anyone else — is no longer herself? Instead, she insists she’s a seven-year-old named Lily. This is the simple-yet-effective premise that drives I’m Not Sam by Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee. […]
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Sebastian Reviewed at the Historical Novel Society
Comments Off on Sebastian Reviewed at the Historical Novel Society Book Reviews, News
A big honour for me and my book:
SEBASTIAN ALSO GOT ACCEPTED/ SELECTED FOR REVIEW BY
THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY.
HERE IS WHAT THEY THOUGHT:
Sebastian is the second novel of a trilogy about central and Eastern Europe during the first half of the last century. It is 1913 in Vienna, the capital of the diverse Austro-Hungarian Empire. The main character of the title is sixteen and is about to have his leg amputated because of an accident. The book mainly follows his misfortunes and how he copes with them: the amputation, World War One, a family shop to run in increasingly stringent circumstances when his father goes to fight. He is aided and hindered by friends and relatives through the deprivations and uncertainties of the war. A second storyline develops around Margit and her mother Piroska, who journey to Austro-Hungarian Galicia.
As in the trilogy’s first book, The Luck of The Weissensteiners, the author’s considerable research shows in settings and attitudes which are described in detail and which feel authentic. Sometimes, however, there is too much background; the book at times felt like a history text. Sebastian has a large cast of characters who enable the author to explore a wide range of social, religious and ethnic issues but there was occasionally too much to take in.
As constructive criticism, I thought the cover could have been more inspiring to a potential reader’s eye, and the internal layout could be improved. The text is not adequately centred against the page edges when the book is opened fully, and the title and dedication pages are displaced to the right, which jars visually as soon as the book is opened. A few minor errors in the first few pages would be picked up by a further copy-edit, but these were not enough to make me stop reading.
Nevertheless this is a story worth digesting, but like a rich Viennese Sachertorte: one slice at a time.
More reviews from Amazon:
World War One: Prosecuted on the Domestic Front, February 5, 2014
War novels usually are usually caked in mud and blood. Soldiers are shot at, scarred, tortured, wounded, killed. In Christoph Fischer’s SEBASTIAN, the drama is just as intense; the battlefield just happens to be on the home front.
Set in WWI-era Vienna, this is a story about the families–mostly the women–left behind.
Their husbands and sons dispatched to battle in Serbia and other points East, the war-widows and widows-to-be must adapt to scarcity: of food, of fuel, of money, of faith in a future that could be remotely as good as the comfortable past.
This is an eminently “European” story. Fischer brilliantly captures the “little wars” that invariably occur when three generations of family members are stuck together under one roof–in this case, inside the home of Sebastian Schreiber. Petty squabbles, rivalries and intra-family intrigues are the order of the day. Making matters worse, economic hardship forces the Schreiber family to take in borders, only upping the potential for mischief and misunderstanding.
What makes this novel so interesting–and at times sad–is how nearly every character is confronted with a major choice and, due to the stress and paranoia brought about by wartime conditions, invariably makes the wrong one, derailing lives with devastating consequences.
But it is also a story of resilience, adaptation, and acceptance. Nothing turns out the way everyone hoped it would, but for the main characters of the story–young Sebastian and the two women he loves–the end of the War marks a fresh start and the promise of a better life.
Exceptionally Brilliant!, January 30, 2014
Christoph Fischer is a master story teller and a brilliant writer. I was enthralled by this story from the introduction. The story begins with a mother’s pain at her young son’s suffering and the heartwrenching decision she had to make on whether or not to allow the doctor to amputate his leg. Set in Vienna, just before the war, the author takes you through the daily lives of the family, as they struggled to cope with life’s many challenges before and during the war. Strange I kept telling myself, this is not your kind of read. But the story flowed so beautifully that I stayed up all night until I’d finished the book. I had not done this in a long while. This is one of those stories in which you could so easily identify with the characters that you feel as if you know them all. The wife Vera, her cheating husband, Franz, her extraordinary son, Sebastian, and even her disgruntled mother in law, Rebecca and her long suffering husband, Oscar. When Sebastian leg was amputated, not once but twice, I felt a mother’s pain. It was a huge relief to me when the book ended on a somewhat high note for Sebastian; he had been through so much. I highly recommend this book.
Insightful Historical Fiction with great depth and Humanity, January 19, 2014
Christoph Fischer continues to display his mastery of historical fiction displayed in The Luck of the Weissensteiners in this book, Sebastian, the second installment in his “Three Nations Trilogy”. This novel traces the life of Sebastien, a teenaged boy who, shortly before the outbreak of WWI, has his leg amputated below the knee due to an untreated infection. As in the Weissensteiners, Sebastian and the other characters symbolize the different peoples and socio-political forces at play in their world, in this case, the Austo-Hungarian Empire in it’s final days. The aspirations, dreams, and conflicts engulfing this ensemble cast serve as a brilliant historical metaphor for that time and place. Mr. Fischer displays his deep historical knowledge and great skill at personifying events and social conflicts, no mean feat given the multitude of ethnic groups, nationalistic aspirations, and complex politics going on in the Empire in this time frame–with the end result being its dissolution. But not to be forgotten is Mr. Fischer’s feel for the humanity of his characters–this is a human story, with the human drama in the forefront, the grand and petty human aspirations unfolding before the historical backdrop. I recommend Sebastian for readers for it’s keen historical insight and human drama–bravo!
Sebastian (Three Nations Trilogy Book 2)
Sebastian is the story of a young man who has his leg amputated before World War I. When his father is drafted to the war it falls on to him to run the family grocery store in Vienna, to grow into his responsibilities, bear loss and uncertainty and hopefully find love.
Sebastian Schreiber, his extended family, their friends and the store employees experience the ‘golden days’ of pre-war Vienna and the timed of the war and the end of the Monarchy while trying to make a living and to preserve what they hold dear.
Fischer convincingly describes life in Vienna during the war, how it affected the people in an otherwise safe and prosperous location, the beginning of the end for the Monarchy, the arrival of modern thoughts and trends, the Viennese class system and the end of an era.
As in the first part of the trilogy, “The Luck of The Weissensteiners” we are confronted again with themes of identity, Nationality and borders. The step back in time made from Book 1 and the change of location from Slovakia to Austria enables the reader to see the parallels and the differences deliberately out of the sequential order. This helps to see one not as the consequence of the other, but to experience them as the momentary reality as it must have felt for the people at the time.
On Amazon: http://bookshow.me/B00CLL1UY6
On Goodreads: http://ow.ly/pthHZ
On Facebook: http://ow.ly/pthNy
Trailer: http://studio.stupeflix.com/v/95jvSpHf5a/
B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sebastian-mr-christoph-fischer/1115243053?ean=9781484156001
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News from Chipping Campden including Campden bulletin
New displays open at Court Barn Museum, Chipping Campden
Submitted by tony on Sun, 20/05/2012 - 21:19
Chipping-Campden
Visitors will be delighted by the new displays at Court Barn which will be inaugurated on Friday 25 May. On display will be pieces by the radical late nineteenth/early 20th century Arts & Crafts designer C.R. Ashbee including a magnificent silver presentation piece, a classic designed muffin dish and some beautiful pieces of jewellery which have never been on public display before.
Ashbee decanter - Silver-mounted decanter designed by C.R Ashbee, the finial is set with a chrysoprase, 1903
Other items on display will show the work of the Harts Silversmiths, a family business which has been based in Chipping Campden since 1902. In addition to the examples by the Hart family there is also work by Harry Warmington, Sydney Reeve and Wentworth Huyshe.
The Museum was the subject of a major robbery last November, where a significant number of valuable silver objects were stolen. Since then the Museum has been working towards bringing the Museum back to full strength with displays celebrating talented designers and craftspeople who have worked in Chipping Campden and the north Cotswolds since the beginning of the twentieth century. The Museum tells the story of the Arts and Crafts movement and its legacy, a story of how a small town in a beautiful setting became a gathering-place for designers and craftspeople of national and international reputation.
Ashbee butter dish - Silver dish with an enamelled cover, designed by C.R. Ashbee the finial is set with a blister pearl, 1902
Since the Museum opened in 2007 visitor numbers have risen, a Friends organisation has been launched and it now runs a packed programme of exhibitions and events throughout the year. Curator, Sarah McCormick Healy, said: "I am proud and delighted that we have some fantastic objects to display. The response from our supporters, both existing and new has been heart-warming. Many of the objects have not been on public display before, so this is a huge opportunity for the Museum and our visitors".
Court Barn Museum, Church Street, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, GL55 6JE
Admission charges:
Adults £4; Concessions (students, senior citizens) £3.25; Children under 16 are free
April - September: Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 5pm
October - March: Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 4pm
Closed Mondays (except Bank Holidays) and Closed 24 Dec, reopening second Tuesday in January.
Court Barn Museum is an independent museum and the brainchild of a group of local enthusiasts called the Guild of Handicraft Trust. The museum was created through the generous support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and monies raised by the Guild of Handicraft Trust.
This groundbreaking museum, situated in the Cotswold town of Chipping Campden, tells the story of how a small town, in a beautiful setting, became a gathering place for creative people at the start of the 20th Century and continues to attract designers and makers today. Highlights include work by C.R. Ashbee, F.L Griggs and Katharine Adams.
Source: Court Barn Museum
Other News from Chipping Campden including Campden bulletin
Sun, 8 Dec 2013
GofH: A century of fine silver in Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden development proves popular with over 60s
Court Barn Museum Chipping Campden;The work of Arthur and Georgie Gaskin
Potty about Pots at Court Barn Museum Chipping Campden
Contemporary Dance Festival in Chipping Campden
Wed, 24 Apr 2013
Court Barn Museum Chipping Campden receives award for quality Services
The Cinnamon Trust: Dog walking volunteers urgently required in Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden school children take over Court Barn Museum for the day
Wed, 3 Oct 2012
"Poetry made Visible" - at Court Barn Museum Chipping Campden
"Dream Cotswold" - Drawings and Watercolours by F.L.Griggs R.A.
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Letter from the Directors
Foundation Advisors
ROBERT I. WOLK
PRIVATE INVESTOR, WOLK FAMILY OFFICE; BOARD CHAIR, AMREF HEALTH AFRICA
Rob currently manages private investments, with a focus on international and emerging market equities. Previously, Rob served as a Partner at the Carlyle Group in Hong Kong, where he was responsible for Carlyle's Asian telecommunications and media investments. Prior to Carlyle, Rob was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs International, based in London and Hong Kong, where he helped build the firm's communications, media and technology (CMT) mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and privatization practices. He has worked on investments and transactions in over 30 countries across Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa.
Rob serves as US Board Chair of Amref Health Africa, the largest health development NGO in Africa, and is currently a member of the Boards of Directors of Volunteers of America-Greater NY, Breakthrough NY, the New York Cardiac Center and the Michael Wolk Heart Foundation. Rob is a member of the Alumni Council Executive Committee at Princeton University and serves as the President of the Princeton Association of New York City and as Founder and Co-Chair of the Princeton Alumni Angels of Greater NY. Rob is also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Trinity School in NYC and serves as Co-Chair of Trinity's Annual Fund.
Rob has an A.B. in Political Science and Economics (magna cum laude) from Princeton University and an M. Phil in International Relations from Cambridge University. He resides in New York City with his wife, Kyung-Ah Park, and daughters Kaylie and Keira.
back to advisors
Contact us to learn more and become involved.
Cavendish Impact Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) New York State public charity.
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Alex Wassabi Phone Number & WhatsApp & Email Address
YouTuber who runs the extremely popular channel Wassabi Productions, which has earned over 9 million subscribers. He also has a self-titled vlogging channel which has amassed another 2 million subscribers.
He launched the Wassabi Productions YouTube channel with his former comedy partner Roi Fabito.
He developed a substantial following on the 6-second video app Vine, uploading his first video to the platform on May 1, 2013.
His real name is Alex Burriss. He grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. His brothers Andrew and Aaron also became popular web video stars. He also has a sister named Mariah. In 2015, he began dating fellow YouTuber Lauren Riihimaki.
With Roi, he frequently created parody videos of top artists' songs, including the incredibly popular video "Carly Rae Jepson CALL ME MAYBE - Rolanda & Richard (Parody)" which accumulated more than 80 million views in two years.
my phone number is 719-374-0083
I do t like you
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The Deshima AIR project is an initiative to promote the cultural exchange between the Netherlands and Japan.
Netherlands and Japan have more than four hundred years of trade relations with each other and have build a special cultural and scientific ties.
During a period of over 200 years until the mid-nineteenth century, the Dutch were the only Westerners who had access to Japan. On the island of Deshima in Nagasaki was a trading post established. Annually, a so-called court journey undertaken to the Shogun in Edo, now Tokyo. Deshima was Japan’s window on the West.
The Deshima AIR project wants this special relationship to continue and where possible expand it.
The Deshima AIR project calls artists and people with a creative and open mind in order to submit a project.
Projects with special attention to the geographical, cultural, historical or social situation of Amsterdam (Netherlands) are preferred. What would you learn from Dutch society and what would you contribute to Dutch society are main topics.
During Deshima AIR project you will stay in the heart of Amsterdam. As a resident you can better experience than a tourist from a hotel or guesthouse the everyday life in the city. In this way, a mutual exchange of Dutch and Japanese culture becomes reality.
The team of Deshima AIR project will guide you in Amsterdam and – where possible – support your project.
Of the participants is a large degree of independence, curiosity and flexibility expected.
a mutual exchange of Dutch and Japanese culture becomes reality
Yumi Ito – The letters of Isaac Titsingh
From the 1st of May till the 31st of May, fashion designer and textile artist Yumi Ito will participate in the Deshima AIR program. She will visit Amsterdam to do research on Isaac Titsingh, give a workshop about visualizing letters, and work on her artproject. When Ito became interested in Deshima AIR, she wanted to know more about the history and people of Deshima. She started her research by looking for cultural interactions between the Netherlands and Japan.
Isaac Titsingh served as a top level employee to the VOC and was director of the Japan-trade at Deshima during the seclusion period in Japan. Ito became especially interested in the letters Titsingh exchanged with Masatsuna Kutsuki, who was from the Daimyo of Fukuchiyama. Special about this letter exchange are the personal stories that are in them. As the relation between the two countries was pure business, this was an interesting and special cultural exchange for that time.
Ito explains the value of this contact: “It seems to me that the two men’s friendship reflects the good relationship between the two countries. By translating their letters into tangible objects, I want to express a small part of each country’s history. Creating something to remember and cerebrate the two countries’ companionship will give people in Amsterdam a chance to think about the importance of friendship. Also to provoke thoughts about communication between people from different backgrounds with different values.”
Yumi Ito’s > Website <
This AIR is open for Japanese artists and other creative people with an open mind.
Projects with special attention to the geographical, cultural, social or historical situation of Amsterdam (Netherlands) are preferred.
What would you learn from Dutch society and what would you contribute to Dutch society are main topics.
Proposals outside this framework, will be discussed about and where possible be supported.
Period of participation
1st January – 31st July 2018
artists in the broadest sense, people with a creative spirit and open mind
1 – 4 a year
30 days up to 90 days
Deadline of application
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China's move to block Wikipedia came ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests. Photo: Bloomberg/Wikipedia
Home World Greater China
Wikipedia says it has been blocked in China
Authorities in China have blocked Wikipedia, Reuters reports.
“In April, the Wikimedia Foundation determined that Wikipedia was no longer accessible in China,” Samantha Lien, spokeswoman for the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, said in an email.
“After closely analyzing our internal traffic reports, we can confirm Wikipedia is blocked across all language versions,” Lien said.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites have long been blocked in China.
Individual Wikipedia articles about sensitive issues, such as 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and the Himalayan region of Tibet, have long been blocked in China, however, even while the main site is accessible.
Suspicion of a total block on Wikipedia surfaced in late April when some Chinese internet users took to social media to complain that the site was no longer accessible.
Tests run by GreatFire.org, an organization that tracks internet censorship in China, revealed that the site had not been accessible from within China since April 23.
Since 2015, Wikipedia’s Chinese-language site was blocked by China’s “Great Firewall”, which prevents internet users from accessing certain foreign websites.
Versions in other languages, however, have largely remained accessible, albeit with occasional interruptions.
Lien said the Wikimedia Foundation had not received any notice that would explain why the block had been imposed.
“When one country, region, or culture cannot join the global conversation on Wikipedia, the entire world is poorer,” Lien adds.
Internet authorities in China often ramp up censorship before major political events or sensitive anniversaries.
This June will mark 30 years since the army used force to suppress the pro-democracy protests centered around Tiananmen Square.
RC/CG
On Monday the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) announced the results of its presidential primaries, with Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu enjoying a more than 17-point lead over his major rival Terry Gou Tai-ming, founder of Foxconn...
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Germany’s Von der Leyen confirmed as next EC president
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Since the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID) was created 22 years ago, it has lifted millions out of poverty, sent millions of children to school, and saved millions of lives through vaccination...
The world has made impressive strides in reducing extreme poverty, but that progress has slowed considerably in recent years. The problem is clear: eliminating extreme poverty requires tackling inequality. The good news is that...
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What HK can learn from South Africa in defusing social crisis
Since the outbreak of the mass movement against the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, four young people in our city have reportedly taken their own lives for reasons linked to the proposed legislation. A couple of...
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Photo of club girl and her lover who withdrew N300,000 from stolen ATM card...
Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command on Friday apprehended a young lady, her boyfriend and two others for stealing an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card which belonged to one Musa Alli and withdrew over N300, 000 from the account.
The lady, Bamigboye Imoleayo, 24, was arrested by the operatives at a club house (name withheld) in Surulere area of Lagos over the crime before arresting three other accomplices, including her boyfriend, Adeyinka Ayodele the same day at Itori, Ogun State.
The victim, who reported the case at the RRS’ office in Alausa, said that he met the suspect at a club in Surulere last week Friday.
He added that the lady had earlier stolen his ATM before memorizing his Personal Identification Number (PIN) during online transfer of funds into his friend’s account.
“I thought I had misplaced the card not knowing that the lady had stolen it and thereafter glimpsed at the PIN for withdrawal”, he noted.
He said that he was shocked on Saturday afternoon when he received alerts amounting to N90, 000 withdrawals.
He explained: “while I was still contemplating on how to deal with the issue, I got another debit alert for buying two Infinix phones totaling N84, 000. I was confused and shocked. I didn’t know what action to take on a Saturday evening.
On Sunday, there was another debit. I couldn’t pin the crime to the lady I met at the club. I lodged a
complaint on Monday morning at my bank and I was told that the withdrawals and shopping were legitimately made by me.
“I reported the incident at the RRS’ office on Monday after informing my bank. My emphasis to the police were the withdrawals and shopping totaling N300, 000. It was unbelievable for me when I was face to face with the suspect, the lady I met at the club and she explained everything,” he stated.
Sources at the RRS’ headquarters disclosed that after the arrest, the lady, Bamigboye Imoleayo, owned up during interrogations that she pocketed the victim’s ATM card when the owner slept off during their conversation at night at the club.
“I managed to steal the card when Musa (victim) dozed off during our conversations. Initially, I had spied on and crammed his PIN when he was sending money to his colleague via mobile app.
“I committed this offence because I was so desperate to re-stock my shop at Wasimi in Ogun State, and also to take care of my only daughter. I never had a rethink while committing the crime. Although, I regretted my action now”, she stated.
She further narrated how she in company of her lover withdrew and expended funds from the ATM.
She explained, “after I spied on his PIN during a particular banking transaction on his phone, I intended to only withdraw N20, 000 out of his bank account and then destroy the card. However, when I withdrew the money, and checked the account balance, I was shocked to see his balance.
Afterwards, I withdrew another N70,000 again making N90,000 that day.
“Then, the following day, I called my boyfriend, who instructed me not to destroy the card, but that I should come straight to Itori, Ogun State, where he resides. On getting to him, he called two of his friends, Abimbola Akintanna and Owolabi Bamidele, to use the ATM at any nearest bank”.
He added that they took the card to a shopping mall in Abeokuta where they bought phones and clothes.
“The following day, we went straight to Abeokuta to use the card. We thought by going this far nobody could trace us. We bought two android phones for N84, 000 at a phone store.
“We proceeded to a boutique where four of us bought clothes worth N126, 000. I recharged my phone with another N2, 500 worth of recharge card. The money spent from the account was over N300, 000.00”, she revealed.
Two Android phones, 8 pairs of trousers and shirts were recovered from the suspects during a thorough search of their residents.
Confirming the arrest, the image maker of Lagos State Police Command, Superintendent of Police, SP Dolapo Badmus, urged members of public to always protect their PIN during banking transaction at any point in time.
The suspect and exhibits recovered have been transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, for prosecution.
Wow! Meet Twin sisters who graduated with First Class and set to wed same day...photo
These beautiful twin sisters, Eno Ekerete Ukere and Ekom Ekerete Ukere, are set to marry their heartthrobs on October 20th.
The sisters graduated with first class degrees from the Akwa Ibom State University. Congrats to them!
See more photos below...
Lobatan! Married woman caught with lover and escapes through the window...photo
Residents of Fedha estate were treated to a shameful drama after an adulterous wife was caught with a man right in her matrimonial home.
The woman jumped from their bedroom on the first floor of the building after she was caught by her husband, who came back suddenly after receiving a call about his wife's escapades.
Jessy (the wife) did not care about breaking her legs as her enraged husband, Steven Odero forced the door open with three other men.
The wife's alleged lover, Ben (pictured with her) was rescued by the Kenyan police, but not before he was given some serious punches. When they got to the station, the man claimed he had no intention of sleeping with the woman, but that she was the one who invited him to come fix television...hmmm!
Photos of Nollywood actor Ibrahim Chatta's wedding, who weds for the third time today...
Ibrahim Chatta, got married for the third time today. His wedding ceremony to actress Lizzy Berry took place yesterday October 1st. Ibrahim has been married twice before and divorced.
His first marriage was to Olayinka Solomon, which ended some years ago, then he married the daughter of the former governor of Kwara state, Shaaba Lafiaji, Salamatu, which packed up two years ago.
This woman was almost beaten for physically abusing her housemaid in public...photo
The woman pictured carrying a child was nearly pounced on by market women at Kano street in Onitsha, for physically abusing her housemaid in public. It was also gathered that she had stopped the victim from going to school. According to Martins Sammie, who posted the photos on Facebook:
"If not for the prompt intervention of the White House Security; the woman pictured would have been lynched by the Market Women of Kano Street Onitsha for abusing her maid in the open. I learnt she stopped the maid's schooling and abuses her at will."
Photo of 348 cleared Boko Haram suspects handed over to Shettima by army for rehabilitation and reintegration
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima on Saturday, October 1st, received 348 Boko Haram suspects who were cleared by the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army for onward rehabilitation and reintegration with their families.
The governor congratulated the people of the state and the nation for its 56th Independence Anniversary and thanked for peace and harmony.
"In this auspicious day of our 56th independence Anniversary of our nation, it is my singular honor and privilege to congratulate the good people of Borno and thank the God Almighty for giving us this opportunity to celebrate this occasion in peace and harmony," said Shettima.
"Two years ago, nobody will have thought we can gather in an atmosphere of tranquility, peace and serenity of mind for us to celebrate this occasion. We want to register our profound gratitude to the Nigerian Army and all other security agencies that played active roles in ensuring of restoration of peace in our state. It is gratifying to note that the last back shade of the insurgents have been finally liberated and we want to thank the Nigerian Army for handing over 348 people to us. It is noteworthy that this is fifth time the Nigerian Army is releasing such people to us. This bears testimony to the fact that the Nigerian Army sticktly adheres to rule of law, equity, justice and fairness.
"Be rest assured that these released suspect will be adequately rehabilitated and resettled with their families and for the younger one who are under the ages of 5-10, we should immediately explore a means of taking them to our rehabilitation facility. Once again I will like to congratulate all Nigerians on our 56th independencenAnniversary and on behalf of all people of Borno state I wish to thank all security agencies in the state for the prominent roles they have played in clearing scourge of insurgents," Shettima further stated.
Earlier in his welcome speech, the acting GOC of the 7th Division Brig. Gen. Victor Ezugwu said the overall goal of the releasing is for the sake of doing to innocent Nigerian.
"This event is the fifth of such which the 7 Division has conducted since assumption of this command and the overall goal is that the just and innocent citizens of Nigeria do not suffer injustice," said Ezugwu.
"There are some other suspects who are not released today because they committed crimes that are civil in nature and as such, would be handed over to the Nigeria Police and Department of State Services for further action. Amongst them are also 6 foreigners who illegally entered Nigeria. They consist of 4 Cameroonians, one Chadian and one Jamaican and would be handed over to the Nigerian Immigration Service for deportation.
"I wish to use this opportunity to thank the Borno state government under the able and dynamic leadership of Hon. Kashim Shettima for giving political impetus to activities of the military and other security agencies in the state," Ezugwu said.
More photos after cut...
This Unilag Student who was rusticated says his life is in danger...photo
A 400level student of the University of Lagos, who was rusticated over a Facebook post, Olorunfemi Adeyeye, talks about issues raised by the authorities of the varsity in a statement and his recent arrest on the premises of the university with The Punch's Gbenga Adeniji. Except:
We learnt that you were recently arrested by security operatives on the premises of the University of Lagos. What really happened?
It was a minor issue which was blown out of proportion. I and three of my friends were discussing and moving towards the school. At the small exit gate of the university’s main gate, I was exchanging a contact with one of them from my phone. We were moving at a slow pace and one of the security officers told us not to loiter in an unruly manner. I nodded at him to show my acceptance of his order and also pleaded with him to be patient with us as we were almost through with the contact exchange.
To our surprise, the officer replied by launching into a verbal attack. He called my friend unprintable names. They started exchanging words. The officer manhandled him and this left my friend with a scratch on his body. It later resulted into a heated argument and noticing the gathering of students to the scene, I and my other two friends advised that we should move to the security unit to resolve the matter amicably.
My friend was dragged to the security unit and we all went there with another officer. When we got to the unit, we were told to make a statement which we did and we learnt that the university’s chief security officer had been informed of the incident.
While giving a statement, some of the officers kept making some comments directed at me. One of them pointed at me saying, ‘‘Were you not the one who insulted the vice-chancellor? The VC has caught you.”
One of the officers also said “You do not want to graduate; you are the Sahara agent, right?” I was taken aback and wondered the link between the matter and my rustication.
What did you do next?
We were at the security unit all through waiting to be attended to but nothing happened. We started making contacts to reach the CSO to resolve the matter. We did not hear from him and we were not released. We slept at the security unit. At about 5.45am, some policemen from Sabo Police Station came to take us to the station. Our shirts were tied to each other in twos. At the station, we made a statement and we were interrogated by a police officer. He insinuated that we should give a statement that we were cult members, planning to attack the school.
We vehemently refused to make such a statement. After that, my friends were given their phones but I was not given mine. They called mine an exhibit because I took the picture of the officer manhandling my friend with it. I took the picture to have a pictorial evidence of what happened and not for any other reason as the police officer alleged.
We were later locked up in a cell. Some student leaders later arrived at the police station. At that point, we were taken to the office of the Divisional Police Officer where the matter was resolved after the intervention of the CSO.
With the incident, are you in any way scared for your life?
On ethical grounds, I know I am no longer safe. I had received a lot of advice concerning safety.
The university in a statement said you and other rusticated student leaders were not victimised because of your involvement in a protest on campus. It stated that you were found to have breached a part of the regulations in the university’s 2015-2016 student information handbook. What is your reaction to this?
It was rather disheartening that the university came out to say that. It is an untrue statement. I and other student leaders were invited to a panel. The panel was known as, ‘Special senate disciplinary committee on recent students’ protest.’
I have the letters with me and they indicated that we were rusticated for our participation in the protest. Everything I wrote in the article I posted on my Facebook page pointed to the fact that the resolution of the Senate was not a product of a democratic process especially with the student leaders who participated in the protest. As of the day I was admitted into the university till the day I was rusticated, there was no regulation in the university’s student handbook that stated “unauthorised use of university name, logo, etc in a manner that would bring the university to disrepute.”
I saw the “emergency” handbook a day after I was rusticated with a student who claimed that only three of them were issued the book in a class of 78 students.
This affirms that it was a “kangaroo” verdict. It was premeditated and retroactive because I went to the panel with the latest handbook i.e for the 2014/2015 academic session and there was nothing of such in it.
Most students, especially freshmen, do not have the ‘emergency’ handbook. I can say convincingly that the handbook was ‘prepared’ to nail me. It is laughable because the university cannot attach that sub-section in clear legal terms in its allegations against me.
What is your position on the university’s submission that you abused the vice-chancellor yet expect to receive the university certificate?I am of the opinion that the university is a place for engagement of intellectual minds. It should be a breeding ground for managers; people who will be able to manage issues with all sincerity. A Nigerian graduate should be a leader who has undergone a certifiable training and must be open to criticisms and scrutiny. I have noted in one of my articles that if certificates amounted to civilisation and development, Nigeria would be the best place to be.
I know some people who have about three master’s degrees and two PhDs. I know someone who enrolled for a master’s programme because of a N10,000 increase in his salary. We are too conscious of certificates and this has brought little or no development to the country. It is high time we became educated and not “certificated.”
By mentioning the vice-chancellors’s name in my article on my Facebook page, I did two things. First, I awoke him to his responsibilities in the nation as a scholar. This is the same with other personalities I mentioned in the article.
Also, I exposed the administrative and managerial failure I noticed in the system. The language I employed might be harsh which I had apologised repeatedly, yet I maintained that the thoughts in the article were my opinions about the university’s Senate and should not be censored. I wonder why university administrators cannot tolerate a newly-reinstated students’ union that was proscribed for 10 years.
Did you organise a ‘group of boys’ as alleged by the university to cause commotion and chaos at the university gate?It was surprising to read such. The said ‘boys’ are serving corps members. It was so stated in the statement by the university. I do not think any corps members would leave their states of deployment to come and cause chaos at the gate of a university.
It was a case of trumped-up charges against us. We were the ones who asked the security men to move to the security unit to resolve the issue instead of creating a scene at the gate. I did not organise any group of boys. It is part of the desperation to nail me.
How would you react to the claim by the UNILAG authorities that you were arrested on campus because of your desperation to attract cheap publicity, earn public sympathy and continuously bring the name of the university into disrepute?It is an opinion which I won’t censor as a sensible and civilised democrat though they censored mine. Popularity or sympathy does not define a man. A man is defined by his level of consciousness.
Have you been barred from entering the university?
I have not been declared persona non grata on the premises of the university by the school authorities.
Photo of two Nigerian men arrested for fraud in Delhi, India
Two Nigerian men were arrested on Friday, September 30th by a joint team of Delhi and Goa Police for cheating several people after befriending them on social networking sites.
The suspects identified as Chukwuma Collins, 35, and Nicodemus Obinn, 27, used to befriend people on Facebook and then ask for money to send "necessary items" to their family members in UK.
Police said that the two used to cook up stories about the poor conditions of their family members living in western countries and ask the victims to help them with money. After receiving the money they broke all contact with the victims. Both have been involved in several cases of fraud and an FIR was registered against them in Goa cyber crime cell.
Bridget Fernandes Rai, a victim made a complaint to Goa Police, claiming to have been cheated of around Rs 8 lakh by the duo. She said that she had befriended Collins on Facebook and after a few days of chatting he started calling her.
Rai told the police that Collins started referring to her as his sister and asked for Rs 8 lakh to transfer some money and jewellery through a courier to his relatives. He claimed that the courier was stuck in legal processes at the customs department in Goa and he needed to get it delivered quickly as his wife had expired.
Rai agreed to transfer the money to his account. As soon as the money was transferred, Collins disappeared. After some time, Bridget received a call from the custom department, which raised questions regarding the parcel she had sent, and realised that she was duped.
"A team from Goa Police approached us in Delhi after a technical surveillance pointed to role of some people operating from here. A joint team was formed to track the accused. The duo was arrested from Mahavir Enclave in south Delhi," said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner, crime.
Collins and Obinn confessed to their crime and disclosed that they had cheated several others in a similar way. Three laptops, seven data cards, 36 SIM cards and 26 mobile phones, three USB pen drives, were recovered from the duo.
During interrogation, the duo claimed that they had arrived in India five years ago for business and then started cheating people using different techniques. Both accused were produced in a Dwarka court and taken on a transit remand by Goa Police.
Source: Times of India
Disgusting Act! Photo of two disgusting ladies trying to rape a man...
These two ladies can be seen forcing themselves on the guy...with one trying to get him aroused so the other one can have sex with him. You can see the other lady holding his hands down.
They can also be seen holding his hands down very strongly. He should be strong enough to get them off him or maybe he was drugged and made weak? This is a disgusting act and the ladies should be brought to justice...this is sexual abuse live and direct and even recorded...shame on them!!!
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo reveals what he foresaw and warned about Nigeria’s current recession two years ago...
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says he foresaw and warned about Nigeria’s current recession two years ago, but said he was ignored.
Mr. Obasanjo said he was concerned about recession when he saw how “recklessly” the Goodluck Jonathan administration spent the country’s resources.
The former president spoke on Saturday in an Independence Day message at a lecture organised by the Youth Fellowship of Owu Baptist Church, Abeokuta.
“Whoever that has lived to witness the celebration of today should thank God,” he said. “Things are not what they should be, but we should pray that next year will be better than this year. We thank God for those who are alive, we prayed for the souls of those who have laboured for these country and who have passed on to rest in perfect peace.”
Mr. Obasanjo said one of the major issues threatening the peace of Nigeria now is the high level of unemployment.
“Unemployment is a major problem in the country today and if we don’t take care, it will consume all of us. In fact, the rising unemployment is a time bomb,” he said.
The former president recalled how he got five job offers immediately he completed his secondary school education at Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta.
He said he received offers from the United Africa Company (UAC) and Moore Plantation, Ibadan, among others. He said the situation is different today in the country.
Mr. Obasanjo said the businessman, Aliko Dangote, told him that six Ph.D. holders were among applicants seeking jobs with his company as truck drivers.
Mr. Obasanjo said the high rate of unemployment was responsible for youth restiveness in the country, warning that the situation should be tackled with all the “seriousness” it deserves before it get out of hand.
The former president said the country cannot develop if it pays no attention to agriculture.
“That is why we have to take it as a key of our development else the many educated Nigerians who have no job are like time bomb, sooner than later, it will explode,” he said.
Advisory to Senior Govt Officials is kidnapped...photo
Following the increase in kidnap cases in the country, the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services have issued a security advisory to top government officers and prominent Nigerians in the country.
Sunday Punch gathered that the advisory listed precautionary security measures which top Nigerians must take to avoid being kidnapped.
The wife of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Margaret, was kidnapped along the Benin-Agbor Road on Thursday but regained her freedom less than 48 hours after her abductors demanded N100m ransom.
There have been other high-profile kidnappings this year, including the recent abduction of Senator Iyabo Anisulowo and an attempt to kidnap an oil magnate, Mr. Femi Otedola.
Findings by Punch correspondents showed that the two agencies gave the security advisory through the policemen and the DSS operatives attached to government officers, including ministers and other political appointees, as well as lawmakers.
It was learnt that the advisory came on the heels of the change of tactics used by kidnappers targeting top government officials and their family members.
Top on the list of instructions given to politicians, government officials and other prominent individuals was that they should avoid late-night outings and long-distance travels by road, particularly at night.
The security advisory, it was further gathered, also counselled the dignitaries against divulging their destination and itinerary to non-family members or employees, unless it was absolutely necessary for them to know.
A top police source, who confided in Sunday Punch, said, “I am aware that the two security agencies have instructed these ‘big men and women’ on how to conduct themselves, especially now that criminals are targeting prominent individuals and politicians in the country. Some of them will be asking for more police security but it’s beyond that. They need to watch how they move and who they discuss with.”
He referred Sunday Punch to a statement made by one of the three kidnapped landlords, who regained their freedom after their abduction in Lagos a few weeks ago.
The landlord had told Channels Television, that they (the landlords) were not the real target of the kidnappers but that their abductors were looking for politicians.
The landlord stated, “Their (kidnappers) major objective in Lagos was to kidnap senior politicians or ‘big men.’ We were not big men, so we were the wrong target at the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.
Some prominent politicians told our correspondents that politicians are now living in fear following the spate of kidnappings. They however refused to comment on whether they would be asking for more police protection.
Shocking! Police arrests man and his friend caught with sister's bones..photo
The Ogun State Police Command says it has arrested a man, Wole Oke, 38, and his friend Wasiu Adesina, 30, for being in possession of human parts . The duo were arrested at Ijebu, Idi-aro area of Abeokuta while policemen attached to Oke Itoku Division, led by the DPO, CSP Abeni Farinre, were on patrol.
The Police Public Relations in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement, said the suspects took to their heels with a leather bag on sighting policemen and they were hotly chased and arrested. He said: “On searching the bag with them, it was discovered that it contained human bones. On interrogation, one of the suspects, Wole Oke, confessed that they were the bones of his sister who died four years ago.
“He further stated that one herbalist sent him to go and bring it for money ritual purpose.
“The Commissioner of Police in the state, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the state Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation. He also directed that the herbalist mentioned be arrested without further delay.
Omg! Veteran actor Tunde Alabi will loose a leg due diabetes...photo
The whole entertainment world has also gotten another shock, and it’s about one of their favourites, At the moment, Mr Tunde Alabi is currently at the Lagos General Hospital waiting for funds to carry out a surgery on his leg.
According to sources, he is a diabetes patient and has been battling it for years. Long story cut short, Mr Tunde has been admitted for days and now needs help from the public to carry out his surgery. What’s more shocking is that sources are saying he is even homeless with no family members around.
However that he is broke is no news, because we all they got paid very little back then. Money that couldn't even sustain them, but they did it for passion, so that’s not shocking. Anyway, one of his colleagues, Paul Julius who has been running around for him has got something to say. We call on his colleagues in the industry to please come to his aid. It;s not about flashing millions online, it’s about helping others and that’s who a real big boy/girl is if you ask me. What Julius said after the cut....
“If there’s a better word to use in place of veteran, then that should come for this old war horse in the world of make –believe.
Uncle Tunde Alabi has been on the acting scene since the glorious days of television drama in Nigeria and he’s today one of the last of that octopus called The Village Headmaster, a television drama that was the in – thing in its days on National Television.
His role in the now rested soap opera ‘PALACE’ produced by Ralph Nwadike was one that viewers will not forget in haste. This thorough-breed professional of the old order who is equally at home with the youngsters of today, impacting knowledge and valuable experience into them whenever he has the opportunity is currently down with ailment which has put his right foot in danger to the point of amputation if urgent help is not given.
He’s laying helplessly at the General Hospital, Lagos waiting to lose his right leg or even worse. He has done his part in putting smiles on faces and happiness in the lives of millions home and abroad, it’s our turn to help him. Nothing is too small…HE will appreciate your candid help. Thanks and God bless “ Julius said.
Name: TUNDE OBAFEMI ALABI
Bank Details: UNITY BANK PLC
Account No. : 0005647181
Omg! This mum and her 9 yr old daughter stopped by police from jumping in front of train...
A suicidal mom, 43 year old Gabriella Georgescu, holding her 9-year-old daughter threatened to jump in front of an oncoming subway train in Midtown, New York on Friday. According to the Police, Georgesc was raving and ranting about killing herself and her child as she stood close to the edge of the platform at 59th St. and Lexington Ave. just before 5 p.m.
Alarmed passengers and an MTA worker who heard her threats alerted the police. A plainclothes police officer arrived to find Georgescu leaning near the gap as a northbound 6 train rolled into the station, according to cops.
The officer quickly slapped cuffs on her before she could jump, an NYPD spokesman said.
Another officer grabbed the little girl, who had bruises on her back was later taken into the custody of the city Administration for Child’s Services. The bruises on the little girl's back, led cops to suspect that she had been abused.
Georgescu, who is believed to have been visiting a relative in the city at the time of her suicide attempt was taken to Bellevue Hospital in New York to be evaluated, authorities said.
Police say she will be charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.
Source: NY Daily News
Na wa o! See what Veteran actress Clarion Chukwurah wore to Nigeria's Independence day parade in New York...photo
The actress wears this daring outfit at the Nigeria Independence day parade which held in New York today October 1st.
Photo of son who beat his great-grandmother to death and regrets not killing his own mother...
This 23 year old man, Gary Bias has been accused of fatally beating his 82 year old great-grandmother, Ella-Nae Bias, to death and tying up his mom. Bias told police after he got arrested that he regretted not having the chance to finish off his mother.
Gary Bias’ twisted admission was revealed by prosecutors at his Saturday arraignment as he was hit with murder and attempted murder charges.
The 23-year-old accused killer was ordered held without bail hours after members of his Alphabet City neighborhood called for his head.
A neighbour of the great-grandmother, Moses Ware said:
“If I see the kid I would break his neck”. “That lady was so nice."
Another neighbour said:
"It's a sad situation, I just want to cry and scream”. “It's so unbelievable for a great grandson to kill his great grandmother. When you're 82 years old, how can you defend yourself from your own blood?"
Police say that Bias went to his Great-grandmother's house looking for money and clothes and when she said she didn't have any money, he duct-taped her wrists and ankles to a chair before beating her to death on Friday inside her apartment.
According to Police, after killing her, Gary Bias then called his 39-year-old mother, claiming that his great-grandmother wanted to see her.
When the mother arrived, Ella-Nae was already dead and Gary was “lying in wait,” a police source said.
As soon as his mother entered the apartment, Gary overpowered her, beat and kicked her and then bound her to a chair and covered her mouth with duct tape.
When she finally stopped resisting about 5:30 p.m., Bias left the apartment.
His mom was able to free herself and bang on neighbors doors, begging them to call the police, officials said.
Police responded and captured Bias as he was fleeing into Brooklyn through the Williamsburg Bridge.
Stunned family members said Bias lived her entire life in the Lillian Wald Houses.
“She lived her whole life in that apartment,” said one of her grandsons, who wished not to be named. “She had all of her kids there and looked after her grandkids there. She was the main branch of the family.”
Bias had six children, but one died at a young age, family members said. Her remaining living children, three daughters and two sons and grandchildren lived close by and would often visit the elderly woman.
“Everyone was close with her,” her grandson said. “If anyone wanted something to be done, she was the one to do it. She was a good person.”
Gary Bias is a career felon who has been arrested 16 times and was last arrested in November when he attacked his 42-year-old step-father with a mini-baseball bat, cops said.
Neighbors said they knew Gary but never realized he could be so violent.
“That kid had a good upbringing, you would never suspect this of him,” neighbor Tyrone Bethea said. "The kid was a quiet, loving kid, but I guess he was a walking time bomb. I don't know what set him off. He looked like he had a lot of things bottled up."
Photo of club girl and her lover who withdrew N300...
Wow! Meet Twin sisters who graduated with First Cl...
Lobatan! Married woman caught with lover and escap...
Photos of Nollywood actor Ibrahim Chatta's wedding...
This woman was almost beaten for physically abusin...
Photo of 348 cleared Boko Haram suspects handed ov...
This Unilag Student who was rusticated says his li...
Photo of two Nigerian men arrested for fraud in De...
Disgusting Act! Photo of two disgusting ladies try...
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo reveals what he...
Advisory to Senior Govt Officials is kidnapped...p...
Shocking! Police arrests man and his friend caught...
Omg! Veteran actor Tunde Alabi will loose a leg du...
Omg! This mum and her 9 yr old daughter stopped by...
Na wa o! See what Veteran actress Clarion Chukwura...
Photo of son who beat his great-grandmother to dea...
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2018-19 Stats (PDF)
2019 Brittney Ezell Basketball Camps
Digital Media Guide
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ETSU places 56 student-athletes on SoCon Spring All-Academic list
SoCon Release
Schurr finishes with a perfect 4.0 GPA; nine total Bucs post 3.9 GPA or higher during the spring semester
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (June 25, 2019) -- The Southern Conference announced its Academic All-Conference selections for the spring semester on Tuesday afternoon, as ETSU placed 56 student-athletes on the prestigious list.
To be eligible for the academic all-conference team, student-athletes must carry at least a 3.3 cumulative grade point average at the conclusion of the spring semester and were required to compete in at least one-half of their teams’ competitions. In addition, the student-athletes must have successfully completed at least three semesters at their institutions, making true freshmen and first-year transfers ineligible for inclusion.
The Bucs had nine student-athletes register a GPA of 3.90 or higher during the spring semester, including red-shirt senior outfielder Malloree Schurr (Montgomery, Texas) with a perfect. 4.0 mark. Teammates Lauren Lee (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Kylie Toler (Bradenton, Fla.) were among the Bucs with a 3.90 GPA or better this past spring, while Austin Carter (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Geuntae Kim (Daegu, South Korea) of men’s golf, baseball’s David Beam (Knoxville, Tenn.), women’s golfer Hee Ying Loy (Johor, Malaysia) and Matt Scarr (Wamberal, NSW, Australia) and Lindsay Bruce (Knoxville, Tenn.) of men’s and women’s track and field also achieved this honor.
The men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field programs accounted for half of the selections. The women combined for 15 with the men adding 13. Softball had eight student-athletes – tying the most from any roster – with indoor women’s track and field.
Men’s golf and men’s tennis each had five student-athletes represented, while women’s golf had four players make the spring team. Baseball added three selections, women’s tennis had two and women’s basketball had one representative.
Overall, 580 student-athletes earned the honor, which are the most for any academic all-conference team in the history of the SoCon, as it began selecting teams in the winter of 2002-03 and selected fall, winter and spring teams through 2014-15. Beginning in 2015-16, the winter and spring teams were combined, with those student-athletes honored after the spring semester. The previous record was 571 selections in the spring of 2018.
Eight of the SoCon’s 10 full-time institutions had at least 47 honorees this year, representing the sports of men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, rifle, wrestling, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, men’s and women’s tennis, baseball and softball.
Twenty-seven student-athletes combined for 31 perfect 4.0 cumulative GPAs. That total is the second-most in league history, trailing only the 38 perfect GPAs from last spring.
Samford led all schools with 73 spots on the academic all-conference team, followed by Mercer with 65. ETSU (56), Furman (55), The Citadel (54) and Western Carolina (50) all had at least 50.
For information on all Buccaneer athletics, please visit ETSUBucs.com.
ETSU fans wanting to receive Buccaneer news, score updates, in-game promotions and much more sent to their mobile device can do so by signing up for “Buc Updates.” Click here to sign up today!
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Diana Castelnuovo-Tedesco,
Founder and Managing Director, Fraiche PR
Diana Castelnuovo-Tedesco founded Fraîche PR in 2005 to develop creative marketing communications programs for lifestyle brands and cultural organizations – both entrepreneurial ventures and established names. Fraiche PR’s offerings include bilingual services for French companies and organizations seeking to raise their profiles in the USA.
A winner of the British Airways Face-of-Opportunity Contest, a program recognizing internationally-minded entrepreneurs, Diana is a member of The French-American Chamber of Commerce, Italy-America Chamber of Commerce, Fashion Group International, and Cosmetic Executive Women.
Previously, she was head of global communication for the Smirnoff brand at the premium drinks company Diageo (Connecticut/NYC). She also served as vice president of press and public relations for the global beauty leader Coty (Paris) as well as vice president, consumer, at the leading global public relations firm, Porter-Novelli (NYC).
Before leaping into the world of communications, Diana received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College. More recently, her fascination with the art of winemaking and tasting led her to studies at The International Wine Center, where she achieved the WSET Level 3 Advanced Certificate. Her personal interests include managing the music archive of her grandfather, the composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
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Julius LeVonne Chambers
Contact | Directions
309 EAST MOREHEAD STREET SUITE 110
A Legacy of Service, Love and Commitment
THE TOP 100 LAWYERS
September 1, 2014 Tim Jeffries
North Carolina Super Lawyers
James Ferguson was again recognized as one of North Carolina's Super Lawyers in the areas of Personal Injury (medical malpractice and general plaintiff work) and Civil Rights/First Amendment. Mr. Ferguson was also again listed among the Top 100 lawyers in the state based on receiving among the highest point totals in the nomination, research and blue ribbon review process.
DEATH IN GEORGIA
This featured article by Jeffrey Toobin in The New Yorker examines the Brian Nichols death penalty case in Atlanta, Georgia. In July, 2005, Henderson Hill and Jake Sussman were appointed to represent Mr. Nichols.
In July, 2005, he approved the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council’s selection of Henderson Hill, an accomplished criminal-defense lawyer from Charlotte, North Carolina, who specializes in death-penalty cases, to lead a new team of four. "I felt that this case was difficult enough that we needed someone away from the local Atlanta legal community," Fuller said. "The indictment was fifty-four counts, there are eleven different crime scenes, and it was just a complicated case. The local criminal-defense bar did not come flocking to this case. I went to one of the best defense lawyers in Atlanta to ask him about taking this case, and he said, 'Heavens, no. I knew Judge Barnes too well.' Judge Barnes was loved by everyone here. That decision--hiring the lawyers from North Carolina--has been the thing that caused the most trouble, because it's been expensive to have people come in from out of state."
Defense costs for travel and lodging have been substantial, though Hill cut his usual hourly rate from three hundred and fifty dollars to a hundred and seventy-five dollars, and his colleague--Jacob Sussman, from Hill’s North Carolina firm, and Robert L. McGlasson, a veteran death-penalty specialist in Atlanta--are working for less. A fourth lawyer, Penny Marshall, volunteers her time.
Source: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/02/...
DEMS CHAIR APOLOGIZES, QUITS OVER SHERIFF VOTE
The Charlotte Observer
By Jim Morrill and Mark Price
The firm represented Mecklenburg County Sheriff-elect Nick Mackey during the controversial election process to replace outgoing Sheriff James Pendergraph.
THE BRIAN NICHOLS TRIAL
By Bill Rankin
Henderson Hill and Jake Sussman were appointed to represent Brian Nichols on capital murder charges in Fulton County, Georgia. Mr. Nichols was charged with killing four people, including a judge, court reporter, and two law enforcement officers.
SYMPOSIUM: MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE DEATH PENALTY
The firm played a central role in the creation and organzation of this important symposium on mental illness and the death penalty.
"Nationally-recognized scholars, psychologists, and legal experts will deliberate the most controversial aspect of the death penalty --mental illness -- at a symposium 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. October 20, 2006 at the new Charlotte School of Law. The program, titled Mental Illness and the Death Penalty: Seeking a "Reasoned Moral Response" to an Unavoidable Condition is hosted by the Charlotte School of Law, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, the John S. Leary Bar Association, and the Charlotte Coalition for a Moratorium Now. The event will be followed by a reception at the school.
The symposium will feature a variety of speakers with diverse backgrounds in order to capture the many issues surrounding mental illness and the death penalty."
5 QUESTIONS FOR HENDERSON HILL
By Gary L. Wright
Q: Why did you agree to defend Nichols?
A: I have spent 25 years practicing and teaching the art of trial advocacy, and a significant part of the last 15 years thinking about and working through the difficult issues associated with the trials of death penalty cases. . . . The first calling of a trial lawyer is to translate difficult and complex facts and frequently arcane legal concepts into comprehensible terms and to do so in a persuasive manner. I think I can help do that. Beyond that, violence, and most especially deadly violence, hurts families and communities in many and often complex ways. My view of the art of criminal defense calls on the lawyer to be sensitive to those injuries and to seek restorative justice wherever possible. The community in Fulton County is in tremendous need of restorative justice."
NICHOLS DEFENSE WANTS FULTON JURY -- BUT NO TRIAL IN FULTON COURTHOUSE
Fulton County Daily Report
By Steven H. Pollak
FERGUSON STEIN PRESENTED WITH CIVIL RIGHTS LEGACY AWARD
The Mecklenburg Bar News
By Hon. Robert P. Johnston
Ferguson, Stein, Chambers, Adkins, Gresham and Sumter, P.A., was presented with the Civil Rights Legacy Award by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan legal organization formed at the request of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
The reception and presentation took place at the Levine Museum of the New South on August 12 and included reminiscences by the named partners. The event was in conjunction with the National Bar Association's convention in Charlotte.
Robert Harrington of Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A., vice-chair of the Southeast Region for the Lawyers' Committee, made remarks and observed, "Ferguson Stein is not only a Charlotte institution, but also a national legal institution. No law firm in the country has had more impact on--and I suspect sacrificed more for--the cause of civil rights than Ferguson Stein. My guess is that there is no close second. This, often in the face of threats and hostility that have been real and tangible.
He continued by saying, "From education and employment rights cases to voting rights cases to police brutality cases to prisoners' rights case, Ferguson Stein's representations have affected the way we learn and where we learn, have vindicated our right to vote and work, and have protected our citizens from improper arrest and mistreatment at the hands of the government."
MAKING BROWN REAL
By Molly McDonough
Feature article about the firm's continued involvement in school desegregation litigation in North Carolina.
Charlotte lawyer Corie D. Pauling and Chapel Hill lawyer William Simpson Jr. now oversee the Coppedge case for Chambers’ law firm, Ferguson Stein Chambers. They are working with the Justice Department and the school district to achieve greater desegregation.
The plaintiffs’ complaints have evolved from basic desegregation by numbers to attention to the important details of quality of education, learning and discipline. There is no question that there are racial disparities, Pauling and Simpson say. But unlike the early litigation in Franklin County, the parties are tackling these issues in a more unified fashion.
"The school board believes in the concept of desegregation," Simpson says. "Our goal is to move it up on the list of priorities."
The lawyers are careful to point out that the length of the case is not an indication of failure. "You can look at the division that existed in Louisburg before and the hostility that existed and how that hostility has been eliminated," Chambers says. "All this shows that people can live together and that communities can grow and prosper."
LANE RELEASED ON BOND
By Eric Frazier
The firm represented Deidra Lane after she was charged with the murder of her husband, ex-Carolina Panther running back Fred Lane. Although the prosecution sought the death penalty, the firm was able to secure a voluntary manslaughter conviction for Mrs. Lane.
Firm Hosted Reception with Members of the South African Judiciary
Powered by Framework Studios 2014
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Matthew Byrne
Andy Irvine
From Stage to Stage
Jim Payne & Fergus O'Byrne
Gary & Whit
Byrne / Downey
Sherman Downey
Allan Ricketts
Dave Penny
Harry Ingram
Hubert Furey
Jim Payne & Fergus O' Byrne
Legendary Tradition Bearers of Newfoundland Music
Two of Newfoundland’s most respected and multi-award winning performers combine instrumental prowess and humorous repartee, to cover a broad spectrum of Newfoundland folk culture, including songs, stories and dance tunes. Their repertoire includes rousing sea shanties and work songs, poignant ballads, comic ditties, folk tales and recitations, and toe-tapping jigs, reels and polkas on a variety of instruments.
A native of Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland, Jim Payne (vocals, accordion, mandola, guitar) is a leading performer, collector and producer of traditional Newfoundland music. He is also one of the province’s most prolific songwriters, as well as being a singer of traditional songs, a storyteller, writer, actor, step dancer and instructor and caller of traditional Newfoundland set and square dances. He has performed extensively on radio and television both in Canada and abroad, and has toured throughout North America, the US, Europe, Japan and Australia.
Originally from Ireland, Fergus O’Byrne (vocals, 5 string banjo, guitar, bodhran, concertina) became a familiar voice on radio and television as a member of the renowned folk group, Ryan’s Fancy, with whom he recorded 14 albums. Since then, he has followed a busy solo and freelance career, touring throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Hong Kong and Australia. He can be heard on recordings by Newfoundland artists Great Big Sea, and he has contributed to several anthologies of Newfoundland music. Fergus was a member of the celebrated Newfoundland traditional band Tickle Harbour, whose album Battery Included, besides being an ECMA nominee, won three awards at the 1999 Newfoundland Music Industry Association Awards. In 2001 he produced a Ryan’s Fancy retrospective CD Songs From The Shows, featuring songs from the renowned 1970’s CBC National television series, Ryan’s Fancy and in 2011 he produced the highly acclaimed CD Ryan’s Fancy – What A Time!
"Newfoundland free spirits Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne sang a polished and thoroughly professional set of sailing tunes, original and older shanties, a stirring performance by two of the best folk musicians on the East Coast."
Stephen Pedersen, The Chronicle-Herald, The Mail Star, Halifax (Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival,)
BOOKING - roger@foleymore.com
Following a night performing at Gros Morne Theatre Festival's Who's Darkening Our Door, Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne joined Old Crow Magazine on the beach in Cow Head to perform a few tunes.
Site by Matthew Byrne. Powered by SquareSpace.
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The Wall Street Journal: Hockey fight! Patent office rejects newest NHL team’s trademark
The NHL’s new team in Las Vegas is dropping the gloves before it even begins play in 2017.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the Vegas Golden Knights’ trademark application, citing possible confusion with the Golden Knights of the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y.
The Las Vegas franchise had a ceremony on Nov. 22 to unveil the name, colors and logos and has already been selling team merchandise.
“We are currently reviewing the Trademark Office’s letter and will prepare a detailed response demonstrating why we continue strongly to believe the Vegas Golden Knights mark should be registered in co-existence with the college registration, just as a number of other nicknames currently co-exist in professional and college sports,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement.
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City of Arts and Science
You'd be forgiven for thinking that you're looking at the headquarters of the united federation of planets in some distant galaxy. In fact, this is the City of Arts and Science, an assemblage of cultural attractions in Valencia, Spain. Originally opened in 1996, the last element of the "city" to be completed was the Reina Sofía Palace of Arts (far left) in 2005. Also known as the Head of the Bug, it became the city's opera house. The complex was designed by hometown boy — and internationally recognized architect — Santiago Calatrava. His work has a lot in common with another Spanish creator known for his outlandish structures: Antoni Gaudí. Both use the principles of engineering to develop shapes which have intrinsic structural strength.
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"Didn't Let Girls Do It In Old Days": US Judge Called Out Over Sexism
Buried in a footnote, the brief rebuke nonetheless marked a notable step in abridging gender discrimination in the legal workplace: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit scolded a veteran judge for making sexist comments in his Houston courtroom, calling his remarks "demeaning, inappropriate, and beneath the dignity" of his profession.
U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes had been presiding over a criminal case against Simone Swenson, an adoption agency owner charged with fraud.
Under federal rules, prosecutors are permitted to wait until just before trial to turn over pieces of evidence, known as discovery. But when a female federal prosecutor delivered stacks of new documents during four pretrial conferences in early 2017 - weeks after the final discovery date set by Hughes - the septuagenarian judge was not impressed.
"You're supposed to know what you're doing," Hughes said to an assistant U.S. attorney on Feb. 6, 2017. "What else is out there that you misplaced or didn't think was relevant so you didn't check it at all?"
Hughes dismissed the Swenson indictment, faulting the prosecutor's mistakes.
Then he said something else that eventually became the basis of the rebuke.
"It was a lot simpler when you guys wore dark suits, white shirts and navy ties," Hughes said, according to the 5th Circuit. "We didn't let girls do it in the old days."
The U.S. attorney's office appealed the case's dismissal, which set up a panel of appellate judges to send back its censorious response.
In reinstating the Swenson case, the appellate court also took an unusual action: It ordered Hughes, now 76, to be replaced with a different judge.
More than a third of the 300,000 members of the American Bar Association are women, according to a recent report from the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession, and female litigators have been subjected to male colleagues' sexist comments for decades.
Two years ago, the ABA adopted an anti-discrimination resolution in its rules of professional ethics, making harassment and discrimination grounds for findings of misconduct.
"It's important to set up a process and culture that doesn't marginalize people who legitimately say, 'You did this to me,' " said Michele Coleman Mayes, former chair of the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession.
The resolution and the subsequent arrival of the #MeToo movement eased the way for women to come forward with claims of sexual harassment or unfair treatment, Angela Brandt, president of the National Association of Women Lawyers, told The Washington Post. Still, she said, female lawyers are hesitant to do so.
"It's a male-dominated profession," she said. "Women feel weak highlighting this type of bad behavior, and, in certain circumstances, it can jeopardize their careers."
Experts say the industry has therefore faced less scrutiny than other professions - though there have been notable exceptions: Judge Alex Kozinski, for example, resigned from the federal bench last year amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The accusations led to a review of how the judiciary handles claims of harassment, though Kozinski's abrupt retirement cut short any investigation into the merits of the allegations against him.
Hughes, who has been on the bench for almost three decades, denied the accusation of sexism. He told The Post that his comment was not directed at the prosecutor in his Houston courtroom but at an "inappropriately dressed" woman.
The 5th Circuit acknowledged that Hughes's comments may have been intended for someone other than the U.S. attorney. Nevertheless, Judge Edith Brown Clement of the 5th Circuit wrote, as Hughes "excoriated the prosecution," he "attributed the government's mistakes to the prosecutor's sex."
The female prosecutor was not named in the 5th Circuit's decision, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari has been prosecuting the Swenson case since 2015, according to the Justice Department.
Ansari, who attended the University of Houston Law Center and has been practicing for more than 15 years, could not be reached for comment.
Michael Sokolow, Swenson's assistant federal public defender, declined to speak about the case, which is being assigned to a new judge and rescheduled for trial.
Hughes denied favoring either sex. "After I've made it through my career with a woman's first name, of course I'm going to be sympathetic," he told The Post.
Hughes began teaching at South Texas College of Law in 1973. At that time, he said, about 6 percent of the law school's students were women. By 1985, the figure had surpassed 40 percent, leading to what Hughes called "a vast improvement in the quality of the lawyers. We're getting the best of both sexes instead of the best of one sex."
Until recently, there was little judicial precedent or federal case law addressing sexism, California attorney Lori Rifkin told The Post. The Hughes decision, she said, will help female lawyers represent the best interests of their clients, which should never be reduced by the biases of parties involved in the litigation process.
"It's very positive that a court of appeals was willing to engage on this issue, name it and act to address the problem," said Rifkin, who said she had been a victim of belittling, gendered remarks. "Having something so head-on will empower women and other underrepresented groups in litigation to fight back against this kind of treatment."
In 2016, Rifkin moved for sanctions against her opposing counsel, a managing partner at a California law firm. A comment from him - not to raise her voice at him during a deposition because it's "not becoming of a woman" - brought on a tongue-lashing from a federal judge, who called it an "indefensible attack on opposing counsel."
The judge then ordered that he donate $250 to the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation.
There is not necessarily less sexism in the profession now, Rifkin said, but there is "more consciousness and a willingness especially by judges to take a role in addressing it." Now, she noted, women are doing more than whispering to one another in courthouse hallways. The conversation is happening inside the courtroom.
Still, until there are more women in positions of power in the legal industry, women who practice law will be reluctant to speak out unless the behavior was egregious, said Mayes, who led the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession until 2017.
"You win the fight, but you lose the war," she said. "And I don't think most people are willing to lose for the cause."
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2019 Global Peace Ranking – Iceland is No.1, while Japan 9th and United States, 128th (11/07/2019)
According to the 2019 Global Peace Index provided by the Institute of Economics and Peace, Iceland is No.1, while Japan 9th and United States, 128th. IEP is headquartered in Sydney, with offices in New York, The Hague, Mexico City, Brussels and Harare. It provides a snapshot of the global state of peacefulness among 164 countries. For more information visit www.economicsandpeace.org
This is the thirteenth edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace. It ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. Produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), the GPI is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. This report presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to date on peace, its economic value, trends, and how to develop peaceful societies.
The GPI covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace using three thematic domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarisation.
In addition to presenting the findings from the 2019 GPI, this year’s report includes analysis of trends in Positive Peace: the attitudes, institutions, and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies. It looks at the relationship between the actual peace of a country, as measured by the GPI, and Positive Peace, and how a deficit of Positive Peace is often a predictor of future increases in violent conflict. It also looks at the dynamic relationship between changes in Positive Peace and changes in the economy.
The results this year show that the average level of global peacefulness improved very slightly in the 2019 GPI. This is the first time the index has improved in five years. The average country score improved by 0.09 per cent, with 86 countries improving, and 76 recording deteriorations. The 2019 GPI reveals a world in which the conflicts and crises that emerged in the past decade have begun to abate, but new tensions within and between nations have emerged.
Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. It is joined at the top of the index by New Zealand, Austria, Portugal, and Denmark. Bhutan has recorded the largest improvement of any country in the top 20, rising 43 places in the last 12 years.
Afghanistan is now the least peaceful country in the world, replacing Syria, which is now the second least peaceful. South Sudan, Yemen, and Iraq comprise the remaining five least peaceful countries. This is the first year since the inception of the index that Yemen has been ranked amongst the five least peaceful countries.
Four of the nine regions in the world became more peaceful over the past year. The greatest increase in peacefulness occurred in the Russia and Eurasia region, followed by the Middle East and North Africa. In both of these regions, the number of deaths from conflict declined, owing to the de-escalation of violence in Ukraine and Syria respectively. The fall in conflict deaths has been mirrored by a fall in deaths from terrorism.
All three regions in the Americas recorded a deterioration in peacefulness in the 2019 GPI, with Central America and the Caribbean showing the largest deteriorations, followed by South America, and then North America. Increasing political instability has been an issue across all three regions, exemplified by the violent unrest seen in Nicaragua and Venezuela, and growing political polarisation in Brazil and the United States.
The trend in peacefulness since 2008 shows that global peacefulness has deteriorated by 3.78 per cent, with 81 GPI countries recording a deterioration, and 81 improving, highlighting that deteriorations in peacefulness are generally larger than improvements. The index has deteriorated for eight of the last twelve years, with the last improvement in peacefulness before 2019 occurring in 2014. Seventeen of the 23 GPI indicators are less peaceful on average in 2019 when compared to 2008.
Two of the three GPI domains deteriorated over the past decade, with Ongoing Conflict deteriorating by 8.69 per cent and Safety and Security deteriorating by 4.02 per cent. Terrorism and internal conflict have been the greatest contributors to the global deterioration in peacefulness. One hundred and four countries recorded increased terrorist activity, while only 38 improved, and the total number of conflict deaths increased by 140 per cent between 2006 and 2017.
However, contrary to public perception, the Militarisation domain has recorded a 2.6 per cent improvement since 2008. The number of armed services personnel per 100,000 people has fallen in 117 countries, and military expenditure as a percentage of GDP fell in 98 countries, with only 63 countries increasing their spending.
Perceptions of peacefulness have increased in some areas but decreased in others. More people across the world now feel that they have more freedom in life, are more satisfied with life, and are treated with more respect than in 2008. Many more people also feel that their countries are better places to live for ethnic and religious minorities. However, daily feelings of sadness, worry, and stress have also increased over the same time period.
There is a strong correlation between perceptions of peacefulness and actual peacefulness as measured by the GPI. Both men and women in more peaceful countries are more likely to report that they feel safe walking alone at night than people in less peaceful countries. There is also a greater level of trust in police in more peaceful societies.
Perceptions of trust in the world’s most powerful countries has fallen since 2008. Confidence in US leadership has fallen more than confidence in Russian, Chinese and German leadership in the past five years, with people on average now having more confidence in Chinese leadership than the US.
Dealing with these negative trends in peacefulness becomes even more crucial when looking at the potential impact of climate change on peace. An estimated 971 million people live in areas with high or very high climate change exposure. Of this number, 400 million (41 per cent) reside in countries which already have low levels of peacefulness.
Climate change can indirectly increase the likelihood of violent conflict through its impacts on resource availability, livelihood, security and migration. In order to address these challenges, there will need to be much greater cooperation both within and between countries. Countries with high levels of Positive Peace are better able to manage climate-induced shocks and tend to have higher environmental performance than those with lower levels of Positive Peace.
The economic impact of violence on the global economy in 2018 was $14.1 trillion in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. This figure is equivalent to 11.2 per cent of the world’s economic activity (gross world product) or $1,853 for every person. The economic impact of violence improved by 3.3 per cent during 2018. The greatest improvement was in Armed Conflict, which decreased by 29 per cent to $672 billion, owing to a fall in the intensity of conflict in Syria, Colombia and Ukraine. There was also a substantial reduction in the economic impact of terrorism, which fell by 48 per cent from 2017 to 2018.
Violence continues to have a significant impact on economic performance around the globe. In the ten countries most affected by violence, the average economic cost of violence was equivalent to 35 per cent of GDP, compared to just 3.3 per cent in the countries least affected by violence. Syria, Afghanistan and the Central African Republic incurred the largest economic cost of violence in 2018 as a percentage of their GDP, equivalent to 67, 47 and 42 per cent of GDP, respectively.
The economic impact of violence model includes data on suicide for the first time in the 2019 GPI. The report finds that the economic impact of suicide is higher than that of Armed Conflict, amounting to $737 billion in 2018.
The report’s Positive Peace research analyses the relationship between the GPI and Positive Peace. There is a strong correlation between the GPI and Positive Peace. Countries with high levels of both Positive and Negative Peace have achieved a sustainable peace and are unlikely to fall into conflict. Conversely, many of the countries with low levels of both Positive and Negative Peace have fallen into a violence trap, and find it difficult to escape from vicious cycles of conflict.
Some countries score much higher on the GPI than their Positive Peace score would indicate. This is known as a Positive Peace deficit, and research has shown that these countries are more likely to have increased levels of violence in the future, because they lack the necessary attitudes, institutions and structures to prevent violence from breaking out once the country receives a shock.
Some pillars of Positive Peace exhibit tipping points. Small improvements or deteriorations in Positive Peace can trigger large increases or decreases in their GPI scores. This tipping point can be seen when looking at the relationship between corruption, economic growth, inequality, and the GPI’s Safety and Security domain.
The report also finds that Positive Peace is dynamically associated with economic development. There is a strong correlation between changes in the Positive Peace Index and GDP growth between 2005 and 2018. Greater household consumption is a key reason for the link between improvements in Positive Peace and economic performance. Households are particularly helped by improvements in public administration.
On the production side, business activity responds particularly well to improvements in public administration and attempts to curb corruption. Services and construction are particularly responsive to improvements in Positive Peace. Manufacturing and agriculture are less responsive, especially in countries outside of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Brazil.
(Source: Institute for Economic and Peace, 2019 Global Peace Index, pp.2-3.)
← Professor Yozo Yokota passed away on the 12th (29/06/2019)
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President Profile
The Premier Science and Hip-Hop Edutainment Company
Grand Hank, Master Scientist and Television Personality
A former research chemist for Johnson & Johnson, Tyraine Ragsdale (a.k.a. Grand Hank) is the founder and president of Grand Hank Productions, Incorporated (GHPI), a multimedia education company. Since founding GHPI in 1989, Grand Hank has had a profound impact on STEM education, reaching more than 10 million students, parents, and teachers globally.
Ragsdale co-founded the Science of Philadelphia and Science Lab of Grand Hank television series in collaboration with the Philadelphia School District, which aired for 19 years. Ragsdale was also the recipient of the George Washington Carver Award and the Man of the Year Award for his outstanding accomplishments in the field of science. He also took the Grand Hank STEM Road Show Tour to South Africa, visiting 11 cities and providing professional development training for teachers and students.
His latest project is the renovation and construction of the new Grand Hank STEM Center for Inner City Youth located adjacent to LaSalle University in Philadelphia. Currently, the national Grand Hank STEM Road Show Tour has visited more than 25 cities across the United States, exposing students to STEM and energy career opportunities.
Grand Hank has built both a national and international brand through his innovative approach to delivering STEM education content through event-based instruction. Grand Hank’s mission is to introduce, highlight and reinforce student’s understanding of the fundamentals of STEM.
As a speaker, presenter, curriculum designer and television personality Grand Hank’s primary goal is to cultivate more scientifically literate students and return the United States to the #1 ranking in the world in STEM.
© 2019 Grand Hank Productions, Inc.
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Home » Editorial » OP-ED: The Trial of Bradley Manning: Rule of Law or Rule of Intimidation, Retaliation and Retribution
OP-ED: The Trial of Bradley Manning: Rule of Law or Rule of Intimidation, Retaliation and Retribution
Saturday, December 17, 2011 - 17:33 By Ann Wright
Yesterday, December 16, 2011, 40 supporters of Bradley Manning saw him in person in the military courtroom at Fort Meade, Maryland and another 60 saw him on a video feed from the court, the first time Manning has been seen by the public in 19 months. Over 100 other supporters, including 50 from Occupy Wall Street who had bused down from New York City, were at the front gates of Fort Meade in solidarity with Manning.
Hundreds of supporters will gather today, Saturday, December 17, for a large rally and march.
For his first court appearance, Bradley was in what looked to be a new military uniform and typically military, he had a fresh haircut. He was not in shackles in the courtroom, but it appeared in a photo that he was shackled in the van that brought him to the court. Manning talked freely with his civilian defense counsel and his two military legal counsels.
He did not turn around and look at the people in the court, but as he was brought in and taken out during the various recesses of the court, he no doubt noticed supporters in Bradley Manning t-shirts.
Bradley Manning has been imprisoned for 19 months, since May, 2010, without a trial. Yesterday, December 16, 2011, an Article 32 hearing began at Fort Meade, Maryland, in which an investigating officer will determine whether there is sufficient evidence of the crimes with which the military has charged him for the case to be referred to a General court-martial.
In July, 2010, Manning was charged with transferring classified information onto his personal computer and communicating national defense information to an unauthorized source. 22 more crimes were charged in March 2011, including "aiding the enemy," a capital offense. Defense Department prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty. In April, 2011, Manning was found fit to face a court martial.
Defense Challenges Impartiality of Investigating Officer
On Friday, December 16, Manning’s civilian lawyer, David Coombs challenged the impartiality of the investigating officer US Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Paul Almanza, citing Almanza’s civilian employment as a lawyer in the Department of Justice which has conducted investigations on Manning, Julian Assange, and Wikileaks. The defense team had requested that 38 witnesses be allowed to testify in the Article 32 hearing. Coombs also said that the decision of Almanza to allow only two defense witnesses other than the10 the prosecution wanted demonstrated a bias by Almanza.
Coombs told Almanza, “That simple fact alone, without anything else, would cause a reasonable person to say, ‘I question your impartiality.’ ” Stating that his office of child exploitation in the Department of Justice had nothing to do with the Wikileaks investigation or with national security issues, Almanza denied Coombs’ request for recusal.
Almanza told Coombs and Manning, “I do not believe a reasonable person, knowing all the circumstances, would be led to the conclusion that my impartiality would be reasonably questioned. I thus deny the defense request to recuse myself.”
After that, Coombs filed a writ with the Army Court of Criminal Appeals to stay the proceedings until a decision can be made on whether Almanza should continue to preside. According to military law experts, the hearing can proceed while the appeals court makes its determination.
Manning under harsh imprisonment at Quantico reeked of intimidation and retaliation
The military’s treatment of Manning has reeked of intimidation and retaliation.
Until citizen activist protests six months ago in March, 2011, brought sufficient attention to the harsh conditions of his pre-trial confinement, the US military was treating him as if he were beyond the scrutiny of the law — as if he were an "enemy combatant" in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. Amnesty International and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture expressed great concern about the conditions under which Manning was being held — in a maximum-security, single-occupancy cell, placed on a prevention-of-injury order and allowed to wear only a suicide-proof smock at night.
Independent UN expert on torture calls for unrestricted access to Manning and other US detainees
On July 12, 2011, Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, stated that it was "vital for him to have unmonitored access to Bradley Manning." Mendez said,
"I am assured by the US Government that Mr. Manning's prison regime and confinement is markedly better than it was when he was in Quantico, however, in addition to obtaining firsthand information on my own about his new conditions of confinement, I need to ascertain whether the conditions he was subjected to for several months in Quantico amounted to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. For that, it is imperative that I talk to Mr. Manning under conditions where I can be assured that he is being absolutely candid."
At the request of Mr. Mendez and after several meetings, the US Department of Defense said it would allow him to visit Mr. Manning, but warned that the conversation would be monitored.
Mendez said such a condition violated long-standing rules that the UN applies for prison visits and for interviews with inmates everywhere in the world. On humanitarian grounds and under protest, Mr. Mendez, through Mr. Manning's counsel, offered to visit him under these restrictive conditions, an offer Manning declined.
Mr. Mendez said, "The question of my unfettered access to a detainee goes beyond my request to meet with Mr. Manning -- it touches on whether I will be able to conduct private and unmonitored interviews with detainees if I were to conduct a country visit to the United States."
Additionally, Mr. Mendez has requested several times since his appointment in November, 2010, that the US Government allow him to visit the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. However, the US government has not responded to his requests.
Best Military Legal System in the World?
Despite the military’s mantra of having the best military legal system in the world, the past treatment of Manning—keeping him in solitary confinement, forcing him to stand naked while in pre-trial confinement and the lack of compliance with the norms of the military legal system of a "speedy" trial have added to the low points of Abu Gharib and Guantanamo in the history of military “justice.”
The federal courts have long established mechanism of dealing with classified information in national security cases.
The military’s contention that it took 19 months to figure out how to try him while protecting classified materials reeks of intimidation, retribution and retaliation.
About the Author: Ann Wright is a retired US Army Reserve Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. She is a member of Veterans for Peace and is on the Advisory Board of the Bradley Manning Support Network. This op-ed was submitted by HNN contributor David Swanson.
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Entering into the final round of the season with an 11 point lead at the top of the standings, Kevin Hansen was never out of the top three in the four heat races in Italy, to qualify second at the Intermediate Classification. Before the semi-finals, the Peugeot Red Bull Hansen Junior Team driver knew that he needed to qualify for the final to secure the championship, but when title rival Thomas Bryntesson broke the rear suspension of his RX Lites car in his semi-final race, Hansen was able to fight for the podium without having to think about the points situation. He finished second in the second semi-finaland in the final to stand on the podium as champion.
“It feels so amazing to wrap up this season with a podium in Italy. Coming into this weekend, I was not so nervous, but when you get closer and closer to the end, the feelings start to come up inside you. Before the semi-final I knew I had to get to the final to be champion, but when I saw Thomas [Bryntesson] slow on the track in the first semi-final, I knew I was champion already, so I could enjoy the two last races,” said the Peugeot 208 Lites driver.“I’m really happy with the second place. Before anything else I must say thanks to the whole team for all of their hard work, I couldn’t do it without them. The team spirit is amazing and I’m so happy to be champion together with them.”
Hansen started on the second row for the final in wet conditions, and made a strong start to challenge for the lead at the first corner, but elected to settle for second on lap one, as other drivers made contact. “The final was chaotic at the start, I made a few mistakes during the race and Kevin [Eriksson] was really fast. I could have been first into the first corner but I decided to play it safe. We have the championship, that’s the most important part for us and it was nice to be able to race for the podium.”
The RX Lites Cup has featured hard fought competition at the front of the field throughout the season, making Hansen’s win all the sweeter. “There has been really hard racing all year; we’ve all been really close together all the time. As a team we’ve been stable all year, collecting good points all the time, and the car has been so quick and strong. I’m so,so happy to be champion,” summarised Hansen.
Red Bull Peugeot Hansen Junior Team manager Graham Rodemark has worked with Hansen throughout his rallycross career. “When we started off in the Suzuki Swifts in the UK we could see the potential in Kevin, and he has delivered on that this season. To do what we’ve done with Kevin has been awesome. He has dealt with the pressure phenomenally well this weekend; he’s really kept himself together. I’m really proud of him,” said the British engineer.
More photos and content available at Red Bull contentpool.
RX Lites Cup, ItalyResult :
1 Kevin Eriksson (SWE)
2 Kevin Hansen (SWE)
3 Joachim Hvaal (NOR)
4 Oliver Eriksson (SWE)
5 Simon WagoSyversen (NOR)
6 Simon Olofsson (SWE)
RX Lites Cup championship standings :
2Kevin Eriksson (SWE) 166
4 Joachim Hvaal (NOR) 107
5 Simon Olofsson (SWE) 106
@kevinhansenjr on Twitter and Instagram and "Kevin Hansen" on Facebook.
Supercar Lites events 2015 RX LitesCup : www.rxlites.com
Franciacorta, Italy – 16th - 18th Octobe
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Doha “Plan B” Hits Early Roadblock
WTO members have agreed to try to strike deals this year on certain issues within the long-running Doha Round of global trade talks, while postponing attempts for a comprehensive multilateral accord. The challenge for them now is to identify what might become part of a so-called ‘early harvest' (if...
US Proclaims Victory in Wind Power Case; China Ends Challenged Subsidies
Last updated 15:05 CET on 9 June 2011. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk announced yesterday that China has ended a controversial public fund for wind power manufacturing. The subsidies were the subject of a formal WTO dispute between the US and China that commenced late last...
Heated US Spending Battle Puts Brazil Cotton Deal at Risk
The wrangling over US spending cuts has put the spotlight on Washington's federal farm subsidy programme, which has been a source of ongoing contention both domestically and abroad. Last week's meetings of the US House Appropriations Committee, which is tasked with allocating government...
Climate Talks Off to Slow Start in Bonn
The ongoing international negotiation process on climate change has been bogged down by procedural quarrels from its onset on Monday 6 June. The two-week talks in Bonn, Germany, are part of the process leading up to the next Conference of the Parties (COP) in Durban, South Africa this upcoming...
Altercation over Health Safety Measures Triggers EU-Russia Trade Dispute
An EU-Russia spat over trade in fresh vegetables is casting shadows on Moscow's ongoing bid to accede to the World Trade Organisation. In the wake of a fatal E. coli outbreak in Europe, Russia on 2 June imposed an import ban on all fresh vegetable products from the EU, even though Russia's health...
Brazil, Argentina Trade Tensions Cool Down
Argentina and Brazil have agreed to "fast track" import licenses for cars, food, and appliances that have stocked up along their borders since February due to a contentious trade dispute between the two nations. The clash between the Mercosur partners originated with Argentina's cancellation of...
EU Emissions Scheme Extends to Airlines, Sparking Trade Concerns
Tensions are building over the EU's decision to extend their Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to aviation. Under the new plan, all airlines inbound to and outbound from the 27-member bloc would be covered under the system - an announcement that drew criticism from airplane groups and non-EU countries...
6-16 June, Bonn, Germany. 34TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHAGE CONVENTION ON SUBSIDIARY BODIES. The 34th session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). Further information is...
GLOBALIZATION, BRAIN DRAIN AND DEVELOPMENT. By Frederic Docquier and Hillel Rapoport at the Center for International Development at Harvard University (March 2011). This paper reviews four decades of economics research on the brain drain, with the authors focusing on its connection to development...
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Home > News > Cheshire East approves maximum council tax increase
Cheshire East approves maximum council tax increase
By Lucy Thorpe on February 27, 2018
Cheshire East Council has voted to approve its budget plan for 2018-19 at a meeting of the full council on Thursday, 22nd February.
As a result Council Tax will increase by 5.99 per cent in the next financial year, the maximum increase a Council is allowed to make without holding a local referendum.
This will add £1.39 per week to the average household Council Tax bill and a Band D property bill will rise from £1,324.92 to £1,404.28 – representing an increase of £1.53 per week.
The council also voted to allocate an additional £2m for highways from capital reserves, in response to concerns over the condition of some of the borough’s roads, and a further £150,000 for reactive repairs (from the revenue budget).
Additionally, £2m has been earmarked from the New Homes Bonus scheme to be used in our communities, via a method under consideration.
The Council says the budget will deliver balanced finances in 2018-19, with net revenue spending of £268.8m and total capital investment of £326.1m identified over the next three years. A total of £197m is estimated to be spent over the next three years on maintaining and improving our highways network.
The budget-setting meeting of council took place against a challenging national context of an overall public sector deficit, which is being partly met by big reductions in government grants to councils, and rising demand for both adult social care and children in care.
For Cheshire East, this means expected reductions of central government grants, inflationary costs and rising demand totalling more than £70m over the next three years.
Jan Willis, Cheshire East Council’s interim executive director of corporate services, said: “These financial reports and budget outline how the council has continued to build on the solid achievements of recent years and continues to maintain robust financial health.
“The year ahead presents a number of challenges for all UK local authorities, as increasing demand in care services for children and adults, plus other pressures, are compounded by falls in government funding – a funding reduction totalling £14.8m this year for Cheshire East and set to fall by a further £11.9m in 2018/19.
“In Cheshire East, the number of residents receiving care and support from adult social care is increasing by four per cent a year and the number of children in social care placements has increased by 17 per cent in the last year, in line with other councils.
“The council’s net expenditure on adult social care services was almost £100m in 2016/17, which is three-times the spending on any other service area. This council will continue to prioritise services for vulnerable people, despite the financial challenges. However, this means other services will need to deliver savings.”
budgetcheshirecheshire eastcheshire east councilcouncil taxnews
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Mantle. Red Balloon Project Launch Party, Same Kind of Different at Alamo Theatre and Mississippi Barber Academy Grand Opening
Mantle. City Club + Inc.ubator, a co-working space in the Duling Hall building, is hosting a members-only event called "Summer Solstice" at Highland Village on Thursday, June 21, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. to celebrate the launch of the Red Balloon Project, Mantle.'s new professional network initiative. Photo by Stephen Wilson.
By Dustin Cardon Tuesday, June 12, 2018 1:01 p.m. CDT
Mantle. City Club + Inc.ubator, a co-working space in the Duling Hall building (622 Duling Ave.), is hosting a members-only event called "Summer Solstice" at Highland Village on Thursday, June 21, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. to celebrate the launch of the Red Balloon Project, Mantle.'s new professional network initiative.
As part of the project, Mantle. will place a red balloon at a partner business for every 50 people that join the City Club's digital membership tier in a particular city, with up to 20 balloons going out in phase one. Any City Club member who makes a purchase at a business with a red balloon in the following week will be entered into a drawing for a $100 prize.
Then, Mantle. will begin placing brass balloons for every 100 people who join in a given city, with up to four balloons and $1,000 prize drawings. There will also be a drawing for a single $2,500 prize after all the red and brass balloon giveaways. After a participating city closes its digital membership, Mantle. will still release a $100 digital "pearl" once a month to a random group. For more information, visit https://www.growatmantle.com/red-balloon-project.
The "Summer Solstice party" is free to members and their guests, and will feature live music, games, craft beer, cocktails and more. For more information or to sign up to become a member, call 601-362-2444, and visit growatmantle.com or Mantle.'s Facebook page.
Alamo Theatre Screens "Same Kind of Different as Me"
The Alamo Theatre (333 N. Farish St.) will host screenings of "Same Kind of Different as Me" from Friday, June 15, through Sunday, June 17.
The film tells the true story of author and film producer Ron Hall's meeting with a homeless man named Denver Moore, and how their friendship helped save Hall's relationship with both his wife and his father.
A portion of the movie was filmed on Farish Street and other parts of Jackson, and ultimately raised $20 million to remodel the Central United Methodist Church community center as a service to Jackson's homeless community.
"Same Kind of Different as Me" screens on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. The Alamo will also host a 2 p.m. reception on Sunday. Admission is $5 per person.
For more information, call 601-352-3365 or visit the Alamo Theater's Facebook page.
Mississippi Barber Academy Holds Grand Opening
Mississippi Barber Academy (5420 Interstate 55 N. Frontage Road) is holding a grand opening celebration on Friday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
During the event, the academy will offer $5 haircuts, as well as registration discounts for prospective students. Visitors can also enjoy refreshments and a live broadcast from radio station WJMI 99JAMS, and enter to win door prizes.
For more information on the Mississippi Barber Academy, including course options, graduation requirements, financial aid and more, call 601-487-1622, visit mississippibarberacademy.com or find the academy on Facebook.
Creating a Sandbox
Mississippi Craft Beer Festival, "Save Our Summer," Positive Steps Fertility Clinic and Braves Business After Hours
Red, White and Local Celebrations
Fireworks and Festivities
Entrepreneur Quarterly at Sal & Mookie's, Metrocenter Closing and Shipley Do-Nuts
Reshonda Perryman
MDFA Landmark Purchases, Free Indoor Tracks for Seniors at YMCA and TAP at Beau Rivage
Belhaven/Woz U Partnership, MSU Teacher Training and JSU Professor Venezuela Trip
New Tougaloo President and USM School Ground-Breaking in Africa
Pamela Junior Named Director of Two Mississippi Museums
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Thursday 24th May - John Pearce - £7/5 students
Born in Bristol, John Pearce began learning the violin at the age of seven and has since performed in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Japan as well as at venues in London including the Royal Albert Hall, St. Martin in the Fields and St. Johnís, Smith Square.
He has performed live as a soloist on BBC radio and television and has given world premieres of works by composers such as Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. He regularly appears as a soloist, most recently performing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Stroud Symphony Orchestra and gives duo recitals with pianist and composer Motoki Hirai. Festival performances have included the Cheltenham Music Festival, the Bath Festival and the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.
John had the honour of receiving an award from the Former Parliamentary under Secretary of State for an outstanding contribution to music and was awarded a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Gyorgy Pauk, later continuing his studies privately with Bela Katona.
He was also part of the Live Music Now scheme that was developed by Yehudi Menuhin as a musical outreach organisation and John continues to give masterclasses and music workshops throughout the country.
His own work as a jazz musician has led him to collaborate with Pete Judge, James Morton, Ian Matthews, Gary Alesbrook and David Newton and he is also looking forward to developing a future duo project with guitarist Alex Hutchings.
Alastair Sawday
Not to be missed. John is a mesmerising player: passionate - almost wildly so - and as intense as he can be delicate. And his range is remarkable.
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INNOtalks: Coding is a universal language
Codebrainer is, in essence, a platform where a person can acquire knowledge of coding.
While it might seem easy for one to expand one’s horizons, the process can quickly become quite painful, resulting in not achieving one’s goals. In order to avoid this, Codebrainer provides a unique learning experience for beginners, who are interested in coding.
With this in mind, Miha Cirman and the team developed the ultimate learning environment, where one can work on an actual project, with access to step by step video instructions and step by step written instructions with pictures. In order to guarantee success, they provide their customers with extra hints and blog posts that expand the original content.
Cirman’s beginnings in coding had a difficult start. To begin with, he was the only one to own a computer device in the extended neighborhood. As a consequence, at the beginning, at least, nobody really understood for what exactly he was saving money. Even as a child, however, Cirman was enthusiastic enough about the latest technology that he has spent his hard-saved money for a device nobody cared much about – a computer.
FOTO: Siniša Kanižaj
This avalanched a career in programming development for Cirman that has spanned over twenty years.
“During our initial research it became apparent that there are a lot of people who would like to learn to code but do not know where to being,” Cirman said at the beginning of 20th INNOtalks that was hosted by ABC Accelerator on 13th of June.
It is Cirman’s core belief that in the future each individual will have to acquire some level of proficiency in coding languages. If, for example, one will work in the field of marketing campaigns, he or she will be expected to program some things. Most definitely the process of how we program things will be a subject of change and will be, according to Cirman, simplified.
With that in mind Cirman explained to the audience: “our goal is to educate as many people as we can”.
There are a lot of people who would be willing to learn how to code but on the other hand there are a lot fewer senior developers who would be capable or willing to stand up and teach others.
“At first, we started with completely technical team, we were mostly developing geeks. But soon I realized that one of the most important things is to be able to sell your product. That is why we have expended our team with people with different expertise so we can communicate better to the rest of the world. We, geeks, sometimes need somebody who tells us straight that we went too far, that we need to take a slower pace. Beginners are our target audience and that makes clear communication most important.”
When asked about the difficulty of programing for beginners Cirman said that “learning to code is more like learning another language than, for example, learning math. Those who are willing to learn can do it undoubtedly. It really is like learning a new way of communication.”
For most of their students the main motivation are future job prospects, while keeping in mind that the most important thing is to understand programming processes. The main philosophy of Codebrainer isn’t necessarily for one to code an entire website or a mobile application. The most important thing is for one to grasp the processes that are behind it, for that can achieve better results on one’s projects and make the whole process of building much easier.
“The most important is that you understand what needs to be done before your idea can be realized,” Cirman said and added “we want for people to start coding with us. Our plan is to take their hand and be there with them every step of the way, that is why we have also live video courses. Books can be a great source of knowledge, but for someone new they can be overwhelming. The most important with coding is one’s first contact with it. That is why our courses are and always will interactive.”
As for their experience in ABC Accelerator Cirman said “personally, it was the kick in the butt we needed. We would have never started this project if we didn’t partake in the accelerator program. We were mobile developers and there were always enough jobs for us to survive. But that was not our goal. Our goal was to make a globally recognized product and we came to the right people in order to achieve it.”
About Author: ABC ABC BLOG
Wanna upgrade to the premium version? - 23. November, 2018
INNOtalks with Homey and Beeping: What’s the recipe for a successful startup? - 22. June, 2018
INNOtalks: Vasja Veber From the First Person Perspective - 7. March, 2018
Where innovation develops _ Field Visit in Italy - 6. December, 2018
Uqido: the first Italian Hi-tech star-up - 21. May, 2019
GreenDecision: When the research hits the market
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Our Offices Abroad
Francophone and Multilateral Affairs
An unparalleled business environment
Agri-foods
Industrial Biotechnology (French only)
Québec’s economy is creative, innovative, competitive and open to the world.
Investing in Québec means benefitting from a competitive fiscal environment with low installation and operation costs of a company.
Strategically positioned between Europe and America
As a natural gateway to North America, Québec enjoys privileged access to a market of more than 490 million consumers through its participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
A dynamic economic environment
For more information about economic initiatives, consult the following Websites (in French only):
Stratégie québécoise de la recherche et de l’innovation 2017-2022
Stratégie québécoise de l’aérospatiale 2016-2026
Stratégie québécoise de développement de l'aluminium 2015-2025
Plan d'action en économie numérique
Stratégie québécoise de l’exportation 2016-2020
A workforce with extraordinary creativity
Québec excels in multiple industries thanks, in part, to specialized expertise and a skilled workforce. Québec’s know-how and prodigious creativity are recognized worldwide.
A specialized and highly skilled workforce
The Québec workforce is made up of skilled, educated and experienced workers:
86 % of Québec’s population holds a secondary or post-secondary degree
29 % of the population holds a certificate, diploma, bachelor’s degree or graduate diploma.
A multilingual population
A population with a mastery of several languages:
43 % of Québec’s population (3.5 million people) speaks French and English
Montréal, one of the largest French-speaking cities in the world, is a culturally rich cosmopolitan metropolis.
An abundant pool of talent and ressources to be tapped
Québec benefits from a high concentration of expertise owing to a strong network of colleges and universities and an extensive research infrastructure in strategic areas.
Find out more about the advantages of investing in Québec(French only).
ReSEARCH AND
Québec: a visionary and innovative leader of the aerospace industry
The aerospace industry is a source of great pride for Québec. Its accomplishments and the reputation it has earned in Canada and around the world reflect the know-how of Quebecers and their ability to carve out a plsace for themselves in the high tech sector.
Québec’s aerospace industry, ranked sixth in the world for the size of its workforce, is, without argument, one of the jewels in the crown of Québec’s economy.
Nearly 200 companies, including some fifteen contractors and front-line suppliers, and 180 SMEs (sub-contractors and product manufacturers)
In 2015, 40,160 jobs and sales of $15.5 billion, with 6.6% average growth in sales every year since 1990
Approximately 50% of total aerospace industry sales in Canada
Over 70% of Canada’s aerospace R&D carried out in the Greater Montréal Area
Over 80% of Québec’s production destined for export
The strength of Québec’s aerospace industry lies in the sheer number of world-class contractors and equipment manufacturers established here.
Many are global leaders in the products they manufacture in Québec:
Bombardier, business and commercial aviation
Bell Helicopter, civil helicopters
CAE, flight simulators and training
Pratt & Whitney Canada, engines for regional and business aircraft and for helicopters
Nowhere else in the world is there such a concentration of top-notch contractors and equipment manufacturers active in such a broad range of fields (avionics, landing gear, systems integration, space-based systems, and others), which explains why Montréal is among the top global aerospace hubs, alongside Seattle and Toulouse.
A highly qualified workforce
Québec’s aerospace industry boasts a highly qualified and diverse workforce. Québec is also home to schools and colleges offering specialized training, as well as six universities with aerospace programs.
An excellent network of SMEs
An array of small and medium-sized businesses, including subcontractors and suppliers, offer a wide variety of specialty products and services ranging from parts machining, surface treatments, composite materials, and shot peening to rapid prototyping, hydraulics, avionics, electro-optics, and highly sophisticated software.
A sampling of innovative products
The CSeries aircraft designed and assembled in Québec by Bombardier features some of the most cutting-edge technological breakthroughs. For example, it is the most environmentally friendly airplane in its category thanks to its low energy consumption: 2 liters of fuel per passenger per 100 km.
Pilots employed by the main commercial airlines train in CAE flight simulators, while air traffic controllers learn on Adacel control tower simulators.
The air data computers manufactured by Montréal-based Air Data are the component of choice for a number of American and European unmanned aircraft system manufacturers.
International aviation organizations
Montréal is home to several major international aviation organizations:
International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Société internationale de télécommunications aéronautiques (SITA)
International Business Aviation Council (IBAC)
Airports Council International (ACI)
To find out more about Québec’s aerospace industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
Québec invites you to the table
A rich and distinctive range of food products
With its fertile soil, vast forests, remarkable marine environment, abundant natural resources, and temperate climate, Québec is the perfect setting for a flourishing and modern food industry. Today, the province is home to some 32,000 businesses that employ more than 121,000 people in the agriculture, fishing, aquaculture, and food processing industries.
Québec has a reputation around the globe as a supplier of healthy, high quality products infused with a mix of European and North American influences. Its distinctive and diverse product offerings range from specialty foods created by family-run businesses to products from industry giants.
Indeed, Québec products are enjoyed all over the world :
Pork, beef, and poultry
Soy and other oil plants
Chocolate and candies
Maple products
Pasta and bakery products
Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
Game meats and fowl
European-inspired charcuterie, including pâtés, cured meats, and duck foie gras
Fine cheeses
Other specialty products
Always on the lookout for new market trends, Québec’s food industry offers consumers an ever-growing range of foods with internationally recognized certifications, including certified organic, fairtrade, halal and kosher.
A modern and safe food industry
Québec has implemented stringent traceability, quality control, and monitoring measures. Businesses in the food industry work in concert with the government to integrate state-of-the-art production and processing technologies and adopt strict sanitary and environmental standards.
A strategic location
Most Québec food businesses are located close to the Canada–U.S. border and are integrated into the continental North American market. They can deliver their products by truck, serving a market of over 130 million consumers within a 620 miles (1,000-kilometre) radius.
A globally oriented industry
Québec has long been a hub for merchandise of all types from Europe, Asia, and North America. Whatever the season, marine, road, rail and air links ensure that goods are delivered quickly and at competitive prices.
Export markets are a source of growth for Québec’s agri-food businesses. In 2013, 55% of final sales from agricultural production and biofood processing in Québec were made outside of the province. In 2014, international sales reached seven billion dollars. The taste of Québec know-how is appreciated in more than 160 countries, including the United States, Japan, China and Russia.
This achievement reflects the speed and flexibility that businesses have shown in their efforts to satisfy consumers all over the globe.
To learn more about Québec’s agri-food industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
The expertise of Québec’s world-class aluminium industry permeates its entire value chain:
Aluminium processors
Equipment manufacturers and specialized suppliers
Primary aluminium producers
Industry leader
A key industry sector for Québec:
4th primary aluminium producer in the world
2.7 million tonnes produced in 2015, more than 65% of North American production
$7.1 billion in exports
30,000 quality jobs in nearly 1,500 companies
A forward-thinking strategy
Québec is the first jurisdiction to implement a comprehensive strategy aimed at growing aluminium’s value chain and raising its profile. The Québec Aluminium Development Strategy pursues ambitious goals, such as doubling processing output by 2025.
The greenest aluminium in the world
Thanks to hydroelectric power generation, Québec companies have access to a local aluminium supply with the lowest carbon footprint in the world.
More information is available at the Ministère de l’Économie, de la Science et de l’Innovation website.
To find out more about Québec’s aluminium industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
Québec’s Furniture Industry
Québec’s furniture industry includes all the businesses involved in the manufacture of furniture, kitchen cabinets and counters, display cases, partitions, shelving and lockers, mattresses, blinds, and shutters.
The furniture industry is one of Québec’s biggest manufacturing employers, and is characterized by its labour-intensive nature, its presence in virtually every region of Québec, and by the fact that most of the companies are Québec-owned. Over 40% of total production is destined for markets outside Québec, of which 95% is exported to the U.S.
With the economic recovery in the United States, as well as the drop in the value of the Canadian dollar and the growth in the size of the American market, the current economic landscape south of the border is highly favourable to Québec exporters. A number of states are experiencing a real estate boom, both residential and commercial, and the industry’s priority is to enhance the visibility of our companies.
Given the type of goods and the logistics involved in shipping and in renting space at the various trade shows, the penetration of new export markets can require considerable investments for manufacturers.
The industry is well represented by two main associations:
Association des fabricants et détaillants de l’industrie de la cuisine du Québec (AFDICQ)
Québec Furniture Manufacturers’ Association (QFMA)
It is worth mentioning the important role QFMA plays on the Canadian scene since the association is the owner and producer of the Canadian Furniture Show held annually in Toronto. Canada’s only furniture show, the event showcases the country’s know-how by bringing together manufacturers, retailers and other industry professionals from across Canada, the United States and overseas to present the latest collections and trends. It is where purchasing decisions are made for the entire industry.
To find out more about Québec’s furniture industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
https://www.economie.gouv.qc.ca/objectifs/informer/par-secteur-dactivite/chimie/bioproduits-industriels/
An industry with a solid foundation
Québec’s harsh and intense climate has shaped the character of its construction sector and enabled it to develop unique expertise. The sector’s ability to adapt techniques is currently matched only by its capacity to design increasingly efficient products and materials.
Daring to think outside the box with the goal of excelling and exporting expertise is the norm in this creative environment. Stakeholders in this Québec-based industry have built a solid reputation both at home and abroad.
A creative environment where daring to think outside the box is the norm
A multitude of world-class consulting engineering companies, major architectural firms, construction companies and building materials manufacturers that export their know-how and products throughout the world.
Home to many research centres and experts in the field.
Creativity that leads to results
The “green building” concept has prompted the construction industry to perfect new materials and products that are more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient.
Insulating materials, membranes, exterior siding, high energy efficient windows, heat recovery fans and geothermal heating systems are among the products that have earned Québec its reputation for excellence.
Québec wood is a wise environmental choice as a building material since it is renewable, recyclable and has a low environmental footprint. In addition, forests are managed in accordance with sustainable forest management principles. The use of wood in Québec is a technology that has been mastered as a result of know-how stemming from a long tradition. Recognized for their resilience, extensive availability and distinctive species, Québec wood products are easily adaptable to all types of projects and bring high added value from both a structural and visual perspective.
To learn more about Québec’s construction industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
A strategic tool for competitiveness
Design is an important innovation factor in Québec. More specifically, this sector has led to the development of many unique products. Montréal has been part of the UNESCO City of design network since 2006.
A stimulating environment
Québec’s focus on industrial design allows it to innovate and stand out in local and international markets.
The industrial design industry has enabled many businesses to increase their creativity, diversify their product lines and develop a culture of quality.
To learn more about Québec’s industrial design industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
High voltage expertise
The Québec energy sector is recognized for its renewable energy sources.
Despite its modest population of eight million, Québec is the world’s fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity. The production cost of this renewable energy resource is among the lowest in North America.
Québec has approximately 230 MW of installed capacity for energy production from forest biomass and more than 50 MW from biogas. Six new projects, totalling 145 MW are slated to be operational by 2015.
Several research centres in Québec work to support innovation and the growth of companies in the energy sector, including:
Hydro-Québec’s Electricity Research Institute (IREQ): the largest utility-run research institute in North America
the Hydrogen Research Institute (HRI), specializing in research on hydrogen production and storage.
To learn more about Québec’s energy industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
In terms of the environment, Québec primarily seeks to:
reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)
increase its capacity to adapt to the potential impacts of climate change.
Québec is among the world’s economies with the strictest environmental protection standards, with an eye to sustainable development.
A responsible environment
Recognized expertise in sectors such as mining, aluminium smelting, agriculture, pulp and paper and hydroelectricity fosters the export of Québec’s know-how and technologies throughout the world.
In collaboration with California, Québec created the largest cross-border carbon market in North America. Since the harmonization and full integration of the Québec and California markets on January 1, 2014, many companies have been active in the carbon market, thereby contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
To learn more about Québec’s environment industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
Fashion industry
Montréal Collections
A key industry for Québec and Montréal
Montréal is one of North America’s foremost clothing production centres, along with Los Angeles and New York. The Montréal fashion industry stands out internationally for its product innovation, design and marketing.
Québec boasts a large and diverse pool of successful companies involved in the manufacture, design, marketing and distribution of apparel products.
A creative environment
A new, industry-wide metropolitan fashion cluster (mmode) created in 2015.
Extensive R&D potential as a result of two technology transfer centres (CTT and Vestechpro).
A large and diverse pool of successful companies and support resources – educational institutions, industrial associations, marketing organizations, research facilities, etc. – that make up the fashion and clothing industry.
To learn more about Québec’s fashion and apparel industry, contact the consumer goods specialist:
Mireille Bérard
Mireille.berard@economie.gouv.qc.ca
Under the name Montréal Collections, all Québec Offices abroad involved in the Fashion industry, promote Montréal fashion and business creativity in selected potential markets throughout the world.
One of the main roles of Montréal Collections is to put retail buyers and representatives in contact with Québec manufacturers of women's, men's and children's wear.
For up-to-the-minute information, consult our Montréal Collections Facebook page.
Québec is a remarkable research and innovation powerhouse.
According to the most recent statistics, Québec devoted 2.32% of its GDP to R&D in 2013, the highest rate of any Canadian province. Québec is booming and is well positioned in the global scientific community. Indeed, the Québec population accounts for 0.1% of the world’s population, but Québec researchers participate in 1.0% of scientific publications at the international level.
A standout environment
The highest number of researchers per thousand people employed in Canada: 10.2 per 1,000 (2013 data).
A leader in numerous fields and in tune with global trends, Québec possesses a rich pool of talent and natural resources.
With 18 universities, several of which stand out in international rankings, Québec trains a highly skilled workforce.
Québec offers one of the most generous tax credit programs in the world.
A dynamic and sustainable environment
A number of policies have been put in place to support the development of growth sectors and the emergence of new leading-edge sectors. The Québec government is proactive to ensure that it remains a frontrunner among knowledge economies.
The cutting-edge research infrastructure that exists throughout Québec benefits from massive investments.
The excellence of public research, including that of educational institutions, and its interaction with the vitality of Québec’s business community create a synergy that fosters and promotes a strong culture of innovation and a highly competitive business environment.
Indeed, collaborative endeavours are the centrepiece of Québec’s vision of development. It should be added that Québec boasts various sectoral industrial research groups and pre-competitive research consortiums. It is also integrated into the main international research networks, and its researchers benefit from bilateral agreements with partners in various countries.
For more information on research and innovation in Québec, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
Québec is one of the few places in the world where a company can carry out all stages of development for a drug or medical device, from basic research right up to marketing. Strong synergy is created by the vitality of research centres, funding agencies, and partnerships with companies that develop, test and design technologies and innovative medical products.
The life sciences industry in Québec:
More than 400 companies are active in basic research, manufacturing, biotechnology, contract research and medical technology.
The sector employs 25,500 highly qualified people.
World-class research centres stand out for their major scientific breakthroughs.
Several international companies, such as Pfizer, Sanofi and Merck, have established their Canadian headquarters in Québec.
More than 20 public and university-based research centres.
Affordable costs, easy access to patients, a high level of medical expertise and a population willing to participate in clinical trials: all these advantages make Québec a veritable goldmine for clinical research.
Québec boasts several sectors of excellence for which the expertise of the labour force and researchers is renowned. Areas of excellence recognized worldwide: cancer, genetics, genomics and proteomics, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and mental health, personalized health care, aging, implants and biomaterials, medical imaging and radiography, and in vitro diagnosis.
The life sciences industry is concentrated in three major clusters of excellence
Montréal :
600 establishments, including 150 public and university-based research organizations
Among the top-ranking cities in North America owing to its highly competitive operating costs in life sciences and medical technology: a cost-benefit of 24% (KPMG 2016)
Areas of excellence recognized worldwide: cancer, genetics, genomics and proteomics, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and mental health, personalized healthcare, aging
Québec City:
85 research centres, chairs, groups and institutes
Areas of excellence: advanced expertise in biopharmaceuticals and diagnostics, natural health products (cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals), medical and health-related information technology
Sherbrooke :
Research and industrial fabric specializing in aging and rehabilitation
Sherbrooke University Pole, Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation (3IT), Research Centre on Aging (RCA),
To learn more about the life sciences industry in Québec, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
Québec: fertile ground for information and communication technologies.
During the 2000s, Québec established its reputation in information technology services thanks in large part to the expertise and stability of its workforce. Québec currently stands out in emerging and extremely promising niches such as video games, animation, special effects, Web services and mobile applications
A knowledge-rich environment
Nearly 7,000 companies that employ over 180,000 people.
Québec’s electronic game industry represents roughly 80 companies specializing in development, publishing, production services, software and interactive applications. Close to 9,000 people are employed by these companies.
Home to several centres and groups dedicated to industrial research, including:
The National Optics Institute (INO)
The Québec Centre for Industrial Research (CRIQ)
The Computer Research Institute of Montréal (CRIM)
The Partnerships for Research on Microelectronics, Photonics and Telecommunications (PROMPT)
The Society for Arts and Technology (SAT)
Numerous College Centres for the Transfer of Technologies (CCTT)
Photonics Industry
Québec’s photonics industry has over 110 companies employing more than 6,200 highly skilled workers. Industry sales are estimated at $760 million per year.
Québec’s photonics industry is extremely innovative. In this regard, it relies on six universities and research institutes, as well as on some 40 laboratories. The following are among the most important: National Optics Institute (INO), Defence Research and Development Canada - Research Centre at Valcartier (DRDC Valcartier) and the Centre for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL) at Université Laval, which is the largest university-based photonics research centre in Canada.
The Québec photonics industry’s strengths are in fiber lasers, sensors, instrumentation, imaging and digital vision, optical design, optical fiber and fiber components.
To learn more about Québec’s information and communication technology industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
With over 650 companies active in many different areas, tens of thousands of qualified workers and a number of innovative research centres, ground transportation is a major component of the Québec economy. Our expertise in advanced transportation is opening up new paths to the future!
Find more information on Invest Québec website
One of the best-structured industries in Québec’s economy
Over 650 companies, including leading contractors and world-class outfitters, as well as a network of specialty product suppliers and subcontractors.
With annual sales of $7 billion, the industry is renowned for its innovativeness and its grasp of global challenges. Québec is home to numerous research centres studying lightweight materials, batteries and smart systems—three of the hottest niche markets—with the potential to support Québec companies by developing solutions tailored to the needs of world markets.
In addition, Québec has adopted a number of economic strategies to help give Québec businesses a leg up on the global competition:
Québec’s 2015-2025 Aluminum Development Strategy (in French only);
2015–2020 Transportation Electrification Action Plan (in French only);
Québec’s Digital Strategy (in French only);
2016-2020 Québec Export Strategy (in French only);
Québec Research and Innovation Strategy (in French only).
To learn more about Québec’s ground transportation industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
Québec is known for its wide variety of metals and a business environment that welcomes mining investments. Come and explore its vast territory of which less than 7% is covered by mining rights.
A Québec industry with vast export potential
Québec has developed expertise in mining extraction and operations as well as in the development of innovative products and services for the industry.
Québec is a world leader in the acquisition of geoscience data. This strong point is leading to the development of numerous innovations that help Québec’s mining industry stay competitive internationally.
Essential minerals
Several mining companies are implementing major investment projects to expand their active mines or develop new ones. Projects focus on substances that Québec already produces, such as iron ore, gold and nickel, in addition to new substances not currently mined in Québec, like lithium, rare earths, diamonds and graphite.
Québec’s mineral strategy builds on mining exploration and development know-how acquired over generations and is moving Québec into the future by ensuring sustainable mining. The mineral strategy is based on three strategic targets:
creating wealth and preparing the future of Québec’s mining sector
ensuring environmentally friendly mineral development
fostering mineral development that is community-related and integrated into the environment.
To learn more about Québec’s mining industry, contact the Québec Government Office covering your territory.
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Mark S. Rubin, M.D., F.A.C.S.
(Adult & Pediatric)
A native of Syracuse, New York, Dr. Rubin received a full scholarship to the State University of Buffalo, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1968. He then attended medical school in Italy at the University of Bologna and was awarded his degree Summa Cum Laude in 1974. He returned to Buffalo, where he did his internship at Deaconess Hospital and his residency in ophthalmology at the Wettlaufer Eye Clinic.
He returned to Europe, first as Chief of Ophthalmology at the U.S. Army hospital in Augsburg, Germany, and then went into private practice in Modena, Italy, serving as the consultant ophthalmologist for the U.S. Air Force at Aviano Air Base. While in private practice in Italy, Dr. Rubin had the honor of treating such famous patients as Enzo Ferrari and Luciano Pavarotti, among others.
Missing home and his American culture, Dr. Rubin closed his practice in Italy in 1988 and moved to the Daytona Beach area. He practices general ophthalmology and concentrates his practice on same day cataract surgery and laser surgery, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma, uveitis, pediatric strabismus and, of course, complete eye exams for the general public. Dr. Rubin was the first ophthalmologist in this area to introduce “premium” intraocular lenses, first with the ReStor multifocal lens, then with the Toric intraocular lens for astigmatism.
Dr. Rubin serves as Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of South Florida. He is also a Senior Aviation Medical Examiner for the FAA and is only one of three Aviation Medical Examiners in the United States to be authorized by the British government as a EASA certified examiner. He was past president of the Central Florida Society of Ophthalmology, and was also past president of the Center for the Visually Impaired (CVI) where he remains active on the Board of Directors. He is focusing part of his practice on research studies for new medications and techniques concerning cataract surgery, dry eye therapy, and treatment of glaucoma. He also maintained a medical practice in the Cayman Islands until the office was destroyed September 2,4 2004 by Hurricane Ivan. As a service to the community, he participated as a volunteer surgeon on annual medical missions to Honduras in Central America.
Dr. Rubin enjoys priviledges at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center and Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. He has offices in Ormond Beach at the Millennium Medical Park and a second office in Palm Coast to serve Flagler county.
He is married (Patrizia) and has a son (Jonathan) who currently lives in Italy. In his leisure time, he enjoys flying, scuba diving, cooking, and good music. He currently owns and maintains a small twin engine Piper Aztec.
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Volver a "English - News"
Scientist brings kids' views of climate change to Antarctica
Photo taken Jan. 6, 2019, showing members of the Homeward Bound expedition walking through the snow on Antarctica's Hydrurga Island. EFE-EPA/Diana Marcela Tinjaca
Photo taken Jan. 6, 2019, showing Australian geographer Marji Puotinen posing on Antarctica's Hydrurga Island in front of a huge banner she sewed by hand incorporating drawings done by about 1,000 children from all over the world for the contest she devised called "Kids Care About Climate Change." EFE-EPA/Diana Marcela Tinjaca
Photo taken Jan. 6, 2019, showing members of the Homeward Bound expedition posing on Antarctica's Hydrurga Island in front of a huge banner sewn by hand by Australian geographer Marji Puotinen incorporating drawings done by about 1,000 children from all over the world for the contest she devised called "Kids Care About Climate Change." EFE-EPA/Diana Marcela Tinjaca
Hydrurga, Antarctica, Jan 10 (efe-epa).- With drawings of penguins and coral, Australian Marji Puotinen highlighted in Antarctica the project that enabled her to awaken the interest of more than 1,200 children around the world about climate change.
On the eighth day of the Homeward Bound expedition, where 80 female professionals and scientists are making a scientific tour of Antarctica, the group visited Hydrurga Island, located at the entrance to the White Continent's Gerlache Strait and home to assorted species of penguins, cormorants and Weddell seals.
Children are "really concerned" about climate change, Puotinen, with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, told EFE, unfolding a huge banner she sewed by hand with the drawings made by more than 1,000 kids depicting penguins crying and factories polluting the environment.
Puotinen said that she "had a dream" in the middle of the night about a way to get children around the world "engaged" to learn about the climate change.
The project developed by the geographer, who is an expert in the sustainable use of marine ecosystems in northwestern Australia, got rolling when she asked what penguins and coral reefs had in common.
Her conclusion was that, although the frozen polar regions where assorted types of penguins live are completely different than the tropical waters that are home to coral reefs, both are threatened by ocean warming and urgent action is needed to save them.
In her judgment, we've already been able to see the first consequences of ocean warming because sea waters that are too warm are killing huge swaths of coral reefs and the loss of polar ice is threatening animals at the top and bottom of the world and raising ocean levels.
That, and the need to explain to her children why her work on marine biology expeditions takes her away from home for so long led Puotinen to think about "a drawing contest" for kids between 5 and 14 years old about what they love most about penguins, other polar creatures and coral reefs, a project she initially thought of for her local school.
But, in less than two months, between last September and October, the contest's Web site - "Kids Care About Climate Change" - received 1,246 enrollments, some of them in groups, from 11 countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Mozambique, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Puotinen told EFE that she was shocked and inspired after receiving the registrations from 120 different schools and that told her that climate change matters greatly to children, adding that the initiative has united the kids with their parents and teachers on the issue.
The kids' parents, teachers and friends helped them to learn about the issue and now they are looking for a way to take action and should be supported, she added.
The winner of the contest, selected via a system of online voting, was Reyansh Koul, 9, living in Singapore, who submitted a drawing in which a penguin, upon seeing all the pollution around him, is asking "Where are we going to go now?"
Puotinen, who holds a degree in geography and whose career includes working to analyze how marine ecosystems are affected by the waves generated by tropical storms, thermal stress and pollution, said that now it's necessary to put into practice what the children have suggested: to find a way to halt pollution.
The Homeward Bound expedition, founded by Fabian Dattner, set sail on Dec. 31 from the far-southern Argentine port of Ushuaia on board a vessel bearing the same name.
The tour of Antarctica will last until Jan. 19 and one of the expedition members is Christiana Figueres, a key leader in the fight against climate change and in increasing female empowerment.
Homeward Bound, supported by the Spanish infrastructure and renewable energy firm Acciona, is a global initiative for women in the STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) fields with an eye toward increasing their visibility as leaders on matters of global import.
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Numismatics ›
City-Coin of Sebaste depicting the head of Caracalla and the ceremonial foundation of the city (198-217 CE)
Small denomination
Sebaste
Name of Ruler:
Obverse (Image and Inscription):
Image: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Caracalla looking right
Reverse (Image and Inscription):
Image: Founder plowing right with ox and cow; above, Nikē flying left, crowning him
Inscription: COL L S SEBASTE
Weight (g):
This small bronze city-coin from Sebaste (in present day Palestine) was minted between 198 and 217 CE, under the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla (Caracalla reigned jointly with his father Septimius Severus until the latter died in 211 CE). The coin depicts on the obverse the head of Caracalla and on the reverse the ceremony which symbolized the foundation of the city as a Roman colony, which was granted legal colonial status in 201/202 CE (Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, p. 114, no. 118). Therefore, the image depicted on the reverse, of a figure walking with a plough pulled by an ox (and probably a cow but it cannot be seen clearly here), actually portrays the emperor, probably the senior ruler Septimius Severus, ploughing the pomerium (the sacred boundary) of the city. As Nicole Belayche explains, Roman colonies were considered as “miniatures of Rome,” and as such, the Roman foundation myth was transferred to her colonies, with coinage from many featuring the Roman image of the she-wolf and Romulus and Remus. The imagery on the present issue refers to the ceremony performed at the foundation of a city as a colony (on which see further below). However, not all Palestinian colonies, such as Sebaste, were keen to give up their Greek heritage. Indeed, this is expressed by the retention of the Greek name Sebaste, derived from the Greek equivalent of the Latin Augusta (see Belayche, “Foundation Myths,” p. 171-174; for the present coin, p. 172, and for the quotation, p. 171). Moreover, Greek identity may also highlighted on this coin by the depiction of the Greek goddess of victory, Nikè, who appears flying above the emperor behind the plough, crowing him. The implication would therefore be that the Greek deity supports and submits to Roman presence in the city. However, the iconography of the goddess is similar to that of the Roman Victoria, meaning that this representation could be read both ways.
The inscription on the obverse is unreadable, but likely refers to Caracalla. The inscription in Latin on the reverse refers to the city as Colonia Lucia Septimia Sebaste. Unlike neighbouring Neapolis, which sided with Pescennius Niger in his claiming of the throne after the murder of the emperor Pertinax in 193 CE, it seems that Sebaste sided with Septimius Severus (see Smallwood, The Jews Under Roman Rule, p. 487-488), who with the support of his troops marched on Rome and eventually won the imperial throne. After Pescennius Niger was defeated in a battle near Nicea, he retired to Syria, where he assumed he would receive the support of the local elites. However, one city after another, including Sebaste, decided to support the winner, Septimius Severus, instead. The new emperor visited the province of Syria-Palestina in 197 CE, on the way to his Parthian campaign. In the wake of his visit, the city of Sebaste became a Roman colony, taking the name Colonia Lucia Septimia Sebaste (Smallwood, The Jews Under Roman Rule, p. 490). The city of Neapolis was punished for supporting Pescennius Niger, and the right to mint coins was withdrawn from it (Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, p. 44).
A detailed description of the ceremony which surrounded the foundation of a city is given by Dionysus of Halicarnassus (Roman Antiquities I.88), who describes the model for this – the mythical foundation of Rome by Romulus. In homage to Romulus’s actions, upon the founding of a new city, the ruler, in this case Septimius Severus, or the local governor, offered sacrifices to conciliate the gods. Once the omens had been taken and found favourable, he proceeded with the circumductio, drawing the sacred boundaries of the city, tracing an outline of the area where the walls of the future colony would be erected. This ceremony was performed through the ploughing of the earth, with a bull and a cow yoked together. The ceremony ended with a prayer to Jupiter, Mars, and Vesta, in which the gods were asked to grant protection to the area. This ceremony was performed during the reign of Septimius Severus, when the city of Sebaste was given the honorary title of colony. In fact, the city of Sebaste was closely associated with Rome from its foundation by King Herod the Great in 25-24 BCE onwards. The king re-founded the city of Samaria as Sebaste in honour of Augustus, and erected a huge temple dedicated to Augustus on the acropolis, which was restored by Septimius Severus. The tangible symbol of Sebaste’s association with Rome was the fact that the city area was the main centre for the enlistment of auxilia units of the Roman army, namely the Ala Sebastenorum that served in Mauretania Caesarensis, and the Cohors I Sebastenorum M(iliaria) that continued to serve in Judea, and then in Syria-Palestina (Shatzman, The Armies of the Hasmoneans and Herod, p. 185, 194; Meshorer, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis, p. 45).
The depiction of the founding ceremony of the colony on this coin therefore serves to emphasize the close bond between the provincial city and the far away capital Rome. By this point in history, not only was the city a Roman colony, but most of its citizens also possessed Roman citizenship. The foundation imagery not only commemorated a legal status being conferred on the city by the imperial power, but also implied a link back to Rome’s mythical past, which Sebaste, now an official extension of Rome could also lay claim to. Moreover, coins such as this served to express the loyalty of the colonial city to the central power which sustained it.
Thematic keywords:
Septimius Severus
Roman colony
Belayche, Nicole, “Foundation Myths in Roman Palestine: Traditions and Reworkings” , in Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition (ed. Ton Derks , Nico Roymans; Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009), 167-188
Meshorer, Ya’akov, City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1985)
Shatzman, Israel, The Armies of the Hasmonaeans and Herod (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 25; Tübingen: Mohr and Siebeck, 1991)
Smallwood, E. Mary, The Jews under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian: A Study in Political Relations (Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 20; Leiden: Brill, 1997)
Samuele Rocca
Author(s) of this publication: Samuele Rocca, Kimberley Fowler
Publishing date: Mon, 04/02/2018 - 00:31
URL: http://www.judaism-and-rome.org/city-coin-sebaste-depicting-head-caracalla-and-ceremonial-foundation-city-198-217-ce
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Salvian of Marseille, On the Providential Rule of God V.21-23
Gallic provincials who preferred to lose their Roman citizenship by emigrating towards barbarian or bacaudic areas
Salvian of Marseille
Parenetic treatise
On the Providential Rule of God
V.21-23
Salvian of Marseille was born at the beginning of the fifth century at Trier or Cologne, probably in a family that counted among the minor notables of these cities. After witnessing the third invasion of Trier and its area, around 418-420 CE, by some barbarian groups, he decided to move to the south of Gaul, which was still under the authority of the praetorian prefect of Gaul based at Arles, with his wife Palladia. Both of them practiced chastity and followed an ascetic life. He stayed for a while at the island of Lérins, and was then ordained as a priest in Marseille. Salvian was still alive in 470 CE.
Salvian composed his treatise On the Providential Rule of God between 439 CE and the beginning of the 440s, having gone into exile in the south-east of Gaul around ten years prior. On the Providential Rule of God is a parenetic work whose leitmotiv is that the barbarian invasions that affected Gaul from the very beginning of the fifth century CE were nothing but a divine punishment for the sins and the iniquity of the Roman people. Contrary to Augustine’s City of God, which was published twenty years before, pagan Romans were not the real target of Salvian’s criticism. Salvian chose to attack violently a section of the Christian clergy, but also laymen who pretended to be good orthodox Christians but who were in fact corrupt, and behaved tyrannically towards people of humbler condition. From the beginning of book III to the middle of book IV (IV.53), Salvian underscores the universality and the gravity of the sins committed by the majority of Christians to argue that a divine punishment, which manifested itself through the barbarian invasions, was unavoidable. Next, from IV.54 to the end of the treatise, Salvian proceeds to an extended comparison between the Romans and the barbarians. Thus, Salvian highlights three main areas of corruption in the Roman Empire: social injustice and taxation, spectacles, and moral debasement. Regarding social injustice and taxation, Salvian’s argumentation is primarily based on the idea that most of the honestiores shamelessly oppress the multitude of the humiliores through taxation or exploitation of any kind (the honestiores included officers of the praetorian or provincial administration sent in the provinces, and all the various members of the civic élite who were also more or less wealthy landowners). This unfair treatment of humble people by the most powerful is presented as a reason why the Romans were punished by God: contrary to the barbarians they knew the sacred Scriptures, but they deliberately chose not to respect their teachings. This reasoning enables Salvian to reach the conclusion that the Romans are far worse – and more barbarian – than the barbarians themselves.
The text presented here is an excerpt from the fifth book of the treatise, a book which deals with this comparison between Romans and barbarians and enumerates the numerous troubles caused by the dysfunctional fiscal system and social injustice. After having insisted upon the fact that members of civic institutions of various ranks used taxation for their own profit, at the expense of the poor persons (V.17-19), with the passive complicity of many clerics (V.19), Salvian narrates what he considers to be the direct consequences of this injustice. The first one, which is exposed in the text presented here, is that many Roman citizens went out of the areas in which the Roman taxation system still functioned and were thus obliged not to be Roman anymore (V.21-23). We will analyse the arguments used by Salvian to criticize the unfair nature of Rome’s policy in the provinces in his days and the interesting way he reflects upon the degradation of the status of Roman citizens.
In the text presented here, Salvian deals with the numerous Roman citizens who preferred to run away to barbarian territories. Salvian identifies the main causes of their migrations as follows. First, the increase of the fiscal burden on Gallic provincials (here denounced as “public persecution,” V.21). This increase may have been noticeable after Carthage was taken by the Vandals in 435 CE, an event that must have provoked a redeployment of the fiscal burden on the areas that still recognized the authority of the Western imperial power (in the 430s these areas were the south-west of Numidia, a part of Mauretania Sitifensis, Gaul – with the exception of Armorica and of the northern regions –, Tarraconensis, and Italy). The second cause, identified various times by Salvian, is the numerous injustices committed by the Romans (iniustitiam saevitatem, V.21; Romanae iniquitatis, V.23; Romanae iniquitatis crudelitate, V.23). We can guess that Salvian must have targeted here the Romans within various levels of the administrative system that he denounces in the whole treatise (see Salvian of Marseille, On the Providential Rule of God V.24-25). Moreover, concerning the victims of these extortions or injustices, Salvian insists upon the fact that they were Roman citizens of good birth, who had enjoyed a good education (V.21), and who were thus from the nobiles milieux (V.23). Salvian probably focuses attention on these nobiles firstly because his own family was from the small nobility of Trier or Cologne, and secondly because he may have wanted to “strike a stronger chord with his (presumably well-born and educated) audience” (on this second point, see Lambert, “Salvian and the Bacaudae,” p. 269). As rightly remarked by Peter Brown, the fact that Salvian defends in this text the fact that it was better for the Romans to live in barbarian territories than to continue to be oppressed in territories controlled by Rome contradicts Salvian’s own choices, as in the 420s he chose to flee the barbarian raids that affected north-eastern Gaul for the Provençal area, that is in the area of the Gallic prefecture that maintained the closest connections with the imperial court (Brown, “Salvian of Marseilles,” p. 3-4). This apparent contradiction has to be understood in light of the fact that in thirty years the various barbarian peoples became unavoidable figures in the everyday life of many Gallic provincials, but also in light of the necessities of the demonstration followed by Salvian in the treatise On the Providential Rule of God. Even if Salvian tries to show in this work that the barbarians were far more virtuous than the Romans, a few years before the writing of the treatise the priest had tried to intercede for a relative who lived in an area in which barbarians were influential. Actually, in one of the letters he sent to the monks of Lérins in 439-440 CE to recommend a young relative, Salvian alludes to the difficulties that the mother of the young man whom he recommended, who was still in Cologne, was confronted with. Salvian thus writes that this woman, who had been part of the influent nobility of the city, was now so impoverished that she could not leave Cologne and that the only thing she could do was to “rent his hands to the wives of the barbarians” present in the city (Salvian, Letters I.5-6). The situation of Salvian’s relative was particularly difficult, as she could not leave Cologne to come to Provence, but Salvian implies that her situation was even worse because she was compelled to become the servant of some barbarian ladies who may have been part of the barbarian aristocratic groups present in the area. Her condition is thus different from that of the Romans described by Salvian in this text, who could enjoy their free-status in a barbarian territory. This difference of point of view can be explained by the needs of the rhetorical demonstration in the treatise On the Providential Rule of God. Actually, as rightly recalled by Peter Brown, Salvian addressed this work to an audience that lived in the Provençal area wherein both imperial authority and that of the Gallic prefect were still recognized. When in this text Salvian enumerates the various options chosen by the nobiles who wanted to get rid of Rome’s iniquities, that is to go into barbarian territories (these could be in areas assigned to federated barbarians or in areas situated outside the Empire) or to join rebels called Bacaudae or Bagaudae which meant that the regions controlled by the rebels got away from Roman prefectoral authorities, he clearly highlights the fact that the Provençal area was becoming a Roman enclave in a Gaul largely dominated by barbarians, and warns the inhabitants of this enclave “that the Roman order of which they were so proud hung on a thread” (Brown, “Salvian of Marseilles,” p. 3).
The main idea developed by Salvian in this text is that Rome’s rule in the Gallic provinces became so oppressive and unjust that it led to the subversion of the whole social order (see Lambert, “Salvian and the Bacaudae,” p. 270). The first subversion concerns moral qualities. Actually, Salvian reuses the common argument that the Romans behave so unjustly and cruelly that they were far more barbarian than the barbarians themselves: “They seek among the barbarians the Roman humanness (Romana humanitatem), since they cannot endure the barbarous inhumanity (barbaram inhumanitatem) they find among the Romans” (V.21). Such an idea is actually not new, it can be noticed in the panegyric that Mamertinus wrote for Julian in 362 CE, in which Mamertinus already attacks “the cruelty of the plunderer” (crudelitas praedonis), that is of the provincial governors, who caused so much trouble to the provincials that the latter preferred to be ruled by barbarians rather than by them (Latin Panegyrics XI, 4; see Brown, Through the Eye, p. 447). This kind of reasoning is also well-attested during the fifth century; for instance, Orosius highlights that some Romans preferred to live poor but free with the barbarians than to be perpetually anxious about taxation if they lived with the Romans (Orosius, Seven Books of History Against the Pagans VII.41.7). Salvian thus exploits here this common argument to prove that because of the evolution of social values and that of Rome’s rule in the provinces, the Roman power failed to rule with humanitas, a notion that in the mind of Salvian allies both “the benevolent style of rule” that was traditionally characteristic of the optimus princeps from the early imperial period onwards with more Christian connotations, especially the special concern of the Christian emperor for poor and weak peoples (see Brown, Poverty and Leadership, p. 1).
The second major aspect of the subversion of Roman social order that Salvian develops at length in the text presented here is that the Romans had been deprived of the main elements of their identity. The first direct manifestation is that they have lost their libertas, so life in the Roman provinces is equated by Salvian with living as “captives in seeming liberty” (V.22). The oppression of the Roman fiscus and of the Roman judges was so impressive that the free Romans living in the Roman Empire were reduced to a state of slavery. The only way they could get back their freedom was to get out of Roman provinces by joining barbarian territories or joining rebellious movements (Lambert, “Salvian and the Bacaudae,” p. 270-271). This thus leads logically to the second aspect of the subversion of the identity of the Romans, namely the fact that Roman citizenship ceased to be an honourable and desired status. This idea is developed in the passage: “Hence the name of Roman citizen, once not only much valued but bought at a high price, is now voluntarily repudiated and avoided; it is considered not only valueless, but even almost abhorrent.” The allusion to the fact that Roman citizenship could be “bought at a high price” is probably a reference to Acts 22.28 when the tribune calling out to Paul says that he bought his Roman citizenship “with a large sum of money.” David Lambert has rightly noticed that when Salvian depicts Roman citizenship as something which in the past had been much valued or bought at a high price, he expressed an “idealized vision of the Roman past, in which all the citizens were free, and Romans did not prey on each other” (Lambert, “Salvian and the Bacaudae,” p. 272). This idea thus fits in with Salvian’s whole conception of Roman history, which he perceived as a continuum that started from a just and virtuous past – that of the heroes of the Republican period – and that declined so much throughout time that it became the unjust and immoral state it was in his day (on Salvian’s conception of Roman history and his admiration for the exempla of the Romans of old, see Inglebert, Les Romains chrétiens, p. 660-663, 668-669).
Salvian thus defends the idea that the deflation of Roman citizenship had been so important from the Republican period onwards, that in his day many provincials were not at all afraid of losing their status as Roman citizens, either by migrating to barbarian territories, such as in the areas where the Visigoths were settled (mentioned in V.22), or by taking part in a Bacaudae revolt. David Lambert has interestingly noticed that instead of highlighting practical consequences of the losses caused by their migrations, Salvian chose to underscore the fact that they have lost the “name of Roman citizens” (nomen civium Romanorum, V.22) or the “honour of the Roman name” (honorem Romani nominis, V.24) (Lambert, “Salvian and the Bacaudae,” p. 271). Thus, it is quite rare to find in the middle of the fifth century CE, more than two centuries after the Constitutio Antoniniana, authors who stress the importance of the status of Roman citizen so much. In spite of the necessities of Salvian’s rhetorical demonstration, this text proves that the moral implications associated with being a Roman citizen remained meaningful during the fifth century, especially at a time when many barbarians, that is non-Romans, lived in the Roman Empire and had even been allowed by the Roman authorities to settle in entire regions (on this aspect, see Inglebert, “Citoyenneté romaine,” p. 251-252). This idea becomes all the more relevant for Salvian, and he must have had in mind the example of his relative who stayed at Cologne and who became the servant of some barbarian ladies. For men or women like Salvian or his relatives who came from the small or medium notability of the cities, who continued to live in the Empire, and who had suffered a social and economical downgrading during the first half of the fifth century, to assert the importance of Roman citizen status was thus a vital – even if despairing – process.
This text of Salvian is thus very representative of the main leitmotivs defended by him in his whole work, but also of his use of elements of the Roman past to comfort his point of view. We have actually seen that Salvian focuses his criticism here on the exactions and injustices caused by the Roman administrative system that led to a total subversion of the Roman social and moral order. These abuses had been so important that the Romans became more immoral than the barbarians themselves, and the right of Roman freedom disappeared totally. Many Romans thus did not find any other solution than to emigrate to barbarian or rebellious areas, even if this implied the loss of their Roman citizenship. The two phenomena Salvian describes must have been real ones, and the fact that Salvian insists so much upon the past importance and honour of being a Roman citizen must reflect the fears of many Romans of the time who were confronted with the arrival of many non-Roman populations inside the Empire, and with the emergence of an influent élite inside these new populations. To assert the importance and the prestige of Roman citizenship must be understood as a reaction to this situation in which the Romans had to find ways to distinguish themselves before this new influential barbarian élite, even if Salvian’s pessimistic point of view implies that this was too late, as the majority of the Romans decided to abandon their Roman citizenship and find solutions outside the Roman legal order.
Bacaudae
barbari
barbarus
captivitas
civis Romanus
crudelitas
Gothi
hostis
inhumanitas
iniustitia
nobiles
orfanus
persecutio publica
Romana iniquitas
Romanus status
vidua
Bagaudae
humaneness
Roman administration
Roman citizenship
Roman corruption
Roman legal system
Brown, Peter, Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (London: University Press of New England, 2002)
Brown, Peter, “Salvian of Marseilles. Theology and social criticism in the last century of the western empire”, in Dacre Lecture, Oxford University (; 2010)
Brown, Peter, Through the Eye of a Needle. Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012)
Inglebert, Hervé, “Citoyenneté romaine, romanités et identités romaines sous l’Empire”, in Idéologies et valeurs civiques dans le Monde Romain. Hommage à Claude Lepelley (ed. Hervé Inglebert; Paris: Picard, 2002), 241-260
Inglebert, Hervé, Les Romains chrétiens face à l’Histoire de Rome (Paris: Institut des Études Augustiniennes, 1996)
Lambert, David, “Salvian and the Bacaudae”, in Gallien in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter: Kulturgeschichte einer Region (ed. Steffen Diefenbach , Gernot Michael Müller; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2012), 255-278
The malfunctions of the Roman tax system and of civic institutions as source of social troubles
Read more about Salvian of Marseille, On the Providential Rule of God V.24-25
Latin Panegyric IV(8).21.1
About the revival of Gallic campaigns thanks to Laeti and barbarian ploughmen
Read more about Latin Panegyric IV(8).21.1
Marie Roux
Author(s) of this publication: Marie Roux
Publishing date: Wed, 09/05/2018 - 18:33
URL: http://www.judaism-and-rome.org/salvian-marseille-providential-rule-god%C2%A0v21-23
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"Stories are more than a gentle escape. They are a life raft."
– Pam Allyn
LitWorld was founded in 2007 after Pam Allyn, literacy educator and author, visited Kibera, an area of extreme poverty in Nairobi, Kenya. There, she experienced the urgent desire children had to read, write and share their stories, and the barriers that stood in their way.
Literacy is not a gift given just to some lucky ones, it is a foundational human right that brings joy, economic independence, gender equity and a pathway out of poverty.
Inspired after her first visit to Kibera, Pam returned to New York and mobilized a group of friends and leaders to join her in building a new movement founded on this belief. They set out to create a community-based approach to programs and training that would lead to transformational literacy defined by dreams that can come true.
Over the next five years, LitWorld developed and launched the programs that stand today as the organization's core models: LitClubs, LitCamps, and World Read Aloud Day. The LitClub model of in-depth, out-of-school self-empowerment and literacy programming has allowed us to bring our innovative methods to communities across the world. LitCamp redefines summer learning through innovative, research-based reading and writing lessons with an engaging and interactive summer camp approach that reduces the “summer slide.” World Read Aloud Day calls global attention to the importance of reading aloud, sharing stories, and the idea of literacy as a human right by bringing communities together across the world to read aloud and change the world.
In 2017, Dorothy Lee, formerly Creative Director and longtime LitWorld leader, became LitWorld's Executive Director to lead LitWorld into its second decade. Pam Allyn continues to be closely involved in the work and vision for the future in her role as Founder. Read more.
From around the world, children’s stories of learning, growth, and achievement pour in every day. From the girl in Kenya who is no longer afraid to raise her hand and speak up in school to the boy in India who now wants to grow up to help people to the young woman in New York City who is the first in her family to go to college: This is the LitWorld story.
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Holland Agro-Economic Zone to earn $1.26 billion in 2019
Jada Pinkett Smith felt 'hostile' toward Will Smith's flirty co-stars
Loop Entertainment Created : 8 May 2019 Entertainment
Jada Pinkett Smith felt "a little hostile" toward other women during the early days of her romance with Will Smith.
The 47-year-old actress has been married to Will - with whom she has son Jaden, 20, and daughter Willow, 18 - since 1997 and has said that at the start of their romance, she felt insecure when the 'I Am Legend' actor's fans and co-stars seemed to "step over a boundary".
On her Facebook Watch series 'Red Table Talk', Jada was asked if she gets jealous over other women who are flirty toward Will, and she said: "You know what, I really didn't. There were only one or two times where I might have gotten a little hostile where I felt like people, they stepped over a boundary and they were disrespectful. "I know who I am. And, more importantly, he knows who I am, right?"
And the 'Girls Trip' star insists it was actually her daughter Willow who was more protective over her father when she was a young child.
Jada added: "I remember when Willow was five or six and one of his co-stars was in his trailer. She jumped in her father's lap and she looked at the co-star and said, 'My mother's gonna be here very soon' ... And I remember Will telling me the story, I cracked up!" After more than two decades of marriage, Will and Jada are secure in their relationship, and the 'Aladdin' star previously claimed the pair would never get a divorce as they don't have any "deal breakers".
Speaking last year, he said: "There's nothing that could happen that we won't be together and love each other. And it's not just because we're saying it. It's because we've cracked each other's heads wide open. "I've truly learned the definition of unconditional love. I love you, I support you, I'm going to help you be happy no matter what. I don't have to like it. I describe it as the day the deal breakers are gone. We don't have any deal breakers."
Red Table Talk
Will Smith says he and Jada are no longer married
Jada meet Jada: Jada Pinkett-Smith surprises Trini students in Miami
Watch: Will Smith marks 50th birthday with a leap near Grand Canyon
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Free Unlimited Gems for Kingdom Rush Origins
Kingdom Rush launched back in 2011 as a PC browser-based game. After becoming a hit franchise with Kingdom Rush Frontiers across Steam and mobile devices, developer Ironhide Game Studio has created a prequel with Kingdom Rush Origins. Now it was available on Google Play with $2.99.
Download Sleep Attack TD for Free
Tower Defense games are frequently pretty enjoyable, but they’re rarely innovative. All too often they play it safe, and you end up feeling like you’ve played the same game multiple times. Sleep Attack TD isn’t like other Tower Defense games. For one thing, it’s actually quite tough. More importantly though, it offers you the chance to control the layout of the battlefield, thereby ensuring that you have to keep your wits about you at all times.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Free Download For Android
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is a strategy game developed by Scott Cawthon. It’s the sequel of Five Nights at Freddy, priced at $2.99 on Google Play.
Skyturns Free Download for Android
Skyturns is a running game developed by Joakim Tall. It’s available on Google Play 5 days ago, priced at $2.02.
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OETA Looks to the Stars this July for Summer of Space
Posted by Dustin Pyeatt on
This July marks the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. In honor of this historic event, the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) is offering a month-long celestial programming spectacular.
The journey to the heavens begins with the highly anticipated Chasing the Moon: American Experience. This three-part series airs at 8 p.m., July 8 – 10. Experience the thrilling era of the space race, from its earliest days to the 1969 moon landing.
July also brings two new NOVA specials into orbit. First, Back to the Moon, 7 p.m., July 10, joins the next generation of engineers who aim to use the Moon as a stepping-stone for future human missions to Mars and beyond. Next, the five-part series, The Planets, begins at 8 p.m., July 24, and runs each Wednesday, ending August 14. The Planets takes viewers on a trip through our solar system, ending on the frigid dark side of Pluto.
Space Chase USA, 10 p.m., July 16, tells the story of Cocoa Beach, Florida as it transforms from sleepy, small town to the bustling center of the American space program.
On July 17, two great specials fall to Earth. First, 8 Days: To the Moon and Back, 8 p.m., follows the Apollo 11 on its historic mission. 8 Days seamlessly blends mission audio featuring conversations among Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins with new footage to recreate the first moon landing. And, next, When We Were Apollo, 9:30 p.m. is an intimate and personal look at the Apollo Space Program through the lives and experiences of some of its most inspiring behind-the-scenes figures.
And finally, beginning at 7 p.m., July 24 is the three-part series Ancient Skies. Ancient Skies explores how centuries of knowledge, experimentation and engineering helped our ancestors explore space.
OETA provides essential educational content and services that inform, inspire and connect Oklahomans to ideas and information that enrich our quality of life. We do this by consistently engaging Oklahomans with educational and public television programming, providing educational training and curriculum, outreach initiatives and online features that collectively encourage lifelong learning. For more information about education curriculum and programs, local productions, digital television, community resources and show schedules explore OETA.tv or visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
OETA Celebrates America’s Birthday with A Capitol Fourth
COMING ATTRACTIONS! July 2019 OETA Movie Club Schedule
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Preventing suicide in children: American Psychological Association and the Child Mind Institute present online event
Woodruff Health Sciences Center | May 9, 2013
Kathi Baker
kobaker@emory.edu
Nadine Kaslow, PhD, president-elect of the American Psychological Association and Emory Professor of Psychiatry, leads May 15, 2013, webcast about children and suicide.
Emory psychologist elected president of the American Psychological Association Nov. 13, 2012
Psychologist takes on ballet's special demons Sept. 18, 2012
Webcast: Speak Up for Kids
Expert: Nadine Kaslow
Events, Health, Nadine Kaslow, School of Medicine, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Psychology
Nadine Kaslow, PhD, Emory professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and president-elect of the American Psychological Association, will lead a webcast on children’s suicide prevention as part of the Child Mind Institute’s Speak Up for Kids Initiative. The interactive webcast will take place on Wednesday, May 15, from 9-10 a.m.
The Speak Up for Kids campaign is a month-long online dialogue to promote children’s mental health and eliminate barriers to care. Responding to President Obama’s call for a national conversation about mental health in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Speak Up for Kids brings together the nation’s mental health leadership to give parents the information they need to help remove stigma and get kids effective mental health care.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-to-24-year-olds, and the sixth leading cause of death for 5-to-14-year-olds,” says Kaslow. “At the same time, access to care for children with mental illness is strikingly inadequate in the U.S. health system, and many of these children fall through the cracks. We hope this webcast will serve as an educational tool for families to help them identify the warning signs for suicide, and find the assistance they need.”
Kaslow received her doctorate from the University of Houston and completed her internship and postdoctoral fellowship training at the University of Wisconsin. She is Board Certified in Clinical Psychology, Couple and Family Psychology, and Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. She joined the Emory University School of Medicine faculty in 1990. Kaslow is committed to helping underserved and underprivileged populations and youth and their families.
In addition to her role as Emory School of Medicine faculty, Kaslow serves as vice chair for Faculty Development in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, chief psychologist at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and director of the Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Professional Psychology. She holds joint appointments in the Departments of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, and Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health.
To access the webcast, go to childmind.org/speakup
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NAACP Legal Defense Fund president to speak at Emory Law
By A. Kenyatta Greer | Jan. 4, 2016
A. Kenyatta Greer
kenyatta.greer@emory.edu
Sherrilyn Ifill serves as president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Emory Law
Events, School of Law, Community and Diversity, Law
Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, will present a lecture at Emory University School of Law in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 14, at the law school's Tull Auditorium, 1301 Clifton Road, Atlanta.
Ifill has had a distinguished career as a litigator, constitutional law scholar and public intellectual. A frequent commentator on Sunday morning talk shows, she has litigated landmark voting rights cases and written the critically acclaimed “On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century,” which discusses the continuing legacy of Jim Crow-era lynchings on communities today.
Her talk, to be held just days before the MLK holiday, and one of many events commemorating the day across campus, was organized by Dorothy Brown, professor of law at Emory and frequent commenter on the salience of race in America.
“Dr. Martin Luther King is often remembered for this quote: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,'" says Brown. "The Legal Defense Fund has been at the forefront of ensuring that our legal system bends towards justice. What better time than now when some in our country are still debating whether all black lives matter, to hear from such a beacon of light in this multi-generational struggle?”
Ifill's lecture is free and open to the public. A reception in Hunter Atrium will immediately follow.
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Ministry brings message of hope to inmates in Caldwell
Michele Newbanks
Special to The News and Sentinel
mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com
Photo by Michele Newbanks Inmates from the Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell had a dress rehearsal Friday for a program which provides hope to their peers through music, drama, dance and spoken word.
CALDWELL — Inmates at the Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell are getting a chance to give back messages of hope to their peers through dance, music, spoken word and drama.
Jeff Bohn, executive director of Shining Light Ministries, and his team have been working with 32 inmates for the last two weeks and their program will be performed today and Sunday for the other incarcerated. A dress rehearsal was held Friday afternoon for family and friends of the participants.
Shining Light Ministries started in 1996 and their team has been to about 70 prisons from San Quentin to Riker’s Island, Bohn said.
“We work with 32 incarcerated men for about 65 hours and they present a message of hope,” he said. “We’ve done this particular program for about 10 different prisons and jails.”
The group has worked primarily in Pennsylvania and New York and this is the first time they’ve worked at a prison in Ohio. Most of the performances have been done in maximum security facilities.
“We had a last minute cancellation due to some health issues with the host,” Bohn said.
It typically takes a year of working with the prison to set the program up, however for NCI, it only took about five weeks.
“A board of directors member, who was a warden at Riker’s Island and was friends with the warden at Noble, gave him a call,” Bohn explained.
Warden Tim Buchanan said the prison has a moral obligation to do the right thing for the prisoners.
“A non-traditional life experience is what enhances the human soul,” he said. “The dedication and pride the men took in their performing made me so proud.”
The men were broken down into four teams, each led by a professional artist from Los Angeles or New York City.
“We bring four professionals working artists with us from New York and Los Angeles. They come in for the two weeks and they work with them to create the program,” Bohn said. “The incarcerated create the drama and the spoken word. So we’re in there seven hours a day with them and there is a discipleship part of it. They watch a short video on ‘what’s my purpose in life’. They discuss it in their small groups, which are led by our artists. We do a lot of team building activities.”
Elgin H., 52, who has served three years and four months of his prison sentence, is involved in the church ministry at the prison and wanted to challenge himself and do something positive with his time as part of the drama team.
“I knew two of the team, which is amazing because now I know 32 of them,” he said. “It’s not just that I recognize them across the yard, but I really know them. It’s really that close.”
He said in prison, you are judged easily and now he’s able to open up more.
“You never know what someone else is going through,” he said.
Bohn said the program isn’t a talent show, it’s about serving others.
“It’s about hope and we want to present a message that impacts their peers. They get new supportive relationships,” he said. “Most of the men didn’t know each other before they came together for this team. They’ve also discovered they can do more than they thought they could, both individually and together. They’ll tell you their faith has grown. Our program is pretty extravagant with the amount of time and resources we pour into it.”
Elgin said he looked forward to practice every day and that he’ll never forget what he went through with his team.
Derick B., 36, who has served 21 months, was part of the spoken word team and said he’s going to take his new-found confidence with him when he finally leaves prison.
“It’s given me the confidence to go out and be a counselor’s advocate for alcoholics,” he said. “I can say what I’ve been through in my life.”
He said the program has meant the world to him now that he’s gone through it. There were people he didn’t associate with, but it’s brought unity to the group.
“Everyone’s story is slightly different, but we have the same struggles,” he explained. “But now we are family.”
Some of their struggles played out during the spoken word sections of the program. The team first spoke of hope, talking about their wives and children, but then the lighting turned red. They then spoke of when their lives fell apart and the struggles they had with gangs, dealing drugs, alcoholism, depression and violence.
The drama team had a skit that started the same way. They talked of their childhoods, where “bacon frying in a pan” and “a shot from a starter gun at a track meet” were their memories. It quickly became more about the sounds of regret, which took on the forms of gun shots and sirens.
The men who participated in the program were volunteers who didn’t have to be Christians, although “we share hope through Jesus,” Bohn said.
“Many times we have Muslims or those from other faiths participate,” he explained. “Our goal is not to see people saved or converted through our presentation, but we are about bringing hope.”
He noted 20 percent of the inmates they’ve worked with are serving life without parole, so hope is something they need.
“I’m amazed each time at what the inmates can do and the long term impact it has,” he said.
Having something positive to do with their time and having positive people to work with is been a good thing for the inmates. It makes them feel less like a number and more like a person.
“One of the biggest things they comment on is we call them by their first names,” Bohn said. “One guy commented Thursday that he hadn’t been called by his first name in over a year.”
After the program, the participants gave words of encouragement that they’ve learned.
“Never give up,” one inmate from the dance team said. “Know God is with you. Stay positive in everything you do.”
One inmate thanked the audience, which was mostly family members of the participants for “not forgetting us or giving up on us.”
Another inmate said his words for his peers would be to “find somebody, even if it’s one person, that you can trust and make them part of your family.”
Bohn said they have had dozens of performances over the years, but this was only the second one with perfect attendance.
“One had a tooth pulled and went back to rehearsal. One was sick and came to rehearsal and sat on the side when he needed to,” he said. “That showed their dedication.”
Buchanan said he was told by one of the participants that this was the first time he had committed to something ever.
“That they must commit was fundamental for participants,” he added.
The workshop costs about $75,000, which is $2,500 per person typically, Bohn noted. The group feels this is a year-long rehabilitative program packed into two weeks.
After the intensive program, the Shining Light team goes back to the prison to check in on the inmates to see how they have progressed.
“We go back in a month, six months and a year to meet with inmates to see the personal and relational growth and the increase in spiritual practices,” Bohn said. “More than 90 percent of them report personal and relational growth in the form of confidence, the ability to work with others and empathy.”
He said the inmates also report that they think more highly of the prison staff.
“They tend to have more purpose in life and more purpose in their incarceration and how they use their time,” he added.
Diocese hires auditor, lay group suspends campaign
PARKERSBURG – A Catholic lay group has suspended its campaign to withhold donations to the Diocese of ...
Suit over Justice’s residency moves forward
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Alfred Stewart
(JJ Connington)
Professor Sir Alwyn Williams FRS (1921 - 2004):
Geologist; university professor and administrator
Prof. Sir Alwyn Williams
Alwyn Williams was both an outstanding university administrator, innovative and inspirational, and a geologist of the highest international repute, being particularly distinguished in the study of brachiopods (invertebrate marine animals with two dissimilar shells; they are also known as ‘lamp shells') and the palaeontology of the Ordovician period. A large part of his considerable academic output was produced during his tenure as Professor of Geology at Queen's University, Belfast, which chair he occupied from 1954 to 1974. Besides his academic accomplishments, as an administrator he built up the Department of Geology at Queen's into one of the more distinguished in the country, and served also in some of the highest administrative positions in the University: Dean of the Faculty of Science, Secretary to Academic Council, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor.
Williams was the eldest child of a tramway inspector and born in Abercwmboi, Aberdâr (Aberdare), Glamorgan, Wales. He won a scholarship to Aberdâr Grammar School followed by a scholarship to the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he was Student Union president, as well as being elected vice-president of the National Union of Students, graduating, with first class honours in geology in 1943. Although in his youth he had been a keen athlete and rugby player, a tubercular illness prevented him from serving during the war - he had applied to join the Fleet Air Arm - so he read for a PhD, making a study of Ordovician rocks in Carmarthenshire, Wales. In 1948 he attended the first postwar International Geological Conference, and travelled to the United States where from 1948 to 1950 he was at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, having been awarded a Harkness Fund Fellowship. This enabled him to work with the world's leading brachiopod expert, G Arthur Cooper, compiler of the largest brachiopod collection in the world. In 1950 he was appointed lecturer in Geology at Glasgow University, where, as would be the case throughout his career, he held teaching to be equally important as research; he would later be remembered amongst other things for introducing literally hands-on examination of fossils, students up to that time having been confined to merely looking at them in glass cases.
In 1954 he was appointed Professor of Geology at Queen's University, Belfast, only the second appointment to this chair which had been occupied since 1921 by John Kaye Chambers. This was a time when the University was expanding rapidly under the far-sighted and highly efficient Vice-Chancellor, Eric Ashby. This expansion was not merely in Staff and student numbers, but also saw an extensive building programme which transformed the University area architecturally. One such building was the new Geology Department in Elmwood Avenue, opposite the main building, which was opened on April 30, 1954, just before Williams' took up his appointment.. Williams firstly brought his own energy and vigour to a small department which under his leadership over the following twenty years would grow into one of the leading departments of geology in the United Kingdom; not only was he a highly capable administrator, his academic work, which he stated he regarded as a form of recreation, made his one of the most distinguished names in the world in his disciplines. He produced a large corpus of innovative work on, especially, brachiopods, his main interest. In fact, he saw the study of brachiopods as rather more than that, once describing how his wife was willing to tolerate his "daily halleluiahs to the Brachiopoda".
Williams' comprehensive study and knowledge of these fossils covered their taxonomy (that is, classification in an ordered system that indicates natural relationships), their phylogeny (that is, connections between groups of organisms as understood by ancestor/descendant relationships), their growth and cell structure, palaeobiogeography (that is, their global distribution) and stratigraphy (that is, where they are to be found in relation to rock strata). Methodologically, he pioneered new techniques of study and description of brachiopods, notably scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Through his study of brachiopods, Williams became interested and expert in Ordivician period palaeontology generally, this being the period, roughly between 490 and 443 million years ago, when most of the northern hemisphere was oceanic and brachiopods, amongst other invertebrates, flourished. His list of publications, whether authorial or editorial, was considerable. While at Queen's, he began work, as overall editor (along with AJ Rowell) co-ordinating the work of 18 authors including himself, on the production of Part H of the American Institute of Paleontology's Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, published in two volumes in 1965. Much later, in the 1980s, he was asked to take in hand a fully revised version, this time in four volumes and containing the work of over 40 authors, again including Williams. Publication began in 1995, four volumes were complete at Williams' death and the whole series of six volumes was completed in 2007.
Other publications included numerous contributions to learned journals, whether in his own disciplines or for science more generally, including the Transactions of the Royal Societies in London and Edinburgh (of both of which he was a Fellow); the Journal of the Geological Society; Geological Magazine; Palaeontology; the (American) Journal of Paleontology, amongst others.
As an example of his constructive approach to matters to do with students, in 1970, the officers of the Representative Council of the Students' Union were arguing for greater student representation in the administration and management of the University, including proportionally equal representation on the Senate and Academic Council, and other bodies and committees. In a memorandum they submitted to Academic Council, they rather cleverly quoted the words of Eric Ashby, the former Vice-Chancellor, arguing for a move towards a model for modern universities which would be "a society of Chancellor, Masters and Scholars" as co-equals. In response to this, Williams stated that he would not oppose widening student access "to satisfy the student ego or avert demonstrations", although more positively he did allow that it could be useful to allow student input into assessing teaching methods.
Although not a large man in terms of stature or physique, Williams had a powerful if not formidable personality, albeit with considerable charm. His wife Joan Williams was a singularly energetic person, charismatic, popular and very widely respected. He had excellent relations with students, and he and his wife, Joan - a native Welsh speaker whom he met when an undergraduate at Aberystwyth and married in Toronto, and who worked in the University Library in Belfast - frequently entertained students and others at their south Belfast home.
In 1974 Williams left Queen's to take up the Lapworth chair of geology at Birmingham University, named for the great geologist Charles Lapworth (1842-1920), though he remained there only two years, being appointed Principal of Glasgow University. He remained in that post for 22 years, during a very difficult period for tertiary education in the United Kingdom, primarily because of large-scale restructuring of financing which in effect meant widespread cuts in government funding. Williams had to take some unpopular decisions, but was among the first of the United Kingdom's university chiefs to begin seeking alternative sources of funding, one of his ideas being to seek more overseas students. Nevertheless, he was able to bring innovation to the University, opening a new department of computing and an interdisciplinary palaeobiology unit. One small cut he was able to make was his official driver, as his wife insisted on driving their university car herself. Williams served as Vice-President of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals from 1979 to 1981.
He had numerous activities outside the University at this time, including membership of the Natural Environment Research Council, the University Grants Committee, and chaired the trustees of the Natural History Museum and the committee on the National Museums and Galleries of Scotland; his eponymous report recommending a new Museum of Scotland, a merger of the National Museum of Antiquities and the Royal Scottish Museum, was adopted and this new institution opened in Edinburgh in 1999.
He received numerous awards and recognitions: amongst others, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society (1967), and also of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (of which he was Vice-President from 1985 to 1988), the Royal Irish Academy and the Geological Society. He was a Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the Lapworth Medal of the Paleontological Association; the Clough Medal of the Edinburgh Geological Society, the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society, and the T Neville George Medal of the Glasgow Geological Society. He was awarded an honorary DSc from Queen's University in 1975; further honorary degrees were conferred by the Universities of Wales and Edinburgh (DSc); Strathclyde and Glasgow (LLD ); and Oxford (DCL).
Born: 8 June 1921
Died: 4 April 2004
Richard Froggatt
Wesley McCann
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; obituaries: The Guardian; The Independent; award citation, Lapworth Medal of the Palaeological Association (Journal of the Palaeological Association January 2001); LA Clarkson, A University in Troubled Times; A McCreary & BM Walker: Degrees of Excellence; private information
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Welcome to Midlands Movies!
Thank you for visiting. Here you will find a place for local filmmakers and fans to work together to promote the local area especially in creative film.
We regularly cast our eyes over new Hollywood blockbusters as well as local movie-makers & scriptwriters based in the Midlands area plus you can also hear us on BBC Radio Leicester with presenters Ben Jackson & Jack Rafferty.
With plenty of new reviews and features, we have something for everyone including our ongoing list of Film Festivals in the Midlands, 'Spotlight' films, movie groups, shorts and and more from the Midlands and anyone interested in getting involved please email midlandsmovies@yahoo.com
Mike Sales, Editor of Midlands Movies
Check out our new Midlands coverage this month where we take a look at Bliblical comedy David & Goliath from Sheikh Shahnawaz, review the Leicester ComicCon 2019, check out Hope from Tee Visuals, Socks and Robbers by David Lilley and many more up and coming local projects.
New cinema and DVD home release reviews include Godzilla: King of Monsters, Greta, A Private War, All Is True, Stan and Ollie and Vice.
Click on images to be taken to our latest updates...
Latest Midlands Movies features
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Click below to watch the new teaser trailer for an upcoming Poison Ivy fan film starring Aislinn De'Ath & Robert Dukes.
Edited by Arthur Harrison and directed by Sophie Black the short will be an unofficial passion project made by a group of committed DC fans.
Check out the trailer below:
Midlands Movies Twitter
NEW trailer for Poison Ivy fan-film courtesy of Sophie Black
10 of the Best Midlands films to look out for in 2019
Please click on the images below to be taken to our latest news, reviews and features of the best of the local filmmaking talent:
We take a look at some of our hot picks of shorts, thrillers, documentaries, dramas and more from the talented folk of the Midlands region that are due to hit our screens later in 2019.
Please do check out all these projects and head to their respective websites for full information on their forthcoming release dates.
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Why President Obama should take the lead on abolishing the death penalty
President Obama recently declared in a press conference with Angela Merkel that he thought that "we do have to, as a society, ask ourselves some difficult and profound questions around these issues", while reaffirming his belief the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for certain crimes". He added: "Racial bias. Uneven application of the death penalty. Situations in which there were individuals on death row who later on were discovered to have been innocent because of exculpatory evidence - all these I think do raise significant questions about how the death penalty is being applied,"
Whilst there will be always people to think that Clayton Lockett was "a rapist murderer, not a victim" of the botched execution, and that "he got off easy" compared to his victim, we should not forget that there are currently a significant number of prisoners on death row who might be facing execution, whilst possibly innocent.
A recent study found there may be as much as 4% of innocent prisoners currently on death row in the USA - a conservative number according to some. That is to say: Over 100 people who not only may die whilst being innocent, but also, over 100 people who could die in a botched execution, such as the one which happened to Clayton Lockett.
Who will support the execution of an innocent man - And who will support the botched execution of an innocent man?
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Osama Bin Laden is Winning
Published by Edward Stewart UnderHistory on October 7, 2016
While we consider the consequences of terrorism, it’s history and its impact on us and our allies (and our enemies, who are not immune to terrorism either) let’s consider the humble dog.
Why the dog? Back in the day, each dog has been considered “the worst breed”. Currently, the bully breeds (e.g., pit bulls) have that dubious honor, although it’s historically been other breeds such as German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, wolf hybrids, and the list goes on.
The same goes with people. Right now, ISIS is the most dangerous group in modern terrorism. Before that, there were areas of Canada (In Quebec, a Marxist group of nationalists that sought to build an socialist nation independent from the rest of Canada there), the U.S (Jewish Defense League, who declared its purpose was to protect Jews from antisemitism), Puerto Rico (FALN, whose goal was to have an independent Puerto Rico), and the Weather Underground (the weathermen) who, in the 1960’s, was a leftist organization which was anti-capitalist and anti-Vietnam War.
I could keep going. Going, in fact, as far back as the first century when terrorism was first documented when the Sicarii Zealots, led by Josephus, Judas of Galilee formed a small, extreme offshoot of the Zealots. Josephus claimed that the Sicarii would conceal their short or small knives and/or daggers under their jackets or cloaks, mingle with crowds at large events, like a festival, kill (or murder) their victims, then disappear when panic ensued. Most notable was their assassination of Jonathan, a high priest.
My point here is, it’s the Muslims’ turn to be the bad guys. Remember back in World War II when we incarcerated all of the Japanese Americans when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii? Gee, how did that work out for us? Forty years after the fact, the U.S. government finally apologized to it’s people of Japanese heritage. After a couple of years being locked up, these people tried to return to their homes and businesses but…they were gone, taken over by non-Japanese people. They couldn’t find jobs. They couldn’t get loans. It took years for them to acquire new land and get new houses.
Today, many families are suing the government to be paid back what their families lost. This is the price we pay for racism. This should teach us all that we are all people, no matter what color or race.
So, sure. We can ban all Muslims entering our country, screening both them and the ones that are already here, and figure out a way to effectively screen anyone else coming into the U.S. That’s what Donald Trump wants to do. Believe me, I’m all for taking any reasonable, cautious step after that 9/11 fiasco where we not only let the perpetrators into the country we actually taught them how to fly the planes they used to take down the twin towers. Talk about adding insult to injury! But what IS reasonable and necessary? Couldn’t it have just as easily have been another Timothy McVeigh? How do we know? What do we do to protect ourselves and our families? How do we make sure that the terrorists don’t win?
Published by Edward Stewart UnderLessons on October 6, 2016
So, where does the history of modern terrorism begin? Although it could possibly be disputed, we will call it the late twentieth century. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, the militancy for the Islamic nation (in pursuing of political as well as religious goals) perpetrated such acts as the bombing of the World Trade Center. There was also the bombing of Oklahoma City’s Murrah Federal Building and on the Tokyo subway that the gas attack of Sarin was on. The same time period also saw a rise in what is known as “single issue terrorism”. In other words, if the extension of domestic politics is terrorism, it is in the same way the war is for diplomacy, then it was the age of Environmental activism becoming Environmental terrorism, and the Right-to-Life movement becoming Anti-abortion terrorism.
Some other massive events that took place after the September 11 attacks in 2001 included the Moscow theatre hostage crisis in Moscow by Chechens who claimed allegiance to an Islamist separatist movement. Their goal was to get the Russians to withdraw from Chechnya. After a couple of days, the Russians pumped gas into the building and ended up killing more hostages than attackers. Things that make you go “huh”. A little heavy handed? Anyway, some of us remember that incident.
While Islamic forces, people for Beirut, ISIS and related middle eastern groups are definitely the major players in modern terrorism, we cannot blame them alone. We can’t even say they were first, if we go farther back in history (but that’s another story). Acts of terrorism take place all over the world, at any venue, at any time. They mostly target civilians, and women and children are not safe. The atrocities are unspeakable. Yet, these terrorists are a small subset of the religions they claim to represent. If we let them scare us, if we let them dictate the way we live our lives, then they win.
What makes them tick?
Published by Edward Stewart UnderGeneral on October 6, 2016
Last time, I promised you that I would find out what makes a terrorist tick. No matter what religious affiliation, no matter what nationality, terrorists have a few things in common. They are ruthless. They have no respect for life or property. And, strangely enough, today’s terrorists were radicals before they became religious extremists, not the other way around. The difference is very important.
Before 9/11, it took years of religious indoctrination before someone became a jihadi. Now, it’s a matter of impulse. Before 9/11, a jihadi was almost 28 years old. Now, closer to 20. For instance, Osama bin Laden had political demands and a goal, knew what he wanted with his war. On the other hand, modern terrorists make no demands. They have no political agenda. They are pure impulse and violence, fulfilling some primal need for death and glory. As an example, a couple of well known, alcohol drinking, drug using jihadis picked up the books “Koran for Dummies” and “Islam for Dummies” on their way from Birmingham to Syria. The next we see these blokes, they’re bombing Paris. No background in religion, only a criminal background. No demands or explanation, or relationship to sharia or the afterlife. Just bombs and death and headline news.
An amazingly thorough study by Rik Coolsaet of Belgium, and writings of Olivier Roy of France, point out that the radicalization of the modern terrorist arises around the fantasy of heroism, death and violence. Not of sharia and utopia. They note that the Islamic State has become a gang, celebrating violence for its own sake.
But is it just Islamic extremists? Is it just Muslims who are out of control, or are they just getting the press? Our front running Republican presidential candidate would have us believe that Muslims are the root of all evil, banish them from American shores or at least tag and bag ‘em. Doesn’t it sort of remind you of what happened to the Japanese during WWII? Well, maybe that’s just me. If we do that, if we treat Muslims in America as anything other than equals, Osama bin Ladin reaches out from the grave and grins, because he wins.
Sometimes I wonder just how terrorists plan out and execute their activities. It has been proposed, for instance, that you should only hire local contractors who do an extensive background check on all new hires. The kind of local folks who have low turnovers in their companies. Just as a safety precaution for yourself and others.
I mean, for instance, what if you needed a new roof? You’d hire a commercial roofer, right? What if there was a terrorist on the crew, who suddenly had access to the industrial mixers, etc. That person wouldn’t necessarily do something to a roof, but could contaminate the food supply (think an industrial vat full of cherry pie filling contaminated with poison). See where this is going?
Now, I realize that some people will think that someone has to be really paranoid to think that way. Then again, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. Who could have predicted the tragedies of 9/11 before they happened? Yes, I know, there is some evidence that the government had “chatter” that indicated something was supposed to happen on that date. Just my point; maybe we have to be suspicious of everything and nothing. Just play it safe all of the time, and then we don’t have to worry about the anomalies. It might be easier than this trying to pick the right needle out of a hay stack salted with pins…. And maybe a needle.
And, it’s not like terrorists are necessarily foreign invaders. Hell, the people who blew up the Centennial Olympic Park in 1996 were red blooded American. Using a pipe bomb, our own, home grown, terrorist struck in the wee small hours of the morning during the Olympics in Atlanta and ended up killing 2 and injuring 111. So, we not only have terrorists from foreign soils to worry about, we have our own wack jobs, with their own agendas, which sound strangely like every other religious militant in the world. God save us from religious extremists!
How did this happen? Where did they all come from? Is it, like, a family business? Just for the interest, I’m going to do a little research and try to answer that question for you in the next installment. In the meantime, be careful who you hire. Use caution where you eat. Know your friends. Prepare for the worst but expect the best. And, if you own a company, it might be best to hire local but still do an extensive background check. You just don’t know who you can trust and who you can’t these days.
Treat Thy Neighbor With…? Respect?
On May 2, 2011, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special forces in an early morning raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Yet, his organization (along with affiliate ISIS) lives on, terrorizing the world we live in. It’s not only the Western world being terrorized, in 2014 ISIS invaded areas of Iraq and Syria, demanding allegiance of all Muslims worldwide on pain of death. And, they mean that literally.
So, what does this mean for us? And, who are we? I guess if you’re a Muslim, and living in the Western world wearing traditional dress, it means that the prejudiced lot stare at you, ostracize you, treat you as though you’re a terrorist even though you aren’t one. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a woman whose husband is arrested and his business shut down, all his inventory confiscated, your family’s livelihood gone, because someone reported “suspicious activity” to the police? Hmmmm…. Where do I stand on that?
On the one side, do I want all suspicious activity investigated? Oh, hell yeah. On the other hand, do I want some subset of our population targeted just because they look different? No way…. If we do that, then bin Laden wins. No way do I want him to even get ahead, let alone win.
And if this woman packs up her family out of sheer disgust and moves back to the middle east, can you imagine what she would say to her children, her neighbors, her family about us? I don’t want that kind of reputation. I don’t want us shooting ourselves in the foot. I don’t want us furthering the Al Qaeda agenda, do you?
So, I’m thinking maybe we should go back to that old adage, love thy neighbor as thyself. Maybe try to get to know some of these people who look a little different. Maybe do a little neighborly gesture instead of treating them like lepers. Who knows, it might work. It might not. It’s worth a shot though, right?
Welcome to our new site
Published by Edward Stewart UnderGeneral on September 30, 2016
Welcome to our new site. We look forward to sharing valuable information with you on a regular basis.
© 2019 Osama Bin Laden is Winning - Theme by Ritesh Sanap
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Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians
Audience Appreciation Concerts 2018
"Listening to Musicians: 40 Years of the Philadelphia Orchestra" available now.
Tom di Nardo, former music critic for the Philadelphia Daily News, has written a book about the Philadelphia Orchestra, Listening to Musicians.
“Listening To Musicians: 40 Years of the Philadelphia Orchestra” is Tom Di Nardo’s attempt to hear the heartbeat and soul of its artists. It features Interviews with Riccardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Christoph Eschenbach, Charles Dutoit and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and many guest conductors, soloists and composers. The most heartfelt comments come from the Orchestra’s musicians, past and present; insights into their art and dedication bring a deep awareness of performing at such an exalted level. The long journey to the realization of the Kimmel Center is also included.
The book is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other booksellers.
Herbert Light, 56 Years of Philadelphia Orchestra History!
Recently retired violinist Herbert Light reflects on his extraordinary 56 year career in the Philadelphia Orchestra.
As I look back on my 56 years as a member of this great orchestra, I am confronted with mixed emotions. When I was accepted into the orchestra in 1960, it was the greatest day of my life and the fulfillment of a dream. The memories of being on stage with such legendary conductors and soloists such as Stokowski, Stravinsky, Copland, Klemperer, Sutherland, Fischer-Dieskau, Serkin, Gilels, Rubinstein, Stern, Menuhin, Francescatti and Milstein, will be with me forever.
The level of performance of the orchestra, both collectively and individually, is better than ever. It is not a mystery as to why the Philadelphia Orchestra was for more than a century, among the top few in the country. Our contract led the way for all orchestras, with every contractual item at or near the top. As I embark upon this new phase of my life, I fervently hope that in the not too distant future, the Philadelphia Orchestra will return to this well earned leadership role in the symphonic field.
Matt Vaughn Profile
From our facebook page: a profile of
Matthew Vaughn, co-principal trombone
Hometown: Dallas, TX / Richmond, IN
Philadelphia Orchestra member since: 1999
What are your hobbies?
--I enjoy exercise, cats, cooking, skiing, and water skiing
People would be surprised to know that...
--The infamous Jim Jones was my uncle. He married my Aunt Marceline, not a blood relative!
What has been your favorite orchestra tour, and why?
--I've had so many great memories from tours, like hiking the Great Wall and eating fried scorpions in China. But tour is always more fun with family. Bringing the family to Vienna and Edinburgh was a highlight, getting young boys to try haggis!
What goes through your mind right before the big solo in Bolero?
--Phew, I'm glad it's Nitzan playing it tonight!
Do you play any instruments other than the trombone in the Orchestra?
--on occasion I get to play euphonium and alto trombone, which is a cute baby version of my normal trombone.
Did you ever serve in the US Armed Forces?
--Sir, yes, sir. The US Air Force Band in Washington DC.
Negotiation News
Copyright 2017 Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians
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What's with the mass?
I first came up with this idea on an extent that I could write about it this past Monday when I went to Lana Del Rey's live concert here in Greece. What's with the masses really? When I got through the security thing I entered a huge area consisted of two different groups. The punk/rock kind of rebels of all ages that were there for Iced Earth etc and the hipsters which adore Lana and skip everything else with a god-given arrogance. The "rockers"were all dressed in black.Grunge references, a beer and a joint of course and this look on their face saying that everything is meaningless so let's go drink the hell out of ourselves in a basement and die like rats. On the other hand the more reserved hipsters had this Lana-ish look. High-waisted denim shorts, some flowers on top of their head for the girls and then boys, oh boys, they all looked exactly the same. A fringe and shaved sides must go with huge glasses, denim shirts, colorful bottoms and a huge leather bag which they don't really need.
So let's say that the 90s revisited hipsters are 2010s new black, like the mods for the 60s, and the punks for the late 70s.. why do we all, at some point, get mixed with the mass and never think of having our own personal style that is instead timeless and oversees trends and passing fashions? Is it security that we seek or we simply love what's new and trendy and go for it anyways? Six years ago I went through this mass state of mind. What I realized is that people have a tendency to scream their differences in a wearable way. What is false here is that these differences address to groups rather than individuals. So in the end the only difference you make by dressing up in a certain way, with a certain look, is become a part of a smaller group consisted of the same people. If you get there it's harder to move on to becoming a totally uninfluenced individual who promotes single identity to a group one but it certainly is not impossible.
Diane Pernet
Music and fashion are one, and liberty
of choice is the essence and charm of both. A look is linked to each genre of music that works as a fuel for fashionistas and the industry, and without those looks life wouldn't be so interesting. But I would be lying if I said that I don't feel bad for those who go with the masses, not only stylewise but also when it comes to their very philosophy. You see, I see God through Diane Pernet, Daphne Guinness, Cathrine Baba, and of course the unforgettable Isabella Blow, because it takes courage to dress like a punk, but it takes a lot more guts to stand alone, different,between the masses.
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Johnston is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island that was incorporated in 1759. Thetown’s history can be seen in the architecture that is preserved around town. Johnston features the ClemenceIrons House, which is a rare surviving “stone ender” building—a house where one wall is a large chimney—whose style originated in Rhode Island in the 17th century.
Originally a farming community, Johnston has many farmhouses and barns from the 19th century that are still standing. Today, many of these Johnston farms are open to the public. One of the preserved working farms is Salisbury Farm, established in the 1800’s, which is home to New England’s original Corn Maze and has hayrides and “Pick Your Own” crops for families to enjoy.
Residents of Johnston live in a variety of housing types including single and multifamily homes, townhouses and condos. Real estate comes in a wide range of architectural styles ranging from classic to modern. Ranch and Colonial homes are among the popular contemporary styles although 19th century historical homes are for sale as well.
Johnston Information
Johnston has embraced suburban development, but nonetheless is notable for its colonial farmhouses. Major industry and shopping cover large parts of the town, surrounded by a variety of neighborhoods.
Impressions / Character
Johnston is home to Clemence Irons House, a stone-ender museum constructed in 1691. The town also has several parks such as the Johnston Memorial Park, Woodlake Park Complex, Dyerville State Park, and Woonasquatucket Park. The Westgate Shopping Center, Town Hall Center Shopping Center, and Lexington Building Shopping Center are great places to run errands. The Recreation Department of Johnston also organizes several special events and youth sports programs throughout the year. Just over ten minutes from Providence.
Villages / Neighborhoods
Johnston is made up of the neighborhoods and villages of: Belknap, Graniteville, Hughesdale, Manton, Merino, Morgan Mills, Moswansicut Lake, Pocasset, Simmonsville, Thornton (also in Cranston) and West End.
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North Korea...
North Korea casts doubt on Trump summit, suspends talks with South
A combination photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump. (FILE)
SEOUL - North Korea on Wednesday threw into question an unprecedented summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump scheduled for next month, denouncing military exercises between South Korea and the United States as a provocation and calling off high-level talks with Seoul.
A report on North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency angrily attacked the “Max Thunder” air combat drills, which it said involved US stealth fighters and B-52 bombers, and appeared to mark a break in months of warming ties between North and South Korea and between Pyongyang and Washington.
Any cancellation of the June 12 summit in Singapore, the first meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader, would deal a major blow to Trump’s efforts to score the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency.
Trump has raised expectations for a successful meeting even as many analysts have been sceptical of the chances of bridging the gap due to questions about North Korea’s willingness to give up a nuclear arsenal that now threatens the United States.
The KCNA report called the air drills a “provocation” that went against the trend of warming ties.
“This exercise, targeting us, which is being carried out across South Korea, is a flagrant challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration and an intentional military provocation running counter to the positive political development on the Korean Peninsula,” KCNA said, referring to a joint statement from an April 27 inter-Korea summit.
“The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-US summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities,” KCNA said.
A Trump-Kim summit until recently had looked impossible given the insults and threats the two leaders exchanged last year over North Korea’s development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Washington had no information from North Korea about a threat to cancel the summit and continued to plan for that meeting.
“Kim Jong Un had said previously that he understands the need and the utility of the United States and the Republic of Korea continuing in its joint exercises,” she told a briefing.
“We have not heard anything from that government or the government of South Korea to indicate that we would not continue conducting these exercises or that we would not continue planning for our meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un next month,” she said.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the United States would examine the North Korean statement “and continue to coordinate closely with our allies.”
South Korea’s National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong said in early March, after meeting Kim, that the North Korean leader understood that “routine” joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States would continue in spite of a warming of ties.
This was widely considered to be a major North Korea concession, though Pyongyang never publicly withdrew its long-standing demand for an end to the drills.
Kim’s latest move could be aimed at testing Trump’s willingness to make concessions ahead of the summit, which is due to be preceded by a visit to Washington next week by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
A US government expert on North Korea said Kim may also be trying to gauge whether Trump is willing to walk away from the meeting, which has prompted the president’s supporters to suggest he deserves to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
Any acquiescence by Trump to a North Korean demand for a halt to joint drills would likely undermine South Korean and Japanese trust in his commitment to their security. Kim has also shown a desire to win international approval for his diplomatic outreach, and any sign that he is sabotaging the talks could damage this effort.
SUSPENDED NORTH-SOUTH MEETING
KCNA said North Korea was suspending a ministerial-level North-South meeting, which had been due to be held on Wednesday to focus on plans to implement the inter-Korea summit declaration, including promises to formally end the Korean War and pursue “complete denuclearization.”
The Pentagon said the May 14-25 “Max Thunder” exercises were routine and defensive in nature. A spokesman said the exercises would take place at Gwangju air base and would be “at a scale similar to that of the previous years.”
Last year, Max Thunder involved about 1 500 US and South Korean personnel flying aircraft including F-16 fighter jets, according to a US Air Force website.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday the United States would agree to lift sanctions on North Korea if it agreed to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons programme, a move that would create economic prosperity that would rival that of South Korea.
Last month, Pompeo became the first serving US official to meet North Korean leader Kim, when he visited Pyongyang to lay the groundwork for the meeting with Trump. He returned again to North Korea this month for a second meeting, after which Kim agreed to the release of three American prisoners.
North Korea said on Saturday it would dismantle its nuclear bomb test site sometime between May 23 and May 25 to uphold its pledge to cease tests.
Joshua Pollack, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said Pyongyang appeared irritated by the US administration’s vow to maintain sanctions in spite of North Korean concessions.
“The North Koreans want a change in tone from the US, and at least so far, they’re not hearing one,” he said.
A South Korean presidential adviser warned on Tuesday that an incremental North Korean approach to denuclearization would not be acceptable to Trump or the South Korean public.
Bonnie Glaser, of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said Kim may be being influenced by Chinese President Xi Jinping after two recent meetings with the Chinese leader, who has advocated a freeze in North Korea’s nuclear programme in return for a freeze in US-South Korean drills.
“The fact this issue is back on the table suggests Xi Jinping may have raised it with Kim, and that Kim is carrying Xi’s water,” she said.
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone Novel
Main CoS PoA GoF OotP HBP DH
Released on June 26, 1997, in the UK and on October 1, 1998, in the US, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – UK) is the first book in the Harry Potter series.
Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He’s never worn a cloak of invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry’s room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn’t had a birthday party in eleven years. But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that’s been waiting for him… if Harry can survive the encounter.
– Back cover description
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Purchase Here (US) Purchase Here (UK)
UPDATED: Daniel Radcliffe’s Possible First-Ever Autograph Up for Auction - A unique signed copy of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" featuring many cast signatures, including what is potentially Daniel Radcliffe's first-ever autograph, is up for auction later this month.
Bloomsbury Publishing Reflects on a Successful Year, and Two “Harry Potter” Books Earn Best-Seller Status - Bloomsbury Publishing has released details of its financial successes for the past year, and two "Harry Potter" books have earned spots on the best-seller list.
First-Edition Copy of “Philosopher’s Stone” Up for Auction - If you have enough Galleons in your Gringotts account, you might be able to get your hands on a first-edition copy of "Philosopher's Stone"! An ex-library copy is up for auction until May 30.
Read More Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone News
In 1990, Rowling was flat hunting in Manchester and took the train back to London on her own, and the idea for Harry Potter fell into her head… “A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me… I began to write Philosopher’s Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product.” Then Rowling’s mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry. Rowling spent six years working on Philosopher’s Stone.
In 1996, Jo obtained a grant of £8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to finish the book and plan the sequels. She sent the book to an agent and a publisher. The second agent she approached spent a year trying to sell the book to publishers, most of whom thought it was too long at about 90,000 words. Bloomsbury accepted the book, paying Rowling an advance of around £1,500. Editor Barry Cunningham was less concerned about the book’s length than about its author’s name, as the title sounded like a boys’ book and that boys would prefer a book written by a male author. Rowling therefore adopted the nom de plume J.K. Rowling.
In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher’s Stone with an initial print-run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries. The short initial print run was standard for first novels, and Cunningham hoped booksellers would read the book and recommend it to customers. Examples from this initial print run have become quite valuable, selling for as much as US $33,460 in a 2007 Heritage Auction.
Scholastic Corporation bought the U.S. rights at the Bologna Book Fair in April 1997 for US $105,000, an unusually high sum for a children’s book. They thought that a child would not want to read a book with the word “philosopher” in the title, so the American edition was published in October 1998 under the title Sorcerer’s Stone. Rowling claimed that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time. The change lost the connection with alchemy, and the meaning of some other terms changed in translation, such as “crumpets” to “muffin” and “jumper” to “sweater.” While Rowling accepted the change from both UK English “mum” and Seamus Finnigan’s Irish variant “mam” to “mom” in Sorcerer’s Stone, she vetoed this change in the later books.
Publishers Weekly’s report in December 2001 on cumulative sales of children’s fiction placed Sorcerer’s Stone 19th among hardbacks with over 5 million copies sold, and 7th among paperbacks with over 6.6 million copies. The total amount of sales over the years is unknown.
This summary is from SparkNotes.
Mr. Dursley, a well-off Englishman, notices strange happenings on his way to work one day. That night, Albus Dumbledore, the head of a wizardry academy called Hogwarts, meets Professor McGonagall, who also teaches at Hogwarts, and a giant named Hagrid outside the Dursley home. Dumbledore tells McGonagall that someone named Voldemort has killed a Mr. and Mrs. Potter and tried unsuccessfully to kill their baby son, Harry. Dumbledore leaves Harry with an explanatory note in a basket in front of the Dursley home.
Ten years later, the Dursley household is dominated by the Dursleys’ son, Dudley, who torments and bullies Harry. Dudley is spoiled, while Harry is forced to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. At the zoo on Dudley’s birthday, the glass in front of a boa constrictor exhibit disappears, frightening everyone. Harry is later punished for this incident.
Mysterious letters begin arriving for Harry. They worry Mr. Dursley, who tries to keep them from Harry, but the letters keep arriving through every crack in the house. Finally, he flees with his family to a secluded island shack on the eve of Harry’s eleventh birthday. At midnight, they hear a large bang on the door and Hagrid enters. Hagrid hands Harry an admissions letter to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that the Dursleys have tried to deny Harry’s wizardry all these years.
The next day, Hagrid takes Harry to London to shop for school supplies. First they go to the wizard bank, Gringotts, where Harry learns that his parents have left him a hefty supply of money. They shop on the wizards’ commercial street known as Diagon Alley, where Harry is fitted for his school uniform. Harry buys books, ingredients for potions, and, finally, a magic wand—the companion wand to the evil Voldemort’s.
A month later, Harry goes to the train station and catches his train to Hogwarts on track nine and three quarters. On the train, Harry befriends other first-year students like Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, a Muggle girl chosen to attend Hogwarts. At school, the first-years take turns putting on the “Sorting Hat” to find out in which residential house they will live. Harry fears being assigned to the sinister Slytherin house, but he, Ron, and Hermione end up in the noble Gryffindor house.
As the school year gets underway, Harry discovers that his Potions professor, Snape, does not like him. Hagrid reassures Harry that Snape has no reason to dislike him. During their first flying lesson on broomsticks, the students are told to stay grounded while the teacher takes an injured boy named Neville to the hospital. Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin bully, snatches Neville’s prized toy and flies off with it to the top of a tree. Harry flies after him. Malfoy throws the ball in the air, and Harry speeds downward, making a spectacular catch. Professor McGonagall witnesses this incident. Instead of punishing Harry, she recommends that he play Quidditch, a much-loved game that resembles soccer played on broomsticks, for Gryffindor. Later that day, Malfoy challenges Harry to a wizard’s duel at midnight. Malfoy doesn’t show up at the appointed place, and Harry almost gets in trouble. While trying to hide, he accidentally discovers a fierce three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor in the forbidden third-floor corridor.
On Halloween, a troll is found in the building. The students are all escorted back to their dormitories, but Harry and Ron sneak off to find Hermione, who is alone and unaware of the troll. Unwittingly, they lock the troll in the girls’ bathroom along with Hermione. Together, they defeat the troll. Hermione tells a lie to protect Harry and Ron from being punished. During Harry’s first Quidditch match, his broom jerks out of control. Hermione notices Snape staring at Harry and muttering a curse. She concludes that he is jinxing Harry’s broom, and she sets Snape’s clothes on fire. Harry regains control of the broom and makes a spectacular play to win the Quidditch match.
For Christmas, Harry receives his father’s invisibility cloak, and he explores the school, unseen, late at night. He discovers the Mirror of Erised, which displays the deepest desire of whoever looks in it. Harry looks in it and sees his parents alive. After Christmas, Harry, Ron, and Hermione begin to unravel the mysterious connection between a break-in at Gringotts and the three-headed guard dog. They learn that the dog is guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone, which is capable of providing eternal life and unlimited wealth to its owner and belongs to Nicolas Flamel, Dumbledore’s old partner.
A few weeks later, Hagrid wins a dragon egg in a poker game. Because it is illegal to own dragons, Harry, Ron, and Hermione contact Ron’s older brother, who studies dragons. They arrange to get rid of the dragon but get caught. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are severely punished, and Gryffindor is docked 150 points. Furthermore, part of their punishment is to go into the enchanted forest with Hagrid to find out who has been killing unicorns recently. In the forest, Harry comes upon a hooded man drinking unicorn blood. The man tries to attack Harry, but Harry is rescued by a friendly centaur who tells him that his assailant was Voldemort. Harry also learns that it is Voldemort who has been trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Harry decides that he must find the stone before Voldemort does. He, Ron, and Hermione sneak off that night to the forbidden third-floor corridor. They get past the guard dog and perform many impressive feats as they get closer and closer to the stone. Harry ultimately finds himself face to face with Quirrell, who announces that Harry must die. Knowing that Harry desires to find the stone, Quirrell puts Harry in front of the Mirror of Erised and makes him state what he sees. Harry sees himself with the stone in his pocket, and at that same moment he actually feels it in his pocket. But he tells Quirrell that he sees something else. A voice tells Quirrell that the boy is lying and requests to speak to Harry face to face. Quirrell removes his turban and reveals Voldemort’s face on the back of his head. Voldemort, who is inhabiting Quirrell’s body, instructs Quirrell to kill Harry, but Quirrell is burned by contact with the boy. A struggle ensues and Harry passes out.
When Harry regains consciousness, he is in the hospital with Dumbledore. Dumbledore explains that he saved Harry from Quirrell just in time. He adds that he and Flamel have decided to destroy the stone. Harry heads down to the end-of-year banquet, where Slytherin is celebrating its seventh consecutive win of the house championship cup. Dumbledore gets up and awards many last-minute points to Gryffindor for the feats of Harry and his friends, winning the house cup for Gryffindor. Harry returns to London to spend the summer with the Dursleys.
For Jessica, who loves stories, for Anne, who loved them too, and for Di, who heard this one first.
Jessica is J.K. Rowling’s firstborn daughter, then 12 years old. Anne was Jo’s mother, who unfortunately died of multiple sclerosis on December 30, 1990. Dianne, or “Di,” is Jo’s younger sister, to whom she read Sorcerer’s Stone before sending it off to be reviewed.
ALA Notable Children's Books, 1999
ALA/YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 1999
ALA/YALSA Best of the Best 100 (Selected from BBYA 1966-99)
ALA/YALSA Top Ten Books for Teens, 1999 (Ranked #1)
American Booksellers Association Book of the Year (ABBY)
Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize for Children's Literature
Arizona Young Reader's Award, 2000
Birmingham Cable Children's Book Award, 1997
Book Links Lasting Connections, 1998
Booklist Editors' Choices, 1998
Booklist: Top Ten Fantasy Novels for Youth
British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year (NIBBY), 1997
CBC Not Just for Children Anymore!
CCBC Choices, 1998: Fiction for Children
Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, 2001
FCBG Children's Book Award, Overall and Longer Novel Category Winner, 1998
Great Stone Face Children's Book Award (New Hampshire), 2000
International Reading Association: Teacher's Choices, 1999
List International Reading Association: Children's Choices, 1999
Michigan Reading Association Readers' Choice Award, 2001
National Council of Teachers of English: Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts, 1999
Nene Award (Hawaii), 2000
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Medal 9-11 Years, 1997
New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
Parenting Magazine: Book of the Year, 1998
Parenting Magazine: Reading Magic Books, 1998
Publishers Weekly Best Books 1998
Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Award (Illinois), 2001
Sasquatch Reading Award (Washington), 2000
School Library Journal: Best Books 1998
School Library Journal: One Hundred Books that Shaped the Century
Sheffield Children's Book Award, 1998
Voice of Youth Advocates: Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, 1998
Whitaker's Platinum Book Award, 2001
Wisconsin Educational Media Association Golden Archer Award (Middle/Junior High), 2000
Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Book Award, 2000
Young Telegraph Paperback of the Year, 1998
Nominations/Shortlists
Carnegie Medal Shortlisted for 1997
Children's Book Award Nominee (Massachusetts), 2000
Children's Book Award Nominee (Utah), 2000
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize Shortlisted for 1998
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature Nominee, 1999
New York State Charlotte Award Nominee, 2000
New York State Children's Choice Award Nominee
Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee (Pacific Northwest Library Association), 2001
US and UK Cover Editions
US 20th-anniversary (2018)
UK 20th-anniversary hardcover House Editions (2017)
UK 20th-anniversary paperback House Editions (2017)
US/UK E-Book (2015)
UK Children’s Edition (2014)
UK Adult Edition (2013)
UK Signature Edition (2010)
US School Market Edition (2008)
US Mass Market (2001)
US Hardcover Jacket (1998)
Illustrated Edition
An illustrated edition for Philosopher’s Stone/Sorcerer’s Stone was released on October 6, 2015, by both Bloomsbury and Scholastic. The illustrated edition featured new artwork by award-winning illustrator Jim Kay meant to interpret the characters and the story from a new perspective.
Bloomsbury Illustrated Edition
US Illustrated Edition
Jim Kay Harry Illustration
Harry in the cupboard
Jim Kay Interviews:
“Jim Kay Explains His Creative Process”
“New Interview with Jim Kay – Plus See His Snape, Dumbledore, and More!”
International Covers
Brazilian collector’s edition cover (2012)
Chinese cover
Czech Republic cover
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Dutch pocket edition cover (2010)
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French regular edition cover
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Deluxe Illustrated Edition
A deluxe illustrated edition for Philosopher’s Stone was released on March 1, 2016, by Bloomsbury. It can be purchased for a whopping £150. This edition featured a cloth cover a slipcase adorned with foiled art by Jim Kay. The pages of it were printed on premium grade paper with gilt edges. It also boasted a pull out version of Kay’s beautiful illustration of Diagon Alley.
Purchase Here (UK)
MuggleNet Exclusive: Pages of Original Manuscript at British Library Exhibit - May 2012
This report was provided to us by MuggleNet fan Irvin K. when pages of the original manuscript of the book were on display at the British Library Exhibit.
As a Potter fan, upon hearing that the manuscript for Philosopher’s Stone was on display in the British library (a convenient ten-minute walk from my dorm), I promptly made my way there first thing this afternoon. The exhibition cost £5, and was surprisingly empty. The exhibition itself is called “Writing Britain,” about depictions of Britain in British literature, with Harry Potter representing King’s Cross in London.
The exhibition on Philosopher’s Stone consists of a paperback of the book “kindly lent by the author,” two written pages from the manuscript, and a blurb talking about how Harry leaves Little Whinging via King’s Cross. The two pages are both from Chapter 6, “The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters.”
The first page is the first page of the chapter, written in light blue ink with lots of crossings out, and some hearts doodled in corners. The second page (above) is in black ink, the scene where Harry observes the Weasleys on the station. There are almost no edits of this scene, it’s almost exactly as it is in the book. But there were some interesting things to glean from the first page.
First thing to notice is different names. Apparently, Dudley was originally called “Didsbury”!! Certainly not a name I can picture him with; it sounds so posh. Maybe that’s why Aunt Petunia still calls him “Diddy.” Instead of “Didsbury,” which occurs twice on the page, we got “Dudley,” a historic English surname from Tudor times.
More interesting is that Harry’s faithful owl Hedwig was originally called “Kallicrater,” if I can make out the writing correctly (difficult because it was all crossed out). And Jo originally had the owl’s name just “come” to Harry out of the blue. Don’t know if that is the first name that would occur to him, which may be why the owl was later renamed “Hedwig” and Harry drew inspiration from his history textbook.
The next passage, all crossed out, references Harry’s familiar habit of putting up a calendar and counting down the days until he goes to Hogwarts. This makes a reappearance in the next few books, but was excluded from Philosopher’s Stone if memory serves me right.
Another small change is that in this draft, apparently the academic year starts nine days earlier. Harry approached Vernon on the eve of his journey via Hogwarts Express, and the date is given as “August twenty-first,” which would mean the journey itself would be August 22nd – and as we all know, the journey is always on September 1st in the books (which is seemingly always a Sunday – like magic!).
The remainder of the page is as we see it in the book, with only the occasional swaps between pronouns and names.
Original manuscript
Page 1, Part 1
Whole exhibit
“Shall we die just a little?”
December 10, 2012 – The Kaplan International Colleges determine that the Harry Potter film series is the best way to learn English.
J.K. Rowling is the first person to become a billionaire (US dollars) by writing books.
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Artificial Intelligence, the Singularity, and the "Rapture of the Nerds"
So what does the future look like according to the most far-out geeks?
The concept of ultrasmart computers — machines with “greater than human intelligence” — was dubbed “The Singularity” in a 1993 paper by the computer scientist and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge. He argued that the acceleration of technological progress had led to “the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth.” This thesis has long struck a chord here in Silicon Valley.
Artificial intelligence is already used to automate and replace some human functions with computer-driven machines. These machines can see and hear, respond to questions, learn, draw inferences and solve problems. But for the Singulatarians, A.I. refers to machines that will be both self-aware and superhuman in their intelligence, and capable of designing better computers and robots faster than humans can today. Such a shift, they say, would lead to a vast acceleration in technological improvements of all kinds. ...
Several years ago the artificial-intelligence pioneer Raymond Kurzweil took the idea one step further in his 2005 book, “The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.” He sought to expand Moore’s Law to encompass more than just processing power and to simultaneously predict with great precision the arrival of post-human evolution, which he said would occur in 2045. ...
The science fiction author Ken MacLeod described the idea of the singularity as “the Rapture of the nerds.” Kevin Kelly, an editor at Wired magazine, notes, “People who predict a very utopian future always predict that it is going to happen before they die.”
I'm skeptical about the possibility of "strong" artificial intelligence so by extension I'm skeptical about the possibility of the Singularity. But hey, it would be cool to be wrong!
(HT: DD.)
May 26, 2009 9:33 AM | Comments (
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Artificial Intelligence, the Singularity, and the "Rapture of the Nerds".
Artificial Intelligence, the Singularity, and the \"Rapture of the Nerds\"
So what does the future look like according to the most far-out geeks?\n\n
The concept of ultrasmart computers — machines with “greater than human intelligence” — was dubbed “The Singularity” in a 1993 paper by the computer scientist and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge. He argued that the acceleration of technological progress had led to “the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth.” This thesis has long struck a chord here in Silicon Valley.\n\nArtificial intelligence is already used to automate and replace some human functions with computer-driven machines. These machines can see and hear, respond to questions, learn, draw inferences and solve problems. But for the Singulatarians, A.I. refers to machines that will be both self-aware and superhuman in their intelligence, and capable of designing better computers and robots faster than humans can today. Such a shift, they say, would lead to a vast acceleration in technological improvements of all kinds. ...\n\nSeveral years ago the artificial-intelligence pioneer Raymond Kurzweil took the idea one step further in his 2005 book, “The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.” He sought to expand Moore’s Law to encompass more than just processing power and to simultaneously predict with great precision the arrival of post-human evolution, which he said would occur in 2045. ...\n\nThe science fiction author Ken MacLeod described the idea of the singularity as “the Rapture of the nerds.” Kevin Kelly, an editor at Wired magazine, notes, “People who predict a very utopian future always predict that it is going to happen before they die.”
\n\nI'm skeptical about the possibility of \"strong\" artificial intelligence so by extension I'm skeptical about the possibility of the Singularity. But hey, it would be cool to be wrong!\n\n(HT: DD.)
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Home About us Current issue Back issues Submission Instructions Advertise Contact Login
Assessment of quality of life in patients on hemodialysis and the impact of counseling
Suja Abraham1, Anju Venu2, Anju Ramachandran2, Praseetha Mundapurath Chandran2, Saraswathi Raman3
1 Department of Pharmacy Practice, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Amrita Viswavidyapeetham University, Kochi, Kerala; Research Scholar, Karpagam University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
2 Department of Pharmacy Practice, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Amrita Viswavidyapeetham University, Kochi, Kerala, India
3 Al-Shifa College of Pharmacy, Perinthalmanna, Kerala, India
Click here for correspondence address and email
Date of Web Publication 13-Sep-2012
Chronic renal failure is an irreversible progressive condition responsible for high morbidity and mortality. Because it requires life-long treatment in the form of renal replacement therapy, the quality of life (QOL) of patients may significantly impair. Studies have revealed that patient education can play a significant role in improving the QOL in these patients. The primary objective of this study was to assess the QOL of patients on hemodialysis by using the World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment scale and also to study the impact of patient counseling in these patients. Fifty patients were selected for the study and they were randomly divided into two groups, control and test; counseling was given to the test group of patients. There was an increase in score in all the four domains (physical, psychological, environmental and social) among the test group when compared with the control group. Also, we found that the psychological domain showed significant increase in score compared with others. Our findings demonstrate that patient counseling plays an important role in improving the QOL by changing their psychological thinking and bringing them toward spirituality.
Abraham S, Venu A, Ramachandran A, Chandran PM, Raman S. Assessment of quality of life in patients on hemodialysis and the impact of counseling. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl 2012;23:953-7
Abraham S, Venu A, Ramachandran A, Chandran PM, Raman S. Assessment of quality of life in patients on hemodialysis and the impact of counseling. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl [serial online] 2012 [cited 2019 Jul 17];23:953-7. Available from: http://www.sjkdt.org/text.asp?2012/23/5/953/100875
The number of patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) is increasing steadily globally with its associated poor quality of life (QOL) and high economic burden. CRF has become one of the most expensive diseases to treat in present times. This is particularly true in the developing world where the resources are limited. [1] The National Kidney Foundation has classified CRF into five stages according to the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and the fifth stage with GFR less than 15 mL/min is called end-stage renal disease (ESRD). [2] The prevalence of ESRD in India has increased in the last two decades. It has become a global threat with significant morbidity and mortality. ESRD also decreases the overall QOL among the affected patients. The treatment option at this stage is renal replacement therapy, which includes dialysis and transplantation. According to various studies, the cost of dialysis is between Rs. 15,000 and 20,000 per month, and will have to be continued lifelong. The cost of renal transplantation and the medicines to prevent rejection is very high when compared with dialysis. Thus, it is very difficult for the average patient to afford dialysis and it becomes mandatory to ensure good QOL while on such expensive treatment. [3]
It has been proven that the QOL is very poor among ESRD patients. The QOL is used to evaluate the general wellbeing of individuals and societies. It may vary according to the patient as well as the disease condition. The WHO has defined QOL as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns." [4] Various tools have been developed to measure different aspects of life. Many studies have been carried out for measuring the QOL with generic as well as disease-specific instruments. [5] However, such studies are limited in the Indian scenario, although this aspect requires particular attention in developing countries. The assessment of QOL is an essential element of health-care evaluation and helps in taking suitable measures to increase the QOL of ESRD patients.
According to the study conducted by Zhang et al, patients on dialysis [both hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis] experience complications such as cardiovascular disease, peritonitis, etc., which in turn decreases the QOL. The study concluded that because of the lack of awareness, the patient will not come for timely dialysis until more severe co-morbidities develop. [6] Several studies have shown that regular pre-dialysis attendance helps to provide the patient with proper education and thereby achieve better QOL. [7],[8] These findings were supported by the study conducted by Lii et al who concluded that patients who received psychosocial intervention showed reduced depression and better QOL compared with the control group. [9], 10, [11] Co-morbidities such as anemia, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, thyroid disorders, etc. significantly impair the QOL of patients on HD. [12],[13],[14] This emphasizes the significance of patient counseling, which helps the patient to understand the lifestyle modification to be made in order to reduce the prevalence of such co-morbidities. Also, through patient counseling, the patient will be in good rapport with the pharmacist thereby increasing compliance. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the QOL of patients on HD and to compare the impact of counseling in these patients.
A hospital-oriented prospective, longitudinal, observational comparative study was conducted for six months in the nephrology department of a tertiary care hospital. Patients who were receiving HD regularly and aged between 20 and 80 years were included in the study. Patients who were not interested in counseling and those who had voluntarily withdrawn from dialysis as well as those having severe illness, psychoses, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and pregnant and lactating women were excluded from the study. Only patients who had completed at least three months of HD were selected for the study.
At the beginning of the study, there were 172 patients undergoing HD in this hospital. Of these, 81 met the inclusion criteria, but only 50 patients were chosen for the study because of the time constraint. Detailed data could be obtained and analyzed only in these 50 patients during the limited time available for the study, which was six months. Of these 50 patients, 25 were selected randomly as the control group and the other 25 were considered as the test group. Patient counseling was provided to the test group patients using verbal and written materials regarding diet, exercise, life style modification and the importance of regular dialysis and follow-up.
The patients' data relevant to the study was obtained from the patient and bystanders, and the data collection was made by questionnaire (WHO-BREF) administration and the patients' medical records. Using data collection forms, information about the cases was collected from the file of the admitted patients. It contained information concerning each patient's hospital number and socio-demographic data, history of allergy, principal diagnosis, co-morbid conditions, medications, etc.
Assessment of quality of life
For this study, we adopted the WHO-BREF assessment questionnaire (short form of WHO-100), which has been used worldwide. This questionnaire contains about 26 questions dealing with patient's QOL, health and other areas of their life. This scale assesses four main domains, namely, physical health, psychological, social and environmental relationship of the patient. After the initial administration of WHO-BREF to the test and control groups, counseling was given to the patients in the test group. Specific scores for each domain were computed. After six months, the same questionnaires were given to both groups and the domain scores were calculated. By comparing the score values for the test and control groups, QOL assessments were done by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Results are given as mean ± SD.
In this prospective observational study, various parameters like age distribution, sex, duration on dialysis, duration of disease and comorbidities were analyzed. Fifty patients were randomly assigned to the test and control groups (25 patients each). The mean age of the study population in the test and control groups was 49.72 ± 13.2 and 51.5 ± 11.6 years, respectively. The socio-demographic data and socio-economic status of the patients are given in [Table 1].
Table 1: Socio-demographic data of the study patients.
It was found that the overall QOL of patients on HD was significantly impaired. In this study, the domain scores of both the test and the control group of patients were calculated after the initial administration of the questionnaire. The domain scores were calculated by using the formula that is given in the WHO-BREF scale.
The study revealed a remarkable difference in the QOL of HD patients in the test group during their first and second visits, while the control group showed only a slight or no change. There was an increase in the overall QOL of the test group patients when compared with the control group, although the baseline values are similar. The QOL of patients in the test group was compared with the control group using the independent t test. It showed that all the domain scores of the test group was significantly higher than the control group (P <0.001) [Table 2]. Thus, patient counseling seemed to play an important role in improving the QOL by changing their psychological thinking and initiating them toward spirituality.
Table 2: Assessment of the quality of life at the end of the study period in the two patient-groups.
The studies on the QOL of patients with chronic disease have increased these days. It has become an integral parameter to assess patient satisfaction and improvement with therapy. This is very true, especially in conditions like CRF.
Improvement in the QOL has become the major treatment goal in ESRD patients. Because ESRD patients have several other comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, etc., they have to take different medications. These may have significant adverse effects and may be associated with drug interactions. Moreover, the patients are prone to non-compliance and all these will affect the QOL of the patients. [6]
The QOL can be measured from different angles, sometimes using generic instruments, in some cases disease-specific instruments, or measuring physical and laboratory parameters. It is very essential to measure the psychological domain, as the patient may experience depression or anxiety. That is the reason why we selected WHO BREF where psychological and spiritual domains were included in the assessment. This study mainly concentrated on the physical, psychological, social and environmental domains of the patient and how it affects the overall QOL of ESRD patients undergoing HD. Our study strongly predicts the association between spirituality and psychological issues and the QOL. According to the various studies available, the number of male patients with ESRD is higher than the female patients. [6],[10] This may be because of the smoking and alcoholic habits of men, which might aggravate the renal failure.
Majority of the previous studies were conducted in developed countries where patient counseling is mandatory. These studies showed that patient education provides better health outcomes, improves adherence and decreases health-care cost. [15],[16] Various studies have also shown that patient counseling is associated with positive impact on health and it decreases the mortality and morbidity. [17],[18],[19] This study also suggests that patient counseling improved the QOL of patients with renal failure.
Our study has several findings worth emphasizing. We observed that there is an increase in the average score of the test group when compared with the control group in all the four domains. The increase in average domain score was highest in the psychological domain followed by physical, environmental and social relationship domains. As most of the ESRD patients were depressed and worrying about their health condition, by removing their misconceptions about the disease, we observed an increase in the positive feelings of the patient. The spirituality level of the patients was also found to be increased; thereby, their concentration levels, thinking and learning power were also increased. As a result, they became more involved in their self-activities without any negative feelings.
The main limitation of our study was its duration. Follow-up was only for a period of six months. The results could have been much more authentic if the follow-up duration was two to three years and included a healthy group also as controls. From that data, we would have been able to quantify the impairment of QOL better in ESRD patients. Our study suggests that patient counseling can improve health-related QOL by improving the awareness and removing the misconceptions about the disease. QOL is becoming an important outcome measure after the initiation of dialysis therapy. ESRD is a progressive disease, and early recognition and prevention are the only ways of improving the QOL in these patients.
1. Prabahar MR, Chandrasekaran V, Soundararajan P. Epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease in India -What Can Be Done? Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl 2008;19:847-53.
2. Levey AS, Coresh J, Balk E, et al. National Kidney Foundation practice Guidelines for Chronic Kidney Disease: Evaluation, Classification and Stratification. Ann Intern Med 2003;139:137-47.
3. Mani MK. Management of End Stage Renal Disease in India. Artif Organs 1998;22:182-6.
4. WHOQOL Group. Measuring Quality of Life: The development of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL). Geneva: World Health Organization; 1993.
5. WHOQOL Group. The development of the WHO quality of life assessment instrument (WHOQOL). In: Orley J, Kukyen W, (eds). Quality of Life Assessment: International Perspectives. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 1994.
6. Zhang AH, Cheng LT, Zhu N, et al. Comparison of quality of life and causes of hospitalization between haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients in China. Health Qual Life Outcomes 2007;5:49.
7. White CA, Pilkey RM, Lam M, et al. Predialysis clinic attendance improves quality of life among haemodialysis patients. BMC Nephrology 2002;3:3.
8. Sesso R, Yoshirro MM. Time of diagnosis of chronic renal failure and assessment of quality of life in haemodialysis patients. Nephrol Dial Transplant 1977;12:2111-6.
9. Lii YC, Tsay SL, Wang TJ. Group intervention to improve quality of life in haemodialysis patients. J Clin Nurs 2007;16:268-75.
10. Khaled AK, Larissa M, Karpov I, et al. Individual quality of life in chronic kidney disease: Influence of age and dialysis modality. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2009;4:711-8.
11. Peter P, Paul LK. Aspects of quality of life in haemodialysis patients. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2010;5:163-6.
12. Gabbay E, Meyer KB, Griffith JL, Richardson MM, Miskulin DC. Temporal trends in health related quality of life among Haemodialysis patients. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2010;5(2):261-7
13. Wasserfallen JB, Halabi G, Saudan P, et al. Quality of Life on chronic dialysis: Comparison between haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2004;19: 1594-9.
14. Spiegel BM, Melmed G, Robbins S, Esrailian E. Biomarkers and Health Related Quality of Life in End stage renal disease: A Systemic Review. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2008;3:1759-68.
15. Mercus MP, Jager AJ. Quality of life on patients on chronic dialysis: Self assessment 3 month after the start of treatment. Am J Kidney Dis 1997;29:584-92.
16. Deniston OL, Carpentire PA. Assessment of Quality of Life in End Stage Renal Disease Health Serv Res 1989;24:555-78.
17. Samir SP, Viral SS. Study on psychosocial variables, Quality of Life and religious beliefs in ESRD patients treated with haemodialysis. Am J Kidney Dis 2002;40:1013-22.
18. Sathvik BS, Parthasarathy G. An assessment of Quality of Life in Haemodialysis patients using WHO-BREF Questionnaire. Int J Nephrol 2008;18:141-9.
19. Thomas D, Joseph J, Francis B, et al. Effect of patient counseling on quality of life of haemodialysis patients in India. Pharm Pract 2009;7: 181-4.
Suja Abraham
Senior Lecturer, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Kochi, Kerala
1 Family Functioning, Marital Satisfaction and Social Support in Hemodialysis Patients and their Spouses
Hong Jiang,Li Wang,Qian Zhang,De-xiang Liu,Juan Ding,Zhen Lei,Qian Lu,Fang Pan
Stress and Health. 2014; : n/a
2 Hemoglobin level, associated co-morbidities and quality of life among patients undergoing hemodialysis at one of the university hospitals in Cairo governorate
El-Shahed, A.M. and Sharf, S.A. and El Sebaee, H.A. and Roshdy, M.M.
World Applied Sciences Journal. 2013; 23(1): 29-36
Abraham S
Venu A
Ramachandran A
Chandran PM
Raman S
© 2007 - Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
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Courses & Services
Skip Press - Writing & Advice
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Erin Ryder changes 'Destination' to 'Chasing UFOs'
Erin Ryder, courtesy NatGeo
BY AARON SAGERS
If the truth is out there, a team from the National Geographic Channel might be the best shot there is of finding it. But the network’s new docu-series, Chasing UFOs, ups the ante in the search for answers from The X-Files believer/skeptic duo of Mulder and Scully, and adds a third character – the “skeliever.”
Enter Erin Ryder. Haling upstate New York, Ryder has an extensive resume of producing shows that range from topics such as parkour to Pussycat Dolls to, most recently, the paranormal. She is a skeptic who wants to believe – and might have enough reasons to do so after the first season of the NatGeo show, which premieres with a two back-to-back episodes tonight at 9 p.m.
Ryder is already known to fans of the unexplained by her work as co-executive producer and on-camera adventurer on the Syfy monster-hunting show Destination Truth (which debuts its fifth season on July 10 at 10 p.m.). But in Chasing UFOs – also from Truth production company Ping Pong Productions – Ryder takes the lead as her team looks to the skies and into the shadows.
Along with UFOlogist James Fox and skeptical scientist Ben McGee, Ryder serves as co-executive producer and field researcher in a pursuit that often takes them into a dark territory of extraterrestrial sightings, alien abductions and government conspiracies. In the first episodes alone, the team heads to Texas and encounters a town where more than 30 residents claim they saw mysterious lights flying above them. Then there are is the retired military brass who warns that a large-scale cover-up is in place – a warning that hits close to home when the team believes they’re being followed. And yes, there is a lot of investigating and running around in the dark - which is a fun draw of the show.
But instead of only pursuing theories and eyewitness accounts - and playing with lots of cool gadgets - Chasing UFOs also attempts to pursue the science behind E.T. experiences. For instance, the show is working with SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) to send an outer space, crowdsourced reply to the "Wow! Signal" of 1977.
Erin Ryder joined us to discuss her leap from monsters to aliens, and open up about the science, skepticism - and lots of bleeped-out swear words - of Chasing UFOs, along with some inside info on the new season (and future) of Destination Truth. (After the jump...)
Q: Obviously I know your work on Destination Truth, but how do you go from producing sports shows to chasing monsters to UFOs?
A: I’ve had a love for travel and adventure since I was younger. Anything that’s allowed me to do that, in terms of producing, has been fantastic. That’s why Destination Truth has such a place in my heart. I’ve been fond of UFOs since I was little; I’m definitely a sci-fi geek at heart. I’d say the [mass] sightings in the Hudson Valley were kind of something that affected my family. They would talk about sightings. It was so intriguing and I wanted to see something for so long. And I actually saw something. You’ll see it this season on Destination Truth. We saw something in Kazakhstan that I really cannot explain. And that just kind of revved up this love again.
Q: Since Chasing UFOs and Truth are produced by the same company, did this sighting in Kazakhstan lead you to pitching them a show or was this already in the works over at Ping Pong and it was just serendipitous?
From left: Eyewitness Constable Leroy Gaitan, Fox
McGee, Ryder. Courtesy NatGeo
A: It was serendipitous. It was one of those things where the guys are heavily into cryptozoology and paranormal. UFOs are just an extension of that just in the field of mystery. Those guys are kings of it. They had wanted to do something. Josh Gates [the host of Destination Truth] and I calling from the road saying, “We saw something” - who knows if that sparked anything? I do know that the timing just couldn’t have been more perfect.
Q: You grew up in New York and then went to school in Syracuse, so did you ever see anything in the skies about the UFO hotspots of the Hudson Valley?
A: No, I wish I did. Obviously the mass sightings took place, around ’82 to, people say, ‘95. And that is definitely while I was there. I had my uncle who saw things and my grandfather, and it was so something that I wanted to happen. Obviously, it doesn’t always work like that.
Q: What is the transition between pursuing these creatures on DT to UFOs?
A: Luckily, there’s a lot of similarities so it wasn’t something that took a lot of changes - aside from the better vehicles because we are in the United States. And luckily we were renting vehicles that actually and heated seats. If you’ve seen the DT vehicles, they barely run. The way we do things is very similar. What Josh and I do, and what James and Ben and I do, is going out and saying, “if this does exist, is there some sort of scientific way to prove it?” And that’s deep down what we’re trying to do. There are a lot of similarities. On DT, we jumpstart getting in a little bit more into UFOs and aliens this season. So I did have a little foray into that. But staring at the sky is definitely something new for me. The lenses and the telescopes we had at our fingertips were incredible. It makes the universe seem a little closer than it probably should.
Q: As a producer, is there ever this moment where you’re like, “Okay, we got to make this more exciting because we’re just looking up into the sky?”
A: You know, in the beginning before I went out, I will say that was something I was nervous about. But when you go out there - and you film as long as we do and then you have to cut that down with into 42 minutes - you realize that a lot of that boring stuff hits the cutting room floor. Once it’s not diluted, it is action packed.
Q: How would you say the show is overall different from a lot of other paranormal investigative shows out there?
A: I would say the one thing I hope people see that sets us apart is that we do have three completely different points of view. Ben is an open and honest scientific skeptic. Deep down he does want to find something but, until we do, he does have to take a real strong scientific look at everything when we go out there. James is on the other end of that spectrum and he is a true believer. He’s had sightings of his own. He’s spoken to government officials and astronauts and collected so many sightings and stories that it’s hard for him not to believe. Then I kind of land somewhere in the middle because I have had a sighting, I have talked to these people and felt that they did see something. I want to believe same as all three of us. We get these ranging points of view and we don’t come to one conclusion at the end of an episode.
Q: You go to a town hall, talk to an entire community, and then get a lot of eyewitness accounts. Is there a concern people are just telling you the coolest stories and saying they saw something just to get on TV – especially when the elements of eyewitness stories are so familiar and easy to draw from?
A: Absolutely. Absolutely. The one thing that we pride ourselves on is that we seek these people out. Very rarely do we talk to anyone that has sought us out because we want to speak to the people that have a lot to lose. We don’t want to talk to these people who want the fame and attention by getting their story out there. We want to talk to the people that have been hiding for years and years and years. And we have to pry the story out of them. Because for me, there’s real honesty in that. In Texas, the town hall meeting that we threw, yeah, you have to worry that these people are coming because they want to be on TV. But at the same time, once you’re there, you realize the comfort level changes once one person shares a story. You see the other people nod their heads, and then stand up and say, “Well I didn’t ever want to share this, but now that other people are sharing these stories, I don’t think I’m crazy anymore.” … But yeah, you’re going to always have to be wary.
McGee, Ryder, Fox. Courtesy NatGeo
Q: When you encounter overenthusiastic believers of any phenomena, does it sometimes make you more skeptical? Like you’re less likely to buy their story?
A: Sometimes. You know, I think you just have to take it case by case. There’s sometimes where that enthusiasm and that love can really taint a point of view. You just have to be careful of that. That’s what I love so much about James. Yes he’s been studying this forever, and yes, he will come out and say he believes UFOs exist. But at the same time, he doesn’t let it taint his point of view. When we go up and speak to someone, he’s almost the first person that will call, “bullshit.” And he’ll be like, “I don’t believe that guy.” And I think that’s what makes me so fond of him - he’s not going out preaching.
Q: Well, speaking of bullshit, you like to swear - or maybe it’s just natural…
A: I tease that I was raised by longshoremen in a fraternity. My mom isn’t too fond of that. I would fill a cuss jar in a minute. It’s just something that’s a part of me. I feel bad that people are offended by it. I’m so happy that I get bleeped because I know there are a lot of kids watching. And I do want to be a role model. I don’t want them to follow that behavior. But when I hit a certain level of excitement, it’s just, I can’t contain it. A lot of times it’s just a streaming cuss line that comes out. It’s been like that forever.
Q: A recurring theme of the show involves government cover ups, and that people should be allowed to talk about these experiences openly without fear of reprisal. But when a witness like a retired colonel goes on camera, talking about cover ups and how the government wants to take him out, does that not, in fact, destroy the notion of a cover up? He’s talking and hasn’t been taken out by a sniper rifle, you know?
A: I thought that, and I was always kind of suspect of that. But when you talk to people around the time the government stopped being involved in the search for extra-terrestrial life - when they closed Project Blue Book - what happened was they turned to this new method of making fun. So anyone that believed was immediately crazy. It was so wild and so out there. I believe that’s what they do with people that come forward now. They don’t need to silence them. They let them talk. But they just promote the fact that they think that they’re crazy.
Q: In the second episode you pretty much trespass on an airfield. If you guys were really coming close to something real, wouldn’t they want to shut you down? We wouldn’t even be having this conversation because the show would never get picked up or would never air, right?
A: Right, and that’s the thing. That’s why I walk away from Fresno and I wonder if there really is something to the underground bases conversation [in the second part of tonight’s two-hour premiere]. When you do get too close, you know that you get too close. You know. Anyone who’s tried to get too close to Area 51 knows that. There were times that the Coast Guard would come out after us. There were times that the military would send out warnings and helicopters and cops, flashlights, all that kind of stuff. There’s always that first level warning. We know to be careful, as producers, as investigators. We know not to push it because we have National Geographic’s reputation on the line, we have our reputation on the line. We don’t try to go much further than we really have to. But yeah, you know when you do. You know when you’ve crossed the line.
Q: In episode four, you visit Roswell, right?
A: We do. We headed to New Mexico. We were at White Sands Missile Range and throughout the area. And I’m happy to say we found something there. We found physical evidence there that defies anything I thought that this project could come up with. You have expectations, and what we found superseded those expectations. It was just beyond words. I’m really excited for people to see that episode. I think Roswell is a famous site for a lot of reasons and something happened there. I’ve always believed something happened there, and now I’m believing that there may really have been a cover up.
Q: I often think everybody knows some of the classic stories - the Travis Waltons, the Roswell, the Area 51 stories. Have you encountered people that are like, “No, I don’t know the story of Roswell”?
A: I think Roswell’s a difficult one, but we do meet with Travis Walton this season. And yes, because it wasn’t of their generation, [people] didn’t really know who he was, what potentially happened to him. And yeah, I think this is something that is a part of our culture, of everyone’s culture. You can go to any country and everyone has their sightings. I think that that’s what is fantastic. It’s one of those things that’s a common thread from culture to culture.
Q: Did Josh Gates give you any advice when you set out to do this?
A: His one piece of advice was, “Try not to fall too hard.” He knows that I’m an extreme klutz and I think that was one of his biggest concerns. No, he was really happy and just said to go out there and give it my all. That was really important for me to hear from him because Destination Truth is where my heart is, and doing this without him was really hard in the beginning. There’s no one that does it better than Josh Gates. Getting his blessing and going out was really important to me.
Q: So does that mean that your time on DT, if it returns for another season, is officially over?
A: No, Absolutely not … I wouldn’t want to part with that because it is so close to, it has everything that I love. It just really does, and I think no one does it better than we do. It’s just a feeling that I have. I truly hope that this isn’t the end of Destination Truth, for Josh, for the show and for me.
Q: You said you were a sci-fi geek growing up. What were the kinds of things that you were into?
A: Ray Bradbury, God bless his heart, who just passed, I have every one of his books. That’s been a major passion of mine since I was younger. The X-Files has always been something that just – everything that I could want in terms of a producer, an investigator, that’s everything. That has it all. That show is incredible. But, comic books, oddly enough, I’ve fallen in love with that. I don’t keep up with it as much as I probably should. Now that the Green Lantern is coming out gay and whatnot, I feel like I need to get back into it. But it’s definitely something that a lot of people don’t know about me. But it’s definitely something that has made me who I am in terms of someone who wants to explore this particular genre.
Q: What’s your favorite alien movie or favorite episode of The X-Files?
A: Well my favorite alien movie, and it’s not fair because Travis Walton is going to think that I’m cheating, but Fire in the Sky is a pretty well-done movie and it’s really creepy. If you haven’t seen that one in a while, watch that movie. It’s very, very eerie. Favorite X-Files: There’s so many because I love all of them … "Fallen Angel" is incredible. Deep Throat's back in that one. I especially love the UFO fanatic guy in that, too … But it’s hard to pick favorites. I really don’t have favorites in terms of anything. The fact that David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson could do that for so long and keep us interested for so long is beyond me. They’re magicians at their craft.
Labels: Chasing UFOs, destination truth, Erin Ryder, josh gates, TV, x-files
scook said...
This has to be a joke... right?
UFO Joe said...
What are you talking about? Joke? No.
I do love Ryder though. She has everything I want in a woman. Everything. Brains included.
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PATRICK COMERFORD: an online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
Meet me in Lichfield
Thinking about 1916
Limerick Cathedrals and Churches
Tait clock recalls the sad times and
successes of a Limerick entrepreneur
The Tait Memorial Clock in Baker Place, Limerick, was a public tribute to Alderman Sir Peter Tait (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
Patrick Comerford
Waiting for buses in Limerick, going to or from Dublin or Askeaton, is allowing me a little time each week to explore the history and architecture of a city I am beginning to get to know.
One of my routes between the bus station and Arthur’s Quay brings me past the Tait Memorial Clock in Baker Place, which was erected 150 years ago in 1867 and which tells stories of enterprise and industry, war and politics, and which links Limerick in a sad and telling way with Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
The Tait Memorial Clock is a 65 ft tall landmark monument on Baker Place, at the corner with Davis Street. This free-standing, carved limestone Gothic-style clock tower was erected in 1867 as a public tribute to the Scottish entrepreneur Alderman Sir Peter Tait.
Tait owned the nearby Tait factory, which supplied shirts and uniforms to the British Empire during the Crimean War in the 1850s and to the Confederate army during the American Civil War in the 1860s.
Tait moved to Limerick from the Shetland Islands in the early 1840s, and built a trading business that grew into the city’s largest textile factory. At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Tait’s factory was producing enough textiles to supply the Confederate Army with jackets, trousers, caps, shirts, blankets, boots, stockings, and haversacks. Alongside his textile trade, Peter Tait served three terms as Mayor of Limerick between 1865 and 1868. Such was his reputation as an employer and politician that the Tait Clock Tower was erected as a tribute to him and was paid for by public subscriptions.
Sir Peter Tait (1828-1890) is one of the most colourful, flamboyant and entrepreneurial figures to have become Mayor of Limerick, and his life story brought him from the Shetland Islands to Limerick, London, and the Ottoman and Tsarist empires. He was born in 1828 in the Shetland Islands in Scotland, either in Lerwick or in the rural district of Tingwall. He came to Limerick in his early teens, and may have first lived with his sister who had already moved to Limerick some years earlier. She had married Martin Honan, of Quinsborough House, Parteen, who was Mayor of Limerick in 1842 and 1843, and her father-in-law, Matthew Honan, built and gave his name to one of the quays in Limerick.
Tait soon apprenticed himself to the drapers Cumine and Mitchell in George’s Street (now O’Connell Street). He then began hawking shirts to sailors on Arthur’s Quay, and was soon making and selling his own shirts.
Tait quickly spotted the opportunities provided by the new sewing machines. He started his first factory in 1850 in rented premises in Bedford Row. In 1852, he set up one of the first mass production textile factories in Europe, from which he sold shirts and other clothing.
His big break came with the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854, when Tait won contracts to supply the British army with uniforms. He was soon employing hundreds of people making shirts and uniforms for the troops in the Crimean War. The first soldiers to wear his Limerick shirts were in the 8th Royal Irish Hussars.
Meanwhile, Tait married Rose Abraham, who lived at Fort Prospect, near Janesboro, in the Independent Chapel or Congregationalist Church on Bedford Row, Limerick. The couple moved to South Hill House in the southern suburbs of Limerick.
Tait’s factory was the biggest in Limerick, and his business was known as the Army Clothing Factory. He had another factory in London, near Blackfriars Railway Bridge.
By the time of the American Civil War, Tait had a large factory in Limerick that was described as a set of ‘mean cheap buildings’ that employed up to 1,000 workers.
In late 1863, the firm contracted with the Confederate Government for the supply of jackets and trousers. Most Tait jackets and trousers were issued to the Army of Northern Virginia, although a large number was also issued to units in the Army of Tennessee and the garrison units along the east coast. As well as his contract with the Central Confederate Government, Tait also had a separate contract with the State of Alabama.
As well as making uniforms for the Confederates, Tait also ran them through the blockade in his own steamers, the Elavey, Eveline and Kelpie, none of which was captured. It is impossible to estimate how many uniforms were imported, but the bulk of the contract started to arrive in the autumn of 1864.
The ships he sent to the Confederate States returned to Limerick loaded with cotton for the clothing factories and shops. In 1864, Tait also revived the flax spinning industry in Limerick, reopening a factory that had first been established by the Russell family in Lansdowne in 1851. He also opened factories in Leeds and London, and bought a townhouse in London.
One shipment of 4,400 uniforms on the Eveline arrived in Wilmington on 29 December 1864. But the fall of Fort Fisher on 15 January 1865 probably put an end to any further shipments.
Tait was elected an Alderman in Limerick for the first time in 1865. He was elected Mayor of Limerick in December 1866, and was elected to that office on three occasions.
The clock in Baker Place was erected in 1867 as public tribute to Tait while he was still Mayor of Limerick. It was designed by William Edward Corbett (1824-1904), who acknowledged the influence of the design of Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. The tower was built by John Connolly at a cost of £750.
Corbett, who designed the clock tower, was the architect and borough surveyor of Limerick City (1854-1899), and lived at 39 Ennis Road, Limerick. He worked on a number of prominent churches in Limerick, and designed the pedestal of the Treaty Stone.
A plaque on a panel reads: ‘Erected by Public Subscription in Appreciation of the Enterprise and Usefulness of Alderman Peter Tait.’
But despite the public honour he received with a knighthood, and the public acclamation expressed in the erection of the Tait Clock in Baker Place in 1867, Tait’s Conservative political views grew increasingly unpopular in Limerick, and his fall from grace was swift.
In December 1868, Tait was defeated as the Conservative candidate for Parliament in Limerick in a brutal election campaign. He resigned as mayor on 1 December 1868, not having completed his third term in office.
Ostensibly, his resignation was to give him time to concentrate on his shipping interests. But one by one his factories began to close because of a general depression in the clothing market.
In 1871, Tait was defeated yet again, this time in a by-election. By 1874, he had changed his political views, and stood as a Liberal/Home Rule candidate, but was defeated by the Nationalist Isaac Butt. Tait retired from the business and left Limerick for good around 1875, leaving his factory to be run by his son.
Tait left for London and the moved to Thessaloniki in northern Greece to establish a Turkish cigarette factory. However, this venture was not a success, and he died in poverty at the Hotel De France in Batoum in southern Russia on 11 December 1890 at the age of 62. He bequeathed his belongs of books, furniture and linen and the sum of just £50 to his wife Rose.
It was a sad end for a remarkable man whose life in Limerick was marked by enterprise, courage, ambition and vision. An authoritative biography, Peter Tait: A Remarkable Story, by John E Waite, was published in 2005.
Posted by Patrick Comerford at 18:30
Labels: Architecture, Limerick, Local History, Scotland, Thessaloniki, War and peace, Westminster
Tait's sister was not married to Martin Honan. He married Anne Marie Kane of Whitehall in 1826 and she lived until 1866.
I am not sure who started this rumour but it is easily proven false. Tait more than likely arrived in Limerick following a call for educated Presbyterians to work in the Presbyterians store of Cumine and Mitchel.
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Tait clock recalls the sad times and successes of ...
Luther’s Impact on Anglicanism
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A memorial to Mark Buller, PhD, and our response to the propaganda film "Demon in the Freezer".
November 29, 2017 Rob Carlson
Earlier this year my friend and colleague Mark Buller passed away. Mark was a noted virologist and a professor at Saint Louis University. He was struck by a car while riding his bicycle home from the lab, and died from his injuries. Here is Mark's obituary as published by the university.
In 2014 and 2015, Mark and I served as advisors to a WHO scientific working group on synthetic biology and the variola virus (the causative agent of smallpox). In 2016, we wrote the following, previously un-published, response to an "Op-Doc" that appeared in the New York Times. In a forthcoming post I will have more to say about both my experience with the WHO and my thoughts on the recent publication of a synthetic horsepox genome. For now, here is the last version (circa May, 2016) of the response Mark I and wrote to the Op-Doc, published here as my own memorial to Professor Buller.
Variola virus is still needed for the development of smallpox medical countermeasures
On May 17, 2016 Errol Morris presented a short movie entitled “Demon in the Freezer” [note: quite different from the book of the same name by Richard Preston] in the Op-Docs section of the on-line New York Times. The piece purported to present both sides of the long-standing argument over what to do with the remaining laboratory stocks of variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox, which no longer circulates in the human population.
Since 1999, the World Health Organization has on numerous occasions postponed the final destruction of the two variola virus research stocks in Russia and the US in order to support public health related research, including the development of smallpox molecular diagnostics, antivirals, and vaccines.
“Demon in the Freezer” clearly advocates for destroying the virus. The Op-Doc impugns the motivation of scientists carrying out smallpox research by asking: “If given a free hand, what might they unleash?” The narrative even suggests that some in the US government would like to pursue a nefarious policy goal of “mutually assured destruction with germs”. This portion of the movie is interlaced with irrelevant, hyperbolic images of mushroom clouds. The reality is that in 1969 the US unilaterally renounced the production, storage or use biological weapons for any reason whatsoever, including in response to a biologic attack from another country. The same cannot be said for ISIS and Al-Qaeda. In 1975 the US ratified the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning chemical and biological agents in warfare and became party to the Biological Weapons Convention that emphatically prohibits the use of biological weapons in warfare.
“Demon in the Freezer” is constructed with undeniable flair, but in the end it is a benighted 21st century video incarnation of a middling 1930's political propaganda mural. It was painted with only black and white pigments, rather than a meaningful palette of colors, and using a brush so broad that it blurred any useful detail. Ultimately, and to its discredit, the piece sought to create fear and outrage based on unsubstantiated accusations.
Maintaining live smallpox virus is necessary for ongoing development and improvement of medical countermeasures. The first-generation US smallpox vaccine was produced in domesticated animals, while the second-generation smallpox vaccine was manufactured in sterile bioreactors; both have the potential to cause serious side effects in 10-20% of the population. The third generation smallpox vaccine has an improved safety profile, and causes minimal side effects. Fourth generation vaccine candidates, based on newer, lower cost, technology, will be even safer and some are in preclinical testing. There remains a need to develop rapid field diagnostics and an additional antiviral therapy for smallpox.
Continued vigilance is necessary because it is widely assumed that numerous undeclared stocks of variola virus exist around the world in clandestine laboratories. Moreover, unsecured variola virus stocks are encountered occasionally in strain collections left behind by long-retired researchers, as demonstrated in 2014 with the discovery of 1950s vintage variola virus in a cold room at the NIH. The certain existence of unofficial stocks makes destroying the official stocks an exercise in declaring “victory” merely for political purposes rather than a substantive step towards increasing security. Unfortunately, the threat does not end with undeclared or forgotten samples.
In 2015 a WHO Scientific Working Group on Synthetic Biology and Variola Virus and Smallpox determined that a “skilled laboratory technician or undergraduate student with experience of working with viruses” would be able to generate variola virus from the widely available genomic sequence in “as little as three months”. Importantly, this Working Group concluded that “there will always be the potential to recreate variola virus and therefore the risk of smallpox happening again can never be eradicated.” Thus, the goal of a variola virus-free future, however laudable, is unattainable. This is sobering guidance on a topic that requires sober consideration.
We welcome increased discussions of the risk of infectious disease and of public health preparedness. In the US these topics have too long languished among second (or third) tier national security conversations. The 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak and the current Congressional debate over funding to counter the Zika virus exemplifies the business-as-usual political approach of throwing half a bucket of water on the nearest burning bush while the surrounding countryside goes up in flames. Lethal infectious diseases are serious public health and global security issues and they deserve serious attention.
The variola virus has killed more humans numerically than any other single cause in history. This pathogen was produced by nature, and it would be the height of arrogance, and very foolish indeed, to assume nothing like it will ever again emerge from the bush to threaten human life and human civilization. Maintenance of variola virus stocks is needed for continued improvement of molecular diagnostics, antivirals, and vaccines. Under no circumstances should we unilaterally cripple those efforts in the face of the most deadly infectious disease ever to plague humans. This is an easy mistake to avoid.
Mark Buller, PhD, was a Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, who passed away on February 24, 2017. Rob Carlson, PhD, is a Principal at the engineering and strategy firm Biodesic and a Managing Director of Bioeconomy Capital.
The authors served as scientific and technical advisors to the 2015 WHO Scientific Working Group on Synthetic Biology and Variola Virus.
In Biosecurity, Current Affairs, Infectious Disease, Public Policy, Synthetic Biology Tags Smallpox, Variola
A Few Thoughts and References Re Conservation and Synthetic Biology
June 14, 2017 Rob Carlson
Yesterday at Synthetic Biology 7.0 in Singapore, we had a good discussion about the intersection of conservation, biodiversity, and synthetic biology. I said I would post a few papers relevant to the discussion, which are below.
These papers are variously: the framing document for the original meeting at the University of Cambridge in 2013 (see also "Harry Potter and the Future of Nature"), sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society; follow on discussions from meetings in San Francisco and Bellagio; and my own efforts to try to figure out how quantify the economic impact of biotechnology (which is not small, especially when compared to much older industries) and the economic damage from invasive species and biodiversity loss (which is also not small, measured as either dollars or jobs lost). The final paper in this list is my first effort to link conservation and biodiversity with economic and physical security, which requires shifting our thinking from the national security of nation states and their political boundaries to the natural security of the systems and resources that those nation states rely on for continued existence.
"Is It Time for Synthetic Biodiversity Conservation?", Antoinette J. Piaggio1, Gernot Segelbacher, Philip J. Seddon, Luke Alphey, Elizabeth L. Bennett, Robert H. Carlson, Robert M. Friedman, Dona Kanavy, Ryan Phelan, Kent H. Redford, Marina Rosales, Lydia Slobodian, Keith WheelerTrends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 32, Issue 2, February 2017, Pages 97–107
Robert Carlson, "Estimating the biotech sector's contribution to the US economy", Nature Biotechnology, 34, 247–255 (2016), 10 March 2016
Kent H. Redford, William Adams, Rob Carlson, Bertina Ceccarelli, “Synthetic biology and the conservation of biodiversity”, Oryx, 48(3), 330–336, 2014.
"How will synthetic biology and conservation shape the future of nature?", Kent H. Redford, William Adams, Georgina Mace, Rob Carlson, Steve Sanderson, Framing Paper for International Meeting, Wildlife Conservation Society, April 2013.
"From national security to natural security", Robert Carlson, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 11 Dec 2013.
In Bioeconomy, Biological Technology, Biosecurity, Human Institutions, Public Policy
Tim Cook is Defending Your Brain
February 22, 2016 Robert
Should the government have the right to troll through your thoughts and memories? That seems like a question for a "Minority Report" or "Matrix" future, but legal precedent is being set today. This is what is really at stake in an emerging tussle between Washington DC and Silicon Valley.
The Internets areall abuzz with Apple's refusal to hack an iPhone belonging to an accused terrorist. The FBI has served a court order on Apple, based on the All Writs Act of 1789, requiring Apple to break the lock that limits the number of times a passcode can be tried. Since law enforcement has been unable to crack the security of iOS on its own, it wants Apple to write special software to do the job. Here is Wired's summary. This NYT story has additional good background. The short version: should law enforcement and intelligence agencies be able to compel corporations to hack devices owned by citizens and entrusted with their sensitive information?
Apple CEO Tim Cook published a letter saying no, thank you, because weakening the security of iPhones would be bad for his customers and "has implications far beyond the legal case at hand". Read Cook's letter; it is thoughtful. The FBI says it is just about this one phone and "isn't about trying to set a precedent," in the words of FBI Director James Comey. But this language is neither accurate nor wise — and it is important to say so.
Once the software is written, the U.S. government can hardly argue it will never be used again, nor that it will never be stolen off government servers. And since the point of the hack is to be able to push it onto a phone without consent (which is itself a backdoor that needs closing), this software would allow breaking the locks on any susceptible iPhone, anywhere. Many commentators have observed that any effort to hack iOS this once would facilitate repetitions, and any general weakening of smartphone security could easily be exploited by governments or groups less concerned about due process, privacy, or human rights. (And you do have to wonder whether Tim Cook's position here is influenced by his experience as a gay man, a demographic that has been persecuted, if not actually prosecuted, merely for thought and intent by the same organization now sitting on the other side of the table. He knows a thing or two about privacy.) U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has a nice take on these issues. Yet while these are critically important concerns for modern life, they are shortsighted. There is much more at stake here than just one phone, or even the fate of a one particular company. The bigger, longer term issue is whether governments should have access to electronic devices that we rely on in daily life, particularly when those devices are becoming extensions of our bodies and brains. Indeed, these devices will soon be integrated into our bodies — and into our brains.
Hacking electronically-networked brains sounds like science fiction. That is largely because there has been so much science fiction produced about neural interfaces, Matrices, and the like. We are used to thinking of such technology as years, or maybe decades, off. But these devices are already a reality, and will only become more sophisticated and prevalent over the coming decades. Policy, as usual, is way behind.
My concern, as usual, is less about the hubbub in the press today and instead about where this all leads in ten years. The security strategy and policy we implement today should be designed for a future in which neural interfaces are commonplace. Unfortunately, today's politicians and law enforcement are happy to set legal precent that will create massive insecurity in just a few years. We can be sure that any precedent of access to personal electronic devices adopted today, particularly any precedent in which a major corporation is forced to write new software to hack a device, will be cited at least decades hence, when technology that connects hardware to our wetware is certain to be common. After all, the FBI is now proposing that a law from 1789 applies perfectly well in 2016, allowing a judge to "conscript Apple into government service", and many of our political representatives appear delighted to concur. A brief tour of current technology and security flaws sets the stage for how bad it is likely to get.
As I suggested a couple of years ago, hospital networks and medical devices are examples of existing critical vulnerabilities. Just in the last week hackers took control of computers and devices in a Los Angeles hospital, and only a few days later received a ransom to restore access and functionality. We will be seeing more of this. The targets are soft, and when attacked they have little choice but to pay when patients' health and lives are on the line. What are hospitals going to do when they are suddenly locked out of all the ventilators or morphine pumps in the ICU? Yes, yes, they should harden their security. But they won't be fully successful, and additional ransom events will inevitably happen. More patients will be exposed to more such flaws as they begin to rely more on medical devices to maintain their health. Now consider where this trend is headed: what sorts of security problems will we create by implanting those medical devices into our bodies?
Already on the market are cochlear implants that are essentially ethernet connections to the brain, although they are not physically configured that way today. An external circuit converts sound into signals that directly stimulate the auditory nerves. But who holds the password for the hardware? What other sorts of signals can be piped into the auditory nerve? This sort of security concern, in which networked electronics implanted in our bodies create security holes, has actually been with us for more than a decade. When serving as Vice President, Dick Cheney had the wireless networking on his fully-implanted heart defibrillator disabled because it was perceived as a threat. The device contained a test mode that could exploited to fully discharge the battery into the surrounding tissue. This might be called a fatal flaw. And it will only get worse.
DARPA has already limited the strength of a recently developed, fully articulated bionic arm to "human normal" precisely because the organization is worried about hacking. These prosthetics are networked in order to tune their function and provide diagnostic information. Hacking is inevitable, by users interested in modifications and by miscreants interested in mischief.
Not content to replace damaged limbs, within the last few months DARPA has announced a program to develop what the staff sometimes calls a "cortical modem". DARPA is quite serious about developing a device that will provide direct connections between the internet and the brain. The pieces are coming together quickly. Several years ago a patient in Sweden received a prosthesis grafted to the bone in his arm and controlled by local neural signals. Last summer I saw Gregoire Courtine show video of a monkey implanted with microfabricated neural bridge that spanned a severed spinal cord; flip a switch on and the monkey could walk, flip it off and the monkey was lame. Just this month came news of an implanted cortical electrode array used to directly control a robot arm. Now, imagine you have something like this implanted in your spine or head, so that you can walk or use an arm, and you find that the manufacturer was careless about security. Oops. You'll have just woken up — unpleasantly — in a William Gibson novel. And you won't be alone. Given the massive medical need, followed closely by the demand for augmentation, we can expect rapid proliferation of these devices and accompanying rapid proliferation of security flaws, even if today they are one-offs. But that is the point; as Gibson has famously observed, "The future is already here — it's just not evenly distributed yet."
When — when — cortical modems become an evenly distributed human augmentation, they will inevitably come with memory and computational power that exceeds the wetware they are attached to. (Otherwise, what would be the point?) They will expand the capacity of all who receive them. They will be used as any technology is, for good and ill. Which means they will be targets of interest by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Judges will be grappling with this for decades: where does the device stop and the human begin? ("Not guilt by reason of hacking, your honor." "I heard voices in my head.") And these devices will also come with security flaws that will expose the human brain to direct influence from attackers. Some of those flaws will be accidents, bugs, zero-days. But how will we feel about back doors built in to allow governments to pursue criminal or intelligence investigations, back doors that lead directly into our brains? I am profoundly unimpressed by suggestions that any government could responsibly use or look after keys to any such back door.
There are other incredibly interesting questions here, though they all lead to the same place. For example, would neural augmentation count as a medical device? If so, what does the testing look like? If not, who will be responsible for guaranteeing safety and security? And I have to wonder, given the historical leakiness of backdoors, if governments insist on access to these devices who is going to want to accept liability inherent in protecting access to customers' brains? What insurance or reinsurance company would issue a policy indemnifying a cortical modem with a known, built-in security flaw? Undoubtably an insurance policy can be written that exempts governments from responsibility for the consequences of using a backdoor, but how can a government or company guarantee that no one else will exploit the backdoor? Obviously, they can do no such thing. Neural interfaces will have to be protected by maximum security, otherwise manufacturers will never subject themselves to the consequent product liability.
Which brings us back to today, and the precedent set by Apple in refusing to make it easy for the FBI to hack an iPhone. If all this talk of backdoors and golden keys by law enforcement and politicians moves forward to become precedent by default, or is written into law, we risk building security holes into even more devices. Eventually, we will become subject to those security holes in increasingly uncomfortable, personal ways. That is why it is important to support Tim Cook as he defends your brain.
In Biosecurity, Public Policy, Technology
Video from Lift Basel 2015: Building our Biological Future
Here is the original.
In Biological Technology, Biosecurity, Video
70 Years After Hiroshima: "No government is well aware of the economic importance of biotechnology"
August 25, 2015 Robert
I was recently interviewed by Le Monde for a series on the impact of Hiroshima on science and science policy, with a particular focus on biotechnology, synthetic biology, and biosecurity. Here is the story in French. Since the translation via Google is a bit cumbersome to read, below is the English original.
On the 16 of July 1945, after the first nuclear test at large scale in New Mexico (called trinity) the American physicist Kenneth Bainbridge, head of the shooting, told Robert Oppenheimer, head of the Manhattan Project, "Now we are all sons of bitches ".
In your discipline, do you feel that the time the searchers might have the same revelation has been reached ? Will it be soon?
I think this analogy does not apply to biotechnology. It is crucially important to distinguish between weapons developed in a time of war and the pursuit of science and technology in a time of peace. Over the last thirty years, biotechnology has emerged as a globally important technology because it is useful and beneficial.
The development and maintenance of biological weapons is internationally outlawed, and has been for decades. The Trinity test, and more broadly the Manhattan Project, was a response to what the military and political leaders of the time considered an existential threat. These were actions taken in a time of world war. The scientists and engineers who developed the U.S. bombs were almost to a person ambivalent about their roles – most saw the downsides, yet were also convinced of their responsibility to fight against the Axis Powers. Developing nuclear weapons was seen as imperative for survival.
The scale of the Manhattan Project (both in personnel and as a fraction of GDP) was unprecedented, and remains so. In contrast to the exclusive governmental domain of nuclear weapons, biotechnology has been commercially developed largely with private funds. The resulting products – whether new drugs, new crop traits, or new materials – have clear beneficial value to our society.
Do you have this feeling in other disciplines? Which ones ? Why?
No. There is nothing in our experience like the Manhattan Project and nuclear weapons. It is easy to point to the participants’ regrets, and to the long aftereffects of dropping the bomb, as a way to generate debate about, and fear of, new technologies. The latest bugaboos are artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. But neither of these technologies – even if they can be said to qualify as mature technologies – is even remotely as impactful as nuclear weapons.
What could be the impact of a "Hiroshima" in your discipline?
In biosecurity circles, you often hear discussion of what would happen if there were “an event”. It is often not clear what that event might be, but it is presumed to be bad. The putative event could be natural or it could be artificial. Perhaps the event might kill many people as Hiroshima. (Though that would be hard, as even the most deadly organisms around today cannot wipe out populated cities in an instant.) Perhaps the event would be the intentional use of a biological weapon, and perhaps that weapon would be genetically modified in some way to enhance its capabilities. This would obviously be horrible. The impact would depend on where the weapon came from, and who used it. Was it the result of an ongoing state program? Was it a sample deployed, or stolen, from discontinued program? Or was it built and used by a terrorist group? A state can be held accountable by many means, but we are finding it challenging to hold non-state groups to account. If the organism is genetically modified, it is possible that there will be pushback against the technology. But biotechnology is producing huge benefits today, and restrictions motivated by the response to an event would reduce those benefits. It is also very possible that biotechnology will be the primary means to provide remedies to bioweapons (probably vaccines or drugs), in which case an event might wind up pushing the technology even faster.
After 1945, physicists, including Einstein, have committed an ethical reflection on their own work. has your discipline done the same ? is it doing the same today ?
Ethical reflection has been built into biotechnology from its origins. The early participants met at Asilomar to discuss the implications of their work. Today, students involved in the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition are required to complete a “policy and practices” (also referred to as “ethical, legal, and social implications” (ELSI)) examination of their project. This isn’t window dressing, by any means. Everyone takes it seriously.
Do you think it would be necessary to rase the public awarereness about the issues related to your work?
Well, I’ve been writing and speaking about this issue for 15 years, trying to raise awareness of biotechnology and where it is headed. My book, “Biology is Technology”, was specifically aimed at encouraging public discussion. But we definitely need to work harder to understand the scope and impact of biotechnology on our lives. No government measures very well the size of the biotechnology industry – either in terms of revenues or in terms of benefits – so very few people understand how economically pervasive it is already.
What is, according to you, the degree of liberty of scientists face to political and industrial powers that will exploit the results of the scientific works?
Scientists face the same expectation of personal responsibility as every other member of the societies to which they belong. That’s pretty simple. And most scientists are motivated by ideals of truth, the pursuit of knowledge, and improving the human condition. That is one reason why most scientists publish their results for others to learn from. But it is less clear how to control scientific results after they are published. I would turn your question in another direction, and say politicians and industrialists should be responsible for how they use science, rather than putting this all on scientists. If you want to take this back to the bomb, the Manhattan Project was a massive military operation in a time of war, implemented by both government and the private sector. It relied on science, to be sure, but it was very much a political and industrial activity – you cannot divorce these two sides of the Project.
Do you think about accurate measures [?] to prevent further Hiroshima?
I constantly think about how to prevent bad things from happening. We have to pay attention to how new technologies are developed and used. That is true of all technologies. For my part, I work domestically and internationally to make sure policy makers understand where biotechnology is headed and what it can do, and also to make sure it is not misused.
But I think the question is rather off target. Bombing Hiroshima was a conscious decision made by an elected leader in a time of war. It was a very specific sort of event in a very specific context. We are not facing any sort of similar situation. If the intent of the question is to make an analogy to intentional use of biological weapons, these are already illegal, and nobody should be developing or storing them under any circumstances. The current international arms control regime is the way to deal with it. If the intent is to allude to the prevention of “bad stuff”, then this is something that every responsible citizen should be doing anyway. All we can do is pay attention and keep working to ensure that technologies are not used maliciously.
In Biological Technology, Biosecurity, Public Policy, Science, Bioeconomy
Brewing Bad Biosecurity Policy
Last week brought news of a truly interesting advance in porting opioid production to yeast. This is pretty cool science, because it involves combining enzymes from several different organisms to produce a complex and valuable chemical, although no one has yet managed to integrate the whole synthetic pathway in microbes. It is also potentially pretty cool economics, because implementing opiate production in yeast should dramatically lower the price of a class of important pain medications to a point that developing countries might finally be able to afford.
Alongside the scientific article was a Commentary – with images of drug dens and home beer brewing – explicitly suggesting that high doses of morphine and other addictive narcotics would soon be brewed at home in the garage. The text advertised “Home-brew opiates” – wow, just like beer! The authors of the Commentary used this imagery to argue for immediate regulation of 1) yeast strains that can make opioids (even though no such strains exist yet), and 2) the DNA sequences that code for the opioid synthesis pathways. This is a step backward for biosecurity policy, by more than a decade, because the proposal embraces measures known to be counterproductive for security.
The wrong recipe.
I'll be very frank here – proposals like this are deep failures of the science policy enterprise. The logic that leads to “must regulate now!” is 1) methodologically flawed and 2) ignores data we have in hand about the impacts of restricting access to technology and markets. In what follows, I will deal in due course with both kinds of failures, as well as looking at the predilection to assume regulation and restriction should be the primary policy response to any perceived threat.
There are some reading this who will now jump to “Carlson is yet again saying that we should have no regulation; he wants wants everything to be available to anyone.” This is not my position, and never has been. Rather, I insist that our policies be grounded in data from the real world. And the real world data we have demonstrates that regulation and restriction often cause more harm than good. Moreover, harm is precisely the impact we should expect by restricting access to democratized biological technologies. What if even simple analyses suggests that proposed actions are likely to make things worse? What if the specific policy actions recommended in response to a threat have already been shown to exacerbate damage from the threat? That is precisely the case here. I am constantly confronted with people saying, "That's all very well and good, but what do you propose we do instead?" The answer is simple: I don't know. Maybe nothing. Maybe there isn't anything we can do. But for now, I just want us to not make things worse. In particular I want to make sure we don't screw up the emerging bioeconomy by building in perverse incentives for black markets, which would be the worst possible development for biosecurity.
Policy conversations at all levels regularly make these same mistakes, and the arguments are nearly uniform in structure. “Here is something we don't know about, or are uncertain about, and it might be bad – really, really bad – so we should most certainly prepare policy options to prevent the hypothetical worst!” Exclamation points are usually just implied throughout, but they are there nonetheless. The policy options almost always involve regulation and restriction of a technology or process that can be construed as threatening, usually with little or no consideration of what that threatening thing might plausibly grow into, nor of how similar regulatory efforts have fared historically.
This brings me to the set up. Several news pieces (e.g., the NYT, Buzzfeed) succinctly pointed out that the “home-brew” language was completely overblown and inflammatory, and that the Commentary largely ignored both the complicated rationale for producing opioids in yeast and the complicated benefits of doing so. The Economist managed to avoid getting caught up in discussing the Commentary, remaining mostly focussed on the science, while in the last paragraph touching on the larger market issues and potential future impacts of “home brew opium” to pull the economic rug out from under heroin cartels. (Maybe so. It's an interesting hypothesis, but I won't have much to say about it here.) Over at Biosecu.re, Piers Millet – formerly of the Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit – calmly responded to the Commentary by observing that, for policy inspiration, the authors look backward rather than forward, and that the science itself demonstrates the world we are entering requires developing completely new policy tools to deal with new technical and economic realities.
Stanford's Christina Smolke, who knows a thing or two about opioid production in yeast, observed in multiple news outlets that getting yeast to produce anything industrially at high yields is finicky to get going and then hard to maintain as a production process. It's relatively easy to produce trace amounts of lots of interesting things in microbes (ask any iGEM team); it is very hard and very expensive to scale up to produce interesting amounts of interesting things in microbes (ask any iGEM team). Note that we are swimming in data about how hard this is to do, which is an important part of this story. In addition to the many academic examples of challenges in scaling up production, the last ten years are littered with startups that failed at scale up. The next ten years, alas, will see many more.
Even with an engineered microbial strain in hand, it can be extraordinarily hard to make a microbe jump through the metabolic and fermentation hoops to produce interesting/useful quantities of a compound. And then transferring that process elsewhere is very frequently its own expensive and difficult effort. It is not true that you can just mail a strain and a recipe from one place to another and automatically get the same result. However, it is true that all this will get easier over time, and many people are working on reproducible process control for biological production.
That future looks amazing. I've written many times about how the future of the economy looks like beer and cows – in other words, that our economy will inevitably be based on distributed biological manufacturing. But that is the future: i.e., not the present. Nor is it imminent. I truly wish it were imminent, but it is not. Whole industries exist to solve these problems, and much more money and effort will be spent before we get there. The economic drivers are huge. Some of the investments made by Bioeconomy Capital are, in fact, aimed at eventually facilitating distributed biological manufacturing. But, if nothing else, these investments have taught me just how much effort is required to reach that goal. If anybody out there has a credible plan to build the Cowborg or to microbrew chemicals and pharmaceuticals as suggested by the Commentary, I will be your first investor. (I said “credible”! Don't bother me otherwise.) But I think any sort of credible plan is years away. For the time being, the only thing we can expect to brew like beer is beer.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Ed You makes great use of the “brewing bad” and “baking bad” memes, mentioned in the Commentary, in talking to students and professionals alike about the future of drug production. But this is in the context of taking personal responsibility for your own science and for speaking up when you see something dangerous. I've never heard Ed say anything about increasing surveillance and enforcement efforts as the way forward. In fact, in the Times piece, Ed specifically says, “We’ve learned that the top-down approach doesn’t work.” I can't say exactly why Ed chose that turn of phrase, but I can speculate that it is based 1) on his own experience as a professional bench molecular biologist, 2) the catastrophically bad impacts of the FBI's earlier arrests and prosecutions of scientists and artists for doing things that were legal, and 3) the official change in policy from the White House and National Security Council away from suppression and toward embracing and encouraging garage biology. The standing order at the FBI is now engagement. In fact, Ed You's arrival on the scene was coincident with any number of positive policy changes in DC, and I am happy to give him all the credit I can. Moreover, I completely agree with Ed and the Commentary authors that we should be discussing early on the implications of new technologies, an approach I have been advocating for 15 years. But I completely disagree with the authors that the current or future state of the technology serves as an indicator of the need to prepare some sort of regulatory response. We tried regulating fermentation once before; that didn't work out so well [1].
Badly baked regulatory policy.
So now we're caught up to about the middle of the Commentary. At this point, the story is like other such policy stories. “Assume hypothetical thing is inevitable: discuss and prepare regulation.” And like other such stories, here is where it runs off the rails with a non sequitur common in policy work. Even if the assumption of the thing's inevitability is correct (which is almost always debatable), the next step should be to assess the impact of the thing. Is it good, or is it bad? (By a particular definition of good and bad, of course, but never mind that for now.) Usually, this question is actually skipped and the thing is just assumed to be bad and in need of a policy remedy, but the assumption of badness, breaking or otherwise, isn't fatal for the analysis.
Let's say it looks bad – bad, bad, bad – and the goal of your policy is to try to either head it off or fix it. First you have to have some metric to judge how bad it is. How many people are addicted, or how many people die, or how is the crime rate affected? Just how bad is it breaking? Next – and this is the part the vast majority of policy exercises miss – you have to try to understand what happens in the absence of a policy change. What is the cost of doing nothing, of taking no remediating action? Call this the null hypothesis. Maybe there is even a benefit to doing nothing. But only now, after evaluating the null hypothesis, are you in a position to propose remedies, because only now you have a metric to compare costs and benefits. If you leap directly to “the impacts of doing nothing are terrible, so we must do something, anything, because otherwise we are doing nothing”, then you have already lost. To be sure, policy makers and politicians feel that their job is to do something, to take action, and that if they are doing nothing then they aren't doing their jobs. That is just a recipe for bad policy. Without the null hypothesis, your policy development is a waste of time and, potentially, could make matters worse. This happens time and time again. Prohibition, for example, was exactly this sort of failure, and cost much more than it benefited, which is why it was considered a failure [2].
We keep making the same mistake. We have plenty of data and reporting, courtesy of the DEA, that the ongoing crackdown on methamphetamine production has created bigger and blacker markets, as well as mayhem and violence in Mexico, all without much impact on domestic drug use. Here is the DEA Statistics & Facts page – have a look and then make up your own mind.
I started writing about the potential negative impacts of restricting access to biological technologies in 2003 (PDF), including the likely emergence of black markets in the event of overregulation. I looked around for any data I could find on the impacts of regulating democratized technologies. In particular, I happened upon the DEA's first reporting of the impacts of the then newly instituted crackdown on domestic methamphetamine production and distribution. Even in 2003, the DEA was already observing that it had created bigger, blacker markets – that are by definition harder to surveil and disrupt – without impacting meth use. The same story has played out similarly in cocaine production and distribution, and more recently in the markets for “bath salts”, aka “legal highs”.
That is, we have multiple, clear demonstrations that, rather than improving the world, restricting access to distributed production can instead cause harm. But, really, when has this ever worked? And why do people think going down the same path in the future will lead anywhere else? I am still looking for data – any data at all – that supports the assertion that regulating biological technologies will have any different result. If you have such data, bring it. Let's see it. In that absence of that data, policy proposals that lead with regulation and restriction are doomed to repeat the failures of the past. It has always seemed to me like a terrible idea to transfer such policies over to biosecurity. Yet that is exactly what the Commentary proposes.
Brewing black markets.
The fundamental problem with the approach advocated in the Commentary is that security policies, unlike beer brewing, do not work equally well across all technical and economic scales. What works in one context will not work in another. Nuclear weapons can be secured by guns, gates, and guards because they are expensive to build and the raw materials are hard to come by, so heavy touch regulation works just fine. There are some industries – as it happens, beer brewing – where only light touch regulation works. In the U.S., we tried heavy touch regulation in the form of Prohibition, and it failed miserably, creating many more problems than it solved. There are other industries, for example DNA and gene synthesis, in which even light touch regulations are a bad idea. Indeed, light touch regulation of has already created the problem it was supposed to prevent, namely the existence of DNA synthesis providers that 1) intentionally do not screen their orders and 2) ship to countries and customers that are on unofficial black lists.
For those who don't know this story: In early 2013, the International Council for the Life Sciences (ICLS) convened a meeting in Hong Kong to discuss "Codes of Conduct" for the DNA synthesis industry, namely screening orders and paying attention to who is doing the ordering. According to various codes and guidelines promulgated by industry associations and the NIH, DNA synthesis providers are supposed to reject orders that are similar to sequences that code for pathogens, or genes from pathogens, and it is suggested that they do not ship DNA to certain countries or customers (the unofficial black list). Here is a PDF of the meeting report; be sure to read through Appendix A.
The report is fairly anodyne in describing what emerged in discussions. But people who attended have since described in public the Chinese DNA synthesis market as follows. There are 3 tiers of DNA providers. The first tier is populated with companies that comply with the various guidelines and codes promulgated internationally because this tier serves international markets. There is a second tier that appears to similarly comply, because while they serve primarily the large internal market these companies have aspirations of also serving the international market. There is a third tier that exists specifically to serve orders from customers seeking ways around the guidelines and codes. (One company in this tier was described to me as a "DNA shanty", with the employees living over the lab.) Thus the relatively light touch guidelines (which are not laws) have directly incentivized exactly the behavior they were supposed to prevent. This is not a black market, per se, and cannot be accurate described as illegal, so let's call it a "grey market".
I should say here that this is entirely consistent with my understanding of biotech in China. In 2010, I attended a warm up meeting for the last round of BWC negotiations. After that meeting, I chatted with one of the Chinese representatives present, hoping to gain a little bit of insight into the size of the Chinese bioeconomy and the state of the industry. My query was met with frank acknowledgment that the Chinese government isn't able to keep track of the industry, does't know how many companies are active, or how many employees they have, or what they are up to, and so doesn't hold out much hope of controlling the industry. I covered this a bit in my 2012 Biodefense Net Assessment report for DHS. (If anyone has any new insight into the Chinese biotech industry, I am all ears.) Not that the U.S. or Europe is any better in this regard, as our mechanisms for tracking the biotech industry are completely dysfunctional, too. There could very well be DNA synthesis providers operating elsewhere that don't comply with the recommended codes of conduct: we have no real means of broadly surveying for this behavior. There are no physical means either to track it remotely or to control it.
I am a little bit sensitive about the apparent emergence of the DNA synthesis grey market, because I warned for years in print and in person that DNA screening would create exactly this outcome. I was condescendingly told on many occasions that it was foolish to imagine a black market for DNA. And then we have to do something, right? But it was never very complicated to think this through. DNA is cheap, and getting cheaper. You need this cheap DNA as code to build more complicated, more valuable things. Ergo, restrictions on DNA synthesis will incentivize people to seek, and to provide, DNA outside any control mechanism. The logic is pretty straightforward, and denying it is simply willful self-deception. Regulation of DNA synthesis will never work. In the vernacular of the day: because economics. To make it even simpler: because humans.
So the idea that people are still suggesting proscription of certain DNA sequences is a viable route to security just rankles. And it is demonstrably counterproductive. The restrictions incentivize the bad behavior they are supposed to prevent, probably much earlier than might have happened otherwise. The take home message here is that not all industries are the same, because not all technologies are the same, and that our policy approaches should take into account these differences rather than papering over them. In particular, restricting access to information in our modern economy is a losing game.
We are still at the beginning of biotech. This is the most important time to get it right. This is the most important time not to screw up and make things worse. And it is important that we are at the beginning, because things are not yet screwed up.
Conversely, we are well down the road in developing and deploying drug policies, with much damage done. To be sure, despite the accumulated and ongoing costs, you have to acknowledge that it is not at all clear that suddenly legalizing drugs such as meth or cocaine would be a positive step. I am not in any way making that argument. But it is abundantly clear that drug enforcement activities have created the world we live in today. Was there an alternative? If the DEA had been able to do cost/benefit analysis of the impacts of its actions – that is, predict the emergence of DTOs and their role in production, trafficking, and violence – would the policy response 15 years ago have been any different? If Nixon had more thoughtfully considered even what was known 50 years about about the impacts of proscription, would he have launched the war on drugs? That is a hard question, because drug policy is clearly driven more by stories and personal politics than by facts. I am inclined to think the present drug policy mess was inevitable. Even with the DEA's self-diagnosed role in creating and sustaining DTOs, the national conversation is still largely dominated by “the war on drugs”. And thus the first reaction to the prospect of microbial narcotics production is to employ strategies and tactics that have already failed elsewhere. I would hate to think we are in for a war on microbes, because that is doomed to failure.
But we haven't yet made all those mistakes with biological technologies. I continue to hope that, if nothing else, we will avoid making things worse by rejecting policies we already know won't work.
[1] Pause here to note that even this early in the set up, the Commentary conflates via words and images the use of yeast in home brew narcotics with centralized brewing of narcotics by cartels. These are two quite different, and are perhaps mutually exclusive, technoeconomic futures. Drug cartels very clearly have the resources to develop technology. Depending on whether you listen to the U.S. Navy or the U.S. Coast Guard, either 30% or 80% of the cocaine delivered to the U.S. is transported at some point in semisubmersible cargo vessels or in fully submersible cargo submarines. These 'smugglerines', if you will, are the result of specific technology development efforts directly incentivized by governmental interdiction efforts. Similarly, if cartels decide that developing biological technologies suits their business needs, they are likely to do so. And cartels certainly have incentives to develop opioid-producing yeast, because fermentation usually lowers the cost of goods between 50% and 90% compared to production in plants. Again, cartels have the resources, and they aren't stupid. If cartels do develop these yeast strains, for competitive reasons they certainly won't want anyone else to have them. Home brew narcotics would further undermine their monopoly.
[2] Prohibition was obviously the result of a complex socio-political situation, just as was its repeal. If you want a light touch look at the interaction of the teetotaler movement, the suffragette movement, and the utility of Prohibition in continued repression of freed slaves after the Civil War, check out Ken Burns's “Prohibition” on Netflix. But after all that, it was still a dismal failure that created more problems than it solved. Oh, and Prohibition didn't accomplish its intended aims. Anheuser-Busch thrived during those years. Its best selling products at the time were yeast and kettles (see William Knoedleseder's Bitter Brew)...
In Biological Technology, Biosecurity, Public Policy, Technology
Biosecurity is Everyone's Business (Part 2)
(Here is Part 1.)
Part 2. From natural security to neural security
Humans are fragile. For most of history we have lived with the expectation that we will lose the use of organs, and some of us limbs, as we age or suffer injury. But that is now changing. Prostheses are becoming more lifelike and more useful, and replacement organs have been used to save lives and restore function. But how robust are the replacement parts? The imminent prospect of technological restoration of human organs and limbs lost to injury or disease is cause to think carefully about increasing both our biological capabilities and our technological fragilities.
Technology fails us for many reasons. A particular object or application may be poorly designed or poorly constructed. Constituent materials may be faulty, or maintenance may be shoddy. Failure can result from inherent security flaws, which can be exploited directly by those with sufficient technical knowledge and skill. Failure can also be driven by clever and conniving exploits of the overall system that focus on its weakest link, almost always the human user, by inducing them to make a mistake or divulge critical information. Our centuries of experience and documentation of such failures should inform our thinking about the security of emerging technologies, particularly as we begin to fuse biology with electronic systems. The growing scope of biotechnology will therefore require constant reassessment of what vulnerabilities we are introducing through that expansion. Examining the course of other technologies provides some insight into the future of biology.
We carry powerful computers in our pockets, use the internet to gather information and access our finances, and travel the world in aircraft that are often piloted and landed by computers. We are told we can trust this technology with our financial information, our identities and social networks, and, ultimately, our lives. At the same time, technology is constantly shown to be vulnerable and fragile at a non-trivial rate -- resulting in identity theft, financial loss, and sometimes personal injury and death. We embrace technology despite well-understood risks; automobiles, electricity, fossil fuels, automation, and bicycles all kill people every day in predictable numbers. Yet we continue to use technology, integrating it further into multiple arenas in our lives, because we decide that the benefits outweigh risks.
Healthcare is one arena in which risks are multiplying. The IT security community has for some years been aware of network vulnerabilities in medical devices such as pacemakers and implantable defibrillators. The ongoing integration of networked medical devices in health care settings, an integration that is constantly introducing both new capabilities and new vulnerabilities, is now the focus of extensive efforts to improve security. The impending introduction of networked, semi-autonomous prostheses raises obvious similar concerns. Wi-fi enabled pacemakers and implantable defibrillators are just the start, as soon we will see bionic arms, legs, and eyes with network connections that allow performance monitoring and tuning.
Eventually, prostheses will not simply restore "human normal" capabilities, they will also augment human performance. I learned recently that DARPA explicitly chose to limit the strength of its robotic arm, but that can't last: science fiction, super robotic strength is coming. What happens when hackers get ahold of this technology? How will people begin to modify themselves and their robotic appendages? And, of course, the flip side of having enhanced physical capabilities is having enhanced vulnerabilities. By definition, tuning can improve or degrade performance, and this raises an important security question: who holds the password for your shiny new arm? Did someone remember to overwrite the factory default password? Is the new password susceptible to a dictionary attack? The future brings even more concerns. Control connections to a prosthesis are bi-directional and, as the technology improves, ever better neural interfaces will eventually jack these prostheses directly into the brain. "Tickling" a robotic limb could take on a whole new meaning, providing a means to connect various kinds of external signals to the brain in new ways.
Beyond limbs, we must also consider neural connections that serve to open entirely novel senses. It is not a great leap to envision a wide range of ensuing digital-to-neural input/output devices. These technologies are evolving at a rapid rate, and through them we are on the cusp of opening up human brains to connections with a wide range of electromechanical hardware capabilities and, indeed, all the information on the internet.
Just this week saw publication of a cochlear implant that delivers a gene therapy to auditory neurons, promoting the formation of electrical connections with the implant and thereby dramatically improving the hearing response of test animals. We are used to the idea of digital music files being converted by speakers into sound waves, which enter the brain through the ear. But the cochlear implant is basically an ethernet connection wired to your auditory nerve, which in principal means any signal can be piped into your brain. How long can it be before we see experiments with a cochlear (or other) implant that enables direct conversion of arbitrary digital information into neural signals? At that point, "hearing" might extend into every information format. So, again we must ask, who holds the password to your brain implant
Hacking the Bionic Man
As this technology is deployed in the population it is clear that there can be no final and fixed security solution. Most phone and computer users are now all too aware that new hardware, firmware, and operating systems always introduce new kinds of risks and threats. The same will be true of prostheses. The constant rat race to chase down security holes in new products upgrades will soon extend directly into human brains. As more people are exposed to medical device vulnerabilities, security awareness and improvement must become an integrated part of medical practice. This discussion can be easily extended to potential vulnerabilities that will arise from the inevitable integration into human bodies of not just electromechanical devices, but of ever more sophisticated biological technologies. The exploration of prosthesis security, loosely defined, gives some indication of the scope of the challenge ahead.
The class of things we call prostheses will soon expand beyond electromechanical devices to encompass biological objects such as 3D printed tissues and lab-grown organs. As these cell-based therapies begin to enter human clinical trials, we must assess the security of both the therapies themselves and the means used to create and administer them. If replacement organs and tissues are generated from cells derived from donors, what vulnerabilities do the donors have? How are those donor vulnerabilities passed along to the recipients? Yes, you have an immune system that does wonders most of the time. But are your natural systems up to the task of handling the biosecurity of augmented organs?
What does security even mean in this context? In addition to standard patient work-ups, should we begin to fully sequence the genomes of donor tissues, first to identify potential known health issues, and then to build a database that can be re-queried as new genetic links to disease are discovered? Are there security holes in the 3D printers and other devices used to manipulate cells and tissues? What are the long term security implications of deploying novel therapeutic tissues in large numbers of military and civilian personnel? What are the long-term security implications of using both donor and patient tissue as seeds of induced pluripotent stem cells, or of differentiating any stem cell line for use in therapies? Do we fully understand the complement of microbes and genomes that may be present in donor samples, or lying dormant in donor genomes, or that may be introduced via laboratory procedures and instruments used to process cells for use as therapies? What is the genetic security of a modified cell line or induced pluripotent stem cell? If there is a genetic modification embedded in your replacement heart tissue, where did the new DNA come from, and are you sure you know everything that it encodes? As with information technologies, we should expect that these new biological technologies will sometimes arrive with accidental vulnerabilities; they may also come with intentionally introduced back doors. The economic motivation to create new protheses, as well as to exploit vulnerabilities, will soon introduce market competition as a factor in biosecurity.
Competition often drives perverse strategic decisions when it comes to security. Firms rush to sell hardware and software that are said to be secure, only to discover that constant updates are required to patch security holes. We are surrounded by products in endless beta. Worse yet, manufacturers have been known to sit on security holes in the naive hope that no one else will notice. Vendors sometimes appear no more literate about the security of hardware and software than are their customers. What will the world look like when eletromechanical and biological prostheses are similarly in constant states of upgrade? Who will you trust to build/print/grow a prosthesis? Are you going to place your faith in the FDA to police all these risks? (Really?) If you decide to instead place your faith in the market, how will you judge the trustworthiness of firms that sell aftermarket security solutions for your bionic leg or replacement liver?
The complexity of the task at hand is nearly overwhelming. Understanding the coming fusion of technologies will require competency in software, hardware, wetware, and security -- where are those skill sets being developed in a compatible, integrated manner? This just leads to more questions: Are there particular countries that will have a competitive advantage in this area? Are there particular countries that will be hotbeds of prosthesis malware creation and distribution?
The conception of security, whether of individuals or nation states, is going to change dramatically as we become ever more economically dependent upon the market for biological technologies. Given the spreading capability to participate and innovate in technology development, which inevitably amplifies the number and effect of vulnerabilities of all kinds, I suspect we need to re-envision at a very high level how security works.
[Coming soon: Part 3.]
In Biological Technology, Biosecurity, Current Affairs, Public Policy
Part 1. The ecosystem is the enterprise
We live in a society increasingly reliant upon the fruits of nature. We consume those fruits directly, and we cultivate them as feedstocks for fuel, industrial materials, and the threads on our backs. As a measure of our dependence, revenues in the bioeconomy are rising rapidly, demonstrating a demand for biological products that is growing much faster than the global economy as a whole.
This demand represents an enormous market pull on technology development, commercialization, and, ultimately, natural resources that serve as feedstocks for biological production. Consequently, we must assess carefully the health and longevity of those resources. Unfortunately, it is becoming ever clearer that the natural systems serving to supply our demand are under severe stress. We have been assaulting nature for centuries, with the heaviest blows delivered most recently. Nature, in the most encompassing sense of the word, has been astonishingly resilient in the face of this assault. But the accumulated damage has cracked multiple holes in ecosystems around the globe. There are very clear economic costs to this damage -- costs that compound over time -- and the cumulative damage now poses a threat to the availability of the water, farmland, and organisms we rely on to feed ourselves and our economy.
I would like to clarify that I am not predicting collapse, nor that we will run out of resources; rather, I expect new technologies to continue increasing productivity and improving the human condition. Successfully developing and deploying those technologies will, obviously, further increase our economic dependency on nature. As part of that growing dependency, businesses that participate in the bioeconomy must understand and ensure the security of feedstocks, transportation links, and end use, often at a global scale. Consequently, it behooves us to thoroughly evaluate any vulnerabilities we are building into the system so that we can begin to prepare for inevitable contingencies.
Revisiting the definition of biosecurity: from national security to natural security, and beyond
Last year John Mecklin at Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists asked me to consider the security implications of the emerging conversation (or, perhaps, collision) between synthetic biology and conservation biology. This conversation started at a meeting last April at the University of Cambridge, and is summarized in a recent article in Oryx. What I came up with for BAS was an essay that cast very broadly the need to understand threats to all of the natural systems we depend on. Quantifying the economic benefit of those systems, and the risk inherent in our dependence upon them, led me directly to the concept of natural security.
Here I want to take a stab at expanding the conversation further. Rapidly rising revenues in the bioeconomy, and the rapidly expanding scope of application, must critically inform an evolving definition of biosecurity. In other words, because economic demand is driving technology proliferation, we must continually refine our understanding of what it is that we must secure and from where threats may arise.
Biosecurity has typically been interpreted as the physical security of individuals, institutions, and the food supply in the context of threats such as toxins and pathogens. These will, of course, continue to be important concerns: new influenza strains constantly emerge to cause human and animal health concerns; the (re?)emergent PEDS virus has killed an astonishing 10% of U.S. pigs this year alone; within the last few weeks there has been an alarming uptick in the number of human cases and deaths caused by MERS. Beyond these natural threats are pathogens created by state and non-state organizations, sometimes in the name of science and preparation for outbreaks, while sometimes escaping containment to cause harm. Yet, however important these events are, they are but pieces of a biosecurity puzzle that is becoming ever more complex.
Due to the large and growing contribution of the bioeconomy, no longer are governments concerned merely with the proverbial white powder produced in a state-sponsored lab, or even in a 'cave' in Afghanistan. Because economic security is now generally included in the definition of national security, the security of crops, drug production facilities, and industrial biotech will constitute an ever more important concern. Moreover, in the U.S., as made clear by the National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats(PDF), the government has established that encouraging the development and use of biological technologies in unconventional environments (i.e., "garages and basements") is central to national security. Consequently, the concept of biosecurity must comprise the entire value chain from academics and garage innovators, through production and use, to, more traditionally, the health of crops, farmanimals, and humans. We must endeavor to understand, and to buttress, fragility at every link in this chain.
Beyond the security of specific links in the bioeconomy value chain we must examine the explicit and implicit connections between them, because through our behavior we connect them. We transport organisms around the world; we actively breed plants, animals, and microbes; we create new objects with flaws; we emit waste into the world. It's really not that complicated. However, we often choose to ignore these connections because acknowledging them would require us to respect them, and consequently to behave differently. But that change in behavior must be the future of biosecurity.
From an enterprise perspective, as we rely ever more heavily on biology in our economy, so must we comprehensively define 'biosecurity' to adequately encompass relevant systems. Vulnerabilities in those systems may be introduced intentionally or accidentally. An accidental vulnerability may lie undiscovered for years, as in the case of the recently disclosed Heartbleed hole in the OpenSSL internet security protocol, until it is identified, when it becomes a threat. The risk, even in open source software, is that the vulnerability may be identified by organizations which then exploit it before it becomes widely known. This is reported to be true of the NSA's understanding and exploitation of Heartbleed at least two years in advance of its recent public announcement. Our biosecurity challenge is to carefully, and constantly, assess how the world is changing and address shortcomings as we find them. It will be a transition every bit as painful as the one we are now experiencing for hardware and software security
In Biological Technology, Biosecurity, China, Current Affairs, Public Policy
Building a 21st Century Bioeconomy: Fostering Economic and Physical Security Through Public-Private Partnerships and a National Network of Community Labs
January 23, 2014 Robert
I recently rediscovered this piece, which I had forgotten I had written as a submission to the development process for the National Bioeconomy Blueprint. The #GMDP numbers are obviously a bit out of date: in 2012, US revenues from genetically modified systems reached at least $350 billion, or ~2.5% of GDP.
"Building a 21st Century Bioeconomy: Fostering Economic and Physical Security Through Public-Private Partnerships and a National Network of Community Labs" (PDF).
In Biological Technology, Biosecurity, Public Policy
BAS: From national security to natural security
December 30, 2013 Robert
Here is my recent essay in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: "From national security to natural security".
The first few paragraphs:
From 10,000 meters up, the impact of humans on the Earth is clear. Cities spanning kilometers are connected by roadways stretching to the horizon. Crowding the spaces in between are fields that supply food and industrial feedstock to satisfy a variety of human hungers. These fields feed humanity. Through stewardship we maintain their productivity and thus sustain societies that extend around the globe; if these fields fall into ill health, or if we push them into sickness, we risk the fate of those same societies.
Humans have a long history of modifying the living systems they rely on. Forests in Europe and North America have been felled for timber and have regrown, while other large tracts of land around the world have been completely cleared for use in agriculture. The animals and plants we humans eat on a regular basis have been selected and bred over millennia to suit the human palate and digestive tract. All these crops and products are shipped and consumed globally to satisfy burgeoning demand.
Our technology and trade thereby support a previously unimaginable quality of life for a previously impossible number of people. Humanity has kept Malthus at bay through centuries of growth. Yet our increasing numbers impose a load that is now impacting nature's capacity to support human societies. This stress comes at a time when ever-larger numbers of humans demand more: more food, more clean water, more energy, more education, more entertainment, more more.
Increasing human demand raises the question of supply, and of the costs of meeting that supply. How we choose to spend or to conserve land, water, and air to meet our needs clearly impacts other organisms that also depend on these resources. Nature has intrinsic value for many people in the form of individual species, ecosystems, and wilderness; nature also constitutes critical infrastructure in the form of ecosystems that keep us alive. That infrastructure has quantifiable economic value. Consequently, nature, and the change we induce in it, is clearly interwoven with our economy. That is, the security and health of human societies depends explicitly upon the security and health of natural systems. Therefore, as economic security is now officially considered as part and parcel of national security strategy, it is time to expand our understanding of national security to include natural security.
In Biological Technology, Biosecurity, Climate, Current Affairs, Public Policy
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NHL 19 Review: Top of its Class
Michael Straw
With NHL 18, the one thing that stood out the most was the fact that it was clearly starting to become a stale experience on the current generation of consoles.
The gameplay felt old, the presentation had become dull, and the modes all felt like too much of the same. It was obvious that something needed to be done or the series could be forgotten about all together.
With NHL 19, EA Sports is giving players a number of new features and upgrades to try and make the game feel fresh again in the latter stages of the generation. With so much that needed addressing coming into this installment, do fans finally have the hockey game they have been clamoring for, or does NHL 19 still come up short?
WELCOME TO THE CHEL
The World of Chel is a mode the lives on the creativity of its users. From the look of players on the outdoor rinks to the way you want to play, it’s all about the what the player wants to experience.
Inside the Chel hub — it’s still a weird word to say — a player’s progression spans across each game within, of which there are four to dive into. There’s the popular EA Sports Hockey League, the returning NHL Threes, and two brand new modes to enjoy.
Before getting into the modes, let’s touch on progression. The game still doesn’t allow attribute allocation for created players, but there is a way to make your player different from the rest of the world in the form of traits. Each player can equip up to three traits per loadout, which you have up to five at your disposal after reaching certain levels. Each trait is unlocked by completing various tasks.
The first, and best, new mode is NHL Ones. A game of 1v1v1, the game is taken outside on ponds and lakes. There are no rules in a three-minute scramble for the most goals on a half-sheet of ice. It’s a pretty simple premise that provides, arguably, the biggest challenge of any mode.
There are absolutely no microtransactions within the World of Chel.
Players vie for the chance to play under the lights for a championship each day as the rankings reset every 24 hours. You will start at the lowest tier, moving up with every win with the goal of reaching Diamond. However, every two losses will see your player drop down a tier.
There’s a new announcer who provides some fun one-liners and lighthearted commentary throughout each game. The one downfall with Ones is the fact it’s online-only, leaving you and your friends out in the cold if you were itching for some couch co-op outdoor action.
The other new mode this year is Pro-Am that lets you take your created skater into games alongside some past and present NHL stars and legends. The offline mode is a nice way to prep yourself for taking it online in either the EASHL or Ones as you can get a feel for the new mechanics while, at the same time, progressing your player. It’s fun to line up with greats to achieve various challenges, but this is the new mode I can see getting the least amount of play time.
The aforementioned Threes comes back relatively unchanged. But when a mode was as enjoyable as Threes was in its debut in NHL 18, it’s hard to criticize not touching it.
There are over 900+ different clothing options for your custom player. With jackets, toques, gloves, pants and more, you have the option to really make your player reflect your personal style on the ice. Even more so, there are a number of new equipment customizations as well as goal celebrations to really let your personality shine. I think the best part of the customizations are that you have to actually earn them via in-game progression rather than simply buy them. There are absolutely no microtransactions within the World of Chel.
A NEW TOP MODE
For a while, the best mode in the NHL series has been Hockey Ultimate Team as it seemed like it was the only one getting real love during development. In NHL 19, it’s safe to say that that’s no longer the case.
On top of the new modes in the World of Chel, Franchise has gotten a massive improvement. Becoming the deepest experience ever in an EA Sports NHL game, Franchise includes a completely overhauled scouting system that makes it feel like it’s brand new.
If you don’t do your due diligence, the player you scout may not be exactly who you think he is.
Players can hire and fire scouts, sending them all over the World to gather intel on both amateur and professional players. Whether you want to know about individual players or a group of players from a specific team, the new scouting mechanics give you the chance to find out whatever you want to know before adding a player to your organization.
In addition to the general scouting, the new “Fog of War” system forces you to do the proper amount of scouting in order to find out the true rating of a player. If you don’t do your due diligence, the player you scout may not be exactly who you think he is.
Features like in-season contract negotiations, player moral, relocation, promotions, and more add to the fun that NHL 19’s Franchise presents.
The mode is still missing a fun trade-deadline experience like it had in the past with multiple cell phones on deadline day. Furthermore, it would be nice to finally see the return of Connected GM, but that doesn’t seem to be in the plans anytime soon.
You can also once again start a franchise as an expansion team, but the game still doesn’t allow in-career expansion. If you don’t choose to expand at the beginning, you can’t do it later on.
The previously mentioned HUT gets some new additions, but remains largely the same thing from year’s past. After reaching a deal with the NHL Alumni Association, players like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemiux are once again included in the game to collect and use. The ability to try out players via a loan is another new wrinkle to the mode, giving everyone an option to “try before you buy”. You still can’t customize your team’s look though, forcing you to wear an already created jersey that you get in a pack. It’s pretty disappointing at this stage.
The on-ice action of NHL 19 plays out better than it ever has.
The Real Player Motion technology that has been utilized in both Madden NFL 19 and NBA Live 19 makes its way to the NHL series, adding a new sense of realism to the game’s skating mechanics.
Larger players like Zdeno Chara skate slower with wider turns while the small, shiftier players like Johnny Gaudreau zip around the ice like you would see in a real game. The transition between skating forward and backward feels smooth, the way players turn with and without the puck feels lifelike, and the stick handling controls appropriately.
The Real Player Motion also improved the game’s hitting mechanics as bigger players will put on accurate hits to smaller guys, and vice-versa.
The new Real Player Motion makes the on-ice action the best it’s ever been
From an AI perspective, the players are more adaptive to what’s happening in a given game than in year’s past. If they get the sense you are throwing pucks along to boards to move up ice, expect them to start covering the wall tighter. The same goes for aggressively going for the big hits. Eventually, the AI will adapt and become more aware of the hit attempts coming their way.
The controls in NHL 19 don’t favor one side — offense or defense — over the other. There are enough ways to showcase your skill on both sides to stand out.
On the offensive side of things, the variety of dekes at your disposal gives players the ability to keep defenders guessing at what’s coming next. Even saucer passes, when mastered, provide a great method for getting a prime scoring chance when on a rush. For defense, the defensive skill stick returns with a bit more control than NHL 18. You can still move the stick in any direction by utilizing the right analog, but you can actually feel a difference depending on what you’re trying to do whether it be a chop, poke check, or stick lift.
Now I’ll admit, at first I couldn’t stand how the poke check changes worked. It felt far too easy to trip someone, and way too difficult to actually make a play. After spending more time with it, however, it quickly become apparent that it was all about the angles. More-so than any other year, you can’t just spam the poke and expect results. If you don’t time and place your stick in the right spot at the right time, you’re going to end up sitting in the box feeling all of the guilt.
STILL A WAY TO GO
Disappointingly, Be-A-Pro remains the most tedious mode of any sports game. There’s nothing new here as you still take your player into the CHL or right to the NHL, and work to become the best player possible. With no off-ice entertainment in between games, there’s just still no real reason to ever dive into it unless you absolutely love playing as a locked player with only AI opponents and teammates.
On the presentation side of things, the NBC Sports broadcast package returns with Doc Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro calling the action. If NHL 18’s commentary felt stale and repetitive, well you won’t like NHL 19’s offering.
The Great One is back in NHL 19
Far too often you hear the same lines about teams and players, especially when in franchise. Rarely do you get dialogue about the current season as it’s clear there just aren’t enough lines of dialogue to utilize. Sure, you’ll get something relevant during the pre-game commentary, but there’s nothing about a player on a hot streak or a slumping superstar during the action on the ice or between plays.
It’s about time that EA Sports makes the move to a younger and fresher duo to call the action that can actually provide a large selection of lines as well as have some genuine emotion in their calls.
In addition to the commentary, there are a no real stat overlays within games. While you may have on a given broadcast a look at the top players in the league, standings, or a team’s best players, NHL 19 is missing all of that. You get some stats during the pre-game skate, but, like relevant in-season commentary, there are none once the action on the ice begins.
Player models, while there are more scanned athletes this time around, still don’t look as good as they should this late in the console cycle. When you see the scans of games like NBA Live and NBA 2K, it’s tough to get excited about what NHL 19 shows. What’s worse is that jerseys still aren’t completely accurate. From the font used on the Buffalo Sabres primary sweaters to the way the numbers look distorted on others, the art department needs to spend some more time getting the designs of the main jerseys of every team accurate.
In the stands, the crowd models could stand to get an upgrade. That said, it’s not very high on my list of things I’d address going forward. It’s more like just a personal peeve seeing the same animations for 10 straight fans in the crowd.
NHL 19 succeeds in more ways than a hockey game has in quite some time.
From the diehard fan to the casual gamer, it offers something for every type of player. The World of Chel is great foundation for what is going to turn into a larger community while Franchise has finally seen the improvements to areas that fans have wanted for a long time.
It’s not without its flaws, but NHL 19 is finally a game that any hockey fan would be better off picking up than skipping.
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Michael Straw is a gamer who just happens to be an experienced journalist. In his near decade-long career, Mike has traveled across the United States to cover some of the biggest events in gaming and sports, including E3, PAX, as well as the NFL and NHL Drafts. His work covering gaming and sports led his content being featured on Fox Sports 1, SI.com and others. He was once the second-ranked player in the world in NHL 09 on Xbox Live, and is a huge pro wrestling junkie.
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Will Southampton can win the game?
At the end of 2013-14 season, Mauricio Pochettino left, and with him went 6 first team players. The likes of Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren among others left the South coast club with just its bare bones. The coach, having guided them to their record-breaking season left for greener pastures and players like Morgan Schneiderlin were twitching their hands to engineer a move for themselves. They brought Ronald Koeman. Having been odds-on favourite to ply their trade at Championship in 2015, Saint Mary’s stadium was the host to Premier League football in the 2014-15 season. Having defied odds, they bettered their previous season’s record.Then the annual sale commenced.
Nathaniel Clyne to Liverpool and Schneiderlin to Manchester United.Two big names again decided to part with the club. They endured. At the end of 2016 season, they had secured their qualification in the Europa League. And then the cycle of heartbreaks returned. Ronald Koeman decided to resurrect the fortunes of Everton, a club which guaranteed him one thing that Southampton couldn’t: The stay of stars and arrival of quality players.Not surprising then, Sadio Mane, their wrecker-in-chief from last season will be turning out for Liverpool while his former club compatriot will be plying his trade at White Hart Lane for Tottenham Hotspurs while their striker Graziano Pelle has pledged his allegience to Shandong Leuneng.So what does this year hold for Saint Mary’s?
Rising from the ashes…Again?
If the last three years have shown anything, it’s that the South coast club endure. Having seen their team members prized by big clubs over and over again, they have not just managed to survive, but rebuild and flourish. While Leicester’s title triumph drew plenty of plaudits from the pundits for their transfer recruitments and their eye for spotting talent, the work done at Southampton has been nothing short of exemplary.With the likes of Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane, Schneiderlin and Luke Shaw among others, Southampton have produced quality talents over and over again.Their imports have largely been profitable while their homegrown talent has been excellent. This season, something similar will be expected of them.Whether they will be able to deliver remains to be seen. The replacement process for Koeman though has been typical of the club. Claude Puel, who guided Nice to a spectacular fourth place finish last season has been charged with taking Southampton forward.
Pierre-Emile Hojberg’s signature secured to combat
While winger Nathan Redmond has been brought in from Norwich City to fill Mane’s shoes, Pierre-Emile Hojberg’s signature been secured to combat the absence of Victor Wanyama. The right-back is spot that Puel is now focussing on. Having Jay Rodriguez, Shane Long and Charlie Austin in their attacks, the addition of one more striker would do them good considering Rodriguez’s battles with cruciate ligament and Austin’s persistent injury troubles. Les Reed has been instrumental behind the scenes for the last three years and the executive director of football at Southampton rightly deserves all the praise.This season is altogether different ball game though. With the record television deal kicking in, the incentive of playing in Premier League as well as the lure of financial rewards of European football must be playing on his mind. Though paltry as compared to Champions league, the second tier european competition does offer the chance to the better one. The shots of making it all the way are distant, but the chance is there at least.
We have become accustomed to the sight of the annual summer sale at Southampton year after year. And they have managed to outperform season after season for the last three years. However, they would be well-served to look at Swansea’s campaign last season. Having used to expecting the Welsh side finishing near the halfway mark in the Premier league rankings for the last few years, it was a surprise seeing them battling relegation from christmas to March. A repeat of that South coast though would not go down well with the fans.
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’15 40-Man Preview Extravaganza
Jay Yencich · November 16, 2015 at 6:30 am · Filed Under Mariners, Minor Leagues
What? I still exist.
This round of 40-man roster addition action is newly vexed by the consideration that the Mariners are under new general management. Certain core pieces remain, such as Tom McNamara, who served as architect for many of the drafts in consideration, but DiPoto and possibly even down to Scott Servais may have different opinions on what players are worth protecting than we’ve been accustomed to seeing. Ostensibly, with so much ink devoted to a broader notion of athleticism as a necessity in Safeco Field (one wonders how much Zduriencik was still planning around Miller Park), you might expect there to be a greater emphasis to protect those that are closer to that model. However, there has doubly been the player development concern of having so many high draft picks go on to achieve so little. The new player development director in Andy McKay has made compelling remarks in favor of the idea that while there are the rare exceptions who arrive on ability alone, the game could be as much as 90% mental and preparative. I don’t know how instructive the decisions to be made about the 40-man roster will be, seeing as how we might see the draft philosophy change in the coming seasons, but if nothing else, we might be able to step away from it and assess by the results which players are seen as part of the plan and which aren’t.
The familiar song-and-dance of it is that what we’ll be looking at here are college picks from the ’12 draft and high school and early international signings from around the summer of 2011. This means in some wacky parallel universe where different choices are made, the Mariners may be protecting Mike Zunino for the first time although I prefer the parallel universe in which we draft and somehow properly develop Carlos Correa. As usual, there’s also some level of ambiguity built-in to where it’s hard to tell which international signings had contracts for what year, so this is in some cases the best estimate on the information I have, although I can’t say that there’s much depth this season. Rosters will have to be finalized by November 20th, so, golly, you’ll have a few whole days to mull over what you would do with this immense responsibility that you have no say in.
I’m ordering this roughly through a sense of likelihood and am forgoing the exhaustive listing of who is and isn’t eligible because I’m short of time and it doesn’t seem to be worth it this year.
3B/LF Patrick Kivlehan, R/R, 6’2”, 215 lbs, 12/22/1989
(AAA) 123 G, 472 AB, 58 R, 121 H, 25 2B, 3B, 22 HR, 73 RBI, 14 SB 3 CS, 113/36 K/BB, .256/.313/.453
Pros: Still posting ISOs in the .200 neighborhood, in Tacoma
Cons: Bat skills otherwise declined all around, no set position
After a few years of putting up batting averages in the neighborhood of .300 and slugging percentages of around .500, many of us were curious where “the wall” might be for Kivlehan. As it turns out, “the wall” for most of the system turned out to be 2015, as operations unraveled on a systemic level for reasons I don’t think are fully understood outside of the organization. Kivlehan ended up providing value for the Rainiers thanks to the longball and stood as an above-average hitter in the PCL, but his rate of reaching base on unintentional walks or hits by pitch were the lowest they have ever been at 7.8% and strikeouts accounted for more than 20% of his plate appearances, which hadn’t happened since his debut season. Kivlehan is still well-liked for his leadership and hitting abilities and, having reached triple-A, it’s almost impossible to see the organization not protect him. The question is what they intend to do with him, given that the hot corner is a set position for the Mariners and that there may be a developing preference for better defenders.
CF Boog Powell, L/L, 5’10”, 185 lbs, 1/14/1993
(AA) 61 G, 238 AB, 44 R, 78 H, 6 2B, 6 3B, HR, 22 RBI, 11 SB, 8 CS, 38/29 K/BB, .328/.408/.416
(AAA) 56 G, 206 AB, 22 R, 53 H, 10 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 7 SB, 6 CS, 41/32 K/BB, .258/.360/.364
Pros: Left-handed on-base machine who could potentially play a good CF
Cons: Déjà vu
While the arrival of new management can provide something to talk about, it doesn’t necessarily wipe the slate clean and there are often traces of dust left of the ill will borne towards the previous. Defense and on-base percentage were emphasized in Powell’s acquisition and getting it at an up-the-middle position is a boon. Yet, when the task came to think of possible comps, a few four-letter words came to mind. One of them was “Reed.” The track record for OBP-heavy players with limited power in the majors is not stellar, and Reed had more power than Powell does. Ramon Flores, whom we also have on the 40-man, also has more power while being in the same broad family of players. I think Powell all but a lock to be protected, but I’m still skeptical of his long-term value.
RHP Matt Anderson, 6’1″, 210 lbs, 11/18/1991
(AA) 3-5, 44 G (GS), 10 SV, 3.90 ERA in 67.0 IP, 64 H (5 HR), 63/23 K/BB, 4 HB, 9 WP
Pros: Often cited as having the best curveball in the system, cup of coffee in Tacoma at the end of the season, live stuff
Cons: Recent conversion to relief did little to tighten up his component numbers
Anderson is an oddball in that he was signed as a NDFA following the 2012 draft and his rise through the system since is the sort usually described in astronomical terms. The outside observer can still ascribe a certain logic to it, however. He was a two-way guy coming up through high school and his first few years of college (even winning Offensive Player of the Year and Gold Glove honors) before switching over to the mound full-time. This helps explain away some of the inconsistencies and gives him the look of a fresher arm, but it still seems weird that twenty-nine other orgs whiffed on him entirely in the draft when he was playing at Long Beach State. The organization has been thin on relief pitching after trading from it for so many years and Anderson isn’t too far off, but his statistics also can be read like those of a guy who will spend much of his career living off spring training NRI contracts.
OF Dario Pizzano, L/R, 5’11”, 200 lbs, 4/25/1991
(AA) 58 G, 221 AB, 26 R, 68 H, 13 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 33 RBI, 2 SB, 20/19 K/BB, .308/.366/.457
Pros: Not afflicted by the large-scale swoon in the system
Cons: Diminished walk-rate, healthy for about half the season, likely corner OF
I don’t know how much thought I’d devote to Pizzano were we still under Zduriencik administration, but seeing as how he’s been the subject of nerd adoration for a while, I wonder how a more statistically-minded organization might view him. Even under the often curious player development of the past few years, Pizzano has never really logged time in center and has been predominantly a left fielder for the duration of his career. His numbers would be exciting, from a CF candidate who was a couple of years younger, but as a left fielder who survives on skills over tools, it’s a much tougher sell. Pizzano has two seasons of an OBP of around or above .400 and two in the .350 range. He’s slugged over .500 once as a new draftee and has been otherwise in the .425-.475 neighborhood, to which his high averages have contributed. He’s topped double-digits in home runs just once. I want to see what he might be capable of with better coaching, but the same could be said of a lot of dudes (Edgar, save us, again).
C Tyler Marlette, R/R, 5’11”, 195 lbs, 1/23/1993
(A+) 39 G, 148 AB, 17 R, 32 H, 5 2B, 3B, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 2 SB, CS, 35/12 K/BB, .216/.284/.365
(AA) 50 G, 178 AB, 15 R, 46 H, 13 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 31/10 K/BB, .258/.298/.393
Pros: Raw power uncharacteristic of the backstop position
Cons: Yes
In 2015, the Mariners saw fit to devote a not-insignificant amount of playing time to Jesus Sucre, John Hicks, and Steve Baron while demoting Mike Zunino to triple-A, eventually. What all four of these players had in common was a competence at handling a staff and good defensive reputation. Marlette doesn’t have that defensive reputation. He’s passed a ball every five defensive games and runs a caught stealing percentage in the neighborhood of a third. To boot, he got caught up in the mess everyone else did and logged his first full season of batting under .280 or slugging under .420. The K/BB didn’t go sideways, but the skills weren’t there otherwise. Assuming the Mike Zunino reclamation project does… something… the question becomes whether you prefer to maintain some level of offensive continuity or defensive continuity. Marlette might be able to get you to the marks of the former. The latter might be his long-term downfall. Given his current profile, I doubt that any team would want to hold onto him for a full season.
OF Jabari Blash, R/R, 6’5″, 225 lbs, 7/4/1989
(AA) 60 G, 209 AB, 38 R, 58 H, 16 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR, 34 RBI, 5 SB, 60/31 K/BB, .278/.383/.517
(AAA) 56 G, 197 AB, 41 R, 52 H, 8 2B, 22 HR, 47 RBI, 3 SB, CS, 63/28 K/BB, .264/.355/.640
Pros: 80-grade name, dingers, won organization’s Heart and Soul award this fall for his play/leadership
Cons: Older, reefer madness
Blash has been a perennial bridesmaid on this list, often performing, but not without flaws and leaving our understanding of his being shunned overly reliant on personal defects. Surely, the previous administration didn’t give a good goddamn about strikeouts, so it was left to our surmise that he was being excluded either due to age or the fact that he partook in a drug that happened to be legal in the state of his primary residence. The Zduriencik FO left it’s own heap of unknowns to work through in order to arrive at our “NO” and DiPoto probably will go through similarly inscrutable processes. Blash has usable power and is part of a very thin high-minors outfield depth that we have internally, but the new group has stated a distaste for strikeouts and if you really want a viable CF candidate, then Leon Landry (whom I won’t be writing about) is probably a better bet.
RHP Stephen Landazuri, 6’0″, 195 lbs, 1/26/1992
(AA) 2-6, 15 GS, 4.56 ERA in 77.0 IP, 72 H (HR), 43 R (39 ER) 59/32 K/BB, 7 HB, 4 WP
(AAA) 1-4, 11 GS, 8.70 ERA in 49.2 IP, 78 H (5 HR), 53 R (48 ER), 23/29 K/BB, 9 HB, 3 WP
Pros: Complete arsenal, above-average stuff, remains young for his level
Cons: Erratic
I know there seems to be some fringe circle of Landazuri supporters over the years which I am party to, but it hasn’t gone so well for us so far. I was capable of rationalizing his 2014 performance on the grounds that he had suffered a core muscular injury and likely had his mechanics thrown off whereas prior to that he was gangbusters. This time around, I don’t have so clean a response. About as much as I can say is that he was good in April and bad thereafter despite logging roughly a full-season’s worth of regular starts. Most people would be willing to write him off again on this basis, but then he’s also been pitching in the Mexican Pacific League and has looked like his dominant self, running a 30/2 K/BB over the first four starts, spanning 22.0 innings. Plainly, he needs coaching or something to help him get a greater degree of consistency, but the high minors right now are rather thin on pitching for us and it doesn’t seem like a terrible idea to stash him in the hopes that he could either get you spot starts or fully figure it out in three option years.
1B Ji-man Choi, L/R, 6’1″, 230 lbs, 5/19/1991
(AAA) 18 G, 57 AB, 8 R, 17 H, 4 2B, HR, 16 RBI, CS, 14/10 K/BB, .298/.403/.421
Pros: Skillset likely to be valued to a greater degree by current administration
Cons: Injury history, lack of power, technically a minor league FA 🙁
As a devoted Choi fanboy, the spring was hard on me because it began with rumors that Choi was taking up switch-hitting after years as a left-only bat and ended with that weird collision that blew up most of his season. The outlook initially appeared to be doom-and-gloom insofar as it was going to be his last year of options and there were assorted other potential first basemen in the high minors that might pass him on the depth chart, such as D.J. Peterson, Jordy Lara, Jesus Montero, maybe even Kivlehan. But as the season played out, none of those guys took the decisive step forward and the closest one, Montero, remains an underperformer in limited major league time. Choi is presently playing winter ball in the Dominican and walking and hitting for some power as he’s inclined to do. Given that he missed all but the last month and that his offensive profile is unconventional, you’d probably be okay operating under the assumption that he wouldn’t be an attractive Rule 5 selection and thus avoid adding him and potentially burning that last option year until you absolutely had to. On the other hand, he’s on the FA market and who knows what he’s looking for or what teams are likely to value him?
LHP Brian Moran, 6’3″, 215 lbs, 9/30/1988
(AA) 2-1, 25 G, 3.56 ERA in 30.1 IP, 29 H (2 HR), 12 R, 29/17 K/BB, HB, 2 WP
Pros: Left-handed and alive, has been selected once
Cons: Tommy John, limited sample after return
Moran was selected already a couple of years ago by the Angels, but late in spring training he came down with elbow inflammation and had Tommy John surgery mid-April. The language around the Rule 5 article dictates that a player has to remain on the active roster for x days in order to be retained, and Moran being unable to pitch or do baseball, he was returned to the Mariners following the season’s end. One of the things that has made him intriguing in the past was that he, despite being thought of as a LOOGY, was pretty proficient at getting both kinds of batters out. In 2015’s limited sample, he didn’t do great exactly, but the components looked pretty similar from one side of the plate to the other, with a bit of an uptick in Ks against LHB and increased hits for RHB. Then again, you’re looking at about thirty innings and he didn’t display great command in his immediate return. Recency bias would lead me to think that after throwing Luetge and Rollins at the problem, protecting Moran wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility, and DiPoto saw enough in him to warrant the acquisition back when he was with the Angels. Then again, we have a Riefenhauser and a Rasmussen now.
RHP Dylan Unsworth, 6’1″, 175 lbs, 9/23/1992
(A+) 1-3, 11 G (5 GS), 3.32 ERA in 40.2 IP, 40 H (4 HR), 44/4 K/BB, HB, WP
(AA) 4-7, 13 GS, 4.34 ERA in 66.1 IP, 78 H (6 HR), 39 R (32 ER), 51/13 K/BB, 2 HB, 2 WP
Pros: Has always avoided walking guys, been young for every level
Cons: Pedestrian stuff, Ks dropped in first high-minors test
Unsworth began his season in double-A where he had three total starts spanning 11.0 innings with the same number of earned runs, a 7/3 K/BB, and thirteen hits allowed. Shifting back to the Cal League, he stayed in the Blaze’s bullpen for all of May before being granted a spot in the rotation. By mid-July, he was back in double-A again, so, if we’re looking primarily at how he closed out his season, the final ten starts in double-A had him recording a 3.42 ERA in 55.1 innings, a .269 avg against, 44/10 K/BB, which isn’t bad, but still is off his norms for K-output. I highlight this because Sharkie’s stuff is almost exactly average and he’s gotten by with a good groundball rate and by avoiding walks. You can think he might survive as an innings-eater, but his profile reads more like a #5 starter whereas you can squint at Lando and maybe see a #3 in good years.
RHP Osmer Morales, 6’3″, 180 lbs, 10/30/1992
(A): 1-8, 43 G (3 GS), 4.10 ERA in 83.1 IP, 83 H (7 HR), 45 R (38 ER), 85/23 K/BB, 2 HB, 6 WP
Pros: The strikeouts certainly are a positive
Cons: Perhaps many? Limited experience is certainly one.
Every so often, these surveys of the system turn up players that I honestly don’t know all that much about. Morales was signed at the tail end of 2009 and through his third pro season had pitched a grand total of 26.1 innings. He went on to pitch more than double that in his fourth and final VSL year, but what he was doing in the interim that kept him off the mound is a mystery. Nothing in the media guide mentions injury, although the commitment to using him in relief as of this year might suggest something is going on. Morales evidently has strikeout stuff and has posted good ratios throughout, but the lack of information on him doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence.
11 Responses to “’15 40-Man Preview Extravaganza”
Westside guy on November 16th, 2015 7:13 am
“Pros: 80-grade name,”
I had to comment regarding how much I loved this line.
Thank you, Jay, for this. It sure struck me as rather depressing, though. I fell off the Jack Z bandwagon early, but I always assumed he’d at least leave our minor league system in good shape… but nope.
Dipoto’s got his work cut out for him…
Jay Yencich on November 16th, 2015 7:19 am
The general look of things is rather ugly, but one should also bear in mind that Zduriencik was promoting players so aggressively that they’d often be on the 40-man before they were approaching eligibility. Thus, November has often been the time to add guys that weren’t thought of as immediate contributors.
HighBrie on November 16th, 2015 10:41 am
Thanks for the list. I enjoy these. I like Blash, and I think three outcome players who can field their positions can be valuable. Can you comment a little more on his defense and if he shows susceptibility to certain pitch types (or quality) such that he may struggle (for reasons other than low contact %)?
bfgboy on November 16th, 2015 11:45 am
Whenever I see your name attached to a column, I drop what I’m doing immediately! As always, a detailed and entertaining account of what (little) the M’s have in the pipeline. Thanks for continuing the drudge, as it is extremely appreciated!
Jay Yencich on November 16th, 2015 12:40 pm
re: Blash, his physical profile puts him in RF because his arm is good and his wheels, not so much. Though he’s not a liability out there, I would say the glove profile is more tools than skill and he’s a bat-first player who’s, fortunately, not bat-only. He’s patient enough and has some good pitch recognition and will work counts, but the swing is long and he hasn’t always dealt with change-ups well, so I guess you have broad questions of whether he can catch up to premium velocity and recognize enough pitches to do damage.
thehemogoblin on November 16th, 2015 12:50 pm
Watching Jabari Blash launch home runs over the scoreboard at Cheney Stadium certainly made me a believer. I’d have to think he’s the most vulnerable person on this list to being Rule V drafted.
Definitely has proven himself against triple-A competition and definitely is the type of player that a desperate team could throw into a position that is an existing hole.
Hutch on November 16th, 2015 1:26 pm
I could see Dipoto letting Blash walk, since he’s not really his cup of tea and he’s already started compiling OFers like Powell and Daniel Robertson, but the homer in me wants to see Blash get a shot in Spring Training. There’s certainly worse ways to use a 40-man roster spot, right?
I’m one of those Pizzano nerds who readily admits that the OBP-driven profile doesn’t really scream “future major league regular.” But given that Dipoto went out of his way to acquire a more athletic but less powerful version of the same player (Powell), I wonder if our boy Dario gets another chance.
Woodcutta on November 16th, 2015 4:22 pm
Well, bye Tom.
Longgeorge1 on November 17th, 2015 7:22 am
Blash seemed to improve quite a bit this season. Maybe he just got “hot” in August or maybe something clicked or maybe he just played well on the nights I was there.
bongo on November 17th, 2015 6:27 pm
Blash went on a home run tear, but it’s not clear to me that PCL HRs are predictive in the majors – the reality is that fly balls carry further at Cheney Stadium than they do at Safeco.
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Stefanie Brockhaus
Andy Wolff
Hissa Hilal is the voice from behind the veil. Her weapon is her word. Hissa is a self-taught writer and she says what she thinks. She decides to take part an Abu-Dhabi based TV show, “Million’s Poet”. It is the Arab world’s biggest poetry competition, and it is dominated by men, but Hissa becomes the first woman in the finals. In her poems she criticizes patriarchal society and attacks one of the most notorious Saudi clerics for his extremist fatwas, live, in front of 75 million viewers. Yet, we never see Hissa’s face; like the majority of Saudi women, she is covered from head to toe. How did she gain the knowledge and courage to step on stage and risk her life?
11.10. Saturday 20:00
Tobias Tempel
Christoph von Schönburg
Sebastian Zenke
Brockhaus/Wolff, ZDF, ARTE, HFF
CAT&Docs, Maelle Guenegues, 18 rue Quincampoix #133, F-75004 Paris, France, Telephone: +33144617748, maelle@catndocs.com
Locarno International Film Festival 2017, Semaine de la Critique
Stefanie Brockhaus is an independent filmmaker from Munich. She graduated from London College of Communications, University of the Arts with a BA in Film and Television in 2002, and the Munich University of Television and Film in 2016. She has worked on numerous awarded documentaries as a producer and director.
Andreas Wolff studied at USC's Graduate School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, and at HFF University for TV and Film in Munich. His debut On the Other Side of Life, co-directed with Stefanie Brockhaus, premiered in 2010 at SXSW film festival. His second feature documentary, The Captain and His Pirate (2013) won the German Camera Award for Best Editing at Berlinale and further awards in Leipzig, Zagreb, Saarbrucken, Munich and Brussels.
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This Love & Hip Hop Atlanta Cast Member Has Whose Name Tattooed WHERE?!
Well, that's one way to show your love.
by Andrea Wurzburger 5/9/2019
The big drama of last week’s episode of Love & Hip Hop Atlanta was all about Miss Karlie Redd getting involved in everyone’s relationships and making a huge mess as a result. Misery loves company, after all, and she’s still reeling from her break up. She even told Joc’s girlfriend, Kendra, that she and Joc messed around on last year’s cabin trip. Joc is like:
Embedded from giphy.com.
But how can he possibly prove it? He has very specific evidence to back him up. If he had exposed himself to or had sex with Karlie, she would have seen that he is a kept man. Literally, she would have seen it because…
That’s right! Joc was so intent on showing Kendra how much he loved her that he tattooed her name right on his junk. If Karlie had slept with him, she would’ve seen the tattoo since it has been there for a year. It’s like the weirdest episode of Law & Order you’ve ever seen. Joc rests his case.
Tune in to Love & Hip Hop Atlanta on Mondays at 8/7c!
Andrea Wurzburger
Tags: Yung JocLove & Hip Hop Atlanta
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By Isabella Zijp Ballet, Ballet Around the World, Choreographers, Interviews October 8, 2014
Ricardo Amarante at the Genée Ballet Competition
This year’s Genée International Ballet Competition took place in Antwerp, Belgium at the end of September. The prestigious competition, named after the Royal Academy of Dance’s first president Dame Adeline Genée, is open to young dancers from around the globe trained in the RAD syllabus, and this edition attracted 59 candidates from over ten different countries. Antwerp was the first Northern European city outside the UK to host the event, and the Royal Ballet of Flanders was the official hosting partner, with Ricardo Amarante, soloist of the company and once a Genée candidate himself, the commissioned choreographer.
Ricardo seems to have come full circle. This Brazilian dancer entered the competition in 1998, and 17 years later, he now returns as a choreographer. He provided two solos for the competition’s finalists: Beyond This for the male dancers, and Between the Lines for the female contestants. We caught up with him after the finals to ask about his training, his experience as a Genée competitor and these works.
Photo: © Marc Haegeman / Royal Academy of Dance
TBB: As a young boy growing up in a small village in Brazil, how did you get into ballet?
RA: I started dancing ballet quite late, when I was 13 years old. I had some friends who were practising it, and when I watched their performances I became interested. It was not just performance itself that made me enthusiastic about this art form, it was mainly the audience and the applause that impressed me. The village I grew up in was really small, but it had a few amateur dance schools. I believe that talent can be found anywhere, no matter how big, small, rich or poor the place is. A great example of this is my teacher Nathalia Barbara, who really brought out the best in her students. I joined her RAD elementary class as one of two boys.
TBB: Is RAD a commonly used method of teaching in Brazil?
RA: Yes, because we don’t have major ballet academies like they have in London or Paris. Joining a RAD school is a great alternative, because it produces strong and clean dancers. Many of the Brazilian RAD-trained students I knew moved on to be professional dancers. Thank god it came onto my path, because I really owe my career to it.
TBB: How did you cope with the RAD training and exams?
RA: They were the basis of my training. They taught me a strong and clean technique with a great sense of musicality and style. After joining my first class I had one year to prepare for the elementary exam. It was hard work, but it was amazing to see how fast everyone was progressing. Shortly before the exam, my teacher decided I was not ready yet. After all the hard work this was quite a disappointment, but she was right. So I went through another year of training, and to this day I still have the music from elementary in my head and I know all the exercises by heart… I aimed for honours (in the old system of marking), but got commended instead. This pushed me to work even harder for the next advanced exam. I was too nervous to open the letter with the results myself and asked my younger cousin, who could barely speak any English, to read it for me. Honours it was. Best day of my life!
TBB: This was an important achievement, as you were now eligible to compete at the Genée. What was this experience like?
RA: It was an amazing experience! It was my first time leaving Brazil, and I came to London full of excitement. You learn a lot, work with the best teachers and get to perform in nice theatres. I did not even reach the final, but I still felt so happy and satisfied. I got a scholarship to finish my studies with the English National Ballet School. I also went to Cuba, got a contract at the Paris Opera Ballet, the Jeune Ballet de France, and eventually ended up here at the Royal Ballet of Flanders. All thanks to competing at the Genée.
TBB: What was it like to return to the Genée as a choreographer?
RA: Once again it has proved to be a new beginning for me. I’ve been choreographing for a few years now, but this has given my career a boost. The Genée helped me to start my career as a dancer, and now it has helped me to start my career as a choreographer.
A lot of memories come back now that I’m working with the candidates. I know what they are going through. You’re in a moment of transition in your career from student to professional, and you are hoping for a better future. I feel a special connection with them. I know that they are working hard with me to create a good ballet. It is a privilege to work with so many talented people who are so eager to learn. The support from the audience, the talk I gave at Creative Spaces, the Diamond Dinner and the Queen attending the performance, it all made this experience complete.
TBB: You used your own experiences as a source of inspiration to create the two commissioned pieces. Can you tell us more about this?
RA: Beyond This, the solo I created for the boys, is about the future. What’s going to happen after this competition? It is inspired by my own thoughts and feelings during my time competing at Genée. I told them to dance as big as they could, to reach out and perform with their heart. For the girls, I created Between the Lines, a solo that is really demanding: the first part of the music is really mysterious, while the second part is very rhythmical. This solo is open to different interpretations. I wanted them to show more than just beautiful balletic lines. I wanted to see their personalities shine through.
TBB: As a choreographer, what are you looking for in a dancer?
RA: Of course people always look for the strongest physique and best feet. But for me, the most important things are the clarity of movement, musicality and interpretation. I like dancers with a strong personality who try to give their own interpretation to a work. As for the candidates, my best piece of advice for them was to enjoy it. I believe that when you do, the audience will too!
TBB: How about your plans for the future?
RA: I want to continue dancing with the Royal Ballet of Flanders for a few more years. Here I found a good source to develop my skills as a choreographer. Every season there is a choreographic workshop. My first big work for the company will have its premiere in May. It is part of Flanders Fields, a triple bill in memory of Jeanne Brabants. My work is based on a poem by the military doctor and poet John McCrae. For this piece, I will work with Sayo Kosugi, who also composed the music for the Genée commissioned pieces.
Adeline GenéeGenée International Ballet CompetitionRicardo AmaranteRoyal Academy of DanceRoyal Ballet of FlandersSayo Kosugi
Isabella lives in Almere, and studies media and communication in Amsterdam. She rediscovered her passion for ballet in her teens, and has since been travelling through The Netherlands and abroad to see as many performances as she can. You can follow her on Twitter @Bella_Isy.
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Five favorites: Sega Mega-CD box art
True story: I've always felt an odd affinity for Sega's Mega-CD (Sega CD in the West), the bulky add-on device that was released for the Mega Drive (Genesis) in the early 1990s.
In fact, I was so attracted to the system and its rather tiny catalog of games that I regularly rented a CD-X--the surprisingly small all-in-one system, released in 1994, that combined the Genesis and Sega CD--along with copies of Lunar: The Silver Star or Lunar: Eternal Blue (usually) from the local grocery store as a teen.
I've long considered buying a CD-X system and a bunch of the system's games as a result of those experiences, but the former still commands such high prices on eBay that I've yet to bite the bullet.
That supposed resolve is routinely tested by beautiful Mega-CD box art like that which is showcased below, I have to say. I mean, who wouldn't want to own a copy of Keio Yuugekitai just so they could pull it from the shelf and stare at its cover imagery now and then?
Aisle Lord--I know next to nothing about this particular game--I think it's an RPG?--but at the moment I'm perfectly fine with that, as all I care about is its cover art. Sure, the basis of it is that same, clichéd, "let's jumble all of the game's characters together in the center of the illustration" design that's been a staple of Japanese gaming since the beginning of time (or so it sometimes seems), but at least this time around the artist in charge utilized a slightly different style.
Keio Yuugekitai--According to the word on the street, this game is as worth owning for its gameplay as it is for its box art--which kind of shocks me, as its box art is the definition of beautiful.
Lunar: The Silver Star--I'm sure some folks would include the cover art of this game's sequel, Eternal Blue, here instead, and I can't argue with them to an extent, but I've always been so attracted to this particular creation--and the game it represents--that I couldn't help but include it here.
Time Gal--I know the gameplay of this one isn't all that appealing, but you've got to love it box art anyway--or at least I do. I mean, come on--not only does it feature a green-haired lass with ample thighs (and, no, I'm also not sure why I zeroed in on that fact), but it features a giant woolly mammoth, too. In other words, it's close to perfection. The only way it could be better, in my opinion: if it showcased a bare-chested stud with pecs and abs to spare instead of a chick.
Waraou Salesman--OK, so some of you are likely to consider this piece of cover art to be the stuff of nightmares. I can't fault you for that, but I personally love it--mainly because it seems like a Japanese take on the creepy propaganda posters you could have seen in other areas of the world (if not in Japan, too) in the early part of the last century.
Note: all of the box art included in this post was pulled from the always fabulous segagagadomain.com.
Labels: Aisle Lord, box art, cover art, five favorites, imports, Japanese, Keio Yuugekitai, Lunar, Mega CD, retro, sega, Sega CD, Sega CDX, Time Gal, Waraou Salesman
The Great Gaymathon Review #64: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Genre: Action/Adventure
System: 3DS
If I were to boil down this review to a single sentence, it'd probably read something like this: A Link Between Worlds is so magical (yes, magical) that it's singlehandedly rekindled my long-lost interest in the Zelda series as a whole.
This could hardly be considered much of a review if I stopped there, though, so I guess I should get to typing. But where should I start? Here's as good a spot as any, in my humble opinion: A Link Between Worlds, as you may have heard, is a years-in-coming follow-up to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, aka one of my all-time favorite games.
The thing is, that 1992 release is one of the few Zelda games I've ever enjoyed (with the others being the series' very first game and the original Nintendo 64 version of Ocarina of Time--although I've got to admit I haven't spent enough time with A Link's Awakening, Majora's Mask or The Wind Waker to have formed a solid opinion of them). Even then, I came into A Link Between Worlds with monumentally low expectations. In fact, I nearly decided to pass on the game entirely--that's how disinterested I am in this vaunted series these days.
After putting just over 20 hours into my particular copy of the game, though, I can safely say my initial fears--and my aloof attitude--were unwarranted. One of my main worries, by the way, was that A Link Between Worlds would be little more than an unattractive retread of A Link to the Past. And guess what? That couldn't be further from the truth.
Sure, there are a lot of similarities between the two games--they're both set in the same world (although most locations are different), they both feature the same basic gameplay, they both feature the same music and sound effects (although the former are re-arrangements)--but despite that A Link Between Worlds does an admirable job of presenting itself as an engagingly unique effort.
In large part, that's because of this game's signature "gimmick," which allows Link to turn into a piece of graffiti and scamper along walls and shimmy through cracks, but there are other reasons, too. A couple of them: the open-ended gameplay (you can tackle its dungeons in whatever order you choose, basically) and the ability to rent the game's appealing assortment of both old and new items (yep, you no longer acquire them within each dungeon) nearly right from the start.
It's also worth noting that although there's a story that helps move players along, it's the definition of barebones (while still proving to be at least somewhat interesting, of course) and never gets in the way of the action--which is how I like it in my Zelda games.
All of the above takes a back seat to the most important aspect of A Link Between Worlds' appeal, however; that being how it "feels."
By that, I mean that quite literally everything feels great (and "right," if that makes sense) and is a joy to experience in this game--from moving Link around, to slashing at enemies (who tend to bounce away as if they were made out of rubber) or tall clumps of grass, to smooshing anything and everything with the "magic mallet" (my favorite item), to turning into painting and stuttering along walls.
That, to me, was the thing that most blew me away while traipsing through this particular Zelda adventure, and it's also the thing that's most likely to bring me back for second, third and even more playthroughs in the coming months and years.
Sure, its graphics are surprisingly, even shockingly, charming and its soundtrack is filled with tunes that will prompt even most hardened gamer to hum along, but they really just serve to make A Link Between Worlds look and sound nice. Even without those elements, this game would play like a dream, and that's all that should matter in cases like this, isn't it?
See also: previous 'Great Gaymathon' reviews
Labels: 3DS, A Link Between Worlds, handhelds, nintendo, portables, reviews, The Great Gaymathon, The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Shall We Do It? (bidding a fond farewell to Sweet Fuse and finally digging into Bravely Default)
"Oh, hell no."
Those three words were the first ones that came to mind when I wrapped up Sweet Fuse: At Your Side for the first time over the weekend.
That's because, after spending about a week and a whole lot of hours on this PSP-based visual novel, the first ending I encountered was a bad one. (As in, the guy I had the hots for didn't admit to feeling the same about me, er, my 18-year-old female avatar.)
I considered that to be completely unacceptable, so I promptly decided to go through the whole affair again--which is easier than it may sound in Sweet Fuse (and many other such games), as it offers players the ability to fast-forward through text that's already been read.
The problem is, I made a wrong choice at the very beginning of that follow-up attempt (these games are all about making the right choices--to the extent that most fans refer to a guide while working through them) and as a result I wound up not being able to re-woo the character in question.
So, after that campaign ended an hour or so later--also badly, I might add--I gave it another go. This time lasted just 45 minutes or so, and guess what? I finally ended up with the man of my dreams. Er, sort of. I think.
Was it all worth it? Surprisingly, I think it was. Although Sweet Fuse started slowly for me, its story--a murder mystery set at a video game-themed theme park, basically--eventually sank its claws into me, as did its colorful cast of characters.
I have to admit that I only found two of its woo-able men to be at all attractive--the "mature" (he's all of 32) journalist, Ayumu Shirabe, seen in the screenshot above, and the wild-haired "escort," Ryusei Mitarashi--but the rest of the bunch were interesting enough that it didn't bother me much, if at all.
As much as I enjoyed this experience, I can't help but think only a small fraction of today's gamers would find it similarly enthralling. That's largely because of the Choose Your Own Adventure-esque gameplay, by the way, and not because it's aimed at women and girls.
Still, that hasn't hurt this game's main competition in the Western world, Hakuoki, from finding a surprising amount of success, so maybe I'm selling non-Japanese gamers a bit short?
Regardless, just know that the main thing you do when you "play" Sweet Fuse is read. Once in a while you're asked to select between two or three options that will advance the plot in various ways, but other than that you'll be advancing lines of text with your PSP's X button.
If that doesn't bother you, I'd highly recommend giving the game a go should you own the requisite hardware.
A game I wouldn't give such a hearty recommendation to at this point, although I'm admittedly still at the very beginning of its adventure, is Golden Sun for the GameBoy Advance.
I've had this one for ages now, but for all sorts of reasons failed to boot it up until this past weekend.
Now, before I get too negative, let me just say that already I like a number of things about this portable RPG: I like its graphics (yes, even though they exist in that rather unattractive and awkward space also filled by games like Donkey Kong Country), I like its basic gameplay (which is like if Shining Force were turned into a traditional, turn-based RPG) and I like its soundtrack, too.
What don't I like? For starters, I hope that whomever designed the stairs found throughout the initial town was fired shortly after Golden Sun's release. On more than one occasion I've become stuck because I couldn't see the steps that supposedly had been carved out of the stony backdrop.
Actually, I hope the person in charge of this town's layout was fired, too, as it's a far too circuitous for its own good, if you ask me.
Oh, and then there's the fact that after an hour or two of gameplay I've still yet to find my way out of said town. Admittedly, it's possible I just haven't been paying close enough attention to what the game's NPCs are saying, but I doubt it.
Don't worry, I'm not planning to give up on Golden Sun anytime soon as a result of the above-mentioned shenanigans, although I wouldn't expect me to beat it anytime soon. After all, I just began Bravely Default, and anyone who has been coming here for even just the last few months should know that game is likely to take the bulk of my gaming attention for the foreseeable future. (Hell, I spent eight to 10 hours on the Bravely Default demo alone.)
Speaking of Bravely Default, I've played about three hours of it the other day and, boy, were those three hours a blast. I'm happy to report the full game eases folks into the experience a lot better than the demo did.
My favorite part of Bravely Default so far: the "party chat" feature. I can only imagine how much time this added to the game's localization effort, so I'm glad the people responsible for it decided to keep it intact.
This feature allows gamers to gain a bit of insight into the feelings and motives of each party member, by the way. As far as I can tell it can be completely ignored, so those of you who'd rather just get on with things are free to do so.
Other than that, I'm also loving the game's battle system, of course, as well as its graphics (or maybe I should say "art style") and soundtrack--although none of that should come as a surprise, as I loved all of those things in the Bravely Default demo, too.
Are any of you also working your way through this beautiful RPG at the moment? If so, what do you think of it so far?
One last thing: should you want to read a few impressions of another game I've spent some quality time in recent days, click here to check out my initial thoughts on the Japan-only puzzler, Zoo Keeper 3D.
Also, click here to scroll through previous "Shall We Do It?" posts.
Labels: 3DS, Bravely Default, gameboy advance, GBA, Golden Sun, impressions, psp, Shall We Do It, Sweet Fuse, Zoo Keeper 3D
Forget the Year of Luigi; for me, 2014 is the Year of the GameBoy
Given the number of posts I've published about them in recent weeks and months, you could be forgiven for assuming I'd already declared (or at least privately decided) this to be the "Year of the DS" or the "Year of the 3DS."
In a way, of course, 2014 is and will be both of those things for me--unofficially, at least. Officially, though, it's already become clear to me that the focus of my thoughts and desires this year is going to be the handheld that started it all, the GameBoy.
The fact is, I've been a smidge obsessed with the system--its extensive catalog of obscure Japanese games, in particular--since I wrote about Irem's Noobow early last year.
Clockwise from upper-left: Snow Bros. Jr., Painter Momopie,
Penguin Land and Osawagase! Penguin Boy
Things only got worse after I discovered Peetan a few months later, and then Painter Momopie and Osawagase! Penguin Boy a couple of months after that.
Sadly, I've yet to come across complete copies of Noobow or Peetan during my all-too-frequent eBay forays, but I have come across--and purchased--copies of Painter Momopie and Osawagase! Penguin Boy and a number of other intriguing, import-only GameBoy titles in the last half-year or so.
So, expect to see posts--featuring photos as well as impressions, if not actual reviews--about all of them sooner rather than later. At the moment, I'm not planning to "brand" these write-ups in any particular way, but who knows? Regardless, I hope you'll enjoy them.
Labels: gameboy, handhelds, imports, Japanese, nintendo, Noobow, Osawagase Penguin Boy, Painter Momopie, Peetan, Penguin Land, portables, retro, Year of the GameBoy
SHOCKING NEWS: Zoo Keeper 3D doesn't suck
I have to be honest here: I bought Zoo Keeper 3D expecting to be disappointed by it.
I know that doesn't make much sense--why would I go ahead and spend my hard-earned money on a game that I was pretty sure I'd dislike? Well, the thing is, I didn't think I'd completely hate it. I just thought it would pale in comparison to the series' first handheld release, 2003's Zooo, much like that game's DS-based follow-up did.
So, imagine my surprise when I started playing Zoo Keeper 3D a few days ago and couldn't stop. And not only couldn't I stop playing it, but I couldn't stop grinning while I was playing it.
What's so fun about this iteration of everyone's favorite zoo-themed, match-three puzzler? I've got two words for you: Encho Battle.
That's the name of my favorite Zoo Keeper 3D mode, for those of you who aren't in the know (and I'm guessing that's a good portion of you). In it, you battle to the death (or something like that) against the game's balding curator.
The general rules here are the same as they always are in these Bejeweled-esque titles: rid the game field of as many tiles as possible by placing three or more of the same design--in this case, different animals' faces--in a row.
What sets this mode apart from the others included in Zoo Keeper 3D is that here, getting rid of alligator, giraffe, monkey and panda tiles earns the player "offense" points, while doing the same to the elephant and hippo tiles earns you "defense" points.
As for why you need either of those things: at the end of every round (they only take a few seconds), you and the curator--I'm assuming his name is Encho--square off a la Punch-Out!! If he has more offense and defense points than you do, your health meter decreases. Allow it to dry up completely and it's game over.
Something I love about this particular mode: it means business. As in, I've played it about 25 times now (at least), and so far I've racked up just seven or so wins.
Speaking of challenges, the "Score Attack" mode included here is pretty tough, too. That may be because each game is limited to a single minute, though--as opposed to the six-minute games found in the other Zoo Keeper titles.
You can extend that a bit, but I have to confess that I'm not entirely sure how you do it. I've been able to eke out games that lasted a minute and a half and two minutes, but that's it--and I have no idea what I did to earn those extra, precious seconds.
Zoo Keeper 3D features a few other modes as well, of course, but I've yet to play any of them. If you want to know their names, there's "Normal Game" (traditional rules apply), "Tokoton" (rid the field of 100 of each animal), "Quest," "Puzzle" (which seems similar to games like Nazo Puyo) and "Friend Battle" (versus mode, basically).
Two last comments before I hit "publish": although Zoo Keeper 3D's soundtrack isn't as stellar as the one featured in the first Zoo Keeper, it far from sucks. (In fact, the tune that plays throughout each "Score Attack" battle is largely responsible for my continued attempts at this mode.) Also, the little animations that play out on the top screen (while the action takes place on the lower one--if you choose) are a lot cuter and a lot more interesting than they have any right to be.
See also: 'One of the many reasons I'm glad I finally picked up Zoo Keeper 3D: it comes with an actual manual'
Labels: 3DS, Encho Battle, imports, impressions, Japanese, puzzlers, Success, Zoo Keeper, Zoo Keeper 3D, Zooo
The Great Gaymathon Review #64: The Legend of Zeld...
Shall We Do It? (bidding a fond farewell to Sweet ...
Forget the Year of Luigi; for me, 2014 is the Year...
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Fight Global Warming with Nuclear Winter?
Posted by Unseen on August 29, 2012 at 11:03pm in Conservation and Environmental Issues
A lot of you are too young to remember that decades before the greenies became obsessed with global warming they were obsessed with nuclear winter. (One reason why some older people may not be as convinced of global warming is that we've heard climate warnings before. I'm not saying that's me, but I'm sure that for a lot of older people it's like the constant fads plaguing the health obsessed segment of society. Many of whom have been touting one miracle substance after another over the years. Ever heard of laetrile? DMSO? Herbal "cures" for cancer, heart disease, diabetes? Mega-dosing of vitamins and/or minerals?)
I wonder if global warming could be managed by a carefully managed program of nuclear detonations? Sure, there'd be some details to work out (we wouldn't want to poison the atmosphere with radiation), but if we could deal with that, we could just manage global warming (assuming global warming is real, of course).
Permalink Reply by Sagacious Hawk on August 31, 2012 at 12:04pm
Hmmm... It appears I was mistaken. I was under the impression that we had mostly phased out production of CFCs and HCFCs, which I knew were potent green house gases, but I didn't realize that the HFCs that have been replacing them also have a similar potency. While currently they are to be phased out by 2020 in developed countries under the Montreal Protocol, there isn't a set regulation for HFCs in the treaty. Nor did I realize that there were so many CFCs waiting to be disposed of. That poses quite a problem.
Also, I was wrong about the Ozone Hole repairing itself. It's pretty much been stagnant. Fortunately it's not growing larger, but it's not really getting smaller either.
Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on August 30, 2012 at 11:35pm
We could start with Ohio! Oh, that's right, that's where you live, isn't it Unseen? Works for me --
Permalink Reply by Unseen on August 31, 2012 at 12:13am
Not just yet. It's been rather unpleasantly hot lately as it is.
Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on August 31, 2012 at 10:19am
Possibly Mr. Crichton might benefit from reading this:
Climate landmark as Arctic ice melts to record low
http://news.yahoo.com/arctic-ice-melts-record-low-us-researchers-17...
I have no doubt that there is consensus on the matter of climate change, but using consensus to establish truth is induction not deduction. Deduction is certain, induction is tentative and results in theories rather than firm conclusions.
But induction and deduction aside, the experts have yet to show the public the evidence in layman terms. Laymen understand functional relationships almost instinctively: if you turn off the heat under a pot of boiling water, it will stop boiling; if you stop walking toward your destination, you won't get there. Of course, if there is a functional relationship, such as years of less or more greenhouse gas and carbon emission production with corresponding changes in glacial or polar ice, that's easily understood. That sort of data hasn't been offered yet.
Instead, it's all "trust us. We're right." And the reticence to even show their data to outsiders is a cause for suspicion not just in the public realm but within the academic world as well. The "climategate" emails, which revealed a lot of academic backbiting, sandbagging and stonewalling, as well as strong implications of fudging the data to fit their hypotheses sure didn't help.
And while there are many nut jobs and people with the proverbial "dog in the fight" who deny the human causes of climate change, they are not all yahoos, and while characterized as plain old head-in-the sand deniers, their views are frequently for more complicated and nuanced than that.
Some, like Kimino Itoh, believe that human factors, especially our carbon dioxide emissions, are just part of a far more complex scenario.
Others, like Bjorn Lomborg, accept the role of humans in climate change, but say that the need for change is far less urgent than depicted and that the funds the greenie world would have us divert into fighting climate change will inevitably come away from fighting disease and poverty and fighting oppression worldwide. He thinks we can fight climate change, but needn't throw the poor, disenfranchized, and ill under the bus in doing so. He says we should undertake the necessary changes, but not at the expense of other important priorities.
And what doesn't help is that, especially for people who have lived as long as I have, the greenies have a long history of crying that the sky is falling about threats that never happened or turned out to be far less dire a problem than they claimed. They misidentified the cause of the dying off of amphibians and, more recently, the decline in bee population, for example.
So, when will the public be presented with the science in a way they can understand? "Trust us" isn't flying so it's time for climate change proponents to make their case, not to other scientists or political leaders, but to Joe Blow.
RE: "if you stop walking toward your destination, you won't get there." - unless your destination is also moving toward you.
RE: "while characterized as plain old head-in-the sand deniers, their views are frequently for more complicated and nuanced than that."
What percentage of these would you say are proponents of Big Business, that will lose profits if they cease activities that others say contribute to global warming?
I'm not sure what your point is, that is just a little bit more complicated functional relationship. Are you saying something just to see yourself say it?
Perhaps most, but not all. There are still independent voices. What is perhaps most distressing is the intolerance in the climatological community to dissenting voices. It has forced many who have doubts to simply shut up for fear of being ostracized or never receiving another research grant, so the profit motive can work both ways.
This is why much of the criticism has come from allied sciences, such as meteorology and economics.
That, and to point out the fallacy in your ill-conceived analogy.
Permalink Reply by Unseen on August 31, 2012 at 2:40pm
Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on August 31, 2012 at 2:43pm
Thank yah, thank yah verah much!
Permalink Reply by Uddhav Phansekar on August 31, 2012 at 12:10pm
There are several obstacles:
1) 7 Billion people all over earth
2) Much larger number of other living organisms
3) Then we have to decide where should this be carried out
4) There will always be protesters for such things; thus possibility of sabotage is undeniable
5) And then what if this goes wrong, wont this be worse than global warming
But then that's the point of being a free thinking human, without any biased views. We think, discuss, and if needed change our opinions
Permalink Reply by James Cox on August 31, 2012 at 1:18pm
Why not pray it away! Theists seem to show a signal in their prayer attempts, surely even with a signal down to 1:1x10^16 would have some effect that would be noticable over a 100 year period. This would keep them busy, keep them out of politics for a few hours a day, and give them something useful to do that could make the world a better place. We could even sell it by appealing to their desire for the 'good old days'.
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Academia, Announcements, Catholics, evangelicals, Mainline churches, Politics, religious liberty, Social issues
Gallup Poll team offers an update on faith and our divided states of America
The cartoon map of North America began appearing after the bitter "hanging chads" election of 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court put Republican George W. Bush in the White House.
In most Internet variations, part of the map is blue, combining Canada and states along America's left coast and the urban Northeast and Midwest into "The United States of Liberty and Education." The rest is red, with America's Southern and Heartland states united into the "Republic of Jesusland" or tagged with a nasty name beginning with "dumb" and ending with "istan" that cannot be used in a family newspaper.
Variations on the "Jesusland" map have been relevant after nearly every national election in the past two decades. The map's basic shape can also be seen in the latest Gallup survey probing "religiosity" levels in all 50 American states.
Once again, Gallup found that Mississippi was No. 1, with 59 percent of its people claiming "very religious" status, in terms of faith intensity and worship attendance. Vermont was the least religious state, even in the secular New England region, with 21 percent of the population choosing the "very religious" label.
"You can see the 'R&R' connection, which means that -- among white Americans -- the more actively people practice their religion, the more likely they are to vote Republican," said Frank Newport, editor in chief at Gallup.
After Mississippi, the rest of the Top 10 "most religious" states were Alabama, Utah, South Dakota, South Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Georgia. After Vermont, the next nine least religious states were Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Nevada, Alaska, Oregon, Connecticut, Hawaii and New Hampshire.
"Religion isn't always a perfect guide to politics at the state level," said Newport, reached by telephone. "After all, New Hampshire is a swing state and Alaska is just its own thing."
Nevertheless, a reporter with decades of religion-beat experience took these Gallup numbers to the next level, overlapping them with state results in the hard-fought 2016 campaign. In terms of the "pew gap" phenomenon, there are few surprises.
"President Trump won 23 of the 25 most religious states, the exceptions being No. 19 Virginia, whose pious Senator Tim Kaine was on the Democratic ticket, and heavily Hispanic New Mexico at No. 21," noted Richard Ostling, best known for his work with Time and the Associated Press. He is also one of my GetReligion.org colleagues.
"Hillary Clinton carried nine of the 10 most 'nonreligious' states. Tops was Bernie Sanders' Vermont," he noted. Meanwhile, Trump did take Alaska, while New Hampshire was "closely fought." Two other highly secular states, New York and California, "accounted for Clinton's popular vote margin."
All of this, Ostling explained, leads to an obvious Electoral College question: "Where and how might the troubled Democrats improve their prospects?"
Any search for answers starts with Catholics in pivotal Rust Belt states. Take Wisconsin, where the "citizenry identifies as 25 percent Catholic (and 22 percent evangelical Protestant) but is a modest No. 27 on Gallup's state religiosity ranking, which by conventional rule of thumb should help Democrats," noted Ostling, reached by email.
Similar trends exist in Pennsylvania, where the "population identifies as 24 percent Catholic (and only 19 percent evangelical), with a middling No. 25 on religiosity" and Michigan, where the "population is only 18 percent Catholic but 25 percent evangelical, with a rather weak No. 29 on religiosity."
Newport stressed that researchers are very familiar with all of these religiosity patterns, in part because they have changed so little in recent decades. While media coverage in recent years has stressed the rapidly rising number of "religiously unaffiliated" Americans -- the so-called "Nones" -- it is also important, especially at the state level, to note how little has changed on the other side of the faith spectrum.
The history and culture of these highly religious states will not change quickly or easily.
"In Mississippi, everybody goes to church more often than in Vermont," said Newport. "It's not just that there are more Baptists there or more African-American churchgoers there. More people go to church because there are more churches and more people there go to church. …
"You go to Vermont and it's hard to find churches and hard to find people who go to church. We are talking about very different kinds of cultures."
Tagged: Frank Newport, Gallup, pew gap, Nones, 2016 campaign, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, surveys, polls, Jesusland
Newer PostThe true story of Army medic Desmond Doss, the soft-spoken Christian superhero
Older PostComplex facts on persecution hiding behind that Muslim Ban hashtag
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Samurai Jack (2001)
Samurai Jack is an American animated television series created by animator Genndy Tartakovsky that aired on Cartoon Network from 2001 to 2004. It is noted for its highly detailed, outline-free, masking-based animation, as well as for its cinematic style and pacing. It was the first Cartoon Network original series aside from those who comprised the… more Samurai Jack is an American animated television series created by animator Genndy Tartakovsky that aired on Cartoon Network from 2001 to 2004. It is noted for its highly detailed, outline-free, masking-based animation, as well as for its cinematic style and pacing. It was the first Cartoon Network original series aside from those who comprised the Cartoon Cartoons lineup at the time. It was also formerly shown on its sister network Boomerang. less
Rating: 9.8 (167 Votes) Rate it!
Genres: Action, Adventure, Animation
Watch Samurai Jack Online
Samurai Jack Episode 53 Mar 12, 2017
Samurai Jack Episode 52 Nov 11, 2013
Samurai Jack Episode 9 Nov 11, 2013
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Directing you to worldwide tourist attractions and tourism sites
Zoos in Oregon:
See What's in Oregon:
The Philadelphia Zoo located in Fairmount Park on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, was the first zoo in the United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859, its opening was delayed by the Civil War until July 1, 1874.
The National Zoo
The U.S. National Zoo is supported by the federal government and administered by the Smithsonian Institution.The National Zoo preserves endangered animals indigenous to the United States, also the National Zoo has the largest collection of small mammals, one of the finest collections of elephants, bears, reptiles, rare Sumatran tigers and a pair of giant pandas, that were presented by the People's Republic of China in 1972. Visit the National Zoo in Washington, DC. online and through the National Zoo animal web cam, where you can observe cheetahs, flamingos, elephants, pandas and others, Live 24 hours a day! National Zo
Oregon Zoo, Portland Oregon
Wildlife Safari, Winston Oregon
List of Zoos by State:
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Architectural Ensemble of the Trinity Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad
Cultural criteria: ii, iv
Sergiev Posad (from 1930 till 1991 – the city of Zagorsk) is a small city situated 70 kilometers north-east of Moscow. It emerged around the ancient monastery - the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius that during several centuries played a large part not only in religious, but also in political and cultural life of Russia.
The secluded hermitage (place of praying) was founded in the middle of the XIV century in the thick of the forest near Moscow by the Rostov boyar’s son Bartholomew, who came to be known as Sergius of Radonezh afterwards. In the XV–XVI centuries the hermitage began to transform into a big and influential monastery. The location on an important strategic route to the Russian North was contributing to its strengthening and inclusion in the general system of Moscow’s defense. A heroic page in the monastery’s history became its months-long defense from Polish interventionists besieging it in the early ХVII century.
The monastery gradually became a biggest feudal-landowner. In 1744 it was given an honorary name of Laura. In 1782 a settlement around the monastery is declared a city called Sergiev Posad.
The architectural ensemble of the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius was created little by little during almost six centuries and includes over 50 various structures.
The first stone structure of the Laura is the Trinity cathedral. It was raised in 1422–1423 over Sergius of Radonezh’s coffin, in place of previous wooden church. For its construction the eminent architects were invited, who imparted the cathedral all typical features of the early Moscow architecture. This is a cross-domed church having four internal piers, built of hewn white stone blocks; it is notable for small dimensions and modest fretwork.
For interior painting of the Trinity cathedral the eminent painters of the day Andrei Rublev and Black Daniel were invited, who directed the artel of icon painters Just for this cathedral Andrei Rublev painted his famous”Trinity” that was here till 1929 and then transferred to the State Tretyakov Gallery (in the cathedral there is its copy). Andrei Rublev and masters of his circle also created many other paintings, including three rows of iconostasis. Unfortunately, subsequently the paintings and interiors of the cathedral were demolished very much.
In the second half of the XVI century the ensemble of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius was enlarged by the Cathedral of the Assumption, as well as fortress walls and towers. The Cathedral of the Assumption in the central square of the monastery was built from donations by Ivan IV the Terrible, and by his order it must have repeated the aspect of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Moscow Kremlin but being somewhat scaled-up. It was a massive five-domed church built of bricks and not of stones like the Kremlin model. In the XVII century it was painted by Yaroslavl masters, and this painting has preserved its original form to our time. Subsequently the cathedral was also reconstructed more than once. In 1606 the Russian tsar Boris Godunov with his wife and son were buried here.
The fortress stone walls with towers, imparting the monastery an appearance of an impregnable fortress, were built only in ten years (1540–1550). Later they were reconstructed more than once. Now their total length is 1,120 meters, with height being from 7 to 15 meters.
In the XVII century the architectural ensemble of the monastery continued to become more complex by means of new structures appearance. They include hospital wards with the Church of Zosima and Savvatiy, the Gateway Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist and Tsar's Chambers, i.e. stone tsar’s palace in the Laura. This is also a splendid refectory – this hall was meant for holiday dinners and state receptions of tsar and the upper clergy. Experts consider this building an excellent model of “Moscow baroque”.
In the XVIII century a fine five tiers belfry emerged here, whose project was created by the eminent Moscow architect D.V.Ukhtomsky. The white 88 meters belfry is a sort of a uniting center of the whole monastery ensemble giving logical completeness to it.
In 1920 the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius was announced museum; since 1940 this is a State Historical and Art Reserve Museum. Apart from architecture, a unique collection of the Old Russian painting and applied art of the XIV–XVII centuries are of enormous value. Many Russian writers of the time were creating here, keeping a chronicle, carrying on a correspondence and collecting ancient books, the icon painting and artistic crafts were developing here as well. Works of Russian art of the XVII–XIX centuries are also of great value. On the territory of the Laura there are Moscow ecclesiastical academy and seminary.
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Artist | Writer
Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer in New York. Her memoir, Drawing Blood, is published by HarperCollins, available December 2015. Called “An emblem of the way art can break out of the gilded gallery” by the New Republic, she has drawn in Guántanamo Bay, Abu Dhabi’s migrant labor camps, and with rebels in Syria. Crabapple is a contributing editor for VICE, and has written for publications including The New York Times, Paris Review, and Vanity Fair. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
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Greg Jobin-Leeds and AgitArte shine a sparkling, movement-savvy light on the thinkers and doers who should be on TV but (almost) never are. A guide to making change that will leave you smarter, inspired, and more ready than ever to fight and win. Bravo.
—Laura Flanders, GRITtv
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Closing the gender pay gap by prohibiting use of salary history to determine wages – Azadeh Khalili, Executive Director of the New York City Mayor’s Commission on Gender Equity
Azadeh Khalili is executive director of the New York City Mayor’s Commission on Gender Equity. The Commission is an advisory body that works across city agencies to help achieve the Mayor’s commitment to reduce gender-based inequity and build a safer, more inclusive and economically mobile city for women and girls. Prior to this, Azadeh has worked in a variety of roles including as the deputy commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office and also as the executive director of Language Access Initiatives.
Azadeh Khalili
“…Using salary history to determine the wage for a potential worker can have negative repercussions for women, since women are historically paid less than their male counterparts for the same work…”
Azadeh, please can you tell us about your career to date and what made you want to work in the gender equity space?
The largest city in the United States and a global capital of economics, media and culture has a feminist Mayor in Bill de Blasio, and a First Lady who is committed to gender equity in Chirlane McCray. Before my role as executive director of the Commission on Gender Equity, I was already working on Mayor de Blasio’s team advancing immigrant rights. I jumped at the chance to advance his vision on gender equity issues.
I have spent my career in human rights, feminism, and public health in New York City. Gender equity is an area where these causes intersect. Our big goal is to reduce poverty and increase economic opportunity and mobility for all women, regardless of race, class, age, gender identification, and sexual orientation.
What does your role involve on a day to day basis?
The Commission on Gender Equity is chaired by the First Lady of New York City, Chirlane McCray, who has made an unprecedented commitment to New York City’s women and girls. I am fortunate to work closely with her on these issues.
I focus my days on being in touch with a wide range of New York City government agencies and non-profit organisations around a set of goals the NYC Commission on Gender Equity has set forth. In the morning, I may be helping senior officials to better understand and frame their work in terms of gender, and by the afternoon I might be reaching out to community leaders to get their advice and help on communications or legislative strategy.
On 4th November your department announced that from December, New York City agencies will no longer be able to ask job applicants about their salary history. Please can you tell us how this came about and what it means?
The recent Executive Order signed by Mayor de Blasio prohibiting City agencies from inquiring about the salary history of job applicants is a big win for women. Executive Order 21 is the most recent effort by the de Blasio Administration to close the pay gap.
Using salary history to determine the wage for a potential worker can have negative repercussions for women, since women are historically paid less than their male counterparts for the same work. Women continue to be discriminated against in the job application process and in salary negotiations when previous salary can be used as a baseline for future salary.
Women in New York City continue to earn less than men and are more likely to live in poverty. US Census Bureau data shows that the mean income for women in New York City was equivalent to just 80% of what men earned. Eliminating the opportunity for an employer to issue a salary based on salary history is a measure to ensure that the offering of salaries to prospective employers can be based on merit, and not sex. The Executive Order grew out of the Mayor’s insistence that the City of New York lead the way in rooting out institutionalised practices that have discriminatory outcomes for women.
This approach was first adopted in Massachusetts – what learning have you taken from this?
Under the federal Equal Pay Act and Massachusetts’ state discrimination law, employers are already required to pay men and women the same for doing the same job. However, their new Act goes even further, requiring that men and women are paid the same for doing different but comparable jobs which have similar skill and responsibility.
This falls in line with what the de Blasio Administration and Commission on Gender Equity strive for and believe in – that women should be paid the same as their male counterparts for utilising similar skills and fulfilling similar responsibilities. We are actively working to close the wage gap here in NYC, and to be an example for the rest of the country. Witnessing Massachusetts’ efforts to do the same is an inspiration and is very encouraging.
In merit-based systems such as this, how do we ensure comparable pay for comparable work?
Gender discrimination has persisted throughout the history of merit-based hiring and pay systems. Therefore, it is necessary to pass legislation to root out biases and institutionalised discrimination so that salary decisions in merit-based systems are truly based on merit. And with legislation, there is also the need for an ongoing awareness campaign so that employers comply with the letter and the spirit of the law.
Without the proper legislation and awareness, there is a risk that women will continue to be unfairly treated in the workplace like they have been throughout history. Local governments have a big role to play, especially in the absence of federal or state action.
It’s been argued that one discriminatory pay decision leads inevitably to the next, creating a cycle of low earnings throughout a career, so that’s why breaking the cycle helps. Do you think other employers will be brave enough to follow suit?
Yes! We think that there is widespread unawareness of this cycle of discriminatory pay among employers. Once they are familiar with the data, the dynamics and how the cycle of discriminatory pay adds up over a worker’s lifetime to a huge amount of lost wages and often an uncertain retirement, we think there is no going back. And, of course, having the full force of legislation with penalties for non-compliance will force even unwilling employers to change practices.
Some progressive businesses are already committed to offering gender equal pay salaries of their own accord. Their example and the success they have in publicity and in the war for talent will lead other businesses to follow suit when they become aware of the consequences of discriminatory pay practices. But, we know others will need legislation to get them to change practices.
Are there other ways we can speed up progress towards gender equity?
Progress toward gender equity can absolutely be sped up and that can be accomplished through education, advocacy, collaboration among City government agencies, organisations, and businesses, mobilisation of the public, and a dedication to human rights. If awareness of gender issues is raised, more people – women and men alike – can take a stand against gender discrimination and push locally for their government to take a stand. Awareness and education is key.
Joining UN Women’s HeforShe campaign and pushing for the US to pass Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) legislation is a good way for the public to participate in speeding up the progress towards a world free of gender discrimination.
What is coming up next for you and the New York City Mayor’s Commission on Gender Equity?
Currently, the Commission on Gender Equity is working to close the pay gap, reduce domestic violence and promote healthy communities. For more information about the Commission on Gender Equity please visit us at www.nyc.gov/genderequity.
www.nyc.gov/genderequity
https://twitter.com/nycgov
https://www.facebook.com/nycgov/
← How can we make gender equality the norm sooner? – James Wallman, Futurist, Author and Journalist
Driving up the number of women on UK boards: A marathon, not a sprint – Dame Helen Alexander, Deputy Chair of the Hampton-Alexander Review →
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Home Canada Travel Guide Alberta Travel Guide Calgary City Guide Calgary Email this guide | Print the full guide
Travel Guide Calgary
Calgary Travel Guide
Calgary © Dhinakaran Gajavarathan
Calgary is situated on the banks of the Bow River below the Rocky Mountains, 200 miles (322km) north of the US border. Although Alberta's second city, Edmonton, is the state capital, Calgary is the largest, offering all the trappings of urban life as the territory's commercial and cultural centre, along with the pleasure of enjoying the dramatic countryside that surrounds the city.
Splendid national parks flourishing on Calgary's doorstep act as a magnet for hikers, fishermen, and lovers of the great outdoors. Set on the Trans-Canada highway, the city is also the gateway to the Rocky Mountain resorts which attract skiers from all over the continent during winter.
The downtown area of Calgary not only serves as a shopping, entertainment, cultural, and recreation centre for locals, but it is also a tourist centre for more than four million visitors a year who come for the annual attractions and festivals, wonderful parks, and open spaces, and a selection of excellent shops, restaurants, cafes and bistros.
The city is perhaps best known for the Calgary Stampede, a world-class cowboy carnival and rodeo that draws more than a million people every year to watch the action and be entertained by its accompanying festivities.
For over 10,000 years, the site on which Calgary sits today was home to the Blackfoot Indians; the first European settlers did not arrive until 1860. Colonel James Macleod established the small trading post, Fort Calgary, named after Calgary Bay on his native Isle of Mull in Scotland. The Pacific Railway reached the town in 1883, but it was not until the discovery of oil in Turner Valley, 22 miles (35km) southwest of the city, that the population started to explode.
Wander the streets in your Stetson beneath the sparkling skyscrapers built on the back of the oil boom or dine on a juicy steak in a saloon with country music playing in the background. It will be hard to decide whether you are in Calgary or Texas.
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Climate and when to go to Calgary
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WHEN YOU'RE THERE
What to see in Calgary
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U.S. Officials: Artificial Intelligence Now Qualifies as a Car's Driver
jeffrey cook
Feb 10, 2016, 5:08 PM ET
PlayTony Avelar/AP Photo
WATCH First Look Inside Google's Self-Driving Car
Federal vehicle safety agencies have routinely worked with private companies to pave the road for autonomous vehicles.
So U.S. officials will now allow the artificial intelligence system responsible for piloting self-driving cars to be considered the driver, according to a letter dated from last week from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
One obstacle autonomous vehicle manufactures have faced is what federal law calls the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs). These standards outline the safety requirements applied to all vehicles on U.S. roadways.
Since 1967, when the first of these safety standards became effective under federal law, a driver has been considered a human piloting the vehicle from the front seat.
Obama Administration Wants to Spend $4B on Self-Driving Cars
Google Self-Driving Cars: What We Learned From Latest Report
Nissan Self-Driving Car Ready by 2020, CEO Says
With manufacturers trying to break this mold, they needed U.S. Department of Transportation approval for their artificial intelligence systems to qualify as a driver.
A November request from Google’s Self-Driving Car Project asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to interpret a number of provisions within federal vehicle safety law, including for their Self-Driving System to qualify as or replace the driver.
The Feb. 4 response from NHTSA gives Google and all other manufacturers approval to design and operate under the interpretation that their artificial intelligence systems qualify as the driver under federal law.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said today his department is committed to embracing innovations that improve safety and efficiency on U.S. roadways.
“Our interpretation that the self-driving computer system of a car could, in fact, be a driver is significant,” Foxx said.
“But the burden remains on self-driving car manufacturers to prove that their vehicles meet rigorous federal safety standards.”
Foxx revealed last month that part of the president’s budget proposal would include a 10-year, nearly $4 billion investment to accelerate the development and adoption of safe vehicle automation through real-world pilot projects.
Father intentionally drove sons off pier, killing them: Prosecutors
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Achieving Physician Leadership in Changing Times: A Call to Action
By Laura Fegraus, Executive Director, Council of Accountable Physician Practices
In the dynamic and often complicated movement towards “accountable care,” the need for dedicated and skilled physician leaders has never been greater. Physician executives at CAPP’s progressive multi-specialty medical groups recently pooled their collective insights, experience and advice on building physician leaders in a five-article series on this topic, published as a special edition in Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation. The open-access articles are now available for sharing through this link.
Recognizing the shortage of “how to” guidance on physician-leadership development, this series addresses the specifics of building physician-leadership capacity within a medical group or health system. Through detailed case studies of their organizations’ efforts, the series’ authors present creative and proven ideas to recruit, train, and develop physician leaders within medical groups and health systems.
The introduction to this series, “Physician Leadership in Changing Times,” is a compelling call to action from physician leaders, Jack Cochran, M.D., formerly of The Permanente Federation; Gary S. Kaplan, M.D., Virginia Mason Medical Center; and Robert E. Nesse, M.D., Mayo Clinic Health System.
The authors discuss the history of the accountability movement from its inception with the 2001 release of the Institute of Medicine’s report on Crossing the Quality Chasm. Since then, there has been growing recognition that high-quality, high-value health care cannot be achieved through the uncoordinated actions of individual physicians and other health care providers serving the interests of individual patients, one at a time.* Instead, physicians must lead all stakeholders in the healthcare system to work together toward a broader vision of improved patient care experiences, better population health, and lower costs, otherwise known as the “Triple Aim.”**
The remaining four articles in the series detail the “how-to’s” of recruiting, retaining, and supporting robust physician leadership inside of our CAPP groups — including reflections on how to maintain organizational focus on this important cultural component during times of transition. Readers of this series will hear from organizations like Billings Clinic, Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Advocate, Henry Ford Health System, Ochsner Health, Intermountain, and HealthCare Partners that have successfully maintained and fostered their commitment to physician leadership, regardless of organizational setting or environmental context.
The multi-specialty medical groups that belong to the Council of Accountable Physician Practices are committed to nurturing the next generation of physician leaders, and are dedicated to sharing their best practices and learnings with other healthcare stakeholders. Effective and patient-centered delivery system change will be optimized by physicians leading and shaping the health care delivery organizations of the future.
To read the entire series introduction, please click here.
* Institute of Medicine. Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2001.
** Berwick D, Nolan T, Whittington J. The triple aim: care, health, and cost. Health Aff.2008;27(3):759–769.
Achieving Physician Leadership in Changing Times: A Call to Action2016-09-292017-09-27http://accountablecaredoctors.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/capp_logo_500x130.pngCAPPhttps://accountablecaredoctors.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/physician-leadership-meeting.jpg200px200px
CAPP Leaders Discuss How They Develop Physician Leaders at Washington, DC, ColloquiumPhysician Leadership
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POLL: What’s Your Favorite Glen Campbell Song?
The Boot Staff
Gaye Gerard, Getty Images
Glen Campbell is one of the most exceptional talents in the history of popular music. Beginning with a stellar career as a first-call session musician, Campbell appeared on a slew of hit records in the 1960s by artists as diverse as Simon and Garfunkel and Frank Sinatra. After Brian Wilson quit the Beach Boys, Campbell came in to replace him in the group's live shows before launching his own solo career in the late '60s.
The '70s saw Campbell become one of the most successful singers in the world, with a long string of country hits, a run of sold-out concerts and his own network television show. His records brought together his vocal and guitar talents with some of the world's top songwriters, most notably Jimmy Webb, who penned several of Campbell's most significant songs.
On June 22, 2011, Campbell revealed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Campbell continued with his plans to embark on a farewell tour and performed his final show on Nov. 30, 2012. On Aug. 8, 2017, he died at the age of 81.
Which of the following is your favorite of Campbell's song? Vote as often as once an hour, and if you don't see your favorite here, let us know in the comments section.
Glen Campbell Through the Years
NEXT: Top 10 Glen Campbell Songs
Source: POLL: What’s Your Favorite Glen Campbell Song?
Filed Under: Glen Campbell
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ADRA Responds to Flooding in Myanmar
Home » Press Releases » ADRA Responds to Flooding in Myanmar
Posted on: August 12, 2015 | Author: Natalia López-Thismón
ADRA Myanmar staff gets creative to reach flood victims
SILVER SPRING, Md.—Severe flooding in Myanmar from a heavy monsoon season and Cyclone Komen have affected more than 1 million people, with waters taking lives, inundating homes and businesses and destroying livelihoods since July.
ADRA has already distributed food kits to 400 families by employing creative methods including using a flying fox system to get to families isolated by waters.
“ADRA volunteers have moved about 12 tons of food across the zip line,” said Derek Glass, emergency response coordinator in Myanmar. “They carried food supplies across the river to a truck on the other side so that we could reach the neediest families.”
“Many families are taking shelter in schools and churches,” said Brendon Irvine, ADRA Myanmar Country Director. “As our teams go out and search for ways to reach the hardest hit areas, they are seeing that people are in need of the basics—food, water, and shelter. We will need to urgently work with families so that households can restart their livelihoods.”
ADRA plans to continue response long term. More than 1 million acres of farmland have been destroyed, affecting the livelihoods of many families in 12 out of 14 regions and states including Chin state, Sagaing Region, Magway Region, and Rakhine State, which were declared natural disaster zones by President U Thein Sein on July 31.
“The water rose too fast, so there was no time to take our belongings,” said Daw Tin Thwe, flood survivor from Pyan Thar village in Kalay Township in Sagaing. “We needed to flee for our lives. We stored rice and seeds, and now they are all destroyed. I have 10 acres of paddy fields, and all are destroyed. I don’t know how I will be able to replant. There are 220 households in our village. The whole village is covered completely by water.”
The agency’s field teams are now out assessing the situation in the most affected areas and identifying displaced families. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency International is the humanitarian arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its work empowers communities and changes lives around the globe by providing sustainable community development and disaster relief. For more information, visit ADRA.org.
ADRA Provides Education to Displaced Iraqis in Kurdistan Refugee Crisis in Europe Continues
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January 2, 2017 / 8:10 AM / 3 years ago
Libya's oil production rises to 685,000 bpd - National Oil Corp
A general view shows an oil refinery in Zawia, west of Tripoli, December 18, 2013. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya was producing 685,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) on Sunday, up from around 600,000 a day last month, an official from the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said.
Output has risen after a two-year blockade was lifted two weeks ago on major pipelines leading from the western fields of Sharara and El Feel.
Production has been resuming gradually at Sharara, which has a capacity of 330,000 bpd. But there has been no announcement of a restart at El Feel, which can produce 90,000 bpd but where a group of guards has been blocking operations. The NOC official declined to give details on the status of operations at the fields.
National output remains far below the more than 1.6 million bpd that Libya was producing before its 2011 uprising. The NOC says it hopes to raise production to nearly 900,000 bpd by March, but this remains at risk from political conflict.
Libya is one of two members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that is exempted from a recent deal to cut output.
Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Ruth Pitchford
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DE Ferrell goes 4th to Raiders, admits 'surprise'
83dPaul Gutierrez
Paul GutierrezESPN Staff Writer
Covered Oakland Raiders for CSNBayArea.com and Sacramento Bee for eight years
Member of Pro Football Writers Association
Previously worked at Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas Review-Journal and Sports Illustrated
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- The Oakland Raiders, who had a league-low 13 sacks last season, addressed a specific need Thursday by selecting Clemson defensive end Clelin Ferrell with the No. 4 pick of the 2019 NFL draft.
Still, there was a feeling that the Raiders, who used the No. 24 pick on Alabama running back Josh Jacobs and the No. 27 pick on Mississippi State safety Jonathan Abram, could have traded down and still been able to select Ferrell, who was projected for the middle of the first round by many analysts.
Ferrell himself acknowledged being surprised that he was taken so high.
"I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't surprised ... [but] I always felt like I was going to be a Raider because I had such a good relationship and good meetings with the Raiders," he said. "It was such a great process."
Perhaps the Raiders found no partners or they simply liked what they saw in Ferrell, the reigning Ted Hendricks Award winner as the nation's top defensive end.
Ferrell had 27 career sacks at Clemson, including 11.5 for last season's national champions. Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and first-year general manager Mike Mayock will hope that he can bring similar production to Oakland, which traded All-Pro linebacker Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears in September.
Asked about the pressure of replacing Mack, Ferrell said, "It's not even just about replacing a great player like Mack. It's about all the legends that have played there. There's such a great tradition to play for the Raiders. ... I'm an NFL historian-type, with the Howie Longs and the Ted Hendricks. I can't remember the really crazy guy who was known for being a dirty player, but it's such a great history of great players for the Raiders."
Seen as a high-character guy, Ferrell seems to be a "foundation piece" for Gruden and Mayock. His parents served a combined 46 years in the U.S. Army and passed down military teachings to their children. His father, Cleavester Ferrell Sr., was a first sergeant in the Army and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. His mother, Faye, a staff sergeant, served in Operation Desert Storm and was stationed in Germany, Korea and Japan.
Cleavester and Faye each had children from previous relationships when they met in 1994. One year after they were married, Clelin was born. Clelin has four brothers and four sisters, all at least 10 years older than him. His father passed away from cancer when he was a high school freshman.
Ferrell suffered a torn ACL as a high school senior and redshirted his freshman year at Clemson due to a hand injury. He did not miss a game in his next three seasons in Death Valley.
Jacobs, meanwhile, fills a need created by Marshawn Lynch, who reportedly is leaning toward retirement rather than re-signing with his hometown team. The Raiders added Isaiah Crowell in free agency, but Jacobs projects more as a three-down back.
Jacobs said the Raiders told him at the combine that they would select him with one of their three first-round picks. He had high praise for Ferrell and Abram, saying the team added two good players.
"I'm happy that I'm on the same team as [Ferrell] and not going against him," Jacobs said. "Even the 27th pick [Abram], the dude is a good player, too. I played against him multiple times. Every time he brings the energy, and he's a thumper."
What you need to know from Rounds 1-7:
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Jacobs rushed for 1,491 yards and 16 touchdowns in three seasons with the Crimson Tide, averaging 5.9 yards per carry. The 640 yards he ran for last season marked a career high.
While he runs hard, he resembles Charlie Garner, a Gruden favorite from his first tenure in Oakland, more than Lynch. Still, Jacobs broke 17.1 percent of tackle attempts last season, second in FBS behind teammate Najee Harris (minimum 100 rushes), per ESPN Stats & Information.
In Abram, who played his freshman season at Georgia, the Raiders drafted a hard-hitting safety who is larger than Karl Joseph.
Abram was on the opposing team from Gruden at the Senior Bowl but did not play because of a shoulder injury that is now healed. Still, they connected in Mobile, Alabama.
He said he is up to the challenge of facing the tough tight ends in the AFC West.
"Those guys put their pants on just like I do, and I look forward to it," Abram said. "It's going to be a really interesting experience being able to go out there and dominate those guys. I'm going to do what I do best, and that's play football."
In two seasons at Mississippi State, Abram had five sacks, and last season, 17 of his 38 snaps as primary defender came while lined up in the slot. His 36 percent pressure rate was highest in FBS among players with at least 50 pass rushes.
The Raiders have the third pick of the night in Friday's second round, at No. 35 overall. Barring a trade, after that they will not choose again until No. 106, the fourth pick of the fourth round.
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A GUIDE FOR PROTECTING YOUR APP WITH A PATENT, TRADEMARK, OR COPYRIGHT
Bryan Wheelock
Mobile App Patent,Mobile App Trademark,Mobile App Copyright
https://appdevelopermagazine.com/images/news_images/Is-Securing-App-Patent-Protection-Getting-Easier-App-Developer-Magazine_mjbpjdmt.jpg
Bryan Wheelock in Mobile Guidelines Tuesday, December 12, 2017
How developers can protect their IP by following a plan, even before a line of code is written.
Perhaps the only thing harder than taking your idea for a great app from concept to successful reality is watching someone else take your idea for a great app to successful reality. Fortunately, intellectual property law - particularly patent, trademark, and copyright law - provides robust protection for apps, or at least for developers who plan ahead.
Utility Patent Protection
Utility patents protect inventions for a term of twenty years from filing. The good news is that apps are treated no differently than other types of software inventions, and can thus be protected by utility patents. The bad news, however, is that apps are treated no differently than other types of software, and are thus subject to the same undefined and poorly understood “abstract idea” exception to patentability created by the Supreme Court in Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International. Since the 2014 Alice decision, many software patents were invalidated, and many patent applications were rejected, for being directed to abstract ideas. But not all software inventions are abstract ideas, and applications on software continue to be allowed, and patents on software continue to be sustained.
The patentability of apps depends in part on the nature of the invention and in part on the skill of the patent drafter. Apps that implement fundamental economic practices, merely collect and display data, or simply automate well known processes, are the kind of inventions likely to be found to be unpatentable abstract ideas. However, apps that do something new, that cause a change in the real world, or that improve the operation of computers, are the kind of inventions likely to be found to be patentable subject matter.
Assuming that your app is patentable subject matter, it must clear two more hurdles: the app must be novel (different from what was previously known) and non-obvious (more than an obvious variation of what was previously known). You may be sufficiently familiar with the current state of the art, or you might consider a search to determine how the app differs from what was previously known and assess the chances for obtaining patent protection.
Even if the prospects appear to be good for obtaining a patent, you need to consider whether your app needs patent protection. It usually takes more than two years to get a patent on an app, and costs between $10,000 and- $15,000. An app developer must consider whether the commercial prospects for the app justify this cost, and whether the anticipated life of the app will outlast the application process. Whatever you decide, you must file your patent application within one year of the first public disclosure or sale of your app, and to avoid complications you really should file before any public disclosure of the app.
Design Patent Protection
In addition to the protection of the function of an app provided by a utility patent, another type of patent - a design patent - protects the appearance of the app’s icon and of its user interface. A design patent has a term of fifteen years from issuance and allows its owner to stop others from using an icon or an interface that is so similar in appearance to the patented design that a purchaser could confuse them.
Design patents, comprising mostly drawings of the design, are significantly less expensive than utility patents. It usually takes less than two years to get a design patent, and the total cost is often under $2,500. While the protection provided by a design patent is narrower than the protection provided by a utility patent, this scope is perfect for protecting an app’s icon as well as various elements of the app’s graphical user interface. These can be significant to customers and prospective customers, and are often a key reason for the success of the app.
Trademark protection extends to an app’s name, the appearance of its icon, and the appearance of its user interface. Trademark rights are established through use of the mark, but an app developer can get the process started early by applying to register its marks based upon the intention to use them. Before adopting a mark, you should clear the mark by conducting a search. This not only helps you avoid infringement claims, but it saves you from wasting time and resources in building rights in a mark that you will later have to change. Searching pending applications and issued registrations is relatively straight-forward on the USPTO’s TESS system, and even simpler on commercial databases which provide better interfaces and data. Because rights in trademarks can be created by use alone, it is important to clear proposed marks against unregistered marks, for example by internet searching. No search is perfect, however, and there is always some risk in adopting a new mark, even after a search.
The average cost of filing a trademark application is $775, and the total cost is usually around $1500, and the registration of issues in less than a year. The obvious benefits of a trademark registration are a presumption of ownership of the mark, a presumption of the exclusive right to use the mark, and the right to use the ® symbol. A less obvious but important benefit is the fact that registration makes your mark easy for other developers to find and avoid.
Design Patents vs. Trademarks
Both design patents and trademarks can protect app icons and features of app interfaces, and a well-funded developer will pursue both. Apple, which certainly knows about app development, often pursues both design patents and trademark applications on its icons:
Copyright protects the app’s code, as well as pictorial and graphic works incorporated into the app. Copyrights should be a favorite form of protection for an app developer because they are automatic and essentially free. A copyright automatically arises from the moment the app is fixed in tangible form, e.g. saved to your hard drive. Although copyright protection is automatic, two steps will give you the strongest possible copyright: (1) Put copyright notice on the work, and (2) register the copyright. Copyright notice is the word “copyright” or the © symbol, the name of the copyright owner, and the year the work was first published. For example, for a work first published in 2018, the notice would read: “© App Developer 2018.”
Copyright registration is a relatively simply process you can handle yourself for as little as $35. While copyright rights exists even without registration, registration is a prerequisite to an infringement action, and if obtained within five years of publication the registration is evidence of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate. Furthermore prompt registration gives the owner the option to receive statutory damages, and the potential to recover attorney’s fees. Copyright protects the app from copyright, but unlike patent, does not protect against independent creation.
Developing an IP Plan
Just as you would prepare a flow chart before you begin programming, you should prepare an IP plan to make sure that your hard work is fully protected. Before you begin you should make sure that you will own the completed app. You must put written agreements in place with all employees and consultants you hire, protecting the confidentiality of your project and ensuring that you own the patentable inventions and copyrightable works that result.
Before you publish your app, you should identify any patentable inventions and designs and file utility patent applications on the inventions and design patent applications on the designs. You should also identify any protectable trademarks, including the name of the app, the icon for the app, and any distinctive elements in the interface, and apply for trademark protection based upon your intent-to-use the marks. You should identify your unregistered marks with a ™ and switch to ® as registrations issue. Finally you should embed copyright notice in your code and on any pictorial and graphic works incorporated into the interface.
After you publish your app, you should complete your trademark applications, and apply for copyright registrations on your code and any other copyrightable works incorporated into the app. Before the first anniversary of publishing your app, you should reevaluate whether there are any additional aspects of the app that might be worth patenting based upon the commercial reception of the app. Protection that might have seemed unnecessary before the success of the app was demonstrated may be worth reconsidering in view of any new found success.
There is plenty of protection available for your app. All you need to do is design an app that people will want, and take some simple steps up front to protect yourself.
Mobile App Patent, Mobile App Trademark, Mobile App Copyright
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8 Sep 2012 22:53:28 UTC
All snapshots from host www.publications.parliament.uk
<a href="http://archive.today/gMq1"> <img style="width:300px;height:200px;background-color:white" src="https://archive.fo/gMq1/fb55439c6256f10c572b4d162a2c1150c1aa44bf/scr.png"><br> House of Commons Hansard Debates for 12 Dec 1996 (pt 13)<br> archived 8 Sep 2012 22:53:28 UTC </a>
{{cite web | title = House of Commons Hansard Debates for 12 Dec 1996 (pt 13) | url = http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199697/cmhansrd/vo961212/debtext/61212-13.htm | date = 2012-09-08 | archiveurl = http://archive.today/gMq1 | archivedate = 2012-09-08 }}
You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Hansard > Commons Debates > Commons Debates by date > Commons Debates - previous sessions > Bound Volume Hansard - Debate
Mr. Rifkind: The hon. Gentleman is correct to say that there are supranational institutions, as he described. The crucial factor in determining whether we have yet achieved a federal system is the amount of overall power that the supranational institutions have. If one considers the totality of decisions on the use of resources, for example, or on legislation, or on matters affecting the life of individual citizens, one finds that the use of only a small fraction of the resources raised in this country is at present determined by supranational institutions. One is entitled to make that point.
Mr. Bernard Jenkin (Colchester, North) rose--
Mr. Rifkind: I will give way in a few moments, but I must make progress.
I now want to focus on the issues before Heads of Government at the Dublin European Council tomorrow and on Saturday. Aside from economic and monetary union, the IGC discussion at Dublin is likely to be the most substantive. Heads of Government confirmed at their meeting in October that the IGC should end at the Amsterdam European Council next June. We strongly support that goal. The IGC must swiftly complete its work so that Europe can concentrate on the real-world challenges of the coming years, and in particular on enlargement.
The Irish presidency's report on the state of the IGC negotiation is a sensible contribution to completing the process on time. It draws together into one document options that are on the table, including all the UK options. I emphasise that the presidency report is just that: a report. It is not a draft proposal for decision. Decisions are still six months away. Nothing can be agreed until everything is agreed, and that will be by unanimity. However, the report gives a snapshot of the scope of the conference, areas of emerging consensus, and areas in which either the work is not yet much advanced or it is already clear that there are major differences of approach.
Let me start with the positive side. The paper demonstrates that the UK's ideas are gaining ground in a number of areas, including subsidiarity, the role
12 Dec 1996 : Column 433
of national Parliaments, and practical improvements to the operation of the common foreign and security policy. The report also demonstrates that in many areas of institutional change in the European Community, the rhetoric employed by some of our partners has perhaps run ahead of the reality.
On the extension of qualified majority voting, for example, the presidency report is almost silent. It says somewhat disarmingly:
"Many Member States are at this stage reticent about showing their hands".
In these areas--and many others--good progress is being made, but the presidency report also reveals a number of areas where member states' positions remain far apart. I want to focus the rest of my remarks on some of the most important of these.
I begin with immigration, asylum and issues of free movement and frontiers. The presidency report brings into focus ambitions in some member states of which this House has been aware for many weeks and months from the IGC documents that we have regularly deposited as the negotiation has proceeded. Some partners would like to develop those issues as competences of the European Community, removing them from the scope of intergovernmental co-operation in the third pillar.
That, of course, is out of the question, and not just for the UK. The presidency report notes:
"A number of Member States have indicated that they do not accept the transfer of any matter at present dealt with"
in the intergovernmental pillar.
The third pillar, which also includes the fight against international crime and drug trafficking, covers areas of national competence. That is why it was decided at Maastricht to develop those issues within a separate pillar of the treaty.
Sir Teddy Taylor (Southend, East): As the European Parliament has said clearly and specifically that it will take Britain to court over the issue of border controls in the event of our using the veto at Amsterdam, and since many of us have believed for years that the declaration of the Single European Act has no real validity in European law, what on earth would any British Government do if the European Court determined that our border controls had no legal basis?
Mr. Rifkind: The Government attach the same importance as my hon. Friend does to the absolute observance of the assurances that have been given with regard to frontiers. We believe that those assurances can be depended upon. We have not the slightest intention of conceding one inch with regard to the right of this Government and this Parliament to control frontiers. That is crucial to the United Kingdom's position.
We are keen to develop co-operation with our partners in these areas. We have put forward proposals in the IGC to improve the operation of the third pillar.
For issues as sensitive as these, however, it is a myth to suggest that Community decision-making could be effective. It would complicate and delay practical progress. The priority is to act. The decisions that I hope
we can reach at Dublin on drugs and international crime are good examples of the action that we should be taking. We want Dublin to exercise real impact in these areas.
On frontiers, as I have stressed, our position could not be clearer: the United Kingdom will maintain its right to impose necessary controls. For an island--for these purposes the UK and Ireland operate as a single island within a common travel area--frontier controls are the best and least intrusive way to prevent illegal immigration. For partners with extensive and permeable land borders things might look different. They rely on identity cards, residence permits, registration with the police, and so on to maintain internal security. That is a sensible approach for them, but it is not an approach that would suit our geography or our traditions.
Our partners know that our position on this issue is unshakeable. There is an interesting acknowledgment of that on page 36 of the presidency report, where it is observed that, if the Schengen agreement was ever incorporated into the European Union, there would have to be "provision for opt-outs".
That leads naturally to the question of flexibility, which is perhaps the most far-reaching issue under discussion in the intergovernmental conference. The idea that it is perfectly healthy for some member states to integrate more closely or more quickly in certain areas, provided that all agree, was first developed by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. As the European Union enlarges, it must find better ways to accommodate the diversity of its membership. Not only is Britain a firm advocate of flexibility, but flexibility already exists in the treaty--for example, in the EMU arrangements, including Britain's EMU option, and in our social chapter opt-out.
Therefore, the discussion in the intergovernmental conference is not about whether to have flexible arrangements, but how flexibility should operate: whether it should continue to be negotiated case by case or whether there could be value in creating general mechanisms for flexibility within the treaty. There are dangers as well as potential benefits in that approach. We must avoid creating a process whereby vanguard groups establish joint practices and policies that all are expected to follow over time. We must ensure that flexibility cannot be used by others to escape the obligations of an open single market, a strong competition policy and a common commercial policy. Above all, we must ensure that, if groups in the Union want to make use of our common institutions for their own purposes, they have the agreement of all those with a stake in those institutions. If we do agree to new treaty language, the conditions must be tightly defined.
We have always believed that a common European foreign policy should respect the national interests of individual member states. A majority European foreign policy would in any case be weaker than a common policy to which all EU partners are fully committed. On the whole, the debate on the CFSP issue at the intergovernmental conference seems to be going in a welcome direction. The approach which the presidency has put forward as a basis for discussion in its draft paper retains unanimity for the adoption of joint actions and for all decisions with a security-defence dimension. It recognises that, even for other, less significant decisions, individual member states should retain a veto for stated reasons of national policy.
In their recent joint letter, Chancellor Kohl and President Chirac also argued for the retention of unanimity for European Council decisions, for Council policy decisions and for all decisions on security and defence in general. They suggest majority voting only for implementation decisions, while recognising the difficulties of definition. We have said that we are prepared to look at ideas for differentiating between policy decisions and decisions on the modalities of their implementation--although we are not at all sure that it will be possible in practice to define such a distinction.
Obviously we shall have to discuss the issue further, but the fundamental point--that member states have national interests which cannot simply be overridden by majority voting in the European Union's foreign policy--is not now in dispute.
Mr. Robert Key (Salisbury): Can my right hon. and learned Friend say a little more about the statement in "The British Approach to the IGC":
"In particular, we are ready to look at the idea of appointing a single figure to represent the foreign policy of the Union to the outside world for the CFSP"?
I find that hard to understand. That is all very well if it is for the Governor of Hong Kong, but it would be more difficult for someone else in rotation.
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Immigrant families remain apart with no end in sight | TribLIVE.com
Immigrant families remain apart with no end in sight
Fri., July 27, 2018 8:21 p.m. | Friday, July 27, 2018 8:21 p.m.
In this July 26, 2018 photo, a four-year-old boy is shown playing in a Spiderman mask, who is being cared for by Evelyn Zepeda at her home in Austin, Texas. The boy's adoptive mother and Zepeda's biological mother, Josefina Ortiz Corrales, remains in an immigration detention center in south Texas, while Zepeda cares for her adopted son. Hundreds of families remain separated a day after Thursday's court-ordered deadline, with no reunification in sight. Lawyers and advocates sharply criticized the U.S. government for creating a bureaucratic and legal snarl that's made it difficult to reunify families. (AP Photo/Stephen Spillman)
In this July 26, 2018 photo, Evelyn Zepeda cares for a four-year-old boy at her home in Austin, Texas. The boy's adoptive mother and Zepeda's biological mother, Josefina Ortiz Corrales, remains in an immigration detention center in south Texas, while Zepeda cares for her adopted son. Hundreds of families remain separated a day after Thursday's court-ordered deadline, with no reunification in sight. Lawyers and advocates sharply criticized the U.S. government for creating a bureaucratic and legal snarl that's made it difficult to reunify families. (AP Photo/Stephen Spillman)
Paulina Gutierrez Alonzo, a 26-year-old Quiche indigenous woman, shows a photo of her 7-year-old daughter Antonia Yolanda Gomez Gutierrez on her cell phone during an interview at her grandfather's house in Joyabaj, Guatemala, Thursday, July 26, 2018. Gutierrez Alonzo was deported from United States in June and separated from her daughter who is currently at an immigration center in Arizona, despite the Thursday deadline for reuniting children with their families who were caught entering the country without authorization. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Paulina Gutierrez Alonzo, a 26-year-old Quiche indigenous woman, demonstrates her job of making candle wicks, during an interview at her grandfather's house in Joyabaj, Guatemala, Thursday, July 26, 2018. Gutierrez Alonzo was deported from United States in June and separated from her 7-year-old daughter Antonia Yolanda Gomez Gutierrez, who is currently at an immigration center in Arizona, despite the Thursday deadline for reuniting children with their families who were caught entering the country without authorization. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Paulina Gutierrez Alonzo, a 26-year-old Quiche indigenous woman, answers questions during an interview at her grandfather's house in Joyabaj, Guatemala, Thursday, July 26, 2018. Gutierrez Alonzo was deported from United States in June and separated from her 7-year-old daughter Antonia Yolanda Gomez Gutierrez, who is currently at an immigration center in Arizona, despite the Thursday deadline for reuniting children with their families who were caught entering the country without authorization. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
HOUSTON — As the U.S. government said it had reunited every immigrant family it could, Josefina Ortiz Corrales remained in an immigration detention center and her adopted son in the care of her elder daughter.
Paulina Gutierrez was in her hometown in Guatemala, earning less than $2 a day preparing strings for candle wicks while praying for the quick return of her 7-year-old daughter from government custody in Arizona. She cries every night without fail as she thinks about her decision to agree to be deported in the mistaken belief that the girl would come home with her.
Hundreds of families remain separated a day after Thursday’s court-ordered deadline, with no reunification in sight. Lawyers and advocates sharply criticized the U.S. government for creating a bureaucratic and legal snarl that’s made it difficult to reunify families and created a scenario where some may never see their children again.
“There is no question that there may be families that are permanently separated as a result of this policy,” said Michelle Brané, director of migrant rights at the Women’s Refugee Commission.
The government had until the end of day Thursday to reunify more than 2,500 families separated at the U.S.-Mexico under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy that stoked a global outrage. The government said it had reunited more than 1,800 children over the age of 5 with parents or placed them with sponsors who are often relatives.
That leaves 700 who remain apart, including what is believed to be more than 400 cases where the parents have been deported. The government will have to come up with a plan for completing those foreign reunions by flying children back to Central America, but advocacy groups are already stepping in to fill the void.
The American Civil Liberties Union plans to start looking for all the parents on their own while going back through all of the cases of those not yet reunified to see if they could put more families back together. The advocacy group Kids in Need of Defense has deployed staff to Honduras and Guatemala to facilitate reunions.
“I think it’s going to be really hard detective work,” said Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney.
The government says the mothers and fathers of 120 children “waived reunification” and dozens more weren’t eligible to get their children back because they had criminal records or weren’t the biological parent.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say some of the parents who were deported had the chance to take their children and declined after already paying smugglers thousands of dollars to make the dangerous journey from Central America and wanting a better life for their kids to stay in the U.S.
“And once their children are here, they are generally not going to give up the opportunity for their children to remain in the country,” said Matthew Albence, the executive director of ICE’s enforcement and removal operations.
Many parents say that’s not true.
Several have told The Associated Press and immigration lawyers that they were told in detention to sign paperwork that they didn’t fully understand.
Gutierrez, 26, says she crossed the Rio Grande about two months ago with her 7-year-old daughter, Antonia. Under the terms of the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy, she was subject to arrest and prosecution for entering the country without permission.
She was eventually sent to a detention center in Arizona. She accuses immigration agents of lying to her so that she would agree to be deported.
“If not, you will spend months here,” she recalled agents telling her. “They said, ‘It’s not us who want to do this to you. It’s the president who is ordering this.’”
Gutierrez does video chats with her daughter, regularly looks back at photos of her and hopes she can be returned by her 8th birthday.
The ACLU this week filed affidavits from several attorneys that detail what it considers flawed procedures, including limited phone access and strict visitation policies, language barriers and being given only a few minutes to decide whether to leave their children in the United States.
One lawyer, Luis Cruz, said in a filing that he met five fathers who were on a government list of parents who had relinquished their rights to reunify with their children. The fathers all said they had signed a government form despite not being able to read or write in Spanish or English. Many adults from Central America, including Gutierrez, are from indigenous communities and Spanish is their second language.
Other parents are still in the United States, but in immigration detention. Their children have been released to sponsor relatives.
Lawyers following the process say that has included an undetermined number of parents who the government is detaining because they were previously deported and then tried to re-enter the country.
Illegally re-entering the U.S. after a prior deportation is a felony. But in some cases, parents who had been deported before and returned to the U.S. were released and reunited with children who were in government shelters.
Sara Ramey of the San Antonio-based Migrant Center for Human Rights says the government appears to be refusing to release some parents with immigration records if their children are with a sponsor.
Ramey is representing two mothers held at a Texas detention center whose children are with sponsors, including Ortiz, who entered the U.S. from Honduras in December with her 4-year-old son and sought asylum.
An immigration judge ordered Ortiz’s removal from the country in 2004. Ortiz says she went back on her own and only returned to seek asylum because her partner attacked her and police did not try to protect her.
Her son was placed with her adult daughter in Austin, Texas.
In a phone interview from the detention center, Ortiz said she only talked to her son once a week because otherwise he becomes too agitated.
“I ask for immigration to forgive me,” she said. “I ask that they let me see my family, my son, because he is suffering very much. We have never been apart.”
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